RUSSIAN ELEKTRO-L WEATHER SATELLITE TO LAUNCH ON PROTON-M - At 09:12 UTC on Feb. 5, 2023, a Proton-M will launch from Site 81/24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the fourth Elektro-L satellite to geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). The Proton-M launch vehicle is serial number 93568 with Blok DM-03 upper stage number 7L. Sunday’s launch is the first of up to three Proton launches planned for 2023, with the next being Olymp-K 2 scheduled for March. The Proton-M launcher is nearing retirement, with a limited number of vehicles left available to launch over the next few years   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Feb 5)

SPACEMIND LAUNCHES THREE ITALIAN SMALLSATS TO ORBIT FROM ISS - Spacemind, the space division of Italian company NPC, has accomplished a series of three smallsat launches. DanteSat, Futura-SM1 and Futura-SM3 have been successfully launched into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS). This has also validated the operation of the new SMPod cubesat deployer, on-board equipment as well as a larger version of the Artica deorbiting sail.   More
(Source: SatNews - Feb 5)

UNITED STATES AND INDIA EXPAND CIVIL SPACE COOPERATION - U.S. and Indian officials agreed this week to expand civil space cooperation, including training Indian astronauts and flying payloads on commercial lunar landers. In meetings this week in Washington, held with little public fanfare, the United States and India agreed to expanded cooperation in civil space and laid the groundwork for potential new efforts.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 5)

KAPOW! INFLATABLE SPACE STATION MODULE BLOWS TO PIECES IN VIDEO EXPLOSION - Sierra Space aimed to blow a space module apart on video, and delivered on that promise in spades. The company completed its third module test on the journey to certify its module design for eventual spaceflight and to help develop a private space complex to replace the International Space Station (ISS). The accelerated systematic creep test, as the company termed the December trial, exceeded NASA's certification requirements.   More
(Source: Space.com - Feb 4)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 53 MORE STARLINK INTERNET SATELLITES - A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Thursday with 53 more Starlink satellites for SpaceX’s global internet network. The 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket fired off pad 39A at Kennedy at 2:58:20 a.m. EST (0758:20 GMT) Thursday, and shot into an orbit more than 200 miles (300 kilometers) above Earth after flying southeast from Florida’s Space Coast.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 3)

SECOND FLIGHT OF CROSS-COUNTRY STARLINK DOUBLEHEADER TARGETING THURSDAY - SpaceX ended January with and will begin February with two Starlink missions. These launches will occur two days apart from separate launch sites. The first such mission — Starlink Group 2-6 — lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 8:15 AM PST (16:15 UTC) after a delay from Monday “to allow additional time for pre-launch checkouts.” This will be followed by the Starlink Group 5-3 mission, which will launch from the historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which is currently scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 2 at 2:43 AM EST (07:43 UTC).   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Feb 2)

SOUTH KOREA PICKS VEGA C TO LAUNCH SATELLITE GROUNDED BY RUSSIAN SANCTIONS - South Korea has selected Arianespace’s Vega C rocket to launch a multipurpose imaging satellite, KOMPSAT-6, that has remained grounded due to sanctions imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine. South Korea’s vice minister for science, Oh Tae-seog, announced Feb. 1 that Vega-C was selected for the launch following international bidding.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 2)

GHGSAT: COMMERCIAL SATELLITE WILL SEE CO2 SUPER-EMITTERS - The world's first commercial satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide from orbit will launch later this year. It will be put up by the Canadian company GHGSat, which already flies six spacecraft tracking methane emissions. The new platform will use the same shortwave infrared sensor but be tuned to CO2's specific light signature in the atmosphere. The satellite will have a resolution at ground level of 25m, meaning it will be able see major individual sources.   More
(Source: BBC News - Feb 1)

NASA HITS LIMITS OF SPACE STATION UTILIZATION - NASA has effectively reached full utilization of the International Space Station given limitations on crew time and the ability to get cargo to and from the station, an agency official said Jan. 30. Speaking at a meeting of a National Academies committee working on the decadal survey for biological and physical sciences in space, Kirt Costello, NASA ISS chief scientist, said that the agency had reached the limits of its share of station resources to do research. “As we get into this discussion of what is full utilization, I will tell you that I believe that we are already there,” he said. “We have maximized the capabilities of station not only to do research but to sustain the utilization resources we have.”   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 1)

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