ROCKET LAB ELECTRON ABORTS LAUNCH IN FINAL SECONDS - In a launch market dominated by SpaceX, Rocket Lab continues to cement its place in the orbital delivery landscape with plans for the 40th launch of its Electon rocket early Sunday. Liftoff of the small-satellite launcher has been rescheduled for 0700 UTC (7 p.m. New Zealand time/3 a.m. EDT) from Rocket Lab’s Pad B on Launch Complex 1 at Mahia, New Zealand. Electron is carrying its 171st satellite to date, Acadia 1, the first of four new radar-imaging satellites for Earth observation company, Capella Space. The mission is named “We Love the Nightlife” for the satellite’s ability to make observations day and night.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 1)

HISDESAT WILL LAUNCH THE FIRST SATELLITE OF THE SPAINSAT NG PROGRAMME NEXT SUMMER - Hisdesat, the Spanish government satellite operator, has announced that the first satellite in the SPAINSAT NG programme, SpainSat NG-I, will be ready for launch in summer of 2024 after confirming that the programme is making good progress. The US company Space X will be in charge of launching the Spanish satellite into orbit with a Falcon 9 launcher, from its base at Cape Canaveral or from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. One of the key components that make these satellites so innovative is the active antenna system, developed by Airbus Defence and Space in Spain, which will provide secure and reliable communications for the Spanish Armed Forces and other government agencies.   More
(Source: SpaceRef - Aug 1)

L-48 FORECAST: STILL 80% FAVORABLE FOR ANTARES LAUNCH - The Wallops Range 48-hour forecast issued today for the Tuesday, Aug. 1, launch of Northrop Grumman’s 19th resupply mission to the International Space Station continues to keep weather at 80% favorable, with a slight chance of cumulus clouds being the main weather concern. NASA commercial cargo provider Northrop Grumman is targeting 8:31 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 1, for the launch.   More
(Source: NASA - Jul 31)

CREW DRAGON, SOYUZ MISSIONS SET FOR LAUNCHES TO ISS - Two crewed missions remain on track to launch to the International Space Station over the next month and a half after addressing technical issues that included a Soyuz coolant leak. At a July 25 briefing, NASA officials said they are planning the launch of the Crew-7 mission to the ISS no earlier than Aug. 17. That mission, on a Crew Dragon spacecraft, was scheduled for Aug. 15 but pushed back two days to allow sufficient time to change over Launch Complex 39A from Falcon Heavy to Falcon 9.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 31)

NEW SATELLITE WILL ABLE TO SEE 'X-RAY RAINBOW' FROM HUGE OBJECTS IN SPACE - We'll soon get sharper vision on cosmic X-rays. A new satellite aims to study huge objects in the universe, using instruments able to measure the heat of a single X-ray photon. The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM — pronounced "crism") will analyze X-rays using the widest field-of-view instrument ever implemented in this kind of imaging probe. The instrument will be able to "pry apart high-energy light into the equivalent of an X-ray rainbow," according to a NASA statement. XRISM is scheduled to launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on Aug. 25 (August 26, Japan time zone).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 31)

EUROPEAN WIND-MAPPING SATELLITE RETURNED SAFELY TO EARTH - A European wind-mapping satellite has returned successfully to Earth following a delicate assisted return designed to minimize damage from flying debris, the European Space Agency said on Saturday. It is the first time ESA's mission control had attempted an assisted re-entry through the planet's atmosphere.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Jul 30)

INDIAN ROCKET LAUNCHES 7 SATELLITES TO ORBIT - An Indian rocket launched seven satellites to orbit today (July 29). A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre today at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT and 6:30 a.m. local India time on July 30). The main payload that went up on the 145-foot-tall (44 meters) PSLV tonight was DS-SAR, a 794-pound (360 kilograms) satellite designed to image Earth in radar light. (SAR stands for "synthetic aperture radar.")   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 30)

WATCH ROCKET LAB LAUNCH EARTH-OBSERVING RADAR SATELLITE EARLY ON JULY 30 - Rocket Lab will launch an Earth-observing radar satellite for the company Capella Space early Sunday morning (July 30), and you can watch the action live. An Electron rocket carrying one of Capella Space's "Acadia" satellites is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site Sunday during a two-hour window that opens at 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT; 7 p.m. local New Zealand time).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 30)

EUROPEAN SATELLITE WILL FALL TO EARTH TODAY IN LANDMARK 'ASSISTED REENTRY' - A European satellite will make spaceflight history today (July 28), if all goes according to plan. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Aeolus spacecraft is scheduled to reenter Earth's atmosphere this evening, capping a four-day orbit-lowering campaign that could blaze a new trail for satellite operators. "This is quite unique, what we're doing. You don't find really examples of this in the history of spaceflight," Holger Krag, head of ESA's Space Debris Office, said during a press briefing on July 19. "This is the first time to our knowledge [that] we have done an assisted reentry like this."   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 29)

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