Search the Community

Blue Origin reached orbit for the first time, but not on its own rocket. And Amazon is happy by Martin Hodás United Launch Alliance (ULA) is celebrating a successful maiden flight of its brand-new Vulcan rocket. Lifted off by a pair of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines early this morning, the rocket sent towards the Moon Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander – the first U.S.-built lunar lander since the Apollo era. Vulcan, a two-stage heavy-lift rocket burning a mix of oxygen and methane liquid fuel, is building on the legacy of the Atlas and Delta family of launch vehicles. With a height of 202 feet and 18 feet in diameter, the rocket aims to compete with SpaceX and other launch providers. It offers a payload capacity of 60,000 pounds to low Earth orbit or 15,000 pounds to geostationary orbit respectively. You can watch the replay of Vulcan’s Cert-1 flight on ULA’s YouTube channel: The rocket was a long time in the making, with its debut flight originally planned for 2019. The delay wasn’t caused only by issues and longer-than-expected development at ULA; the BE-4 engines played an important part, too. The pair of BE-4 engines is the first piece of Blue Origin’s spaceflight technology to reach orbit. The private space launch company owned by Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has been operating a smaller New Shepard rocket since 2015, but that is a sub-orbital vehicle. Its much larger sibling, New Glenn, is still in development and awaiting its maiden flight, which is currently scheduled for late 2024. Both New Glenn and Vulcan rely on the BE-4 engines, and both are extremely important for Bezos. The reason is Amazon and its planned satellite mega constellation Kuiper, the future competitor of Elon Musk’s Starlink. Both Vulcan and New Glenn are contracted to get these spacecraft to space. The lagging Vulcan has a huge backlog of missions already. Among them are 38 flights booked by Amazon to launch over a thousand Kuiper satellites. Jeff Bezos does not have time to spare, as he is obliged by the FTC license to build at least half of the constellation – 1,618 satellites – by summer 2026. Otherwise, he risks losing the license or facing other severe consequences. All the brand-new rockets contracted to launch Kuiper satellites are late. The smooth and flawless premiere of Vulcan is, therefore, more than great news for Bezos, who was rooting for a competing launch provider this morning – and probably not for the last time, as he needs a much delayed European Ariane 6 rocket to repeat Vulcan’s feat in 2024. Ariane 6 is the third and last brand-new rocket booked by Amazon for its Kuiper project. Bezos has also bought nine flights of ULA’s retiring workhorse Atlas V, but that payload capacity is far from what is needed to put Kuiper to life. In summary, Jeff Bezos will remain the No.1 fan of ULA and European spaceflight for quite some time. However, as long as things go in the right – his – direction, he won’t mind… Image: Blue Origin / United Launch Alliance

Amazon's Project Kuiper internet satellites launching this week - TWIRL #132 by Paul Hill This Week in Rocket Launches we have just a handful of satellite launches this week. We get some from SpaceX and Arianespace but also one from United Launch Alliance which will be orbiting prototypes of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites. Friday, 6 October Who: United Launch Alliance What: Atlas V 501 When: 6:00 p.m. UTC Where: Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 41, Titan III Rd, Titusville, Florida, US Why: United Launch Alliance will be launching an Atlas V rocket carrying two prototype satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper constellation. These are the first satellites Amazon is launching for its Kuiper constellation and they will carry much of the same technology that the final versions of the satellite will be equipped with. One of the prototypes will also have a sunshade to help reduce the reflectivity of the satellite. This aspect will be of importance to astronomers who are concerned by the increasing number of satellites and the impact they are having on their astronomy work. Similar to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, Project Kuiper aims to beam the internet back to Earth. This could increase competition in satellite internet and could potentially lower prices for consumers. Saturday, 7 October Who: SpaceX What: Falcon 9 B5 When: Unknown Where: Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 4, California, US Why: SpaceX will be launching a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink mini satellites into a low Earth orbit. Unlike Amazon’s Kuiper satellites which will use a sunshade, the Starlink satellites are painted with anti-reflective coatings. The satellites are known as Starlink Group 7-4. You can use various mobile apps to try to find these specific satellites when they’re in orbit with this group identifier. Who: Arianespace What: Vega When: 1:36 a.m. UTC Where: French Guiana Why: Arianespace will be using a Vega rocket to launch 12 satellites including the THEOS 2, Triton, and ProbaV-CC into orbit. The THEOS 2 satellite is an Earth observation satellite built by AIrbus for Thailand and complements THEOS 1 which launched in 2008. The Triton satellite was built by the Taiwanese Space Agency (TASA) and is a global navigation satellite system-reflectometry tool to help gather ocean wind data to better predict the direction and intensity of typhoons. Recap The first launch last week was a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites into orbit where they will beam internet to the Earth. Starlink launches are a frequent occurrence as any reader knows, just a few days after the mission above, SpaceX launched another Starlink mission. On Tuesday evening (UTC), China launched a Long March 4C carrying the Yaogan 33 04 remote sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. It will be used for scientific experiments, land resource surveys, crop yield estimates, disaster prevention, and relief work. Last week was a bit strange because we got the launch of the Iranian Qased rocket carrying the Noor 3 satellite. We don’t normally see many launches from Iran so it’s interesting to get a look at their rockets. Finally, SpaceX launched yet another batch of Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9. That’s all for today, be sure to check in next time!

Since we enjoy discussing general Space-related matters (politics, business, conjecture, etc), I thought it would be appropriate to create a dedicated thread for that very purpose. Now we can express all the hyperbole we want without fear of "getting off-topic", because it is the topic! Let's spin the turbopump, shall we?

SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and China ready rockets this week - TWIRL #119 by Paul Hill We have a packed schedule coming up This Week in Rocket Launches, with missions from SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and China. Most of the launches we normally get from SpaceX are Starlink and Transporter rideshare missions, but this week, the company will also launch the Satria comms satellite for various Indonesian entities too. Sunday, June 18 The first launch of the week involves the Satria comms satellite. At 10:04 p.m. UTC SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral carrying the satellite. It is being launched for the Indonesian Satelit Nusantara Tiga (SNT) consortium, the Indonesian government, and the Indonesian satellite operator PSN. The Satria satellite will provide broadband internet and communications capacity for schools, hospitals, and other public use facilities in rural regions of Indonesia. You’ll be able to tune into the launch on SpaceX’s website. Tuesday, June 20 There’s not a lot to say about China’s launch of its Long March 6 rocket due on Tuesday. It will be taking off at 3:19 a.m. UTC from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre but as for the payload, that is unknown. The event won’t be streamed either but there should be a video recording later on. Wednesday, June 21 On Wednesday at 7:29 a.m. UTC, United Launch Alliance will launch a Delta IV Heavy from Cape Canaveral carrying a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission designated NROL 68 and dubbed Nusquam Celare or Nowhere to Hide, will be streamed live on ULA’s website. Thursday, June 22 We have an interesting launch next. China will launch a Long March 2D rocket carrying the Liangxi space return capsule on a test flight. Apparently, the capsule can return to Earth carrying 300kg of cargo and has electronic components on board that can provide customized research data. The mission will launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre at an unspecified time. Saturday, June 24 The final launch will be a common Starlink satellite launch atop a Falcon 9. As you probably know if you read TWIRL, the Starlink satellites beam internet back down to the planet for paying customers. This mission will take off at an undisclosed time from Cape Canaveral. You’ll be able to watch the launch via the SpaceX website. Recap The first launch we got last week was a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites to space, the first stage of the Falcon 9 also landed after takeoff. Next, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9, this time carrying the Transporter-8 rideshare satellites. Finally, China launched a Long March 2D rocket carrying 41 satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre. That’s all for this week, check in next time.

TWIRL 90: China preps cargo mission to its "Palace in the Sky" by Paul Hill This week we have some interesting launches ahead. Possibly the most interesting will be a Chinese cargo mission to the Chinese Space Station. It comes just a week after China launched its Mengtian module to the station to expand it, giving residents of the “Palace in the Sky” more living space. China also has a pretty mysterious mission on Friday, where it’ll launch an unknown payload. Tuesday, November 8 The first launch this week will take off at 4 p.m. UTC from Cape Canaveral in Florida. SpaceX will launch a Falson 9 rocket carrying the Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 communications for Intelsat. They will be put in a geostationary orbit – which means they'll look fixed to a person on Earth – where they will provide C-band video and TV broadcast services to the United States. You can watch the launch on the SpaceX launches webpage. Wednesday, November 9 Next, we have United Launch Alliance (ULA) launching an Atlas V rocket carrying the Joint Polar Satellite System 2 (JPSS 2). The JPSS 2 satellite is going to be run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and will monitor the weather from a polar orbit. The flight will include a demonstration of an inflatable heat shield called Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, also known as LOFTID. This inflatable heat shield could be used to retrieve reusable rocket engines or help deliver heavy cargo to the Red Planet. The launch should be broadcast on YouTube around the time of launch, which is due at 9:25 a.m. UTC. Friday, November 11 The third launch of the week is a bit mysterious. At 10:30 p.m. UTC, China will launch a Long March 6A rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The payload is unknown. It’s unlikely this will even be livestreamed, but check it in next week’s recap. Saturday, November 12 The final launch of the week also comes from China. A Long March 7 rocket will carry the fifth Tianzhou cargo craft to the Chinese Space Station. It’ll be carrying 6.5 tonnes of cargo, which includes two tonnes of propellant. It will also take up a 4U CubeSat CAS-10, which will be deployed in mid-December. This mission will take off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 2:20 a.m. UTC. Recap The first launch we got last week was a Long March 5B Y4 rocket carrying the Mengtian module to the Chinese Space Station, you can see footage of the launch below. A couple of days later, after docking, those aboard the Chinese Space Station entered the Mengtian module. A day after Mengtian launched, SpaceX launched the USSF-44 mission, which saw a Falcon Heavy launch from Florida. Next, SpaceX used a Falcon 9 rocket to launch the Eutelsat Hotbird 13G comms satellite. On November 4, Rocket Lab launched an Electron Rocket carrying the MATS satellite for the Swedish space agency. The satellite will investigate atmospheric waves. Finally, China launched a Long March 3B carrying the ChinaSat 19 satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The satellite will be used for communications. That’s all we’ve got this time, check back next week!

TWIRL 85: SpaceX set to take four astronauts to the ISS this week by Paul Hill Following the Hurricane that passed through Florida last week, several launches that were scheduled were pushed back onto this week. These launches plus the ones that were already scheduled for this week make for a packed schedule. Possibly the most notable launch this week is a Falcon 9 taking off from Florida at 4:00 p.m. UTC carrying the Dragon 2 spacecraft housing two NASA astronauts, one JAXA astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut. Monday, October 3 On Monday, we have a familiar Starlink satellite launch. This batch is Starlink Group 4-29 and consists of 52 satellites. SpaceX will be launching the satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Once the first stage has done its job of getting the rocket off the ground, it will land back down on the surface ready for reuse. By launching more of these satellites, SpaceX is improving the coverage of its satellite-based internet connectivity. The launch will be streamed, as usual, on the SpaceX website. It’s due to take off at 11:56 p.m. UTC from California. Tuesday, October 4 Next up, we have the launch of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V carrying the SES 20 and SES 21 communications satellites. They will be placed in a geosynchronous orbit for SES, where they will provide C-band television and data services over the United States. The mission will launch from Florida at 9:36 p.m. UTC and will be streamed on the ULA website. Wednesday, October 5 On Wednesday, we’ll have two launches. The first of those is a Falcon 9 carrying the Dragon 2 spacecraft, which will head to the International Space Station with four people aboard. NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada will be joined by JAXA’s Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos’ Anna Kikina. The mission is scheduled to take off at 4:00 p.m. UTC and will be streamed on YouTube and likely on SpaceX’s website too. The mission will launch from Florida. An hour later, Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket carrying the GAzelle (OTB 3) satellite and will be operating by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Group to perform experiments for customers. In typical Rocket Labs fashion, the mission has been given a fun name, this time it’s ‘It Argos Up From Here’. Argos is a reference to the Argos 4 Advanced Data Collection System, the largest payload on OTB 3. The Argos 4 A-DCS mission will collect data from thousands of sensors around the world. This mission will launch from New Zealand and will be viewable on the Rocket Lab website. Thursday, October 6 Like Wednesday, Thursday will deliver two rocket launches. The first of these is set to take off at 11:07 p.m. from Florida. SpaceX will launch another Falcon 9 carrying the Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34 communication satellites for Intelsat. These two satellites were built by Northrop Grumman and will provide C-ban video and television broadcasts to the United States from a geostationary orbit. You’ll be able to tune in to the launch on SpaceX’s website. The second launch will be a Long March 2D rocket carrying the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) called Kuafu. As the name suggests, this observatory will be dedicated to solar physics. It’ll be the first time that China has launched a satellite for the study of Solar physics. The rocket will carry other payloads too including Jinzijing 3-6, Qilu 2-3, Jinzijing-Qilu, Luojia 3-01, Beiyou 1, and Tianzhi 2D. This mission will launch at 11:40 p.m. UTC, but there likely won’t be a live video feed. Friday, October 7 The final mission of the week will see Japan launch an Epsilon rocket carrying the RAISE 3 demo satellite. Secondary payloads include QPS-SAR 3 and 4 as well as several CubeSats called MAGNARO, MITSUBA, KOSEN 2, WASEDA-SAT-ZERO, and FSI-SAT. This mission will launch at 12:47 a.m. UTC. You can check this mission profile video if you want to learn more. Recap The first launch we got last week was a Long March 2D carrying three Yaogan-36 satellites from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. These will perform land surveys, monitor disasters, and assess crop yields among other things. Next, we got footage of the DART spacecraft hitting an asteroid to try and alter its course. We mentioned the launch of this mission way back in TWIRL 40, released in November 2021. Next, China launched a Long March 6 carrying more surveying satellites called Shiyan-16A, Shiyan-16B, and Shiyan-17. Similar to the Yaogan-36 satellites, these will perform Earth observation duties. As mentioned at the top of the article, Hurricane Ian passed through Florida a few days ago and the ISS caught some footage of it from space. Next, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov left the ISS. Following their departure, they speedily got back down safely to Earth. Lastly, Firefly Aerospace launched its second Alpha rocket, which deployed some small satellites into orbit. That’s all we’ve got this week, be sure to check in next time.

TWIRL 83: Delta IV Heavy to launch a classified spy satellite by Paul Hill We have a pretty interesting week coming up, SpaceX is due to launch more Starlink satellites, Russia is preparing to send people to the ISS, and United Launch Alliance is set to launch a spy satellite. An interesting detail among these missions is the name of the Russian capsule heading to the space station. It’ll be named after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky who is generally regarded as the father of spaceflight. Monday, September 19 The first mission this week will be SpaceX’s launch of Starlink Group 4-34. The satellites will be placed in Earth orbit, so they can beam back internet connectivity to the planet’s surface. They will be taken up to space by SpaceX’s very reliable Falcon 9 rockets and the first stage of the rocket will land back on Earth for reuse, which will help the company save money. The mission is due to launch at 12:18 a.m. UTC from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The event will be streamed on SpaceX’s website. Tuesday, September 20 Next up, we have a rather mysterious mission. At 11:15 p.m. UTC, China is set to launch a Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The payload of the rocket is unknown. For those hoping to watch live, don’t expect a stream; the best we’ll get is a video after the event. Wednesday, September 21 In the middle of the week, Roscosmos will launch a Soyuz 2.1a as part of its Soyuz MS-22 mission. It will be carrying Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin from Russia and NASA’s Francisco Rubio. It was initially planned that Russia’s Anna Kikina would be the third person aboard, but she will now head up to space aboard a SpaceX Dragon so that both countries can maintain a presence on the ISS and look after their respective systems so nothing goes wrong. This mission is set to launch at 1:54 p.m. UTC from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Saturday, September 24 The final launch of the week is United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta IV Heavy carrying a classified spy satellite to space from the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The Delta IV Heavy is a few metres taller than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 but features three boosters, rather than one. While the payload and its mission is classified, keep an eye on ULA’s YouTube channel for a live stream of the event! Recap The first launch we have is actually from last Sunday, but the last edition of TWIRL went out before we got the video. Below you can see a Falcon 9 launching Starlink satellites to space and landing again. Next, we had a very interesting launch from Blue Origin where it’s New Shepard rocket suffered an anomaly. Luckily, there were no people aboard as there have been in the past and the capsule managed to survive the incident. On Tuesday, China launched a Long March 7A carrying the ZhongXing-1E satellite which will be used for telecoms. It launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province. Thursday saw the launch of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket carrying the StriX-1 satellite which will be used to detect changes to the Earth’s surface regardless of the weather conditions or time of day. Finally, China’s taikonauts performed a spacewalk on Saturday, you can see footage below. That's all we've got this week, be sure to check in next time.

TWIRL 65: Blue Origin prepares to fly repeat customer Evan Dick on Blue Origin NS-21 mission by Paul Hill At the time of writing, there are three rocket launches due for take-off in the week ahead. One of the more interesting launches, a crewed Blue Origin New Shepard mission, will see the company launch its first repeat customer, Evan Dick. He first went to space on New Shepard on December 11 as part of the Blue Origin NS-19 and not having had enough, is back for another go. Wednesday, May 18 The first launch of the week comes from SpaceX, it will be launching a Falcon 9 B5 rocket carrying 53 Starlink satellites into a low Earth orbit where they will beam internet back to the planet. Those being launched from Florida this week at 9 a.m. UTC will internally be known as Starlink Group 4-18 and will appear under this title on some apps such as ISS Detector to help you spot them at night. As always, this event will be streamed on the SpaceX website as well as the company’s YouTube channel. Thursday, May 19 The second launch of the week is an interesting one. United Launch Alliance (ULA) will send an Atlas V rocket to space carrying the second CST-100 Starliner craft to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA’s commercial crew program. Starliner will dock with the ISS where the cargo will be transferred and after 5 to 10 days, it will head back to the Earth where it will try a landing in the United States. This is the first flight where the Atlas V will include the Emergency Detection System so that a mission abort can be initiated if the flight exits any of the set parameters. The EDS arrives just in time for the three-person Crew Flight Test which is scheduled for sometime this year. The mission on Thursday will take off at 10:54 p.m. UTC from Cape Canaveral and can be streamed on the ULA website. Friday, May 20 The final launch of the week is Blue Origin’s NS-21 mission which will see a New Shepard rocket carry six people to the edge of space. The crew members’ names are Evan Dick, Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha, Jaison Robinson, and Victor Vescovo. This is an interesting mission for several reasons, this is Evan Dick’s second go on a New Shepard rocket making him the first person to go up in the craft twice, Katya Echazarreta will become the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly in space, and Victor Vescovo is an undersea explorer so not only will he have been to some of the deepest places on Earth but now he’s about to leave it altogether. This mission will launch from the West Texas Suborbital Launch Site at 1:30 p.m. UTC and will be streamed on the Blue Origin website. Recap The first launch of the week was the Tianzhou-4 heading up to the Chinese Space Station. There is also footage of the craft finally docking at its destination. The final launch that there’s footage for is SpaceX’s Starlink 45 mission which took off on Friday, though, it has plans to launch more satellites this weekend. This concludes our recap and launches for the coming week; if we missed anything feel free to comment below.

TWIRL 66: SpaceX set to launch Transporter-5 rideshare mission on Falcon 9 by Paul Hill We’ve got a quiet week ahead with just SpaceX carrying out a single mission. It will launch a Falcon 9 to carry out its Transporter-5 rideshare mission which is carrying smallsats. Last week, the Blue Origin NS-21 mission didn’t go ahead and that could take off this week but it’s not definite just yet. Wednesday, May 25 The first possible launch this week will be Blue Origin’s NS-21 mission carrying Evan Dick and several other crew members. It suffered a delay this week but could launch on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. UTC. It’s worth noting that it’s still marked as No Earlier Than so Wednesday is just the earliest the mission could launch and not a confirmed launch date. If the mission does go ahead, tune in on Blue Origin’s website. The second and final mission we will see this week is SpaceX’s Transporter-5 rideshare carrying several smallsats into a Sun-synchronous orbit. At 6:27 p.m. UTC, SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 carrying the satellites. You will be able to watch the launch over on the SpaceX website on the day. Recap The first launch we got this week was on May 18. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 topped with 53 Starlink satellites which will bolster the Starlink internet constellation. Next, United Launch Alliance successfully launched an Atlas 5 carrying the Starliner craft to the International Space Station. Eventually, Starliner will carry crewed missions. Finally, on May 20, China launched a Long March-2C carrying several communication test satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. You can see the launch below: That’s all we have for you this week but the week after looks as though it could be a busy one!

Amazon will launch internet space satellites with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and ULA by Paul Hill Amazon has announced that it has secured 83 launches with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) to put its internet satellites into low Earth orbit at a relatively low cost. The launches will span a five-year period and will see Amazon deploy up to 3,236 satellites to make up the Project Kuiper constellation. The company noted that it's the largest ever commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history. The three rocket models that will carry these satellites into orbit include: Arianespace's Ariane 6 Blue Origin's New Glenn United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur Commenting on the news, Dave Limp, Senior Vice President for Amazon Devices & Services, said: “Project Kuiper will provide fast, affordable broadband to tens of millions of customers in unserved and underserved communities around the world. We still have lots of work ahead, but the team has continued to hit milestone after milestone across every aspect of our satellite system. These launch agreements reflect our incredible commitment and belief in Project Kuiper, and we’re proud to be working with such an impressive lineup of partners to deliver on our mission.” The service is envisioned to work just like SpaceX’s Starlink satellites and OneWeb’s internet satellites. Amazon wants to provide high-speed broadband to all sorts of customers including individual households, schools, hospitals, businesses, governments, disaster relief operations, mobile operators, and anyone in areas with bad or no internet connectivity. While no pricing has been revealed, the company says its receivers will be affordable – for comparison, Starlink receivers are £529 in the UK with connectivity costing £89 per month. The launch procurements will help the launch industry refine its processes so that it can bring down the cost of launching satellites, opening the path for more services in the future. It will also drive job creation in the United States and Europe, giving those economies a boost. Be sure to keep an eye on Neowin's rocket launch series, This Week In Rocket Launches, as we will be sure to cover these launches!

TWIRL 48: Atlas V rocket to carry U.S. Space Force mission by Paul Hill It’s still quite soon after the holidays so people won’t be surprised to learn we have yet another quiet week ahead of us. SpaceX will be launching more Starlink satellites and a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is set to launch some space surveillance satellites for the U.S. Space Force, the organisation created by Donald Trump towards the end of his presidency. Tuesday, January 18 The first launch of the week comes from SpaceX. The Elon Musk-run company will be flying up 49 Starlink satellites into a polar low Earth orbit. They will join the rest of the Starlink constellation to beam internet back down to customers on Earth. The launch is slated for 12:16 a.m. UTC from Florida. If you want to watch the event, you should be able to find a stream on SpaceX’s website or YouTube channel. Wednesday, January 21 The final launch of the week is ULA’s Atlas V carrying Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites for the U.S. Space Force. There will be two satellites going up, GSSAP 5 and GSSAP 6 named Hornet 5 and Hornet 6 respectively. The satellites were developed covertly by the Air Force and Orbital Sciences to assist with U.S. Strategic Command space surveillance operations. It’s unclear what time the launch is happening at but we do know it will also take off from Florida. If anyone streams the event, it will be United Launch Alliance but it’s not clear if it will be live due to the military payload. Recap The first launch of the week took place on Thursday when a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the Transporter-3 rideshare mission carrying 105 small spacecraft. The final launch also took place on Thursday when Virgin Orbit performed an air launch of the LauncherOne rocket from a transport plane it has dubbed Cosmic Girl.

TWIRL 13: ULA to orbit missile early warning satellite by Paul Hill Background image via ULA The upcoming week in rocket launches promises to be fairly routine, that said, there are two particularly interesting missions. On Monday, the United Launch Alliance will orbit a U.S. military satellite that is designed to provide early warning of a missile launch and on Thursday, a Chinese Long March rocket will orbit the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft which will dock with the Tianhe module of the Chinese Space Station. Monday, May 17 As mentioned, the United Launch Alliance is set to launch one of its Atlas V rockets (AV-091) into space carrying the U.S. military’s fifth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous (SBIRS GEO 5) satellite which has been designed for missile early warning detection. Secondary payloads going up on this launch include Technology Demonstration Orbiter 3 (TDO-3) and four CubeSats. You can find the live stream on YouTube. Tuesday, May 18 The second launch of the week takes place on Tuesday. A Chinese Long March CZ-4B rocket will launch an ocean observation satellite called Haiyang 2D into orbit. It will use sensors to detect sea surface wind fields, sea surface height, and the temperature of the sea’s surface. As with most Chinese launches, you should not expect a live stream of this event but footage of the launch will likely surface on YouTube after the event. Thursday, May 19 No more launches are pencilled in this week after Thursday. The first of the two launches is marked as ‘no earlier than’ and we’ve mentioned it on previous editions of TWIRL simply meaning it hasn’t launched yet. It consists of the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket carrying the TacRL-2 mission into orbit. This mission is part of the U.S. Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Launch program and is intended as a technology demonstration. The second launch scheduled for Thursday is that of the Long March CZ-7 carrying the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft. Once in orbit, Tianzhou-2 will dock with the Tianhe module of the Chinese Space Station (CSS) which itself was only orbited a few weeks ago. The Tianzhou-2 can carry up to 6.5 tonnes of cargo as well as two tonnes of propellant. Cargo missions to the CSS might become more frequent in future as China looks to send Taikonauts to live on the station. Zhurong Rover It was announced yesterday by China that it has successfully landed its Zhurong Mars rover at Utopia Planitia. It’s the first Mars rover from a country other than the United States to land successfully and marks a big leap for the Chinese space programme.

I figured it was time to start one, for good or ill. We discuss ULA and its' parent companies Boeing and Lockheed-Martin a fair bit here in the Science Section. First ULA-specific news item for the thread in-work.

Poor guy, one could say that the anti-Russian sanctions cost him his job.

I started this thread because at another forum the discussion was closed. http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/22/elon-musk-spacex-air-force-accusation/ Here is something else... The Senate Armed Services Committee today passed 11 amendments sponsored by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=468efa78-db94-4aa3-8ab9-06d998317c00 Space Launch Three provisions would improve the prospects of competition for military space launch and help move the Pentagon away from using taxpayer dollars to purchase rocket engines from Russia. Specifically, they would: ? Require that the Air Force have a full and open competition on two satellites that they tried to sole-source. ? Prohibit future contracts to buy Russian rocket engines to launch our national security satellites. ? Investigate undue reliance by the U.S. space industry on foreign suppliers and parts such as engines.