EUROPE CONSIDERS LAUNCHING COPERNICUS SATELLITE ON FALCON 9 - Europe may shift the launch of a Copernicus Earth observation satellite to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to avoid further delays in getting it into orbit. At a press briefing Jan. 11, Simonetta Cheli, director of Earth observation at the European Space Agency, said the agency and the European Commission will decide in the near future whether to switch the Sentinel-1C radar imaging satellite from Vega C to Falcon 9.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 13)

ORIENSPACE BREAKS CHINESE COMMERCIAL LAUNCH RECORDS WITH GRAVITY-1 SOLID ROCKET - A young Chinese launch startup has reached orbit with its Gravity-1 all-solid launch vehicle, smashing the record for payload capacity for Chinese commercial rockets. Orienspace’s Gravity-1 rocket lifted off from Defu-15002 mobile sea platform in the Yellow Sea at 12:30 a.m. Eastern (0530 UTC) Jan. 11. Ignition of the solid rocket motors produced large plumes of exhaust, with debris visibly falling into the sea as the rocket climbed into the sky. The firm confirmed launch success shortly after.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 12)

SPACEX DELAYS STARLINK SATELLITE LAUNCH FROM WEST COAST - SpaceX pushed back to Saturday the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from California due to unfavorable weather for booster recovery in the Pacific Ocean. The launch, carrying 22 Starlink satellites, will add to the more than 5,300 satellites already in orbit. The rocket is now set to liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday, Jan. 13, at 12:59 a.m. PST (3:59 a.m. EST, 0859 UTC). The launch has already been delayed multiple times, as delay from Thursday was also due to poor weather, according to SpaceX.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 12)

ASTRONAUTS READY FOR FIRST, ALL-EUROPEAN MISSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - For the third time, Axiom Space is preparing a charter mission to the International Space Station. The Ax-3 mission carries the distinction of featuring an all-European crew, with Commander Michael López-Alegría being a dual citizen of both the United States and Spain. Following the Flight Readiness Review on Wednesday, the crew spoke about their upcoming mission amid their ongoing quarantine in Florida, which has been in place for a little over a week. They are set to launch to the ISS, on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at 5:11 p.m. EST (2211 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 12)

NASA EYES BILLION-DOLLAR SPACE VEHICLE TO AVERT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION'S UNCONTROLLED REENTRY - An approaching federal contract deadline may reveal the solution to an urgent problem facing the U.S. space program: how to safely deorbit the International Space Station in the event of an emergency or when its mission wraps up. Companies have until March 4 to turn in their proposals to "design, develop, manufacture, test, integrate, achieve NASA acceptance, deliver, and sustain" what the space agency is calling the United States Deorbit Vehicle, envisioned as "a new or modified spacecraft using a large amount of propellant."   More
(Source: Military.com - Jan 12)

NASA AWARDS ANOTHER $100 MILLION FOR PRIVATE SPACE STATIONS - NASA has awarded nearly $100 million in additional funding to commercial space station partners that are developing low Earth orbit destinations. With the International Space Station (ISS) set for retirement in 2030, NASA has Space Act Agreements with Blue Origin and Voyager Space to develop concepts for a new orbiting lab as part of the space agency's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLD) program. On. Jan. 5. NASA announced modifications to its existing agreements, including new technical milestones and reallocated funding.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 12)

OVZON 3 SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYS SOLAR ARRAYS IN GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT - Redwire said Jan. 10 the two unfurlable solar array wings it provided for Ovzon 3, the first commercial satellite to use the space technology company’s Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) hardware, have successfully deployed in geostationary orbit. Each 10-meter-long ROSA is operating nominally following Ovzon 3’s launch last week aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, Redwire announced, providing the 1,500-kilogram broadband satellite and its electric propulsion with a combined 10-kilowatts of power for a trip due to take several months to its final orbital position.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 11)

IRIDIUM PIVOTS TO STANDARDIZED DIRECT-TO-DEVICE SATELLITE SERVICES - Iridium Communications plans to make its low Earth orbit constellation compatible with 5G standards used by mass-market smartphones, aiming to enable them to access messaging and SOS services outside cellular coverage from 2026. The standards-based approach comes after a proprietary-only strategy for serving the emerging direct-to-device market derailed last year when Qualcomm scrapped plans to make specialized chips that would give smartphones the ability to connect to Iridium’s satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 11)

CHINA TO LAUNCH 26,000 SATELLITES, VYING WITH U.S. FOR SPACE POWER - China will start building this year its own version of StarLink, a satellite internet constellation using low Earth orbit, with plans of launching some 26,000 satellites to cover the entire world led by state-run companies. Now that the military use of satellite-based communications systems for warfare in such places as Ukraine and Gaza is increasing, China will set up its own satellite network to compete with the U.S. as a "space power."   More
(Source: Nikkei Asia - Jan 11)

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