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SATELLITE NEWS
INDIA'S VO-52 SATELLITE GOES DARK - Despite efforts to keep the flagging VUSat OSCAR-52 (VO-52) Amateur Radio satellite in operation for a while longer, ground controllers have yielded to the nearly decade-old spacecraft's failing technology and have permanently taken it out of service. Launched into low Earth orbit in 2005, the VO-52 microsatellite carried two Amateur Radio transponders for SSB and CW. B.A. "Mani" Subramani, VU2WMY/KJ6LRS, of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that VO-52's lithium-ion batteries had failed, and the satellite was officially decommissioned on July 21.
"We all here in ISRO do definitely hope that HAMSAT VO-52 worked tirelessly and was a good friend to the Amateur Radio fraternity around the world," he said. "We are sure that HAMSAT was loved by all who worked through her. Though, we are deeply saddened by the loss of HAMSAT VO-52, she will never be forgotten." More
(Source: ARRL - Jul 22)
GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT SURVEILLANCE SET TO LAUNCH - win inspector spacecraft and a microsatellite testbed will share a Delta 4 rocket ride into space Wednesday evening from Cape Canaveral. The 205-foot-tall United Launch Alliance booster rocket is scheduled for liftoff at 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT) from Complex 37.
The countdown begins with final preparations to retract the 33-story mobile service gantry away from the Delta 4 rocket. Once the tower is pulled back around 11 a.m. EDT, pad configuration steps will be completed before the site is cleared of all workers.
Fueling, which begins in the early afternoon, is a multi-hour process will load the cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks on both stages of the rocket. More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 20)
"DOOMSDAY SPUTNIK": RUSSIA SAID TO LAUNCH NEW MISSILE-ATTACK WARNING SATELLITE - After years of delay, Russia plans to deploy this year the first satellite of its new constellation replacing the space component of the early warning system, Russian media reported. It will also double as an emergency communication satellite.
The satellite was developed for the military, so naturally little is known about it. Identified by disambiguation "product 14F142", it is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Kommersant newspaper.
The spacecraft will be the first in a constellation, aimed to replace the old Oko-1 early warning system, which allows Russia survey countries possessing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and detect possible launches. More
(Source: RT - Jul 20)
MILITARY SATELLITES LIKELY SAW MISSILE STRIKE ON MALAYSIAN AIRLINES FLIGHT - U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the nation today (July 18) to share what his administration knows so far about the attack on Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, an "outrage of unspeakable proportions," he said, that killed nearly 300 innocent people.
All evidence so far indicates that the commercial jet, a Boeing 777, was shot down in eastern Ukraine by a surface-to-air missile launched from an area in controlled by Russian-backed separatists, Obama said.
The president offered scant technical details to explain how the government arrived that conclusion. But it's likely that heat from the explosion was detected from space by a network of military satellites. More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 19)
EARLIER LAUNCH POSSIBLE FOR SPACE STATION MODULES - The first of three experimental modules for China's planned space station is expected to be launched in 2018, with the other two set for launch in 2020 and 2022, a leading scientist said.
The modules will help form a 60-ton space station.
"We set the date as a preliminary goal," said Gu Yidong, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a leading research expert in manned space stations.
Previous media reports set the launch date for the modules at around 2020.
"The date might be changed because a number of factors can influence a launch date. This is a common feature in international research," Gu said at a Beijing forum on space research. More
(Source: ecns - Jul 18)
TOHOKU UNIVERSITY - RISING-2 IN CAPTURE MODE - Rising-2 is a microsatellite developed by Tohoku University and Hokkaido University and was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, on May 24, 2014, and has been conducting various test operations. Dayside cloud imagery and night views of city lights and air glow have been acquired so far using a Wide Field-of-view CCD camera (WFC), and high resolution imaging experiments using HPT have recently started. On July 2, Rising-2 succeeded in shooting detailed landscape in sunny spells during the rainy season as shown in these images. The high resolution can have a significant impact on environmental monitoring, mapping More
(Source: SatNews Publishers - Jul 18)
COMMERCIAL U.S. CARGO SHIP REACHES SPACE STATION - An Orbital Sciences Corp cargo ship reached the International Space Station on Wednesday with a delivery of food, supplies, science experiments and a fleet of tiny Earth-imaging satellites that will be launched from the orbital outpost.
Working from a control panel inside the station's Cupola module, commander Steven Swanson delicately steered the station's 58-foot long (18 m) robotic arm to pluck the Cygnus capsule from orbit at 6:36 a.m. EDT (1036 GMT) as the ships sailed 260 miles (418 km) above northern Libya.
"I think everyone is breathing again," NASA robotics officer Melanie Miller radioed to the crew from Mission Control in Houston. More
(Source: Reuters - Jul 16)
SPACEX LAUNCH DELIVERS ORBCOMM SATELLITES TO ORBIT - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with six compact communications spacecraft Monday, marking a fiery first act in realizing a $230 million investment to modernize an orbital fleet owned by Orbcomm Inc., a New Jersey-based company that connects businesses with remote equipment via satellite. The 224-foot-tall booster soared away from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad at 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) Monday. The all-white launcher turned northeast from Florida's Space Coast, arcing over the Atlantic Ocean atop 1.3 million pounds of thrust and dispatching a rumble heard for miles around. More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 16)
ANTARES LOFTS ORB-2 CYGNUS ON A PATH TO THE ISS - Orbital Sciences launched an Antares rocket with their third Cygnus spacecraft Sunday afternoon, beginning a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. The rocket launched at the end of a very smooth countdown at 12:52 local time (16:52 UTC) from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Cygnus was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, under which it made its first flight last September.
Following this successful demonstration mission Orbital began fulfilling the launches they were awarded under a Commercial Resupply Services contract signed in 2008. More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 13)
GALILEO PREPARES FOR LIFT-OFF - This summer will see significant progress in the world's first civilian-owned and -operated satellite navigation system as Europe prepares to dispatch the first two full-capability Galileo satellites for lift-off.
Payload preparation for Arianespace's Soyuz Flight VS09 started in earnest in early May with the arrival in French Guiana of the first two Galileo full operational capability (FOC) satellites.
After several months of testing in the Netherlands, the twin satellites were placed inside specially designed containers, maintaining temperature, humidity and air cleanliness within rigid limits in readiness for integration with the Soyuz launch vehicle in the middle of this month. More
(Source: Aviation International News - Jul 13)
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