IRAN CARRIES OUT MILITARY LAUNCH WITH QASED ROCKET AND NOOR-2 SATELLITE - Iran’s military carried out a successful launch of their Qased rocket Tuesday, placing the Noor-2 satellite into orbit. The mission, which was only announced after spacecraft deployment, is the first Iranian launch to reach orbit in almost two years. Noor-2 is the second in a series of small satellites operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the country’s armed forces. It follows on from the Noor-1 spacecraft, launched in 2020, which was Iran’s first dedicated military satellite. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 9)
RUSSIA RELEASES BIZARRE VIDEO OF SPACE STATION BREAKING APART, WHAT EXACTLY... ARE THEY SUGGESTING? - We’re not exactly sure what Russia’s space agency head Dmitry Rogozin is threatening the US with, but he certainly seems to be alluding to… something. A bizarre new video posted by state controlled media RIA Novosti showed the International Space Station breaking apart in an artist rendering after Russian cosmonauts bid adieu. NASA Watch, a space news blog, tweeted the video with some important context earlier today. It’s accompanied by some kind of ironic classical singing? More (Source: Futurism - Mar 7)
NORTH KOREA CONFIRMS NEW TESTS ON SPY SATELLITE - North Korea performed data transmission and other key tests needed to develop a spy satellite, state media said Sunday, in the second such tests in about a week, indicating the country intends to conduct a prohibited long-range rocket launch soon. The moves come as North Korea has been carrying out a spate of ballistic missile launches - including one detected by its neighbors on Saturday - in what experts call an attempt to add new weapons systems to its arsenal and pressure the United States into making concessions amid stalled diplomacy. More (Source: - Mar 7)
CHINA WANTS ITS NEW ROCKET FOR ASTRONAUT LAUNCHES TO BE REUSABLE - China is planning for its next-generation crew launch vehicle for missions to its space station and the moon to have a reusable first stage. The new rocket would allow a reusable launch option for sending astronauts or cargo to China's new Tiangong space station, while a larger version would allow China to send crew on lunar and deep space missions. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 7)
ITALY’S DEFENSE CHIEF OF STAFF URGES BETTER PROTECTION OF SATELLITES - Italy must do more to defend its satellites as space becomes a recognized realm for military operations, Italy’s defense chief of staff has said. “It will be essential to render the protection of satellites more robust,” said Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, who warned of an “increase in threats” and “a risk for security” in space. Cavo Dragone was speaking at a Feb. 23 seminar in Rome marking the launch of a new report by an Italian think tank, which urged the Italian government to beef up space defense and keep orbital paths clear of debris. More (Source: Defense News - Mar 6)
HIGH ABOVE UKRAINE, SATELLITES GET EMBROILED IN THE WAR - The traffic jam stretched from the Russian city of Belgorod to the Ukrainian border. Google Maps marked the congestion with red and orange, just as it does in all countries where the app is used to track traffic. But the GPS satellites sending these vehicles’ positions to Google were not picking up an ordinary traffic jam. This was 40 kilometers of traffic caused by Russian troops. That convoy turned out to be an early warning that the Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s borders were on the move. It was first noticed at 3:15 am on Thursday of last week by Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS... More (Source: WIRED - Mar 6)
ROSCOSMOS HEAD AGAIN QUESTIONS FUTURE OF ISS WHILE NASA EMPHASIZES COOPERATION - The head of Roscosmos has renewed threats to terminate Russian participation in the International Space Station even as NASA says operations on the station remain normal. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, posted a link on his Twitter account March 2 to a video by Russian state-controlled broadcaster Russia Today. In the video, Rogozin suggested he would reconsider cooperation on the ISS if the United States maintains sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 4)
RUSSIA CUTS OFF ROCKET ENGINE SUPPLY AND THREATENS SPACE STATION PARTNERSHIP - Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said Thursday it would no longer service the RD-180 rocket engines that are used by the United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, to launch national security missions for the Pentagon. It also said it would cut off the supply of the RD-181 engines used in Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, which is used to fly cargo and supplies to the International Space Station. “In a situation like this, we can’t supply the United States with our world’s best rocket engines,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, said on Russian state television, according to Reuters. “Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don’t know what.” More (Source: The Washington Post - Mar 4)
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)
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