SATREC INITIATIVE TO BUILD 10-CENTIMETER-CLASS OPTICAL SATELLITES FOR HANWHA CONSTELLATION - South Korean company Satrec Initiative is working with parent company Hanwha Systems to provide high-resolution Earth imagery for the synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) constellation announced in July. Satrec Initiative, acquires 25-centimeter optical imagery with SpaceEye-T, launched in 2025. To complement Hanwha’s 64-satellite SAR constellation, designed to provide 30-minute revisit by 2031, Satrec Initiative plans to manufacture and launch four satellites to gather 10-centimeter-class optical imagery, Eugene Kim, Satrec Initiative executive vice president told SpaceNews at the World Space Business Week conference here.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 18)

RUSSIA LAUNCHES PROGRESS 96 WITH 3 TONS OF CARGO TO THE SPACE STATION - Russia launched a cargo mission toward the International Space Station today (Sept. 16), delivering the freighter spacecraft to orbit for a three-day rendezvous journey. The robotic Progress 96 spacecraft lifted off atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today at 9:33 a.m. EDT (1333 GMT).   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 17)

CHINA SATELLITE BREAKS UP IN UNUSUAL ORBIT, LEAVES 43 FRAGMENTS THAT MAY LAST CENTURIES - A Chinese satellite has left "space debris" in Earth's orbit, adding to the growing clutter that could circle our planet for centuries. The debris field was left by Yaogan 50-02 — a Chinese reconnaissance satellite that had been flying in an unusual retrograde orbit about 590 miles above Earth, according to Futurism. The U.S. Space Force is tracking 43 fragments from the breakup in orbits ranging from 372 to 683 miles.   More
(Source: Yahoo News - Sep 17)

SPACEX LAUNCHES NATIONAL SECURITY PAYLOAD FOR U.S. SPACE FORCE FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Wednesday night on a national security mission for the U.S. Space Force. The mission reset after a Tuesday launch attempt was scrubbed prior to fueling due to an unexplained issue. Liftoff of the USSF-259 mission happened at at 6:07:56 p.m. PDT / 9:07:56 p.m. EDT on Sept. 16 (0107:56 UTC on Sept. 17). The rocket flew on a southerly trajectory upon leaving Space Launch Complex 4E.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 17)

FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE US MILITARY CONFIRMS IT HAS DEPLOYED WEAPONS IN ORBIT - Air Force Secretary Troy Meink made the first public declaration Monday that the United States has placed “space control weapons” in orbit, an announcement that will surely reverberate in the power centers of Beijing and Moscow. Space Force officials have previously expressed their interest in acquiring space-based weapons, and Pentagon leaders have become more open to discussing space warfare in recent years. Therefore, Meink’s announcement Monday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference near Washington, DC, was not entirely unexpected.   More
(Source: Ars Technica - Sep 17)

AVIO LAUNCHES PAIR OF CLIMATE MONITORING EUROPEAN SPACECRAFT TO STUDY PLANTS, OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES - An Avio Vega-C rocket zipped off the launch pad Monday night from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This was the eighth launch to date of the 34.8-meter-tall (114.2 ft.) rocket and the second of 2026. Onboard the launch with the designation VV30 were two spacecraft: the ocean- and atmosphere-monitoring Copernicus Sentinel-3C, managed by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the plant health-monitoring Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX), managed by the European Space Agency (ESA).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 17)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 700TH FALCON ROCKET, CARRIES FINAL 3 O3B MPOWER SATELLITES TO ORBIT FOR SES - SpaceX launched a trio of satellites for its oldest commercial customer, SES, on a Falcon 9 rocket flying Sunday afternoon from Florida. This was SpaceX’s 700th Falcon rocket launch to date, split between 687 Falcon 9 rockets and 13 Falcon Heavy rockets. The O3b mPOWER-F mission sent satellites number F11, F12, and F13 on a trek to medium Earth orbit. The Boeing-built satellites were the final three to be added to the O3b mPOWER constellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 2:49 p.m. EDT (1849 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 13)

SATELLITE COMPANY SET FOR LOW-ORBIT MISSION IN 2028 - A Reading company that makes satellites designed to be positioned close to the Earth has said it will launch its first model in two years. NewOrbit's satellites will be built to operate between 200 and 300km (124 and 186 miles) above Earth, about two-to-three times closer than most satellites. The company, based in Caversham, said operating at that altitude had been difficult because of atmospheric drag on the satellite and other conditions.   More
(Source: BBC News - Sep 12)

SPACEX LAUNCHES CLASSIFIED PAYLOAD FOR THE U.S. SPACE FORCE - SpaceX flew its latest national security payload for the United States Space Force with a Falcon 9 rocket launch scheduled for Thursday morning. The mission, designated USSF-153, carried an undisclosed number of satellites to low Earth orbit. Because of the nature of the flight, SpaceX didn’t publish a post-launch timeline beyond the booster landing nearly 8.5 minutes into flight. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:42 a.m. PDT (1142 a.m. EDT / 1542 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 12)

Previous Next