FIRST BLACKSKY OPERATIONAL SATELLITE READY FOR LAUNCH - Spaceflight Industries said March 6 that the first operational satellite for its BlackSky Earth imaging constellation is now complete and awaiting launch later this year. The 55-kilogram Global-1 satellite is the first of four satellites, each capable of producing imagery at a resolution of one meter, that Spaceflight plans to launch in the next year on U.S. and foreign vehicles, although the company did not disclose specific launch plans. The Global satellites build upon a demonstration satellite, Pathfinder, launched in September 2016.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Mar 7)

CHINA'S TESTS FOR A GLOBAL SATELLITE NETWORK WILL START THIS YEAR - Last month SpaceX launched a couple of satellites to test plans for a global internet provider (you can watch another non-internet satellite launch tonight), and now the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) said it will perform a test of its own later this year. CASIC Second Academy president Zhang Zhongyang announced today that the first satellite will be placed in low-Earth orbit to test its broadband tech, capable of transmitting 500MB per second, to prep for the Hongyun project's planned 156 satellites. After the first one goes up, four satellites will launch before 2020, with the full network scheduled to be in place by 2022 providing coverage around the world.   More
(Source: Engadget - Mar 7)

HEFTY HISPASAT SATELLITE RIDES SPACEX ROCKET INTO ORBIT - A Spanish-owned, U.S.-built commercial communications satellite climbed into orbit early Tuesday from Cape Canaveral on the 50th flight of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launching on a 15-year mission to relay video, data and broadband signals across the Americas, Europe and North Africa. Heading for a post in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator, the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite took off at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) Tuesday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 6)

SPACEX READY TO TRY AGAIN WITH SPANISH SATELLITE LAUNCH - SpaceX will try once again to launch a Spanish satellite into space from Florida early Tuesday morning. The Elon Musk-led company had to delay its mission in late February because SpaceX officials wanted to test the Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing. The launch is planned for 12:33 a.m. Tuesday. The rocket will carry with it a satellite for the 25-year-old Spanish communications operator Hispasat.   More
(Source: Orlando Sentinel - Mar 6)

CHINA'S TIANGONG-1 SPACE STATION WILL CRASH TO EARTH WITHIN WEEKS - Experts say it is impossible to plot where module will re-enter the atmosphere, but the chance is higher in parts of Europe, US, Australia and New Zealand. China’s first space station is expected to come crashing down to Earth within weeks, but scientists have not been able to predict where the 8.5-tonne module will hit. The US-funded Aerospace Corporation estimates Tiangong-1 will re-enter the atmosphere during the first week of April, give or take a week. The European Space Agency says the module will come down between 24 March and 19 April.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Mar 6)

NASA PLANS TO LAUNCH ITS EXOPLANET-SEEKING SATELLITE TESS IN LESS THAN 2 MONTHS - Astrobiology, which is the fascinating branch of space sciences that deal with formulating theories and conducting research solely related to life beyond our planet, has received generous support from NASA with the recent announcement of an ambitious 2-year satellite observatory project. Named the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, the spacecraft is now housed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the aim of discovering and collecting data on hopefully thousands of new exoplanets.   More
(Source: Interesting Engineering - Mar 5)

SPACEX LAUNCH WITH SPANISH SATELLITE PLANNED FOR EARLY TUESDAY - SpaceX aims to launch its next mission, the 50th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, just after midnight Tuesday from Cape Canaveral with a commercial communications satellite for Hispasat. The two-hour launch window opens at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT). The Hispasat 30W-6 telecom craft will ride a 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket from the Complex 40 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The commercial mission was supposed to lift off last month, but SpaceX delayed the flight to complete additional testing on a pressurization system on the Falcon 9’s payload fairing, the shroud that will shield the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite during the first few minutes of launch.   More
(Source: SpaceFlith Now - Mar 5)

CHINA'S BIG SPACE LAB MAY FALL TO EARTH THIS MONTH - The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a new re-entry forecast for China's Tiangong-1 space lab. The 8.5-ton spacecraft is now expected to fall into Earth's atmosphere between March 24 and April 19, though ESA officials stressed that this is a rough estimate. "Re-entry will take place anywhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south (e.g. Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, etc.)" latitude, officials with the Space Debris Office at ESA’s European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, wrote in an update last week.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 3)

A FLOATING 'BRAIN' WILL ASSIST ASTRONAUTS ABOARD THE SPACE STATION - The crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) will soon welcome a new member — one that is 3D-printed from metal and plastic and is described by its creators as "a kind of flying brain." It goes by the name CIMON, short for "Crew Interactive Mobile Companion." Built by the aerospace design company Airbus in collaboration with IBM, CIMON houses artificial intelligence (AI) in an autonomous, spherical body that would "float" in the space station's microgravity environment, with a screen that can display data readouts for astronauts — or present an image of a friendly face — as well as a voice shaped by IBM's AI technology.   More
(Source: Live Science - Mar 3)

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