ESA SELECTS VIASAT FOR MULTI-ORBIT SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS STUDY - Viasat said July 26 it has been selected to study multi-orbit satellite networks for the European Space Agency. The study will be conducted by the U.S.-based satellite broadband operator’s British subsidiary, which will spend a year evaluating technical requirements and potential markets for hybrid networks that combine multiple frequency bands and network architectures.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 28)

CAS SPACE PUTS SIX SATELLITES IN ORBIT WITH FIRST ORBITAL LAUNCH - Chinese launch services provider CAS Space successfully placed six small satellites in orbit early Wednesday with the first launch of the Lijian-1 solid rocket. The four-stage Lijian-1 (ZK-1A) rocket lifted off from an erector-launcher at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:12 a.m. Eastern. Launch success was confirmed by China’s official space publication within an hour of liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 28)

TWO OF EUROPE'S BIGGEST INTERNET SATELLITE COMPANIES ARE MERGING TO TAKE ON STARLINK - Internet satellite operators OneWeb and Eutelsat are planning to merge in the hopes of becoming a stronger rival to SpaceX's Starlink. The merger, which is subject to approval from regulators and Eutelsat shareholders, is expected to close by mid-2023 and it values OneWeb at $3.4 billion. Shareholders of OneWeb and Eutelsat will each own half of the combined company. Eutelsat has a fleet of 36 geostationary orbit satellites.   More
(Source: - Jul 27)

RUSSIA SAYS IT WILL QUIT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION AFTER 2024 - Russia will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country's new space chief said Tuesday amid high tensions between Moscow and the West over the fighting in Ukraine. Yuri Borisov, appointed this month to lead the state space agency, Roscosmos, said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Russia will fulfill its obligations to its partners before it leaves.   More
(Source: NPR - Jul 27)

DISCO-BALL SATELLITE WILL PUT EINSTEIN'S THEORY TO STRICTEST TEST YET - A newly launched satellite aims to measure how Earth’s rotation drags the fabric of space-time around itself — an effect of Einstein’s general theory of relativity — ten times more accurately than ever before. The Laser Relativity Satellite 2 (LARES-2) launched from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 13 July. It was built by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) at a cost of around €10 million (US$10.2 million), and lifted off on the maiden flight of an upgraded version of the European Vega rocket, called Vega C.   More
(Source: Nature - Jul 26)

HUGE CHINESE ROCKET BOOSTER FALLING FROM SPACE AFTER LAUNCHING SPACE STATION MODULE - China has once again opted to let a huge rocket stage fall back to Earth on its own. The decision, the third time the country has opted not to control the disposal of the first stage of the Long March 5B rocket, once again puts China under scrutiny from space debris trackers after similar uncontrolled falls in 2020 and 2021. Jonathan McDowell, an experienced tracker of these events at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said U.S. Space Command orbital data is showing the 21-ton stage floating on its own.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 26)

NEW SCIENCE LAB FOR CHINA’S SPACE STATION LAUNCHES ON LONG MARCH 5B ROCKET - China’s heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket launched Sunday with the second major element of the Chinese Tiangong space station, sending the 25-ton Wentian science module on course for docking at the orbiting outpost. The Wentian lab module was buttoned up in the nose cone of the Long March 5B rocket when it lifted off at 2:22:32 a.m. EDT (0622:32 GMT) Sunday from the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island, China’s southernmost province.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 25)

CHINA READIES TO LAUNCH WENTIAN MODULE FOR TIANGONG SPACE STATION ON SUNDAY - China is expected to launch the second module for its Tiangong space station on Sunday (July 24) from Wenchang spaceport in south China. The Wentian module will launch on board the huge Long March 5B rocket and should join up with the Chinese space station's Tianhe core module hours later, expanding the country's crewed space research facility.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 24)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 32ND MISSION OF THE YEAR, BREAKING RECORD SET IN 2021 - With 2022 barely half over, SpaceX launched its 32nd mission of the year Friday from California’s Central Coast, breaking the company’s record for most launches in a year and delivering 46 more Starlink internet satellites into polar orbit to provide global broadband service. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:39:40 a.m. PDT (1:39:40 p.m. EDT; 1739:40 GMT). Nine Merlin 1D engines powered up to full throttle, generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust as the Falcon 9 climbed through a fog layer blanketing the West Coast spaceport about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 24)

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