Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, says that following on from the 48 Starlink satellites launched on March 9th there have now been 2,282 launched. But this total number is impacted by test-satellites, damaged and other problems as well as craft which have yet to reach their target orbits. The end […]
AST SpaceMobile, the company building a space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, has signed a multi-launch agreement with SpaceX. In addition to the planned summer launch of the BlueWalker 3 test satellite (BW3), the agreement covers the launch of the BlueBird satellites and provides a framework for future launches. “This agreement […]
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband satellite service continues to be jammed over “conflict areas” according to SpaceX. The problem is forcing Starlink to be “reprioritised to cyber defense & overcoming signal jamming” said Musk in a Tweet. Musk added that a recent software update helped bypass the jamming, saying: “Some Starlink terminals near conflict areas were […]
A launch by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 3rd successfully placed an extra 47 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit. The SpaceX booster had previously flown ten times (GPS III-3, Turksat-5A, Transporter 2, and seven Starlink missions) so was well ‘flight proven’. The launch took place from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. […]
London-based broadband satellite operator OneWeb has abandoned its planned Russian launch of 36 extra craft for its mega-constellation. The decision was taken at a OneWeb board meeting held in London. The launch should have taken place from Baikonur in a Russian-controlled portion of Kazakhstan on March 4th. But Russian space agency Roscosmos had demanded that […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched Starlink satellite broadband service in war-hit Ukraine. The latest development highlights the significance and future potential of low earth orbit satellites (LEOs) across key applications, says GlobalData, a data and analytics company. Reportedly, Starlink terminals receive Internet from SpaceX’s 2,000 satellites to allow users to get online even if their […]
SpaceX, just days after launching 60 Starlink satellites from California, has scheduled the launch of about 50 satellites on March 3rd from Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX has a third Starlink flight planned for next week on March 8th, also from Florida. These two flights, plus two previous launches earlier in February (3rd and 21st), will […]
Australian satellite operator Optus is buying a Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV), informally known as a Space Tug, in order to rescue one of its satellites. The Robotic System will come from SpaceLogistics, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman and is planned for a SpaceX launch in 2024. The MRV varies slightly from two previous space tugs […]
A Ukrainian senior official reached out to Elon Musk on February 26th asking for a supply of Starlink broadband terminals to supplement local internet services. Musk responded a few hours later saying that his Starlink system was now operational over Ukraine and that more terminals were on their way to the country. “While you try […]
SpaceX launched its seventh mission in a little more than seven weeks on February 21st, with flawless lift-off of a Falcon 9 rocket at 14.44 GMT from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX has two more Falcon 9 rockets scheduled to blast off in the next 10 days from different launch pads […]