THREE ENTIRELY NEW LIFEFORMS DISCOVERED ON SPACE STATION - American and Indian scientists have examined four bacterial strains from the station and found that the three belonged to a species previously unknown to science. The rod-shaped bacteria were found roughly five years ago in different locations on the station: one on the surface of a dining table, one on an overhead panel at a research station, and another in the Cupola observatory dome.   More
(Source: Sky News - Mar 19)

SATELLITES CAN HELP DETECT WHEN A VOLCANO'S ABOUT TO BLOW - Just as we can often spot the beginnings of an illness from a number of signs, there are symptoms of volcanic activity that can indicate a growing likelihood of eruption. Monitoring them can involve detecting surface changes and small earthquakes caused by the movement of magma inside a volcano, or measuring changes in gases emitted from vents. Signs like these are used to raise alerts and trigger evacuations, and they have saved lives. But they aren’t always perfect.   More
(Source: WIRED - Mar 19)

SATELLITE THAT CAN CLEAN UP SPACE JUNK WITH A MAGNET ABOUT TO LAUNCH - A satellite is about to demonstrate a new way of capturing space junk with magnets for the first time. With the frequency of space launches dramatically increasing in recent years, the potential for a disastrous collision above Earth is continually growing. Now, Japanese orbital clean-up company Astroscale is testing a potential solution. The firm’s End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration mission is scheduled to lift off on 20 March aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. It consists of two spacecraft: a small “client” satellite and a larger “servicer” satellite, or “chaser”.    More
(Source: New Scientist - Mar 18)

ARISS HAM STATION IN COLUMBUS MODULE IS ONCE AGAIN OPERATIONAL - Some 6 weeks after going silent following a spacewalk that installed new antenna cabling, the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) ham station in the Columbus module is once again operational. The Columbus station, which typically uses the call sign NA1SS, is the primary ARISS amateur radio station used for school contacts and other activities. A January 27 spacewalk replaced a coax feed line installed 11 years ago with another built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus.   More
(Source: ARRL - Mar 17)

CPUT TO LAUNCH SOUTH AFRICAN MINI-CONSTELLATION OF THREE SATELLITES - CPUT is expected to launch the first South African mini-constellation of three satellites for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDASat-1) towards the end of 2021. This mission, named MDASat-1, will use Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to monitor the waters off South Africa’s coast for shipping movements within our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). AIS is a radio system used for the tracking of maritime traffic, primarily for collision avoidance. The location messages received by the satellites from ships on the ocean beneath it is downloaded from the satellite when it passes over the ground station at CPUT.   More
(Source: Space in Africa - Mar 17)

STUDENT-BUILT SATELLITE RETURNS AFTER TWO AND A HALF YEARS IN SPACE - Brown Space Engineering’s first ever student-built satellite, EQUiSat, reentered Earth’s atmosphere on Dec. 26, 2020, after over 14,000 trips around Earth. Brown students had the opportunity to track the satellite as it traveled around Earth and work directly with NASA to test the use of LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) batteries in space.    More
(Source: The Brown Daily Herald - Mar 17)

PARAGUAY'S FIRST SATELLITE DEPLOYED FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - On March 14, the Paraguayan Space Agency (AEP) deployed a satellite from the International Space Station to help track a tiny parasite that causes Chagas disease. The satellite, Guaranisat-1, is the first developed and put into orbit by Paraguay. An estimated 8 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America have Chagas disease, which if untreated can be life-threatening. Large-scale population movements from rural to urban areas of Latin America and other parts of the world have increased the geographic distribution of the disease.   More
(Source: Space Ref - Mar 17)

2.9-TON BATTERY PALLET BECOMES LARGEST OBJECT DISCHARGED FROM SPACE STATION - A pallet of batteries was released from the International Space Station, becoming the heaviest single piece of junk ever jettisoned from the station. Mission controllers in Houston commanded the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release an external pallet loaded with the 2.9 tons of nickel-hydrogen batteries into Earth's orbit Thursday morning.    More
(Source: UPI.com - Mar 16)

NASA TAPS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR SPACE STATION DUCT TAPE DISPENSER - For more than 50 years, NASA astronauts have relied on duct tape as a fix-it-all for everything from a lunar rover on the moon to an air leak on board the International Space Station. Up until now, though, they have not had an easy way to dispense the adhesive. Enter high school students from five different states, who have come up with the solution.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 16)

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