Recent Current Affairs related to Space

SpaceX has launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA.

The mission deployed the CAS500-2 Earth observation satellite of the Republic of Korea and 45 secondary rideshare payloads into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). It is to be noted that the operation was conducted as a multi-customer rideshare mission to facilitate the orbital placement of various technological instruments.

Skyroot Aerospace has become the first space-technology unicorn of India after raising $60 million (₹570 crore) in a funding round, reaching a valuation of $1.1 billion. The company will use the capital to scale manufacturing operations and accelerate the development of the ‘Vikram’ series of rockets.

Bengaluru-based GalaxEye has launched “Mission Drishti”, the largest and heaviest privately developed Earth observation satellite (EOS) of India to date. The 190 kg satellite was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX from California, USA. It is the world’s first operational “OptoSAR” satellite, which combines Electro-Optical (EO) sensors and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on a single platform. This allows for 24/7 all-weather surveillance through clouds, rain, and darkness, providing high-resolution imagery at 1.5-meter.

It is to be noted that the EOS uses the NVIDIA Jetson Orin platform for onboard AI to process data in orbit for faster results. This mission is the first step toward a planned constellation of 8 to 12 satellites by 2029 to 2030 for real-time global coverage.

Pixxel has partnered with Sarvam to develop and operate the first orbital data centre satellite of India named “Pathfinder”. The 200 kg-class spacecraft is projected to be deployed in orbit by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2026.

It is to be noted that Pixxel will handle the design, construction, and launch of the satellite, while Sarvam will integrate an AI framework to facilitate on-orbit training and inference through full-stack language models.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has launched the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite–Earth Observation-3 (PRSC-EO3) of Pakistan onboard the Long March-6 rocket.

The mission, conducted from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi, China, successfully placed the satellite into its designated orbit. It is to be noted that this marks the 640th mission of the Long March series of rockets.

Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, has launched the BlueBird 7 communications satellite of AST SpaceMobile onboard the New Glenn rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission failed to reach the intended orbit during its third flight. It is to be noted that the New Glenn rocket is recognized as the first commercial rocket to reach orbit on its maiden flight in January 2025.

The United States has launched a strategic plan to deploy nuclear reactors in space, including an in-space reactor in Earth orbit by 2028, a fission reactor on the lunar surface by 2030, and a military version by 2031.

It is to be noted that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is tasked to develop a mid-power 100 kilowatts (kWe) fission reactor to support lunar habitats, providing power equivalent to 80 homes on Earth.

ISRO has successfully conducted the second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The test validated the parachute based deceleration and recovery system designed for the safe return of astronauts during re-entry and abort scenarios.

A simulated Crew Module (CM) weighing 5.7 tonnes (equivalent to the Gaganyaan G1 mission) was carried by an Indian Air Force (IAF) Chinook helicopter to an altitude of 3 km. It is to be noted that after its release over a sea drop zone, a sequence of 10 parachutes of 4 different types was deployed to reduce the velocity for a safe touchdown.