Commercial space’s critical role in the race to outpace adversaries
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Commercial space’s critical role in the race to outpace adversaries

Top Stories Tamfitronics Firefly Aerospace launched Sept. 14 the Space Force's Victus Nox mission in a record-breaking 24 hour turnaround. Credit: Firefly Aerospace.We’re in a race for space agility, and America is falling behind.Irresponsible weapons tests, such as Russia’s Nov 2021 destructive test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile test, provided a glimpse of what combat in space could entail. Equally alarming is China’s heavy investments in its own military space assets. According to Air & Space Forces MagazineBeijing has increased on-orbit assets by 500% since December 2015, enabling China’s long-range strike capabilities.Adversaries displaying reckless and provocative behaviors such as operating their satellites near United States spacecraft endanger the U.S. Space Force’s ability to receive viable data when and where our warfighters need it most.The right strategyA positive step forward is the U.S. Space Force’s new...
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China launches reusable Shijian-19 satellite for space breeding and technology tests
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China launches reusable Shijian-19 satellite for space breeding and technology tests

Top Stories Tamfitronics Liftoff of the Long March 2D rocket carrying Shijian-19, Sept. 27, 2024. Credit: HELMETHELSINKI China launched the retrievable and reusable Shijian-19 satellite Friday to carry out a range of experiments in low Earth orbit.A Long March 2D rocket lifted off at 8:30 a.m. Eastern (1030 UTC) Sept. 27 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Exhaust from the hypergolic rocket billowed into the air as the launcher ascended into largely clear blue skies above the spaceport. The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) announced launch success, revealing the payload to be the Shijian-19 satellite.Shijian-19 is a retrievable satellite developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). The same arm of Chinas main space contractor is also developing a reusable crew spacecraft for low Earth orbit (LEO) and lunar...
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NASA cites progress in reducing ISS air leak

Top Stories Tamfitronics The International Space Station, photographed in 2021. Credit: NASAWASHINGTON — NASA is playing down concerns raised in a recent report about a long-running air leak in the Russian segment of the International Space Station, saying they have recently reduced the rate of the leak.A report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General released Sept. 26 noted that, in June, the ISS program had elevated a leak in a section of the Russian Zvezda module “to the highest level of risk in its risk management system.” NASA uses a system where both the likelihood and severity of a risk is rated on a scale of one to five; the leak rated a five on both.That assessment came after NASA reported that the leak, in a vestibule of the service module known as PrK that...
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Report: HomePod with display and homeOS to launch next year with Apple Intelligence
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Report: HomePod with display and homeOS to launch next year with Apple Intelligence

Top Stories Tamfitronics In this weekend’s Power On Newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman outlined some new details about Apple’s future smart home products. We’ll be getting two versions of a HomePod with display, and one of them will be launching as soon as next year.According to the report, we’ll be getting a lower end smart display (codename J490), and a higher end device with a robotic arm and a larger display (codename J595). Both devices are slated to include support for Apple Intelligence, and also run a new operating system: homeOS.The new operating system might just be branding, however, as Gurman reports that tvOS will be the basis of homeOS, and he ultimately expects the two platforms to become combined.The lower end product described here isn’t exactly new information. We exclusively reported many new details on...
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