SUPER HEAVY-STARSHIP ROCKET CHALKS UP MOSTLY SUCCESSFUL TEST FLIGHT - SpaceX launched it’s 13th Super Heavy-Starship rocket Friday, with the giant booster chalking up an on-target but “hard” splashdown off the Texas Gulf Coast while the Starship upper stage carried out a successful sub-orbital hop to the Indian Ocean. Powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, the 407-foot-tall two-stage rocket blasted off from SpaceX’s “Starbase,” Texas, launch site at 5:51 p.m. EDT, putting on a spectacular show for area residents and tourists as it climbed away atop some 16 million pounds of thrust.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 26)

SPACEX FALCON 9 LAUNCHES STARLINK SATELLITES FROM WEST COAST - A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from the West Coast Saturday, carrying another batch of satellites for the company’s Starlink internet service. Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California occurred at 8:51 a.m. PDT (11:51 a.m. EDT / 1551 UTC). The Falcon 9 look a southerly trajectory on departure from Space Launch Complex 4E, as it targeted an 97-degree inclination orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 26)

COLLISIONS IN SPACE ARE A GROWING CONCERN. A PLAN TO ADDRESS IT IS REIGNITING A TURF WAR - As the number of satellites orbiting Earth continues to grow, so does the risk of crashes between these spacecraft. Such collisions could create fields of debris, potentially rendering entire areas of orbit useless. Objects in space have crashed, or had near misses, in the past. But while such incidents remain extremely rare, there are now more than 18,000 active and inactive satellites in orbit — a number that has more than doubled in the past six years alone. And the vast majority of them are located in the same region, low-Earth orbit, where the increased congestion is making collisions statistically more likely.   More
(Source: CNN - Jul 24)

CHINA'S RECORD-BREAKING GRAVITY-1 ROCKET LAUNCHES 9 SATELLITES FROM A SHIP AT SEA - The world's most powerful solid-fuel rocket just aced its third-ever mission. Gravity-1, a distinctively squat and stubby rocket, launched Tuesday night (July 21) from the deck of a ship stationed off the coast of Shanghai. Liftoff occurred at 10:54 p.m. EDT (0254 GMT and 10:54 a.m. Beijing time on July 22), according to the state-run Chinese outlet Xinhua, which further reported that all nine satellites reached "their designated orbits." Details about those satellites were not provided.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 23)

JAPAN IS QUIETLY BUILDING A 100-SATELLITE SOVEREIGN EYE IN THE SKY - Japan’s IHI Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Finnish startup Kuva Space to explore building next-generation hyperspectral satellites for Tokyo’s sovereign Earth observation constellation, marking the latest foreign partnership stitched into a program that increasingly reads as a hedge against strategic surveillance dependence on Washington.   More
(Source: Space Daily - Jul 22)

SPACEX LAUNCHES SATELLITE REPAIR DRONE WITH 10-FOOT ROBOTIC ARMS TO EARTH ORBIT - SpaceX launched a trailblazing satellite-servicing mission today (July 21). A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 GMT). SpaceX called today's launch MRV-MEV, because it's sending up a Mission Robotic Vehicle and three Mission Extension Pods (MEPs). These spacecraft will be operated by SpaceLogistics, a subsidiary of Virginia-based aerospace giant Northrop Grumman.   More
(Source: - Jul 22)

SPACEX LAUNCHES STARLINK MISSION FROM CALIFORNIA A DAY AFTER LAST-SECOND ABORT - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched two dozen Starlink V2 Mini broadband internet satellites to its massive low Earth orbit constellation on Tuesday, a day after liftoff was scrubbed by a rare abort during engine ignition. Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California came at 7:49 a.m. PDT (10:49 a.m. EDT / 1449 UTC). The first launch attempt for the Starlink 17-39 mission ended as the countdown clock hit zero when an issue popped up during the ignition sequence. All nine Merlin 1D engines appeared to ignite but then shutdown in a flash of fire and smoke.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 22)

NASA SETS BRIEFINGS FOR SPACEX CREW-13 MISSION TO SPACE STATION - NASA and its partners will discuss the upcoming crew rotation mission to the International Space Station during a pair of news conferences on Monday, Aug. 3, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Mission leadership will provide an overview of NASA’s SpaceX Crew‑13 mission at 12 p.m. EDT. Next, crew members will discuss their training and mission preparations at 2 p.m. This is Crew-13’s final media availability prior to traveling to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch.   More
(Source: NASA - Jul 21)

RUSSIA LAUNCHES SECOND SATELLITE BATCH FOR ITS STARLINK RIVAL—THE MATH STILL LOOKS ROUGH - Russian company Bureau 1440 has launched a second group of communications satellites for Rassvet, Moscow’s planned low-Earth-orbit alternative to Starlink. The spacecraft successfully separated from their launch vehicle and established contact with the mission control center, the developer reported on July 20.   More
(Source: UNITED24 Media - Jul 21)

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