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Space News Digest: June 2025 / Updated: 2025, June 29th, 00:31 CET

Rocket Lab completed two Electron launches within 48 hours at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, including the Get the Hawk Outta Here mission that deployed four satellites: three Hawkeye 360 RF geolocation microsatellites and the Kestrel-0A experimental satellite. Amazon expanded Project Kuiper by launching 27 new satellites into low Earth orbit, while SpaceX’s Starlink added 80 satellites in a single week, pushing its active constellation past 7,900. Japan marked the 50th and final H-2A launch by deploying the GOSAT-GW greenhouse gas and water-cycle satellite, part of a fleet that achieved 66 launches (63 successful) over 31 years. South Korea’s

29 June 2025

June 2025 Space News: Breakthroughs, Missions, and the Expanding Frontier / Updated: 2025, June 28th, 16:00 CET

Shubhanshu Shukla became India’s 634th person in space, traveling to the ISS on the Axiom-4 mission after a 28-hour journey and a 41-year hiatus. NASA and Roscosmos are conducting investigations as four astronauts arrive at the ISS amid a mysterious air leak detected in the Russian Zvezda module. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory achieved first light with a 3,200-megapixel camera, discovering over 2,000 asteroids in 10 hours and planning to image the entire sky every few nights for a decade. The James Webb Space Telescope directly imaged its first exoplanet, TWA 7b, a Saturn-mass world about 111 light-years away. Japan’s

28 June 2025

Astronomy · Exploration · Scientific Discoveries · Space · Space Missions · Space News

Iranian Satellites and Space Agency: Capabilities, Missions, and Strategic Vision

February 2009: Iran becomes the ninth country to launch an indigenous satellite with its own rocket, sending Omid into orbit on the Safir launcher. Khayyam (2022) is a 600 kg Earth-observation satellite with 1-meter resolution, built with Russian collaboration and launched by a Russian Soyuz to a ~500 km orbit. Noor-1, Iran’s first military satellite, was launched in April 2020 on the Qased rocket into a ~425 km orbit and weighed about 25 kg. Noor-2 (2022) followed Noor-1, about 27 kg, placed in a ~500 km LEO using the Qased launcher and remains in orbit. Noor-3 (2023) is the third

20 June 2025

Iran · Satellites · Space · Space Agency · Strategy · Technology

Unlocking the Sun: Inside NASA and ESA’s Daring Missions to Touch the Solar Inferno

Parker Solar Probe, launched August 12, 2018 on a Delta IV Heavy, became NASA’s first mission to fly through the Sun’s corona and “touch the Sun” in April 2021 when it crossed the Alfvén critical boundary during its 8th orbit. At its closest approaches Parker reaches about 3.8–4 million miles (6.2 million km) from the Sun, roughly 9 solar radii, traveling faster than 430,000 mph (700,000 km/h). The probe’s heat shield is a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite foam sandwich that keeps instruments near room temperature while the shield surface heats to about 2,500°F (1,377°C). Parker carries four instrument suites—FIELDS, SWEAP, IS☉IS, and

8 June 2025

ESA · NASA · Solar Missions · Space Exploration · Sun

SpaceX: Comprehensive Overview of History, Technologies, Missions, and Future Plans

September 2008: Falcon 1 reached orbit on its fourth flight, becoming the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to orbit Earth. December 2008: NASA awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract to deliver cargo to the ISS. May 2012: Dragon cargo capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with and deliver cargo to the International Space Station. December 21, 2015: Falcon 9 first stage landed at Cape Canaveral, the world’s first orbital-class rocket to land. March 30, 2017: SpaceX re-launched a previously flown Falcon 9 booster on the SES-10 mission, the first orbital rocket reuse. May 30, 2020:

8 June 2025

Innovation · Rockets · Space Missions · Space Technology · SpaceX