BLUEBIRD 8, 9, AND 10 SATELLITES TO BE LAUNCHED ON JUNE 17, ANNOUNCES AST SPACEMOBILE, INC. - AST SpaceMobile, Inc. is among the 10 Stocks ChatGPT Predicts Could Make You Wealthy in 3 Years. On June 9, the company announced that its next-generation BlueBird 8, 9, and 10 satellites will be launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on June 17 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The orbital launch mission will help in further strengthening the firm's capabilities in commercial and government communications and non-communications, which include space-based cellular broadband services. The satellites will use the company's advanced stackable satellite architecture.   More
(Source: Yahoo Finance - Jun 17)

A CHINESE ROCKET BREAKS APART DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE STARLINK CONSTELLATION - The upper stage from a commercial Chinese rocket that launched last week has broken apart in space, spreading debris in a heavily trafficked part of low-Earth orbit home to the International Space Station and a significant portion of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. The breakup occurred shortly after the Zhuque-2E rocket reached orbit on June 9 with two satellites providing direct-to-cell communications, perhaps around the time the upper stage was expected to perform a disposal burn.   More
(Source: Ars Technica - Jun 16)

NASA’S SPACEX CRS-34 DRAGON RETURNS PACKED WITH SPACE STATION SCIENCE - Scientists await a big splash in the Pacific Ocean as one of the most research-packed Dragon spacecraft to date returns, completing the 34th SpaceX commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. Biological and materials samples, along with tested hardware, are heading back to research teams on Earth for further analysis, advancing NASA’s work to prepare humans for exploration beyond low Earth orbit and to deliver benefits back home.   More
(Source: NASA - Jun 16)

SPACEX LAUNCHES ITS FIRST FALCON 9 ROCKET SINCE NASDAQ DEBUT - SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket since making its public trading debut on the Nasdaq. The Starlink 17-54 mission launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday morning to add another 24 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East occurred at 8:34 a.m. PDT (11:34 a.m. EDT / 1534 UTC). The rocket flew on a south-southwesterly trajectory upon leaving the pad.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 16)

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IS OLD AND LEAKY. SHOULD IT BE DECOMMISSIONED SOONER RATHER THAN LATER? - Imagine you live in a house with walls that are just 2.54 mm thick. On the other side of your walls is certain death. Now imagine that there’s a crack in the outer wall of your living room, with oxygen being sucked out. And you can’t fix it. Sounds pretty terrifying, doesn’t it? But that’s exactly what has been going on aboard the International Space Station (ISS). For years.   More
(Source: CBC - Jun 15)

SPACEX UNVEILS AI1 ORBITAL DATA CENTER SATELLITE, TARGETS 1 GW SPACE COMPUTE BY LATE 2027 - SpaceX has disclosed the design of AI1, its first-generation orbital data center satellite, as part of the company's record-setting $75 billion initial public offering on the Nasdaq. The AI1 spacecraft delivers 150 kW of peak compute power and 120 kW average, spans 70 meters tip-to-tip — wider than a Boeing 747 — and stands 20 meters tall when deployed. Prototype units are planned for launch in early 2027, with commercial deployment and volume production to follow by the end of that year.   More
(Source: MLQ.ai - Jun 15)

SATELLITES OVERWHELM SPACE TELESCOPES WITH “RAILROAD” TRACKS - There’s bad news to report on the clear skies front. A new paper, available as a preprint on arXiv from researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, reports that 73.3 percent of images the agency’s new SPHEREx space telescope collected between May and September of last year were contaminated by at least one artificial satellite trail. And it’s only going to get worse from here.   More
(Source: IEEE Spectrum - Jun 15)

WHY IS THE US SPACE FORCE RESEARCHING 'ORBITAL WAREHOUSES'? - The U.S. military is looking into putting "orbital warehouses" into orbit around Earth where fuel and other materials could be stored for easy pickup by future spacecraft on satellite servicing missions. A new U.S. military challenge aims to "accelerate operational logistics" for to help the U.S. Space Force keep its satellites active and respond in a timely fashion to threats. The challenge was created amid repeated warnings that China and Russia are actively maneuvering their own satellites close to U.S. spacecraft in orbit and launching new types of orbital weaponry.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 14)

SPACEX LAUNCHES STARLINK MISSION FROM CAPE CANAVERAL AS STOCK TRADES ON THE NASDAQ FOR FIRST TIME - SpaceX celebrated its landmark stock market debut Friday morning with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission marked the 650th flight of the company’s flagship launch vehicle and the 68th Falcon 9 mission of 2026. Carrying out the Starlink 10-54 flight, SpaceX deployed 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 UTC), under an hour before trading opened on the Nasdaq Stock Market. After clearing the launch pad, Falcon 9 headed northeast on its ascent path.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 13)

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