Space Archive

Jay PetersDec 14, 2023

Amazon says its Project Kuiper internet satellites will operate like a mesh network.

Here’s how Amazon describes it:

[Optical inter-satellite links] use infrared lasers to send data between spacecraft as they orbit the planet. Instead of being limited to sending data between an individual satellite and antennas on the ground, OISLs allow satellites to send data directly to other satellites in a constellation.

Every Project Kuiper satellite will have “multiple optical terminals” so that they can connect to a bunch of satellites all at once. The first production satellites are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2024.

Starlink loses out on $886 million in rural broadband subsidies

Wes DavisDec 13, 2023

Emma RothDec 12, 2023

Blue Origin’s next uncrewed flight could take place next week.

The Jeff Bezos-owned space tourism company is planning a return to launches after last year’s mission ended in failure. Blue Origin is now targeting a launch window for its New Shepard rocket that opens on December 18th.

Wes DavisDec 9, 2023

The trouble with Hubble.

It’s down to just three of the six gyroscopes NASA upgraded it with in 2009 — and one of those is flaking out. According to Ars Technica, the agency’s engineers figured out a way to keep the Hubble going on a single gyro.

In this one-gyro mode, Hubble’s control system would receive inputs from the single gyroscope in combination with magnetometers, Sun sensors, and star trackers.

Unfortunately, it’s also got issues with one of its guidance sensors, and its orbit is decaying, putting it a little over a decade from falling out of the sky. NASA and SpaceX have studied whether they can push it farther out again.

Hubble back in service after gyro scare—NASA still studying reboost options

[Ars Technica]