EU TO LAUNCH DEDICATED BROADBAND SATELLITE - There is light at the end of the tunnel for the estimated 20 million Europeans who cannot get high-quality broadband access. On Friday a new satellite will be launched that will deliver broadband Internet access to consumers and businesses across the European Union. The Hylas 1 satellite is the first European satellite dedicated to providing broadband as well as a range of conventional telecommunications services. Huylas, created by ESA and Avanti, stands for "Highly Adaptable Satellite," and adaptability is one of its unique selling points, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).    More
(Source: PC World - Nov 25)

SHUTTLE DISCOVERY REPAIRED FOR FINAL VOYAGE - NASA's space shuttle Discovery is all patched up for its planned final launch into space next week, NASA officials said Monday. Engineers have completed work to plug a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak and reinforce cracked metal ribs on Discovery's huge external tank. The shuttle is sitting atop a seaside launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., awaiting a launch that has already been delayed more than a month. Discovery's upcoming launch is currently slated for no earlier than Dec. 3 at 2:52 a.m. EST (0753 GMT).    More
(Source: msnbc.com - Nov 24)

RESOURCESAT-2 SATELLITE LAUNCH IN JANUARY - India's premier space agency ISRO will launch Resourcesat-2 advanced remote sensing satellite on board home-made PSLV rocket in January. The Bangalore-headquartered space agency held a mission readiness review in the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh during which ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan and top ISRO officials were present.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Nov 23)

UNITED NATIONS SATELLITE UNESCOSAT TO TEST VIABILITY OF ASTRONAUT POO AS SPACE FUE - THE United Nations is preparing to go boldly where no man has gone before. At least, not without surgical gloves and a peg on his nose. UNESCOSat is the UN's first satellite. It's a $US5 million project to promote global cooperation, education and our shared heritage as we push further into space as a race. A large part of the push requires fuel - namely, hydrogen. And one of the best ways to harvest hydrogen is to get bacteria to create it from waste products. The problem is, nobody has properly studied how bacteria behave in microgravity, so the UN's using its first mission to carry several bacterial payloads in order to see how they cope with it all.    More
(Source: NEWS.com.au - Nov 23)

AIR FORCE LAUNCHES MASSIVE, SECRET SPY SATELLITE - A powerful Delta 4 rocket roared to life and climbed away from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Sunday evening on a high-priority mission to boost a National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite into orbit. Under a cloudy sky, the hydrogen-fueled engines in the three common core boosters of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 ignited with a rush of orange fire at 5:58 p.m. EST and quickly throttled up to nearly 2 million pounds of thrust.    More
(Source: CBS News - Nov 23)

NASA'S NEWEST MICROSATELLITE FASTSAT LAUNCHES SUCCESSFULLY - NASA’s Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, launched at 7:25 p.m. CST Friday aboard a Minotaur IV rocket from Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska. FASTSAT is a unique platform that can carry multiple small payloads to low-Earth orbit creating opportunities for researchers to conduct low-cost scientific and technology research on an autonomous satellite in space. FASTSAT separated from the Minotaur IV rocket approximately 22 minutes after launch, entering low-Earth orbit 406 miles above Earth and immediately began powering up the spacecraft.    More
(Source: - Nov 21)

SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S LAUNCH DELAYED A FEW MORE DAYS - Work to repair the shuttle Discovery's external tank is going well, but more time is needed to complete an engineering review and to develop the necessary flight rationale, the justification for launching with a repaired tank after unexpected damage. As a result, NASA announced Thursday, the flight will remain on hold until at least Dec. 3, four days after the opening of a short end-of-year launch window. If Discovery is eventually cleared for launch, countdown clocks would begin ticking around 1 a.m. on Nov. 30, setting up a launch attempt at 2:51:59 a.m. EST on Dec. 3.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Nov 19)

U. OF MICH. STUDENTS, PROFS AWAIT SATELLITE LAUNCH - University of Michigan engineering students and professors are close to making history. If all goes according to plan, the first satellite built completely by students from the Ann Arbor school will be sent into space on Friday night. "I certainly get goose bumps when I think about it," assistant aerospace engineering professor James Cutler told the Detroit Free Press. The 6.5-pound satellite is scheduled to share a ride on a 78-foot-tall rocket with six other satellites carrying 16 experiments for the military, NASA and universities.    More
(Source: Chicago Tribune - Nov 19)

SOLAR SAIL DEMO PACKED UP TO PROVE NEW TECHNOLOGIES - For less than $1 million, scientists are planning to show off an innovative solar sail experiment beginning with a blastoff from the Alaska frontier Friday, proving new propulsion technologies that could help rid space of unnecessary debris. The NanoSail-D mission will unfurl a 100 square foot polymer sail from a satellite the size of a loaf of bread. Researchers say the sail will harness light pressure from the sun to change its orbit, eventually slowing the craft's speed enough to drop from orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Nov 18)

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