SPACEX LAUNCHES MORE STARLINK SATELLITES, BETA TESTING WELL UNDERWAY - Sixty more satellites launched Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center to join SpaceX’s Starlink fleet, adding coverage to the broadband network as it is already “well into the first phase of testing.” The next 60 Starlink relay nodes blasted off at 8:46:14 a.m. EDT (1246:14 GMT) Thursday on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, riding SpaceX’s workhorse launcher into an orbit more between about 130 miles and 210 miles (210 and 340 kilometers) above Earth.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 4)

VEGA RETURNS TO FLIGHT WITH RIDESHARE MISSION - After a lengthy grounding following a failed launch in July 2019, the closure of the Guiana Space Centre due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, and a further postponement because of high-altitude winds, Arianespace’s small-lift Vega rocket finally launched on its Return To Flight (RTF) mission. Postponed on Tuesday due to the storm track of Typhoon Maysak over South Korea, where the Jeju telemetry station is located, Wednesday night/Thursday morning proved to be the right time for Vega to return to space.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Sep 3)

SATELLITE MEGA-CONSTELLATIONS RISK RUINING ASTRONOMY FOREVER - The astronomy community is on edge. The growing number of satellites streaming through low Earth orbit is making it almost impossible to get a clear view of the sky. The true threat these mega-constellations pose to the astronomy community is only just beginning to be understood. A report released last week by the American Astronomical Society concluded that they will “fundamentally change astronomical observing” for optical and near-infrared investigations moving forward.   More
(Source: MIT Technology Review - Sep 3)

FIRST ELEMENT OF ARISS NEXT-GENERATION RADIO SYSTEM INSTALLED AND OPERATING ON ISS - The initial element of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) next-generation radio system has been installed onboard the ISS, and amateur radio operations using the new gear are now under way. The first element, dubbed the InterOperable Radio System (IORS), was installed in the ISS Columbus module. The IORS replaces the Ericsson radio system and packet module that were originally certified for spaceflight in mid-2000.   More
(Source: ARRL - Sep 2)

NASA INVITES MEDIA TO NORTHROP GRUMMAN’S SEPTEMBER ANTARES LAUNCH FROM VIRGINIA - Media accreditation is open for the launch from Virginia of Northrop Grumman’s 14th commercial resupply services mission to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station aboard its Cygnus spacecraft. Northrop Grumman is targeting liftoff of its Antares launch vehicle for no earlier than 10:26 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 29, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.   More
(Source: NASA - Sep 2)

VINTAGE NASA SATELLITE FALLS TO EARTH, MEETS FIERY DOOM AFTER 56 YEARS IN SPACE - A long-retired NASA satellite burned up in Earth's atmosphere over the weekend, the agency has confirmed. NASA launched the satellite, called Orbiting Geophysics Observatory 1, or OGO-1, in September 1964, the first in a series of five missions to help scientists understand the magnetic environment around Earth. OGO-1 was the first to launch but the last to fall out of orbit; the satellite had circled Earth aimlessly since its retirement in 1971.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 1)

ROCKET LAB RETURNS TO FLIGHT WITH CAPELLA SPACE LAUNCH - Rocket Lab successfully launched a radar imaging satellite for Capella Space Aug. 30 in the first flight of its Electron rocket since a failure nearly two months earlier. The Electron lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 11:05 p.m. Eastern. It deployed its payload, the Sequoia radar imaging satellite for Capella Space, about an hour after liftoff into a 500-kilometer orbit at a 45-degree inclination.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 31)

US SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAYED A WEEK AFTER ABORT IN FINAL SECONDS - The launch of a new U.S. spy satellite on a massive Delta IV Heavy rocket has been delayed at least a week after a last-minute abort prevented an attempted liftoff early Saturday (Aug. 29). The abort occurred just three seconds before the planned launch of the clandestine NROL-44 satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 3:28 a.m. EDT (0728 GMT), according to the United Launch Alliance, which built the heavy-lift Delta IV Heavy.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 31)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FIRST POLAR ORBIT MISSION FROM FLORIDA IN DECADES - Vaulting away from Cape Canaveral on an unusual southerly trajectory, a Falcon 9 rocket dodged stormy weather and successfully placed an Argentine radar observation satellite into an orbit over Earth’s poles Sunday on SpaceX’s 100th launch.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 31)

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