TAIWAN TO LAUNCH GNSS-R WEATHER SATELLITE FOR TYPHOON PREDICTION - Taiwan will launch its first indigenously developed meteorological satellite in March 2023, reports Taiwan News. The Triton satellite was designed and made by the National Space Organization (NSPO) over eight years. The satellite has completed testing and is undergoing review. The 250-kg Triton carries GNSS-reflectometry equipment (GNSS-R) — independently developed by NSPO — to collect GNSS signals reflected by the Earth’s surface. Its mission is to research air-sea interaction to help predict typhoons. More (Source: GPS World - Nov 8)
SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS ARE AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT FOR ASTRONOMY - Astronomer Rachel Street remembers feeling frightened after a recent planning meeting for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The new flagship telescope, under construction in Chile, will photograph the entire sky every three nights with enough observing power to see a golf ball at the distance of the moon. Its primary project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, will map the galaxy, inventory objects in the solar system and explore mysterious flashes, bangs and blips throughout the universe. But the flagship telescope may never achieve its goals if the sky fills with bogus stars. New swarms of satellite constellations, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, threaten to outshine the real celestial objects that capture astronomers’ interest—and that humans have admired and pondered for all of history. More (Source: Scientific American - Nov 8)
NORTHROP GRUMMAN’S ‘S.S. SALLY RIDE’ CARGO SHIP LAUNCHES ON FLIGHT TO SPACE STATION - Using its second-to-last Antares rocket with Russian engines before a redesign to rely on all-U.S. propulsion, Northrop Grumman sent a Cygnus supply ship into orbit from Virginia on Monday to deliver spacewalk equipment, experiments, and fresh treats for the crew on the International Space Station. The 139-foot-tall (42.5-meter) Antares rocket lit its twin Russian-made RD-181 engines and climbed away from pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia at 5:32:42 a.m. EST (1032:42 GMT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 7)
FIRE ALARM ON EARTH DELAYS NORTHROP GRUMMAN CARGO LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - A Northrop Grumman rocket carrying more than 4 tons of supplies for the International Space Station will have to wait at least one more day to launch after a fire alarm at its mission control center thwarted a liftoff early Sunday (Nov. 6). The Antares rocket was about 10 minutes away from a planned liftoff at 5:50 a.m. EST (1050 GMT) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, when Northrop Grumman called off the flight. A fire alarm at the company's control center in nearby Dulles, Virginia, forced a building evacuation, preventing launch controllers from going through with the launch. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 7)
CHINA COMPLETES T-SHAPED TIANGONG SPACE STATION WITH NEW MENGTIAN MODULE MOVE - The basic construction of China's space station is complete, following a maneuver to shift the recently arrived Mengtian module to its permanent docking port. China launched Mengtian, the third and final module for its Tiangong space station, on Oct. 31. Mengtian, which means "dreaming of the heavens," docked at a forward port at Tiangong 13 hours later. The Mengtian module was then moved from that forward port on Tiangong to a portside berth on the station's docking hub. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 7)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES SWEDISH SATELLITE BUT FAILS TO CATCH BOOSTER WITH HELICOPTER - Rocket Lab launched a Swedish research satellite to orbit today (Nov. 4) but didn't manage to snag the returning booster with a helicopter. A Rocket Lab Electron launcher lifted off today at 1:27 p.m. EDT (1727 GMT; 6:27 a.m. on Nov. 5 local New Zealand time), kicking off a mission the company called "Catch Me If You Can." The mission was a success; the Electron deployed the satellite, known as MATS ("Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy"), an hour after liftoff as planned. But Rocket Lab wasn't able to pull off the catch alluded to in the flight's name. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 5)
CHINA’S MYSTERY SPACEPLANE RELEASES OBJECT INTO ORBIT - China’s secretive reusable spaceplane has released an object into orbit, according to tracking data from the U.S. Space Force. China carried out the second launch of its “reusable experimental spacecraft” from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert atop a Long March 2F rocket Aug. 4. The spacecraft has now been in orbit for 90 days. Two weeks ago the spacecraft raised its perigee—or the point during its orbit at which a spacecraft is closest to Earth—to shift to a near-circular 597 by 608-kilometer orbit. More (Source: SpaceNews - Nov 5)
CHINESE ROCKET PLUMMETS TO EARTH, AND ONE COUNTRY HALTS ITS AIR TRAFFIC - A Chinese rocket booster made an out-of-control reentry into Earth's atmosphere over the water early Friday, the US military's Space Command confirmed. The booster is the first stage of a Long March 5B rocket that several days ago sent a large module to orbit to expand China's Tiangong space station. The booster eventually broke up over the Pacific Ocean. More (Source: CNET - Nov 5)
KOSMOS-2558: RUSSIA'S KILLER SATELLITE THAT COULD TRIGGER ARTICLE 5 - Two blips of light in the night sky, whizzing around the globe every 90 minutes, could be where Russia opts to clash with Nato over the Ukraine war. The first blip you see, if you look up at the right place and time even with a naked eye, is an American spy satellite called USA-326, launched on 2 February into an orbit some 500km above the earth and likely capable of taking images as detailed as legible car number plates. More (Source: EUobserver - Nov 4)
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