September 2019 – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

NASA’s Juno spacecraft sees moon’s otherworldly shadow on Jupiter

September 18, 2019 Stephen Clark

Fresh images from NASA’s Juno spacecraft show an ethereal shadow cast by Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io on the planet’s swirling cloud tops.

Starlink to fill lion’s share of SpaceX near-term launch manifest

September 18, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX plans as many as 24 launches next year to build out the company’s Starlink network to provide broadband Internet service from space, following up to four more Starlink missions before the end of this year, according to SpaceX’s chief operating officer.

Hayabusa 2 completes practice run for deployment of last asteroid lander

September 17, 2019 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft deployed two target markers Monday above asteroid Ryugu in a rehearsal for the release of the mission’s final landing robot next month.

NASA, ESA officials seek formal approvals for Mars sample return mission

September 16, 2019 Stephen Clark

After crystallizing a partnership to retrieve samples from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth, NASA and European Space Agency officials are seeking government funding commitments before the end of this year to carry out a multibillion-dollar robotic mission that could depart Earth with a pair of rocket launches as soon as 2026.

NASA lunar orbiter to image Chandrayaan 2 landing site

September 12, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will try to locate India’s Vikram lander on the moon during a flyover of the landing site Tuesday. Indian space officials said they found the disabled spacecraft on the moon using the country’s own Chandrayaan 2 orbiter, but declined to release any images.

SES selects SpaceX for two Falcon 9 launches

September 12, 2019 Stephen Clark

Two SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches will loft seven high-throughput broadband satellites for SES’s O3b mPower constellation in 2021, SES announced this week.

China launches Earth-observing satellites, solar sail experiment

September 12, 2019 Stephen Clark

Two Earth-imaging satellites and an experimental solar sail payload rocketed into orbit Thursday aboard a Chinese Long March 4B launcher, the first flight for China’s Long March 4 rocket family since an upper stage failure in May.

Space station cargo mission grounded by launch pad fire

September 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

Japanese officials called off the launch of an H-2B rocket and HTV space station cargo ship Tuesday after a fire broke out on the launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center.

Long-delayed NASA science satellite gets October launch date

September 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch of a NASA ionospheric research satellite off Florida’s east coast is targeted for Oct. 9 after persistent technical problems with its air-dropped Pegasus rocket stymied two launch opportunities last year.

Live coverage: H-2B rocket launch scrubbed after fire

September 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch of a Japanese H-2B rocket was called off Tuesday after a fire broke out on the launch pad a few hours before liftoff. A new target launch date has not been confirmed. The mission will carry an HTV cargo ship into orbit on a resupply run to the International Space Station.