Satellites | Common News Update

Dec182022 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX launches two broadband satellites for Luxembourg firm

Science

Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Elon Musk's SpaceX launched two high-power broadband satellites for a Luxembourg firm's new communications system toward orbit Friday evening from Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket's second stage was to place the first two O3b mPOWER satellites into orbit to join Luxembourg-based SES's 20 first-generation O3b Internet satellites. SES is a satellite telecommunications network with 67 currently operational satellites under its control in both geostationary orbit and medium Earth orbit. Five of those are part of a group called O3b, also referred to as O3b MEO. O3b stands for "Other 3 Billion" in recognition of the billions of people without access to reliable Internet service. According to Boeing and SES, the new satellites use a "software-defined payload," which will allow them...

Jan212022 by adminNo Comments

ULA launches two new Space Force tracking satellites into orbit

Science

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- United Launch Alliance sent two space tracking satellites into orbit for the U.S. Space Force from Florida on Friday afternoon. The Atlas V rocket lifted off as planned at 2 p.m. EST into a mostly cloudy sky from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station near Kennedy Space Center. The single solid rocket booster strapped to the rocket also ignited, contributing to the rocket's fiery plume. The satellites, GSSAP-5 and GSSAP-6, are to join four similar spacecraft in a high orbit around the Earth. They are designed to track manmade objects, or other spacecraft, in orbit. Two minutes after liftoff, ULA launch commentator Patrick Moore said the rocket was "38 miles in altitude, 35 miles downrange in distance and traveling at 4,200 miles per hour." The la...

Mar152021 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX launches 22nd cluster of Starlink satellites

Business

March 14 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched its 22nd cluster of Starlink communication satellites before dawn Sunday from Florida. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket came at 6:01 a.m. EDT, just hours after clocks move ahead for Daylight Saving Time, from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Advertisement After the main engine cutoff, the Falcon 9 first stage landed on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship, completing the ninth flight of that booster A little more than an hour after launch, SpaceX confirmed the satellites had been released into their initial orbit. The company has kept up a regular cadence of Starlink launches since the first mission in 2019. Sunday's launch follows another successful trip to orbit for the broadband Internet spacecraft Thursday. SpaceX has little room for delays on...

Jan182021 by adminNo Comments

Virgin Orbit rocket reaches orbit, satellites deployed

Science

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- California-based Virgin Orbit made its first successful flight to orbit Sunday using a rocket launched from a plane over the Pacific Ocean, announcing later that the satellites aboard were released successfully. The rocket soared into space at 2:40 p.m. EST after the company's Cosmic Girl aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400, released it from beneath a wing. Advertisement "Payloads successfully deployed into our target orbit!," Virgin Orbit tweeted at 5:29 p.m. "We are so, so proud to say that LauncherOne has now completed its first mission to space, carrying 9 CubeSat missions into Low Earth Orbit for our friends @NASA." Forty minutes earlier, the company tweeted, "We can confirm our NewtonFour upper stage engine successfully relit at the right time and for the right dur...

Dec292020 by adminNo Comments

Japan developing wooden satellites to cut space junk

Technology

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