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NASA APOD:
Solstice on a Spinning Earth
Can you tell that today is a solstice by the tilt of the Earth? Yes. At a solstice, the Earth's terminator -- the dividing line between night and day -- is tilted the most. The featured time-lapse video demonstrates this by displaying an entire year on planet Earth in twelve seconds. From geosynchronous orbit, the Meteosat 9 satellite recorded infrared images of the Earth every day at the same local time. The video started at the September 2010 equinox with the terminator line being vertical: an equinox. As the Earth revolved around the Sun, the terminator was seen to tilt in a way that provides less daily sunlight to the northern hemisphere, causing winter in the north. At the most tilt, winter solstice occurred in the north, and summer solstice in the south. As the year progressed, the March 2011 equinox arrived halfway through the video, followed by the terminator tilting the other way, causing winter in the southern hemisphere -- and summer in the north. The captured year ends again with the September equinox, concluding another of the billions of trips the Earth has taken -- and will take -- around the Sun. APOD Review: RJN's Night Sky Network Lecture
The Launch Library:
Upcoming Launches You Don't Want to Miss
The Wisdom God Guides (iQPS Launch 6)
Launch Date:
12/21/2025, 6:36:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Electron,
Rocket Lab
Location:
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B,
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Overview:
Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.
Michibiki 5 (QZS-5)
Launch Date:
12/22/2025, 1:51:30 AM
Launch Vehicle:
H3-22,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Location:
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2,
Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
Overview:
QZSS (Quasi Zenith Satellite System) is a Japanese satellite navigation system operating from inclined, elliptical geosynchronous orbits to achieve optimal high-elevation visibility in urban canyons and mountainous areas. The navigation system objective is to broadcast GPS-interoperable and augmentation signals as well as original Japanese (QZSS) s...
Spaceward
Launch Date:
12/22/2025, 6:45:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
HANBIT-Nano,
Innospace
Location:
HANBIT Pad,
Alcântara Space Center, Federative Republic of Brazil
Overview:
Maiden orbital launch attempt for the South Korean stratup Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle. Onboard this flight are five small satellites from the Brazilian space agency AEB, Brazilian university Universidade Federal do Maranhão and Indian startup Grahaa Space, as well as three payloads from AEB and Brazilian company Castro Leite...
BlueBird Block 2 #1
Launch Date:
12/24/2025, 3:24:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III),
Indian Space Research Organization
Location:
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad,
Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India
Overview:
AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, required to achieve 24/7 continuous cellular broadband service coverage in the United States, with beams designed to support a capacity of up to 40 MHz, enabling peak data transmission speeds up to 120 Mbps...
Obzor-R No.1
Launch Date:
12/24/2025, 2:00:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
Soyuz 2.1a,
Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)
Location:
Unknown Pad,
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation
Overview:
The Russian Obzor-R satellite is a planned X-band radar earth observation satellite designed by TsSKB-Progress.
In 2012, the development of the Arkon-2M radar satellite was stopped and instead the development of the Obzor-R was initiated.
The satellite features the BRLK X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar as the imaging instrument with a ground r...
The Wisdom God Guides (iQPS Launch 6)
Launch Date:
12/21/2025, 6:36:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Electron,
Rocket Lab
Location:
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B,
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Overview:
Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.
Michibiki 5 (QZS-5)
Launch Date:
12/22/2025, 1:51:30 AM
Launch Vehicle:
H3-22,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Location:
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2,
Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
Overview:
QZSS (Quasi Zenith Satellite System) is a Japanese satellite navigation system operating from inclined, elliptical geosynchronous orbits to achieve optimal high-elevation visibility in urban canyons and mountainous areas. The navigation system objective is to broadcast GPS-interoperable and augmentation signals as well as original Japanese (QZSS) s...
Spaceward
Launch Date:
12/22/2025, 6:45:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
HANBIT-Nano,
Innospace
Location:
HANBIT Pad,
Alcântara Space Center, Federative Republic of Brazil
Overview:
Maiden orbital launch attempt for the South Korean stratup Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle. Onboard this flight are five small satellites from the Brazilian space agency AEB, Brazilian university Universidade Federal do Maranhão and Indian startup Grahaa Space, as well as three payloads from AEB and Brazilian company Castro Leite...
BlueBird Block 2 #1
Launch Date:
12/24/2025, 3:24:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III),
Indian Space Research Organization
Location:
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad,
Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India
Overview:
AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, required to achieve 24/7 continuous cellular broadband service coverage in the United States, with beams designed to support a capacity of up to 40 MHz, enabling peak data transmission speeds up to 120 Mbps...
Obzor-R No.1
Launch Date:
12/24/2025, 2:00:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
Soyuz 2.1a,
Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)
Location:
Unknown Pad,
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation
Overview:
The Russian Obzor-R satellite is a planned X-band radar earth observation satellite designed by TsSKB-Progress.
In 2012, the development of the Arkon-2M radar satellite was stopped and instead the development of the Obzor-R was initiated.
The satellite features the BRLK X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar as the imaging instrument with a ground r...
API Data brought to you by The Space Devs
Space Industry & Godot (2022):
Help wanted: LunCo Space
Recently, I was invited to join the team at LunCo where we plan to create a space simulation game that features industry real world applications. While similar to games like Kerbal Space and No Man's Sky, LunCo will be feature two game styles - digital twin mode for engineers, and story mode for casual enthusiasts. We also plan to allow user generated content (space crafts, trajectories, factories, etc.) and integration with professional tools like CAD, FEA, MBSE, and more.
For story mode, you are playing as a CEO & Founder of a Lunar exploration company in the near future. You will collect resources, build factories, and manufacture robots to create a sustainable lunar base. From there, it's up to you to turn the Moon into a stepping stone and launch past the stars!
Rocket Lab Special Event (2021):
Rocket Lab ($RKLB) goes public
On Wednesday, August 25th of 2021, Rocket Lab began trading on the Nasdaq, becoming the latest space company to close a merger with a special purpose acquisition company and go public. They closed the first day down slightly at $10.45 per share, under the ticker $RKLB.
“We are super excited to bring a high-quality space asset to the market” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told CNBC. “I don’t think it will take long for investors to differentiate between the company that’s consistently delivering and the ones that have aspirations to deliver sometime in the future” he later added.
Astra Special Event (2021):
Astra ($ASTR) goes public
On Wednesday, June 30th of 2021, Astra became the first launch company to be traded publicly on NASDAQ. Trading under the ticker $ASTR, with shares previously listed under the special purpose acquisition company Holicity, the announcement expects to bring in around $500 million in proceeds. Astra's idea is to use the funding to continue to develop their rockets - with a goal of launching as many of it's 40ft tall rockets as it can, aiming to launch one per day by 2025.
“Now we have a space company that everyone can invest in on the public markets,” Astra CEO Chris Kemp told CNBC. “The same kinds of things you do to make a rocket great are the same behaviors that you have to invest in to make a company great. You don’t want any inefficiencies.”
About Rocket Downrange
Breaking boundaries, setting standards and transforming humanity for the better. Space has always been the final frontier that keeps on giving. This site serves to be a side project that informs and inspires the next generation of explorers.
Rocket Downrange is an independent hobby project by a guy learning Vue. No endorsements or partnerships exist between Rocket Downrange and the included organizations.
Contact Rocket Downrange
If you love the site or think something needs changed - we want to know! Questions, comments, suggestions and more can be sent below. If you know of any free and interesting API's we should include in the site - include information about where to find necessary documentation and we'll get to it!
