NASA TO LAUNCH NEW X-RAY TELESCOPE DESIGNED TO UNRAVEL MYSTERIES OF BLACK HOLES - We're about to get a new perspective on some of the most extreme objects in the universe. In the early morning hours of December 9, NASA will launch its Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission, or IXPE, to measure X-rays released by black holes and neutron stars. The satellite is scheduled to launch around 1 a.m. ET Thursday morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Live coverage of the launch will be available on NASA TV and the agency's website. More (Source: CNN - Dec 9)
JAPANESE BILLIONAIRE LAUNCHES TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WHILE WAITING FOR SPACEX MOON RIDE - Three new spacefarers launched to the International Space Station this morning, a crew consisting of a Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese space tourists. One of the tourists on board was Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire who announced his intention a few years back to fly around the Moon on SpaceX’s future Starship rocket one day. The trio lifted off on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan at 2:38AM ET, docking with the space station around six hours later at 8:40AM ET. Maezawa’s crewmates include Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and Japenese tourist Yozo Hirano, who is Maezawa’s producer and manager. The group is slated to spend roughly 12 days on the ISS before heading back to Earth on December 19th. More (Source: The Verge - Dec 9)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES TWO EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES FOR BLACKSKY GLOBAL - Rocket Lab launched two satellites to orbit Wednesday night (Dec. 8). A Rocket Lab Electron launcher carrying two commercial Earth observation spacecraft lifted off from the company's New Zealand site at 7:02 p.m. EST (1:02 p.m. Dec. 9 local New Zealand time, or 0002 Dec. 9 GMT). More (Source: Space.com - Dec 9)
CHINA’S SAR SATELLITE SURGE CONTINUES WITH NEW CONSTELLATION PLAN - A new Chinese constellation for disaster prevention, early warning and natural resource monitoring will bring yet more players into developing small synthetic-aperture radar satellites in the country. The “36 Tiangang” constellation project is being led by Tianjin Satcom Geohe Technologies Co., Ltd., with involvement from Satellite (Zhuhai) Aerospace Technology Co, Ltd., and facilities under the Harbin Institute of Technology and backed by the Ministry of Natural Resources. More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 8)
WHAT'S NEXT AFTER THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION? - The coming decade will see a time of transition when it comes to human spaceflight in low-Earth orbit. NASA’s Office of Inspector General sent out a tweet last week, releasing a report on the state of the International Space Station (ISS) and suggestions for the coming decade. Specifically, the audit highlights the need to end NASA's role in the ISS by 2030. The station is currently approved for operations through 2024, and an extension until 2030 seems likely. More (Source: Sky & Telescope - Dec 8)
ATLAS V ROCKET LAUNCHES NASA LASER COMMUNICATIONS PROTOTYPE AND SPACE FORCE EXPERIMENTS INTO ORBIT - An Atlas V rocket lit up the predawn sky over Florida early Tuesday (Dec. 7) to launch a novel NASA laser space communications satellite into orbit alongside a host of other payloads for the U.S. Space Force. The two-stage Atlas V rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 41 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:19 a.m. EST (1019 GMT), as part of a mission called STP-3 (Space Test Program-3). The successful liftoff came more than an hour after the mission's planned launch time due to high upper level winds, and after days of delays due to a fuel leak at the launch pad. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 7)
U.S. WAS NOT BLINDSIDED BY RUSSIA’S ANTI-SATELLITE TEST, SAY OFFICIALS - The U.S. military for years has watched Russia’s attempts to demonstrate it could destroy a satellite with a ground-based weapon, so the Nov. 15 missile test that blew up a satellite in orbit did not come as a complete shock, officials said Dec. 4 at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “These advances in capabilities are concerning, they are not a surprise,” Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations of U.S. Space Force, said during a panel discussion at the forum held at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California. More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 7)
ULA SET TO LAUNCH ATLAS V ON LONG DURATION MISSION FOR SPACE FORCE - ULA (United Launch Alliance) is preparing for the 90th launch of an Atlas V rocket and their fifth and final mission of 2021. Launching from SLC-41 (Space Launch Complex 41) in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the STP-3 mission will loft two experimental satellites for the United States Space Force. The mission will also test several new technologies onboard the company’s Atlas V launch vehicle during the longest duration mission for an Atlas rocket to date. After a 24 hour delay due to a leak in the RP-1 ground storage system and then an additional day to verify the fuel’s sample integrity, liftoff is now scheduled for December 7 at 4:04 AM EST (9:04 UTC). More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 7)
FUEL LEAK AT LAUNCH PAD DELAYS ATLAS 5 MISSION - United Launch Alliance delayed the planned launch of an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Sunday after discovering a kerosene fuel leak in the launch pad’s ground storage system. Officials have rescheduled launch with two U.S. military satellites for Tuesday morning. ULA announced the launch delay around 7 p.m. EST Saturday (0000 GMT Sunday), just prior to the start of the countdown for a planned liftoff before dawn Sunday. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 6)
Previous Next
