PENTAGON CONFIRMS COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE DELAY - The Defense Department confirmed Friday it has no firm deadline for awarding a multibillion-dollar satellite contract, saying it needs time to work up new requirements on what is expected to be a scaled down version of the original program. The Pentagon still plans to award a contract "as soon as possible" to either Boeing Co. or Lockheed Martin Corp. for the Transformational Communications Satellite, known as TSAT, but the award date is still "undetermined," according to a statement released Friday. More (Source: Forbes.com - Oct 25)
UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES 3RD ITALIAN COSMO SATELLITE - A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, on behalf of Boeing Launch Services, successfully launched the third Italian-built Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation or COSMO-SkyMed 3 satellite at 7:28 p.m., today. ULA successfully launched the first two Cosmo satellites on Delta II vehicles June 7, 2007 and Dec. 8, 2007 More (Source: SpaceRef - Oct 25)
SOYUZ CAPSULE CARRYING AUSTIN MILLIONAIRE LANDS SAFELY - A Soyuz capsule carrying Austin computer game designer Richard Garriott and two Russian cosmonauts descended safely into remote Kazakhstan late Thursday, ending a worrisome string of two jarring landings by the venerable spacecraft. Garriott, the 47-year-old son of a former NASA Skylab astronaut, paid $30 million for a round-trip flight to the international space station that began with an Oct. 12 launching of another Russian Soyuz. More (Source: Houston Chronicle - Oct 24)
INDIA'S FIRST LUNAR VOYAGE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED - India made the next giant leap in its space program early Wednesday with the launch of the country's first deep space mission, a probe to circle the moon with science gear from India, Europe and the United States. The 3,042-pound Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft was launched at 0052 GMT Wednesday (8:52 p.m. EDT Tuesday) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island on India's east coast. More (Source: SpaceFlightNow - Oct 22)
ORBITAL SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES COMPANY-BUILT IBEX SATELLITE ABOARD PEGASUS ROCKET FOR NASA - Orbital Sciences Corporation announced that its Pegasus® rocket successfully launched the company-built Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) into its intended highly elliptical orbit. Early results indicate that the satellite is operating as expected at this stage of its mission. More (Source: Orbital - Oct 20)
ORBITAL SET TO LAUNCH COMPANY-BUILT IBEX SCIENTIFIC SPACECRAFT FOR NASA ABOARD PEGASUS ROCKET - Orbital Sciences Corporation announced that it is in final preparations to launch the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite that the company designed, manufactured and tested at its Dulles, VA production facilities. The targeted launch date is Sunday, October 19, which is subject to final pre-launch preparations and testing activities at the launch site, as well as acceptable weather conditions at the time of the More (Source: Orbital - Oct 19)
NASA SATELLITE TO SCAN SOLAR SYSTEM'S OUTER LIMITS - NASA is preparing to launch a satellite that will study in unprecedented detail the distant regions where the outermost reaches of our solar system collide with the cold expanse of interstellar space. The U.S. space agency said on Friday that the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, satellite is scheduled to be launched into high-Earth orbit on Sunday for its two-year mission from a site at Kwajalein Atoll in the south Pacific. More (Source: Reuters UK - Oct 18)
CHINA TO DELIVER TELECOM SATELLITE TO PAKISTAN - China will launch a telecommunication satellite, dubbed PakSat-1R, for Pakistan in 2011. The satellite's chief contractor -- China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) -- said on Thursday that a Long March 3B rocket will be used to put the satellite into orbit. It will launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern Sichuan Province. The company said ground control facilities for the satellite will be delivered to the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission after it enters orbit. More (Source: Xinhua - Oct 17)
STUDENTS' TINY SATELLITE PROJECT SET TO TAKE OFF - A tiny satellite made by students of Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology's Arakawa Campus in Arakawa Ward will be loaded onto the H-2A rocket scheduled to be launched in January from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. Residents, companies and shops in Arakawa Ward have donated about 2 million yen via a local branch of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry to help fund the students' trip to the space center to witness the rocket's launch. The students currently are busy putting the final touches to their satellite. "We'll do everything we can to make the project a success for the locals who supported us," one student said. More (Source: The Daily Yomiuri - Oct 17)
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