HISPASAT 36W 1 SATELLITE NOW OPERATIONAL IN ORBIT - The Hispasat 36W 1 satellite is now located at its final orbital position at 36 degrees west, and over the next few days will begin to offer its telecommunications services after having successfully completed in-orbit testing. This new satellite offers coverage over South America and Europe, including the Canary Islands, and has 20 Ku-band transponders as well as additional Ka-band capacity. More (Source: Satellite Today - May 27)
AUSTRALIAN SATELLITE IN ORBIT - The first Australian satellite in 15 years, UNSW-EC0, was successfully deployed from the International Space Station, and UNSW engineers are working to make contact when it next passes above Sydney. The first Australian satellite in 15 years, UNSW-EC0, was successfully deployed from the International Space Station, but the UNSW engineers who built it were unable to establish contact when it made its first pass above Sydney. However, engineers say there could be many reasons for the silence and they are not overly concerned. Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-australian-satellite-orbit.html#jCp More (Source: Phys.org - May 27)
A NASA SATELLITE JUST CAUGHT THIS AWESOME SOLAR ECLIPSE FROM SPACE - There’s a satellite hovering over the tropical Pacific near South America whose only job is to monitor the sun. It sounds simple, but its mission is complex: to investigate how the sun’s magnetic field is generated, how it’s structured and what happens when it burps magnetic energy out into space — sometimes straight toward Earth. Our star is active, complex and sometimes threatening, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory is one of just a few ways scientists are able to monitor it. On Thursday afternoon, the SDO saw something much more simple than solar irradiance fluctuations or extreme ultraviolet variability — the moon blocking out the sun in a solar eclipse only visible from the satellite. More (Source: Washington Post - May 27)
MAIDEN FLIGHT OF ROCKET LAB’S SMALL SATELLITE LAUNCHER REACHES SPACE - The debut launch of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from a privately-operated base in New Zealand made it to space Thursday, proving the performance of major parts of the booster before faltering short of the velocity it needed to enter orbit, the company said in a statement. The U.S.-New Zealand company said data from the test flight will help refine the Electron launcher for future demonstrations before it enters commercial service hauling small satellites to orbit. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 26)
SOYUZ ROCKET SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERS EKS-2 EARLY-WARNING SATELLITE TO RARE ORBIT - Shortly after 2:34 a.m. EDT (06:34 GMT), May 25, 2017, a Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket lifted off from site No. 43 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and delivered the second of the EKS series of early-warning satellites to a rare Tundra orbit. EKS-2, designed to detect the infrared and optical signatures of a ballistic missile launch, soared into space atop a Soyuz-2.1b to join its EKS-1 sibling, which was launched 18 months before and will help strengthen the Russian military’s defensive capabilities. More (Source: SpaceFlight Insider - May 26)
NOAA’S NEWEST GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE WILL BE POSITIONED AS GOES-EAST THIS FALL - GOES-16, the most advanced weather satellite NOAA has ever developed, will be moved to the GOES-East position at 75 degrees west longitude, once it is declared operational in November. Top officials from NOAA announced the long-awaited decision at today’s 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook news conference in College Park, Maryland. “As a Florida resident, I am particularly proud of the important work NOAA does in weather forecasting and hurricane prediction,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “GOES-16’s unmatched detail in observations and other data will improve forecasts, provide considerable benefits to the economy, and help improve public safety. More (Source: whnt.com - May 26)
LILACSAT-1 CUBESAT DEPLOYED FROM ISS - The student built LilacSat-1 carries an amateur radio 145/436 MHz FM to Codec2-BPSK digital voice transponder, APRS Digipeater and camera. The satellite was developed at the Harbin Institute of Technology and is part of the QB50 mission which aims to study the lower thermosphere. It was deployed from the International Space Station at 0845 GMT on Thursday, May 25, 2017. More (Source: AMSAT-UK - May 25)
ISRAEL’S FIRST ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH SATELLITE TO SOON LAUNCH - Venus, the first Israeli-built satellite meant for environmental research and monitoring, is being sent to French Guiana, from where it will soon be launched. Workers at Israel Aircraft Industries, together with those from Elbit and Rafael -- who built it -- will bid farewell on Thursday to the satellite before transferring it to the Israel Space Agency in the Science and Technology Ministry. Its partner in the project is the French Space Agency CNES. Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis will be on hand at the ceremony in Yahud. More (Source: The Jerusalem Post - May 25)
THE LAUNCH OF THE FIRST SLOVAK SATELLITE SET - The first Slovak satellite skCUBE is expected to be sent into orbit in early June, said representatives of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities (SOSA), which is in charge of the project. The launch has been repeatedly postponed due to problems with the American Falcon 9 rocket. This time it is planned to take place at India’s Sriharikota spaceport. More (Source: The Slovak Spectator - May 24)
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