RUSSIAN SATELLITE CREEPS UP TO INTELSAT SATELLITE - AGAIN - A Russian satellite has sidled up to yet another satellite in geostationary orbit, reigniting concerns that it could be stealing data or could cause a collision. Since launching in September 2014, a Russian satellite known as Luch or Olymp has caused friction in the national security space community as it traverses across geostationary orbit. Geosynchronous satellites are separated into wide segments of space in order to avoid interference with each other, but Russian operators have ignored that setup with Luch, preferring instead to travel through the orbit, creeping up on other commercial and government satellites.   More
(Source: C4ISRNet - Sep 4)

SPACEX REPORTS A ‘BUG’ IN ITS ALERT SYSTEM AFTER ESA SHIFTS SPACECRAFT TO AVOID STARLINK SATELLITE COLLISION - The European Space Agency says it performed a collision avoidance maneuver over the Labor Day weekend to head off a potential crash between its Aeolus wind-measuring satellite and one of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband data satellites. In a series of tweets, ESA said Monday’s event marked the first such maneuver taken to avoid an active satellite in what’s expected to become a “mega constellation” of thousands of satellites — and it warned that such maneuvers posed a grave challenge for future orbital traffic management.   More
(Source: GeekWire - Sep 4)

ASTRONAUTS IN SPACE 'FEEL THE POWER' OF HURRICANE DORIAN - As Hurricane Dorian churned across the Bahamas Monday (Sept. 2), the storm's awed astronauts in orbit with its raw power and set NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on high alert for potential damage. As of 11 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT), Dorian was stalled just north of Grand Bahama Island as the Category 4 storm battered the island with maximum sustained winds of nearly 130 mph (215 km/h), according to a National Hurricane Center update. Earlier Monday, the storm was hard to miss to astronauts looking down on Earth from the International Space Station.    More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 4)

SPACEX REFUSED TO MOVE A STARLINK SATELLITE AT RISK OF COLLISION WITH A EUROPEAN SATELLITE - The European Space Agency (ESA) says one of its satellites was forced to avoid a satellite from SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, raising concerns about the impact of Starlink on low Earth orbit operations, after SpaceX refused to move their satellite out of the way. At 11.02 A.M. today, Monday, September 2, ESA’s Aeolus Earth observation satellite had to use its thrusters to move itself out of a potential collision with a Starlink space internet satellite dubbed “Starlink 44”.   More
(Source: Forbes - Sep 3)

NEW SATELLITE SYSTEM COULD MAKE CANADIAN SOLDIERS SAFER ABROAD - The Department of National Defence will soon be able to monitor Earth in minute detail, from detecting an improvised explosive device buried in Afghanistan to determining if a ship has illegally entered the Arctic. That's just a sampling of what the government-owned RADARSAT Constellation Mission satellite system can do. The trio of identical satellites was launched in June and will orbit the earth every 96 minutes. The satellites will allow DND to look at almost any part of the earth every 24 hours.   More
(Source: CBC.ca - Sep 2)

KUAIZHOU-1A LOFTS TWO SATELLITES FOR CHINA - The Chinese launched two new small satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in a mission managed by the Expace company. The launch took place at 23:41UTC on Friday, using the Kuaizhou-1A (Y10) rocket. Onboard the solid fuelled launch vehicle was the KX-09 and the Xiaoxiang 1-07 satellites. Developed by the DFH Satellite Co., the microgravity experimental satellite KX-09 (supposedly Kuxue-09) will conduct studies in microgravity. Established in August 2001, DFH Satellite Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in system R&D, design, integration and in-orbit service of small satellites.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Sep 1)

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE SPY SATELLITE IMAGE TRUMP TWEETED - An Iranian satellite launch gone wrong prompted Donald Trump to gloat on Twitter—and share an unprecedented example of US spy satellites at work. An anomaly at an Iranian launchpad on Aug. 29 during an attempted satellite launch left the site smoking. Iran’s attempts to build a functioning space program are controversial because there are overlaps between space-launch and missile technology; this is the second time this year an attempt to place a satellite in orbit has gone wrong.   More
(Source: Quartz - Sep 1)

RUSSIA’S ROKOT VEHICLE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES GEO-IK-2 SATELLITE - Russia’s Rokot rocket has deployed a military satellite that will help refine models of Earth’s gravitational field. The Geo-IK-2 No.13L satellite lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:00:14 Moscow Time (14:00 UTC) Friday, separating from its carrier rocket less than two hours later.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 31)

NASA SATELLITES TRACKING AMAZON FIRES SHOW HEAVY SMOKE, SCORCHED EARTH - NASA satellites have observed thick smoke billows and extremely high temperatures as record-breaking fires continue to scorch the Amazon. On Aug. 23, NASA's Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) photographed regions of northern Brazil and eastern Bolivia. The satellite observations covered swaths of land about the size of a football field, according to a statement from NASA.    More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 30)

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