Orion begins return leg of Artemis 1 mission
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-02 09:34
Orion's main engine fired at 4:53 p.m. Eastern for 1 minute at 45 seconds. That burn nudged the spacecraft out of the distant retrograde orbit around the moon. Orion is now descending back towards the moon, where it will perform a second maneuver. That will set up Orion for a reentry and splashdown off the California coast Dec. 11.
Rocket Lab launches subsidiary focused on national security market
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-01 23:46
Rocket Lab is creating a separate entity to focus on U.S. Defense and intelligence agency customers. The new business sector, called Rocket Lab National Security, also will work with U.S. Allies. Rocket Lab went public in August 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
Space Force establishes component at U.S. Central Command
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-02 22:09
U.S. Space Forces-Central will be based at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. Up until now, Air Force was responsible for coordinating space-based services. Space Force-Central provides CENTCOM a subordinate command focused solely on space integration. Since Cold War, “space has ceased to be a sanctuary,” commander says.
OneWeb aims to deploy a record 40 satellites in SpaceX mission
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-02 14:08
OneWeb said SpaceX is slated to launch 40 of its satellites as early as Dec. 6. All 40 satellites have been encapsulated for a Falcon 9 launch no earlier than 5:37 p.m. Eastern. It would be the first time a single launch mission has deployed more than 36 satellites.
FCC grants partial approval for Starlink second-generation constellation
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-02 11:56
FCC partially approves SpaceX's application for the second generation of its Starlink constellation. SpaceX can launch up to a quarter of the proposed 30,000 satellites while deferring action on the rest. SpaceX had sought permission to launch satellites into both higher and lower orbits. FCC said its decision addresses orbital safety concerns raised by competing satellite operators.
Eutelsat orders GEO broadband satellite with LEO in mind
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-01 22:07
Eutelsat said Dec. 1 it has ordered a geostationary broadband satellite. The satellite will support multi-orbit services in the Americas from 2026. Eutelsat stands to gain by merging with OneWeb, the U.K.-based constellation operator.
NASASpaceFlight.com
India launches EOS-06 ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning. PSLV C54 rocket launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11:56 local time (06:26 UTC) EOS-06 is a low Earth orbit ocean monitoring satellite. The mission, PSLV C54, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan space centre.
Commercial Archives
Artemis I launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from LC-39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2022. It marked the first time in 11 years that the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) formerly used for the Space Shuttle program lit on a launch pad.
International Archives
A Russian Soyuz-2.1b rocket was launched from Site 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Dec. 1. Onboard was likely a Lotos-S electronic intelligence satellite for the Russian military. Only Lotos-S1 No. 6 and its Soyuz upper stage were initially cataloged in orbit.
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
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
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. Europe's Copernicus satellite fleet is gearing up for the arrival of its next addition.
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.
VP Harris, French President Get First Look at Galactic Get-Together
A merging galaxy pair cavort in this image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. II ZW 96 is roughly 500 million light-years from Earth and lies in the constellation Delphinus. As well as the wild swirl of the merging galaxies, a menagerie of background galaxies are dotted throughout the image.
Baby Star ‘Burps’ Tell Tales of Frantic Feeding, NASA Data Shows
Newborn stars “feed” at a furious rate and grow through surprisingly frequent feeding frenzies. Outbursts from stellar babies at the earliest stage of development occur roughly every 400 years. The first such outburst was detected nearly a century ago, and they’ve rarely been seen since.
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight SmallSat Readies for Launch
Lunar Flashlight will use a new kind of “green’ propellant that is safer to transport and store than the commonly used in-space propellants. The propellant was successfully tested on a previous NASA technology demonstration mission in Earth orbit. The science data collected by Lunar Flashlight will be compared with observations made by other lunar missions.
NASA’s Europa Clipper Gets Its Wheels for Traveling in Deep Space
The Europa Clipper mission is expected to launch in October 2024. It will explore the icy moon of Europa and investigate whether the subsurface ocean could support life. Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and potential for finding life beyond our planet.
NASA, ESA Reveal Tale of Death, Dust in Orion Constellation
In between the two hollow regions are orange filaments where dust condenses and forms new stars. Over time, these filaments may produce new giant stars that will once again reshape the region. Launched in 2009, the WISE spacecraft was placed into hibernation in 2011 after completing its primary mission.
Meet the People Behind the SWOT Water-Tracking Satellite
Satellite will be the first to observe nearly all water on Earth’s surface. Led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) SWOT will measure the height of water in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the ocean.
NASA Program Predicted Impact of Small Asteroid Over Ontario, Canada
The asteroid was detected 3 ½ hours before impact, making this event the sixth time in history a small asteroid has been tracked in space before impacting Earth’s atmosphere. Such small asteroids are not a hazard to Earth, but they can be a useful test for NASA’s planetary defense capabilities for discovery, tracking, orbit determination, and impact prediction.