UK'S INMARSAT CHIEF WARNS OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SATELLITE BOOM - British satellite company Inmarsat warned on Tuesday of dangerous levels of space debris from satellite constellations planned by Elon Musk's Starlink, Amazon, Chinese operators and others. Inmarsat Chief Executive Rajeev Suri welcomed innovation in satellite constellations in low orbit but added that there should be better industry and regulatory co-ordination as they are launched. More (Source: India Today - Apr 28)
ONEWEB FOUNDER GREG WYLER’S NEW STARTUP WANTS TO LAUNCH A ‘SUSTAINABLE’ SATELLITE MEGA-CONSTELLATION – - The proliferation of space junk in low Earth orbit is a problem that isn’t going away. Instead, it’s getting worse — a fact that grabbed headlines last November when a Russian direct-ascent anti-satellite test produced enough new pieces of debris that astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced to conduct immediate safety procedures in case of a collision. (The U.S. recently said it would no longer perform such tests.) More (Source: TechCrunch - Apr 28)
SPACEX IS 'GO' TO LAUNCH CREW-4 ASTRONAUTS FOR NASA WEDNESDAY AND YOU CAN WATCH IT LIVE - SpaceX will launch the Crew-4 astronaut mission for NASA early Wednesday morning (April 27), and you can watch the action live. A Dragon capsule carrying the four Crew-4 astronauts is scheduled to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday at 3:52 a.m. EDT (0752 GMT). You can watch it here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the space agency; coverage begins at midnight EDT (0400 GMT). More (Source: Space.com - Apr 27)
INMARSAT CHIEF WARNS OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SATELLITE BOOM - British satellite company Inmarsat warned on Tuesday of dangerous levels of space debris from satellite constellations planned by Elon Musk's Starlink, Amazon (AMZN.O), Chinese operators and others. Inmarsat Chief Executive Rajeev Suri welcomed innovation in satellite constellations in low orbit but added that there should be better industry and regulatory co-ordination as they are launched. More (Source: Reuters - Apr 27)
A BOOM IN EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES CREATING NEW DEMANDS FOR INTELLIGENCE - Elon Musk earlier this month opened a new Tesla assembly plant in Austin, Texas, and predicted it will produce as many as 500,000 vehicles annually by next year. To keep a closer eye on activities at the plant, investors and financial firms are turning to Earth observation companies like BlackSky that use satellites to monitor locations for customers. “We have a lot of interest in monitoring the Tesla facility that just launched,” said Amy Minnick, chief commercial officer at BlackSky. More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 26)
CREW DRAGON SPLASHES DOWN TO END AX-1 PRIVATE ASTRONAUT MISSION - A Crew Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth April 25, ending a 17-day mission that ferried four private astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast from Jacksonville, Florida, at 1:06 p.m. Eastern after a normal reentry. The spacecraft had undocked from the station 16 hours earlier. Unlike two previous Dragon splashdowns, where one of four main parachutes opened later than the other three, all four parachutes on this spacecraft opened at the same time. More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 25)
UPCOMING SATELLITE MISSION MAY 'SEE' HOW EARLY UNIVERSE COOLED - During the cooling of the early universe, bubbles formed in its hot plasma, triggering gravitational waves. These space ripples could be detectable even today, a new study suggests. As the early universe cooled shortly after the Big Bang, bubbles formed in its hot plasma, triggering gravitational waves that could be detectable even today, a new study suggests. For some time, physicists have speculated that a phase transition took place in the early universe shortly after the Big Bang. More (Source: Space.com - Apr 25)
AX-1 UNDOCKS FROM SPACE STATION AFTER EXTENDED STAY - A Crew Dragon undocked from the International Space Station April 24 carrying four private astronauts who spent nearly twice as long on the station as originally planned. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour undocked from the station at 9:10 p.m. Eastern. The undocking sets up a splashdown off the Florida coast scheduled for 1:06 p.m. Eastern April 25. While SpaceX has several potential landing sites to choose from, NASA said the primary site is in the Atlantic Ocean offshore from Jacksonville. More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 25)
IRIDIUM IN TALKS TO LAUNCH MORE BACKUP SATELLITES THIS YEAR - Iridium expects to take advantage of a rideshare opportunity this year to launch up to five of the six spare satellites it has been storing in Arizona. The satellite operator expects to make a formal announcement about the potential $35 million launch deal in “the next couple weeks,” company spokesperson Jordan Hassin said. Matt Desch, Iridium’s CEO, first disclosed plans to deploy ground spares in the company’s April 19 earnings call for the first quarter of 2022. “I want to be clear that we do not have an immediate need to launch these satellites,” Desch said. “Our constellation is very healthy and is performing well, but our ground spares have little utility just sitting in storage.” More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 24)
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