NASA BRANDS FUTURE EARTH SCIENCE MISSIONS AS EARTH SYSTEM OBSERVATORY - A set of missions recommended by the Earth science decadal survey more than three years ago will be developed under a program called the Earth System Observatory, NASA and the White House announced May 24. The White House announced the Earth System Observatory program in a fact sheet that outlined a broader program to monitor and address the impacts of climate change, including $1 billion in “pre-disaster mitigation resources” for communities provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. More (Source: SpaceNews - May 26)
A RACE AGAINST TIME TO REPLACE AGING MILITARY WEATHER SATELLITES - The U.S. Defense Department may finally be on track to replace its aging polar-orbiting weather satellites more than a decade after pulling the plug on an ill-fated effort to cram civil and military requirements into a single system. Work is underway on two new military satellite systems designed to replace the most critical capabilities of the venerable Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). More (Source: SpaceNews - May 25)
SPACEX TEST-FIRES ROCKET FOR SIXTH FALCON 9 LAUNCH IN FIVE WEEKS - SpaceX fired up a Falcon 9 rocket Monday on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, running the launcher through a pre-flight checkout and clearing a hurdle before liftoff later this week with the next batch of Starlink internet satellites. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket ignited its nine Merlin 1D main engines at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) Monday on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral. The engines appeared to run for several seconds, generating a cloud of exhaust that billowed out of the flame trench at the seaside launch complex. More (Source: S[aceFlight Now - May 25)
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)
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