FRANCE IS MAKING SPACE-BASED ANTI-SATELLITE LASER WEAPONS - France will develop satellites armed with laser weapons, and will use the weapons against enemy satellites that threaten the country’s space forces. The announcement is just part of a gradual shift in acceptance of space-based weaponry as countries reliant on space for military operations in the air, on land, and at sea—as well as for economic purposes, bow to reality and accept space as a future battleground. In remarks earlier today, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said, “If our satellites are threatened, we intend to blind those of our adversaries.    More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Jul 26)

NEW DOCKING PORT, SPACESUIT AND SUPPLIES EN ROUTE TO SPACE STATION - A break in thunderstorms streaming across Central Florida allowed a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule to blast off Thursday from Cape Canaveral in pursuit of the International Space Station with a new docking mechanism, a spacesuit and 40 mice acting as high-flying research specimens. Flying off Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad with 1.7 million pounds of thrust, the Falcon 9 rocket turned to the northeast and soared into space over the Atlantic Ocean.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 26)

COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE FIRM ONEWEB PLANS TO START MONTHLY LAUNCHES IN DECEMBER - Internet firm OneWeb plans to begin launching 35 to 40 communications satellites a month in December, and has 27 Soyuz rocket missions lined up through European launch company Arianespace to send them aloft, company officials said in Florida on Monday. "Those are the best rockets we could find for the quality, price and capability we were looking for," OneWeb founder and executive chairman Greg Wyler said. "We will not be launching from Florida for now."   More
(Source: Space Daily - Jul 25)

AIR FORCE EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITE BILLED AS THE ‘LARGEST UNMANNED STRUCTURE IN SPACE’ - An Air Force satellite spanning nearly the length of a football field was successfully deployed on July 12, the Air Force Research Laboratory announced on Wednesday. AFRL’s demonstration and science experiments, or DSX, will collect data that will be used to study the radiation environment in space. DSX was the largest of the 24 satellites that a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched on June 25 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The vehicle delivered 24 satellites into four different orbits.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 25)

THREATENING STORMS SCRUB SPACEX LAUNCH - SpaceX called off a Falcon 9 countdown Wednesday due to the threat of lightning from thunderstorms along Florida’s Space Coast, pushing back the departure of a cargo mission for the International Space Station until Thursday. But weather conditions are not forecast to be much better Thursday afternoon, when SpaceX has another instantaneous launch window at 6:01:56 p.m. EDT (2201:56 GMT) to send a Dragon cargo craft toward the space station.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 25)

LIGHTSAIL 2 DEPLOYS SOLAR SAIL TO SURF THE SUN'S RAYS - A spacecraft the size of a loaf of bread has finally turned itself into a solar sail. On Tuesday (July 23) at about 2:47 p.m. EDT (1847 GMT), a motor onboard the small LightSail 2 cubesat began deploying the mission's 344-square-foot (32-square-meter) solar sail, which is about the size of a boxing ring. LightSail 2 is the passion project of The Planetary Society, and the space advocacy organization wants to demonstrate that solar surfing is a viable propulsion technique for spacecraft.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 24)

SOMETHING’S MISSING IN THIS STUNNING PHOTO OF SPACE STATION PASSING IN FRONT OF THE MIDDAY SUN - Swirling 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) completes a full orbit of our planet every 90 minutes or so. You can see it with your naked eyes at night (at least, you can see a white dot of steady-cruising light), but spotting the station during the daytime — as photographer Rainee Colacurcio did in the fiery photo above — requires a bit of technological assistance. "My go-to setup is a dedicated hydrogen-alpha solar scope," which is a special telescope for observing the sun, Colacurcio told Live Science in an email.   More
(Source: Live Science - Jul 24)

GALILEO SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEM BACK IN ACTION AFTER PARTIAL OUTAGE - Europe's satellite navigation system, Galileo, is fully functioning once again after just over a week of limited operations. During that time, the emergency alarm functions remained in service. The "Initial Services" of the Galileo satellite system were successfully restored on July 19, according to the German Aerospace Centre. Since July 11, Europe's satellite navigation system had been partially unavailable to users due to a technical incident in ground-based infrastructure. T   More
(Source: Deutsche Welle - Jul 23)

SPACE-BASED INTERNET THE FOCUS OF NEW ONEWEB FLORIDA SATELLITE FACTORY - OneWeb officially opened a high-tech factory near the Kennedy Space Center Monday designed to produce two internet-delivery spacecraft per day. It's part of an ambitious plan to launch nearly 2,000 broadband relay stations providing cable modem-class connectivity for schools, rural communities and other underserved populations around the world. The eventual constellation also will be available for use by the Pentagon and commercial customers, including aircraft and ships at sea.   More
(Source: CBS News - Jul 23)

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