SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET THREADS WEATHER NEEDLE AND LAUNCHES 22 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - Despite blustery winds and wet weather, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral early Thursday morning on the 70th Falcon flight and 44th Starlink delivery mission of the year. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 occurred at 1:36 a.m. EDT (0536 UTC), on the fourth of five launch opportunities that night. SpaceX did not give a specific reason for repeatedly pushing back the launch time, but in a social media post about 35 minutes prior to launch said: “Teams are keeping an eye on weather conditions at the launch site.” High winds and frequent showers buffeted the area throughout the night.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 5)

FCC ISSUES FIRST-EVER FINE FOR LEAVING JUNK IN SPACE - The FCC has issued its first fine for space junk to Dish Network for not properly deorbiting its satellite. The company admitted it was liable for not shifting its EchoStar-7 to a safer spot and will pay a penalty of $150,000 and implement a compliance plan. Space debris — non-functioning manmade materials floating around space — can pose a hazard to working infrastructure, including the ISS, which has had run-ins with debris in the past.   More
(Source: The Verge - Oct 5)

CHINESE ASTRONOMERS SAY THEIR NEW SPACE TELESCOPE WILL OUTDO HUBBLE - China is readying a major project that not only augments the nation's astronomical research agenda but bolsters the use of the country's space station complex. And there are bragging rights associated with China's star-studded venture. The spacecraft is called Xuntian, known as the Chinese Survey Space Telescope or the Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST). The name "Xuntian" can be literally translated as "surveying the sky" or "survey of the heavens."   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 5)

CHINA TO SEND NEW MODULES AND CO-ORBITING SPACECRAFT TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China will send new modules to its Tiangong space station in coming years to expand the outpost’s volume and capabilities. Future plans for Tiangong were presented at the 47th International Astronautical Congress in Baku Oct. 4. Zhang Qiao of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) presented plans to expand Tiangong from three to six modules. “We will build a 180 tons, six-module assembly in the future,” Zhang said. Tiangong currently has three modules, each with a mass of around 22 tons.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 5)

NASA SELECTS SPACEX FOR RIDESHARE LAUNCH OF SMALLSAT MISSION - NASA has selected SpaceX to launch a pair of smallsats to study space weather as part of a rideshare mission in 2025. NASA announced Sept. 29 that it awarded SpaceX a task order to launch the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), a pair of smallsats that will study space weather and the magnetosphere from low Earth orbit. NASA selected TRACERS in 2019 as a heliophysics Small Explorer, or SMEX, mission, with a cost of no more than $115 million.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 2)

INDONESIA TO LAUNCH 20 NANO-SATELLITES TO MAP SEA ACTIVITIES - Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, has informed that 20 nano-satellites will be launched and made operational in 2024 to map conditions and activities at sea. "A total of 20 nano-satellites will be launched and begin operating in 2024. The collaboration with Starlink will be carried out to help fishing vessels send data online using the e-PIT (Electronic Measured Fishing) application," the minister informed at a seminar held to commemorate National Maritime Day on Friday.   More
(Source: Tempo.co English - Oct 2)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 22 STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT FROM FLORIDA - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 22 Starlink satellites from Florida's Space Coast Friday evening (Sept. 29) and landed on a ship at sea. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 10:00 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT on Sept. 30). The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth for a vertical landing on a SpaceX drone ship at sea about 8.5 minutes after launch, as planned.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 30)

SOYUZ LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN TO END RECORD-BREAKING MISSION; RUBIO: “IT’S GOOD TO BE HOME” - NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Russian cosmonauts undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth early Wednesday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out an unexpected yearlong stay in space, the longest single flight in U.S. space history. With Soyuz MS-69/23S commander Sergey Prokopyev monitoring cockpit displays, flanked on the left by co-pilot Dmitri Petelin and on the right by NASA flight engineer Frank Rubio, the Russian ferry ship undocked from the space station’s multi-port Prichal module at 3:54 a.m. EDT.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 29)

EUTELSAT AND ONEWEB COMBINE TO CREATE EUROPEAN SATELLITE GIANT AS MUSK’S STARLINK PRESSURES SECTOR - OneWeb, the British satellite giant, completed its combination with French rival Eutelsat Thursday, setting the stage for a European challenger to Elon Musk’s space internet venture Starlink. The two companies said in a joint statement that they had completed their all-share combination, which will see OneWeb’s constellation of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites added to Eutelsat’s geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites.   More
(Source: CNBC - Sep 29)

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