TINY SATELLITE TESTS AUTONOMY IN SPACE - In May 2022, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Transporter-5 mission into orbit. The mission contained a collection of micro and nanosatellites from both industry and government, including one from MIT Lincoln Laboratory called the Agile MicroSat (AMS). AMS's primary mission is to test automated maneuvering capabilities in the tumultuous very low-Earth orbit (VLEO) environment, starting at 525 kilometers above the surface and lowering down.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Dec 13)

NEW EUROPEAN SATELLITE WILL BETTER PREDICT VIOLENT STORMS - A new European satellite launches on Tuesday that will greatly enhance forecasting of sudden, violent storms so that we can better prepare for them. An Ariane rocket will lift the Meteosat-12 weather satellite into the sky to watch over the European continent, the Middle East and Africa. It is the first spacecraft in a new, multi-billion-euro observing system. Arguably this year's most important European space launch, it replaces technology now more than 20 years old.   More
(Source: BBC - Dec 13)

SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY AGAIN DELAYS INAUGURAL SATELLITE LAUNCH - The Space Development Agency’s first major satellite launch, planned for this month after being rescheduled from October, has been delayed again after technical issues arose during testing. An SDA spokesman told C4ISRNET on Dec. 10 that “after careful analysis and input from our performers,” the agency chose to further delay the launch until March. Space News first reported the schedule change, citing a technical issue that arose during testing. York Space Systems, one of the companies building data relay satellites for SDA, discovered a power supply problem that will require a hardware change and additional testing.   More
(Source: Defense News - Dec 13)

TOKYO STARTUP PLANS TO LAUNCH JAPAN’S 1ST COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION - A Tokyo-based startup is planning to build a commercial space station in what will be the first project of its kind by a Japanese company, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The move by DigitalBlast, Inc., which aims to launch the station’s first module by 2030, comes at a time when several U.S. companies have already announced their own space station projects.   More
(Source: Asia News Network - Dec 13)

EUROPE’S NEXT GENERATION OF WEATHER SATELLITES SET FOR LAUNCH - The first of a new generation of European weather satellites is to launch on Tuesday, aiming to provide 50 times more data than is currently possible so that meteorologists can increase the accuracy of their forecasts, particularly of imminent storms. The €4.3bn Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) system will consist of three satellites in geostationary orbit positioned 36,000km above the equator over Africa. They will provide images of Europe every two and a half minutes, including the first comprehensive observations of lightning from space.    More
(Source: Financial Times - Dec 12)

JAPANESE MOON LANDER, NASA HITCHHIKER PAYLOAD LAUNCHED BY SPACEX - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral early Sunday with a commercial Japanese robotic moon lander and a NASA hitchhiker micro-payload called Lunar Flashlight that will seek out signs of water ice hidden in the permanently dark floors of craters at the moon’s poles. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 launcher departed from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:38:13 a.m. EST (0738:13 GMT) Sunday, a week-and-a-half after SpaceX grounded the mission to resolve an unspecified problem with the rocket. SpaceX rolled the rocket back into its hangar for troubleshooting after calling off a Nov. 30 launch attempt, then returned the Falcon 9 to the pad for Sunday’s countdown.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 12)

WATER-TRACKING SWOT SATELLITE ENCAPSULATED IN ROCKET PAYLOAD FAIRING - The international Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission is one step closer to launching so it can track water on more than 90% of Earth’s surface. The SWOT satellite, or the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, is now encapsulated in its payload fairing in preparation for launch. Technicians at the SpaceX processing facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California completed the operation and will soon mate the fairing to the top of a Falcon 9 rocket.   More
(Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA - Dec 11)

ARTEMIS, TIANGONG SUCCESSES IN US-CHINA SPACE RACE LEAVE RUSSIA EATING COSMIC DUST - Space exploration, once a spirited rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, has now become a contest between the US and China. Recent weeks have seen advances in the space programmes of both countries, and these advances have left Russia in the cosmic dust. A powerful new US rocket propelled an uncrewed module to the moon and beyond while the International Space Station, primarily funded and run by the US, continues to do good science. Meanwhile, China’s newly expanded Tiangong space station recently refreshed its crew with a visit from Shenzhou 15.   More
(Source: South China Morning Post - Dec 11)

CHINA LAUNCHES HYPERSPECTRAL EARTH-IMAGING SATELLITE TO ORBIT - China continued its rapid pace of space launches with a mission to add new capabilities to the country's Earth observation system. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off Thursday (Dec. 8) at 1:31 p.m. EST (1831 GMT; 2:31 a.m. Beijing Time on Friday, Dec. 9) from the hill-surrounded Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi. Aboard the flight was the Gaofen 5 (01A) hyperspectral imaging satellite, which will join the civilian China High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS). It will operate from an altitude of roughly 417 miles (672 kilometers) above Earth in a sun-synchronous orbit.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 10)

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