NEXT SPACE STATION RESUPPLY MISSION SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH FROM WALLOPS FEBRUARY 9 - The next Northrup Grumman Antares launch to the International Space Station is scheduled for February 9 at the Wallops Flight Facility. The scheduled lift off will be at 5:39 pm from pad 0A. This will be the 13th resupply mission to the ISS to launch from Wallops. This resupply mission will transport the following experiments to the space station.   More
(Source: Shore Daily News - Jan 10)

SPACEX TESTS BLACK SATELLITE TO REDUCE 'MEGACONSTELLATION' THREAT TO ASTRONOMY - The aerospace company SpaceX launched 60 of its Starlink broadband-internet satellites into orbit on 6 January — including one, called DarkSat, that is partially painted black. The probe is testing one strategy to reduce the brightness of satellite ‘megaconstellations’, which scientists fear could interfere with their astronomical observations. Various companies plan to launch thousands of internet satellites in the coming years; SpaceX, of Hawthorne, California, aims to launch 24 batches of Starlinks this year.    More
(Source: Nature - Jan 9)

COMPANIES' PLANS FOR SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS 'PUT NIGHT SKY AT RISK' - The spectacular view of the heavens on a clear, dark night is under threat from plans to launch tens of thousands of satellites that will be visible tearing across the sky, astronomers have been told. Tech firms have begun to place a number of satellite “mega constellations” into low Earth orbit in a move designed to expand internet access and open new markets in the developing world.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Jan 9)

SATELLITE PHOTOS REVEAL EXTENT OF DAMAGE FROM IRANIAN STRIKE ON AIR BASE IN IRAQ - Satellite photos taken Wednesday show that an Iranian missile strike has caused extensive damage at the Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq, which hosts U.S. and coalition troops. The photos, taken by the commercial company Planet and shared with NPR via the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, show hangars and buildings hit hard by a barrage of Iranian missiles that were fired early Wednesday morning local time.   More
(Source: NPR - Jan 9)

THIS SATELLITE WILL DELIVER TWICE THE CAPABILITY OF THE CURRENT CONSTELLATION - The next satellite in the Air Force’s Wideband Global SATCOM family of satellites will be able to deliver twice the capability of the entire constellation to war fighters thanks to commercial technology. WGS 11, which is slated for delivery from prime contractor Boeing in 2023, will provide more coverage beams and more beam formed bandwidth than previous WGS satellites, the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center announced in a Jan. 2 press release.   More
(Source: C4ISRNet - Jan 8)

DRAGON CARGO CAPSULE BRINGS HOME SPACE STATION SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS - SpaceX’s 19th Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station ended Tuesday with the capsule’s splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles with nearly 3,600 pounds of cargo and experiments. The reusable Dragon supply ship concluded a 30-day stay at the space station at 5:05 a.m. EST (1005 GMT) Tuesday, when the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm released the Dragon spacecraft.   More
(Source: SoaceFlight Now - Jan 8)

SPACEX LAUNCHES MORE STARLINK SATELLITES, TESTS DESIGN CHANGE FOR ASTRONOMERS - Sixty more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink global Internet network streaked into orbit Monday night from Cape Canaveral, including one spacecraft to test an experimental dark coating to address scientists’ concerns that the thousands of the quarter-ton, flat-panel satellites will impede astronomical observations.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 8)

CHINA'S HEAVIEST SATELLITE POSITIONED IN GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT - China's heaviest and most advanced satellite, Shijian-20, reached its fixed position in geosynchronous orbit Sunday, marking the first successful flight of DFH-5 satellite platform, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The Shijian-20 satellite is the first verification satellite for DFH-5 satellite platform, China's new generation of large geosynchronous orbit satellite platform.   More
(Source: Space Daily - Jan 7)

QUADRANTID METEOR SHOWER LOOKS LIKE PURE MAGIC IN ASTRONAUT'S VIEW FROM ISS - Us Earth-bound folks got to experience the annual Quadrantid meteor shower this month as a show of bright lights shooting across the dark night sky. The astronauts on board the International Space Station saw these same meteors, but with a very different backdrop. "Can you see shooting starts [sic] from space? Turns out, yes!" NASA astronaut Christina Koch tweeted on Monday along with a composite image showing what the Quadrantids look like from space.   More
(Source: CNET - Jan 7)

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