NASA Spaceflight
• Eleanor Day
Five orbital launches are expected this week from sites around the world, including Falcon 9 missions from Florida and California. The launches are set to deploy three O3b mPOWER broadband satellites and the USSF-153 payload, alongside Soyuz and CZ-8A missions.
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Hydrosat and Kazakhstan’s JSC “NC “KGS” have established a framework to assess a dedicated thermal-infrared satellite constellation. The proposed capability would focus on supporting water-security needs across Central Asia, though the announcement does not specify a development timeline, funding structure or constellation size.
High activity
Five orbital launches are expected this week from sites around the world, including Falcon 9 missions from Florida and California. The launches are set to deploy three O3b mPOWER broadband satellites and the USSF-153 payload, alongside Soyuz and CZ-8A missions.
Europe’s biggest mobile carriers are in early discussions about forming a consortium to bid for satellite spectrum and deliver direct-to-mobile connectivity. The initiative could create a regionally coordinated competitor to Starlink’s satellite-to-phone service, linking terrestrial telecom networks with space-based capacity.
The U.S. Space Force is investing $50 million in a startup developing a new method to dispatch small spacecraft from a larger vehicle in orbit. The effort could introduce another approach to moving and deploying satellites after launch, with potential implications for future military space operations.
High activity
MTG-I2 has passed its initial post-launch milestones, completing Europe’s Meteosat Third Generation constellation and enabling faster, higher-resolution weather monitoring. Separately, India’s GSLV Mark II deployed the EOS-05 Earth-imaging satellite, which has completed two apogee-raising maneuvers on its way to geostationary orbit.
Indian hyperspectral imaging startup Pixxel has secured $100 million in a funding round co-led by Temasek and Seraphim, bringing its total capital raised to $195 million. The company plans to scale satellite production in India and the United States as it pursues additional government business.
A Rocket Lab spacecraft carrying an optical payload developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory tracked another satellite during a U.S. Space Force “cat-and-mouse” exercise. The demonstration highlights efforts to improve space-domain awareness and the ability to monitor maneuvering objects in orbit.
The U.S. Space Force is starting work on a new ground control architecture for the future GPS constellation, using lessons from the $6.27 billion OCX program. The Pentagon canceled OCX earlier this year after 15 years of development, resetting a critical element of GPS modernization.
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