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Friday, October 6, 2023

I Don't Have Much

I really don't see much in space news worth talking about that we haven't already done lots on, and then I got busied with things around the house that sucked up more time than expected.  

ULA's launch of the first two test satellites for Amazon's Kuiper constellation this afternoon (2:06 PM EDT) was successful.  

At the moment, I'm listening to the Arianespace preparation for the launch of THEOS-2, and the FORMOSAT-7R/TRITON:satellites aboard the original Vega booster, not the Vega C update. 

THEOS-2 is a high-resolution Earth observation optical satellite, part of the next-generation national geo-information system provided by Airbus Defence and Space to support the Kingdom of Thailand’s key development priorities. Delivering 0.5-meter ground resolution imagery, this end to end system will complement THEOS-1, launched in 2008 for Thailand, one of the few nations in the world able to fully exploit geo-information for societal benefits.

FORMOSAT-7R/TRITON, developed by the Taiwanese Space Agency (TASA), is equipped with the Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R), which collects signals that bounce off the sea surface. It helps scientists calculate the wind field over the oceans. This data will be shared with the global meteorology community, contributing to the forecast of typhoon intensity and trajectory.

In addition to these three major satellites, the mission is bringing ten additional smaller satellites, detailed here in the description block below the video. Click the "...more" at the bottom of the small window.  

The mission aborted between T-60 seconds and liftoff.  I can't give an exact count because there wasn't a countdown clock on screen and no specific reason for the abort was given.  

Screen capture from the video live stream.



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