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BEJING -- China will start building this year its own version of StarLink, a satellite internet constellation using low Earth orbit, with plans of launching some 26,000 satellites to cover the entire world led by state-run companies.Now that the military use of satellite-based communications systems for warfare in such places as Ukraine and Gaza is increasing, China will set up its own satellite network to compete with the U.S. as a "space power."

The US has new intelligence on Russian military capabilities related to its efforts to deploy a nuclear anti-satellite system in space, according to multiple sources familiar with the intelligence.The intelligence was briefed to Congress and key US allies, and some lawmakers say it is serious enough that it should be declassified and made public. While the intelligence is concerning, multiple senior members of Congress briefed on the information on Wednesday emphasized that it does not pose an immediate threat to the US or its interests. The system remains under development and is not yet in orbit, according to three US...

Iran said Sunday it successfully launched three satellites into space, the latest for a program that the West says improves Tehran’s ballistic missiles. The state-run IRNA news agency said the launch also saw the successful use of Iran’s Simorgh rocket, which has had multiple failures in the past. The launch comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON — The United States led the world, far surpassing both China and Russia, in the number of space launches and satellites placed on orbit in 2023, according to a just-released study. But rather than the US government it is one US company, billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, responsible for that victory — a situation that is not new, but one that has been exacerbated since 2019 and the firm’s first launch for its Starlink mega-constellation to provide global internet access. The numbers capture a number of key trends, including Russia’s failure “to keep up with evolving launch capabilities by the...

Even in a “radio quiet zone” in outback Western Australia, the satellites' emissions were far brighter than natural sources. VIDEOS & PICS AT LINK.................. When I was a child in the 1970s, seeing a satellite pass overhead in the night sky was a rare event. Now it is commonplace: sit outside for a few minutes after dark, and you can’t miss them. Thousands of satellites have been launched into Earth orbit over the past decade or so, with tens of thousands more planned in coming years. Many of these will be in “mega-constellations” such as Starlink, which aim to cover...

Hello freepers, need some help figuring out what my wife and i just saw in the nighttime skies over rural western wisconsin. To be honest we are a bit stunned and baffled: At approximately 8:56pm central time, we were standing on our lake dock after closing up chicken coop for the night. My wife looked up and westward into the clear night sky: "look, a satellite - wait, another...now another" In total, 23 total "satellites" went from west to east directly overhead. They were perfectly spaced out, and in a perfect line (precision). zero sound. i say "satellite" because they...

The Chinese government seeks strategic advantage in space through attacks on the Western private sector. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force officers Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui Wang argued in their 1999 book, “Unrestricted Warfare,” that to win a war with the United States, China must mass its intelligence, economic, and political resources where U.S. defenses were weakest: its private sector. The book today reads like a plan for the past two decades of non-military warfare waged against the Western private sector by Beijing and its business surrogates. The U.S. government and its allies have recently shown increasing concern about...

A mysterious Russian satellite with a shady mission has broken apart in Earth's orbit, creating a hazardous cloud of debris zipping around the planet and menacing other satellites, US Space Force announced. The 18th Space Defense Squadron said on Twitter Monday that it had confirmed a satellite called Kosmos 2499 had broken apart into 85 pieces. Previous collisions and satellite break-ups have created far larger and more hazardous debris fields than this. But the pieces of Kosmos 2499 are orbiting at an altitude of about 745 miles — so high that they'll probably be there for a century or longer...

Russia is considering shooting down commercial Western satellites as payback for aiding Ukraine in the war, which could put the US and Kyiv’s other allies on a collision course with Moscow. Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy head of Russia’s delegation at a UN arms control panel, said the use of Western satellites to help Ukrainian forces on the battlefield was “an extremely dangerous trend.” “Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike,” he told the UN First Committee, adding that the West’s use of such satellites to support Ukraine was “provocative.” “We are talking about the involvement of components...

The SLS will also be carrying a secondary payload, a series of shoeboxes sized satellites that it will jettison as it travels towards the moon. Though the SLS can host 17 of these diminutive science experiments, the Artemis 1 payload will be comprised of 10 units. Cubesats are remarkable for their efficiency, low cost, and compatibility with larger payloads. Though they are usually restricted in mass to between 2.2 and 22 lbs (1 and 10 kilograms), cubesats are usually measured and classified by 'units' (U) with each unit representing a cube of 10 centimeters (3.93 inches) each side. The majority...

The Chinese military must be able to destroy SpaceX’s Starlink satellites if they pose a threat to national security, according to an April publication by Chinese military researchers. The researchers speculated that US military drones and stealth fighter jets could boost their data transmission speed by more than 100x using the Starlink network. Notably, SpaceX has signed a contract with the US Department of Defense to develop technology based on the Starlink platform – which includes instruments sensitive enough to track hypersonic weapons traveling at 5x the speed of sound or faster. The paper also recommends developing a satellite surveillance...

Kamala Harris arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base where Discoverer-1, the first satellite to enter a polar orbit and America’s bold response to Russia’s Sputnik, was launched to announce that we would be unilaterally surrendering to Russia and China in the growing satellite wars. Last November, Russia had conducted a DA-ASAT or direct-ascent anti-satellite test which demonstrated its ability to take out satellites. The Russians had used their A-235 anti-ballistic missile system to destroy their own Kosmos 1408 satellite. The message was clear: Moscow had the ability to clear out enemy satellites in the event of any conflict. Including ours....

Elon Musk says “Starlink [internet] service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”

SpaceX is targeting Monday, February 21 for a Falcon 9 launch of 46 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 9:44 a.m. EST, or 14:44 UTC.The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX has lost dozens of satellites after they were hit by a geomagnetic storm a day after launch, causing them to fall from orbit and burn up.Such solar "storms" are caused by powerful explosions on the sun's surface, which spit out plasma and magnetic fields that can hit the Earth.The company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said up to 40 of 49 satellites from last week's launch were hit.They had been due to join its Starlink satellite internet project.Starlink is Mr Musk's bid to provide high-speed internet using thousands of orbiting satellites. The system is relatively expensive, but can be...

An undersea fiberoptic cable located between mainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean has been put out of action in a still-mysterious incident. The outage on the subsea communications cable — the furthest north of its kind anywhere in the world — follows an incident last year in which different cables linking an undersea surveillance network off the Norwegian coast were severed, a story that we covered in detail at the time. The latest disruption involves one of two fiberoptic cables that enable communications between the Norwegian mainland and Norwegian-administered Svalbard that lies between the mainland and...

HONG KONG — China has developed a space weapon that can creep into the tailpipes of enemy satellites, where it would grab on and hide, waiting for the right time to blow up. Here are the details: The South China Morning Post reports that Chinese scientists say they’ve created a space weapon that attaches itself to the inside of an enemy satellite’s booster exhaust cone. The scientists published their weapon research in the Chinese journal Electronic Technology & Software Engineering in September. They say that the weapon is designed to fit snugly in the exhaust cones of the gas boosters...

First up, a Long March 2C lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, northwest China, at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT, 7:15 p.m. local time) on Aug. 24. The rocket used a Yuanzheng 1S upper stage to deliver three payloads into near polar orbits with average altitudes of around 680 miles (1,100 kilometers) above Earth, according to U.S. space tracking. Chinese space contractors and Chinese state media announced that two satellites were "fusion" communication technology test satellites with the acronym RSW. No further details were provided.

My Lady and I frequently sit out on our front porch in Saint George, Utah, which is located in the south west corner of Utah. It is an almost ideal place for watching star. Unfortunately Saint George’s growth in population means we are starting to get some light pollution from street lights and commercial growth. We have also been the unfortunate beneficiaries of California’s Forest and Wild Fires of late which degrade our ability to see the stars and other astronomical sights above our fair city and state. Last evening had singularly good viewing among the nights we’ve been having...

Elon Musk has criticized fellow centibillionaire and space cowboy Jeff Bezos for filing lawsuits against the former’s aerospace company SpaceX. Earlier this month, Bezos’ space firm Blue Origin sued NASA after it lost a critical government contract to put astronauts on the Moon to SpaceX. This has had the effect of delaying SpaceX’s own work on the project. And now, this week, Amazon has urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to dismiss newly-submitted plans by SpaceX to launch another cluster of satellites to power its satellite internet service Starlink. Replying to a story about the latter complaint, Musk tweeted: “Turns...