SPACE reports, “NASA’s Parker Solar Probe sent home its first detailed telemetry data soon after its record-breaking closest-ever approach to the sun. On Wednesday (Jan. 1), mission control at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland began receiving the Parker Solar Probe’s first telemetry — or housekeeping data — that confirms Parker’s systems and science instruments are ‘healthy and operating normally’ after its historic rendezvous with the sun, NASA shared in an update on Thursday (Jan. 2).”
Full Story (SPACE)
Tag: January 2
SpaceX Launches First Satellites Designed to Connect Directly to Smartphones
Space News reports that SpaceX “launched its first batch of Starlink satellites designed to connect directly to unmodified smartphones Jan. 2 after getting a temporary experimental license to start testing the capability in the United States.” Six of the 21 Starlink satellites “that launched on a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:44 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carry a payload that the company said could provide connectivity for most 4G LTE devices when in range.” SpaceX plans to “start enabling texting from space this year in partnership with cellular operators, with voice and data connectivity coming in 2025, although the company still needs regulatory permission to provide the services commercially.” Initial direct-to-smartphone tests “would use cellular spectrum from SpaceX’s US mobile partner T-Mobile.” SpaceX has also “partnered with mobile operators in Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland.”
Full Story (Space News)
Video
SpaceX 1st Starlink to Cell Sat Launch, 10:44 p.m. ET, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
(The Launch Pad; YouTube)
Two Helicopters Collide Over Australia
The AP reports that two helicopters “collided in an Australian tourist hotspot Monday afternoon, killing four people and critically injuring three others in a crash that drew emergency aid from beachgoers enjoying the water during the southern summer.” One helicopter “was taking off and the other landing when they collided near the Sea World theme park in Main Beach, a northern beach on the Gold Coast, Gary Worrell, Queensland state police acting inspector, said at a news conference.” One helicopter “landed safely on a sandbank, but debris from the other was spread across an area police described as difficult to access.” The dead and “three most seriously injured people were all in the crashed helicopter.” The pilot “was killed and three of its six passengers.”
Full Story (Associated Press)