RUSSIA SAYS CONTACT WITH SATELLITE LOST AFTER LAUNCH - The Russian space agency says that a weather satellite has failed to enter a designated orbit following its launch, another blow to the nation's space program. Roscosmos says it has failed to establish communications with the Meteor M 2-1 satellite that was launched atop a Soyuz-2 booster rocket Tuesday from Russia's new Vostochny launch pad in the Far East. The agency says it's trying to determine what happened.   More
(Source: CNS News - Nov 29)

RUSSIAN SOYUZ ROCKET BLASTS OFF - A Russian Soyuz rocket has blasted off from the far-eastern Vostochny Cosmodrome to deliver two Earth observation satellites and more than a dozen miniature satellites known as smallsats into orbit. The Soyuz-2.1B rocket was the second to blast off from the launch facility.   More
(Source: SBS - Nov 28)

LOCKHEED MARTIN ASSEMBLES THIRD U.S. AIR FORCE GPS III SATELLITE - The U.S. Air Force’s third GPS III satellite in production flow at Lockheed Martin’s advanced satellite manufacturing facility in Denver is now fully integrated into a complete space vehicle. GPS III Space Vehicle 03 (GPS III SV03) followed the first two GPS III satellites on a streamlined assembly and test production line. Technicians successfully integrated the satellite’s major components — its system module, navigation payload and propulsion core — into one fully assembled space vehicle on Aug. 14.   More
(Source: GPS World magazine - Nov 28)

WHEN WILL CHINA'S ROGUE SPACE STATION TIANGONG-1 FINALLY CRASH TO EARTH? NEW ESTIMATE NARROWS WINDOW - Where in the world is Tiangong-1, China’s rogue space station? Predictions of where and when the space station will land have shifted since the China National Space Administration (CNSA) lost control of it in September 2016. Now a researcher from France’s space agency claims the station will crash sometime in the first half of March 2018. When China first lost control of the space station in September 2016, it was expected to come falling down to Earth in several months. Since then, as Newsweek reported, it was predicted to crash in early 2018. The window of time in which Tiangong-1 is expected to crash has expanded and contracted since then.    More
(Source: Newsweek - Nov 28)

ROCKET MELTDOWN OVER PRAIRIE PROVINCES CONFIRMED BY U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND - The U.S. Strategic Command has confirmed a spectacular fireball witnessed in Saskatchewan and Alberta on Friday night was the Antares rocket body burning up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Witnesses were initially baffled by the streak of bright light, which many thought was a plane crashing or a meteor. Some described it as looking like metal melting or like fireworks in slow motion. But the U.S. Strategic Command confirmed Sunday it was space junk burning up as it hurtled out of orbit and fell towards Earth.   More
(Source: CBC.ca - Nov 27)

ON-ORBIT SATELLITE SERVICING AND REFUELING MAY BE ON THE HORIZON - A team of researchers and Pentagon contractors was recently selected to organize a space industry consortium that will consider new "rules of the road" for commercial on-orbit satellite repair and refueling. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), initiated its Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) program. The Secure World Foundation, along with the University of Southern California's Space Engineering Research Center and the Space Infrastructure Foundation were selected to coordinate CONFERS, while Advanced Technology International was awarded a contract to manage the operation.    More
(Source: Digital Journal - Nov 27)

THREE CHINESE MILITARY SURVEILLANCE SATELLITES SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED - A Chinese rocket placed three experimental military surveillance satellites in orbit Friday, the second set of related triplets launched in less than two months. The satellites lifted off aboard a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang launch base in southwest China’s Sichuan province at 1810 GMT (1:10 p.m. EST) Friday, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Liftoff occurred at 2:10 a.m. Saturday Beijing time.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 27)

ESA'S LATEST TECHNOLOGY CUBESAT CLEARED FOR LAUNCH SITE - GomX-4B, ESA's latest and largest technology-testing CubeSat, will be launched from China early next year, together with the near-identical GomX-4A. The pair will test intersatellite communication links and propulsion while orbiting up to 4500 km apart. The cereal box-sized GomX-4B has been passed as ready to travel along with its twin from manufacturer GomSpace in Denmark in early December to begin launch preparations in China.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Nov 24)

NASA'S FLAGSHIP ROCKET FACES YET ANOTHER DELAY - NASA is tentatively delaying the maiden voyage of its much ballyhooed Space Launch System (SLS) for the second time this year, saying it will not be ready for takeoff until perhaps 2020. The SLS has been in development since 2011. A heavy-lift rocket in combination with a crew capsule called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the SLS lacks for nothing in ambition. NASA plans to the SLS to be 385 feet tall with it a liftoff weight of 6.5 million pounds. Its four RS-25 engines would provide enough power to keep eight 747s aloft, and at liftoff it would produce a thrust equivalent to 160,000 Corvette engines—15 percent stronger than the famed Saturn V that took Neil Armstrong to the Moon.   More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Nov 23)

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