Lifeboat Foundation

SpaceX performs a Christmas themed roll out of the next Starship to fly and relativity fires up its most powerful engine, while Amazon tests a spacecraft inters satellite laser link communication system and Rocket Lab achieves a successful launch of the QPS SAR 5 satellite.

Questions to inspire discussion.

Continue reading “SpaceX Christmas Starship Roll Out & Rocket Lab QPS SAR 5 Launch” »

Project Kuiper seeks to deploy a swarm of small satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) to enhance global broadband access, particularly to remote locations of the planet.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper initiative has marked a significant achievement with the successful in-orbit testing of a critical technology known as optical inter-satellite links (OISL).

Continue reading “Amazon tests space laser to transmit internet, aims 3,236 satellite web” »

NASA’s Starling mission will test new technologies for autonomous swarm navigation on four CubeSats in low-Earth orbit. Credit: Blue Canyon Technologies/NASA

NASA ’s Starling spacecraft are getting in formation: the mission team has spent the last two months troubleshooting issues and commissioning the four spacecraft, nicknamed Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.

Pinky, Inky, and Clyde have successfully completed their propulsion system commissioning and have executed maneuvers to get into their swarm operations configuration, maintaining a range between 50–200 km apart. The three have also successfully demonstrated two-way communications with their crosslink radios in this closer proximity.

According to a notice the agency posted on the government contracting portal SAM.gov on Thursday (Dec. 7), the technology was developed by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia and has been studied for use in a simulated entry into Neptune’s atmosphere. A separate 2021 study of the same technology studied it for use in the atmosphere of Mars.

Related: Space Force wants ‘Foo Fighter’ satellites to track hypersonic missiles

The agency claims its MHD system is “simpler than conventional methods for control of hypersonic craft (e.g., chemical propulsion, shifting flight center of gravity, or trim tabs) and enables new entry, descent, and landing mission architectures.”

Starlink has around 5,000 satellites in orbit, far more than any other provider.

According to Cloudflare, Starlink’s internet traffic has nearly tripled in 2023 compared to 2022. In the US, the traffic has grown by 250%, while in Brazil, where Starlink launched last year, the traffic has surged by 1700%.

Bridging the divide, one satellite at a time

Continue reading “Starlink triples its internet traffic amid geopolitical tensions” »

This island is on the rise.

WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency has set its sights on an ambitious launch schedule for 2024 following two successful launches this year that marked steady progress for the fledgling U.S. Space Force agency.

“Starting next September, it’s an 11-launch campaign over 11 months, one launch a month,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said Dec. 7 at a National Security Space Association online forum.

SDA is developing a network of satellites known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture — a large constellation of lower-cost, mass-produced satellites in low Earth orbit. This is different from the traditional DoD approach of using small numbers of expensive, highly-customized satellites.

A massive hole opened up in the Sun’s atmosphere over the weekend, measuring more than 60 times the diameter of the Earth across at its peak.

Coronal holes like this one, imaged by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, occur when the Sun’s magnetic field suddenly allows a huge stream of the star’s upper atmosphere to pour out in the form of solar wind.

Over a short period of time, these highly energized particles can eventually make their way to us and — if powerful enough — wreak havoc on satellites in the Earth’s orbit. In rare instances, they can even mess with the electrical grid back on the ground.

SpaceX knocked out yet another Falcon 9 launch overnight but is prepping for liftoff of its powerhouse Falcon Heavy from the Space Coast as early as Sunday.

A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:07 a.m. carrying another 23 Starlink satellites to orbit.

The first-stage booster flew for the ninth time with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed downrange in the Atlantic.