Space.com
• Mike Wall
Rocket Lab is preparing to launch a Japanese QPS-SAR Earth-imaging satellite for iQPS on its Electron rocket, with the launch window opening Thursday. The mission is the ninth Electron flight for the private Japanese company, which is expanding its satellite constellation for Earth observation.
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Rocket Lab is preparing to launch a Japanese QPS-SAR Earth-imaging satellite for iQPS on its Electron rocket, with the launch window opening Thursday. The mission is the ninth Electron flight for the private Japanese company, which is expanding its satellite constellation for Earth observation.
High activity
NASA and Katalyst Space have ended an attempted rescue of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after the commercial LINK spacecraft developed an irredeemable attitude-control problem. The mission was intended to grapple the telescope at 347 kilometers and raise it to roughly 600 kilometers, extending its operational life by years.
NASA has abandoned an effort to save a failing space telescope, leaving the spacecraft destined to reenter and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. The decision marks the end of recovery efforts for a space-based observatory, though the available reporting does not identify the telescope or explain the failure.
High activity
A private Katalyst Space spacecraft launched to raise NASA’s aging Swift gamma-ray observatory into a higher orbit has suffered irredeemable technical problems, ending the rescue attempt. Without intervention, Swift is expected to reenter the atmosphere later this year, closing an experimental effort to extend a spacecraft’s life in orbit.
As wildfires spread across Europe during another hot summer, satellites are providing earlier fire detection and detailed imagery of affected areas. The data can help authorities identify outbreaks sooner, assess damage more quickly and coordinate responses across large or difficult-to-access regions.
Moog is expanding its METEORITE ESPA-class satellite bus with a high-delta-v configuration designed to provide greater mission flexibility, enhanced maneuverability and higher thrust. The new configuration is intended for targeted missions requiring more substantial orbital maneuvering capability from a compact satellite platform.
Europe is emerging as a laggard in the global effort to move data centers into orbit, trailing the United States and China. The competitive gap highlights a developing strategic contest over space-based computing infrastructure and the technologies needed to support it.
America’s space economy is growing faster than the industrial base needed to support it, making supply chain resilience the industry’s next major challenge. The mismatch places manufacturing capacity, supplier depth and production scalability at the center of continued expansion across the sector.
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