Die Startzeit ist, nicht außergewöhnlich, korrigiert worden.
Liftoff Time (CEST) 12:23:00 PM Tuesday June 30, 2026
Swift Boost Mission Katalyst’s robotic servicing spacecraft will rendezvous with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and raise it to a higher altitude, demonstrating a key capability for the future of space exploration and extending the Swift mission’s science lifetime. Manufacturer: Katalyst Space Technologies Operator: Katalyst Space Technologies Low Earth Orbit 1 Payload 400 kilograms
Zitat Flying on its first mission since 2021, the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar Stargazer will carry a Pegasus XL rocket to air-launch the Swift Boost Mission for NASA. Stargazer is expected to take off on a southeasterly trajectory from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site in the Marshall Islands on Saturday, 27 June, with the 5.5-hour launch window beginning at 09:00 UTC.
Pegasus XL is a four-stage vehicle originally developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and now operated by Northrop Grumman. The vehicle’s first three stages use Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and aluminum as fuel, while the optional fourth stage utilizes hydrazine (N2H4) as its propellant.
Kleiner Sachnachtrag. Berryman nennt in seiner Erzählung einen maximalen Beschleunigungswert beim Start von 11 G. Ich habe gerade beim Start der Starlink-Mission 17-40 von Vandenberg auf die Beschleunigungsanzeige für die F9 geachtet, und der Sptizenwert lag bei 3,8 G in einer Höhe von 48-58 km, mit einer kurzen Spitze von 3,9 G, und guten 2 G bis in eine Höhe von 25 km. Daß der Wert ansteigt, ist folgerichtig: 1. Der Schub bleibt gliech, daß die zu beschleunigende Masse nimmt aufgrund des sinkenden Treibstoffvorrats ab; 2. der Reibungswiderstand der Atmosphäre sinkt mit zunehmender Höhe; 3. die Rakete bewegt sih in immer flacherem Winkel relativ zum Erdboden, um Geschwindigkeit bis zur Fluchtgeschwindigkeit zu gewinnen, so daß immer weniger der Energie für das Gewinnen der Höhe benötigt wird.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat Shay Boloor@StockSavvyShay·1h Here’s why $RKLB just spent ~$8B acquiring $IRDM . Rocket Lab wants to own the network, spectrum and recurring revenue layer once satellites are in orbit which is why this deal is really about vertical integration as Neutron comes online.
Once Rocket Lab can launch Iridium satellites on Neutron then it internalizes a cost that used to flow to third-party launch providers making the deal way more accretive over time as Neutron comes online.
What I like is that Iridium also brings something Rocket Lab stack has lacked which is recurring, high-margin service revenue tied to global connectivity, direct-to-device and government communications.
The space economy is splitting into companies that can launch and refresh their own networks and companies that have to rent access to orbit. $SPCX already proved which side wins because if you own both launch and the network then you control the cost structure, refresh cycle and margin stack in a way third-party launch customers cannot match.
Launch gets you to orbit but connectivity is what you monetize once you're there and the companies that own both the launch layer and the network become the platforms of the space economy. 2:48 PM · Jun 29, 2026
Zitat Rocket Lab@RocketLab Rocket Lab is acquiring Iridium Communications Inc – one of the most transformative deals in the space industry.
By combining our launch capability and satellite manufacturing with @IridiumComm’s global satellite communications network and rare spectrum, Rocket Lab becomes a fully integrated, self-launching, tier-1 space power, delivering critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide.
Zitat Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in Historic Deal, Creating A Fully Vertically Integrated Space Powerhouse Primed for Growth
June 29, 2026 07:00 ET |
LONG BEACH, Calif. and MCLEAN, Va., June 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab”), a global leader in launch and space systems and Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) (“Iridium”), a leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite services, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Rocket Lab will acquire Iridium. Rocket Lab will acquire all the outstanding shares of Iridium common stock for $54 per share in a cash and stock transaction. This represents an enterprise value for Iridium of approximately $8.0 billion.
The acquisition will be one of the most transformative deals in the space industry, joining together two innovative American companies to play a leading role in the U.S. space economy. It merges Rocket Lab's leading launch capabilities and satellite manufacturing with Iridium's global satellite communications network, spectrum, and 500-plus strong partner ecosystem to create a competitive, vertically-integrated space company that designs, builds, launches, and operates its own constellations, delivering critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide.
The transaction will give Rocket Lab an immediate foothold in space-based applications, including both proprietary and standards-based satellite Internet of Things (IoT) and direct-to-device (D2D), PNT, and critical safety-of-life services, creating a formidable challenger in the global telecom market. Rather than simply continuing the Iridium network, Rocket Lab will build upon it to scale into untapped markets and pioneer new space-based services to the benefit of global customers.
Iridium’s globally harmonized L-band spectrum and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network provide a secure, resilient foundation for reliable satellite communications and PNT services across government, defense, aviation, maritime, and commercial markets. Supporting more than 2.55 million active subscribers worldwide, Iridium delivers highly reliable, weather-resilient connectivity and an alternative PNT architecture for applications where Global Positioning Systema (GPS) and other Global Navigation Satellite Systema (GNSS) are degraded or unavailable. Combining Rocket Lab's launch, spacecraft manufacturing, and space systems expertise with Iridium's global network and L-band spectrum will accelerate innovation, positioning the combined company to support the development and deployment of Iridium's next-generation constellation. This includes direct-to-device (D2D/Iridium NTN DirectSM) services, which will grow into an important new capability for U.S. national security and emergency response, helping to ensure reliable, resilient communications when and where they are needed most, particularly where traditional networks are unavailable or compromised.
"This is a defining moment for the space industry and the start of a new era of strategic, accelerated growth for Rocket Lab and Iridium," said Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab.
Transaction Details
Under the terms of the transaction, Iridium stockholders will receive $27.00 in cash and a number of shares of Rocket Lab common stock calculated pursuant to an exchange ratio (subject to a collar) for each share of Iridium common stock outstanding at the closing. The collar is banded from $67.50 to $112.50. The transaction has a notional value of $54.00 per share of Iridium common stock, implying an enterprise value for Iridium of approximately $8.0 billion.
Complete details on the calculation of the exchange ratio will be in the transaction agreement, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The transaction is expected to be completed in mid-2027, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval of Iridium stockholders and required regulatory approvals.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Iridium and Rocket Lab. Moreover, each director of Iridium holding shares of Iridium common stock has entered into a voting agreement to support the transaction.
As part of the transaction, Rocket Lab has received commitments for a $3.6 billion 364-day senior secured bridge term loan facility from Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo. Rocket Lab intends to fund the cash component of the transaction through a combination of cash from its balance sheet and other debt and equity financing sources.
Zitat Rocket Lab@RocketLab We've set the launch date for our 92nd mission and 13th Electron launch of the year🚀
'The Grain Goddess Provides' for @QPS_Inc is our latest constellation deployment mission to deliver another QPS-SAR satellite to LEO for their Earth-imaging constellation.
Launch window opens June 30: 🚀1:15 p.m. NZST 🚀10:15 a.m. JST 🚀01:15 UTC 🚀9:15 p.m. EST 🚀6:15 p.m. PST Last edited 9:45 PM · Jun 28, 2026
Zitat Brian Basson@BassonBrain Rocket Lab today announced it's buying Iridium Communications in a deal worth $8 billion.
In short, it's an attempt to buy the capacity it needs to directly compete with SpaceX's @Starlink network.
Once all regulatory hurdles are cleared, Rocket Lab will own Iridium's network of 80 satellites, which connect some of the most remote locations on Earth, as well as its wireless spectrum. 3:32 PM · Jun 29, 2026
In a statement, Rocket Lab said the deal would give it an "immediate foothold" in various space-based markets incl. direct device communications and internet of things networks, as well as global positioning, navigation and timing services for major infrastructure providers.
Zitat If all the regulatory hurdles are cleared, Rocket Lab will own Iridium's network of 80 satellites, which connect some of the most remote locations on Earth, as well as its wireless spectrum.
If the name Iridium rings a distant bell, it's because it's the company Qualcomm partnered with to bring satellite texting to Android devices. Qualcomm dreamt up Snapdragon Satellite as an alternative to Apple's space-based emergency SOS feature. Sadly, the program was scuttled in 2023 after phone manufacturers turned their noses up at the plan, and the only mainstream handsets with satellite connectivity are the Pixel 9 series.
The growing adoption of Starlink and SpaceX's mad valuation have led plenty of its would-be rivals to buy in extra capacity. Back in April, Amazon announced a "merger" between its Leo satellite internet service and Globalstar, which provides the satellite backbone for Apple's emergency SOS service.
In a statement, Rocket Lab said the deal would give it an "immediate foothold" in various space-based markets. That includes direct device communications and internet of things networks, as well as global positioning, navigation and timing services for major infrastructure providers. Rocket Lab will also likely see benefits for the various military satellite contracts it services. And while Iridium's network hasn't grown for a while due to its financial troubles, Rocket Lab is committing to "build upon it to scale into untapped markets and pioneer new space-based services to the benefit of global customers."
Zitat Johhnywalker@johhnyWalkerAZ Seeing some bad takes on the $RKLB/Iridium deal. Let's clean this up.
"Declining revenues" — Iridium grew to $872M in 2025 at a 57% EBITDA margin. That is not a declining business. That is a cash machine.
"Massive premium" — $8B for $495M in annual EBITDA is roughly 16x. For a monopoly LEO constellation with global coverage, long-term government contracts, and irreplaceable spectrum, that is not a bad price.
"Narrow slice of spectrum" — L-band with true global licensing is one of the most strategically scarce assets in the satellite world. You cannot build it from scratch. It took Iridium a bankruptcy and decades to establish. Calling it narrow tells me you don't understand what you're looking at.
"Assuming debt" — yes, along with $495M in annual EBITDA to service it. Debt to acquire a cash-generating asset is called a leveraged acquisition. It happens every day.
The legitimate risks here are integration complexity and the bridge loan. Argue those if you want a real conversation. The rest is noise. 4:29 PM · Jun 29, 2026
Zitat The following communication was made available to employees of Rocket Lab Corporation (“Rocket Lab”) via email in connection with the proposed acquisition of Iridium Communications Inc. pursuant to the terms of that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of June 28, 2026.
Hi everyone,
It’s a transformative day for Rocket Lab. Today we announced an agreement to acquire Iridium Communications Inc - yes, the Iridium – leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing satellite services.
With the completion of this deal, Rocket Lab will become a fully integrated, self-launching tier-1 space power, delivering critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide. We will become the only company in the world that can build their own satellites, launch their own rockets, and operate their own constellation across the only truly global network that provides coverage over every ocean, mountain, and airway.
So why Iridium?
You’ve long heard me talk about space applications being where the true value is in space. But to deliver space applications there are some big barriers.
1. Spectrum: It’s a finite resource. Because access to spectrum is limited and difficult to obtain, it plays an important role in enabling efficient operation of modern communications constellations. Iridium has spectrum in the form of L-band, the global gold standard for critical infrastructure, defense operations, and aviation/maritime safety networks.
2. Long wait to deploy infrastructure to generate your first revenue. It can take a decade or more to get your first cent from a new constellation. Iridium’s constellation of 66 satellites is operating right now.
3. Long time to build business model and customer base for sustained cash flow. It can take many more years to go from first revenue to real, sustainable revenue. Iridium is critical to 2.55 million subscribers and generated $871M in 2025 revenue.
As you can see, with Iridium as part of the Rocket Lab team we can leap over these barriers. By now you know that we don’t just acquire companies and sit on their existing capabilities. We apply the Rocket Lab magic to optimize and scale. We will leverage Iridium’s deep heritage and strategic backbone to scale into untapped markets and pioneer new space-based services to the benefit of global customers.
I encourage you all to read the full announcement here and watch the presentation here for the complete details. There is a regulatory process to complete before we can officially welcome Iridium to the Rocket Lab family, so stay tuned for the full completion of that, likely in mid-2027.
Please join me in celebrating this historic moment. What comes next is going to be a hell of a ride and we’re truly just getting started. Our future has just been unlocked and accelerated.
Zitat Update for June 30: NASA is delaying the launch of the Swift Boost mission until July 1. In a post on its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory blog, the agency said the launch was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. The mission is now set to launch no earlier than 5:43 a.m. EDT (0943 GMT) on Wednesday, July 1.
Liftoff is scheduled for 5:43 a.m. EDT (0943 GMT) on Wednesday, July 1.
Zitat Launch of Mission to Boost NASA’s Swift Scrubs Due to Weather
The launch of Katalyst Space’s robotic servicing spacecraft LINK, designed to boost the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, was postponed Tuesday due to unfavorable weather conditions. The next launch attempt is targeted for no earlier than Wednesday, July 1, at 9:43 p.m. UTC+12 (5:43 a.m. EDT), on Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands.
Zitat Weather Delays Launch of Mission to Boost NASA’s Swift
The launch of Katalyst Space’s robotic servicing spacecraft LINK, designed to boost the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, was postponed again Wednesday due to unfavorable weather conditions. The next launch attempt is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, July 2, at 9:09 p.m. UTC+12 (5:09 a.m. EDT), on Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands.
Zitat An air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket has flown for the very last time, sending a private spacecraft on a rescue mission to save one of NASA's most iconic space telescopes from falling back to Earth.
The Swift Boost mission successfully launched the LINK satellite, built by Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies, on Friday (July 3) at 4:36 a.m. EDT (0836 GMT), according to NASA. LINK will rendezvous with NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and tow it to a stable orbit, saving it from impending destruction as its trajectory dips farther into the atmosphere.
The Pegasus XL rocket was released from Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer jet above the Marshall Islands before igniting its engine and carrying LINK into orbit. The successful launch came after previous attempts were called off due to weather and a software issue affecting the rocket's navigation system.
...
LINK measures about 4.9 feet (1.5 m) tall, and is equipped with three robotic arms that will be used to capture Swift, which stretches about 12.7 feet (3.9 m). Once a grab-point is chosen and Swift secured, LINK will fire a set of gentle ion thrusters that will slowly raise the pair's orbit over the next several months.
LINK is poised to be the first private spacecraft to attempt to capture an uncrewed U.S. government satellite. NASA selected Katalyst for the task in September 2025, with less than a year to carry out LINK's design, manufacture and testing. Despite its urgency and the relative short notice to get LINK in orbit, the entire Swift rescue mission and launch only cost NASA $30 million.
Teams Make Contact With Spacecraft Set to Boost NASA’s Swift
Teams have successfully established communications with Katalyst Space’s robotic servicing spacecraft LINK, which is designed to raise the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher altitude.
Making contact with LINK was the spacecraft’s first in-orbit operation, after launch and separation Friday from Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket and power-on.
Over the next several weeks, Katalyst will perform checkout procedures for LINK, including assessments of its propulsion, sensor, and navigation systems.
LINK will then approach Swift and complete a survey of the 21-year-old observatory, before capturing and lifting it over the course of several months.
Stichwort Dyna-Soar. Zufällig stolpere ich gerade über diesen Klappentext:
Zitat Autor Wilhelm W. Bröll Titel Im Raum der roten Monde Uto-Vision Verlag Hönne Verlag Balve(Gebr. Zimmermann) Jahr 1960 Titelbild 2 Rudolf Sieber-Lonati
Nachdrucke: "UTOPIA Großband" Heft # 181: "Blitzstart nach Unbekannt" · Erich Pabel Verlag, Rastatt · o. J. (August 1962) · 80 S. · Cover: Rudolf Sieber-Lonati.
W. W. BRÖLL [d.i. Wilhelm Wolfgang Bröll (1913-1989)] IM RAUM DER ROTEN MONDE Uto-Vision
W. W. Bröll koppelt auch in diesem neuen und ungeheuer spannenden, interessanten Zukunftsroman, wie in vielen seiner beliebten Romane, Gegenwart und Zukunft.
Die überaus phantastische Geschichte beginnt mit dem Aufprall der sowjetischen Mondrakete im Mare Tranquillitatis am 13. September 1959.
Die Amerikaner starten in aller Stille einen Gegenschlag und wollen den Mond mit einem bemannten Raumflugzeug der Dyna-Soar-Serie umkreisen. Das ist der Auftakt zu einem Unternehmen, das dreißig Jahre später eine Gruppe Wissenschaftler in den Bannkreis eines Planeten gelangen läßt, der von vier roten Monden umkreist wird. Ein amerikanischer Professor findet im Sumpfgebiet der Everglades in Florida eine Kapsel unbekannter Herkunft und baut nach Angaben aus dem "Nichts" das Raumschiff Tatos.
Der in aller Stille vorbereitete Flug dieses Raumschiffes endet im Bereich eines unbekannten Planeten, nachdem die Besatzung aus ihrem künstlichen Schlaf geweckt wurde und der unheimlichen Situation gegenübersteht, Menschen einer anderen Welt an Bord ihres Raumschiffes zu haben. Von unbekannten Kräften getrieben, rast die Tatos mit nahezu Lichtgeschwindigkeit durch den Raum, begleitet von einem silberglänzenden Raumschiff, dessen Herkunft sich die Erdenmenschen nicht erklären können.
Wird es den Menschen gelingen, sich aus dem Raum der roten Monde zu befreien?
W. W. Bröll tut mit diesem Roman einen großen Schritt ins Phantastische, trotzdem basiert aber auch diese Story auf den Erkenntnissen moderner Raumforschung. Er vermeidet bewußt alle übertriebene Phantasterei, was der ernste Leser dieser Literaturgattung nur anerkennen wird.
Zitat (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 06.01.1959, S. 6) 'Auf dem Weg zum Raumflug mit Menschen: Von "Adam" bis zu "Dyna-Soar"' / Von Heinz Gartmann
Satelliten-Flugzeug
Auf dem dritten Weg zum bemannten Raumflug vereinigen sich Rakete und Flugzeug nun in besonderer Weise. Diese Kombination führte zum phantastischsten Projekt der Raketentechnik unserer Tage: zum Projekt Dyna-Soar. "Soar" heißt "gleiten"; die Bezeichnung erinnert an die Flugweise: dynamisches Gleiten mit hoher Überschallgeschwindigkeit. Dyna-Soar, gegenwärtig wohl schon weit über das Projektstadium hinaus (obgleich zur Zeit immer noch neue Aufträge an die Industrie vergeben werden), ist ein relativ kleines Flugzeug. Es wird durch Raketen, die nach dem Aufstieg abgetrennt werden, gestartet und auf Satellitengeschwindigkeit gebracht, so daß es die Erde außerhalb der Atmosphäre mit fast 28 000 Kilometer in der Stunde in etwa 90 Minuten wie ein Satellit umkreist, wahrscheinlich mehrere Male hintereinander. Die Erhaltung der Fluglage außerhalb der Atmosphäre, wo bei antriebslosem Gleiten keine andere Steuerung und Stabilisierung möglich ist, erfolgt durch kleine Strahldüsen an den Flügeln und am Rumpf. Nach dem Satellitenflug tritt das Flugzeug wieder in die Atmosphäre ein und kehrt in einem langen, stetigen Gleitflug zum Startplatz zurück, wo es mit geringer Geschwindigkeit landet. Dyna-Soar startet also wie eine Rakete, fliegt wie ein Satellit und landet wie ein Flugzeug.
Die Frage nach der Verwandtschaft von Dyna-Soar mit dem Sänger-Projekt von 1943 liegt nahe. Beim Sänger-Projekt handelte es sich um ein sehr großes Raketenflugzeug, das von einer Gleitbahn aus starten und mit Raketentriebwerk und Treibstoff an Bord aufsteigen und fliegen sollte. Dr. Dornberger weist dagegen auf cine gewisse Aehnlichkeit des Projekts Dyna-Soar mit dem Peenemünder Projekt A 9/A 10, mit dem man damals von Europa nach Amerika schießen wollte. A 10 war dabei die große Startrakete, A 9 die zweite Stufe, eine geflügelte Rakete, der "V 2" eben so ähnlich, wie auch einem Raketenflugzeug. Wenn eines Tages Bilder und Zahlen des interessanten Dyna-Soar-Projekts veröffentlich werden, wTird man wahrscheinlich erkennen, daß beide historische Entwürfe, das Projekt A 9/A 10 und das Sänger-Projekt, dabei Pate gestanden haben.
Mit Dyna-Soar wäre das Problem der Rückkehr aus dem Weltraum gelöst. Die seit 1952 veröffentlichten wegweisenden Entwürfe Wernher von Brauns zum Thema Weltraumfahrt mit Menschen zeigen übrigens ebenfalls die enge Verbindung von Raketenflugzeug und Rakete bei der Konzeption bemannter Satellitenraketen. Der erste Schritt des Menschen selbst in den Weltraum dürfte mithin, soviel kann man im Augenblick erkennen, die geflügelte und bemannte Endstufe großer mehrstufiger Raketen sein. A. V. Cleaver prophezeite vor fünf Jahren den bemannten Raumflug für 1975 (und hielt sich dabei für optimistisch!). Dieser Termin wird mit Sicherheit erheblich unterboten werden.
Zitat (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 23.12.1958, S. 7) "Das erste Raumfahrt-Jahr: Erdsatelliten, Mondsonden und interplanetarische Pläne / Eine Bilanz des Erreichten und Projektierten" - Heinz Gartmann
Vor 5 Jahren stellte der bekannte englische Raketeningenieur A. V. Cleaver in einem Vortrag vor der Britischen Interplanetarischen Gesellschaft in London den damals als "allzu optimistisch" geltenden und von vielen für utopisch gehaltenen Terminangaben Wernher von Brauns seine eigenen, sorgfältig berechneten Prognosen gegenüber: Unbemannte künstliche Erdsatelliten von einigen Kilogramm etwa 1965, kleine, bemannte Raketen-Endstufen zur Erdumkreisung etwa 1975 und bemannte Mondsonden mit einigen Meßgeräten und Sendern zwischen 1980 und 1990. Und der Vortrag des Verfassers in Frankfurt, auf dem ihm aus dem Kreise der Hörer entgegnet wurde, mehr als 500 Kilometer Höhe werde man mit Raketen niemals erreichen, liegt noch nicht einmal zwei Jahre zurück.
Die Stimme des Volkes und des Fachmanns irrten sich. Natürlich ist man klüger, wenn man vom Rathaus - oder, um im Bilde zu bleiben, vom Weltraumflughafen - kommt und cine Reihe künstlicher Erdsatelliten und Mondsonden aufzählen kann. Aber Wernher von Brauns Ideen waren auch vorher keineswegs utopisch; er rechnete, vorausgesetzt, daß sofort mit der Entwicklung begonnen würde, mit dem bemannten Satelliten für etwa 1965, und es sieht jetzt so aus, als werde er tatsächlich recht behalten. Seine "allzu optimistischen" Entwürfe waren sogar mit zuviel konventionellen Gedanken und vorsichtigen Einschränkungen gesalzen, wie sich nun, am Ende des ersten Raumfahrtjahres herausgestellt.
Jene 500 Kilometer, die mancher offenbar für eine dem Menschen gezogene Grenze hielt, sind längst viele Male und recht erheblich überboten worden. Bezüglich der unbemannten Satelliten irrte sich Cleaver um acht Jahre, bei den Terminen für unbemannte Mondsonden um rund drei Jahrzehnte. Auch die Flüge bemannter Satelliten werden sehr viel früher beginnen, als er annahm, wahrscheinlich 1959 oder 1960.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat von ZR, 27.06.2026...ein Blick auf eine Meldung, die die Associated Press vor einem halben Jahr, am 26. Dezember 2025, veröffentlicht hat. Darin heißt es:
Zitat Der Pariser Auslandskorrespondent John Leicester hat einen Exklusivbericht vorgelegt, in dem er enthüllt, daß Russland im Verdacht steht, ein weltraumgestütztes Waffensystem zu entwickeln, daß in der Lage sein soll, Elon Musks Starlink-Satelliten auszuschalten – ein entscheidendes Glied in der Kommunikation auf den Schlachtfeldern in der Ukraine.
BINGO.
Zitat Michael Weiss@michaeldweiss NEW: We obtained a classified tranche of documents prepared by the Chinese and Russian military proposing an unprecedented level of integrated aerospace defense between the two countries. One of their targets? The @Starlink satellite constellation, which they see as a major threat, thanks to its use in the ongoing war in Ukraine, and now aim to countermand with cyber attacks or simply by shooting down @elonmusk's property in Low Earth orbit: From theins.press
This is rather awkward for @elonmusk, whose largest Tesla factory is in Shanghai and who has praised the Chinese government in the past, professing himself "kind of pro-China" in 2023. Turns out the CCP/PLA are looking to shoot down his satellites with Russia's help.
Our monthlong investigation done jointly with @derspiegel and @lemondefr 1:25 PM · Jul 9, 2026
Zitat Shooting Starlink: The “no limits” partnership between Russia and China is taking aim at Elon Musk |Michael Weiss, Roman Dobrokhotov, Christo Grozev |July 9, 2026
Secret documents from a series of clandestine Russian-Chinese military forums reveal a joint plan to defeat Elon Musk’s Starlink and a weapons development partnership far deeper than either country will admit. From air- and missile-defense systems to AI-enhanced drone capabilities, cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is allowing Russian forces to keep pace with Ukrainian innovations while China gains the opportunity to test its wares under combat conditions. Although the threat of increased Western sanctions continues to place constraints on their “no limits” partnership, Russia and China are moving forward with several joint projects — and former U.S. military officers are concerned about Washington’s will to stop them.
A joint investigation by The Insider, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde
By the fall of 2023, Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet network, had become a primary means of communication on the Ukrainian battlefield. Medics used its terminals to coordinate evacuations, artillery crews to correct their fire, and drone operators to fly in real time. “Starlink is now actually the blood of our entire communications infrastructure,” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s then-minister of digital transformation and now its defense minister, said that September. As of November, SpaceX had delivered more than 40,000 terminals to Ukraine, and the system had grown so central to the country’s war effort that U.S. officials described it as irreplaceable.
That same month, in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, engineers from China’s most important space and defense institutions gathered for a secret meeting. One of the items on their agenda was how to destroy Starlink, a prized possession in Elon Musk’s expansive business empire, which awkwardly straddles a geopolitical divide. SpaceX is the Pentagon’s most important space contractor, responsible for building and carrying U.S. spy satellites into orbit, while the U.S. government-run Starshield, the hard variant of Starlink, ensures resilient military connectivity. Meanwhile, Tesla, Musk’s electric car company, whose largest factory is in Shanghai, is heavily reliant on Chinese state loans and the indulgence of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Insider, together with Der Spiegel, and Le Monde, has obtained a cache of documents containing previously undisclosed details about the growing military cooperation between Russia and China. They consist of four slide show presentations delivered in November 2023 at the Third China-Russia Military-Technical Cooperation Forum in Guangzhou, a recurring bilateral gathering that has never been publicized, and a signed bilateral working protocol from negotiations held in Moscow in June 2023. The material spans five weapons domains: space weapons and the destruction of satellites, integrated air and missile defense, autonomous “swarm” loitering munitions, next-generation armored vehicles, and military aviation.
Taken together, the documents expose China’s professed neutrality in Russia’s ongoing war of conquest in Ukraine as a fiction. Instead, they show a partnership that has moved well beyond shared rhetoric into a structured, multi-disciplinary program to build weapons neither country could develop alone — reaching into the most sensitive strategic systems. ... The Guangzhou documents include a presentation devoted entirely to countering Starlink. Although it is bilingual, the many obvious errors in the Russian text leave no doubt it was prepared by the Chinese side. The slideshow was delivered by two researchers from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC): Huang Hui (黄辉) and Ren Jie (任杰). CASC is China’s principal state space contractor, responsible for the Changzheng (“Long March”) rocket family and much of the country’s military satellite infrastructure. The document is marked “internal” — one level above material cleared for public release.
Their answer is a three-level escalation ladder.
Level one involves joint legal and diplomatic pressure. Starlink’s satellite density sharply raises the risk of collisions in low orbit, the authors argue, and so Moscow and Beijing should build an international coalition to win regulatory limits on the constellation’s expansion.
Level two seeks to block Starlink’s access to the physical space it needs in order to expand. China and Russia would jointly file for critical frequency bands and orbital slots, using their weight in international regulatory bodies to obstruct the future deployment of Musk’s company. The document explicitly describes this step as a coordinated military countermeasure. Alongside it, the researchers propose a joint electromagnetic-jamming architecture (“power suppression and adaptive interference”) to selectively block Starlink in chosen geographic areas, merging the two countries’ separate anti-satellite programs into a single system with common technical standards and complementary coverage.
Level three entails the physical destruction of Musk’s satellite network. The document proposes starting with cyber war — “access spoofing, virus infection, and the exploitation of vulnerabilities” to push malware through end-user terminals and propagate it across the network, thereby “paralyzing” it. Next comes the elimination of the satellites themselves via “low-cost” one-to-many countermeasures capable of destroying Starlink satellites in orbit — if the constellation’s resilience comes from its numbers, the answer is a weapon cheap enough to knock out satellites faster than SpaceX can launch replacements. The slide doesn’t specify what type of weapon this might be, although it could theoretically consist of a single rocket munition that disburses clouds of high-density projectiles such as ball bearings, if not a single launch vehicle that releases hundreds of low-cost, shoebox-sized CubeSats, which could ram into Starlink satellites (*). The accompanying image on this action item simply shows a host of satellites shattered into hunks of floating space debris in low-Earth orbit. ... Five months before Guangzhou, a Chinese military delegation led by a colonel of the Central Military Commission spent nine days in Moscow holding secret talks with Russia’s leading air-defense manufacturer, Almaz-Antey. They left with an arms contract.
The resulting working protocol — obtained by The Insider and independently corroborated by the flight records of the participants it names — shows a partnership that has hardened into a structured, multi-track weapons program. Ten pages in Chinese and Russian, signed in Moscow on June 5, 2023, and titled simply “Working Protocol” (工作纪要), the document concerns the joint development of an integrated, low-altitude, terminal-phase air- and missile-defense system (末段低层防空/反导一体化武器系统) designed to intercept American hypersonic missiles.
The Chinese delegation was led by Colonel Tong Xiaofeng (童晓峰), deputy director of the technical-cooperation bureau within the Central Military Commission’s Equipment Development Department — a senior PLA procurement official with direct access to China’s highest military body. The Commission, chaired by Xi Jinping himself, is a black box even to China specialists; in recent months it has been convulsed by an unprecedented purge, with only two of the seven members named at the 2022 party congress still in place. Tong appears to have been spared. He arrived in Moscow on May 25 to prepare and flew out on June 3, two days before the signing.
On their fifth day in Russia, the delegation visited the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design (NIIP) in Zhukovsky, southeast of Moscow — the organization responsible for the “Belka” radar of the Su-57 fighter and for core components of Russia’s newest air-defense systems. The visit is logged in the protocol without further detail, though the guests recorded “their gratitude for the warm and open reception.”
The Russian delegation consisted of twelve officials from three organizations: Rosoboronexport, Almaz-Antey, and NPO Almaz. It was led by Andrei Kovalev, deputy director of Rosoboronexport’s research-and-technology department, accompanied by senior expert Alexander Kotelnikov. Also present was Almaz-Antey’s Pavel Sozinov, the most experienced weapons designer in Russia’s air-defense establishment, responsible for the entire S-300/S-400/S-500 line. On the Chinese side, the signature of Rong Xiaoyang — the Russia representative of the U.S.-sanctioned China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation, maker of the FD-2000 surface-to-air system — appears throughout. ... The documents do not reveal the project’s course after 2023, but its continuation is hard to doubt. According to databases analyzed by Der Spiegel, a Chinese chief engineer surnamed Zhao made at least eight further flights between Beijing and Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport between late 2023 and June 2025, while Kovalev flew more than ten times between Russia and China — to both Beijing and Hong Kong — through January 2025. ... The cooperation is a source of concern in European capitals. When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz traveled to Beijing in February 2026, he pressed Xi directly on Chinese support for Russia’s war. Xi initially deflected, and Merz returned to it. Merz has said publicly that exactly three people could end the war almost overnight: Putin, Trump, and Xi. “Every act of support for Russia’s violation of international law prolongs the war and creates only further immeasurable suffering,” Wadephul told Der Spiegel, adding that in talks with its EU partners, Berlin would raise the issue of Beijing’s assistance to Moscow.
In Washington, as the true shape of the Moscow-Beijing “no limits” partnership comes into view, the alarm is only beginning to register. “It’s a wake-up call this administration better figure out,” former CIA officer Ed Bogan told The Insider. “They have contorted themselves to look the other way on Russian perfidy, and administration missionaries like Musk have at best looked the other way on China, and at worst praised them. These people fundamentally misunderstand the world they live in, and the real extent of their power.”
Zitat Den Berichten zufolge wären die Kugeln so klein – mit einem Durchmesser von nur Millimetern – daß sie von Boden- und weltraumgestützten Radarsystemen, die Weltraumtrümmer verfolgen, nicht aufgespürt werden könnten. In einem solchen Fall wäre es schwierig, Moskau für einen solchen Angriff verantwortlich zu machen.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat Militärkooperation China-Russland Die neue Achse des Bösen
Recherchen des SPIEGEL und seiner Partner belegen erstmals detailliert, wie weit die militärische Kooperation zwischen Russland und China reicht. Geheime Dokumente zeigen, welche Pläne beide Staaten gegen den Westen schmieden. Die Titelstory. Von Alexander Chernyshev, Christoph Giesen, Christo Grozev, Roman Kierst, Paul-Anton Krüger, Friederike Röhreke, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid, Michael Weiss und Anika Zeller 09.07.2026, 11.00 Uhr • aus DER SPIEGEL 29/2026
Zitat Garry Kasparov@Kasparov63 Long obvious, but confirmation always welcome. Especially to expose Western politicians who still share fantasies about ignoring Russian aggression to "focus on China".
Zitat Christo Grozev@christogrozev·9h BREAKING: Shooting for the Stars: secret military documents we obtained show China fully involved with supporting Russian war in Ukraine and plans against the West, even offered a contingency plan to shoot down @elonmusk's Starlink. https:/theins.press/en/inv/294635
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #15 Der Spiegel, Nr. 29/2026 vom 10. Juli 2026: "Der Geheimpakt".
Zitat NEXTA@nexta_tv Chinese developers claim to have created microwave weapons capable of shooting down Starlink satellites.
The system, consisting of several pulsed microwave emitters, is capable of generating directed pulses with a power of up to 100 gigawatts to damage objects in low Earth orbit, according to the South China Morning Post. 2:37 PM · Jul 11, 2026
In der SPIEGEL-Titelstory wird das gleich nach der Schrapnell-Kaskade als eine mögliche Angriffsmethode erwähnt.
Zitat Man könne Starlink stören, verlangsamen - oder die "gegnerischen Satelliten im Orbit zerstören" (Nr. 29/S.13)Das könne den Folien zufolge durch Cyberangriffe aus Musks Satelliten-Infrastruktur geschehen: etwa mit einer Methode, die in Fachkreisen "Spoofing" gegannt wird, um Zugang zu erhalten. Das Ziel, das Netzwerk zu 'lähmen", lasse sich erreichen, wenn es gelänge, Viren einzuschleusen, heißt es in der Präsentation.
Einiges spricht dafür, dass an den Anti-Starlink-Plänen intensiv weitergearbeitet wurde. In China erschienen diverse Publikationen, teils aus dem Umfeld der Volksbefreiungsarmee, die konkrete Bekämpfungsszenarien erörterten - von Laser- bis zu Mikrowellenwaffen. ... Zielgenauer wirkt ein neues Gerät zur elektronischen Kriegsführung, das Starlink-Terminals am Boden offenbar in einem Gebiet von bis zu 20 Quadratkilometern stören kann.
Zitat von South China Morning Post, 9 Jul 2026China unveils high-power microwave weapon arsenal with up to 100 gigawatts of power
Defence scientists say the technology could threaten low Earth orbit satellite networks such as Starlink at an extremely low cost
China’s high-power microwave (HPM) weapons can deliver an output of up to 100 gigawatts (GW), according to defence scientists – a milestone that could transform the future of warfare and stimulate advancements in civilian research and industry. In a paper published this month in the journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams, researchers from the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) detailed a series of advanced pulsed-power devices built by China’s military in recent years.
This is a rare public disclosure by the Chinese military of its high-power microwave arsenal.
“In recent years, driven by sustained and significant national strategic demands, China’s pulsed-power technology has advanced rapidly. The breadth and depth of research in this field now rank among the world’s foremost,” wrote the researchers, led by Zhang Jun of NUDT’s College of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies.
“Pulsed-power drivers for HPM generation have transitioned from laboratory prototypes to practical applications, evolving progressively from ‘functional’ to ‘high-performance’ and ‘durable’ systems,” they wrote.
The paper could serve as a reference for other nations assessing the vulnerabilities of massive satellite constellations. If deployed for anti-satellite purposes, these ultra-high-power microwave weapons could threaten expensive low Earth orbit satellite networks such as Starlink at an extremely low cost, particularly when such satellites take part in military activities.
It is generally acknowledged that high-power microwave pulses reaching 1 gigawatt (GW) can cause severe interference or even hardware damage to low Earth orbit satellites.
According to the paper, Chinese research institutions have developed a wide range of gigawatt-class weapons, some of which have already been delivered to users.
The most notable is a 100GW-class device made up of a number of high-power pulse generators. This system combines multiple pulses to generate an unprecedented high-power output, with potential for further scaling.
“Achieving tens of gigawatts of HPM output within strict space and weight constraints represents a critical future direction for HPM technology,” Zhang’s team wrote.
But because of limits such as insulation issues, single pulsed-power drivers cannot produce enough energy to meet growing demand.
“Synchronising multiple compact pulsed-power modules enables each unit to operate at peak efficiency while maximising its power-to-weight ratio,” they wrote.
“NUDT has developed a 100GW-class ultra-high-power pulsed power system based on this methodology.”
The other devices described in the paper, such as all-solid-state pulsed systems, use different approaches to adapt to diverse operational environments and requirements.
The paper also highlights the systemic innovations behind these breakthroughs, such as a new lithium-ion capacitor hybrid system capable of instant activation at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) while continuously supplying robust power.
This can dramatically improve the operational responsiveness of China’s electronic warfare troops during winter and polar conditions.
The paper signals China’s growing confidence as a leader in this field.
Other nations seeking to match China’s progress face steep hurdles, including industrial decline, reduced research and development investment, and restricted access to critical materials such as rare earths.
According to the paper, future research priorities include improving energy beam control precision and reducing system size and cost.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #17 Der Spiegel, Nr. 29/2026 vom 10. Juli 2026: "Der Geheimpakt".
Zitat Das Ziel, das Netzwerk zu 'lähmen", lasse sich erreichen, wenn es gelänge, Viren einzuschleusen, heißt es in der Präsentation.
Die sog. "Wirklichkeit", 13.7.2026:
Zitat Roman Sheremeta 🇺🇸🇺🇦@rshereme·7h Ukraine is writing the manual every military on earth will read for the next twenty years.
Ukraine has done something no army has done before. A naval drone carried a combat robot to an occupied shoreline on the Kinburn Spit and put it on the beach. The machine – armed with a machine gun – went to work against russian positions, run remotely by operators of the 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade. No one had to swim to that beach. No one had to die on it.
Ground robots are not new. Naval drones are not new. What is new is the chain: an unmanned boat delivering an armed unmanned vehicle onto a defended shore and conducting an assault, with human beings nowhere near the fire.
The Kinburn Spit is a sandbar. No cover, no easy resupply. The kind of place where a landing means paying in blood before you have accomplished anything at all. And Ukraine’s scarcest resource has never been courage or ammunition. It has been people.
That is the point. Russia’s whole theory of victory rests on one arithmetic – that it can spend lives faster than Ukraine can. Every technology that substitutes machines for men attacks that assumption directly. The drone did it in the air. The naval drone did it at sea. Now it has come ashore.
Innovation under pressure is not a luxury. It is the only thing a smaller nation has. Ukraine built this because it had neither resources nor time – and necessity is the most honest engineer there is. Everyone will copy it. Ukraine is not only fighting a war. It is writing the manual every military on earth will read for the next twenty years. 3:13 PM · Jul 13, 2026
Zitat Clarkesworld #237, June 2026 | Sunday, 12 July 2026 6:03 pm | Posted by Seraph
"Up the Line to Death” by Carrie Vaughn
I don’t think that there is any plot more classic to science fiction that autonomous entities gaining awareness and sentience. That does mean the bar is pretty high anytime an author wants to brave that well-worn path, but this is an easy recommend. Lucas is a civilian contractor with a military division that runs unmanned combat drones, when every UCAV across the world simultaneously land and go into standby mode. When the investigation turns up multiple lines of anomalous code, it turns out to be quite the opposite: poetry. The story deals with very prescient concepts about the ethics of warfare in an era that is changing more rapidly than almost any other, and the reality of what happens when you want a program to be just smart enough to follow orders but not enough to question them. The story maintains a truly human element to a situation that questions what humanity truly means, and the addition of poetry to the progress towards the Singularity is a really interesting touch. What better way to express emerging sentience and consciousness of thought than poetry?
Zitat The office of the troubleshooting team wasn’t much, a plain conference room stuffed with computers, monitors, routers, network cables, and old paper coffee cups lined up on the edge of one desk, waiting for someone to remember to throw them away. In the middle of the room sat a conference table. Their chairs could swivel back and forth between their workstations and the table, and though Lucas and the rest of them were grown-ass adults, it was sometimes hard not to just roll around and spin for the heck of it.
“All autonomous drones went offline an hour ago.”
“A cyberattack?” Captain Ed Rocha asked. He was young or at least seemed young. Clean-cut, intense, filling out his blue air force uniform. Mildly attractive in a grinning Cary Grant kind of way, Lucas supposed.
“You didn’t hear me. All drones went offline. Ours, theirs, all of them, everywhere. As of now, no autonomous UCAVs anywhere in the world are flying.”
That didn’t make any sense. It sounded like a cyberattack, but their team handled programming and systems analysis, not cybersecurity. Why was this their problem?
Intrigued, Lucas asked, “What do you mean, everywhere?”
“Every active combat drone disengaged, returned to its home platform, and put itself into rest mode. Reboots aren’t working.”
Bei den Ausflügen ins Gebiet der "literarischen Zukunftsspekulation" von Seiten von Autoren, die sonst eher auf mimetische, vulgo realistisch-psychologische Hauptstrom-Geschichten erpicht sind, war es vor 30 Jahren bei der Befassung mit dem Thema KI der Prüfstein solcher Systeme, daß sie am Ende des Buches in der Lage waren, Shakespeare-Sonette auseinanderzudröseln und "zu verstehen." So geschehen in: # Richard Powers, Galatea 2.0 (1995), und, auf der anderen Seite des Atlantiks, in: # David Lodge, Thinks... (2001)
Es galt einmal auf diesem Gebiet als Faustregel, daß "Wald-und-Wiesen-Erzähler," die sich auf dieses Gebiet verirrten, aus mangelnder Vertrautheit mit den Themen, Tropen und der Bewertung der unterschiedlichen Ansätze dazu verurteilt waren, hier "das Rad neu" und vor allem: schlechter zu erfinden als ihre Genre-Vorläufer. Beispiele dafür wären: Cormac McCarthy, Paul Theroux, Margaret Atwood, Günter Grass, Georg Klein. Offensichtlich läßt sich das Verhältnis auch umkehren.
Zitat Space FrontPage Following its successful launch aboard Pegasus, Katalyst's LINK spacecraft is operating nominally. The spacecraft is currently midway through its commissioning phase. Upon completion of commissioning activities, the spacecraft will commence its rendezvous with NASA's Swift Observatory. 📷Katalyst
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #1Katz' und Maus im Weltraum.
Zitat SpaceX Falcon 9 to Launch DARPA's Satellite Repair Mission July 21 | Updated July 14, 2026
SpaceX is set to launch one of the more technically ambitious missions of 2026 next week. On July 21 at 2:15 PM UTC, a Falcon 9 Block 5 will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 carrying DARPA's Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) payload — a spacecraft designed to inspect, repair, and extend the life of satellites already in orbit, tens of thousands of kilometers above Earth.
The primary payload is Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV), a 3,000-kilogram spacecraft that functions as both a commercial satellite bus and a mobile repair platform. Mounted on the MRV are two highly dexterous robotic arms engineered by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory — the hardware that makes the whole concept work. These arms are designed to perform complex mechanical tasks in the vacuum of space, from inspection to physical attachment of hardware onto client satellites.
Also aboard the Falcon 9 are three Mission Extension Pods (MEPs). Once the MRV reaches its operational orbit, it will use those robotic arms to mechanically bolt the MEPs directly onto client satellites, providing propulsion and extending their operational lifespans by up to six years per pod. It's essentially a pit-stop service for satellites that would otherwise be decommissioned or left to drift.
According to DARPA, this launch represents the United States' first multi-mission robotic servicing capability in high Earth orbit. It's also described as the first long-life U.S. spacecraft purpose-built for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) — a category that the defense and commercial space communities have been working toward for over a decade.
Primary Payload - Northrop Grumman MRV (~3,000 kg) Secondary Payloads - 3× Mission Extension Pods (MEPs) Robotic Arms - 2× NRL-built dexterous arms Target Orbit - Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) Orbit Raise Time - ~10 months (electric propulsion) MEP Lifespan Extension - Up to 6 years per client satellite
The broader context here is a growing recognition — across both government and commercial sectors — that the GEO belt is too valuable to treat as a write-off zone. Satellites that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and launch shouldn't have to be abandoned simply because they've run low on propellant or suffered a repairable fault.
"After completing testing, the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) payload resides in the cryogenic thermal vacuum chamber at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Naval Center for Space Technology in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2024. Once on-orbit, the RSGS payload will inspect and service satellites in geosynchronous orbit."
Satelliten im geostationären Orbit verfügen normalerweise über ein Restvorrat an Treibstoff, der die Umlaufbahn nach Ende ihrer Dienstzeit um einige Tausend km anhebt (damit läuft der Sputnik dann prograd) und damit den Slot auf der entsprechenden geographischen Länge wieder freimachen. Bei Kommunikationssatelliten, die denselben Frequenzbereich nutzen, muß ein Abstand von 5 Winkelgrad liegen, weil die Position durch die Einflüsse von Mond + Sonne gestört wird. Das paßt natürlich zu Berrymans Erzählung. Während sich bei beiden Telstars in einem MEO (Middle Earth Orbit, ab 2000 km Höhe) bewegen (und immer noch bewegen), geht es hier um bis bislang für Servicemissionen nicht zugängliche Parkbahn im 35.786 km Höhe. Je nachdem, wer zählt, beläuft sich die Anzahl der aktiven Satelliten dort auf 560 bis 590.
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #20Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV)
Countdown, Livestream. T -42 Min. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h4gxuQ9lPA 23:15 MESZ. Liftoff. (Nach den zwei vorigen Aussetzern darf das ausnahmsweise mal betont werden.)
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Commissioning Update for Spacecraft to Boost NASA’s Swift
Over the weekend, Katalyst’s LINK servicing spacecraft experienced issues with attitude control, causing the spacecraft to spin and resulting in sporadic communications. Preliminary investigation shows that two of LINK’s three reaction wheels currently are not operable, and there is some loss of functionality in its cold gas thruster system. LINK is designed to approach, capture, and boost NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher orbital altitude.
LINK’s other major subsystems are functioning as expected. The spacecraft remains power positive and in communication with the Katalyst team.
The team is working to stop LINK’s spin over the next few days, using the spacecraft’s electric propulsion thrusters. After reestablishing stable attitude and further investigating spacecraft status, Katalyst plans to update LINK’s guidance, navigation, and control to accommodate the spacecraft’s new configuration. Working closely with NASA teams, they will then evaluate revised plans to approach and capture Swift, depending on safety of the approach and LINK’s health.
Zitat Swift reboost mission encounters attitude control problems | by Jeff Foust July 28, 2026
WASHINGTON — A spacecraft launched nearly a month ago in a high-risk bid to boost the orbit of a NASA astrophysics satellite is suffering from attitude control problems that could jeopardize its mission.
In a July 28 update posted on social media, Katalyst Space Technologies said its Link spacecraft, launched July 3, was in a “multi-axis spin” caused by attitude control issues that also affected spacecraft communications.
“During commissioning, the Katalyst team encountered a series of technical issues related to attitude control of the spacecraft,” the company stated. “Over the last 72 hours, the LINK spacecraft has been in a multi-axis spin, causing a temporary loss of communications and subsequent bus reset.”
The company said that two of the three reaction wheels on Link, used for attitude control, were not functioning and that the spacecraft’s reaction control system thrusters were only partially working.
Link launched into low Earth orbit on a Pegasus XL on a mission to rendezvous and dock with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, or Swift, spacecraft. That gamma-ray observatory is in a decaying orbit and will reenter late this year or early next year without intervention. NASA awarded Katalyst Space a $30 million contract last September to attempt a reboost mission.
Katalyst has provided few updates on the status of Link since its launch. In a July 15 statement, the company said it completed initial post-launch checkouts, including getting the spacecraft into a stable attitude.
The company said then there had been some problems during the commissioning process. “Early in commissioning, mission operations identified attitude control and communications anomalies during flight operations,” it stated. “The team implemented flight software patches and operational updates that restored reliable communications and enabled three-axis stabilized attitude control, allowing LINK to accurately point and orient itself in space.”
In a July 24 update, the company said it had started testing the spacecraft’s electric thrusters, performing two burns to raise the spacecraft’s altitude by about 2 kilometers. Those tests, it said, were designed “to prepare for the longer, multi-hour burns it will execute in the rendezvous phase.”
Katalyst Space said that other key subsystems on Link, including communications, propulsion and robotics systems needed to grapple Swift, were working properly.
“Over the coming days, Katalyst will work to reduce the body rates using the gimbaled electric propulsion thrusters and stabilize the spacecraft. We have already begun this series of burns and are seeing the intended effect,” the company stated.
It then plans over the next few weeks to update the spacecraft guidance, navigation and control systems “to reflect the current spacecraft configuration” and, after testing, begin its approach to Swift. “The mission remains active and we continue to believe that with these changes, LINK has a viable path to rendezvous with Swift,” the company stated.
Before the launch of Link, NASA said that efforts to raise Swift’s orbit needed to begin before the spacecraft’s altitude fell below 300 kilometers. Swift is currently at an altitude of about 350 kilometers, and at a prelaunch briefing NASA said the agency expected Swift to reach the 300-kilometer altitude threshold in October.
During commissioning, the Katalyst team encountered a series of technical issues related to attitude control of the spacecraft. Over the last 72 hours, the LINK spacecraft has been in a multi-axis spin, causing a temporary loss of communications and subsequent bus reset.
Currently, the LINK spacecraft has two of three reaction wheels non-functional and partial RCS functionality.
LINK’s other major subsystems, electric propulsion, robotics, RPO sensing, and power are functioning properly, as well as S-band and L-band communications.
Over the coming days, Katalyst will work to reduce the body rates using the gimbaled electric propulsion thrusters and stabilize the spacecraft. We have already begun this series of burns and are seeing the intended effect.
We anticipate the following steps over the next few weeks:
• Update the guidance, navigation, and control schemes to reflect the current spacecraft configuration
• Verify and validate the updated control schemes and FSW with end-to-end simulation and ground testing to thoroughly understand the interactions between subsystems with the updated configuration
• Maneuver to co-elliptical with Swift using the updated control schemes
• Perform inspection of Swift and other RPO activities
• Attempt a capture of Swift, pending spacecraft state of health and safety
While these technical issues require a revised approach, our team is working around the clock alongside our NASA partners. The mission remains active and we continue to believe that with these changes, LINK has a viable path to rendezvous with Swift.
We will provide additional updates on the situation as more information becomes available.
Zitat NASA launched this spacecraft to save a satellite. Now, it needs saving too | By Brett Tingley | Published 21 hours ago
The failure with the LINK spacecraft's reaction wheel is slightly ironic.
According to preliminary analysis of the issue, two of the LINK spacecraft's three reaction wheels are not operating. In addition, there is "some loss of functionality" in LINK's cold gas thruster system.
The failure with the LINK spacecraft's reaction wheel is slightly ironic, given that the Swift observatory itself once had issues with its own reaction wheels. In 2022, NASA placed the observatory in safe mode when one of its reaction wheels caused minor issues with the spacecraft's movements.
Mission teams will now try to use the spacecraft's electric propulsion system to stop the spinning and regain control. If that can be done, NASA and Katalyst will then have to evaluate if the mission can proceed as planned.
Früher hießen diese Dinger mal ganz offiziell "Gyroskope." Als Regel werden für größere Raumfahrzeuge 6 davon eingebaut, um gegen Ausfall gesichert zu sein. Beim Ausfall eines Gyroskops läuft die Ausrichtung über die beiden verbliebenen Bewegungsrichtungen: Gieren | Neigen | Rollen - was die Lageorienterung erheblich verlangsamt.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat Here’s how engineers plan to save the satellite sent to save NASA’s Swift mission | “We believe that a capture of Swift, an attempted capture of Swift, is very much in the cards.” - Stephen Clark – 1. Aug. 2026 20:20
One week ago, more than 200 miles above the Earth, a refrigerator-size satellite making its way toward an attempted rescue of NASA’s $500 million Swift gamma-ray observatory suddenly spun out of control.
It didn’t look good. The spacecraft, named Link, was rotating on multiple axes, rendering it unable to maintain a reliable communications link with the ground and complicating efforts to arrest the spin. Two of the satellite’s three reaction wheels, used for pointing, also stopped working. Through sporadic radio contact, engineers discovered a problem with some of the spacecraft’s cold gas thrusters used for finer attitude control. ... Katalyst’s ground team, working from a control center near Denver, hurried to find a fix and recover the Link satellite. The good news was the spacecraft’s other systems remained healthy, including its power supply, three xenon-fueled electric thrusters, and the rendezvous and robotics hardware the Link satellite needs to capture Swift.
Ars spoke with Lee, Katalyst’s chief executive, on Friday afternoon as the company’s ground team worked to stabilize the spacecraft. The first step involves using the satellite’s plasma engines to gradually slow the spin. The engines are primarily designed for orbit-raising, but they’re also suitable for attitude control because they can vector their thrust with a two-axis gimbal.
Link’s electric propulsion system is efficient but low in thrust, meaning it takes time to generate enough of an impulse to regain full control of the satellite’s pointing.
“We’ve been able to use the thrusters to point in the opposite direction of the rotation rate and affect the attitude control that way, which has been highly effective,” Lee said.
This has worked well so far. As of Friday, the spacecraft had cut its spin rate in half, from about 9 degrees per second to approximately 4 degrees per second. Officials hope to further reduce the spin rate, allowing Katalyst to improve communications with the spacecraft.
“Once we are in a more stable configuration, with much more high-bandwidth comms, we’ll be able to use that to downlink all the rich data (about the condition of the spacecraft),” Lee said. “We do know the states of the reaction wheels and the thrusters and things like that. So our GNC team—guidance, navigation, and control team—has been very hard at work with NASA, essentially remapping all of the control algorithms to be able to have an updated controller ready to go for when we are able to stabilize the spacecraft.”
Katalyst may eventually be able to recover the satellite’s two inoperable reaction wheels, but the team’s priority is restoring control by uplinking a new algorithm to manage its orientation through a combination of its one remaining reaction wheel and thrusters.
Engineers aren’t sure yet what caused the emergency with the Link spacecraft last weekend. It could have been an internal problem with the satellite or a collision with space junk. Lee said two cameras on the satellite will look for signs of damage after ground teams stabilize it.
Whatever the cause, Katalyst’s mission control team lost contact with Link for more than 24 hours after it spun out of control. The satellite then automatically reset itself, just as it was supposed to do.
“This was built-in fault protection logic saying, “Hey, if I haven’t heard from anybody in 24 hours, there must be something wrong. I’m going to toggle the power, turn it on and off again,'” Lee said. “It’s just built in. However, that shutdown mode is ungraceful. It basically pulls the plug on everything, and that creates some downstream effects for sensitive systems such as the reaction wheels.
“Basically, there was a big thermal spike that came about as a result of this that over-temperatured the upstream electronic circuits that control the reaction wheels, which ultimately led them to being inoperable,” Lee said.
The problem with the spacecraft’s cold gas thrusters seems to be a “separate issue,” Lee said. But engineers don’t have all the data in hand to make a final determination.
“These things all happened at once, so it’s hard to delineate between what contributed to creating the situation and what was the consequence of the situation, and that’s something we’ll have to investigate with all the data,” Lee said.
Nevertheless, Lee said Katalyst still aims to move Link toward NASA’s Swift observatory, perhaps around the end of August. ... “It’s not the original mode that we expected to control the spacecraft with, but it seems like we will have sufficient stability and controllability of the spacecraft,” Lee said. “With this, we believe we’ll be able to do the rendezvous with Swift. We believe that we’ll be able to go and do things like the inspection of Swift within a close approach of a few dozen meters. And as it stands right now, we have not made a formal assessment, but we believe that a capture of Swift, an attempted capture of Swift, is very much in the cards.”
LINK Spacecraft Recovery Progressing for NASA’s Swift Boost
Teams are preparing to take the next major recovery steps for Katalyst Space’s robotic spacecraft LINK in orbit. During the last week, they’ve successfully reduced the spin of LINK, which is designed to boost NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher orbital altitude.
LINK originally was in a multi-axis spin rotating at about 9 degrees per second, which resulted in sporadic communications and impeded LINK’s progress toward Swift. Using a series of burns from one of LINK’s electric propulsion thrusters, the Katalyst team now has slowed that spin to about 1.47 degrees per second. Katalyst plans to keep LINK at that spin rate as it proceeds with next steps for the mission. This includes uploading a flight software update in the coming days with new attitude controllers designed to maintain LINK’s stability in its current configuration. These updates would allow LINK to begin maneuvering to align with Swift’s orbit.
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