NORTHROP GRUMMAN'S SS SALLY RIDE DEPARTS INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Northrop Grumman's autonomous Cygnus spaceship left the International Space Station on Friday, carrying away more than 8,000 pounds of trash from the orbiting laboratory. The SS Sally Ride, named after the first American woman astronaut, departed from the Unity module of the ISS about 7:20 a.m. EDT. The vessel burned up in a planned re-entry into the atmosphere shortly afterward. More (Source: UPI.com - Apr 22)
DEAD NASA SATELLITE CRASHES TO EARTH OVER THE SAHARA DESERT - dead NASA spacecraft crashed to Earth Wednesday night (April 19) over northern Africa, according to the U.S. military. NASA's RHESSI satellite reentered Earth's atmosphere at 8:21 p.m. EDT on Wednesday (0021 GMT on April 20), according to the space agency. "The Department of Defense confirmed that the 660-pound spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere over the Sahara Desert region, at approximately 26 degrees longitude and 21.3 degrees latitude," NASA officials wrote in an update today (opens in new tab) (April 20). More (Source: Space.com - Apr 21)
AIRBUS UNVEILS FUTURISTIC SPACE STATION CONCEPT - The European aerospace giant Airbus has unveiled a new concept space habitat that will be more spacious and comfortable than existing space stations. The multi-purpose orbital module called Loop features three customizable decks that are connected via a tunnel surrounded by an integrated greenhouse. The orbital habitat is designed for a four-person crew but could be adjusted to accommodate up to eight spacefarers, Airbus said in a statement (opens in new tab). More (Source: Space.com - Apr 21)
CONFUSION OVER CAUSE OF FLASH IN SKY OVER KYIV AFTER NASA DENIES INVOLVEMENT - A flash in the sky over the Ukrainian capital prompted confusion and alarm as city authorities said it was caused by a Nasa satellite reentering the atmosphere, while the US space agency denied involvement. A “bright glow” was observed over Kyiv around 10pm local time, the head of Kyiv’s military administration Sergiy Popko wrote on Telegram. An air raid alert was activated, Popko said, but “air defence was not in operation”. More (Source: The Guardian - Apr 20)
RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS RELOCATE RADIATOR ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SPACEWALK - Two Russian cosmonauts helped relocate a large radiator outside of the space station overnight, completing a spacewalk that had been twice delayed. International Space Station Expedition 69 commander Sergey Prokopyev and flight engineer Dmitry Petelin, both of Russia's federal space corporation Roscosmos, conducted a 7 hour, 55 minute EVA (extravehicular activity) overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday (April 18 to April 19) to relocate the radiator from one Russian module to another. More (Source: Space.com - Apr 20)
LOCKHEED MARTIN DECLARES SUCCESS DEMONSTRATING TECH FOR IN-ORBIT SATELLITE SERVICING - A pair of Lockheed Martin cubesats that flew to geostationary Earth orbit in November performed maneuvers in close proximity and demonstrated other technologies for in-orbit servicing operations, company officials said April 17. The Linuss experiment — short for Lockheed Martin’s In-space Upgrade Satellite System — went to orbit on the USSF-44 national security mission launched by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 19)
NORTH KOREA CLAIMS IT’S READY TO LAUNCH FIRST SPY SATELLITE: STATE MEDIA - North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has ordered officials to prepare to launch the country’s first military reconnaissance satellite, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Wednesday. During his visit to the National Aerospace Development Administration on Tuesday, Kim Jong Un said the country’s military reconnaissance satellite production has been completed and ordered the dispatching of “several reconnaissance satellites,” KCNA reported. More (Source: CNN - Apr 19)
CHINA'S NEW SPACE STATION, TIANGONG, WILL RUN HIGH-ENERGY BEAM EXPERIMENTS - China has completed the remarkable feat of building and deploying its third space station, Tiangong, in a mere two years. Translated, Tiangong means "Palace in the Sky," and this new space station aims to test various technologies that could eventually be used on a larger scale, with both civilian and military applications. In addition to its scientific applications, Tiangong will be used as a testbed for China's future manned spaceflight program. More (Source: Forbes - Apr 19)
HOW TO RAPIDLY PRODUCE HIGH-VOLUME SATELLITE STRUCTURES - Thanks to industrial processes, Beyond Gravity (formerly RUAG Space) has proven that it is capable of producing satellite structures in very large quantities. The international space supplier has a strong presence in the USA. With more than 600 satellites in orbit the OneWeb constellation is set to provide global broadband coverage by year-end. More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 18)
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