Air Force Academy cadets are putting the finishing touches on their own handcrafted satellite, set to launch Dec. 7 aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas booster, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette. Cadets expect the satellite to test a new space propulsion system and gauge radio interference in Earth’s atmosphere. The USAFA 120-pound payload is one of five others in a premier multiple launch. An earlier satellite built by the academy space-operators-in-training was destroyed when the experimental rocket carrying it developed a fuel leak fire.
A U.S. Air Force F-22 shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, a week after it first entered U.S. airspace near Alaska. Officials said they took measures to prevent the balloon from gathering sensitive military information and are actively working to recover…