SATELLITE BUILT BY BROWN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ENDS A SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY - An amazing journey, made possible by Brown University students, has come to an end. On Dec. 26, EQUiSat, a satellite built by students, burned upon re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. But despite the loss, the project is still considered a success, since the satellite lasted much longer than the designers initially anticipated. The first estimates had the satellite orbiting the earth up for about six months, but it ended up surviving for more than two-and-a-half years.   More
(Source: WPRI.com - Jan 17)

ROCKET LAB CALLS OFF MICROSATELLITE LAUNCH DUE TO SENSOR ISSUE - The small-satellite launch company Rocket Lab called off its first launch of 2021 from New Zealand Saturday (Jan. 16) due to strange sensor readings ahead of liftoff. A Rocket Lab Electron booster was scheduled to launch a microsatellite for the European space technology company OHB Group from New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula at 2:38 a.m. EST (8:38 p.m. New Zealand time; 0738 GMT), but unexpected data from an inclinometer on the booster prompted a delay.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 17)

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY TO BUILD MODULE FOR GATEWAY SPACE STATION - The European Space Agency (Esa) has signed a contract to begin building the module to supply communications and refuelling for the international lunar Gateway space station. The European System Providing Refuelling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (Esprit) will consist of two separate units. The communications system will be used by astronauts to provide data, voice and video links to and from the lunar surface. It will be mounted on the Nasa Habitation and Logistics Outpost (Halo) module, which is scheduled for launch in 2024.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Jan 15)

BLUE ORIGIN TESTS PASSENGER ACCOMMODATIONS ON SUBORBITAL LAUNCH - Blue Origin says it is “very, very close” to flying humans on suborbital launches to the edge of space after a successful test flight of a human-capable rocket and capsule Thursday. The company’s New Shepard rocket and crew capsule took off at 12:17 p.m. EST (11:17 a.m. CST; 1717 GMT) Thursday from Blue Origin’s private launch site north of Van Horn, Texas, east of El Paso.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 15)

METHANESAT PICKS SPACEX FOR SATELLITE LAUNCH TO TRACK METHANE LEVELS IN EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE - A SpaceX rocket will launch a new satellite to track the amount of methane in Earth's atmosphere in 2022. Called MethaneSAT, the small satellite is designed specifically to locate, quantify and track global methane emissions. SpaceX has signed on to launch the satellite into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket during a launch window that opens Oct. 1, 2022.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 14)

FRENCH WINE, LIVE RODENTS AMONG 2 TONS OF CARGO RETURNED FROM SPACE STATION - A SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule parachuted to an on-target splashdown Wednesday night west of Tampa, returning more than two tons of experiment specimens from the International Space Station, including live rodents and a dozen bottles of space-aged French wine. The commercial supply ship, flying on autopilot, dropped out of orbit and re-entered the atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday night.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 14)

NASA TO UPGRADE SPACE STATION SOLAR ARRAYS - NASA will start an upgrade this year of the solar arrays of the International Space Station to ensure the station has sufficient power to continue operating at least through the end of the decade. The agency announced Jan. 11 it would fly the first pair of upgraded solar arrays to the station later this year on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, stored in the spacecraft’s unpressurized trunk section. Two other pairs of the arrays will fly on later Dragon cargo missions, but NASA did not disclose a schedule for them.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 13)

INTELSAT ORDERS TWO SATELLITES FROM AIRBUS - Intelsat has ordered two geostationary communications satellites from Airbus Defence and Space that will support the satellite operator’s aviation connectivity business. The companies announced Jan. 8 the order of two spacecraft from Airbus’ OneSat family of fully reconfigurable geostationary satellites. The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal beyond starting the satellites will be delivered in 2023.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 13)

DREAM CHASER SPACE PLANE'S FIRST FLIGHT SLIPS TO 2022 DUE TO PANDEMIC-RELATED DELAYS - Delays related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have pushed back the anticipated flight date of Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane to 2022. Dream Chaser is one of the NASA-selected cargo vehicles that, once it begins to fly, will resupply the International Space Station (ISS), along with SpaceX's Dragon and Northrop Grumman's Cygnus capsules. But even as the space plane's launch is delayed, its parent company continues to aim towards sending humans to the moon and, eventually, Mars.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 13)

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