Mario Billiani 🚀

Future astronaut, @Unistellar ambassador, exoplanet explorer, KBO co-discoverer, wannabe rocket scientist, occasional palaeontologist – boldly fighting entropy

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

Never miss a launch with #GoogleCalendar for worldwide space launches! Reminders & #webcast links included.
https://t.co/NRz51Z3hlN

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

@Ahamed240576 @PhazzeeYeehaw In total

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

@raz_liu Was this the last one to fly, or are some still in storage?

[HEO @heospace]

This satellite outlasted its design life by nearly 26 years.

Launched in March 1984 with a three-year design life, Landsat 5 went on to complete more than 150,000 orbits, transmit over 2.5 million images of Earth's surface, and hold a record as the longest-operating Earth-observing satellite in history.

When its successor failed to reach orbit in 1993, Landsat 5 was already a decade past retirement, but it kept collecting. It received its final command in 2013 and manoeuvred to a lower orbit and silenced its transmitter for good.

HEO characterised Landsat 5 through Non-Earth Imaging and the collection shows the solar panel is deployed, its high gain antenna extends from the central body, and the spacecraft is tumbling.

As the on-orbit servicing and debris removal economy develops, the ability to approach, interact with, or deorbit an object depends on knowing its current physical state, its attitude, its configuration, and how it is behaving in orbit. NEI will help you know before you go.

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

Launch of Long March #CZ8 rocket with batch of #Qianfan satellites imminent. Watch live!
https://t.co/UkaW2zNVoe

[Andrew Parsonson @AndrewParsonson]

The Exploration Company has revealed plans for Yrene, a reusable heavy-lift rocket powered by its new Storm engines.
https://t.co/iBER9oK1r6

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

@StephenClark1 They even planned to send Juno without a camera initially... I mean, come on!
https://t.co/wBbAsLasSE

[NASA Solar System @NASASolarSystem]

NASA’s Juno mission saw particles accelerated by Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field to near the speed of light.

The findings may unlock a 100-year-old mystery about even faster particles reaching Earth from distant supernovas. 🔎⚡

Published today: https://t.co/yMv3Yv2PgM

[Joseph Remis @jremis]

Obj. 68363 RASSVET-3 4 decay prediction: June 06, 2026 UTC 13:51 ± 9h

[SPACE.com @SPACEdotcom]

New research suggests the moons of Jupiter and Uranus may hint that our planetary neighborhood once had a third ice giant. https://t.co/o38ARnKPXs

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

@Sprintracer4 @SPACEdotcom Hawking radiation

[Lukas C. H. @GewoonLukas_]

Katalyst's LINK spacecraft has left their factory and is heading to Wallops where it'll be integrated onto Northrop's Pegasus rocket! Launch from the Marshall Islands is expected in the last week of June. Alongside, they shared these phenomenal images of the ion thrusters firing!

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

@SkyandTelescope It's dead, Jim

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

@Fanta_Box @SpaceX @Starlink For deployment the 2nd stage initiates a slow, end-over-end "somersault" spin. The tension rods are released and centrifugal force gently pushes the satellites outward. This spin scatters the sats in a "train", spreading them apart without complex mechanisms or risk of collision.

[Phazzee 🐼🚀 | 中国航天 🇨🇳 | 🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @PhazzeeYeehaw]

It's almost time for Tianwen-2 to begin its descent towards Kamoʻoalewa, to survey the asteroid's surface and eventually grab some samples

Details -> https://t.co/96xKtDyDnk

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

#Starlink Group 17-47 launch coverage on YouTube
https://t.co/Nq3iWC2jPA

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

Launch of @SpaceX #Falcon9 Block 5 rocket with 24 @Starlink satellites & 1st stage droneship landing imminent. Watch live!
https://t.co/b9P4yKrVNj

[Jonathan McDowell @planet4589]

The @vardaspace W-4 reentry capsule, which failed to deorbit last month, reentered over Wick, Scotland at 1402 GMT (3.02pm BST) Monday. Since it had a heat shield, the possiblity of finding debris on the ground exists.

[Vantor @vantortech]

This is a spent Chinese Long March 3B rocket body, imaged by a Vantor WorldView Legion satellite from 88 km away.

The image quality is not simply about range. It reflects the strength of Vantor’s advanced WorldView constellation and high-performance imaging hardware, which enable detailed observation of objects in orbit.

It’s a powerful example of Vantor’s NEI tasking through our WorldView Space product line: using high-resolution satellites to look out into space and capture detailed imagery of objects in orbit.

Why does that matter? Most tracking systems can show where an object is. WorldView Space NEI helps show what it is, its structure, orientation, condition, and potential risk. It can also support Movement Analysis, helping operators understand whether an object is intact, tumbling, spinning, or otherwise changing behavior over time.

That level of detail is especially important for large rocket bodies like this one. They are big, long-lived debris objects that share orbits with critical infrastructure, including communications, Earth observation, weather, science, and national security satellites. A single collision involving an intact rocket stage can create thousands of new fragments, increasing risk across already crowded orbital regions.

As launch activity accelerates, we need to understand not just where objects are in space, but what they are, how they are moving, and how they may behave over time.

[Vast @vast]

🇫🇷 Today at Choose France, President @EmmanuelMacron announced a historic agreement with Vast for 2 astronaut missions: @Thom_astro to the International Space Station and @Arno_astro to Haven-1. Vast will also establish its European Headquarters in Paris. https://t.co/zOGyyruJwN

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

Probably the remains of the main body of @VardaSpace W-4 spacecraft, will experience reentry soon.

[Joseph Remis @jremis]

OBJ. 64543 W-SERIES 4 decay prediction: June 04, 2026 UTC 00:16 ± 6h

[Mario Billiani 🚀 @_starbase_]

@thespaceroad @Cosmic_Penguin Yes, six times. 14 times if you count in the CZ-8A variant.