ELON MUSK IS ALMOST READY TO PROVIDE HIGH-SPEED SATELLITE INTERNET TO ALL - Unsatisfied with just running Tesla, SpaceX, revolutionizing batteries and planning to send people to Mars, Elon Musk also wants to tackle the internet problem. And by problem I don’t mean that your internet is sometimes a bit slow because that’s more of an inconvenience than a major issue. A real problem is that a lot of people around the world have a very difficult time, or even find it downright impossible to access the internet at all. Seeing as how most internet service providers are unlikely to venture to remote parts of the world and sell their services, Elon Musk figured that we should have a global satellite network capable of providing high-speed internet to all straight from low-Earth orbit.   More
(Source: Geek Snack - Jun 11)

EVERY SATELLITE GOT INTO SPACE THANKS TO NEWTON'S LAW OF GRAVITATION - What goes up must come down — though not always in the way you’d expect. This is Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation, and you can thank it for GPS, Google Earth and even the pictures beamed back from the other side of the Solar System. Here’s why. The equation neatly describes the gravitational attraction that two objects experience between each other, as a result of their masses and how far apart their centers lie. It’s this equation that predicts how hard objects fall to Earth when they’re dropped. But it wasn’t entirely Newton’s work, despite its name.   More
(Source: Gizmodo - Jun 11)

FIRST SEX IN SPACE: PORNHUB IS GOING TO MAKE A PORN FILM IN SPACE - In one small thrust for man and one giant leap for mankind, two people are set to have sex in space for the first time in human history, but for porn not procreation - Pornhub is crowdfunding a space mission to shoot an adult film in low-Earth orbit. The site hopes to launch the mission and shoot Sexplorations in 2016, covering the pre and post-production costs itself but seeking $3.4 million from IndieGogo crowdfunders. It's a huge target, but there's every chance it will be reached, with Pornhub receiving over 16 billion visits a year and all of the money being returned to investors if the goal isn't achieved.   More
(Source: The Independent - Jun 11)

FURTHER DELAYS LIKELY IN U.S. LAUNCHES TO SPACE STATION - Come 2018, it's almost certain U.S. astronauts will still be riding Russian rockets to the International Space Station. A vote by a key Senate panel Wednesday all but killed any chance Congress will fully finance NASA's space shuttle replacement program by 2017 and end the agency's reliance on Soyuz rockets for access to the space station. That vote by the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that finances the space program approved $900 million for the shuttle replacement program, known as Commercial Crew, in fiscal 2016. That's nearly $350 million less than the $1.24 billion NASA requested to meet a launch target of late 2017.   More
(Source: USA Today - Jun 11)

RUSSIAN SPACE AGENCY RESCHEDULES 6 FLIGHTS TO INT'L SPACE STATION FOR 2015 - Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday it has rescheduled launches to the International Space Station (ISS) to include six more for 2015. The decision was made after the Progress M27-M cargo ship carrying fuel, oxygen, food and scientific equipment to the ISS failed to dock, going into an uncontrolled spin on April 28. The spacecraft was soon declared irretrievable and burned up in the atmosphere during reentry.    More
(Source: Sputnik International - Jun 10)

GLITCH SHIFTS POSITION OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A glitch at the International Space Station on Tuesday caused its position in orbit to change, but the crew was not in danger, the Russian space agency said. Roscosmos said the engines of a Soyuz spacecraft docked at the station unexpectedly started during testing of the radio system that controls the docking procedure. Steps were taken to stabilize the station and specialists were now working to determine what caused the engines to start, the agency said.   More
(Source: ABC News - Jun 10)

SPACE STATION CREW RETURNING TO EARTH AFTER DELAY - Three crewmembers who have been aboard the International Space Station for an extended, 6.5-month mission will be heading home on Thursday, with no launch date set for their replacements. Station commander Terry Virts with NASA, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and the Italian Space Agency’s Samantha Cristoforetti had been slated to fly back to Earth on May 13. The trio launched aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule on Nov. 24, 2014. The Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, and its partners in the station program delayed the crew’s homecoming and the launch of their replacements while engineers investigated why a Russian Progress cargo ship, flying on a different version of the Soyuz rocket used to launch crew, failed shortly after reaching orbit on April 28.   More
(Source: Discovery News - Jun 10)

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY PLANS TOWN ON THE MOON TO REPLACE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - he European Space Agency is planning a village on the moon to replace the International Space Station orbiting earth that looks like it has come straight from the Teletubbies. Professor Jan Woerner, the future head of the ESA, said construction could start on 'Lunarville' to replace the station in 2024 and would spark huge innovations. 'The construction of a station on the moon would trigger a huge surge of technological innovation on earth. The back side of the moon, which we can't see from earth, would provide the best conditions for research where telescopes could be set up to have an undisturbed view into the depths of space.    More
(Source: Daily Mail - Jun 9)

SATELLITE COMES BACK TO LIFE, DEPLOYS SOLAR SAIL ON SECOND TRY - Mission managers say the shoebox-sized LightSail satellite powered up its tiny deployment motor Sunday, and data from the diminutive spacecraft indicate its experimental solar sail unfurled in orbit hundreds of miles above Earth. The deployment sequence began at 3:47 p.m. EDT (1947 GMT) off the west coast of Baja California, when LightSail was in radio contact with a ground station in San Luis Obispo, California. “Telemetry received on the ground showed motor counts climbing to the halfway point before LightSail traveled out of range,” wrote Jason Davis, a blogger who has provided daily updates since LightSail’s launch for the Planetary Society, which manages the mission. “Power levels were consistent with ground-based deployment tests, and the spacecraft’s cameras were on.”   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 8)

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