CHINA SET TO LAUNCH 156 MINI-SATELLITES - This is the first low orbiting, networked satellite project, which will orbit 1,000 km above the ground, state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) said. "The network is a general satellite platform," said Bei Chao, a CASIC engineer. Small satellites are easy to mass produce and upgrade at low cost. The project is part of China's effort to give wider push to commercial space development. Low orbit helps avoid signal delay and satellite communication services with frequencies from 26.5 to 40 hertz improve Internet access. The project plans to send the first satellite before 2018, and launch four more by 2020 to form a constellation.   More
(Source: Zee News - Apr 1)

ASTRONAUT BREAKS SPACE STATION DURING RECORD SPACEWALK - Spacewalking astronauts carried out an impromptu patch job outside the International Space Station on Thursday, after losing a vital piece of cloth shielding when it floated away. As the drama unfolded, Peggy Whitson set a record for the most spacewalks by a woman (eight) and the most accumulated time spent spacewalking (just over 53 hours). The bundled-up shield somehow came loose as Whitson and Shane Kimbrough worked to install micrometeorite protection over a spot left exposed when a new docking port was relocated.   More
(Source: New York Post - Apr 1)

SPACEWALKING ASTRONAUTS LOSE A PIECE OF SHIELD NEEDED FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Spacewalking astronauts lost an important piece of cloth shielding needed for the International Space Station on Thursday when it floated away. Astronaut Peggy Whitson immediately reported the mishap to Mission Control, which tracked the bundle as it drifted off. NASA said it would be monitored to make sure it doesn't come back and hit the station. The shielding protects against micrometeorite debris. It was one of four pieces that Whitson and Shane Kimbrough were installing over the spot left by a relocated docking port.   More
(Source: Los Angeles Time - Mar 31)

SUCCESS FOR SPACEX 'RE-USABLE ROCKET' - California's SpaceX company has successfully re-flown a segment from one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The first-stage booster, which was previously used on a mission 11 months ago, helped send a telecommunications satellite into orbit from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. It marks an important milestone for SpaceX in its quest for re-usability. Traditionally, rockets are expendable - their various segments are discarded and destroyed during an ascent. The California outfit, in contrast, aims to recover Falcon first-stages and fly them multiple times to try to reduce the cost of its operations.   More
(Source: BBC News - Mar 31)

FLIGHT-PROVEN’ FALCON 9 SET TO LAUNCH SES-10 SATELLITE - SpaceX is about to fly a milestone mission with the first launch of a “flight-proven” Falcon 9 rocket. After a successful static fire test, the company is targeting a liftoff at the opening of a 2.5-hour window at 6:27 p.m. EDT (22:27 GMT) Thursday, March 30, 2017. This flight will send the SES-10 communications satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. It will be the third time SES, a Luxembourg-based company, has entrusted SpaceX to send one of its spacecraft to orbit. In fact, the SES-8 mission in December 2013 was the first commercial satellite launched by a Falcon 9.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Mar 30)

SPACE EXPERTS WARN THREATS TO SATELLITES COULD HURT EMERGENCY RESPONSE - When tornadoes and severe storms struck Texas and Louisiana this week, emergency responders were prepared thanks to weather satellite information that gave them a three-day warning. That information might seem routine given the number and sophistication of data-collecting spacecraft orbiting the Earth. But government experts are warning that satellites predicting natural disasters, providing geographic coordinates and allowing cell phone communications are just as vulnerable to foreign threats as military ones.   More
(Source: USA Today - Mar 30)

LASER WILL SPEED UP COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EARTH AND ISS - The LCRD will beam data between modems on Earth and the satellite in geosynchronous orbit at speeds 10 to 100 times better than current radio-frequency. Credit: NASA To speed up communication between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS), NASA plans to use powerful laser technology that will relay messages between 10 and 100 times faster than broadband does on Earth. Also known as optical communication, laser communication encodes data into light beams, which are then transmitted from Earth to the ISS and back.   More
(Source: The Space Reporter - Mar 27)

'WE'VE LEFT JUNK EVERYWHERE': WHY SPACE POLLUTION COULD BE HUMANITY'S NEXT BIG PROBLEM - Jason Held rekindled his love for space while lying in a ditch in Bosnia in 1996, where he was one of 16,500 US troops deployed on a peacekeeping mission at the end of the Bosnian War. Then a lieutenant, he says he had “nothing to do but to watch the two armies put their guns away”. So he signed up for a class in undergraduate biology through an army education program, taking the books to the ditch and passing the hours by studying.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Mar 26)

SPACEWALKING ASTRONAUTS PREP SPACE STATION TO DOCK WITH COMMERCIAL SPACESHIPS - Two astronauts wandered outside the confines of the International Space Station today (March 24), embarking on the first of three spacewalks scheduled to take place over the next few weeks. European Space Agency astronaut and flight engineer Thomas Pesquet led the way when he emerged from the station's Quest Airlock at 7:22 a.m. EDT (1122 GMT). NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, commander of the station's Expedition 50 crew, popped out of the airlock shortly after, and the two spacewalkers parted ways to carry out separate tasks around the orbiting lab. While Kimbrough breezed through his to-do list with enough time left for a "get-ahead" task, Pesquet's tasks kept him busy the entire time.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 26)

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