ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES 7TH STRIX EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES FOR JAPAN-BASED SYNSPECTIVE - Japan-based Earth observation company, Synspective, launched its seventh StriX satellite into low Earth orbit, part of a multi-launch deal with Rocket Lab. On Wednesday morning in Mahia, New Zealand (Tuesday afternoon on the East Coast of the U.S.), a Rocket Lab Electron rocket took flight from Pad A at Launch Complex 1 to begin a roughly 50-minute-long mission. Launch teams confirmed a nominal deployment of the satellite into a 583 km circular orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 15)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FINAL VERSION 2 STARSHIP-SUPER HEAVY ROCKET - SpaceX closed a chapter in its Starship saga on Monday. It launched what appeared to be a nearly flawless suborbital mission with its Version 2 Starship-Super Heavy rocket, the final flight for this iteration of the launch vehicle. The more than 400-foot-tall rocket thundered away from Pad A at Starbase at 6:23 p.m. CDT (7:23 p.m. EDT / 2323 UTC) to begin the roughly one-hour-long flight. The only notable hiccup during ascent was that one of the planned 13 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster, tail number B15, didn’t reignite during the boostback burn.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 14)

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES NEW TEST SATELLITE - China successfully launched a new test satellite into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Monday. The Shiyan-31 test satellite was launched at 6:00 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-2D carrier rocket and entered the preset orbit successfully. This satellite will be mainly used to verify new optical imaging technologies.   More
(Source: Xinhua - Oct 14)

IS LOW EARTH ORBIT GETTING TOO CROWDED? NEW STUDY RINGS AN ALARM BELL - Hundreds of satellites may soon be flying in orbital regions that are already too packed to allow safe and long-term operations, a new study suggests. The study found that, while in 2019 only 0.2% of satellites in Earth orbit were forced to perform more than 10 collision-avoidance maneuvers per month, that percentage had risen sevenfold by early 2025, to 1.4%. That number might still seem low, but it means that some 340 satellites spend a lot of time dodging debris and other spacecraft.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 14)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 AMAZON KUIPER SATELLITES FOLLOWING DAYS OF WEATHER DELAYS - After more than a week of launch delays, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with two dozen of Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband internet satellites onboard Monday night. The mission came about an hour and a half following the splashdown of SpaceX’s Starship rocket at the conclusion of Starship Flight 11.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 14)

CHINA LAUNCHES MULTIPLE SATELLITES FROM SEA - China launched multiple satellites Saturday aboard a Gravity-1 carrier rocket from waters near Haiyang, in Shandong Province on the eastern coast, state-run Xinhua News reported. The rocket took off at 10.20 am (0220GMT), successfully placing three satellites into their planned orbits. The mission was carried out by the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.   More
(Source: Anadolu Ajansı - Oct 12)

ISS ASTRONAUT CAPTURES AMAZING VIDEO OF SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITE TRAIN CRUISING ABOVE AURORAS - An amazing new video shows flashes of sunlight sparkling off a batch of SpaceX satellites, with a green aurora glowing just below. NASA astronaut Don Pettit, an accomplished amateur photographer, captured the stunning "train" of SpaceX Starlink broadband satellites during his recent mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The aurora was produced by solar particles slamming into Earth’s atmosphere.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 11)

JAPAN PREPARES NEW ISS CARGO VEHICLE AS TRIO OF CARGO SPACECRAFT DELIVER NEW EXPERIMENTS AND HARDWARE - The International Space Station (ISS) recently welcomed three spacecraft that delivered much-needed cargo to support Expedition 73’s seven-member astronaut crew, ensuring the crew and Station are supplied with food, water, clothing, and equipment. Meanwhile, the crew continued with its usual collection of experiments and maintenance tasks.   More
(Source: NASASpaceflight.com - Oct 10)

SPACEX DELAYS LAUNCHING AMAZON’S PROJECT KUIPER SATELLITES AMID BACKDROP OF POOR WEATHER - SpaceX was preparing to launch 24 of Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband internet satellites Thursday night, but punted the mission to Saturday as it faces challenging weather conditions during its initial window of opportunity. The mission, dubbed Kuiper Falcon 03 (KF-03), is the third and final launch that Amazon booked using a Falcon 9 rocket. The tech giant announced the contract with SpaceX in December 2023.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 10)

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