Space Brief 27 Feb 2025
Today's highlights include Rocket Lab's progress on the Space Force's VICTUS HAZE mission, BlackSky's new government contract, and AEI's policy recommendations for Space Force restructuring.
Launch Date
February 15, 1991
Launch Site
PLMSC
Launch Pad
LC43/3
Launch Vehicle
Molniya 8K78M
NORAD ID
21119
International Designator
1991-012B
Decay Date
2/26/1991
Name
SL-6 R/B(1)
Alternative Name
Molniya-M 17-571 Blok-I
Type
Status
Owner
RVSN
Country
USSR
Constellation
N/A
Related Satellites
Major Events
N/A
Length
6.7
Diameter
2.7
Span
6.7
Dry Mass
2350
Launch Mass
2350
Shape
Cyl
Radar Cross Section
0.31
Visual Magnitude
Unknown
Color
Unknown
Material Composition
Unknown
Payload
11S510
Purpose
Unknown
Mission
Unknown
Manufacturer
PROG
Life Expectancy
Unknown
Bus
Blok-I
Configuration
Unknown
Motor
Unknown
Equipment
Unknown
Power System
Unknown
ADCS
Unknown
Transmitter Frequency
Unknown
Learn more about satellites and other related topics.
Today's highlights include Rocket Lab's progress on the Space Force's VICTUS HAZE mission, BlackSky's new government contract, and AEI's policy recommendations for Space Force restructuring.
At 7:33 on the morning of 18 June 1983, a 32-year-old astrophysicist named Sally Ride rode Challenger off Pad 39A and became the first American woman in space. She got there two decades after the Soviets, and only after months of being asked whether spaceflight would damage her reproductive organs and whether she planned to cry.
Busy activities in space: SpaceX's series of Starlink launches dominate the week, while Vega C successfully deploys Earth science satellites.
The satellite industry's biggest operators are betting on multi-orbit architectures that combine LEO, MEO, and GEO into unified networks. A San Francisco startup called Contrivian thinks they've overcomplicated the problem, and the physics might be on its side.
SpaceX successfully launched its 100th Falcon 9 flight, deploying 29 Starlink satellites, while NASA plans to test SpaceX’s Starshield. Additionally, SpaceX engages in social media commentary regarding American Airlines' interest in Amazon's Starlink rival.
SpaceX and Amazon Are Playing for Keeps to Control Satellite Broadband and Connect the World. But Is There Room for Both in the Orbit?
SpaceX wins a $4.16B Pentagon contract for missile-tracking satellites, while hitting its 50th Starlink launch of 2026 in a landmark May.
On April 25, 1990, the Space Shuttle Discovery's robotic arm lifted a 11,110-kilogram barrel of mirrors and instruments out of the payload bay and released it into orbit. Six weeks later, the first images came back badly out of focus. The Hubble Space Telescope had been ground to the wrong prescription, and America had just spent $2.5 billion on what the press was calling a 'technoturkey.'