RUSSIA MULLS WITHDRAWING FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION AFTER 2024 - The 20-year-old International Space Station (ISS) is showing its age: Last month, cosmonauts patched up cracks in a Russian module that were thought to be the source of minor air leaks. Cracks are also appearing in the international alliance that keeps the station going. This week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov suggested Russia would back away from the ISS as early as 2025 to pursue a national space station. More (Source: Science Magazine - Apr 21)
CHINA WANTS TO LAUNCH ITS OWN HUBBLE-CLASS TELESCOPE AS PART OF SPACE STATION - China could launch the first module for its own space station this month as the country also prepares to send a large space telescope to join it in orbit within the next few years. The Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST), which is set to launch in 2024, will operate as a space optical observatory for Chinese scientists to carry out sky surveys, according to Xinhua.The telescope, sometimes called "Xuntian," which literally translates to "survey the heavens," will have an impressive 6.6-foot (2 meters) diameter lens, making it comparable to the Hubble Telescope Scope. More (Source: Space.com - Apr 21)
NASA, SPACEX WATCHING WEATHER IN DOWNRANGE ABORT ZONES FOR CREW LAUNCH - Preparations for the planned liftoff Thursday of a SpaceX Dragon capsule with a four-person crew to the International Space Station cleared another readiness review Tuesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but officials are tracking marginal wind and sea conditions in downrange abort zones in the Atlantic Ocean that could force a launch delay. With no significant technical issues standing in the way of launch Thursday, NASA and SpaceX officials gave a “go” to continue flight preps at the conclusion of a Launch Readiness Review early Tuesday. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 21)
THE VULNERABILITY OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS - Over the past decade or so, we’ve witnessed the increasingly significant role satellites play in today’s technology, from providing geolocation capabilities to enabling logistics and navigation, to the intelligence gathering conducted by nation states. The satellite industry has seen a resurgence over the past few years, and is now in a prime position to play a key role in meeting the ever-growing market demands, such as 5G backhaul and the Internet of Things (IoT). More (Source: Security Magazine - Apr 20)
ELON MUSK’S SATELLITE INTERNET PROJECT IS TOO RISKY, RIVALS SAY - Elon Musk’s internet satellite venture has spawned an unlikely alliance of competitors, regulators and experts who say the billionaire is building a near-monopoly that is threatening space safety and the environment. The Starlink project, owned by Mr. Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or SpaceX, is authorized to send some 12,000 satellites into orbit to beam superfast internet to every corner of the Earth. It has sought permission for another 30,000. More (Source: The Wall Street Journal - Apr 20)
DRAGON CREW REHEARSES FOR LAUNCH DAY, FIRST-LOOK WEATHER FORECAST LOOKS GOOD - After completing a dress rehearsal for launch day over the weekend, the four astronauts gearing up for liftoff Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket are in good spirits and spending time with their families in Florida before leaving the planet for six months. Forecasters with the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predict an 80% chance of acceptable weather for launch at 6:11 a.m. EDT (1011 GMT) Thursday from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 20)
WORLD'S FIRST SPACE STATION LAUNCHED 50 YEARS AGO TODAY - On 19 April 1971, 50 years ago, the world’s first space station – Salyut 1 – was launched. Its debut success for the Soviet Salyut program paved the way for the future of space exploration, allowing astronauts to spend extended periods of time in space and conduct the scientific experiments and make the observations that have shaped human history, as well as breaking numerous space records, all ratified by the FAI. More (Source: World Air Sports Federation - Apr 20)
A BOOM IN SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY IS REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY WE SEE THE EARTH - When researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) published a study last year on its discovery of 11 new colonies of emperor penguins, they acknowledged an unusual source of assistance – students at Stirling High School in Scotland. Inspired by a David Attenborough program on the plight of the iconic bird, the teens and their teacher used satellite mapping imagery from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2, developed an algorithm, and found traces of unknown and unconfirmed colonies. They then passed on their findings to the BAS. More (Source: Landscape News - Apr 19)
RUSSIAN CAPSULE BRINGS HOME THREE SPACE FLIERS - Two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth early Saturday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan amid preparations in Florida for launch of another station-bound crew Thursday aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. With Russian recovery forces and NASA support personnel standing by, the Soyuz spacecraft’s central crew module, descending under a single orange-and-white parachute, settled to an on target rocket-assisted touchdown at 12:55 a.m. EDT (10:55 a.m. local time) to close out a 185-day mission. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 18)
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