LIVING ON THE EDGE: SATELLITES ADOPT POWERFUL COMPUTERS - The latest Apple Watch has 16 times the memory of the central processor on NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. For the new iPhone, 64 times the car-size rover’s memory comes standard. For decades, people dismissed comparisons of terrestrial and space-based processors by pointing out the harsh radiation and temperature extremes facing space-based electronics. Only components custom built for spaceflight and proven to function well after many years in orbit were considered resilient enough for multibillion-dollar space agency missions. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 25)
SO YOU LAUNCHED A SATELLITE… NOW WHAT? - Just over a week ago, we launched 44 of our latest SuperDoves to orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket. A successful rocket launch is a feat in and of itself and requires months of coordination from our Manufacturing Team to build, test, tinker with, and ship our hardware to the launch site (more on our manufacturing process here), but that’s not where the job ends. More (Source: Planet Labs - Jan 25)
WEBB REACHES ORBITAL DESTINATION A MILLION MILES FROM EARTH - The James Webb Space Telescope slipped into orbit around a point in space nearly a million miles from Earth Monday where it can capture light from the first stars and galaxies to form in the aftermath of the Big Bang. As planned, the European Ariane 5 rocket that launched Webb on Christmas Day put the telescope on a trajectory that required only a slight push to reach the intended orbit around Lagrange Point 2, one of five where the pull of sun and Earth interact to form stable or nearly stable gravitational zones. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 25)
CARGO DRAGON CAPSULE DEPARTS SPACE STATION - SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft, closing out a month-long mission, undocked from the International Space Station Sunday after a two-delay in its departure to wait for better weather in the capsule’s recovery zone off the coast of Florida. The gumdrop-shaped cargo freighter undocked from the station’s Harmony module at 10:40 a.m. EDT (1540 GMT) Sunday. A series of departure maneuvers using the ship’s Draco thrusters guided Dragon away from the complex, setting up for a deorbit burn at 3:18 p.m. EDT (2018 GMT) Monday to allow the spacecraft to drop out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 24)
SPACEX DELAYS DRAGON CARGO SHIP DEPARTURE FROM SPACE STATION DUE TO SPLASHDOWN WEATHER. HOW TO WATCH IT SUNDAY. - SpaceX postponed the departure of its latest Dragon cargo ship from the International Space Station on Saturday (Jan. 22) by at least a day due to bad weather at its landing site. You can watch the next undocking attempt live on Sunday, NASA said. The Dragon CRS-24 cargo ship was scheduled to undock from the space station at 10:40 a.m. EST (1540 GMT) on Saturday and return to Earth early Monday morning. But bad weather at potential splashdown locations in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast prevented the departure, according to SpaceX. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 23)
SPACEX WINS $102 MILLION AIR FORCE CONTRACT TO DEMONSTRATE TECHNOLOGIES FOR POINT-TO-POINT SPACE TRANSPORTATION - The U.S. Air Force awarded SpaceX a $102 million five-year contract to demonstrate technologies and capabilities to transport military cargo and humanitarian aid around the world on a heavy rocket. The contract is for the rocket cargo program, a new project led by the Air Force Research Laboratory to investigate the utility of using large commercial rockets for Department of Defense global logistics. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 22)
ULA’S ATLAS V LAUNCH SATELLITE-INSPECTION MISSION FOR SPACE FORCE - United Launch Alliance carried out an Atlas V launch Friday with the third pair of GSSAP satellites for the US Space Force. Flying in its never-before-used 511 configuration, Atlas lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:00 PM EST (19:00 UTC) for a lengthy mission that will inject the satellites into a near-geostationary orbit. The GSSAP (Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program) is a US Space Force project using small satellites to inspect other spacecraft operating in geostationary orbit. Friday’s launch, which is designated USSF-8 (US Space Force 8), is carrying the fifth and sixth satellites in this series. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 21)
BAD WEATHER DELAYS SPACEX DRAGON'S DEPARTURE FROM SPACE STATION TO SATURDAY - A SpaceX resupply ship will have to wait at least one more day before returning to Earth. Yesterday (Jan. 19), cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov ventured outside the safe confines of the International Space Station to conduct a seven-hour, 11-minute spacewalk. While the pair cleaned up following the spacewalk, SpaceX was preparing its robotic Dragon cargo ship to come back to Earth. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 21)
CHINESE SATELLITE IN NEAR MISS WITH RUSSIAN ASAT TEST DEBRIS - A Chinese satellite experienced a near miss Tuesday with a piece of debris created by Russia’s destructive anti-satellite test conducted in November. The Space Debris Monitoring and Application Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) issued a warning Tuesday of an extremely dangerous encounter between the Tsinghua Science satellite (NORAD ID: 46026) and one (49863) of more than a thousand trackable pieces of debris from the Nov. 15 ASAT test. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 21)
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