BALL DELIVERS MILITARY SATELLITE - Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has shipped the STPSat-2 satellite built for the U.S. Air Force to Alaska's Kodiak Launch Complex. The satellite, the first spacecraft for the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program Standard Interface Vehicle program, supports the Operationally Responsive Space strategy to ensure U.S. space superiority. It is scheduled for launch aboard a Minotaur 4 rocket in the fall. Ball said the STPSat-2 spacecraft provides a standard interface compatible for multiple launch vehicles that support a variety of experimental and risk-reduction payloads at different low-Earth orbits.    More
(Source: UPI.com - Aug 5)

WEDNESDAY'S ARIANE 5 ROCKET LAUNCH WILL BENEFIT AFRICA - Two African communications satellite will blast off aboard an Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday, giving a boost to burgeoning direct broadcasting markets and helping connect remote villages with urban centers. The tandem-payload mission is due for liftoff at 2045 GMT (4:45 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, the opening of a lengthy launch window that extends to 2334 GMT (7:34 p.m. EDT).    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Aug 4)

SPACE STATION MALFUNCTION PROMPTS SHUTDOWNS - One of two coolant systems aboard the International Space Station malfunctioned late Saturday, triggering alarms and extensive power shutdowns to keep critical systems from overheating. The apparent failure of an ammonia pump in coolant loop A forced flight controllers to shut down two of four stabilizing gyroscopes, used to help control the space station’s orientation, one communications channel and several computer control units. The astronauts also installed jumpers between the Russian Zarya propulsion module and the U.S. segment of the lab complex to maintain proper cooling.    More
(Source: New York Times - Aug 1)

SATELLITE OPERATORS TEAM TO AVOID COLLISIONS - A new cooperative data tool will help keep geostationary commercial communications satellites from colliding or causing signal interference, a service its initiators hope to extend to government spacecraft and satellites in low Earth orbit as well. Spurred in part by the February 2009 collision between an active Iridium spacecraft and a defunct Russian military-communications satellite, the new Space Data Center automatically plots conjunctions in the orbits of satellites owned by participating operators and alerts their control centers to the problem.    More
(Source: SatNews Publishers - Aug 1)

LONG MARCH ROCKET DELIVERS CHINESE SATELLITE TO SPACE - Another Chinese navigation satellite blasted off late Saturday on its way to a 22,000-mile-high perch above Earth to bolster the government-owned fleet of Beidou positioning spacecraft. A three-stage Long March 3A rocket lifted off at 2130 GMT (5:30 p.m. EDT) Saturday from the Xichang space base in Sichuan province in southwestern China, where it was 5:30 a.m. Sunday, according to state media reports.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Aug 1)

CHINA TO LAUNCH HIGH RESOLUTION MAPPING SATELLITE - China plans to launch its first high resolution, stereoscopic mapping satellite during the second half of 2011. China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping said the ZY-3 will be sent into space by the Long March-4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China. The satellite is expected to "provide steady and reliable data sources for surveying and mapping on the scale of 1:50,000," official Xinhua news agency reported.    More
(Source: Economic Times - Jul 31)

UK TO LAUNCH HOMEGROWN MINI-SATELLITE CUBE - The UK Space Agency has announced it will develop and launch a miniature satellite to be used for inexpensive science missions in low-Earth orbit. Shaped like a cube and potentially smaller than a home computer, this type of satellite allows scientists to research cutting-edge space technology quickly and at relatively low cost, UK Space Agency chief executive David Williams said. The UK model will be one of a series of spacecraft called Cubesats, which are simple, tiny and inexpensive. These features make CubeSats capable of deploying on speedy timescales that accommodate numerous missions, agency officials said.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 29)

HUGE SATELLITE POSES 150-YEAR THREAT OF SPACE DEBRIS - In three years, the European Space Agency will become the owner of what is possibly the most dangerous piece of space debris circling the Earth for the next 150 years: the 17,636-pound Envisat Earth observation satellite. The space agency will take control of the Envisat satellite, which has been extended to 2013 and appears to set records wherever it goes. Launched in 2002, Envisat was the biggest non-military Earth observation satellite ever built. At $2.9 billion in today's dollars, it is one of the most expensive. Its mission is viewed as a success by its users, all the more so insofar as the original five-year mission has been stretched to 11 years.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 28)

TROUBLED WEATHER SATELLITE RECEIVES FINAL INSTRUMENT - The last of the NPOESS Preparatory Project's five weather sensors arrived at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in June and was integrated on the satellite July 14, Ball said in a statement. NPP is scheduled to launch in October 2011 to replenish a fleet of polar-orbiting weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Jul 26)

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