JAPAN LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE TO IMPROVE NAVIGATION SYSTEM - Japan's space agency says it successfully launched a navigation satellite on its new H3 rocket. The latest launch on February 2 took place as the country aims to develop a more precise positioning system. The H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki 6 satellite lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center on a southwestern Japanese island. More (Source: VOA - Feb 6)
NASA'S LAUNCHING A NEW SUN MISSION THIS MONTH: 'PUNCH IS GOING TO SEE A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE' - The sun, for all its glitz, tends to hide behind a veil of mystery. For instance, its outer atmosphere, the corona, appears to be hotter than its surface — like, way hotter — and scientists aren't sure why. There's also a big puzzle concerning how the solar wind, which is a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun, gets accelerated while zooming through space. What exactly drives those particles? And soon, NASA intends to tackle yet another solar conundrum that has to do with both the corona and the solar wind. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 6)
CHINA TO LAUNCH 2 NEW SPACE STATION CARGO SPACECRAFT ON COMMERCIAL ROCKETS IN 2025 - China will launch a pair of low-cost space station resupply spacecraft this year on new commercial launch vehicles, highlighting advances for the country’s space ecosystem. The missions aim to provide flexible options and redundancy for supplying the Tiangong space station, while also illustrating the expansion and progress made by Chinese commercial space actors and other non-traditional space entities. More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 5)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 2 MAXAR EARTH-OBSERVING SATELLITES TO ORBIT - SpaceX launched two Earth-imaging satellites today (Feb. 4), further building out Maxar Technologies' sharp-eyed WorldView Legion constellation. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the WorldView Legion 5 and 6 satellites lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida today at 6:13 p.m. EST (2313 GMT). The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about eight minutes after launch as planned, touching down at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is next door to KSC. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 5)
ROCKET LAB DELAYS LAUNCH DUE TO SPACE COLLISION CONCERN - Rocket Lab has delayed the launch of the IOT 4 You and Me mission in order to ensure the mission does not interfere with "space traffic from other satellites and the ISS," according to a company statement on X. A new launch date has not yet been set. Rocket Lab is set to launch five "Internet of Things" satellites this week after a delay, and you can watch the action live. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 4)
NEWLY-LAUNCHED INDIAN SATELLITE LEFT STRANDED BY PROPULSION PROBLEM - India just launched its first mission of 2025. The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on schedule today at 7:53 p.m. EST (0053 GMT and 6:23 a.m. local time on Jan. 29). It was the 100th launch overall from the storied spaceport, which lies on the barrier island Sriharikota, off India's southeastern coast. The first orbital liftoff from the site occurred in August 1979, according to The Hindu. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 4)
INDIAN NAVIGATION SATELLITE STUCK IN TRANSFER ORBIT AFTER PROPULSION FAILURE - A recently launched Indian navigation satellite is stranded in a transfer orbit after the failure of its onboard propulsion system and could soon renter. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated Feb. 2 that the NVS-02 satellite, launched Jan. 28 (Eastern time), suffered a thruster failure that is keeping the spacecraft from raising its orbit as planned. According to a statement posted on ISRO’s website but not otherwise publicized by the agency, “the orbit raising operations towards positioning the satellite to the designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves for admitting the oxidizer to fire the thrusters for orbit raising did not open.” More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 3)
SPACEX LAUNCHING 21 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA ON FEB. 3 - SpaceX is set to launch another batch of Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast early Monday morning (Feb. 3) A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Monday during a four-hour window that opens at 3:54 a.m. EST (0854 GMT). SpaceX will livestream the action via its X account, beginning about five minutes before launch. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 3)
WATCH JAPAN LAUNCH NAVIGATION SATELLITE ON ITS 1ST MISSION OF 2025 ON FEB. 2 - Japan will launch its first mission of the year early Sunday morning (Feb. 2), and you can watch the action live. An H3 rocket is scheduled to launch the Michibiki 6 navigation satellite from Tanegashima Space Center on Sunday during a two-hour window that opens at 3:30 a.m. EST (0830 GMT; 5:30 p.m. local Japan time). More (Source: Space.com - Feb 2)
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