BULGARIA’S FIRST COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE TO RIDE SPACEX’S SECOND REUSED ROCKET - A U.S.-built, Bulgarian-owned broadcast satellite will launch in mid-June from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a previously-used SpaceX Falcon 9 booster that first flew in January, the spacecraft’s owner said Friday. The BulgariaSat 1 satellite will be the second mission to launch on one of SpaceX’s recovered first stage boosters, after the SES 10 communications craft became the first payload to fly on a reused commercial rocket March 30. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 7)
SPACEX PLANS TO LAUNCH FIRST SATELLITE PROTOTYPE FOR ITS INTERNET CONSTELLATION THIS YEAR - SpaceX intends to launch its first satellite prototype later this year as the company moves forward with plans for a network of thousands of small satellites to provide high-speed broadband Internet access. The Hawthorne company, whose full name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp., then will launch a second satellite prototype in early 2018. If those demonstrations are successful, SpaceX plans to launch its first operational satellites a year later. Patricia Cooper, the company’s vice president of satellite government affairs, laid out some details of the plan Wednesday in testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. More (Source: Orlando Sentinel - May 6)
INDIA LAUNCHES SOUTH ASIA 'DIPLOMACY' SATELLITE FOR COMMUNICATION SERVICES - India launched a "South Asia" satellite on Friday to provide communication services to neighboring countries in a new initiative hailed by leaders of seven South Asian countries as a boost to regional cooperation. The "space diplomacy" by India, which has an advanced space program, aims at building stronger ties in the region where China has been gaining influence. But underlining the tensions between the two most populous countries in the region, India's arch-rival, Pakistan has opted out of the project. More (Source: Voice of America - May 6)
ARIANESPACE LAUNCHES FOR FIRST TIME SINCE FRENCH GUIANA PROTESTS ENDED - European launch provider Arianespace on May 4 completed its first launch since the end of French Guiana’s five-week protest during which demonstrators seeking France’s attention blocked access to the company’s spaceport. The mission, dubbed VA236, orbited two telecommunications satellites, one for Brazil and one for South Korea, on an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Brazil’s 5,700-kilogram Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications satellite, or SGDC, separated first from the rocket, followed by the 3,700-kilogram Koreasat-7 for KTSat, the satellite arm of Korean telecom company KT Corp. Thales Alenia Space of France built both satellites. More (Source: SpaceNews - May 5)
INDIA SET TO LAUNCH SATELLITE FOR SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES, PAKISTAN SAYS NO THANKS - In a first, India's space agency is set to launch a satellite Friday to provide communications services to its neighboring countries. The South Asia satellite, funded entirely by India, was announced several years ago with the intention of serving all eight members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). According to Uday Bhaskar, director of Delhi-based think tank the Society for Policy Studies, the satellite represents a "new form of regional cooperation," and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called it a "gift to the SAARC region." More (Source: CNN - May 5)
SOUTH ASIA SATELLITE'S LAUNCH: COUNTDOWN TO BEGIN ON THURSDAY - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch South Asia Satellite or GSAT-9 into orbit on Friday, May 5, 2017 from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota. As per sources in the Indian space agency, the countdown for the launch of South Asia Satellite will begin on Thursday morning. ISRO is also getting ready for the maiden launch of its heaviest GSLV rocket by this month-end. More (Source: Zee News - May 4)
SPACEX PLANS TO START DELIVERING SATELLITE INTERNET IN 2019 - Last November, SpaceX asked the FCC for permission to launch 4,425 satellites to provide high speed internet around the globe. While current satellite internet can be slow and high-latency, the Elon Musk-founded company promises its proposed service will be much better thanks to custom satellites deployed into low-Earth orbit. In a Senate hearing today on US Broadband infrastructure, SpaceX's vice president of government affairs Patricia Cooper explained the company's plan, which includes its intention to begin launch operations in 2019. More (Source: Engadget - May 4)
SATELLITE ELECTRICAL DAMAGE LINKED TO SPACE DUST - The cause of several mysterious satellite failures may have been discovered, if simulations carried out at Stanford University in California hold firm in physical space. The simulations, published in the journal Physics of Plasmas, promise an answer to a question bothering lead author, aeronautics professor Sigrid Close, for more than seven years. Everyone in the space business has long recognised that meteoroids – tiny space rocks sometimes no bigger than a grain of dust – can cause severe mechanical damage when they smash into a satellite. More (Source: Cosmos - May 3)
SPACEX LAUNCHES SECRETIVE SPY SATELLITE - SpaceX just launched a mysterious spy satellite toward orbit for a U.S. intelligence agency. Elon Musk's commercial rocket company made a successful liftoff Monday morning from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission was supposed to happen Sunday, but SpaceX delayed its flight because of a sensor problem on the bottom part of the rocket. The customer for the launch was the National Reconnaissance Office, a U.S. government agency that develops and maintains spy satellites. More (Source: CNN Money - May 1)
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