KLEOS SPACE SATELLITES READY TO LAUNCH - Kleos Space, a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data provider, completed all acceptance reviews and the satellites are mission-ready awaiting transport to RocketLab’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. The satellites in the Kleos’ Scouting Mission are now secured in their protective Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) boxes – designed to prevent damage to the hardware in the event of a discharge of static electricity. The multi-satellite Scouting Mission system aims to form the foundation of a constellation that delivers a global picture of hidden maritime activity, enhancing the intelligence capability of government and commercial entities when Automatic Identification System (AIS) is defeated, imagery is unclear, or targets are out of patrol range. More (Source: Via Satellite - Jul 17)
NASA ASTRONAUTS CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOON LANDING ON BOARD THE SPACE STATION - NASA Astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague join the world in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing — only, they do it from around 250 miles (~400 km) above the Earth's surface on board the International Space Station. More (Source: Lincoln Journal Star - Jul 17)
EU'S GPS SATELLITES HAVE BEEN DOWN FOR FOUR DAYS IN MYSTERIOUS OUTAGE - Galileo, the EU's global navigation satellite system, has been down for four days, since July 11, following a mysterious outage. All Galileo satellites are still non-operational, at the time of writing. According to a service status page, 24 of the 26 Galileo satellites are listed as "not usable," while the other two are listing a status of "testing," which also means they're not ready for real-world usage. More (Source: ZDNet - Jul 15)
CHANDRAYAAN-2: INDIA SPACE LAUNCH DELAYED BY TECHNICAL PROBLEM - The launch of India's second lunar mission has been halted less than an hour before the scheduled blast-off, due to a technical problem. The countdown stopped 56 minutes before the launch after a "technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system," India's space agency said. The satellite had been scheduled for launch at 02:51 local time on Monday (21:21 GMT Sunday) from Sriharikota space station on India's eastern coast. A new launch date will follow soon. More (Source: BBC News - Jul 15)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL X-RAY ASTRONOMY MISSION - A Proton rocket and Block DM upper stage climbed into space Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with Spektr-RG, an astronomical observatory with dual X-ray telescopes developed by Russian and German scientists on the hunt for the signature of dark energy. The new observatory will detect X-ray emissions from across the sky, including those from huge clusters of galaxies. By measuring the mass, luminosity and distance of distant galaxies, Spektr-RG could help astronomers better understand dark energy, the mysterious force driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. More (Source: SpaceFLight Now - Jul 14)
ARCHINAUT, A CONSTRUCTION ROBOT FOR SPACE, COULD LAUNCH A TEST FLIGHT IN 2022 - ff-Earth manufacturing is set to take a giant leap a few years from now. NASA has awarded California startup Made In Space $73.7 million to give the company's "Archinaut" spacecraft-assembly technology an orbital test. The "Archinaut One" demonstration craft will launch to low Earth orbit aboard a Rocket Lab Electron booster no earlier than 2022, NASA officials announced Friday (July 12). Once aloft, Archinaut One will 3D print two 32-foot-long (10 meters) beams, which will extend from each side of the spacecraft. More (Source: Space.com - Jul 14)
CHINA SET TO CARRY OUT CONTROLLED DEORBITING OF TIANGONG-2 SPACE LAB - China appears set to deorbit its Tiangong-2 space lab in the near future, according to a social media release from the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO). CMSEO announced a quiz competition (Chinese) Friday through its WeChat social media platform account, testing knowledge of launch times and mission details, to mark the ‘return of Tiangong-2’. No date for the planned re-entry was stated by CMSEO, which manages China’s human spaceflight endeavors. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 13)
NASA TO BROADCAST LAUNCH, ARRIVAL OF ASTRONAUT ANDREW MORGAN AT SPACE STATION - A multinational crew of space travelers, including NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday, July 20 – the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's historic landing on the Moon. NASA Television and the agency's website will provide live coverage of the crew's launch and arrival. Morgan, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are preparing to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... More (Source: PRNewswire - Jul 13)
CRASHED UAE MILITARY SPY SATELLITE RAISES POSSIBILITY OF ENEMY CYBERATTACK - An investigation has been launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) and French aerospace group Arianespace into the failed launch of a rocket carrying a military spy satellite into space for the United Arab Emirates. Two minutes after take-off, a "major anomaly" sent the expensive, high-tech payload into the Atlantic—the first failure for Arianespace's Vega rockets after 14 successful missions. The two French-built Falcon Eye satellites, of which this was the first, were designed "to provide a wholly new capability to [the UAE's] military," according to defense analysts, "representing the most advanced optics France had ever sold to another country." More (Source: Forbes - Jul 13)
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