Lifeboat Foundation

KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 (Reuters) — Malaysia has issued a license to Starlink, the satellite communications service started by Elon Musk, to provide internet services in the country, particularly in remote areas, its communications minister said on Thursday.

Minister Fahmi Fadzil said in a Facebook post that Starlink, which is operated by Musk’s SpaceX, would begin by providing its services to schools and higher education institutions.

The government was also prepared to work with satellite communications firms, including Starlink, to ensure 100 percent internet coverage in populated areas, Fahmi said.

Last night at 9:09 p.m. PT (04:09 UTC), SpaceX successfully launched 15 V2 mini Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

Following a last-second aborted launch attempt the previous night, SpaceX teams performed checkouts of the Falcon 9 and determined another attempt to launch the next-gen satellites was good to go. During the previous attempt, the launch was held early in the countdown due to a “perceived leak” in the second stage, then eventually, the automated abort at T-minus 5 seconds.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/CzetVZFGbv

Rocket Lab pulled one of its boosters from the sea after a launch on Monday (July 17), taking another step toward rocket reuse.

The offshore action was part of a mission called “Baby Come Back,” in which an Electron rocket successfully launched seven satellites to orbit from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand site.

To avert the extremely remote risk that debris poses to life, ESA is targeting the reentry at a vast expanse of ocean far away from land.

If the manoeuvres are successful, ESA expects to complete the journey in late July or early August. However, as a first-ever attempt at an assisted reentry, it’s not guaranteed to work. If the plan has to be aborted, Aeolus’ natural descent will continue.

But if the mission is accomplished, it will set a new standard for satellite reentry and space junk mitigation.

Viasat shares plunged sharply Thursday in the wake of the announcement.

The first ViaSat-3, launched last April, was expected to provide space-based internet access to customers in the western hemisphere starting this summer. Two more satellites covering Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific are expected to launch over the next two years.

Capable of handling up to 1 terabyte of data per second, the satellites are equipped with the largest dish antennas ever launched on a commercial spacecraft. Each satellite’s reflector is designed to deploy atop a long boom.

New military and commercial craft aim to go far higher than jumbo jets and stay there for months, offering a more flexible alternative to satellites.

IVO Ltd. believes its new ‘Quantum Drive’ defies the laws of motion, and it aims to put it to the test by sending it to orbit on a SpaceX rocket.

US company IVO Ltd., a wireless power technology firm, is set to send an all-electric propulsion system for satellites to space for the first time in October.

Continue reading “Quantum drive that draws ‘limitless power’ from Sun will fly to orbit this year” »

The US Space Force has published a call for a new constellation of hypersonic missiles detecting and tracking satellites dubbed “FOO Fighter.”

The United States Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) has published a draft solicitation for a “FOO Fighter” satellite constellation. The Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter program gives it its full name, F2; the constellation is intended to detect, track, and coordinate the interception of hypersonic missiles.

Continue reading “Space Force wants ‘FOO Fighters’ satellites to combat hypersonic missiles” »

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There are currently thousands of Starlink satellites that belong to SpaceX, and they are causing a lot of disputes in the science and astronomy communities. They are disrupting scientific research by causing streaks in deep space photos, and according to a new study are also dumping “unintended electromagnetic radiation” into space, which could be a major problem for Earth-bound astronauts.

The study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics states that the satellites in low Earth orbit could be muddling or even drowning out signals from deep space that radio astronomers search for.