SpaceX is planning a launch on January 18th despite it being the Martin Luther King national holiday in the US. Weather permitting, SpaceX hopes to launch its latest batch of sixty Starlink satellites at 08.45am (Florida time) from Elon Musk’s Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre. The launch will take the Starlink satellites to […]
Last week Elon Musk’s SpaceX has asked the FCC for permission to launch 10 Starlink satellites into a polar orbit – tentatively on January 14th. The FCC has granted permission, but with some restrictions. The FCC, said the launch can go ahead to a height of 560 kms and with an inclination of 97.6 degrees […]
A comprehensive study of the world’s 2020 space activities from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell (of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics) suggests that there are some questions over the in-orbit reliability of Elon Musk’s Starlink project. The report examines and itemises the assorted SpaceX launches, each of which have been remarkably successful in their ability to place […]
A Falcon 9 rocket completed a textbook launch of Turksat 5A from Cape Canaveral on January 7th. Turksat 5A will use its electric thrusters to lift itself to its designated geostationary orbit, a process which will take around 4 months. The satellite carries 42 transponders and occupy an orbital slot at 31 degrees East. Speaking […]
Normally SpaceX launches its Starlink broadband satellites in batches of about 60. But on January 14th it is planning a special ‘ride share’ for ten Starlink satellites as well as a number of other clients. These ten craft are designed to go to a sun-synchronous polar orbit and SpaceX has made a request to the […]
SpaceX has scheduled to launch Turksat 5A today (January 7th), subject to the usual weather constraints. The launch will take place from Cape Canaveral at 8.28pm Florida time. Space Force forecasters anticipate 60 per cent “go” conditions during a four-hour window at Launch Complex 40. The main concerns are cumulus and thick clouds that could […]
SpaceX and OneWeb, along with other satellite and telco operators, has been granted millimetre wave spectrum in Australia by the country’s media regulator. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued licences in the 26GHz and 28 GHz bands to SpaceX Starlink as well as OneWeb, New Skies Satellite/SES, O3b/SES, Inmarsat, Viasat, Telstra, Optus, […]
SpaceX is reportedly planning another cash-raising round for investors. It last raised money ($1.9 billion) in August and was valued at the time as $36 billion. Bloomberg is suggesting that while talks are at an early stage, the end result could be that SpaceX would have a value of some $92 billion. The cash should […]
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system is calling for regulators not to license rival broadband would-be operators who do not recognise frequency sharing. David Goldman, director of satellite & spectrum policy at SpaceX, quoted by Space Intel Report, was speaking to delegates on a panel discussion organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and Saudi Arabia’s Communications […]
SpaceX is well on track to have 1000 satellites in orbit by the end of January 2021. Rival OneWeb is due to add another 36 craft to its existing fleet of 74 satellites on December 17th. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has yet to launch any of his Project Kuiper fleet, but observers are expecting launch action […]