SPACE FORCE OFFICIAL: RUSSIAN MISSILE TESTS EXPOSE VULNERABILITY OF LOW-ORBITING SATELLITES - Russia on Dec. 15 conducted a ballistic missile test that U.S. Space Command condemned as a threat to satellites in orbit. “The nation must do something about this,” said Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno, director of staff of the Office of the Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force. Speaking Dec. 16 at a Washington Space Business Roundtable virtual event, Armagno said the recent Russian missile test shows how vulnerable satellites are...   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 18)

PSLV DELIVERS INDIAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - A government communications satellite to link Indian citizens with telemedicine, education, and other services rocketed into orbit Thursday on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The CMS 1 satellite, formerly known as GSAT 12R, is on track to replace India’s GSAT 12 spacecraft in geostationary orbit providing telecom services across the Indian subcontinent and neighboring islands. The roughly 1.5-ton satellite took off on the PSLV at 5:11 a.m. EST (1011 GMT) Thursday, or 3:41 p.m. local time in India.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 18)

SPACEX ABORTS US SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH DUE TO ROCKET BOOSTER PRESSURE ISSUE - SpaceX called off the planned launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a classified spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office due to high pressure in the second-stage booster. The launch, dubbed NROL-108, was set to launch from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a three-hour launch window that opened at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) today (Dec. 17). The next launch attempt could occur on Friday (Dec. 18).   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 18)

SANTA CLAUS TO FLY BY THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Santa Claus will be performing a ceremonial fly-by of the International Space Station (ISS) on Dec. 24. The visit will honor the 20th anniversary of continuous life on the ISS, a milestone achieved in November. The official NORAD Santa Tracker at NoradSanta.org will allow users to track Santa’s journey all day on Dec. 24. New for this year, visitors will be able to see the ISS orbiting the planet in its precise real-time location by zooming out on the 3D Santa Tracker app. Other updates include additions to Santa’s traditional garb, including a face mask and space helmet.   More
(Source: GPS World magazine - Dec 17)

SPACEX WILL LAUNCH A SPY SATELLITE FOR THE NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE THURSDAY. WATCH IT LIVE! - SpaceX is set to launch a spy satellite into orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Thursday (Dec. 17), and you can watch the action online. The flight is scheduled to blast off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center here in Florida during a planned three-hour window that opens at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT). However, the exact liftoff time has not yet been announced.    More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 17)

SPACE COMMAND CALLS OUT ANOTHER RUSSIAN ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPON TEST - Russia conducted its second test this year of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile test, according to a U.S. Space Command, yet again drawing sharp criticism from the U.S. “Russia has made space a war-fighting domain by testing space-based and ground-based weapons intended to target and destroy satellites. This fact is inconsistent with Moscow’s public claims that Russia seeks to prevent conflict in space,” said Space Command head Gen. James Dickinson in a statement. “Space is critical to all nations.    More
(Source: C4ISRNet - Dec 17)

INDIA READYING PSLV ROCKET TO LAUNCH CMS-01 COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - The Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, is preparing for their second launch of 2020 using their workhorse rocket: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, or PSLV. The mission will carry the CMS-01 replacement communications satellite to orbit on Thursday, 17 December at 10:11 UTC, or 05:11 EST. The launch is scheduled to occur locally at 15:41 IST (Indian Standard Time) from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s east coast.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 17)

INCREDIBLE SATELLITE VIEW OF THE MOON’S SHADOW CROSSING THE SURFACE OF EARTH DURING THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - The first and only total solar eclipse of 2020 occurred on December 14, with the path of totality stretching from the equatorial Pacific to the South Atlantic and passing through southern Argentina and Chile. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16 (GOES-16) captured images of the shadow of the Moon crossing the surface of Earth.   More
(Source: SciTechDaily - Dec 16)

ROCKET LAB CLOSES OUT YEAR WITH LAUNCH OF SYNSPECTIVE’S FIRST RADAR SATELLITE - Rocket Lab’s seventh and final launch of the year delivered a small radar observation satellite into orbit for Synspective, a Japanese startup planning a fleet of 30 or more Earth-imaging spacecraft providing day-and-night imagery of cities around the world. The liquid-fueled Electron rocket’s kick stage deployed Synspective’s StriX-α demonstration satellite into a roughly 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) sun-synchronous polar orbit around an hour after liftoff, Rocket Lab said in a statement.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 16)

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