WITH 1ST SPACE STATION LAUNCH THIS SPRING, CHINESE ASTRONAUTS ARE TRAINING FOR FLIGHT - Chinese astronauts are undergoing intense training for the first crewed missions to construct the nation's new space station, work that is expected to begin in the next few months. At Wenchang, China's coastal launch center, teams are preparing a huge Long March 5 rocket to launch the first of three modules for the Chinese Space Station (CSS).   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 3)

NEW REPORTS DETAIL ONGOING SPACE THREATS, AND RUSSIA IS RAISING CONCERNS - Security experts say that when it comes to threats in space, Russia is raising more concerns than China. These findings come from two annual reports published by nongovernmental organizations that provide open-source information about global developments in counterspace weapons and other space threats. Counterspace missions are defensive or offensive operations in space.    More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 3)

SPACEX ROCKET DEBRIS LANDS ON MAN’S FARM IN WASHINGTON - A pressure vessel from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage fell on a man’s farm in Washington State last week, leaving a “4-inch dent in the soil,” the local sheriff’s office said Friday. The black Composite-Overwrapped Pressure Vessel, or COPV, was a remnant from the alien invasion-looking breakup of a Falcon 9 second stage over Oregon and Washington on March 26, local officials said. The stage reentered the atmosphere in an unusual spot in the sky after sending a payload of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to orbit.    More
(Source: The Verge - Apr 2)

THE FIRST WEATHER SATELLITE LAUNCHED MORE THAN 6 DECADES AGO - What would we do without weather satellites? Previously, before this date in 1960, forecasters were blind to hurricanes out at sea. Then came the world’s first useful weather satellite, the polar-orbiting TIROS-1, which launched April 1 from Cape Canaveral. While the satellite only operated for 78 days, it sent the first meteorological pictures showing what clouds looked like from space.    More
(Source: WJXT News4JAX - Apr 2)

SPACEX IS ADDING A GLASS DOME ON CREW DRAGON FOR 360 VIEWS OF SPACE - The Crew Dragon capsule poised to fly four civilian astronauts to space this year is getting an upgrade: a glass dome will be added at the top to give space tourists a 360-degree view of the cosmos. Plans for the window were announced on Tuesday as SpaceX and the team managing the tourist mission, Inspiration4, revealed the full crew for the upcoming expedition.   More
(Source: The Verge - Apr 1)

SSTL’S HYDROGNSS SATELLITE GETS GREEN LIGHT FOR CLIMATE MISSION - The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected HydroGNSS from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) for its second Scout Earth Observation small satellite mission. HydroGNSS is a 40-kg satellite that will be built and operated by SSTL. ESA selected the first ESA Scout satellite, ESP-MACCS, in December 2020. ESP-MACCS focuses on understanding and quantifying processes in the upper atmosphere over the tropics — processes that play an important role in the overall evolution of the atmosphere.   More
(Source: GPS World magazine - Apr 1)

CHINA LAUNCHES GAOFEN EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE - An Earth observation satellite China says will assist in land surveys, urban planning, and agriculture monitoring successfully launched Tuesday on a Chinese Long March 4C rocket. The spacecraft is the second Gaofen 12-type Earth-imaging satellite launched by China. Chinese officials say the Gaofen satellites are part of the China High-Resolution Earth Observation System, or CHEOS. China says the CHEOS satellite fleet is a civilian-operated program comprising optical and radar imaging spacecraft.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 31)

MEET VSS IMAGINE: VIRGIN GALACTIC UNVEILS ITS FIRST SPACESHIP III SPACECRAFT - The company today (March 30) unveiled its second piloted space plane, a shiny silver vehicle called VSS Imagine. Like Virgin Galactic's other spacecraft, VSS Unity, VSS Imagine is designed to take people and scientific experiments to and from suborbital space. However, the newcomer is the first of the next-generation SpaceShip III line, which features upgrades that will "enable improved performance in terms of maintenance access and flight rate," company representatives wrote in a statement today.    More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 31)

INMARSAT LAUNCHES PROGRAMME TO BOOST AVAILABILITY OF SATELLITE IOT SOLUTIONS - Inmarsat has launched its Application and Solution Provider (ASP) programme with the intention of boosting adoption for IoT purposes. ASP creates an ecosystem for software, hardware, and solution providers that enables access to Inmarsat’s global satellite connectivity and helps companies to expand into new sectors and geographies.   More
(Source: IoT Tech News - Mar 31)

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