RADIO NOISE FROM SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS COULD INTERFERE WITH ASTRONOMERS - Large satellite constellations can unintentionally generate electromagnetic noise, creating an additional source of interference for radio astronomers. Astronomers announced July 5 that they detected radio emissions at relatively low frequencies from dozens of SpaceX Starlink satellites as they passed over a Dutch radio observatory. The emissions, at frequencies between 110 and 188 megahertz, are different from the deliberate transmissions from the satellites used to provide broadband internet access between 10.7 and 12.7 gigahertz.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 6)

NORTH KOREA SATELLITE HAD 'NO MILITARY UTILITY' - SOUTH KOREA - South Korea's military said on Wednesday it had retrieved the wreckage of a North Korean spy satellite that plunged into the sea in May after a botched launch and found it had no meaningful military use as a reconnaissance satellite. The military last month also recovered parts of the rocket used in the failed launch; the booster and payload crashed into the sea soon after takeoff.   More
(Source: Reuters - Jul 5)

EUROPE’S WORKHORSE ARIANE 5 ROCKET TO RETIRE AFTER 27 YEARS SERVICE - Europe’s iconic Ariane 5 rocket, with its liquid hydrogen-fueled core stage and solid rocket boosters, has guaranteed Europe’s access to space, providing a unique capacity for launching satellites and spacecraft into precise orbits over almost three decades. Its long run comes to an end when the final Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from Kourou, French Guiana, no earlier than July 5, carrying a French military communications satellite and a German communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 5)

THE UK'S ODIN SPACE JUST ACED ITS 1ST SPACE JUNK TRACKING SYSTEM TEST IN ORBIT - A new method of tracking tiny pieces of space junk has passed its first demonstration test in orbit, according to its builders ODIN Space of London. Over the past two years, ODIN has been developing and qualifying technology to detect and track space junk that is too small to register using existing methods. The company's first demonstration sensor was integrated into the D-Orbit ION satellite, which hitched a ride to orbit as part of SpaceX's Transporter-8 mission that launched June 12.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 5)

CHINA'S TIANGONG SPACE STATION BEGINS HOSTING GLOBAL EXPERIMENTS - Scientific experiments from researchers around the world have started on China's Tiangong space station, part of Beijing's bid to appeal to the global scientific community. "We transported the first experimental equipment for joint projects with the United Nations to Tiangong on May 10," said China's Manned Space Agency project office at a United Nations-hosted online symposium on May 15.   More
(Source: Nikkei Asia - Jul 4)

PLATZI LAUNCHES ITS OWN SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - Platzi, the Colombian edtech company, has made a groundbreaking move by putting its satellite, the PlatziSat-1 in orbit. The company aims to involve more people in the aerospace industry in Latin America. The 15-inch satellite will orbit Earth for two years, serving as the cornerstone for Platzi’s Space Program. The program consists of 11 courses covering various aspects of satellite construction, ground stations, data reception from PlatziSat-1, and communication with other open satellites.   More
(Source: LatamList - Jul 4)

EUROPEAN SATELLITE STRIKES LIGHTNING - The first ever satellite instrument capable of continuously detecting lightning across Europe and Africa has now been switched on. New animations from the innovative ‘Lighting Imager’ confirm the instrument will revolutionise the detection and prediction of severe storms. ESA along with European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat) today have released the first animations from the Lightning Imager onboard the first Meteosat Third Generation satellite, which launched on 13 December 2022.   More
(Source: European Space Agency - Jul 4)

CHINA’S CHANGGUANG SATELLITE DEMONSTRATES SPACE-TO-GROUND LASER LINKS - A Chinese satellite manufacturer and constellation operator says it has successfully demonstrated space-to-ground high-speed laser communications which could help China break bottlenecks in getting data from space down to the ground. Changguang Satellite Technology (CGST) recently carried out the test with its Jilin-1 MF02A04 remote sensing satellite. The test was conducted in cooperation with the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 3)

SPACEX LAUNCHES EUROPEAN ‘DARK ENERGY TELESCOPE’ TO HELP UNRAVEL COSMOLOGY’S BIGGEST MYSTERIES - The European Space Agency launched its $1.5 billion Euclid space telescope Saturday, an ambitious, first-of-a-kind attempt to pin down the nature of dark matter, an unknown material pervading the cosmos, and dark energy, the mysterious repulsive force that is speeding up the expansion of the universe. “It’s very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat,” said Henk Hoekstra, an astronomer at the University of Leiden and a member of the Euclid Consortium of researchers. “That’s a little bit the situation we find ourselves in because we have these observations but we lack a good theory.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 2)

Previous Next