SHORT SPACEWALK COMPLETE AFTER SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION WORK - Expedition 51 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA concluded their spacewalk at 10:06 p.m. EDT. During the spacewalk, which lasted two hours and 46 minutes, the two astronauts successfully replaced a computer relay box, and installed a pair of antennas on station to enhance wireless communication for future spacewalks.   More
(Source: NASA - May 24)

HOW MUCH EACH COMPANY WILL CHARGE TO TAKE YOU TO SPACE - The first issue of Airbnbmag, which hits newsstands today, will help you find a place to stay off-planet, too. Here are the companies competing to take us to the heavens, and how much we'll have to pay (and how long we'll have to wait) for the ride of a lifetime. Worldview Express: $75,000 Float 100,000 feet to the edge of the atmosphere via a helium-balloon-powered space capsule. There's no training required for the four- to six-hour World View Voyager trip.   More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - May 24)

PT TELKOM COLLOCATES SATELLITE WITH INTELSAT WHILE PLANNING TWO HTS SATELLITES - In the midst of a continuing fleet expansion, Indonesia’s state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom is collocating one of its satellites with an Intelsat satellite over the Asia-Pacific region. Speaking at the APSAT 2017 conference in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta on May 17, PT Telkom’s Chief Strategy Officer David Bangun said the company is in the early stages of developing two high throughput satellites (HTS) for its constellation, which currently consists of three satellites: Telkom-1, Telkom-2 and Telkom-3S.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 23)

NASA TV LIVE BROADCASTS TUESDAY SPACEWALK - Expedition 51 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA will venture outside the International Space Station for a 2.5-hour contingency spacewalk Tuesday, May 23. The spacewalk will begin about 8 a.m. EDT, with complete coverage on NASA Television and the agency’s website beginning at 6:30 a.m. Whitson and Fischer will replace a critical computer relay box that failed on Saturday, May 20. The relay box, known as a multiplexer-demultiplexer (MDM), is one of two units that regulate the operation of radiators, solar arrays and cooling loops. They also will route commands to other vital station systems and install a pair of antennas to enhance wireless communication.   More
(Source: NASA - May 23)

INDIAN ROCKET THAT US ONCE ‘GROUNDED’ WILL PUT ISRO-NASA SATELLITE IN SPACE - In 1992, the US under President George Bush had slapped sanctions on Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and prevented Russia from sharing cryogenic engine technology with the Indian space agency so as to check India from making missiles. Two decades later, US space agency Nasa has joined hands with Isro to co-develop the world's most expensive earth imaging satellite that will cost the two countries over $1.5 billion. The irony is GSLV, which is likely to place this Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite into orbit in 2021, is the same rocket for whose cryogenic engine the US put sanctions on India.    More
(Source: Times of India - May 22)

SMALL SATELLITE LAUNCHER SET FOR FIRST ORBITAL TEST FLIGHT THIS WEEK - The first test flight of Rocket Lab’s commercially-developed Electron launcher was held up by weather Sunday, but conditions could improve for a launch attempt Monday from New Zealand to place an instrumented rocket stage into Earth orbit in a demonstration of the company’s low-cost delivery system for lightweight satellites. The two-stage rocket’s launch window opens at 2100 GMT (5 p.m. EDT) Sunday, or 9 a.m. Monday in New Zealand, but officials caution the test flight could blast off any time through June 1.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 22)

NASA PLANS EMERGENCY SPACEWALK ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A pair of astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station on Tuesday for an emergency spacewalk to replace a failed computer, one of two that control major U.S. systems aboard the orbiting outpost, NASA said on Sunday. The primary device failed on Saturday, leaving the $100 billion orbiting laboratory to depend on a backup system to route commands to its solar power system, radiators, cooling loops and other equipment.   More
(Source: Reuters - May 22)

RUSSIA JUST REACTIVATED 3 MYSTERY SATELLITES - AND WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHY THEY EXIST - Three Russian satellites that were sent into low orbit in 2013 are on the move again, and no one knows what they are for, The Daily Beast reports. Having been idle for more than a year, one of the satellites went hundreds of metres off its orbit last month to within 1,200 metres of a piece of a Chinese weather satellite that China smashed in a 2007 anti-satellite rocket test. The manoeuvre, which is pretty impressive for such a small spacecraft, is also rather close by orbital standards.   More
(Source: ScienceAlert.com - May 22)

INDIA TO ENTER HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ERA WITH ISRO'S NEW SATELLITES - Despite overtaking the US last year to become the world's second largest internet user base after China, India is still behind many Asian countries when it comes to internet speed. But things are set to change in the next 18 months when Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to usher in an age of high-speed internet in the country with the launch of three communication satellites. Speaking to TOI, Isro chairman Kiran Kumar said, "We will launch three communication satellites.   More
(Source: Times of India - May 21)

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