CHINA TO LAUNCH SATELLITE TO MONITOR ARCTIC SHIPPING ROUTES - China announced plans to launch a new imaging satellite to monitor Arctic shipping routes. The satellite will employ Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology able to observe the Earth’s surface even during night time and through cloud layers or smoke. The spacecraft will be placed into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 720 kilometers and produce high quality imagery. At a resolution of 50 meters the satellite can image strips up to 300 kilometers wide. More (Source: High North News - Dec 10)
SPACE OPERATIONS COMMAND TAKES OVER FINAL AEHF SATELLITE - The U.S. Space Force officially took control of the sixth and final Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite Oct. 29, with operational acceptance expected before the end of the year. On Dec. 4, the Space Force announced that the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Production Corps transferred satellite control authority of the space vehicle to Space Operations Command. The 4th Space Operations Squadron will have operational control of the satellite as it’s integrated into the full constellation. More (Source: C4ISRNet - Dec 10)
SPACEX CONDUCTS STARSHIP TEST FLIGHT, ENDS IN FIERY CRASH LANDING - The test flight of the Starship prototype SN8 ended with an explosion. Elon Musk said on Twitter: “Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks & precise flap control to landing point!” We’ll have a full report later. SpaceX aborted the Starship SN8 test launch Tuesday just before engine ignition. This story was updated Tuesday evening to reflect the abort. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 9)
MILLENNIUM SPACE EXPERIMENT TO DEMONSTRATE TECHNOLOGY TO RAPIDLY DEORBIT SATELLITES - Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems announced Dec. 7 that an experiment launched to space last month will show a small satellite can safely deorbit in about 45 days. Two Millennium Space small satellites flew Nov. 19 to low-Earth orbit on a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle from New Zealand. In the experiment named DragRacer, both satellites were ejected simultaneously. One has a deployable tether and other does not. Millennium Space predicts that the tethered spacecraft will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 45 days while the untethered one could take more than seven years. More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 8)
SPACEX'S 1ST UPGRADED DRAGON CARGO SHIP DOCKS ITSELF AT SPACE STATION WITH SCIENCE, GOODIES AND NEW AIRLOCK - A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station today (Dec. 7) to deliver vital supplies for NASA and try something brand-new: park itself without the help of astronauts. The private spaceflight company used a Falcon 9 rocket to launch CRS-21, the first flight to use the upgraded version of its Dragon cargo spacecraft, to the space station Sunday (Dec. 6) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The vehicle autonomously docked with the orbiting laboratory today at 1:40 p.m. EST (1840 GMT)... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 8)
CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES NEW EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE - China on Sunday successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite which can take high-resolution pictures of ground objects across the globe. The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The satellite, Gaofen-14, was sent into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. Geofen-14 is an optical stereo mapping satellite. More (Source: Economic Times - Dec 7)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FIRST IN NEW LINE OF UPGRADED SPACE STATION CARGO SHIPS - An upgraded version of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo freighter launched Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, loaded with 3.2 tons of supplies and experiments in the first of at least nine resupply flights to the International Space Station under a new NASA contract. The cargo capsule lifted off on top of a 215-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket at 11:17:08 a.m. EST (1617:08 GMT) Sunday, vaulting away from pad 39A with 1.7 million pounds of thrust from nine Merlin main engines. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 7)
NASA, SPACEX NOW TARGETING DEC. 6 FOR CRS-21 LAUNCH - Because of poor weather conditions in the recovery area for today’s planned launch of SpaceX’s 21st commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX and NASA are now targeting lift off for Sunday, Dec. 6, at 11:17 a.m. EST. Launch coverage will begin at 10:45 a.m. on NASA TV and the agency’s website. More (Source: NASA - Dec 6)
LOCKHEED MARTIN’S SBIRS GEO-5 SATELLITE READIES FOR LAUNCH IN 2021 - Lockheed Martin revealed Wednesday that the fifth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO-5) satellite is complete and ready for launch in 2021, as determined by the U.S. Space Force. SBIRS GEO-5 is the first military space satellite built on Lockheed Martin’s LM 2100 combat bus. The SBIRS GEO-6 satellite is also being built on the new bus, with plans to launch in 2022. Both SBIRS GEO-5 and GEO-6 will to join the U.S. Space Force’s constellation of missile warning satellites, which have scanning and staring infrared surveillance sensors. More (Source: Via Satellite - Dec 5)
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