Satellite News
Webb’s mirror alignment gets underway / Webb_Is_Chilling_Out
The first images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope were unveiled Friday, a “selfie” showing the observatory’s 21.3-foot-wide primary mirror and a mosaic showing multiple images of a nondescript star being used to align the 18 segments making up the main mirror.
OneWeb surpasses 400 satellites with Arianespace’s first launch of the year
A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off from French Guiana and hauled 34 new satellites into orbit for OneWeb’s internet network Thursday, bringing the tally of OneWeb spacecraft launched to 428 and marking the company’s fleet two-thirds complete.
Thales Alenia Space Paves the Way to the Future Satellite Navigation Systems
Thales Alenia Space, joint venture between Thales (67 %) and Leonardo (33 %), announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the French Space Agency CNES to develop a DFMC (Dual Frequency Multi Constellations) SBAS prototype in the frame of the next generation of SBAS, like EGNOS, the European navigation satellite system
Introducing ESA Vigil: Earth’s devoted solar defender
It’s the first mission of its kind, set to monitor our active and unpredictable Sun and help protect us from its violent outbursts – and it has a new name
Exploration News
Starship Update / Starship Animation
On Thursday, February 10 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has provided an update on the design, development, and testing of Starship.
Musk foresees Florida as a home for Starship operations
SpaceX plans to transform parts of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to become an operational base for the company’s super-powerful Starship launcher, while keeping a sprawling complex in South Texas as a research and development location for the heavy-lift rocket program, Elon Musk said Thursday.
Launcher News
Research satellites destroyed in Astra rocket failure / FILM
Four NASA-funded nanosatellites were lost Thursday when an Astra rocket tumbled out of control minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, the fourth time in five tries that the startup space company has failed to reach orbit.
Spaceport Cornwall’s Sustainability Steering Group’s Impact Report And Action Plan
Spaceport Cornwall is set to deliver the first ever launch from the UK soil this summer, creating a service for small satellites in the UK. In the lead up to this historic moment, they are set to release their ‘Sustainability Impact Report and Action
Orbex Applies For License To Launch First Rockets From Scotland
Orbex has submitted its application to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for a launch license, the latest stage on its roadmap to beginning commercial space launches from the UK. Orbex has already successfully completed pre-application meetings with the CAA, the UK’s new space regulator.
ESA selects payloads for Ariane 6 first flight
ESA in close collaboration with ArianeGroup and Arianespace has selected payloads which best fit the profile of the first mission of its new generation Ariane 6 launch vehicle from Europe’s Space
Destinus raises $29 million for hypersonic plane
Destinus SA, the Swiss startup founded by serial entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich, has raised 26.8 million Swiss francs ($29 million) for its campaign to offer hydrogen-powered supersonic flight.
Space Safety News
GEOMAGNETIC STORM AND RECENTLY DEPLOYED STARLINK SATELLITES / FILM of Reentry
onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches. The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag. Preliminary analysis show the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe-mode to begin orbit raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere.
The deorbiting satellites pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry—meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground. This unique situation demonstrates the great lengths the Starlink team has gone to ensure the system is on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation.
Point nemo , this is the space graveyard where the International Space Station will be buried
Three thousand miles off the coast of New Zealand and 2,000 miles north of Antarctica, Point Nemo is so far from land that the closest humans are often the astronauts on board the International Space Station — that orbits 227 nauticalmiles above Earth. It’s precisely this remoteness that explains why the ISS, once it’s retired in 2030, will end its days here, plummeting to Earth to join other decommissioned space stations, satellites and space debris. This is the world’s space graveyard.
U.S. intelligence wants to track currently undetectable orbital space debris
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity in a request for information asks for ‘innovative approaches to detect and track currently undetectable orbital space debris’
Space Force eager to invest in debris removal projects
The Space Force wants to partner with private companies on debris removal initiatives, said vice chief of space operations Gen. David “DT” Thompson.
Science & Technology News
New Planet Detected Around Star Closest to the Sun
A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile have found evidence of another planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System. This candidate planet is the third detected in the system and the lightest yet discovered orbiting this star. At just a quarter of Earth’s mass, the planet is also one of the lightest exoplanets ever found
Helicopters Flying at Mars May Glow at Dusk
The whirling blades on drones flying above Mars may cause tiny electric currents to flow in the Martian atmosphere, according to a NASA study. These currents, if large enough, might cause the air surrounding the craft to glow. This process occurs naturally at much larger scales on Earth as a corona or electrical glow sometimes seen on aircraft and ships in electrical storms known as Saint Elmo’s Fire
