ONGOING SPACEWALK PREPS, EMERGENCY TRAINING KEEP CREW BUSY ON WEDNESDAY - Spacewalk preparations are ongoing aboard the International Space Station as two astronauts gear up to replace a high-speed antenna next week. The Expedition 75 crew members also practiced their emergency response skills in coordination with mission controllers on Earth.   More
(Source: NASA - Aug 15)

SPACEX WANTS TO PUT 1 MILLION AI SATELLITES IN ORBIT. WHAT WOULD THAT DO TO EARTH'S CLIMATE? - Concentrations of dangerous pollutants from rocket launches and satellite reentries in Earth's upper atmosphere might reach treacherous tipping points if constellations of hundreds of thousands of orbiting data centers get deployed in the next decade, experts say. There's no question that Earth has an AI data center problem. By 2030, AI data centers may be responsible for up to 17% of electricity consumption in the U.S., according to a forecast by the Electric Power Research Institute.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 14)

SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS COULD CREATE SPIRALING SPACE DEBRIS - To date, close to 30,000 satellites have been launched into Earth's orbit, leading to mounting concerns over the debris created when they collide. In a new analysis posted to the preprint server arXiv, Hugh Lewis of the University of Birmingham shows that satellite constellations can grow so large that they cross a critical size beyond which they generate unstable, runaway amounts of debris. The findings point to an urgent need for tougher rules on which satellites are allowed into orbit in the first place.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Aug 13)

H3 LAUNCHES NAVIGATION SATELLITE - A Japanese H3 rocket successfully launched a navigation satellite Aug. 10, more than seven months after a similar launch ended in failure. The H3-22S rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 3:23 p.m. Eastern, after several days of delays caused by a passing typhoon. The rocket’s upper stage successfully deployed the Michibiki 7 satellite into its planned transfer orbit 29 minutes later.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 12)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX launched two dozen of its Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Tuesday night. The Starlink 17-49 mission was SpaceX’s 51st flight from the West Coast so far this year. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 9:46 p.m. PDT (12:46 a.m. EDT / 0446 UTC). The rocket took a south-southwesterly trajectory.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 12)

SPACEX LAUNCHES TUESDAY NOONTIME STARLINK MISSION FOLLOWING MONDAY SCRUB - After a launch scrub on Monday morning, SpaceX flew its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to deliver another batch of its Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. The Starlink 10-19 mission represented the 72nd flight of these broadband internet satellites out of a total of 93 Falcon 9 rockets in 2026. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 11:58:26 a.m. EDT (1558:26 UTC) on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The rocket flew on a northeasterly trajectory upon leaving the launch pad.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 12)

STATION CREW GEARS UP FOR NEXT SPACEWALK, KEEPS UP MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH - The next spacewalk outside the International Space Station is set to take place on Tuesday, Aug. 18. Two Expedition 75 astronauts will work in the vacuum of space to replace a space-to-ground antenna to maintain high-speed data and communication transmissions between the orbital outpost and mission controllers. Flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) are gearing up for next week’s spacewalk that will see the duo spend about six-and-a-half hours swapping an antenna on the orbital outpost’s Z1 truss segment.   More
(Source: NASA - Aug 11)

SPACEX SCRUBS PLANNED MONDAY LAUNCH OF ITS FALCON 9 ROCKET; TARGETS TUESDAY MORNING - SpaceX was set to kick off the work week with a Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to deliver another batch of its Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. However, the mission was scrubbed hours before is scheduled liftoff at 12:20:09 p.m. EDT (1620:09 UTC) The Starlink 10-19 mission represents the 72nd flight of these broadband internet satellites this year. Following this launch, SpaceX will have flown 93 Falcon 9 rockets in 2026.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 11)

EXPLORING 'VERY LOW EARTH ORBIT': THE WORLD'S 1ST AIR-BREATHING SATELLITE THRUSTER COULD SOON GET A TEST RUN - A new way to move around Earth's outer atmosphere could soon get a field test. The Spanish company Kreios Space plans to launch into orbit the world's first satellite that uses scooped-up air to push it forward, the company announced on Tuesday (Aug. 4). The technology Kreios Space has been developing is called air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP). It relies on air sourced from Earth's atmosphere, which is then heated up, ionized and expelled to generate thrust.    More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 10)

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