EUROPEAN SPACE COMPANIES LAUNCH BID FOR SECURE SATELLITE NETWORK - A team of space and telecommunications companies from across Europe have joined together to bid on the continent’s next-generation constellation of communication satellites. An open consortium led by Airbus Defence and Space, Eutelsat, Hispasat, SES and Thales Alenia Space announced May 2 that they will jointly bid for the European Commission’s Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity, and Security by Satellite (IRISS, also known as IRIS2) constellation, intended to provide a more secure space-based communication system to the bloc by 2027.   More
(Source: C4ISRNET - May 3)

A FIERY END? HOW THE ISS WILL END ITS LIFE IN ORBIT - Drift into the wrong part of the Pacific Ocean in eight years, and you might be in for a shock. Tearing through the sky will be some 400 tonnes (880,000lbs) of metal, set aglow by its re-entry through the atmosphere. This raging inferno will crash into the ocean, across an area maybe thousands of kilometres in length, signalling the end of one of humanity's greatest projects – the International Space Station (ISS).   More
(Source: BBC - May 3)

AIRBUS DESIGNS A SPACE STATION WITH ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY - The International Space Station (ISS) is nearing the end of its service. While NASA and its partners have committed to keeping it in operation until 2030, plans are already in place for successor space stations that will carry on the ISS’ legacy. China plans to assume a leading role with Tiangong, while the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to deploy its own space station by mid-decade. NASA has also contracted with three aerospace companies to design commercial space stations, including Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef, the Axiom Space Station (AxS), and Starlab.   More
(Source: Universe Today - May 3)

NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR DRAGON PORT RELOCATION ON SPACE STATION - Four crew members aboard the International Space Station will relocate their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft’s docking port Saturday, May 6, to make way for the arrival of an upcoming cargo spacecraft. NASA will provide live coverage of the move beginning at 7 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app, and on the agency’s website at: https://www.nasa.gov/live   More
(Source: NASA - May 2)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 3 SATELLITES TO ORBIT ON 6TH-EVER FALCON HEAVY MISSION - SpaceX launched its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket for the sixth time ever on Sunday (April 30), sending three satellites toward distant geostationary orbit. The Falcon Heavy lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Sunday at 8:26 p.m. EDT (0026 GMT on May 1), carrying three satellites aloft after days of delay due to weather and a last-minute abort on April 28. SpaceX has not stated the reason for the abort.   More
(Source: Space.com - May 1)

SPACEX FALCON HEAVY ROCKET ABORTS TRIPLE SATELLITE LAUNCH AT LAST MINUTE - A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying three satellites aborted an attempted launch at the last minute late Friday (April 28). The heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket was 59 seconds from lifting off at 8:26 p.m. EDT (0026 GMT) from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida when SpaceX called an abort. The rocket was about to enter its startup phase, but did not ignite its 27 first-stage engines, nine each on its three core boosters. It's unclear what caused the abort.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 30)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET WITH TWO O3B INTERNET SATELLITES - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off with a pair of O3b internet satellites for SES Friday evening from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but a last-minute abort for a Falcon Heavy mission later in the night prevented the company from pulling off a launch doubleheader. The Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral at 6:12 p.m. EDT (2212 UTC) sent the the second pair of Boeing-built satellites into space for SES’s O3b mPOWER network, a constellation of equatorial orbiting internet relay platforms for telecom operators and mobile connectivity services.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 29)

AIR FORCE NAVIGATION SATELLITE EXPERIMENT APPLYING LESSONS FROM GPS - The U.S. Air Force Navigation Technology Satellite-3 — a flight experiment seven years in the making — is undergoing final tests ahead of a projected 2024 launch. A lot is riding on this project. The $250 million experiment led by the Air Force Research Laboratory aims to deliver novel technologies for space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). It’s also seen as a test case for the management of the so-called PNT enterprise, which includes the satellites, the ground system and the receivers that allow users to talk to the satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 29)

WATCH LIVE: FIRST ARAB SPACEWALKER HEADS OUTSIDE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Veteran NASA astronaut Steve Bowen and Emirati astronaut Sultan Alneyadi suited up and floated outside the International Space Station Friday for a spacewalk to prepare the outpost for new solar arrays and retrieve a disabled S-band antenna for eventual return to Earth. Alneyadi became the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk. The astronauts switched their NASA spacesuits to internal battery power at 9:11 a.m. EDT (1511 UTC) to mark the official start of the spacewalk, which was expected to last about six-and-a-half hours.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 29)

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