JAPANESE RESUPPLY SHIP DEPARTS NEXT WEEK - A Japanese resupply ship will depart the International Space Station next week after nearly three months attached to the orbital lab. Meanwhile, the Expedition 63 crew continued a variety of science operations today. JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, announced Tuesday, Aug. 18, as the release date for its H-II Transfer Vehicle-9 (HTV-9) cargo craft.   More
(Source: NASA - Aug 12)

HOW SPACEX AND NASA OVERCAME A BITTER CULTURE CLASH TO BRING BACK US ASTRONAUT LAUNCHES - In May, millions of Americans watched as Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, two veteran NASA astronauts, strapped into a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and took a 17,000 mile per hour ride to the International Space Station. It was the first time NASA astronauts launched from US soil since 2011 — and the first time in history that a privately owned vehicle carried humans into Earth's orbit. The astronauts returned safely home last weekend, and once again, NASA and SpaceX employees cheered together, celebrating their coordinated accomplishment.   More
(Source: CNN - Aug 11)

SPACEX IS MANUFACTURING 120 STARLINK INTERNET SATELLITES PER MONTH - SpaceX is manufacturing its Starlink satellites at an unprecedented rate for the space industry, analysts say, as the company dives headlong into building a space-based global internet service. Elon Musk’s company told the Federal Communications Commission in a presentation last month that its Starlink unit is “now building 120 satellites per month” and has “invested over $70 million developing and producing thousands of consumer user terminals per month.   More
(Source: CNBC - Aug 11)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH FIRST SAR SATELLITE FOR PREDASAR - Satellite data provider PredaSAR Corporation has announced that its first of 48 advanced commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites will launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. is the launch integration provider in addition to the manufacturer of the spacecraft. As part of the agreement, PredaSAR, Tyvak, and SpaceX will be working together to optimise the deployment plan for the remainder of PredaSAR’s commercial SAR satellite constellation.   More
(Source: SatelliteProME.com - Aug 11)

A RUSSIAN SATELLITE WEAPON SHOWS THE DANGER OF HAZY RULES IN SPACE - KOSMOS 2542, a Russian satellite lofted into space atop a Soyuz rocket on November 25th last year, was “like Russian nesting dolls”, remarked General John Raymond, commander of America’s space force, in February. Eleven days after its launch it disgorged another satellite, labelled Kosmos 2543. General Raymond’s analogy was more apt than he imagined. On July 15th, as it swung high over northern Europe, Kosmos 2543 itself spat out another object, which sped away at over 140 metres per second.   More
(Source: The Economist - Aug 10)

SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITE TRAIN SNAPPED FLYING OVER NEW ZEALAND - A new batch of SpaceX's Starlink satellites has been spotted travelling in the skies over New Zealand. Fifty-seven of the satellites, intended to provide a satellite-based internet system, were released into orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket on Friday. There are now 597 of them - SpaceX hoping to eventually have more than 40,000. When a batch is first released, the satellites are close together and can be seen moving across the sky in a train.   More
(Source: Newshub - Aug 10)

EXPERIMENTAL DRAGRACER SATELLITES WILL TEST 'TERMINATOR TAPE' FOR SPACE JUNK CLEANUP THIS FALL - An experimental mission to test tether-based orbital debris cleanup method with "Terminator Tape" is slated to launch this fall to test the deorbit performance of two satellites. The Millennium Space Systems mission, called DragRacer, involves two small satellites that are set to launch simultaneously to low Earth orbit (LEO) to measure how fast satellites fall out of space. The goal, the company said, is to study technologies for removing space debris from orbit.    More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 9)

SPACEX CLOSES OUT BUSY WEEK WITH LAUNCH OF MORE STARLINK SATELLITES - With a Falcon 9 rocket launch Friday, SpaceX added 57 more satellites to the Starlink broadband fleet and deployed a pair of piggyback commercial Earth-imaging reconnaissance satellites for BlackSky, wrapping up a busy week that began with SpaceX’s return of two NASA astronauts to Earth and the first low-altitude test flight of the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 8)

WATCH SPACEX LAUNCH ITS TENTH STARLINK MISSION TO BUILD OUT ITS SATELLITE INTERNET CONSTELLATION - SpaceX is getting ready for a third try at launching its tenth Starlink mission, after two prior attempts were scrubbed, first in June and then again in July. Meanwhile, SpaceX has accomplished a lot — including another launch of a GPS satellite, and returning astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to Earth from the International Space Station aboard the Crew Dragon.   More
(Source: TechCrunch - Aug 7)

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