Virgin Orbit blames launch failure on upper stage anomaly
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-12 12:52
Virgin Orbit says its first LauncherOne mission from the United Kingdom failed to reach orbit. The company says an anomaly caused a premature shutdown of the rocket's upper stage. Virgin Orbit has started a formal investigation led by Chad Foerster and Jim Sponnick. The company did not explain why it initially announced during the launch that the upper stage had reached orbit.
Europe’s investment arm loans SES 300 million euros to bolster space industry
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-11 21:18
The European Investment Bank is lending SES 300 million euros ($323 million) The seven-year loan is the largest the bank has provided a Luxembourg-based company. The debt will support SES investments in three previously announced satellites. Europe’s efforts to beef up its space sector come amid calls for more capabilities.
Space Force official: To beat China, U.S. has to spend smarter
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-11 22:27
Pentagon wants to go after and harness commercial innovation from the space industry. “I have never in my 25 years of service seen the department move so much money so fast,” Col. Eric Felt says. Felt says his boss is pushing the message across the Space Force that staying ahead is not just about spending more.
Virgin Galactic restructures leadership as it prepares to resume flights
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-13 00:07
Virgin Galactic is reorganizing its leadership and parting ways with a senior executive. Swami Iyer, president of aerospace systems, is leaving that position effective immediately. Mike Moses will serve as president of spaceline missions and safety. The leadership restructuring comes almost 18 months after SpaceShipTwo’s last flight.
U.S. Space Force chief: Russia’s missteps in Ukraine serve as a cautionary tale
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-13 00:00
Gen. Chance Saltzman says U.S. Space Force can't be caught unprepared. Space Force units will need to practice electronic warfare, operations against GPS jamming. Most of the current training infrastructure was inherited from the Air Force. Saltzman: Space Force has to invest in updated capabilities.
ESPA satellites maturing as the preferred ride for small national security payloads
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-12 22:53
The ESPA ring was created to fill unused capacity on national security space rockets. The newest version of the ring deploys experiments but also more advanced operational smallsats. Each ring has six ports that can accommodate 320 kilograms of payload mass per port. A more advanced version of the ring is in the works under a July 2022 $22 million contract.
NSF and SpaceX reach agreement to reduce Starlink effects on astronomy
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-12 19:54
NSF reaches agreement with SpaceX to mitigate effects of Starlink satellites on astronomy. Another organization is going to court to block constellation's deployment. The Federal Communications Commission granted a license for a quarter of the 30,000-satellite system. SpaceX said it would continue to work to dim its satellites to no brighter than the 7th magnitude.
NASASpaceFlight.com
India launches a new ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning. The EOS-06 spacecraft was delivered into a low Earth orbit. The mission, PSLV C54, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11:56 local time (06:26 UTC)
Commercial Archives
SpaceX is preparing to carry out the first Starlink launch of 2023 with a mission that will place 51 satellites into orbit. The Group 2-4 mission, which was delayed from November, is now slated for liftoff at 8:18 AM PST Sunday (16:18 UTC) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
International Archives
China joins the US as the second nation to have launched to orbit in 2023. First, the Shijian 23 and Shiyan 22A/B payloads lifted off at 22:00 UTC on Sunday. Just seven hours later, Gushenxing-1 carried the “Give Me Five’ rideshare mission to orbit from Jiuquan.
ISS Updates – Spaceflight101 – International Space Station
NASA's veteran spacewalker and an EVA rookie from Japan ended their week with nearly six hours of work outside the International Space Station on Friday. The restoration of the Station’s Mobile Servicing System started last year and continued in January to provide Canadarm2 with a new pair of grappling hands.
Featured – Spaceflight101
SpaceX Falcon 9 takes to the skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Monday afternoon. The flight-proven Dragon spacecraft will deliver science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware to the International Space Station. It is the first of at least six cargo ships inbound to the U.S. Segment of ISS this year.
News – Spaceflight101
Europe's Copernicus satellite fleet is gearing up for the arrival of its next addition on Wednesday. A Russian Rockot booster set to blast off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:57 UTC with the Sentinel-3B multi-function satellite. Read more
Re-Entry: Long March 11 Rocket Body – Spaceflight101
The CZ-11 fourth stage used leftover propellant for a partial de-orbit maneuver, lowering its perigee to 120 Kilometers to significantly accelerate its orbital decay. It is reportedly built around a YF-50 main engine and in a nominal mission conducts the orbital circularization after the three CZ-11 stages.
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight Team Assessing Spacecraft’s Propulsion System
Lunar Flashlight is the first interplanetary spacecraft to use a new kind of ‘green’ propellant. The SmallSat will use a new laser reflectometer built with four near-infrared lasers to shine a light into the permanently shadowed craters at the lunar South Pole to detect surface ice.
NASA Scientists and Satellites Make Sense of Earth’s Subtle Motions
JPL scientists are mapping where the Hayward Fault is creeping to better understand how much of it is likely to slip in the next large earthquake. Creeping faults are less likely to produce large earthquakes because the motion relieves much of the stress. JPL’s Zhen Liu is using InSAR data to study a different kind of motion in the earthquake-prone Pacific Northwest.
NASA’s TESS Discovers Planetary System’s Second Earth-Size World
Scientists have identified an Earth-size world, called TOI 700 e, orbiting within the habitable zone of its star. The world is 95% Earth’s size and likely rocky. Astronomers previously discovered three planets in this system, called TOi 700 b, c, and d.
NASA Wants You to Help Study Planets Around Other Stars
Exoplanet Watch allows anyone to look for exoplanets in data from other telescopes. Participants can use their own telescopes to detect planets outside our solar system. Exoplanet Watch began in 2018 under NASA’s Universe of Learning program. There could be millions more exoplanets in our home galaxy alone.
NASA Space Missions Pinpoint Sources of CO2 Emissions on Earth
Emissions from large facilities account for about half of global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. Bełchatów Power Station, in operation since 1988, is the largest lignite-fired power plant in the world. The Polish government has drafted plans to close the plant by the end of 2036. NASA data could be used more extensively in quantifying CO2 point-source emissions in the future.
Watch the Latest Water Satellite Unfold Itself in Space
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite launched into Earth orbit on Friday, Dec. 16. The solar arrays fully deployed shortly after launch, taking about 10 minutes. The mission monitors and controls the satellite using telemetry data, but it also equipped spacecraft with four customized commercial cameras to record the action.
Construction Begins on NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Hunter
NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor recently passed a rigorous technical and programmatic review. Now the mission is transitioning into the final design-and-fabrication phase. The mission supports the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)