Free Republic

The launches include Starlink of Vandenberg, including the 700th Falcon 9 overall on the 31st, plus a couple of Electrons from Mahia and a run of Chinese vehicles. Galactic Energy put the first pathfinder for a low-inclination remote-sensing constellation up on a Ceres-1S from an offshore barge, while CAS Space flew the second Kinetica-2 (the liquid RP-1/LOX tri-core version) with another batch of Qianfan satellites. ISRO’s GSLV got NVS-03 into geosynchronous transfer orbit after the previous one’s failure, and Rocket Lab’s 99th Electron carried an iQPS SAR bird. On the bigger picture side, NASA laid out the Artemis Acceleration plan...

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday threatened severe retaliation against Israel if Iranian energy infrastructure comes under attack, warning that such an operation would have devastating consequences. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohabbi issued the threat in a post on X, which was subsequently removed for violating the platform's rules. “Any attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure, although it will immediately be repaired by our young scientists, will turn the occupied territories into scorched earth forever and drive its usurpers into the Sinai Desert," Mohabbi wrote. “The world will see what happens," he added. .....