 |
| Image credit: The Exploration Company |
Launch of 6x Yaogan
CASC/SAST launched a Long March 4B (Chang Zheng 4B) from Jiuquan in Gansu at 0900 UTC, or 1700 local time (CST). This was carrying six Chinese military satellites of unknown purpose, designated Yaogan 53-01 to 03 and Yaogan 56-01 to 03. This was the 119th launch of the Long March 4 family of rockets, and the 58th launch of the 4B configuration. [Source: SAST]
Launch of USSF-153
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg in California at 1542 UTC, or 0842 local time (PDT). This was carrying USSF-153, a classified mission for the US Space Force. Further information about the number of payloads launched on this rocket should be available in the coming days. It was the 687th flight of the Falcon 9, and the 27th flight of booster B1081, which successfully landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. [Source: SpaceX]
UPDATE: There were 23 payloads on this launch, designated USA 644 to USA 666. [Source: Jonathan McDowell]
International Space Station Activities
The crew of the International Space Station carried out routine research and maintenance. Sophie Adenot and Pyotr Dubrov both filmed documentary footage today, including a series of tours of the station which we can expect to see soon. [Source: NASA]
International Space Summit
The International Space Summit in Paris, which began yesterday, concluded today. The following is a summary of the major announcements made over both days of the event:
- ESA announced they have awarded a €760 million contract to The Exploration Company (TEC) to develop and fly their Nyx cargo spacecraft, in order to provide Europe with independent access to a cargo vehicle. This is part of what was previously called the LCRS project (LEO Cargo Return Service), which has been renamed to the rather contrived acronym ALADDIN (Autonomous LEO Accelerated Demo Docking to ISS Node). The vehicle will launch on an Ariane 6 rocket. [Source: ESA]
- Vast Space (United States) announced that the third crew member of Private Astronaut Mission 6 to the International Space Station will be ESA astronaut Adrianos Golemis. He will become the first Greek citizen in space when it launches in 2027. Also on the mission are Thomas Pesquez of France, Aleš Svoboda of Czechia, and an unannounced fourth crew member. [Source: Vast Space]
- Arianespace (France) announced several new Ariane 6 contracts, including two launches for Eutelsat's OneWeb, six launches for Amazon Leo (United States), one launch for a South Korean geostationary communication satellite, and the aforementioned maiden flight of the Nyx cargo spacecraft. They also signed memoranda of understanding with EnduroSat (Bulgaria) and ICEYE (Finland), indicating future launches for those organisations. Arianespace subsidiary MaiaSpace announced a launch contract for iQPS (Japan). [Source: Élysée Palace]
- Eutelsat (France) announced they have awarded Airbus a contract to develop the first layer of at least 66 satellites for the European Union's IRIS2 satellite internet constellation. [Source: Airbus]
A variety of other announcements were made at the summit. A summary of the various contracts and MoUs is available on the website of the French presidency.
PLD Space Announce Miura 9 Rocket
Spanish company PLD Space, who are developing the yet-to-fly Miura 5 small-lift reusable rocket, have announced that the larger future version of the rocket will be named Miura 9 (previously designated Miura 5 Block 1.2). It will have around three times the payload capacity of the Miura 5, making it a medium-lift vehicle. PLD Space is using the funding from ESA's European Launcher Challenge programme to help develop the larger rocket. [Source: PLD Space]
