HUBBLE TELESCOPE FACES THREAT FROM SPACEX AND OTHER COMPANIES’ SATELLITES - The Hubble Space Telescope, known for recording awe-inspiring images of the cosmos while advancing the field of astronomy, is under threat. Private companies are launching thousands of satellites that are photobombing the telescope — producing long bright streaks and curves of light that can be impossible to remove. And the problem is only getting worse.   More
(Source: The New York Times - Mar 3)

CHINA’S SHENZHOU-15 ASTRONAUTS CONDUCT SECRETIVE SECOND SPACEWALK - A pair of Chinese astronauts conducted their second extravehicular activity in recent days, with China for the first time providing no advance indication nor details of the event. China’s human spaceflight agency CMSA announced March 2 that Shenzhou-15 mission astronauts Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu had “recently” carried out a spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Mar 3)

CHINA LAUNCHES SECRETIVE HORUS 1 REMOTE-SENSING SATELLITE - China sent a secretive remote-sensing satellite named Horus 1 to orbit on Friday night (Feb. 23) as the country begins to ramp up its launch activity. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 11:01 p.m. on Friday (0401 GMT; 12:01 p.m. Beijing time on Feb. 24). Insulation tiles fell away from the rocket as it rose into the sky before carrying Horus 1 into orbit.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 2)

SPACEX LAUNCHES CREW-6 ASTRONAUT MISSION TO SPACE STATION FOR NASA - SpaceX's Crew-6 mission for NASA launched early Thursday morning (March 2) with a complement of four astronauts, on course to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) in a little over 24 hours. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. (0534 GMT) on Thursday, launching SpaceX's ninth crewed flight to date, and the fourth for the Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour. Riding Endeavour is an international crew that will replace the four Crew-5 astronauts currently inhabiting the ISS.    More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 2)

HOW MANY SATELLITES CAN WE SAFELY FIT IN EARTH ORBIT? - Just 10 years ago, a mere thousand or so operational satellites may have orbited our planet, but there will be tens or even hundreds of thousands a decade from now. Experts have been sounding alarm bells for years that Earth orbit is getting a bit too crowded. So how many satellites can we actually launch to space before it gets to be too much?   More
(Source: N2YO.com - Mar 1)

CHINA TO EXPAND ITS SPACE STATION, INTERNATIONAL ASTRONAUT SELECTION UNDERWAY - China is planning to expand its Tiangong space station with a multi-functional module to enhance its capabilities. China completed the construction of the three-module Tiangong space station last November, realizing a plan first approved in 1992. The operational phase of the station began with a first crew handover late last year. China plans to keep Tiangong permanently inhabited for at least a decade with crews of three spending six months at a time in orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 28)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FIRST BATCH OF SECOND-GENERATION STARLINK INTERNET SATELLITES - SpaceX launched the first batch of next-generation Starlink internet satellites Monday from Cape Canaveral, deploying 21 bigger, heavier, more capable spacecraft to boost capacity for the global broadband network. A Falcon 9 rocket hauled the 21 Starlink satellites into a 230-mile-high (370-kilometer) orbit after lifting off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:13:50 p.m. EST (2313:50 GMT) Monday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 28)

TECHNICAL ISSUE SCRUBS SPACEX COMMERCIAL CREW LAUNCH - A last-minute problem with a rocket ignition system halted a Falcon 9 launch of a NASA commercial crew mission Feb. 27, delaying the launch by at least three days. Launch controllers halted the countdown for the launch of the Crew-6 mission about two and a half minutes before its scheduled 1:45 a.m. Eastern liftoff because of a problem with the ignition system, which uses a chemical combination called triethylaluminum triethylborane, or TEA-TEB. The launch director informed the four-person crew in the Crew Dragon of the issue a few minutes earlier.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 27)

SPACEX UNVEILS FIRST BATCH OF LARGER UPGRADED STARLINK SATELLITES - SpaceX released the first photos of the company’s upgraded Starlink internet satellite design, with 21 of the heavier, higher-capacity internet satellites set to ride a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Monday. The new Starlink satellite design, called “V2 Mini,” will have four times the communications capacity of early generations of Starlink satellites, known as Version 1.5, SpaceX said.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 27)

Previous Next