WHAT IS THAT?! SPACEX’S STARLINK SATELLITES EXPLAINED - Starlink is the name of a satellite network that SpaceX is developing to provide global broadband coverage for high-speed internet access, particularly for people across the world in rural and remote areas. SpaceX has launched more than 600 new Starlinks this year, typically launching 60 at a time. As of last week, that places the number of Starlink satellites currently in orbit at more than 1,500. Over the coming few years, SpaceX plans to send up at least 12,000 Starlink satellites. More (Source: EarthSky - May 24)
FALCON HEAVY’S FIRST NATIONAL SECURITY LAUNCH SLIPS TO OCTOBER - The next launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket has been delayed from July to October to await the readiness of its U.S. military payload, and the following Falcon Heavy flight has been rescheduled from late this year to some time in 2022, military officials said. Col. Robert Bongiovi, head of the launch enterprise at the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 24)
VIRGIN GALACTIC ROCKET PLANE FLIES TO EDGE OF SPACE - The Unity vehicle, with pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow at the controls, powered to a height of 89km (55 miles), and then glided back down to Earth. Sir Richard has some 600 paying customers - including movie and music stars - waiting to take the same ride. But they'll only get their chance once Unity is fully licensed. That ought, finally, to happen by the year's end. More (Source: BBC News - May 23)
MEGA-SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS COULD LEAD TO CHAIN-REACTION SPACECRAFT PILE-UPS IN ORBIT - A new report by two Canadian researchers is highlighting the growing hazard of space debris. It warns that the new mega-constellations of tens of thousands of communication satellites could pose a new kind of danger that could ultimately threaten other satellites, astronauts, our ability to use space and could even have an impact on the climate. More (Source: CBC.ca - May 23)
CHINESE SPACE STATION’S DELAYED CARGO SHIP HAS A DATE WITH A GIANT ROBOTIC ARM - The cargo spacecraft whose launch was postponed by China this week will have an important role in testing robotic technology helping to build the country’s space station. Tianzhou 2, an uncrewed cargo ship and the second of 11 missions being sent up to complete Tiangong Space Station, had been expected to lift off from the southern island of Hainan early on Thursday, only for Chinese space authorities to delay it for “technical reasons”, without giving a new launch date. More (Source: South China Morning Post - May 22)
TEMPO AIR POLLUTION SENSOR TREKS TOWARD SATELLITE INTEGRATION - A NASA satellite instrument that will measure air pollution over North America has reached another key project milestone. On Tuesday, May 18, The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO), instrument, which will take hourly daytime measurements at an unprecedented spatial resolution shipped from Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, to Maxar Technologies' satellite manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, California, for integration onto the Intelsat 40e. More (Source: NASA - May 22)
CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES NEW OCEAN OBSERVATION SATELLITE - China on Wednesday successfully sent a new ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit as part of its effort to build an all-weather and round-the-clock dynamic ocean environment monitoring system which would provide early warning on marine disasters. The satellite was launched by a Long March-4B rocket carrying the Haiyang-2D (HY-2D) satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, the state media reported. More (Source: The Hindu - May 20)
CHINA SCRUBS FIRST CARGO LAUNCH TO NEW STATION WITH TIANZHOU 2 - China has scrubbed the launch of its Tianzhou 2 cargo mission to its new space station. Liftoff was expected at 17:35:30 UTC on Wednesday, 19 May aboard a Chang Zheng 7 rocket, but post-fueling operations revealed an issue that forced a stop to launch preparations. Tianzhou 2 marks the second flight of the uncrewed Tianzhou spacecraft, which China will use to resupply its space station, and the first such mission in support of a crew. The craft will have to wait until at least Thursday, 20 May (UTC) for launch at a time approximately 22-25 minutes earlier than Wednesday’s attempt. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 20)
ATLAS 5 ROCKET LAUNCHES INFRARED MISSILE DETECTION SATELLITE FOR U.S. SPACE FORCE - An upgraded, cyber-hardened $1 billion satellite to support the U.S. military’s missile defense systems rode into orbit from Cape Canaveral Tuesday at the tip of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. Hosting a suite of sophisticated heat-seeking sensors, the Space Force’s fifth Space Based Infrared System, or SBIRS, satellite took off from pad 41 on Florida’s Space Coast on an Atlas 5 rocket at 1:37 p.m. EDT (1737 GMT) Tuesday. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 19)
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