EGYPT TO SEND FIRST COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE INTO ORBIT ON FRIDAY - Egypt will launch its first communications satellite into orbit on Friday to improve its communications and internet services and attract investment. Tiba-1 is due to be launched just after 11pm local time on one of Europe's Arianespace rockets from a space centre in French Guiana, officials said. It is named after Thebes, or Tiba in Arabic, an ancient Egyptian capital whose ruins are in the modern southern city of Luxor. More (Source: The National - Nov 22)
ITU WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATION CONFERENCE ADOPTS NEW REGULATORY PROCEDURES FOR NON-GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES - The 38th ITU World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) has adopted a new innovative milestone-based regulatory approach for the deployment of non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) satellites in specific bands and services. The agreement reached at WRC-19 establishes regulatory procedures for the deployment of non-geostationary satellites, including mega-constellations in low-Earth orbit (LEO). More (Source: Space Daily - Nov 22)
THIS IS HOW ELON MUSK CAN FIX THE DAMAGE HIS STARLINK SATELLITES ARE CAUSING TO ASTRONOMY - In any field of business or industry, the prevailing rule has always been that if there isn't a law against it, you are free to do it. If there are no rules protecting a resource, you are free to use or take as much of it as you want to further your own ends. Until regulatory measures are put into place, disruptors and innovators are free to regulate themselves, often to the extraordinary detriment of those who depended on those now-scarce resources. In astronomy, the greatest resource of all is a dark, clear night sky: humanity's window to the Universe. More (Source: Forbes - Nov 21)
BOEING’S FIRST SPACE-READY STARLINER CREW CAPSULE HEADS TO ITS LAUNCH PAD THURSDAY - Boeing’s first Starliner crew capsule to fly in space is set to depart its factory Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a trip to a launch pad a few miles away, where it will be raised atop an Atlas 5 rocket for liftoff next month on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station. The Starliner spacecraft is being readied for liftoff no earlier than Dec. 17 from Cape Canaveral on a week-long unpiloted demonstration flight to the International Space Station, a crucial precursor before the first crewed Starliner mission next year. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 21)
HOW THE SEATTLE AREA BECAME A HOTSPOT FOR SATELLITE BUILDERS — AND WHAT COMES NEXT - Seattle may not be the best place to put a launch pad, but the region is turning into one of the most prolific satellite production centers in the United States. “How many of you know that Washington state is actually one of the world’s leading satellite manufacturers?” Roger Myers, a longtime aerospace executive who is currently president-elect of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, asked during a session of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region’s Economic Leadership Forum on Monday. More (Source: GeekWire - Nov 20)
ANTI-TRUMP SENTIMENT COULD LIMIT US INVESTMENT IN SPACE, APOLLO 15 ASTRONAUT SAYS - “Anti-President Trump” sentiment in the U.S. could become a barrier to American investment in space exploration, according to astronaut Al Worden. The U.S. president has openly shared his aspirations for NASA to reach Mars and return to the moon. But speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the Dubai Air Show on Monday, Worden — who served as the command module pilot in NASA’s Apollo 15 mission to the moon — expressed doubts as to whether the president would be successful in his push for increased investments in the space agency. More (Source: CNBC - Nov 20)
SPACEX SET TO LAUNCH FALCON 9 ROCKET TO SPACE STATION FROM CAPE CANAVERAL DEC. 4 - SpaceX is targeting 12:51 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, for the launch of its Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft also will carry crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory to support the Expedition 61 crew for the 19th mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. More (Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Nov 20)
COMPOSITE IMAGE OF SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITE SWARM - Last week – on Monday, November 11, 2019 – a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 more Starlink satellites to Earth-orbit. According to Stephen Clark at SpaceFlightNow.com, the satellites traced paths across twilight skies around the world last week, and, even this morning (November 18) astrophotographers are still capturing them, as shown in this image from our friend Padraic Koen. More (Source: EarthSky - Nov 19)
NO WAY BACK SPACE DEBRIS SPACE POLLUTION POSES EXISTENTIAL THREAT - Since the start of space exploration, countless spacecraft have disintegrated in outer space, leaving a ring of space debris orbiting planet Earth. The international space community has slowly woken up to the fact that littering space is not a victimless crime. Space debris poses a threat to orbital stations. The International Space Station (ISS) moves in space at a speed of 8 km per second More (Source: RT - Nov 18)
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