RUSSIAN PROTON-M LAUNCHES WITH EKSPRESS-AM7 MISSION - A Russian Proton-M was in action on Wednesday, lofting the Ekspress-AM7 communications satellite on what is a multi-hour flight to a geostationary orbit via its Briz-M Upper Stage. The Russian workhorse launched from its traditional home at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 22:05 UTC on a nominal first leg of the flight. The Proton booster tasked with launching the satellite was 4.1 m (13.5 ft) in diameter along its second and third stages, with a first stage diameter of 7.4 m (24.3 ft).   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 19)

LOCKHEED MARTIN THROWS ITS HAT INTO ISS CARGO COMPETITION - Lockheed Martin has proposed a semi-reusable resupply platform to send up cargo to the International Space Station beginning in 2018, adding another competitor to a crowded list of companies bidding to win multibillion-dollar contracts from NASA. The robotic logistics carrier would loft heftier cargo than any other vehicle currently servicing the space station and use a long-lived satellite to pick up supply containers launched into orbit, then fly the equipment to the crew aboard the 250-mile-high research laboratory.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 18)

ESA SUCCESSFULLY CORRECTS SIXTH GALILEO SATELLITE'S ORBIT - The ESA has successfully corrected the orbit of its sixth Galileo satellite following its launch into an elongated orbit in August 2014. It took 14 maneuvers to reposition the probe, which is designed to form part of a new global navigation system on par with existing GPS and Glonass solutions. The fifth and six Galileo satellites were launched together in August 2014, and are designed to follow the same path on their course around Earth, orbiting on opposite sides of the planet. Due to a malfunction during assent, the two satellites were launched into a lower orbit than intended, with the sixth probe hitting altitudes of between 13,713 km (8,521 miles) and 25,900 km (16,094 miles), bring it into contact with the harmful Van Allen Belt.   More
(Source: Gizmag - Mar 17)

ISRO'S FOURTH NAVIGATION SATELLITE TO BE MATED WITH ROCKET THIS WEEK - The Indian space agency is hoping to mate the country's fourth regional navigation satellite around March 19, after replacing a faulty transmitter on Monday, said a senior official. "The new transmitter is expected to be fixed in the satellite and tested. Then the fully assembled satellite will be mated with the rocket," M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) told IANS over phone. The transmitter from Isro Satellite Centre, located in Bangalore and that is part of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), reached SDSC on Sunday. After mating the satellite with the rocket, a full system check would be carried out and then the rocket launch date would be fixed.   More
(Source: NDTV - Mar 17)

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN DNEPR LV TO LAUNCH SOUTH KOREAN SATELLITE ON MARCH 26 - KOSMOTRANS - A Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr launch vehicle, a derivative from the RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, will put the South Korean KOMPSAT-3A satellite into orbit on March 26, Kosmotrans reports. "The RS-20 rocket coupled with KOMPSAT-3A will blast off from the Yasny launch site in the Orenburg region at 03:08:46 local time on March 26," says a report posted on the company website. Originally, the launch was planned for March 12. Three commercial Dnepr missions were scheduled for 2015.   More
(Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines - Mar 16)

CAPE CANAVERAL PREPPING FOR THIRD LAUNCH IN THREE WEEKS - Cape Canaveral Air Force Station could host its third launch in as many weeks if SpaceX lifts off as planned next Saturday afternoon. A Falcon 9 rocket is targeting launch of Turkmenistan’s first satellite at 4:04 p.m., the opening of a one-hour window at Launch Complex 40. The contact with satellite builder Thales Alenia Space calls for launch a communications satellite to a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles over the equator. The satellite will enable Turkmenistan “to secure and enhance Turkmenistan communication means,” according to Thales. As with SpaceX’s first launch this month on March 1, the company will not attempt to land the Falcon 9 booster on a drone ship in the ocean because of the satellite’s weight and flight to a high orbit.   More
(Source: Florida Today - Mar 15)

BIGELOW AEROSPACE SHOWS OFF ITS VISION FOR EXPANDABLE SPACE STATIONS - The International Space Station's next module looks like a hot tub wrapped up in bulletproof fabric, sitting on the floor of a Las Vegas warehouse — but when the module goes into orbit later this year, NASA plans to unfold it into the outer-space equivalent of a rec room. "This could be a very nice module potentially for the crews to go hang out in. ... It may become a very popular place," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told journalists who gathered Thursday at Bigelow Aerospace's Las Vegas headquarters for the module's unveiling. But that's just the start. If the experimental module works out the way NASA and Bigelow Aerospace hope it does, we could be seeing even bigger and better expandable spacecraft, including monster space blimps that have twice as much volume as the International Space Station.    More
(Source: NBC News - Mar 14)

LOCKHEED'S 'JUPITER' SPACE TUG COULD FLY TO SPACE STATION, MOON AND BEYOND - Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new spaceflight architecture that it says could take cargo to the International Space Station and help facilitate humanity's spread out into the solar system. Lockheed hopes the system — which features a space tug known as Jupiter and a supply module called Exoliner — wins a NASA contract for the next round of cargo missions to the space station, which would commence in 2018. But the company's ambitions extend far beyond low-Earth orbit, to destinations such as the moon and Mars. Lockheed unveiled the project, along with a video animation of how Jupiter and Exoliner would work, on Thursday (March 12). "Although our priority is going to be servicing the International Space Station and providing the ability to carry commercial payloads and deploy small satellites, we're also designing this system from the beginning to be able to do deep-space missions," Lockheed Martin space exploration architect Josh Hopkins told reporters during a news briefing Thursday.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 14)

ULA ATLAS V MMS LAUNCHES FROM THE CAPE - United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket has launched NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission on Thursday. Launching from Cape Canaveral, the rocket will place the four-satellite constellation into a highly elliptical orbit, beginning a two-year mission to study reconnection in the magnetosphere. Launch occurred at the start of a thirty-minute window at 22:44 local time (02:44 UTC on Friday). The Magnetic Multiscale – or MMS – mission consists of four identical spacecraft which will be used to conduct plasma physics research in the environment of the Earth’s magnetosphere. The mission is intended to help scientists better understand a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection which has been observed in plasmas.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 13)

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