SPACE SYSTEMS COMMAND SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES THREE SATELLITES FOR U.S. SPACE FORCE ON SPACEX TRANSPORTER-8 MISSION - Space Systems Command (SSC)’s Space Domain Awareness & Combat Power (SDA&CP) and Spaceflight Inc. successfully launched three Department of Defense (DoD) Research and Development (R&D) satellites, built by Blue Canyon Technologies, for the U.S. Space Force on a Space-X Falcon-9 rocket lifted off at 2:35 p.m. PT/5:35 p.m. ET from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. More (Source: SpaceRef - Jun 16)
TOMORROW.IO RAISES $87 MILLION FOR WEATHER SATELLITE CONSTELLATION - omorrow.io raised $87 million in a Series E funding round to support its campaign to gather weather and climate data. Boston-based Tomorrow.io announced the news June 14 after launching its second satellite, R-2, on the SpaceX Transporter-8 rideshare flight. Tomorrow.io’s $87M Series E round was led by Activate Capital. Joining the round were RTX Ventures, Seraphim Space and Chemonics. Existing Tomorrow.io investors, SquarePeg Capital, Canaan, ClearVision, JetBlue Ventures and Pitango, also provided funding. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 16)
WORLD’S TINIEST SATELLITE ‘POCKETQUBE ISTANBUL’ BY SATELLITE TECH START-UP HELLO SPACE, LAUNCHED INTO SPACE WITH SPACEX - Hello Space, a promising satellite tech start-up, aims to set a pocketqube constellation in space to revolutionize IoT technologies, by offering reliable, consistent IoT data services to businesses, from even the most remote locations in the world. World’s tiniest satellite, called ‘pocketqube’s offers cutting-edge satellite tech, with 5cm x 5cm x 5cm in size. Hello Space achieved unprecedented speed by completion of software and hardware production followed by space launch in under 13 months. More (Source: Yahoo Finance - Jun 15)
PENTAGON GEARING UP TO LAUNCH 1ST EXPERIMENTAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE IN 50 YEARS - The Pentagon is preparing to launch a test craft that could improve the nation's satellite-navigation capabilities. The spacecraft, called Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), will be the first U.S. experimental navigation satellite to take flight since NTS-1 and NTS-2 launched in the 1970s. NTS-3, which was developed by L3Harris Technologies, recently completed testing at the Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 15)
WATCH 2 NASA ASTRONAUTS SPACEWALK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION ON JUNE 15 IN THIS FREE LIVESTREAM - Two NASA astronauts will conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Thursday (June 15), and you can watch the excursion live. Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen are scheduled to begin their spacewalk Thursday at 8:55 a.m. EDT (1255 GMT). They'll spend about six hours installing a roll-out solar array on the exterior of the International Space Station. You can watch the extravehicular activity (EVA) live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the space agency. Coverage will begin at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT). More (Source: Space.com - Jun 15)
SATELLITE SWARMS FOR SCIENCE ‘GROW UP’ AT NASA AMES - Teamwork makes the dream work, and at NASA that doesn’t apply only to humans. Researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley are developing satellite swarms, which are groups of spacecraft working together as a unit, without being managed individually by mission controllers. A swarm’s ability to perform autonomously will make new types of science and exploration possible, particularly as they venture farther into deep space. More (Source: NASA - Jun 14)
WOW! AMAZING VIDEO SHOWS INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CROSSING THE SUN DURING SPACEWALK - Capturing footage of the International Space Station (ISS) hurtling through space at approximately 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h) is no mean feat, yet French astrophotographer Thierry Legault has pulled it off yet again. In his latest stunning footage, captured on Friday (June 9), Legault imaged the ISS whizzing past three sunspot groups, the largest of them big enough to swallow Earth whole. The entire solar transit lasted just 0.75 seconds. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 13)
HOTSAT-1: SPACECRAFT TO MAP UK'S HEAT INEFFICIENT BUILDINGS - A novel British satellite designed to map the heat signature of buildings has been launched. The idea is to highlight those dwellings that are wasting energy and could benefit from better insulation. The relatively small spacecraft is appropriately called HotSat-1 and it will be operated by the London-based start-up Satellite Vu. Its infrared sensor has been developed with funds from the UK and European space agencies. More (Source: BBC News - Jun 13)
SPINLAUNCH LOOKS TO ELECTRIFY SATELLITE LAUNCHES - The world is currently in a transition from cars with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines to vehicles powered by electricity and batteries. A company named SpinLaunch is pursuing a somewhat similar strategy when it comes launching satellites into orbit, though it has developed an unusual technique for doing so. Instead of a launch vehicle that uses chemical propellants, SpinLaunch is developing an electric-powered system that uses a rotating arm in a large vacuum chamber to accelerate a payload vehicle faster and faster until it is released through a tube and heads toward space. More (Source: SpaceRef - Jun 13)
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