CHINA LAUNCHES CHANG ZHENG 4C FROM TAIYUAN WITH DAQI-1 ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE - A Chang Zheng 4C has launched from Launch Complex 9 (LC-9) at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China at 2:16 AM local time on April 16 (18:16 UTC on April 15) with the Daqi-1 environmental monitoring satellite. The Chang Zheng 4C (also known as Long March 4C) is a small to medium-sized satellite launch vehicle which the Chinese program has frequently used to fly Earth observation satellites. The CZ-4C has been in service since 2006 with 41 successes (including today) out of 43 attempts.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Apr 16)

CHINA’S CHANG ZHENG 3B/E LAUNCHES CHINASAT 6D - China has successfully launched the ChinaSat 6D satellite into geostationary transfer orbit Friday via their Chang Zheng 3B/E rocket. The launch took place at 12:05 UTC (20:05 local time) from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The ChinaSat 6D satellite, also known as Zhongxing 6D, was deployed into orbit by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). The Chang Zheng 3B/E (CZ-3B/E) – or Long March 3B/E – rocket is the most powerful of the Chang Zheng 3 series of rockets that China uses for most of its geostationary satellite launches.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Apr 16)

SHENZHOU-13 MISSION ENDS WITH SAFE RETURN OF CHINESE TAIKONAUT TRIO - The Chinese Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and its crew of three taikonauts ended their six-month mission with a return to Earth on Saturday, 16 April after completing the first long-duration stay aboard the Chinese Space Station. The spacecraft undocked and began the trip home on Friday, 15 April, ahead of reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Touchdown occurred at the Dongfeng Landing Site in China’s Inner Mongolia region, located only a handful of kilometers away from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Complex.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Apr 16)

SCIENTISTS SAY THIS NEW SATELLITE IS A GAME CHANGER FOR TRACKING HOW OUR ENVIRONMENT IS CHANGING - Space technology has long been used to help forecast weather, spot wildfires and aide scientists’ understanding of the climate crisis. But this next-generation German satellite is being called a game changer for its ability to use more than 250 colors to produce the most precise data on water, soil and vegetation in satellite history, scientists say. The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program, or EnMAP, is capable of measuring things that would otherwise be invisible, from the degree of pollution in a river flowing through a forest to the nutrient supply within a plant.   More
(Source: CNN - Apr 16)

CHINESE SHIYAN-10 SATELLITE REAPPEARS IN NEW MOLNIYA ORBIT MONTHS AFTER LAUNCH ANOMALY - A classified Chinese satellite has been tracked operating in a specialized orbit, six months after an anomaly during launch appeared to leave it stranded in an initial transfer orbit. Shiyan-10 is now in a “Molniya” orbit according to tracking data from the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron (SPCS). The satellite is in a highly elliptical 1,880 by 38,881 kilometer altitude orbit with an inclination of 63.6 degrees. This indicates that the spacecraft has made a big alteration to its earlier orbital inclination to serve a specific set of tasks over the northern hemisphere.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 16)

SATELLITE IMAGE PINPOINTS RUSSIAN CRUISER MOSKVA AS SHE BURNED - The Russian cruiser Moskva will go down in history. The sinking will be studied and written about, both as a single event and, likely, a key moment in the War. The fog of war is still obscuring the event, and information operations are clouding it further. But we can look again at the open source intelligence (OSINT) picture. In particular, the ship’s movements and where she was when it happened.   More
(Source: Naval News - Apr 16)

SPACE FORCE LOOKING AT WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO REFUEL SATELLITES IN ORBIT - The U.S. Space Force in 2025 plans to launch to geostationary orbit three small satellites that will attempt to dock with a propellant tanker so they can be refueled in space. The idea is to “test out pieces of the refueling infrastructure,” Col. Joseph Roth, director of innovation and prototyping at U.S. Space Systems Command, told SpaceNews last week at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 15)

TRADING DRESS-UP FOR LIFT-OFF, BARBIE FLIES ON SPACE STATION FOR FIRST TIME - After almost 60 years of dressing up like an astronaut, Barbie has launched into space for real. Two of the iconic fashion dolls are now on board the International Space Station (ISS), where they are part of "Mission DreamStar," an outreach project to inspire girls to consider careers in aerospace and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. As revealed by Mattel on Thursday (April 14), the dolls have been in Earth orbit since February as part of a collaboration between the toy company and the ISS U.S. National Laboratory.    More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 15)

CHINA GEARS UP FOR NEW SPACE STATION MISSIONS, RECORD-BREAKING CREW SET TO RETURN HOME - A Long March rocket arrived at Wenchang spaceport Monday in preparation for a new round of space station missions starting May. The Long March 7 rocket was delivered to Wenchang after a near week-long voyage from the northern port city of Tianjin, China’s human spaceflight agency announced April 11. The rocket is planned to launch the roughly 13.5-metric-ton Tianzhou-4 cargo vessel next month to China’s Tianhe space station core module.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 15)

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