SPACE FORCE WANTS ABILITY TO REFUEL MILITARY SATELLITES IN ORBIT - Space tankers being developed by a Denver-based tech company could soon keep U.S. military satellites in orbit longer. The Space Force awarded a $25.5 million contract last month to Astroscale U.S. Inc. to develop and deliver an in-orbit refueler by 2026, the service announced in a Sept. 19 news release. The firm is a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based Astroscale Holdings Inc., a private orbital debris removal company. More (Source: Stars and Stripes - Oct 27)
NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR ROSCOSMOS SPACEWALK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - NASA will provide live coverage as two Roscosmos cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Wednesday, Oct. 25, to install communications hardware and inspect a portion of the orbital complex. Coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. The spacewalk is expected to begin at 2:10 p.m. and could last up to seven hours. More (Source: PR Newswire - Oct 25)
NASA’S SPACEX CRS-29 MISSION FLIES RESEARCH TO THE SPACE STATION - The 29th SpaceX commercial resupply services (CRS) mission for NASA carries scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies of enhanced optical communications and measurement of atmospheric waves. The uncrewed SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Nov. 5. More (Source: NASA - Oct 25)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - China on Tuesday successfully launched a new remote sensing satellite into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. A Long March-2D carrier rocket carrying the satellite Yaogan-39 lifted off at 4:03 a.m. (Beijing Time). The Long March-2D rocket was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. More (Source: Xinhua - Oct 25)
US SPACE FORCE'S 1ST OFFICIAL PAINTING SHOWS MILITARY SPACE PLANE INTERCEPTING ADVERSARY SATELLITE - The United States Space Force has unveiled an official painting depicting a space plane intercepting an adversary satellite, perhaps illustrating a hint of what we can expect if orbital warfare is in our future. Space Operations Command (SpOC), which provides orbital warfare and intelligence capabilities to the U.S. Space Force, unveiled the painting during a ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado on Oct. 20. The artwork, titled "High Ground Intercept," was commissioned with artist Rick Herter and is SpOC's first official painting. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 25)
MUSK’S SPACEX REPORTEDLY INKS DEAL WITH EU TO LAUNCH SATELLITES - SpaceX, the private rocket producer run by billionaire Elon Musk, has reached a deal with the European Space Agency to launch four navigation and communications satellites into orbit, the Wall Street Journal reports, marking the first time the European Union has partnered with the Musk-led company on a satellite containing classified information. More (Source: Forbes - Oct 24)
SPACE FORCE SETS SIGHTS ON SMALL GEOSTATIONARY COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES - The U.S. Space Force is exploring the use of small geosynchronous satellites to enhance military communications networks — either through purchased commercial services or government-owned constellations. “We’re trying to leverage new capabilities from the commercial industry,” Clare Hopper, chief of the Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office, said Oct. 19 at the annual MilSat Symposium in Mountain View, California. Hopper said the Space Force is interested in procuring maneuverable small satellites that can deliver connectivity from geosynchronous Earth orbit. More (Source: SpaceNews - Oct 23)
ASTRONAUTS ABOARD INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SHARE VIEWS OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR FROM ABOVE - Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station told Fox News their view of Earth without borders and living alongside people from other nations has helped them feel a sense of unity, even as the Israel-Hamas war rages. "One of the things we experience up here is a different perspective of the world of our planet," European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen told Fox News. "A lot of people call it the overview effect." More (Source: Fox News - Oct 23)
SPACEX FALCON 9 LAUNCHES 21 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM CALIFORNIA - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off with 21 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 1:23 a.m. PDT (4:23 a.m. EDT, 0823 UTC). It was the first of two Starlink delivery missions planned for Saturday. The Falcon 9 set off on a south-easterly trajectory after lifting off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E). It was SpaceX’s 22nd mission from the West Coast this year and its 75th orbital launch of 2023 overall. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 22)
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