JAPAN'S NEW H3 ROCKET FAILS ON 1ST TEST FLIGHT, ADVANCED EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE LOST - Japan's brand-new rocket has failed its first test flight. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s new H3 rocket lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center on Monday (March 6) at 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT and 10:37 a.m. Japan Standard Time on March 7). 5 minutes and 27 seconds after liftoff, a command was sent to the rocket for stage separation and second stage ignition. Just after seven minutes into the flight, launch commentators on JAXA's livestream on YouTube noted that the rocket's velocity was falling and that second stage ignition could not be confirmed. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 7)
ANGOLA’S EO ANGEO-1 SATELLITE TO BE BUILT BY AIRBUS - Airbus Defence and Space has announced an agreement for Angeo-1, the first, very high performance, Angolan Earth Observation (EO) satellite, to be manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space in France, which strengthens the collaboration between the two countries. More (Source: SatNews - Mar 7)
CHINESE CARMAKER TO LAUNCH 72 SATELLITES TO ASSIST INTELLIGENT DRIVING - Chinese automaker Geely plans to launch 72 satellites by 2025 to support a new range of cars. Hangzhou-based Geely unveiled its Galaxy, or Yinhe, range of electrified and fully electric cars in late February — and the vehicles will be getting assistance from orbit. Geely established a space-focused arm in 2018 named Geespace to provide autonomous driving solutions by building a satellite network. More (Source: Yahoo News - Mar 7)
ISRO PREPARES FOR CHALLENGING EXPERIMENT OF AGED SATELLITE'S REENTRY ON MARCH 7 - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for a challenging experiment of controlled re-entry of a decommissioned low earth orbit satellite, Megha-Tropiques-1 (MT1), on March 7. MT1 was launched on October 12, 2011, as a joint satellite venture of ISRO and French space agency CNES for tropical weather and climate studies. Although the mission life of the satellite was originally three years, the satellite continued to provide valuable data services for more than a decade... More (Source: The Economic Times - Mar 6)
THOUSANDS OF SATELLITES ARE LAUNCHED INTO LOW ORBIT. IT COULD HARM THE OZONE LAYER. - Thousands of small satellites are being launched into the “lower orbit” of space, just above the stratosphere, by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon’s proposed Project Kuiper and more — devices that can provide internet service among other uses. Because the number will soon reach many tens of thousands, concern is growing among atmospheric scientists about how they may harm the protective ozone layer that shields life on Earth from dangerous radiation from the sun. More (Source: The Washington Post - Mar 6)
CHINA AND FRANCE PREPARE TO LAUNCH SATELLITE TO HUNT FOR GAMMA-RAY BURSTS - France is set to send a pair of advanced science instruments to China in preparation for launch of a joint space observatory. The Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a collaboration forged in 2014 between the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES). The satellite will be on the lookout for short-lived and extremely violent cosmic explosions known as gamma-ray bursts by detecting high-energy electromagnetic radiation in the X-ray and gamma-ray ranges. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 6)
NASA PROPOSES FINAL EXTENSION OF ISS CARGO CONTRACTS - NASA is proposing extending three existing contracts to transport cargo to and from the International Space Station through the anticipated end of the station in 2030, rather than recompete them. In a March 2 procurement notice, NASA said it intended to issue sole-source extensions of its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 2 contracts with Northrop Grumman, Sierra Space and SpaceX. Those extensions would cover missions from January 2027 through December 2030. NASA has previously announced its intent to end the ISS program and transition to commercial space stations by 2030. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 6)
SPACEX CREW-6 MISSION'S APPROACH TO SPACE STATION CAPTURED IN BREATHTAKING VIDEO - Early Friday morning (March 3), SpaceX's Dragon Endeavour spacecraft carrying the four astronauts of the Crew-6 mission approached the International Space Station (ISS). Crew-6's dramatic meetup with the space station, which culminated with a docking at 1:40 a.m. EST (0640 GMT) on Friday, was captured in a breathtaking time-lapse video created using NASA footage. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 6)
NOZZLE EROSION BLAMED FOR VEGA C LAUNCH FAILURE - Europe plans to return the Vega C rocket to flight by the end of the year after concluding an eroded nozzle component caused the failure of its previous launch last December. The European Space Agency announced March 3 it had completed an independent investigation into the failed Dec. 20 launch of the Vega C on the VV21 mission, which experienced a loss of thrust from its Zefiro-40 solid-fuel second stage. The failure resulted in the loss of two Pléiades Neo imaging satellites for Airbus Defence and Space. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 5)
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