SpaceX did not have the best of experimental launches on February 2nd when one of its prototype Starship giant rockets again exploded on landing. It had a perfect launch and a superb in-orbit manoeuvre as preparation for landing on its exact take-off spot. It reached some 6 miles in height, but the landing resulted in […]
SpaceX had hoped for a launch of 60 Starlink broadband satellites on Sunday January 31st. That was scrubbed because of weather anxieties. The launch was initially rescheduled for Monday February 1st, but that was also amended. A new flight time for the morning of Tuesday February 2nd has been set, with a launch window opening […]
The planet’s two richest individuals, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, are involved in a bitter slanging match over their satellite mega-constellations. Their rival businesses, SpaceX and Project Kuiper, have lodged tit-for-tat almost daily filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with SpaceX saying that Amazon’s Kuiper is guilty of “stifling competition”. SpaceX is already asking […]
SpaceX launched 143 satellites on one rocket on January 24th including 10 of its own Starlink craft. The previous record was held by an Indian launch of 104 satellites in 2017. The impressive cargo formed SpaceX’s ‘Transporter-1’ mission, and while around 133 of the satellites were small, so-called cube-sats and ‘micro-sats’ it was nevertheless an […]
SpaceX launched another 60 of its Starlink satellites into orbit on January 20th at 08.02am Florida time (13.02 GMT). It was the 17th mission for the Starlink team and went flawlessly. It is also the first launch for Starlink this year, but it is expected that another launch of 10 satellites will follow over the […]
Reports out of Moscow state that Russia’s lower house of parliament (Duma) has legislated penalties for any citizen using Elon Musk’s Starlink or the UK/India-backed OneWeb low Earth orbiting satellite systems. Neither company currently has users in Russia. Russia is reportedly working on ‘Sphere’ (Сфера, in Russian), its own mega-constellation of satellites. But the probable […]
SpaceX delayed its initially planned January 18th launch for the 17th Starlink mission because of bad weather. Rescheduled for January 20th, this will be the eighth time the powerful booster had flown, itself a record. SpaceX plans to loft 60 of its Starlink satellites into orbit (at 08.02 am Florida time, 13.02 GMT) and taking […]
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 […]
Currently neither SES, Eutelsat nor Hispasat, Europe’s three major satellite operators, have backed low Earth orbiting (LEO) systems with consumer facing broadband services. But the three say they are prepared to co-invest in the European Commission’s suggestion for an EU-wide LEO system. The European Commission is backing the concept of a dedicated LEO system for […]
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 […]