NASA has postponed today's spacewalk at the ISS due to a "medical concern" with a crew member.
New orgs are reporting an email update that says - "Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission. These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely."
🙏
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/01/07/nasa-postpones-jan-8-spacewalk/
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Station Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Zena Cardman were scheduled to conduct their mission’s first spacewalk at 8 a.m. EST today. The duo’s primary task during the 6.5 hour spacewalk was to install a modification kit and routing cables for a future roll-out solar array. Secondary tasks included installing jumper cables, taking hardware photos, and collecting microorganism samples.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/01/07/expedition-74-ready-for-thursday-spacewalk-and-continuing-research/
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NASA has postponed today's spacewalk at the ISS due to a "medical concern" with a crew member.
New orgs are reporting an email update that says - "Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11’s mission. These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely."
🙏
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/01/07/nasa-postpones-jan-8-spacewalk/
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In March 2024, the FCC had rejected a similar application from SpaceX for a VLEO constellation below 360 km altitude. That filing was intended as a lower latency Starlink data service.
But it appears that in Nov 2024, the FCC granted permission for 7,500 satellites at 340-360 km altitude, for D2D service, subject to some conditions. Permission for an additional 22,488 satellites was deferred.
🤔
https://spectrum.ieee.org/starlink-vleo-below-iss
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-222A1.pdf
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-1193A1.pdf
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
"SpaceX's plan to launch an additional 15,000 satellites for its Starlink cellular system has sparked opposition and concern from rival companies and environmentalists."
Such as Viasat, Globalstar, DarkSky International, Blue Origin, Iridium, Ligado, and the Mobile Satellite Services Association.
"The big question is whether the pushback sways the FCC. The Commission's Republican chairman, Brendan Carr, is a supporter of SpaceX ..."
https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-faces-more-pushback-over-plans-to-launch-15k-cellular-starlink-satellites
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SpainSat NG II satellite, owned by Hisdesat and launched on 23 October, 2025, was hit by a "space particle" during orbit raising.
The extent of the damage is unknown but the Jan 2 press release says that "If necessary, SpainSat NG II will be replaced as soon as possible."
The impact occurred at 50,000 km, not LEO. 50,000 km is odd since geostationary orbit altitude = 35,786 km (42,164 km from center of earth).
Space debris or space rock?
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
https://www.indragroup.com/en/news/the-spainsat-ng-ii-satellite-suffers-an-external-impact-during-transfer-to-its-orbital-position
The first full moon of 2026 (aka the Wolf Moon), tonight and tomorrow night, promises to be a super-bright supermoon 🌕
The moon will be near perigee in its orbit around Earth, making it ~30% brighter and ~14% larger than at its farthest point (apogee).
Earth's perihelion will make the moon shine brighter by another ~6.5% compared to July.
Moon perigee: 1 Jan, 21:43 UTC
Full moon: 3 Jan, 10:03 UTC
Earth perihelion: 3 Jan, 17:15 UTC
Happy viewing 🌝
https://earthsky.org/earth/rare-alignment-of-earth-moon-and-sun-january-1-2-3-2026/
2/n
In the northern hemisphere, around midnight, the Wolf Moon will be high in the sky, you know why.
🌝
The moon's perigee and the earth's perihelion on the Sun's side, will result in heightened King Tide.
3/n
Tomorrow, January 3, 2026, at 12:15 p.m. EST (1715 UTC), Earth will reach perihelion, its shortest distance from the Sun along its elliptical orbit.
Earth will be 5 million km closer to the Sun compared to that at aphelion in early July. It will also be traveling faster by 3,600 km/h compared to its speed at aphelion.
The effect on temperature on Earth is minor due to this effect compared that of Earth's axial tilt, but it will heighten tides.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_orbit
1/n
The first full moon of 2026 (aka the Wolf Moon), tonight and tomorrow night, promises to be a super-bright supermoon 🌕
The moon will be near perigee in its orbit around Earth, making it ~30% brighter and ~14% larger than at its farthest point (apogee).
Earth's perihelion will make the moon shine brighter by another ~6.5% compared to July.
Moon perigee: 1 Jan, 21:43 UTC
Full moon: 3 Jan, 10:03 UTC
Earth perihelion: 3 Jan, 17:15 UTC
Happy viewing 🌝
https://earthsky.org/earth/rare-alignment-of-earth-moon-and-sun-january-1-2-3-2026/
2/n
"China's BYD has overtaken Tesla as the world’s largest seller of EVs.
BYD announced Thursday that it had sold 2.26 million EVs, up nearly 28% from 2024. Meanwhile, Tesla reported Friday a 2nd straight year of declining sales: Deliveries fell 8.6% to only 1.6 million, recording the biggest annual drop in the company’s history.
BYD was able to overtake Tesla even though its EVs are not available for purchase in America, while China is Tesla’s 2nd-largest market."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-ev-king-not-tesla-142152960.html
1/n
Tomorrow, January 3, 2026, at 12:15 p.m. EST (1715 UTC), Earth will reach perihelion, its shortest distance from the Sun along its elliptical orbit.
Earth will be 5 million km closer to the Sun compared to that at aphelion in early July. It will also be traveling faster by 3,600 km/h compared to its speed at aphelion.
The effect on temperature on Earth is minor due to this effect compared that of Earth's axial tilt, but it will heighten tides.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_orbit
1/n
Starlink will lower the orbit of all (~4,400) satellites from 550 km to 480 km during 2026.
Reasons are described in the tweet below by VP of engg.
We presume they have FCC approval.
Qs:
1. Why now? Solar minimum is 5-6 years away.
2. Will they move back to using the 550 km orbit at the next solar maximum, 12 years from now?
3. Is Starlink responsible for some of that debris at 550 km?
4. Are there other reasons for this change in orbit?
Does this all make sense?
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
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7 years ago, on New Year's Day, Jan 1, 2019, the NASA New Horizons spacecraft flew by the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft, the contact binary trans-Neptunian object 2014 MU6, now named Arrokoth.
Arrokoth means "sky" in the Powhatan/Algonquin language.
New Horizons also saw evidence for methanol, water ice and organic molecules on the red surface of the 35 km Kuiper Belt object.
https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/486958_Arrokoth
Also see https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/111681146380738902
#NewHorizons
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AkaSci 🛰
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