RUSSIA WARNS SANCTIONS COULD CAUSE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO CRASH - According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS. As a result, the Russian segment of the station -- which helps correct its orbit -- could be affected, causing the 500-tonne structure to "fall down into the sea or onto land", the Roscosmos chief wrote on Telegram. More (Source: France24 - Mar 13)
CHINA TO OPEN SPACE STATION TO COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY - China is planning to open its space station to commercial missions and activities, according to a senior human spaceflight program official. “When our space station is completed and running, we will actively encourage the private sector to engage in space through various ways,” Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, told China Central Television March 9. “There are many possibilities. We hope there will be competitive, cost-efficient commercial space players to participate in areas including space applications and space resource development. The prospects are good,” Zhou said. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 12)
CAPTURING THE HERITAGE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION BEFORE IT CRASHES INTO THE OCEAN - The International Space Station will intentionally fall to Earth and come to rest within the depths of Point Nemo, a watery graveyard 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) north of Antarctica, in January 2031. The space station will join the fragments of Russia's Mir and NASA's Skylab in the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area, home to more than 263 pieces of intentionally sunk space debris. Since November 2000, the space station has functioned as an orbiting laboratory 227 nautical miles (420 kilometers) above our planet, as well as a home to continuously rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts. More (Source: CNN - Mar 12)
ACME PLANS 250-SATELLITE WEATHER DATA CONSTELLATION - Acme AtronOmatic, vendor of the MyRadar weather app, won FCC approval to launch satellites to demonstrate technology for a constellation that ultimately could include 250 satellites or more. The satellites, scheduled to launch in April on a Rocket Lab Electron from New Zealand, are designed to test and validate hardware for Orlando, Florida-based Acme’s Hyperspectral Orbital Remote Imaging Spectrometer (HORIS) constellation. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 12)
CANADIAN RADAR SATELLITES TO HELP UKRAINE FIGHT OFF RUSSIAN INVASION - A Canadian aerospace company is doing its part to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion. The Canadian government has granted MDA permission to collect satellite imagery of restricted areas of Ukraine using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the Ontario-based company announced on Tuesday (March 8). More (Source: Space.com - Mar 12)
OMNIBUS BILL CUTS FUNDING FOR FUTURE WEATHER SATELLITES - Appropriators cut funding for a new generation of weather satellites while increasing funding for the Office of Space Commerce for fiscal year 2022. The omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2022, passed by the House late March 9 and scheduled to be taken up by the Senate in the next few days, trimmed spending for development of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellites, from the requested level of $1.68 billion to $1.29 billion. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 11)
NASA TO AIR BRIEFING, SPACEWALKS TO UPGRADE SPACE STATION - Crew members from International Space Station Expedition 66 will conduct two spacewalks Tuesday, March 15, and Wednesday, March 23, to continue upgrades to the orbiting laboratory. NASA will discuss the upcoming spacewalks during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, March 14. Live coverage of the news conference and spacewalks will air on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app. More (Source: NASA - Mar 11)
NASA ORDERS 3 MORE SPACEX CREW DRAGON FLIGHTS TO SPACE STATION - NASA has awarded a nearly $3.5 billion contract to SpaceX to provide three additional Crew Dragon launches to the International Space Station. The contract covers missions Crew-7, Crew-8 and Crew-9, but NASA says it might order more crew launches in the future. SpaceX began flying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in 2020, marking the end of a long drought in which NASA had no direct access to the orbiting laboratory after retiring its space shuttle fleet in 2011. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 10)
SPACEX LAUNCHES STARLINK SATELLITES ON 'AMERICAN BROOMSTICK' AND LANDS ROCKET AT SEA - SpaceX successfully launched a new batch of Starlink internet satellites on Wednesday (March 9), marking the company's 10th launch in as many weeks. A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket launched 48 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 8:45 a.m. EST (1545 GMT). The rocket's first stage then returned to Earth for a smooth touchdown at sea on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 9)
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