SATELLITE WILL DIE BY FIRE AS 1ST-OF-ITS-KIND OPERATION SENDS IT PLUMMETING DOWN TO EARTH - Scientists are preparing for a "first-of-its-kind" operation to steer a dead satellite back to Earth in a safe assisted re-entry. The satellite that will be the subject of this guided return to Earth is the European Space Agency (ESA) wind-monitoring Aeolus spacecraft. At a press conference on Wednesday (July 19), ESA scientists explained how they will attempt to guide the return of Aeolus to Earth, which should happen on Friday, July 28.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 21)

SLOW-SCAN TV EXPERIMENT WITH ARRL PLANNED FOR AMATEUR RADIO ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), in collaboration with ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®, plans to carry out a special slow-scan TV (SSTV) experiment from the ISS on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. During the event, the Columbus Module Repeater, transmitting at 437.800 MHz, will carry a message to be received by teachers attending the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology professional development class.    More
(Source: ARRL - Jul 20)

HERE'S HOW ISS ASTRONAUTS JETTISON OLD SPACE STATION HARDWARE - Taking out the trash on the International Space Station often requires a robotic helper, as a new video shows. In the video, NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg shows off a cylindrical piece of space debris safely drifting toward Earth after being jettisoned by a Canadian robotic arm. The debris' path should have it fall into Earth's atmosphere in the summer of 2025, with no risk to the International Space Station.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 20)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 15 STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT, LANDS ROCKET AT SEA - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 15 Starlink satellites toward orbit early Thursday (July 20) and came back down for a landing on a ship at sea. The Falcon 9 lifted off from California's foggy Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday at 12:09 a.m. EDT (0409 GMT; 9:09 p.m. on July 19 local California time) after a one-day delay.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 20)

WATCH SPACEX LAUNCH 15 STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT EARLY WEDNESDAY - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will send another batch of the company's Starlink internet satellites to orbit early Wednesday (July 19), and you can watch the action live. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 15 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to launch from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday at 12:40 a.m. EDT (0440 GMT; 9:40 p.m. on July 18 local California time).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 19)

HOUSE AND SENATE APPROPRIATORS CUT NASA’S BUDGET - House and Senate appropriators have drafted bills that would give NASA slightly less money in 2024 than it received in 2023, rather than the significant increase the administration requested. The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a commerce, justice and science (CJS) spending bill for fiscal year 2024 on a 28–1 vote during a July 13 markup. That bill funds NASA as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Science Foundation, among other agencies.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 18)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES 7 SATELLITES, RECOVERS BOOSTER AFTER OCEAN SPLASHDOWN - Rocket Lab launched seven satellites to orbit Sunday (July 17) and brought the booster back to Earth for a soft ocean splashdown. An Electron rocket carrying seven small satellites lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site Monday at 9:27 p.m. EDT (0127 GMT on July 18), after being delayed by a few days due to bad weather. Rocket Lab called the mission, the company's 39th to date, "Baby Come Back." And there's a good reason for that: About 17 minutes after liftoff, the Electron's first stage came back to Earth, making a soft splashdown under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean. Rocket Lab recovered the booster with a ship and will haul it back to land for inspection and analysis.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 18)

AEOLUS: ESA SATELLITE TO BE STEERED BACK TO EARTH FOR FIRST TIME - In a re-entry that's the first of its kind, a satellite named Aeolus is set to return to Earth in the next few weeks - steered and guided by space operators. The European Space Agency's (ESA) satellite has been orbiting for nearly five years but now its mission is complete. Normally satellites remain in space as 'junk' or naturally fall back down to Earth. If they're small they catch fire and fall apart, but Aeolus is a bigger satellite - the size of a small car.   More
(Source: BBC News - Jul 17)

POWERFUL NASA-ISRO EARTH OBSERVING SATELLITE COMING TOGETHER IN INDIA - Two major components of the NISAR satellite have been combined to create a single spacecraft in Bengaluru, India. Set to launch in early 2024, NISAR – short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar – is being jointly developed by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, to track movements of Earth’s land and ice surfaces in extremely fine detail. As NISAR monitors nearly every part of our planet at least once every 12 days, the satellite will also help scientists understand, among other observables, the dynamics of forests, wetlands, and agricultural lands.   More
(Source: SpaceRef - Jul 17)

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