Virgin Orbit ready for first U.K. launch
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-08 22:31
Virgin Orbit is set to perform the first orbital launch from the United Kingdom. Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 aircraft will fly to a drop point off the southern coast of Ireland. The launch is the sixth for Virgin Orbit, with the previous five having taken off from California.
Pair of Chinese launches put classified and commercial satellites into orbit
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-09 09:37
China conducted its first two launches of 2023 over the weekend. A Long March 7A lifted off from the coastal Wenchang spaceport at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Jan. 8. The launch was the fifth of the Long March 7A, a three-stage version of the standard Long March 7.
SpaceX gearing up for Falcon Heavy’s second national security launch
Original Publication Date: 2023-01-08 17:28
SpaceX is aiming to launch Falcon Heavy’s second national security mission on Jan. 12. The U.S. Space Systems Command said it plans to release details of the launch window 72 hours before scheduled liftoff. The mission, named USSF-67, comes on the heels of USSF-44, which flew to geostationary Earth orbit on Nov. 1.
NASASpaceFlight.com
India launches a new ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning. The PSLV rocket carried the EOS-06 spacecraft 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 began another busy year with the launch of the Transporter-6 rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) The mission lifted off at 9:56 AM EST (14:56 UTC) on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Falcon 9’s first stage returned to land at Landing Zone-1 at CCSFS approximately eight and a half minutes after launch.
International Archives
China has completed its most successful spaceflight year yet. Remote sensing satellites were a common sight on Chinese rockets in 2022. It was also a year of commercial launches and significant expansions of the Tiangong Space Station. The Gaofen launch especially is an exemplar of their past year in spaceflight.
ISS Updates – Spaceflight101 – International Space Station
A veteran NASA spacewalker and an EVA rookie from Japan ended their week with nearly six hours of work outside the International Space Station. 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
A SpaceX Falcon 9 took to the skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Monday afternoon. The Falcon 9 lifted a flight-proven Dragon spacecraft into orbit for a critical delivery of science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware. It is the first of at least six cargo ships inbound to the U.S. Segment of ISS this year.
News – Spaceflight101
Russia's Rockot booster is set to blast off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:57 UTC with the Sentinel-3B multi-function satellite. The rocket will carry the multi-function Sentinel-3B satellite into space. The launch is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
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. 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 finish their job.
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. The mission is transitioning into the final design-and-fabrication phase. The mission supports the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)
Moon Water Imager Integrated With NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer, NASA’s mission to understand lunar water and the Moon’s water cycle, is one step closer to launching next year. Earlier this month, the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California delivered a key science instrument to Lockheed Martin Space in Colorado.
NASA Explores a Winter Wonderland on Mars
The Red Planet's poles are the coldest, with temperatures as low as minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 123 degrees Celsius) No region of Mars gets more than a few feet of snow, most of which falls over extremely flat areas. A single Mars year is around two Earth years.
Juno Spacecraft Recovering Memory After 47th Flyby of Jupiter
NASA’s Juno spacecraft completed its 47th close pass of Jupiter on Dec. 14. Afterward, as the solar-powered orbiter was sending its science data to mission controllers from its onboard computer, the downlink was disrupted. The issue was most likely caused by a radiation spike as Juno flew through a radiation-intensive portion of Jupiter’s magnetosphere.
NASA Retires InSight Mars Lander Mission After Years of Science
NASA's InSight lander has been unable to communicate with Earth since Dec. 15. Mission controllers conclude the spacecraft's solar-powered batteries have run out of energy. The agency will continue to listen for a signal, just in case, but hearing from it at this point is considered unlikely.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Deposits First Sample on Mars Surface
A titanium tube containing a rock sample is resting on the Red Planet’s surface. Over the next two months, the rover will deposit a total of 10 tubes at the location, called “Three Forks. The depot marks a historic early step in the Mars Sample Return campaign.