ISRAELI SATELLITE STRAYS FROM PATH TO PREVENT COLLISION WITH NASA’S TERRA - Some days you open your email to find a spam message from a Nigerian prince asking for money, and there are other days when you find a message from the European Space Agency (ESA) warning that your satellite is on a collision course with another, and you better do something about it fast. That’s what happened at the beginning of December to the Israeli-French environmental research satellite Venus’ operational team. More (Source: CTech - Dec 28)
CHINA’S LONG MARCH 8 ROCKET SUCCESSFUL IN DEBUT LAUNCH - A new Chinese launch vehicle, the Long March 8, has successfully placed five payloads into orbit on its first mission, debuting an expendable booster intended to eventually be outfitted for recovery and reuse. The Long March 8 rocket took off from the Wenchang satellite launch center on Hainan Island, China’s newest spaceport, at 11:37 p.m. EST Dec. 20 (0437 GMT; 12:37 p.m. Beijing time Dec. 21), Chinese space program officials said. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 28)
THE BIGGEST EVENTS FROM 2020, BEFORE AND AFTER, AS SEEN BY SATELLITES - 2020 featured incredible upheaval around the world thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as its fill of natural and man-made disasters. Through it all, the scale of the disruption and destruction was captured from the sky by Maxar Technologies, a US space tech company that specialises in Earth observation. Here are the best before-and-after photos as seen by Maxar's satellites. More (Source: ABC News - Dec 27)
CAPELLA SPACE UNVEILS SUPER-SHARP RADAR IMAGES OF EARTH (PHOTOS) - Capella Space's first fully operational satellite has snapped some breathtaking images of Earth during its first few months in orbit. The Capella-2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, previously known as Sequoia, launched atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster on Aug. 30. Because Capella-2 captures imagery using radio waves rather than visible light, the spacecraft can both peer through clouds and study swaths of our planet that are cloaked in darkness. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 27)
SPACEX SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION ON JANUARY 4 - SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday, January 4. Launch window opens at 8:27 p.m. ET. The mission will launch a Turksat 5A communications satellite for Turksat, which is a Turkish satellite operator. More (Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Dec 27)
CHINA SPACE STATION ON TRACK FOR 2022 WITH CORE MODULE TO LAUNCH IN SPRING - China is set to launch the core module of its first permanent space station next spring, to be constructed over 11 missions in the next two years and completed by 2022. Astronauts are already in training for the China-built and operated Tiangong Space Station project, and will also carry out retrieval missions and test in-orbit technologies, according to state broadcaster CCTV. More (Source: South China Morning Post - Dec 26)
ASTRONAUTS ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION BEAM CHRISTMAS CHEER TO EARTH - Astronauts on the International Space Station are sending Christmas tidings to the people of Earth with a message of hope in a year challenged by a global pandemic. All seven members of the station's Expedition 64 crew are taking the day off in orbit to relax and likely make calls to friends and family, but five of them beamed home some special videos for everyone on Earth. Their message: Resilience, based on the name of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that launched four of the astronauts to the station last month. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 26)
NORAD TRACKS SANTA CLAUS IN COSMIC TRIP TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Astronauts on the International Space Station are getting a special visit from a strange spacecraft powered by reindeer and carrying a jolly old elf. Yes, Santa has reached the final frontier. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI) have unveiled a new video of Santa's flyby of the International Space Station, which comes just in time for Christmas during the station's 20th anniversary year of crewed missions. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 25)
HOW TO FOLLOW SANTA'S CHRISTMAS SLEIGH RIDE WITH NORAD — AND HOW THE TRADITION ACCIDENTALLY BEGAN - North America’s premier Kris Kringle tracker is following Santa Claus this Christmas Eve, so here’s how to see where St. Nick will be next. From Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is proudly tracking Santa for the 65th year. Believers can follow Santa’s path on Dec. 24 in several different ways, including noradsanta.org, on Twitter, via smartphone apps or with a good old -fashioned phone call to the toll-free 1-877-Hi-NORAD. More (Source: Fox news - Dec 25)
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