XRISM SATELLITE LAUNCHES TO STUDY THE UNIVERSE IN DIFFERENT COLORS OF X-RAYS - n Sept. 6, a new satellite left Earth; its mission is to tell us about the motions of hot plasma flows in the universe. Launched from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite will detect X-ray wavelengths with unprecedented precision to peer into the hearts of galaxy clusters, reveal the workings of black holes and supernovae, as well as to tell us about the elemental makeup of the universe.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Sep 11)

ULA’S ATLAS 5 LAUNCHES NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE MISSION - A National Reconnaissance Office mission flew to geostationary Earth orbit Sept. 10 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The rocket lifted off at 8:47 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch had been originally scheduled for August 29 but was delayed due to Hurricane Idalia. A second attempt on Sept. 9 was scrubbed due to a technical issue found during a pre-launch check. The NROL-107 mission, also known as SilentBarker, carried multiple sensor payloads for surveillance of objects in geostationary orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 11)

ATLAS 5 ROCKET RETURNS TO PAD FOR SPY SATELLITE AGENCY LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - ULA says launch has been delayed to “due to an issue found during a prelaunch ordnance circuit continuity check.” Liftoff is rescheduled for 8:27 a.m. EDT (1247 UTC) on Sunday. United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket made its way back to the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday morning for a mission carrying national security mission payloads, collectively codenamed Silentbarker.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 10)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 22 STARLINK SATELLITES IN NIGHTTIME LIFTOFF - SpaceX launched 22 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit tonight (Sept. 8) and landed the returning rocket on a ship at sea. A Falcon 9 rocket launched the Starlink spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida tonight (Sept. 8) at 11:12 p.m. EDT (0312 GMT). The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth for a landing about 8.5 minutes after liftoff tonight, touching down on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 9)

SPACEX'S STARSHIP ROCKET SPOTTED FROM SPACE AHEAD OF KEY TEST FLIGHT - Starship even looks big from space. SpaceX stacked its latest Starship vehicle on Tuesday (Sept. 5), lifting an upper-stage prototype called Ship 25 atop a first stage variant known as Booster 9 on the orbital launch mount at Starbase, the company's site in South Texas. That same day, Maxar Technologies' WorldView-1 satellite captured a great photo of the newly stacked rocket, which stands nearly 400 feet (122 meters) tall — and Maxar posted the shot on X (formerly known as Twitter) for all of us to see.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 9)

CHINA LAUNCHES CLASSIFIED YAOGAN REMOTE SENSING SATELLITES - China has added to its growing network of classified Yaogan series satellites with a pair of Long March rocket launches. A Long March 4C lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 2:14 p.m. EDT on Sept. 7 (1814 GMT, or 02:14 a.m. Beijing time on Sept. 7). Aboard was Yaogan 33 (03), a third satellite in the Yaogan 33 series of classified Chinese remote sensing satellites, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 8)

STARLINK SATELLITE DISINTEGRATES OVER THE CARIBBEAN - Witnesses in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic saw a spectacular satellite reentry around 7:25 p.m. local time (23:25 UTC) on September 6, 2023. Observers reported the reentry appeared across the sky from horizon to horizon, blazing a path from southwest to northeast. According to reentry predictions, the object was Starlink-30167, a satellite from SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, launched on July 28, 2023. Although the new Starlinks are called “V2 mini”, when the solar panels are deployed each spacecraft is 100 feet (30 m) wide.   More
(Source: EarthSky - Sep 8)

HERE'S OUR LAST LOOK AT EUROPE'S AEOLUS SATELLITE FALLING TO ITS FIERY DEATH - The European Space Agency has revealed final images of a trailblazing, wind-profiling spacecraft ahead of its fiery descent into the atmosphere. On Sept. 5, the European Space Agency (ESA) released an animation constructed from the final eight images captured of its wind-measuring Aeolus spacecraft. The combined radar images show how Aeolus began to tumble as it interacted with the Earth's atmosphere at near orbital speed. "These images are our final farewell to the mission we all miss, but whose legacy lives on," Aeolus Mission Manager Tommaso Parrinello said in a statement.    More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 7)

JAPAN LAUNCHES X-RAY SATELLITE, ‘MOON SNIPER’ LUNAR LANDER - A revolutionary satellite that will reveal celestial objects in a new light and the “Moon Sniper” lunar lander lifted off Wednesday night. The Japanese Space Agency launch, which was rescheduled several times due to bad weather, occurred aboard an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 7:42 p.m. ET Wednesday, or 8:42 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Thursday.    More
(Source: CNN - Sep 7)

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