ROBOTIC SPACE ARM SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES TEST BY MOVING A SUITCASE-SIZED OBJECT AROUND THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The European Space Agency (ESA) is celebrating another milestone for the European Robotic Arm (ERA), which "effortlessly" completed a test on the International Space Station last week. The 11-metre arm completed its first transfer following commands from cosmonauts inside the space station as teams from Russia and the Netherlands watched on from Earth. More (Source: ABC - Sep 3)
RUSSIA CALLS AGEING SPACE STATION "DANGEROUS" AS IT PLANS SUCCESSOR - The International Space Station (ISS) is dangerous and unfit for purpose, Russia's space chief said on Thursday, as Moscow pushes ahead with plans to quit the project and launch its own station. Yuri Borisov, head of the Roscosmos agency, said mass equipment failures and ageing parts were endangering crew safety on the 24-year-old station. More (Source: Yahoo News - Sep 2)
INTELSAT’S GALAXY 15 MUTES PAYLOAD AS IT DRIFTS INTO OTHER SATELLITE PATHS - Intelsat said the Galaxy 15 broadcast satellite that stopped responding to commands earlier this month shut down its payload Aug. 31, reducing the risk of interfering with signals from other spacecraft. However, Galaxy 15 continues to drift out of its geostationary orbit slot at 133 degrees West, and “will soon begin transiting through orbital locations licensed for other satellites,” an Intelsat spokesperson said. More (Source: SpaceNews - Sep 2)
STARTUP WANTS TO BUILD A SPACE STATION THAT REFUELS SATELLITES BY 2025 - Spacecraft running low on fuel could get a refill from an orbital station by the year 2025, according to a startup named Orbit Fab that reckons it can charge $20 million to top up your tank. The American upstart believes there's a market for its planned service because the growing number of companies launching satellites want their hardware to have longer working lives. One way to achieve lengthier missions is orbital refueling. More (Source: The Register - Sep 1)
NASA AWARDS SPACEX MORE CREW FLIGHTS TO SPACE STATION - NASA has awarded five additional missions to Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, for crew transportation services to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract. The CCtCap modification brings the total missions for SpaceX to 14 and allows NASA to maintain an uninterrupted U.S. capability for human access to the space station until 2030, with two unique commercial crew industry partners. More (Source: NASA - Sep 1)
ON 6 SEPTEMBER, ARIANESPACE WILL LAUNCH THE INNOVATIVE EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS SATELLITE ON BOARD ARIANE 5 - On Tuesday 6 September 2022, at 18:45 local time, an Ariane 5 built by ArianeGroup and operated by Arianespace will lift off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS telecommunications satellite. This satellite will be the 37th launched by Arianespace for Eutelsat, one of the world’s leading commercial satellite operators, thus continuing the close collaboration between the two companies, which goes back to 1983. More (Source: Arianespace - Sep 1)
SPACEX CLOSES OUT QUARTET OF STARLINK LAUNCHES FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 46 more Starlink internet satellites overnight Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, completing a quartet of rapid-fire polar orbit Starlink missions from the West Coast spaceport since mid-July. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:40:10 p.m. PDT Tuesday (1:40:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday). The rocket lit nine Merlin 1D engines to power away from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg, a military spaceport about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 1)
NOAA’S JPSS-2 SATELLITE ARRIVES AT LAUNCH SITE - NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) is now at Vandenberg Space Force Base California, ahead of its mission to scan the Earth from orbit. A transport truck originating from Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona – where the spacecraft’s instruments were integrated – arrived Aug. 19, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg, where the satellite is slated to undergo final preparations before launch. More (Source: WeatherNation - Aug 31)
CHINA PLANS TO MAKE AGING LONG MARCH ROCKET REUSABLE AND NON-TOXIC - China’s main space contractor plans to revamp a highly successful, 30-year-old Long March rocket model to adapt to the trend towards reusability in the launch sector. The 63rd and latest Long March 2D lifted off from the fog-shrouded Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China, late on Aug. 23 Eastern time, with insulation tiles falling from the payload fairing as the rocket rose into the sky. More (Source: SpaceNews - Aug 30)
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