LONG MARCH 5 LAUNCHES CLASSIFIED SATELLITE, ZHUQUE-2E LOFTS DIRECT-TO-DEVICE TEST SATS - China has conducted a pair of launches to advance its communications capabilities, using the country’s largest rocket and a commercial launcher. The Long March 5 lifted off at 3:30 a.m. Eastern (0730 UTC) June 11 from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island, targeting geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed the success of the launch, revealing the previously undisclosed payload to be the Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-25 (TJS-25). More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 12)
ELON MUSK WANTS TO PUT 1 MILLION AI SATELLITES IN SPACE. HERE'S HOW SPACEX COULD DO IT - SpaceX CEO Elon Musk outlined more details for his company’s planned data centers in space ahead of a widely anticipated IPO on Thursday (June 11) expected to make him a trillionaire. A new half-hour video offers a typical Elon Musk fireside chat about where the billionaire founder of SpaceX wants to be taking his technology next. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 12)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX launched its next Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday morning, a day before the company’s stock becomes publicly available on the Nasdaq. The Starlink 17-44 mission added another 24 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation. There are more than 10,500 Starlink satellites currently in orbit. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 8:05:59 a.m. PDT (11:05:59 a.m. EDT / 1505:59 UTC). The rocket flew on a south-southwesterly trajectory upon leaving the pad. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 12)
RUSSIA’S ANSWER TO STARLINK LOSES ONE OF ITS FIRST SATELLITES - Bureau 1440, the Russian company building the “Rassvet” low-Earth orbit satellite internet service, has confirmed the loss of one of its first operational satellites, launched in March. The remaining 15 satellites from the batch are functioning normally, the company said. The project – Moscow’s domestic alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink – is slated for commercial launch by 2027. More (Source: Kyiv Post - Jun 11)
NASA NAMES FOUR-MAN CREW TO ARTEMIS 3 MISSION - The crew of NASA’s next Artemis moon program mission was announced Tuesday, setting the stage for a flight to Earth orbit next year to test rendezvous and docking procedures with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin, a critical milestone before sending astronauts back to the moon for landing in 2028. The Artemis III mission will be commanded by Randy “Komrade” Bresnik, 58, a former Marine fighter pilot and “TOPGUN” graduate who logged 149 days in space during a space shuttle flight in 2009 and a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station in 2017. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 10)
SPACE TELESCOPES ARE NOW OVERWHELMED BY SATELLITE TRAILS - Unfortunately, there's more bad news to report on the clear skies front. A new paper, available on the arXiv preprint server from researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center, reports that 73.3% of images the agency's new SPHEREx space telescope collected between May and September of last year were contaminated by at least one artificial satellite trail. And it's only going to get worse from here. More (Source: Phys.org - Jun 10)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET BOOSTER ON RECORD-BREAKING 35TH FLIGHT - SpaceX continued to push its Falcon 9 rocket fleet to the next level by flying its flight leader, tail number B1067, on a record-breaking 35th flight Monday morning. It launched SpaceX’s latest batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station shortly before sunrise. The Starlink 10-35 mission added another 29 broadband internet satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. It consists of more than 10,500 spacecraft currently. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 6:13:50 a.m. EDT (1013:50 UTC). The rocket flew on a north-easterly trajectory upon liftoff. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 9)
TESTS SUGGEST RUSSIAN SATELLITES CAN JAM GPS ON A CONTINENTAL SCALE - Russian satellites have been identified as the cause of mysterious, seconds-long bursts of GPS interference across Europe—a rare example of human-made GPS interference coming from space. But uncertainty still hangs over whether such interference is intentional and if it could be more powerfully weaponized as GPS jamming with continental reach in the future. More (Source: Ars Technica - Jun 9)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 2 STARSHIELD SATELLITES DURING SATURDAY NIGHT STARLINK MISSION - SpaceX launched a combination of 21 Starlink and two Starshield satellites on Saturday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Starshield is an alternate version of the Starlink satellite architecture the government. SpaceX hasn’t announced which U.S. government agency ordered these two satellites or if they are for a foreign government. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 17-43 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 9:24:45 p.m. PDT on Saturday, June 6 (12:24:45 a.m. EDT / 0424:45 UTC on Sunday, June 7). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 8)
Next
