LOCKHEED TO OBTAIN VECTOR SATELLITE ASSETS - Lockheed Martin will acquire the satellite technology assets of Vector by default after a bankruptcy court received no qualified bids by a deadline last week. In a Feb. 24 filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, lawyers overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings for Vector said that they received no qualifying bids for the company’s GalacticSky software-defined spacecraft technology by a Feb. 21 deadline.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 26)

FRESH OUT OF STEALTH MODE, ASTRA GEARING UP FOR ORBITAL LAUNCH FROM ALASKA - Some time in the next few days, a California-based company that has quietly toiled to develop a new light-class satellite launcher since 2016 will attempt to send three CubeSats into orbit from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on the first of two missions scheduled before the end of March to win up to $12 million in prize money from the U.S. military. Astra, which operated in stealth mode until earlier this month, is gearing up to launch its first orbital mission as soon as this week.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 25)

CHINA WANTS TO BUILD A NEW SPACE STATION. A PLANNED LAUNCH IN APRIL WILL SET THE STAGE - China's space program is planning a launch in April to prepare for building the country's next space station. A Long March 5B rocket will carry a "trial version" of China's new spaceship, which is designed to carry crews of up to six people, state media source Xinhua said. Previous Chinese spaceships carried up to three taikonauts, the term used to describe Chinese astronauts.   More
(Source: Space.com - Feb 23)

NASA SATELLITE CAPTURES ANTARCTICA MELTING DURING HEAT WAVE - Antarctica, home to the coldest place on Earth, experienced a worrying heat wave earlier in February, possibly even setting a record high temperature for the normally frigid continent. A NASA satellite has taken stock of what that heat meant to the local ice cap and glaciers. NASA's Earth Observatory released two images from the agency's Landsat 8 satellite. They highlight dramatic changes in the ice and snow along the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula.    More
(Source: CNET - Feb 22)

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE ORDERS BOUNCING BACK - Manufacturers are hopeful that 2019 marked the beginning of a turnaround for geostationary satellite orders, even though their market remains fraught with uncertainty. After booking just 14 orders in 2017 and 2018 combined, satellite manufacturers reported 2019 orders for 15 commercially competed geostationary communications spacecraft and two military comsats awarded without open bidding.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 22)

CONSTRUCTION OF CHINA'S SPACE STATION ABOUT TO START - The maiden flight of the Long March-5B rocket carrying a trial version of China's new-generation manned spaceship is expected to take place in April, indicating the imminent start of construction of China's space station. The rocket, the prototype core capsule of the space station and the experimental manned spaceship are undergoing tests at the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of south China's island province of Hainan.   More
(Source: Space Daily - Feb 21)

SOYUZ ROCKET LAUNCHES RUSSIAN MILITARY SATELLITE AFTER ONE-MONTH DELAY - A Russian military communications satellite rode a Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage Thursday into an orbit stretching nearly 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) above Earth, successfully launching after a one-month delay to replace a suspect third stage on the Soyuz booster. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off with a Meridian M communications satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 0824:54 GMT (3:24:54 a.m. EST) Thursday, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 21)

LONG MARCH-2D CONDUCTS MAIDEN LAUNCH FROM XICHANG WITH FOUR SATELLITES - Taking precautions with the coronavirus outbreak in all orbital and space launch centers, China returned to its launch activities after the Chinese New Year festivities with a new launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. This was the first use of a Long March-2D (Chang Zheng-2D) launch vehicle from Xichang. The mission orbited four satellites that will be used to carry out inter-satellite link networking and new ground observation technology tests in orbit. The launch took place from the LC3 Launch Complex at 21:07UTC.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Feb 20)

A SATELLITE MADE IN ST. LOUIS WILL BE LAUNCHED FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WEDNESDAY - A six-pound satellite built right here in St. Louis will be launched from the International Space Station Wednesday. The Argus-2 satellite was built by students at Saint Louis University's Parks College of Engineering and sent to the International Space Station in November. The spacecraft will be launched into orbit at 10 a.m.    More
(Source: KSDK.com - Feb 20)

Next