IRIDE PATHFINDER SATELLITE HAS LAUNCHED - The first IRIDE satellite – the Pathfinder Hawk – is now in orbit around Earth after lifting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 14 January. As its ‘Pathfinder’ name suggests, this new microsatellite is a prototype for one of the six IRIDE constellations, which are tailored to provide information for a wide range of environmental, emergency and security services for Italy. More (Source: European Space Agency - Jan 16)
NASA’S LATEST CUBESAT LAUNCHES TO EARTH’S THERMOSPHERE - A NASA-developed CubeSat, Technology Education Satellite 22 (TES-22), launched at 11:09 a.m. PST on Tuesday, Jan. 14, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The small satellite will test a variety of technology, including a deployable drag sail to help deorbit the spacecraft, and provide valuable information about a region Earth’s atmosphere. More (Source: NASA - Jan 16)
PLANET LAUNCHES HIGH-RESOLUTION PELICAN-2 SATELLITE & 36 SUPERDOVES - We are thrilled to announce today that our high-resolution Pelican-2 satellite and 36 SuperDoves of Flock 4G were successfully launched to orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 Rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Our Planet team has successfully made contact with Pelican-2 and started its commissioning process. More (Source: Planet Labs - Jan 16)
CHINA PLANS TO BUILD ENORMOUS SOLAR ARRAY IN SPACE — AND IT COULD COLLECT MORE ENERGY IN A YEAR THAN 'ALL THE OIL ON EARTH' - Chinese scientists have announced a plan to build an enormous, 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) wide solar power station in space that will beam continuous energy back to Earth via microwaves. The project, which will see its components lofted to a geostationary orbit above Earth using super-heavy rockets, has been dubbed "another Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth." More (Source: Live Science - Jan 15)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 131 SATELLITES ON TRANSPORTER 12 RIDESHARE MISSION - SpaceX launched a slew of satellites to orbit from California today (Jan. 14). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 131 different payloads lifted off on the company's Transporter 12 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 2:09 p.m. EST (1909 GMT; 11:09 a.m. local California time). That's a big number, but it's not a record for most payloads sent up on a single launch. That mark is 143, which SpaceX set in January 2021 on the Transporter 1 mission. More (Source: Space,cin - Jan 15)
CHINA'S SMART DRAGON-3 ROCKET LAUNCHES SATELLITES FROM SEA - A Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifted off on Monday in east China's Shandong Province, sending the satellite group CentiSpace 01 into the planned orbit. The rocket blasted off at 11 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the sea near the city of Haiyang. Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore launch mission. More (Source: Xinhua - Jan 14)
THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM? SPADEX SATELLITES 230 METRES APART, ISRO MAY ATTEMPT DOCKING TODAY - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is hoping to get third-time lucky as it is likely to make another attempt at docking the two satellites of the SpaDeX mission in space on Sunday. The two satellites, called Chaser and Target, were brought together, just 230 metres apart, on Saturday evening and locked in that configuration for further checks. Officials told The Indian Express that the final docking manoeuvre may be carried out on Sunday. More (Source: The Indian Express - Jan 13)
BLUE ORIGIN READY FOR MAIDEN FLIGHT OF NEW GLENN - After years of development, Blue Origin’s semi-reusable heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle, New Glenn, is due to launch on its maiden flight now on Jan. 13 at 1:00 AM EST (06:00 UTC) after recently completing its seven-engine hotfire and moving to the right due to sea state conditions for recovery. The flight is set to launch a Blue Ring Pathfinder payload to demonstrate the capabilities of the company’s future Blue Ring multi-mission space mobility platform. Blue Origin pushed the launch from Jan. 10 due to rough seas, which would have precluded a booster recovery. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 12)
FOUR ASTRANIS GEO SATELLITES PASS INITIAL COMMISSIONING MILESTONE - Astranis said Jan. 10 that all four of its recently launched broadband satellites have passed early tests and begun using electric propulsion to reach geostationary orbit in the coming months. The satellites launched on a Falcon 9 rocket Dec. 29 and feature multiple upgrades over Arcturus, the San Francisco-based manufacturer’s debut spacecraft, which malfunctioned during final testing after reaching orbital position in May 2023. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 12)
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