GERMANY SWITCHES OFF BLACK HOLE TELESCOPE ON RUSSIAN SATELLITE, HALTS SPACE COOPERATION - A German-built space telescope making the largest ever map of black holes in the universe has been switched off after Germany halted all science cooperation with Russia to protest that country's invasion of Ukraine. The black hole-hunting telescope, called eROSITA, launched in 2019 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Russian-built Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite. The mission was jointly funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Russia's space agency Roscosmos. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 4)
UK SATELLITE COMPANY ONEWEB SUSPENDS BAIKONUR LAUNCHES - British satellite company OneWeb said on Thursday it was suspending all launches from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after Moscow's space agency demanded guarantees that its technology would not be used for military purposes. The British government, which owns a stake in OneWeb, said it supported the decision. "In light of Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, we are reviewing our participation in all further projects involving Russian collaboration," the government said. More (Source: Reuters - Mar 4)
AFTER ANOTHER STARLINK MISSION, SPACEX ON PACE FOR ONE LAUNCH PER WEEK THIS YEAR - Another batch of 47 internet satellites launched Thursday on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, heading into the sky to join SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network on the company’s ninth mission in nine weeks, keeping pace with a goal of around 50 Falcon flights this year. Under a clear sky with calm winds, the Falcon 9 rocket lit its nine Merlin 1D main engines and climbed away from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 9:25 a.m. EST (1425 GMT) Thursday. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 4)
RUSSIA SPACE AGENCY HEAD SAYS SATELLITE HACKING WOULD JUSTIFY WAR -REPORT - Russia will treat any hacking of its satellites as a justification for war, the head of the country's space agency was quoted as saying in a news report on Wednesday. Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin denied media reports that Russian satellite control centres have already been hacked amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, while warning against any attempts to do so, Interfax news agency reported. More (Source: Reuters - Mar 3)
RUSSIA REFUSES TO LAUNCH UK'S ONEWEB SATELLITES UNLESS DEMANDS ARE MET - Roscosmos will not launch three dozen OneWeb internet satellites as planned on Friday (March 4) unless the company meets new demands, the Russian space agency announced today (March 2). This morning, Roscosmos rolled a Soyuz rocket out to the launch pad at the Russia-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying 36 satellites for the London-based company OneWeb. Shortly after the rollout, Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin made an online statement that the agency will not launch the satellites as planned if the company does not guarantee that the craft will not be used for military purposes. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 3)
NASA WORKS TO MAINTAIN RUSSIAN COOPERATION IN SPACE WHILE EYEING 'OPERATIONAL FLEXIBILITY' FOR ISS - NASA is continuing to operate the International Space Station (ISS) as usual alongside Russia and the agency's other partners, but is weighing its options for the future amid Russia's ongoing invasion in Ukraine, the agency's top space operations official said Monday (Feb. 28). "We understand this the global situation where it is, but as a joint team, these teams are operating together," NASA's associate administrator for space operations Kathy Lueders said of Russia's space agency Roscosmos in a call with reporters on Monday. "That said we always look for how do we get more operational flexibility [with] our cargo providers, and are looking at how do we add different capabilities." More (Source: Space.com - Mar 3)
NASA INVITES MEDIA TO NEXT SPACEX COMMERCIAL CREW SPACE STATION LAUNCH - Media accreditation now is open for the launch of the fourth SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition mission. This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The earliest targeted launch date for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission is Friday, April 15, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More (Source: NASA - Mar 3)
NOAA, NASA’S GOES-T WEATHER SATELLITE LAUNCHES ON ULA ATLAS V - United Launch Alliance (ULA) has launched the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-T advanced weather satellite for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). GOES-T launched on an Atlas V 541 from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The launch took place on March 1, 2022, at 4:38 PM EST (21:38 UTC). More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 2)
ROCKET LAB’S THE OWL’S NIGHT CONTINUES MAKES FIRST LAUNCH FROM LC-1B AT MAHIA - Rocket Lab has conducted its first launch from the second launch pad at its spaceport in Mahia, New Zealand on Tuesday, in the second of four planned missions for the Japanese earth observation company Synspective. Tuesday’s mission, The Owl’s Night Continues, is a follow-on to the December 2020 launch named The Owl’s Night Begins, which was also flown for Synspective. The flight lifted off as scheduled at 09:37 local time (20:37 UTC; 3:37pm EST on Monday) from the newly-finished Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) launch pad, which started construction in late 2019. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 1)
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