Lifeboat Foundation

SpaceX Starlink satellites twice approached the Chinese Space Station (CSS) in orbit, prompting China to warn of “close contacts” with Elon Musk’s space program.

Both the July 1 and October 21 incidents prompted the Chinese spacecraft to perform collision avoidance maneuvers. The Chinese team told the UN secretary-general in a diplomatic statement they provided earlier this month that on both occasions there were crew members on board, “which might represent a hazard to the lives or health of astronauts.”

Since its launch on April 29, the CSS “Tiangong” has maintained a nearly circular orbit at a height of around 390 kilometers with an orbital inclination of about 41.5 degrees.

HELSINKI — China’s Shijian-21 space debris mitigation satellite has docked with a defunct Chinese satellite to drastically alter its geostationary orbit, demonstrating capabilities only previously exhibited by the United States.

Data and tracking from space monitoring firms show that Shijian-21 has been conducting sophisticated rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) with other objects in and around the geostationary orbit belt since its launch in October last year.

Continue reading “China’s Shijian-21 towed dead satellite to a high graveyard orbit” »

Roscosmos wants guarantee from the UK satellite company it will not use its satellites for military purposes.

Russia’s space agency is refusing to launch OneWeb satellites part-owned by the UK government.

Starlink promises high speed and low latency internet access.

On Saturday, CEO Elon Musk posted on his Twitter page that Starlink service is active in Ukraine, with more terminals en route. Previously, Mykhailo Fedorov, vice prime minister of Ukraine, had tweeted to Musk on Saturday, February 26, calling for the tech billionaire to provide some assistance to Ukraine amidst the Russian attack on the country.

Starlink is designed to help people in areas without access to reliable, ground-based internet get online — so long as they have a view of the sky. Starlink promises high-speed and low latency service without relying on expensive ground-based fiber optic cables or local infrastructure. Just point a dish at the sky, and the supplied hardware will connect to the internet using the satellites orbiting above.

Once it’s in space, it’ll be known as GOES-18.

“A big part of the GOES-R [series] mission is actually doing solar observations,” said Pam Sullivan, NOAA’s GOES-R program director.

Before GOES-T can begin its weather-watching mission, it does have to reach space. To do that, it will need good weather.

Continue reading “Advanced new GOES-T weather satellite is ‘go’ for launch on March 1, NASA says” »

The tech billionaire activated broadband satellite service to help Ukrainian citizens remain connected despite the unprovoked Russian invasion.

Vice Prime Minister Fedorov reached out to Elon Musk for Starlink internet service in a last-ditch effort to restore internet access. As Russian forces approach Kyiv, Ukraine has been suffering internet problems.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation contacted SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about the company’s Starlink satellite broadband service.

Continue reading “Ukraine appeals to Elon Musk for Starlink satellites to maintain Internet” »