Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite constellation, Saudi Arabia's first female astronaut, India's first orbital launch of 2023, and so much more
| 1. Amazon executives breathe a sigh of relief as the U.S. FCC green lights Amazon deploying and operating more than 3,000 low Earth orbit broadband satellites for its Project Kuiper constellation. Project Kuiper will provide connectivity services to unserved and underserved communities across the globe. |
| 2. Rayyanah Barnawi is poised to be Saudi Arabia’s first female astronaut later this year. According to the Saudi Space Commission, Barnawi will be joined by Saudi astronaut Ali Alquarni for the upcoming Ax-2 mission to the ISS led by U.S. commercial space company Axiom Space. |
| 3. Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos shared on Feb. 11 that its Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft is leaking, making it the second Russian spacecraft at the ISS to suffer a leak. This has caused Russia to postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, which was to replace the previously damaged Soyuz MS-22. The launch has been pushed back from Feb. 20 to an unspecified date in early March. |
| 4. SpaceX has checked off the final requirement needed to conduct the first orbital launch of its Starship launch vehicle. The aerospace titan successfully conducted a Starship static-fire test on Feb. 9 at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The FAA must issue a launch license for SpaceX to attempt an orbital launch. |
| 5. India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) was successfully launched on Feb. 9. The rocket put three satellites into 450 kilometers circular orbit, including Janus-1, the world's first cloud-built demo satellite. This marked India's first orbital launch of 2023. |
| 6. NATO recently announced the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) initiative to facilitate intelligence sharing by speeding up the transmission of data obtained from a range of space-based sensors operated by member states. This initiative will be formally established at the alliance’s annual defense ministerial at NATO headquarters on Feb. 14-15. |
| 7. Virgin Orbit has released new findings regarding its failed U.K. launch. A company press release reveals that a dislodged fuel filter in the rocket's second stage might have been the cause. The company intends to develop analyses and tests to mimic flight conditions to identify any additional cause(s) of the launch failure. |