COMMERCIAL SPACE COMPANIES SAY CUT RED TAPE OR U.S. WILL LOSE ITS LEAD IN SPACEFLIGHT - The three companies who have flown people to space and back, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, joined two experts at a Congressional hearing to press for regulatory improvements, warning the U.S. risks losing its lead in spaceflight. The 1.5-hour-long hearing before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science was mainly focused on a regulatory framework called “Part 450,” which was designed to help streamline the process of issuing launch licenses under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which goes by the acronym AST. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 20)
CANADA TO LAUNCH NEW SATELLITES TO MONITOR CLIMATE CHANGE, GATHER MILITARY DATA - Canada aims to add more satellites to its flagship Earth observation program "as soon as possible" thanks to a fresh funding infusion, a senior space official said in an exclusive interview. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will receive substantial new government funding to extend the long-standing Radarsat satellite series, a keystone of the country's climate change strategy and international disaster response, not to mention military surveillance. The agency allocation is $1.012 billion CDN (roughly $740,000 USD) over 15 years, a substantial boost to annual spending. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 20)
NASA DELAYS SPACEWALK A 2ND TIME DUE TO LEAK ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - NASA officials have again postponed one of two forthcoming spacewalks in the wake of a recent coolant leak on the Russian segment of the International Space Station. A spacewalk last set for Thursday (Oct. 19) will now happen later in 2023 as NASA and Russia's federal space agency, Roscosmos, continue their analysis, NASA officials stated. The coolant used on the International Space Station (ISS) is ammonia, which requires extra decontamination procedures if spacesuited astronauts are nearby. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 19)
NASA ASTRONAUT SNAPS PHOTO OF SOLAR ECLIPSE FROM THE SPACE STATION - Not all of the skywatchers who enjoyed last weekend's solar eclipse were confined to planet Earth. On Saturday (Oct. 14), observers along a narrow swath of land from the Oregon coast southeast down through Central and South America were treated to an annular solar eclipse: The moon blocked all of the sun's disk save for a thin band around the outside, which blazed as a bright "ring of fire." More (Source: Space.com - Oct 19)
SPACEX LAUNCHES STARLINK SATELLITES ON 16TH RE-FLIGHT FOR FALCON 9 FIRST STAGE - SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 22 Starlink internet satellites to orbit this evening (Oct. 17). The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 8:39 p.m. EDT (0039 GMT on Oct. 18). The rocket's first stage came back to Earth, touching down at sea on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions about 8.5 minutes after launch. It was the 16th flight for this particular rocket's first stage — one shy of the company's reuse record, which was set just last month. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 19)
SECOND RUSSIAN LUCH/OLYMP SATELLITE NOW TRAILING WESTERN SYSTEMS IN ORBIT - Much like its predecessor launched nearly a decade ago, Russia’s second Luch/Olymp satellite is stalking Western satellites across geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), according to private sector space watchers. According to data gathered by California startup Slingshot Aerospace, the satellite known as Luch-5X or Olymp-K-2 [Norad ID 5584] began moving east to west shortly after its launch on March 12 — in what company officials told Breaking Defense on Oct. 6 shows a “pattern of life” that includes making stops nearby non-Russian satellites. More (Source: Breaking Defense - Oct 18)
OVER 1 MILLION SATELLITES COULD BE HEADED TO EARTH ORBIT, AND SCIENTISTS ARE WORRIED - Earth's lower orbit, already crowded with tens of thousands of satellites, may soon choke with many more, underscoring a need for stringent laws regarding the use of shared orbital space, according to new research. More specifically, experts believe more than a million satellites are headed to low-Earth orbit. To arrive at that figure, researchers studied recent filings in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) database, which is a United Nations agency responsible for granting spaces in orbit for satellite use. To launch and operate satellite populations, nations are required to submit relevant information to the ITU. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 18)
AMAZON SHARES AN UPDATE ON HOW PROJECT KUIPER’S TEST SATELLITES ARE PERFORMING - At 2:06 p.m. EDT on Friday, October 6, Project Kuiper sent its first two satellites into space on board an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance (ULA). The launch kicked off the Kuiper Protoflight mission, a monthslong series of tests to validate our system design and network performance. Already, our engineers have collected some of the most critical data from the mission. “There’s plenty of work ahead, but at this point in the mission, I’m thrilled to report that KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 are operating nominally,” said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology... More (Source: About Amazon - Oct 17)
CHINA TO SEND ASTRONAUTS TO SPACE STATION LATER THIS MONTH - The Shenzhou XVII mission is scheduled to launch this month to transport three astronauts to the Tiangong space station, according to China Central Television, the State broadcaster. CCTV reported on Sunday that the Shenzhou XVII spacecraft will be lifted by a Long March 2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert to dock with the Tiangong station. More (Source: China Daily - Oct 17)
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