EIGHT-SATELLITE TEVEL MISSION TO LAUNCH ON JANUARY 13 - The TEVEL mission, which consists of eight satellites carrying amateur radio FM transponders, is set to launch on January 13 at 1525 UTC on the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-3 mission, which also carries AMSAT-Spain’s (AMSAT-EA) EASAT-2 and HADES satellites. The TEVEL satellites were developed by the Herzliya Science Center in Israel. More (Source: ARRL - Jan 13)
NEW NASA CHIEF SCIENTIST PLEDGES A PLAN TO RENEW AGENCY'S EARTH SATELLITE FLEET - NASA's newly appointed science and Earth science lead says there is "more to plan" when it comes to figuring out next priorities for the agency's aging satellite fleet. Katherine Calvin is the first NASA chief scientist to also act as the agency's senior climate advisor, a role created in February 2021. Calvin is serving in the roles under a temporary assignment from her long-time base at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Joint Global Change Research Institute. Calvin comes to the agency as NASA works to implement a new Earth System Observatory, first announced in May 2021. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 13)
CHINA’S MEGACONSTELLATION PROJECT ESTABLISHES SATELLITE CLUSTER IN CHONGQING - A group leading China’s national low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation has founded two new firms to help develop the project, but overall plans remain vague. China Satellite Network Application Co., Ltd. and Chongqing Satellite Network System Research Institute Co., Ltd. were established in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, Dec. 29, to jointly construct a satellite Internet industry system in the city of Chongqing, Chinese language state media Science and Technology Daily reports. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 13)
COSMONAUTS PREP FOR SPACEWALK AS ASTRONAUTS WORK SCIENCE AND MAINTENANCE - In one week the first spacewalk of 2022 is set begin at the International Space Station. Two Expedition 66 crew members are getting their spacesuits ready as the rest of the crew works research and maintenance. Station Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov are due to exit the Poisk module in their Russian Orlan spacesuits on Jan. 19 at 7 a.m. EDT. They will spend about seven hours configuring both the Prichal docking module and the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module in the vacuum of space. More (Source: NASA - Jan 13)
HOW TO SEE AND TRACK THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) - The International Space Station (ISS) is a multi-nation laboratory, orbiting 248 miles (400 kilometers) above our heads. It perhaps comes as no surprise that the ISS can easily be seen and tracked from Earth. The colossal structure reflects sunlight and appears as a bright white pinpoint of light in the sky. According to NASA, the ISS will typically be the brightest object in the sky (except for the moon), and can even be spotted from the middle of a city. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 13)
BREAKUP OF CHINA’S YUNHAI-1 (02) SATELLITE LINKED TO SPACE DEBRIS COLLISION - U.S. space tracking has linked the breakup of Chinese satellite Yunhai-1 (02) to a collision with a small piece of debris from a Russian satellite launch, according to NASA. The Yunhai-1 (02) satellite was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and launched in September 2019 into a Sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of around 783 kilometers. It suffered a breakup event on March 18, 2021, creating a number of pieces of debris. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 12)
VIRGIN ORBIT TO DEMONSTRATE AIR-LAUNCH FLEXIBILITY ON UPCOMING MISSION - Virgin Orbit is preparing to launch a set of smallsats as both a demonstration of the flexibility of its air-launch system and its ability to increase its cadence of launches. Virgin Orbit’s next LauncherOne mission, called “Above the Clouds” by the company, is now scheduled for Jan. 13 after a one-day delay “to thoroughly validate the system and to check our sensor readings,” the company tweeted Jan. 11. The Boeing 747 aircraft used as the launch platform is scheduled to take off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California between 4 and 6:30 p.m. Eastern, with release of the rocket over the Pacific about one hour later. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 12)
POWERFUL EUROPEAN EARTH-OBSERVATION SATELLITE SUFFERS ANOMALY IN ORBIT - One of humanity's most powerful Earth-observing satellites is having some problems in orbit. The Sentinel-1B radar satellite, part of the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation program, hasn't beamed home any data since suffering an anomaly on Dec. 23. And the problem appears to be relatively serious. "Following the previous news on the Sentinel-1B anomaly that occurred on 23 December 2021, the resuming of the operations was carefully prepared, including the onboard configuration changes preventing the anomaly to occur again,"... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 12)
NASA COMPLETES MAJOR JWST DEPLOYMENTS - The primary mirror of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope unfolded into place Jan. 8, completing the major steps in the post-launch deployment of the giant observatory. Controllers issued commands to deploy an assembly called the starboard primary mirror wing, containing 3 of the 18 segments of the primary mirror. The wing was folded against the side of the spacecraft for launch, and over the course of about three hours a motor moved it into position and it was then locked into place. A similar wing on the other side of the primary mirror moved into place Jan. 7. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 12)
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