AIRBUS TO BUILD AEOLUS-2 WIND-MONITORING SATELLITE - The European Space Agency has selected Airbus Defence and Space to start work on the successor to a wind-monitoring satellite. ESA announced July 2 it authorized Airbus to begin work on the Aeolus-2 satellite, funding the initial phases of the satellite’s development. The contract for that initial work is worth 51 million euros ($58.3 million), according to an Airbus spokesperson.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 6)

CHINA LAUNCHES GROUP OF COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES - China launched a group of communications satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province on Saturday afternoon, placing the 13th batch of space-based assets of the Spacesail Constellation in orbit. The satellites were carried by a Long March 6A rocket that blasted off at 5:30 pm and soon arrived in their predetermined orbital positions.   More
(Source: China Daily HK - Jul 6)

CHINA’S LATEST SATELLITE ENGINE SETS GLOBAL RECORD: HIGH PERFORMANCE ALLOWS FOR LARGER, FASTER AND MORE MANOEUVRABLE SPACECRAFT - China has achieved a significant milestone in electric propulsion for satellites by successfully demonstrating a new 750-newton Hall-effect thruster, which completed a record-breaking orbital transfer mission and surpassed the performance of all comparable preceding systems. The engine powered Communications Technology Experiment Satellite 26A from its initial transfer orbit to geostationary orbit through five orbit-raising manoeuvres, firing for a cumulative 11,617 seconds (approximately 3.2 hours) during its maiden mission.   More
(Source: Military Watch Magazine - Jul 5)

AMERICA AT 500: WHERE WILL WE BE IN SPACE IN 2276? - The United States has taken some significant steps into the final frontier during its first 250 years. The nation has put people on the moon, helped build and operate a long-running space station in low Earth orbit (LEO) and sent fleets of robotic explorers to many corners of the solar system — and even beyond it, into interstellar space.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 5)

NASA LAUNCHES RESCUE MISSION TO SAVE SWIFT SPACE TELESCOPE FROM BURNING UP IN EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE - An air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket has flown for the very last time, sending a private spacecraft on a rescue mission to save one of NASA's most iconic space telescopes from falling back to Earth. The Swift Boost mission successfully launched the LINK satellite, built by Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies, on Friday (July 3) at 4:36 a.m. EDT (0836 GMT), according to NASA. LINK will rendezvous with NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and tow it to a stable orbit, saving it from impending destruction as its trajectory dips farther into the atmosphere.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 4)

ULA LAUNCHES FINAL ATLAS 5 ROCKET SUPPORTING AMAZON LEO’S BROADBAND INTERNET SATELLITE CONSTELLATION - United Launch Alliance closed a big chapter in the company’s history. Thursday morning’s predawn launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in support of Amazon Leo’s satellite constellation was the final flight of an Atlas 5 rocket flying in a 551 configuration. The rocket carried 29 broadband internet satellites onboard as part of the Atlas 5 Amazon Leo 8 mission, which was also referred to as Leo Atlas 8 (LA-08) by Amazon.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 4)

LAST-MINUTE LAUNCH PROBLEM DELAYS SATELLITE RESCUE MISSION FOR NASA - A rush rescue mission to save a NASA space telescope remains grounded, this time because of a last-minute launch problem. Northrop Grumman ’s rocket-launching plane took off from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific on Thursday, following weather delays all week. But a software issue resulted in an abort, keeping the Pegasus rocket strapped to the plane’s belly, according to NASA. The problem has since been fixed, and another launch attempt was set for Friday.   More
(Source: AP News - Jul 3)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX kicked off the back half of 2026 with a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base Wednesday night. The Starlink 17-46 mission added another 24 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation that consists of more than 10,700 satellites. SpaceX launched nearly 1,600 satellites during the first half of 2026.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 3)

PLANNED 1.7 MILLION SATELLITES 'DEVASTATING' FOR ASTRONOMY BY MAKING NIGHT SKY BRIGHTER - There are also concerns that huge amounts of space debris from satellites could increasingly crash into each other in a dangerous chain reaction known as "Kessler syndrome." The 1.7 million satellites that companies are aiming to launch into Earth's orbit in the coming years will have "devastating consequences for astronomy," new research warned on Wednesday.   More
(Source: Euronews - Jul 2)

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