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Category: satellites – Page 15

PRESTON, United Kingdom — China successfully launched the first batch of 18 satellites Tuesday for the Thousand Sails low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation.

A Long March 6A rocket lifted off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China, at 2:42 a.m. Eastern (0642 UTC) Aug. 6. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced launch success just over two hours later.

The Long March 6A upper stage deployed 18 flat panel Qianfan (“Thousand Sails”) satellites into polar orbit for Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST).

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Schöfbänker made use of a telescope having a 14-inch mirror and assorted gear capable of following satellites that keeps them automatically in the center of a field of view, finessing the equipment with a bit of input and corrections, he told Space.com.

“I make these images by taking a video during the flyover and then stacking (averaging out) and sharpening the best frames,” Schöfbänker said.

The two solar panels that can be seen at the end aren’t visible on any of the computer renderings available online, Schöfbänker advised. “I am not really sure if they are solar panels or some other features like an antenna or something of that nature.”

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SpaceX is targeting Sunday, August 4 for a Falcon 9 launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff is targeted for 12:24 a.m. PT, with backup opportunities available until 3:52 a.m. PT. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Monday, August 5 starting at 12:24 a.m. ET.

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BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, July 24 for a Falcon 9 launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The launch window opens at 12:14 a.m. ET.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of second-generation Starlink satellites.

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WASHINGTON — Maxar Intelligence, a provider of geospatial intelligence and Earth observation services, on July 18 released the first images from its WorldView Legion satellites. The inaugural pair of these advanced Earth observation satellites were launched on May 2 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

WorldView Legion is Maxar’s latest constellation of high-resolution Earth imaging satellites, designed to increase the company’s imaging capacity and revisit rates. These satellites are capable of collecting 30 cm-class imagery, providing detailed views of the Earth’s surface for a wide range of applications, from defense and intelligence to urban planning and disaster response.

Maxar said the commissioning and calibration process for the first two WorldView Legion satellites is still under way.

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The space environment is harsh and full of extreme radiation. Scientists designing spacecraft and satellites need materials that can withstand these conditions.

In a paper published in January 2024, my team of materials researchers demonstrated that a next-generation semiconductor material called metal-halide perovskite can actually recover and heal itself from radiation damage.

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