CHINA LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - China successfully launched a new remote sensing satellite into its planned orbit from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the southern island province of Hainan on Friday. The carrier rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y6, blasted off at 9:41 p.m. (Beijing Time), carrying the Yaogan-41, a high-orbit optical remote sensing satellite.   More
(Source: CGTN - Dec 17)

SECOND ARKTIKA SATELLITE LIFTS OFF - Roskosmos closed its 2023 orbital launch attempts on December 16 with a Soyuz rocket mission carrying the second Arktika remote-sensing satellite into a highly elliptical orbit stretched above the northern hemisphere of our planet. Like its predecessor, it will be used primarily for meteorological observations of the Arctic Region.   More
(Source: RussianSpaceWeb.com - Dec 17)

SPACE FORCE EYES NEW BREED OF SATELLITES THAT ADJUST THEIR ORBIT AND RESPOND TO THREATS - The U.S. military has long relied on large, expensive satellites parked in fixed orbits above the Earth. Some U.S. Space Force leaders believe it’s time to change that model in favor of more mobile and renewable satellites that can maneuver to avoid attack. “We’ve got to be better at dynamic space operations,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, who runs the Space Force’s Space Systems Command and was nominated to be the next vice chief of the U.S. Space Force.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 16)

SPACE FORCE STILL DODGING CHINESE SATELLITE DEBRIS - Anti-satellite attacks not only have consequences for the space vehicle itself, but can cause problems for other systems in orbit for years, and even decades, to come. In January 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite test, destroying a non-operational weather satellite with a ballistic missile. The destruction created a cloud of more than 3,000 pieces of space debris, according to a Secure World Foundation fact sheet.   More
(Source: National Defense Magazine - Dec 16)

A TOP-SECRET CHINESE SPY SATELLITE JUST LAUNCHED ON A SUPERSIZED ROCKET - China's largest rocket apparently wasn't big enough to launch the country's newest spy satellite, so engineers gave the rocket an upgrade. The Long March 5 launcher flew with a payload fairing some 20 feet (6.2 meters) taller than its usual nose cone when it took off on Friday with a Chinese military spy satellite. This made the Long March 5, with a height of some 200 feet, the tallest rocket China has ever flown.   More
(Source: Ars Technica - Dec 16)

SPACEX DELAYS FIRST STARLINK SATELLITES WITH DIRECT-TO-CELL CAPABILITY - SpaceX is looking to rebound from a week of scuttled launches with a Falcon 9 launch from California. The Starlink 7-9 mission will feature another batch of 21 satellites heading up to low Earth orbit, something that has become almost routine for the company. However, this late night Friday mission is unique in that it will include the first six Starlink satellites that feature direct-to-cell capabilities. SpaceX stated that the new function “will enable mobile network operators around the world to provide seamless global access to texting, calling and browsing… on land, lakes or coastal waters.”
Update 9:45 p.m. EST: The launch is now scheduled for December 28 at 9:09 p.m. PST (12:09 a.m. EST, 0509 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 16)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH 3RD PRIVATE ASTRONAUT MISSION TO THE ISS FOR AXIOM SPACE ON JAN. 9 - Axiom Space says it hopes SpaceX's private astronaut missions will become cheaper in the future. Houston-based Axiom plans to launch its third mission, Ax-3, on Jan. 9, 2024 to the International Space Station using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. Four commercial astronauts will ride on board. Axiom Space does not disclose per-seat pricing, but estimates pegged April 2022's Ax-1 mission, which SpaceX also launched, at $55 million per astronaut.    More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 15)

AMAZON’S PROJECT KUIPER SATELLITES ARE A STEP CLOSER TO COMPETING WITH ELON MUSK'S STARLINK - Project Kuiper, an upcoming satellite internet provider from Amazon, has successfully tested laser communications between its satellites. The announcement marks a major milestone in Amazon’s path to catching up with SpaceX’s Starlink, which already has some 2 million users in over 60 countries. According to Amazon, the prototype satellites KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 were able to send and receive data at up to 100 Gbps, which is much higher than standard residential internet data transfer speeds. The testing was conducted in November.   More
(Source: Quartz - Dec 15)

ROCKET LAB RETURNS TO FLIGHT WITH SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF JAPANESE SATELLITE - Rocket Lab just bounced back from a launch failure. The company's Electron rocket lifted off from New Zealand tonight (Dec. 14) a little after 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 GMT and 5:00 p.m. New Zealand time on Dec. 15), carrying the Tsukuyomi-1 satellite for the Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS skyward. All went according to plan; Electron deployed Tsukuyomi-1 into low Earth orbit as scheduled, about 56.5 minutes after launch.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 15)

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