SATELLITE NETWORK WILL CAPTURE HD VIDEO OF EARTH - A network of space satellites capable of tracking the movement of cars from space will be launched later this year. British space company Earth-i will launch a constellation of satellites that will record high-resolution images and video of the planet's surface, it was revealed today. The satellites will rapidly stream video in full colour and will be able to identify features as small as just a metre (three ft) across, according to the company.    More
(Source: Daily Mail - May 31)

STATION DUO READY TO DEPART STATION BEFORE DRAGON’S ARRIVAL - The International Space Station is preparing this week for the departure of two Expedition 51 crew members and the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon. Expedition 52 will begin Friday morning when two Expedition 51 crew members depart the station inside the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft. Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and astronaut Thomas Pesquet will return to Earth and parachute to landing in Kazakhstan after a 196-day mission in space. NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer along with cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin will continue their stay aboard the orbital complex.   More
(Source: NASA - May 31)

SPY SATELLITE SPACEX LAUNCHED MIGHT BUZZ THE SPACE STATION - The secret spy satellite that SpaceX launched May 1 is currently on a curious trajectory, according to the calculations of an amateur spy satellite tracker. It appears it might pass near the International Space Station right around the time a SpaceX Dragon capsule will be preparing to dock with the ISS this weekend. Amateur spy satellite tracker Marco Langbroek shared the above predictive model showing the satellite, which launched as NROL-76 and is now known as USA 276, could pass within as little as 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) of the ISS.    More
(Source: CNET - May 31)

NASA'S NEW ISS EXPERIMENT WILL STUDY MYSTERIOUS PULSARS - The first space-based experiment devoted to studying some of the most mysterious objects in the universe—neutron stars and pulsars—is about to launch to the International Space Station on Thursday, June 1, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NICER, the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, will be mounted externally on the ISS, and the X-ray spectrometer will tell us more about the gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear physics of neutron stars than we have ever known.   More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - May 30)

SPACEX TARGETS JUNE 1 LAUNCH OF SPACE STATION CARGO DELIVERY MISSION FOR NASA - SpaceX is targeting a June 1 blastoff for the firms next cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA following today’s (May 28) successful test firing of the Falcon 9 booster’s main engines on the Florida Space Coast under sunny skies. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the unmanned Dragon cargo freighter from seaside pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is slated for 5:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 1. “Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete,” SpaceX confirmed via Twitter soon after completion of the test at noon today 12 p.m. EDT   More
(Source: Universe Today - May 30)

MICHIBIKI SATELLITES AIM TO PROVIDE ‘JAPANESE GPS’ - Billed as a domestically developed version of the Global Positioning System, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) Michibiki No. 2 satellite will be launched on Thursday from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. The government plans to launch Michibiki satellites Nos. 3 and 4 within the year to establish a global positioning system with world-class accuracy. It hopes that the satellites will be utilized in a wide range of areas, including transport navigation during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Michibiki is a type of satellite developed to transmit radio waves toward the ground to supply accurate positioning data. It flies in a quasi-zenith orbit above the nation and its radio waves can be received even in mountainous areas or between tall buildings.   More
(Source: The Japan News - May 29)

CHINA LAUNCHES SATELLITE NAVIGATION POSITIONING SYSTEM - China on Sunday launched a national satellite navigation and positioning system which will provide positioning service to transportation, emergency medical rescue and city planning and management. It is the largest in the country and boasts the widest coverage, officials said. Li Weisen, deputy director of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, said that the system consists of 2,700 base stations, a national database centre and 30 provincial level database centres.   More
(Source: Indian Express - May 28)

EX-ALTA 1, A SATELLITE MADE IN ALBERTA, IS NOW ORBITING EARTH - The first satellite designed and built in Alberta is now officially orbiting the Earth. Early Friday morning, Ex-Alta 1 deployed from the International Space Station into orbit. The satellite was built and designed by students at the University of Alberta. The cube satellite was sent into space along with others as part of the QB50 ("cube 50") Mission to create an international network of small satellites that will gather data on the lower thermosphere and space weather. Ex-Alta 1 is the only Canadian satellite in the project.    More
(Source: Huffington Post Canada - May 28)

LAUNCH OF SPACE-DEBRIS-REMOVAL EXPERIMENT DELAYED DUE TO SAFETY REVIEWS - RemoveDebris, a space-junk-wrangling spacecraft once slated to hitch a ride to the International Space Station with SpaceX in June, won’t launch until the end of 2017 or early 2018 to allow additional NASA safety reviews, according to the European project’s manager. The 100-kilogram spacecraft, developed by a consortium of 10 European companies including Airbus Defense and Space and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., would be the largest and heaviest satellite deployed from the ISS.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 27)

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