SECONDARY PAYLOADS LAUNCHED WITH LANDSAT BEGIN COMMISSIONING - Ground teams are stepping through testing of three small CubeSats launched with the Landsat 9 remote sensing satellite last month, preparing the small spacecraft for exoplanet observations and communications experiments. NASA says engineers have not established contact with another CubeSat designed for space weather research. Four CubeSats launched as rideshare payloads with the Landsat 9 mission Sept. 27 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 11)

ASTRONAUTS CHOOSE ‘ENDURANCE’ AS NAME FOR NEW SPACEX CREW CAPSULE - The astronauts who will ride SpaceX’s newest Dragon spaceship into orbit later this month said Thursday they named their spacecraft “Endurance” as a tribute to the human spirit and a historic sailing vessel used by Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. The new spacecraft, previously known by serial number “Capsule 210,” is scheduled to launch Oct. 30 with three NASA astronauts and a European Space Agency flier heading for the International Space Station.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 11)

BOEING STARLINER TEST FLIGHT TO ISS PUSHED BACK TO 2022 - Boeing's Starliner spacecraft continues to have trouble making it to the International Space Station, with its uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 to the ISS now getting pushed into next year. The test is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which sees the space agency working with private companies like Boeing and SpaceX to shuttle astronauts to the station.   More
(Source: CNET - Oct 10)

CHINA ROLLS OUT ROCKET FOR ITS LONGEST CREW MISSION YET - China has rolled out a rocket to the pad to send three astronauts from the desert up to its new Tianhe space station core module, although the launch date remains a mystery. A 203-feet-high (62 meters) Long March 2F rocket was vertically transferred to the pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert early on Thursday (Oct. 7).   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 9)

CHINESE PARTNERSHIP TO CREATE TIANXIAN SAR SATELLITE CONSTELLATION - A Chinese state-owned enterprise and a private firm are partnering to establish a 96-satellite SAR constellation, with the first launch set for February 2022. The 38th institute of the giant state-owned enterprise China Electronics Technology Group (CETC) will work with private satellite manufacturer Spacety to construct a X and C-band synthetic aperture radar constellation named Tianxian. The constellation will consist of 96 small satellites launched into various planes.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 9)

JAPANESE SATELLITE LAUNCH FACING WEEKS-LONG DELAY - The launch of a solid-fueled Japanese Epsilon rocket with nine small satellites, originally scheduled to blastoff last week, has been grounded until after the flight of a larger H-2A launcher later this month, Japan’s space agency said Friday. The Epsilon rocket was supposed to blast off Sept. 30 (U.S. time) from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima prefecture. Officials scrubbed that launch attempt less than a minute before liftoff due to a balky connector on a mobile radar tracking system.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 9)

FORECASTING SPACE WEATHER IS HARD, BUT A NEW AUSTRALIAN SATELLITE COULD MAKE IT EASIER - The Australian-made space weather satellite CUAVA-1 was deployed into orbit from the International Space Station on Wednesday night. Launched to the space station in August aboard a SpaceX rocket, a major focus of this shoebox-sized CubeSat is to study what radiation from the Sun does to Earth's atmosphere and electronic devices. Space weather such as solar flares and changes in the solar wind affects Earth's ionosphere (a layer of charged particles in the upper atmosphere).   More
(Source: Phys.org - Oct 8)

SPACEX IS ADDING TWO MORE CREW DRAGONS TO ITS FLEET - SpaceX is about to double the size of its fleet of Crew Dragon spaceships. The company is debuting a new spacecraft for a NASA launch later this month, and is building a fourth human-rated capsule that should be ready for flight early next year, a SpaceX official said Wednesday. Sarah Walker, director of SpaceX’s Dragon mission management office, confirmed Wednesday the company is readying a fourth Crew Dragon spacecraft for an inaugural flight next year. SpaceX and NASA officials previously announced that the next NASA crew mission, known as Crew-3, scheduled for liftoff Oct. 30 will use a new vehicle.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 8)

SES CEO THINKS SATELLITE INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATION LIKELY - The chief executive of satellite operator SES says consolidation of the satellite industry is more likely than ever to improve its overall return on investment, but that the structure of the industry might hinder such deals. Speaking at the Satellite Innovation conference here Oct. 5, Steve Collar addressed growing perceptions that the industry is ready for a wave of deals like the unsolicited proposal by telecom magnate Patrick Drahi last week to acquire Eutelsat for $3.2 billion. While Eutelsat rejected the deal, it appeared to leave the door open for a revised, higher offer.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 7)

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