CHINA TO LAUNCH SPACE STATION CORE MODULE IN 2018 - China will launch a space station core module in 2018 as the first step in completing the country's first space outpost, according to a senior engineer with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) on Thursday. The core module of the space station, named "Tianhe-1" according to previous reports, will be launched on board a new-generation Long March-5 heavyweight carrier rocket, said Bao Weimin, director with CASC and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). More (Source: Space Daily - Mar 4)
SMALL EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITE LAUNCHED BY NEW CHINESE ROCKET - China debuted a new solid-fueled booster Thursday in an unannounced flight that put a small satellite into polar orbit, adding another rocket to the country’s growing fleet of lightweight launchers. The KT-2 rocket lifted off at 2353 GMT (6:53 p.m. EST) Thursday from the Jiuquan space center, a military-run base in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert, according to a report from the government-owned Xinhua news agency. The secretive launch occurred at 7:53 a.m. Beijing time Friday without an official announcement ahead of time, other than a notice to pilots published two days before the mission warning of drop zones for the KT-2’s spent motor casings. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 4)
VIRGIN GALACTIC UNVEILS SPIN-OFF VIRGIN ORBIT FOR SMALL-SATELLITE LAUNCHES - Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space company is spinning off its LauncherOne rocket program into a separate firm to better position itself to serve the booming small-satellite industry, the company said Thursday (March 2). Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides will hold the same role in the spin-off, called Virgin Orbit, with day-to-day operations now in the hands of Dan Hart, a veteran Boeing executive hired away to become Orbit's president. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 3)
THE US INTELLIGENCE NOMINEE CAN’T BELIEVE INDIA JUST LAUNCHED 104 SATELLITES - The Director of National Intelligence oversees the US intelligence community of 16 different organizations, including the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. A key component of the job involves ensuring that US spy satellite assets remain peerless in their capability to observe activities on Earth. During his confirmation hearing this week, the Trump administration's nominee for this cabinet-level position, former Senator Dan Coats, assured the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that he would remain vigilant in keeping the nation's reconnaissance satellites ahead of the global curve. The United States would also speed up the process by which it gets new technologies into space, he said. More (Source: Ars Technica - Mar 3)
ATLAS 5 POWERS COVERT RECONNAISSANCE PAYLOAD TO ORBIT ON ITS 70TH MISSION - Performing a successful spacelift mission for the U.S. spy satellite agency, an Atlas 5 rocket delivered a surveillance package into orbit today believed by analysts to be another pair of tandem sleuths to scoop up radio signals from adversarial ships at sea. Liftoff came at 9:49:51 a.m. local time (12:49:51 p.m. EST; 1749:51 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as the 191-foot-tall vehicle headed for space on its 70th mission. The kerosene-fed RD-180 main engine powered the rocket off the pad at Space Launch Complex 3-East on South Vandenberg with 860,000 pounds of thrust. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 2)
NASA BUYS TWO MORE SEATS TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ON RUSSIA’S SOYUZ ROCKET - NASA has agreed to fly at least two more astronauts on upcoming Russian Soyuz missions to the International Space Station, the space agency announced in a press release. The news comes in the wake of delays to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative where two American companies — SpaceX and Boeing — are being paid to create spacecraft that can ferry astronauts to the ISS. Those flights were originally supposed to happen this year, but are now estimated to take place no earlier than 2019. More (Source: The Verge - Mar 1)
ULA READIES ATLAS V FOR LAUNCH OF NROL-79 RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE - After enduring several delays – most recently from an issue with the second stage of its Atlas V launch vehicle – United Launch Alliance (ULA) is set to launch the classified NROL-79 mission. Liftoff is planned for Wednesday, March 1, 2017, at about 9:50 a.m. PST (12:50 p.m. EST / 17:50 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. According to Spaceflight Now, the exact duration of the launch window is classified, but the opportunity is expected to close by 10:30 a.m. PST. More (Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Feb 28)
SPACEX TO SEND TWO PRIVATE CITIZENS AROUND THE MOON AND BACK - SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk announced Monday plans to send two paying “private individuals” on a week-long flight around the moon and back to Earth by the end of next year. Musk said the would-be space tourists approached SpaceX to fly on a mission beyond the moon, launching aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and returning to Earth approximately a week later. “They’re very serious about it,” Musk said, declining to identify the passengers in a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon. He later added the clients include “nobody from Hollywood,” but would not provide details on their backgrounds. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 28)
HAM RADIO SATELLITE TRANSMITS VICE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE - The National newspaper reports a message by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, is being beamed across the world from space as the first to be transmitted by the UAE’s Nayif-1 satellite. The National says: Nayif-1 was launched February 15 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India and is being tracked by a team of scientists at a control centre at American University of Sharjah. More (Source: AMSAT-UL - Feb 26)
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