ROBOTIC SATELLITE SERVICER REHEARSAL UNDERWAY IN ORBIT - The concept of dispatching low-cost spacecraft to repair and refuel more expensive troubled satellites took a step closer to reality Sunday when two first-of-a-kind orbiting testbeds began operations to validate autonomous in-space servicing techniques. The two craft are part of the U.S. government's $300 million Orbital Express program, which is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon's primary research and development arm. More (Source: SPACEFLIGHT NOW - Apr 4)
CHINA MISSILE-TEST DEBRIS UPS RISK OF SATELLITE DAMAGE - Scientists have concluded that a Chinese missile test in January that smashed an aging weather satellite was the messiest space event ever, adding more than 1,500 big scraps of debris to a junkyard that's orbiting the Earth. They said it may only be a matter of time before a weather, communications or other satellite - or the manned International Space Station - slams into space rubbish. More (Source: MercuryNews.com - Apr 1)
A DEBRIS FROM A RUSSIAN SATELLITE QUITE HITS A LAN CHILE AIRBUS A-340 - Last Tuesday, a Lan Chile's Airbus A-340, left from Santiago and bound to Auckland, was quite hit by a debris from a Russian satellite crashed down on the Pacific ocean 12 hours before its expected re-entry. More (Source: AvioNews - Mar 30)
NEAR MISS BETWEEN SPACE JUNK AND JETLINER - The Civil Aviation Authority is to conduct an investigation after pieces of space junk came close to hitting a plane over the Pacific Ocean. The pilot of a Lan Chile Airbus en route to Auckland reported air traffic controllers a flaming object hurtled past the plane late Tuesday night. More (Source: Radio New Zealand - Mar 28)
JAPAN'S SPY SATELLITE HITS SNAG - One of Japan's four spy satellites orbiting earth has hit a snag and has not been functioning properly from Sunday, Kyodo News said Tuesday, citing the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center. More (Source: People's Daily Online - Mar 28)
CHINESE SATELLITE TO ORBIT MARS IN 2009 - A Chinese satellite is expected to orbit Mars in 2009, thanks to an agreement the country signed with Russia on Monday. During President Hu Jintao's current visit to Moscow, the two countries agreed to stage a joint unmanned mission to the red planet and one of its moons in two years, the China National Space Administration said Tuesday in Beijing. More (Source: China Daily - Mar 28)
JULES VERNE TO ORBIT THIS YEAR - Jules Verne, the first of five European Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV), will be lofted into orbit in September or November after an extensive three-year test campaign by the European Space Agency (ESA). It will be the heaviest payload ever lifted by an Ariane 5 into space. More (Source: Satnews.com - Mar 27)
UNKNOWN SATELLITE-LIKE DEVICE FALLS INTO SOMALIA - A baffling device which resembles a satellite or Unidentified Flying Object (U.F.O) has landed in a rural area close to Buulo-Burde town, 220km north of the Somalia capital Mogadishu, eyewitnesses told Shabelle radio on Monday. Villagers report that the device had fallen in a remote jungle area, some 40km north of Bulo-Burde, killing one camel. No experts have reached there to find out exactly what the object is. More (Source: SomaliNet News - Mar 27)
LONDON TO SEND A SATELLITE TO SPACE - The city of London has said that they are now planning to send a satellite into space to cut out the need for mobile phone masts in collaboration with Inmarsat which already has several satellites in orbit. The city officials also plan to use this satellite to monitor motorists from space. More (Source: TechWhack.com - Mar 27)
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