RUSSIAN CARGO SPACECRAFT SUFFERS GLITCH AFTER LAUNCHING TOWARD INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A Russian cargo spacecraft encountered a problem shortly after launching toward the International Space Station on Sunday morning (March 22), but it should be able to power through. A Soyuz rocket topped with the robotic Progress 94 freighter lifted off from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday at 7:59 a.m. EDT (1159 GMT; 4:59 p.m. local Baikonur time).   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 23)

SPACE JUNK IS CLUTTERING EARTH'S LOW ORBIT WITH HIGH-VELOCITY PROJECTILES AND IT'S GETTING WORSE - The galaxy stretches out as a hazy band across a dark south-eastern Australian night sky. All is still, apart from the steady blinking of a high-altitude jet plane. A "star" appears to streak across the sky, then another, then another … dozens in a row. All along the same path. The "stars" are newly released Starlink satellites before they spread out to their final positions.   More
(Source: ABC News - Mar 23)

ESA TO PURCHASE SPACEX CREW DRAGON MISSION TO ISS - The European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher announced on 19 March that the agency intends to purchase a dedicated SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for its astronauts. In November 2022, ESA announced its newest class of five career astronauts. Under the current barter agreement with NASA, ESA has secured long-duration missions to the ISS for just two of the five, namely Sophie Adenot, who is currently aboard the station, and Raphaël Liégeois, who is still awaiting a crew assignment. With the ISS set to be decommissioned in 2030 and deorbited soon after, ESA is unlikely to secure additional long-duration missions to the station before its retirement.   More
(Source: European Spaceflight - Mar 23)

US SPACE FORCE MOVES GPS LAUNCH TO SPACEX FALCON 9 DUE TO VULCAN ROCKET GLITCH - The U.S. Space Force has swapped rockets for an upcoming GPS satellite launch. Next month's GPS III-8 mission had been slated to fly atop United Launch Alliance (ULA)'s new Vulcan Centaur rocket. But Vulcan has experienced issues with its solid rocket boosters (SRBs), so the Space Force is moving the GPS spacecraft onto a SpaceX Falcon 9.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 22)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES PRIVATE JAPANESE 'STRIX' SATELLITE - Rocket Lab launched an Earth-observing radar satellite for the Japanese company Synspective on Friday (March 20). An Electron rocket topped with one of Synspective's Strix satellites lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Friday at 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT; 7:10 a.m. on March 21 local New Zealand time), on a mission called "Eight Days a Week."   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 21)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 25 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX launched its 30th batch of Starlink satellites this year with a Friday afternoon launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 2:51:49 p.m. PDT (5:51:49 p.m. EDT / 2151:49 UTC). The rocket will fly on a southerly trajectory upon leaving the launch pad. The Starlink 17-15 mission carried 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 21)

BLUE ORIGIN JOINS THE RACE FOR ORBITAL DATA CENTERS WITH 51K SATELLITE PLAN - Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin plans on challenging SpaceX not just in rockets, but also in the emerging race to build orbiting data centers. On Thursday, Blue Origin filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission for “Project Sunrise,” the company’s own effort to operate space-based data centers. “Blue Origin’s Project Sunrise will serve the broad AI data center market and enable US companies developing and using AI to flourish,” the company wrote.   More
(Source: PCMag - Mar 21)

NASA TO COVER PROGRESS 94 SPACECRAFT LAUNCH, SPACE STATION DOCKING - NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 94 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 7:59 a.m. EDT (4:59 p.m. Baikonur time) Sunday, March 22, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.   More
(Source: NASA - Mar 21)

AN AI CYBERATTACK COULD TRIGGER A SATELLITE APOCALYPSE IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS. ARE WE PREPARED? - AI systems could soon be able to hijack satellites in orbit and cause them to collide with other spacecraft, potentially triggering a dangerous cascade of smash-ups that could render the environment around Earth unsafe for years, according to experts. Cyber security researchers are already using AI to identify so-called zero-day vulnerabilities — yet undiscovered security holes in code — to alert operators and help them patch the problems before hackers could exploit them. But attackers, too, can take advantage of those advanced systems to find those holes more quickly.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 20)

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