Widespread stories suggest that SpaceX is widening the scope of its existing ‘Starshield’ satellite communications service, which already exists in part, to allow the US military and their intelligence agencies to track their targets and support American and allied ground forces in real time almost anywhere across the globe, Reuters has reported. Elon Musk has […]
There were 3.3 million people viewing SpaceX’s live web-feed of its March 14th Starship launch, plus many, many millions watching via the world’s news channels as the rocket blasted off on its record-breaking flight. However, the FAA almost immediately issued an investigation order into what it said was a “mishap”. Elon Musk is perhaps not […]
Project Kuiper is planning its own mega-constellation and has already raised concerns about SpaceX’s proposed occupation of the 604 and 614 kms orbits. Amazon’s Project Kuiper has written to the FCC complaining about a SpaceX request to adjust the altitude of 7,500 satellites previously authorised to operate at altitudes of 525, 530 and 535 kms, […]
Rocket Lab launches rockets from either its dedicated site in New Zealand (44 launches) or Virginia’s Wallops Island. Founded 17 years ago in Auckland, New Zealand by Peter Beck it now has its HQ in Long Beach, and is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange. The company says it is targeting SpaceX and wants to […]
Provided the weather is acceptable, and the various government agencies give their final approvals, SpaceX will launch its massive Starship ‘super heavy’ rocket on March 14th from its Boca Chica site in south Texas. The mission manifest – officially IFT3 – opens at launch minus 1 hour, 15 minutes when the launch director approved the […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved a SpaceX request to fit 7,500 of its satellites with E-band frequencies. The 7,500 are not extra satellites but are within the wider deployment of planned Starlink ‘Gen-2’ craft. SpaceX proposes to operate in the E-band for communications between satellites and gateway earth stations. The FCC order states: […]
SpaceX has announced that the third test flight of its Starship giant ‘Super Heavy’ rocket, subject to the usual weather considerations, will happen on March 14th. Recent days have seen various final tests and rehearsals take place at the Boca Chica launch site and the FAA and other national agencies (for wildlife and environmental impact) […]
Eutelsat’s latest satellite has appeared in the list of craft due for launch by SpaceX. The satellite will launch towards the end of March. The launch is something of a surprise and has not formally been announced by Eutelsat. Eutelsat 36D is based on Airbus’ Eurostar-Neo satellite bus, and weighs approximately 5,000kg. It will be […]
SpaceX broke a batch of records on the March 3rd-4th weekend. In a 20-hour period it launched the Dragon ‘Crew-8’ group of astronauts to the International Space Station. It also launched a large batch of 53 scientific satellites on its latest Transporter mission, and placed another group of 23 of its own Starlink satellites into […]
The FAA has detailed and listed the 17 technical corrections that need to be carried out of the giant SpaceX Starship rocket before the third test flight can take place. The FAA says that its investigation into the rocket’s November 17th 2023 explosion has concluded. All updates are underway. SpaceX issued its own comments and […]