The US military is looking to have spy satellites patrol the Moon’s orbit, according to a recently shared video first spotted by Ars Technica.
The two-minute video, titled “Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS)” and uploaded by the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) this week, details the project.
“Until now, the United States space mission extended 22,000 miles above Earth,” a narrator explains in the brief video. “That was then, this is now.”
CNBC’s Morgan Brennan joins The News with Shepard Smith to report that Russia is refusing to deliver satellites to space without guarantees they won’t be used against Moscow in its war against Ukraine.
Elon Musk’s Starlink internet project continues to move forward, launch by launch.
SpaceX launched another 47 internet-beaming satellites from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday morning.
Nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage that lifted the Starlink satellites returned to the planet, making a perfect landing on the *Just Read the Instructions* drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
## SpaceX launches 47 more Starlink satellites after supplying Ukraine with terminals.
The event marked the 11th successful landing for this specific Falcon 9 booster, tying it for the record of most flights with another Falcon 9 in the SpaceX fleet. In the past, the booster that lifted today’s payload has taken the Transporter 2 into space (June 2021), the Turksat 5A (January 2021), and launched the GPS III SV03 mission (June 2020) — in addition to seven other earlier Starlink payloads, according to SpaceX officials on the live stream of the launch.
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Russia’s attacks on Ukraine continue to take lives and destroy infrastructure as the country invades. This infrastructure damage has disrupted internet access in Ukraine, leading a government official to publicly request Starlink satellite internet access for the country from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Musk obliged, activating Starlink service in Ukraine and sending additional hardware. But with continued attacks on infrastructure, how will Ukraine stay connected?
Fedorov brings up an important point: Even though Starlink operates without the need for traditional internet infrastructure, the Earth-bound hardware still needs power. And, as Russian attacks bombard the country, Ukraine’s internet access will continue to be threatened.
Fedorov’s statement publicly reached out for help acquiring generators to keep Starlink online for Ukrainians. But Musk responded with an alternative suggestion.
“Solar panels + battery pack better than generator, as no heat signature or smoke & doesn’t run out of fuel,” Musk wrote in response on Twitter.
Elon Musk has some ideas.
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.
This activity culminated in Shijian-21 docking with the defunct Beidou-2 G2 navigation satellite and towing it above the crowded belt of geostationary orbit some 36,000 kilometers above the equator.
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.
