LONG MARCH 3B LAUNCHES CHINASAT-6E COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - China sent its ChinaSat-6E communications satellite toward geostationary orbit Thursday with a launch from Xichang spaceport. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off into the night sky above Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 6:23 a.m. Eastern (1123 UTC), Nov. 9. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) confirmed launch success and the payload within an hour of launch. ChinaSat-6E (Zhongxing-6E) entered its planned geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). It will take over the radio and television broadcasting role of the ChinaSat-6B satellite launched in July 2007 and positioned at 115.5° East.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Nov 10)

SPACEX WILL LAUNCH IRELAND'S 1ST-EVER SATELLITE THIS MONTH - Ireland is all set to see its first-ever satellite reach orbit. The Educational Irish Research Satellite 1, or EIRSAT-1, was built by University College Dublin students as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) Academy's Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) program. The gamma-ray astronomy cubesat project began in 2017 and is now due to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at the end of November.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 10)

SPACEX LAUNCHES ITS 29TH CARGO MISSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - SpaceX's 29th robotic cargo mission to the International Space Station successfully lifted off on Thursday (Nov. 9). The CRS-29 Dragon launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida at 8:28 p.m. EST (0128 GMT on Nov. 10). The Falcon's first stage made a successful landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1). The launch marked the second flight for the stage, which previously launched Crew-7.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 10)

CAPITOL HILL BUDGET BATTLE MAY LIMIT INITIAL FUNDING OF SOME NATIONAL SECURITY SPACE LAUNCH MISSIONS - The U.S. Space Systems Command revealed the details of its latest batch of launch contracts for national security missions shared between United Launch Alliance and SpaceX. This marks the fifth and final year of the Phase 2 National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Service Task Order awards has been issued. It also sets the stage for more launch companies to join in the mix in the future. NSSL missions help protect U.S. assets both in orbit as well as on the ground. They also host technology demonstrations and advancements in various defense capabilities.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 9)

GERMAN SATELLITE WILL USE AI TO DETECT ANOMALIES ON ASTEROIDS AND PLANETS - A German satellite that will test new AI technologies in orbit for automatic detection of anomalies on planets and asteroids is set for launch. Despite its ambitious mission, the so-called SONATE-2 is a six-unit cubesat, a type of nanosatellite that’s no bigger than a shoebox. It was designed and built by a team led by aerospace engineer Professor Hakan Kayal from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Germany.   More
(Source: TheNextWeb - Nov 9)

NOAA-21 SATELLITE IS NOW OPERATIONAL - It’s official: NOAA-21, the latest satellite in NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System, is operational. The satellite joins its predecessors, Suomi NPP and NOAA-20, each circling the globe 14 times a day, providing a continuous stream of data to improve the accuracy of NOAA’s 3–7 day forecasts. This includes observations for extreme weather events and monitoring climate change.   More
(Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Nov 9)

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH SEVENTH X-37B MISSION - The Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in partnership with the United States Space Force, is scheduled to launch the seventh mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Dec. 7, 2023 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The X-37B Mission 7 will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time, designated USSF-52, with a wide range of test and experimentation objectives. These tests include operating the reusable spaceplane in new orbital regimes, experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies, and investigating the radiation effects on materials provided by NASA.   More
(Source: United States Space Force - Nov 8)

SPACEX LAUNCHES ITS 80TH ORBITAL MISSION OF THE YEAR - SpaceX has had a successful launch yet again. A Falcon 9 rocket lofted 23 more of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday (Nov. 8) at 12:05 a.m EST (0505 GMT). t was the 11th launch and landing for this rocket's first stage, according to the mission description. The 23 Starlink satellites, meanwhile, were scheduled to deploy from the Falcon 9's upper stage into low Earth orbit just under 65 minutes after liftoff.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 8)

SOUTH KOREA PLANS TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST MILITARY SPY SATELLITE ON NOV. 30 - South Korea said Monday it plans to launch its first domestically built spy satellite at the end of this month to better monitor rival North Korea, which is expanding its arsenal of nuclear weapons. The plan was unveiled days after North Korea failed to follow through on a vow to make a third attempt to launch its own reconnaissance satellite in October, likely because of technical issues.   More
(Source: Military.com - Nov 8)

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