STUDY: CURRENT, FUTURE MEGACONSTELLATIONS RISK SPACE-BASED ASTRONOMY - One of the biggest impacts to the low Earth orbit environment in the near-term and long-term future are satellite megaconstellations, according to a new study, published in the journal Nature. Companies, like Amazon, OneWeb and SpaceX, along with governments, like China and the United States are keen on the idea of controlling hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of satellites that serve a connected purpose. The paper published on Dec. 3 comes from three researchers at NASA Ames Research Center in California.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 13)

SPACE FORCE ROLLS OUT NEW NAMING SCHEME FOR SATELLITES AND SPACE WEAPONS - The U.S. Space Force is rolling out a new naming scheme for its satellites, cyber tools and other space-warfare systems, a move aimed at giving its arsenal the kind of recognizable identities long used across the military. In a keynote address at the Spacepower conference Dec. 11, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said the service will begin assigning meaningful nicknames to operational systems, drawing on themes meant to reflect each mission area’s character and give guardians a clearer cultural anchor.    More
(Source: Space News - Dec 13)

SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS COULD OBSCURE MOST SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS BY LATE 2030S: 'THAT PART OF THE IMAGE WILL BE FOREVER LOST' - Rapidly growing swarms of satellites around Earth are no longer just a nuisance for ground-based observatories — the reflections they cause are now intruding on space-based telescopes as well, according to new research. Roughly 15,000 satellites currently circle the planet in vast internet-providing fleets, more than half of them belonging to SpaceX's Starlink network, which has more than 9,000 spacecraft in orbit. In 2023, astronomers reported that some of these satellites were already photobombing images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, as sunlight glinted off their surfaces leaving bright trails that erase, obscure or mimic genuine cosmic signals.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 13)

3 FOREIGN SATELLITES AMONG 9 LAUNCHED BY KINETICA 1 - CAS Space, a leading commercial rocket maker, launched the 11th Kinetica 1 carrier rocket on Wednesday afternoon, deploying nine satellites, including three for the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Nepal. The rocket lifted off at 12:03 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert of northwestern China and successfully placed the payloads into their preset orbits, the company said in a statement. The satellites included six Chinese multifunctional satellites, an Earth-observation satellite for the UAE, a scientific satellite for Egypt and an educational satellite for Nepal.   More
(Source: China Daily - Dec 12)

SPACEX BREAKS LAUNCH PAD TURNAROUND RECORD WITH FLIGHT OF FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX launched another batch of 29 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit on its Falcon 9 rocket Thursday afternoon breaking its pad turnaround record by nearly five hours. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred shortly before sunset at 5:01 p.m. EST (2201 UTC). The liftoff broke the pad turnaround record for SpaceX, following close on the heels of the NROL-77 mission, two days, two hours, 44 minutes and 55 seconds earlier. The previous record of two days seven hour 29 minutes and 10 seconds was set back in October.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 12)

AI HELPS PILOT FREE-FLYING ROBOT AROUND THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FOR 1ST TIME EVER - Navigating in a microgravity environment is a challenge even for trained human astronauts, but it is even more challenging for autonomous robots, limiting their use in places like a space station. Now, however, Stanford researchers have used artificial intelligence to steer a free-flying robot aboard the International Space Station (ISS), potentially paving the way for more autonomous space missions in the future.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 12)

CHINESE ASTRONAUTS CLAMBER OUTSIDE SPACE STATION TO INSPECT DAMAGED SPACECRAFT - Last month, Chinese astronauts on board the country’s Tiangong space station discovered cracks in the window of their return vehicle, the Shenzhou-20, which officials suspected were the result of a space debris strike. The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was deemed not safe enough to return its crew after the cracks were found, prompting an orbital game of musical chairs as the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) launched an emergency uncrewed replacement spacecraft, Shenzhou-22, to the station.   More
(Source: Futurism - Dec 11)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 160TH FALCON 9 ROCKET OF 2025 - SpaceX executed a pre-dawn launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday morning. The flight was the 160th of a Falcon 9 rocket so far in 2025. The Starlink 15-11 mission added another 27 broadband internet satellites to its growing megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 3:40 a.m. PST (6:40 a.m. EST / 1140 UTC). This was the third fastest turnaround of SLC-4E to date.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 11)

STATION TRIO BACK ON EARTH; EXPEDITION 74 KEEPS UP SCIENCE, MAINTAINS SYSTEMS - Expedition 73 has ended and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim has returned to Houston and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky have returned to Moscow. The trio is now readapting to Earth’s gravity after living aboard the International Space Station in weightlessness for 245 days. Expedition 74 is now underway with veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke as commander leading six flight engineers including NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Chris Williams, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Platonov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev.   More
(Source: NASA - Dec 11)

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