Japanese spysat soars from Tanegashima. Japan launched the classified IGS-Radar 8 satellite early Thursday with the second-to-last H-IIA rocket, Space News reports. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries managed the launch from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan. MHI confirmed a successful conclusion to the launch with deployment of the IGS-Radar 8 satellite in Sun-synchronous orbit. This new spacecraft will join a fleet of optical and radar reconnaissance satellites operated by Japan’s Cabinet Satellite Information Center.
Nearing retirement … This was the 49th flight of Japan’s H-IIA rocket, a medium-lift launcher in service since 2001. There is just one H-IIA rocket left to fly, and it should launch later this year with a satellite to monitor greenhouse gases from space. The H-IIA has been a success for Japan, with just one failure on its record. It is being replaced by the H3 rocket, which has now launched three times—twice successfully. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
FAA-SpaceX dispute simmers. The clash between SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration escalated this week, with Elon Musk calling for the head of the federal regulator to resign after he defended the FAA’s oversight and fines levied against the commercial launch company, Ars reports. The FAA has said it doesn’t expect to determine whether to approve a launch license for SpaceX’s next Starship test flight until late November, two months later than the agency previously communicated to Musk’s launch company. And the FAA announced $633,000 in fines against SpaceX last week for alleged violations of its launch license during two Falcon 9 rocket flights last year. Michael Whitaker, the FAA administrator, discussed the hold-up in Starship launch approvals in a congressional hearing this week. SpaceX responded by saying all of Whitaker’s statements were inaccurate.
Shotwell weighs in … Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, has suggested a political motive for the FAA’s scrutiny of SpaceX. Musk has endorsed former President Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election. “America is being smothered by legions of regulators, often inept & politically-driven,” Musk wrote on X, his social media platform, referring to the FAA. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, took a different tone in a hearing with Texas lawmakers in Austin this week. “We are not afraid of regulation,” she said. “It helps keep businesses thriving as well as the community safe… All I’m saying is, as this business grows, you will probably enhance the regulatory environment, and there’s just a caution that you really want to make sure that regulation doesn’t impede progress.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-27 01:31:00
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