SPACE DEBRIS A FREQUENT TOPIC AT SATELLITE INNOVATION 2020 - Tracking and avoiding the growing debris field in low Earth orbit was clearly on the minds of speakers on the first day of the Satellite Innovation 2020 conference. “Today, unfortunately, there is a lot of debris up there,” said Tony Gingiss, OneWeb Satellites CEO. “We have to be able to track it and avoid it. But fundamentally, we also have to change the landscape in terms of … the responsibilities of the parties operating up there to actually make sure that we’re not creating more debris.”   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 7)

SPACEX BREAKS CYCLE OF SCRUBS WITH SUCCESSFUL FALCON 9 LAUNCH - Sixty more SpaceX Starlink broadband satellites rocketed into orbit Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center, breaking a streak canceled launch attempts at the Florida spaceport in recent weeks and nudging the Starlink network closer to reaching a wider population. Nine Merlin 1D engines flashed to life and powered the Falcon 9 launcher off pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 7:29:34 a.m. EDT (1129:34 GMT) Tuesday, a few minutes after sunrise on Florida’s Space Coast.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 7)

SEARCH CONTINUES FOR SMALL AIR LEAK ON SPACE STATION - Crew members on the International Space Station over the weekend continued trying to pinpoint the location of a small air leak in the research outpost’s Russian Zvezda service module, one of the oldest sections of the orbiting laboratory. As of Monday, the station crew had not located the precise site of the leak, but officials believe they have traced it to a transfer compartment at the rear section of the Zvezda module, near an aft docking port where a Russian Progress resupply freighter is attached.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 6)

SPACEX READY AGAIN FOR STARLINK V1.0 LAUNCH 12 - After inclement weather led SpaceX to call off a launch attempt on Monday morning, the company is ready to try again on Tuesday at 7:29am EDT (11:29 UTC) for a liftoff of the Starlink v1.0 Launch 12 mission from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. This will be the fifth attempt to get the mission off the ground. The weather forecast shows a 70% chance of favorable weather at T-0 with the primary concern being the Cumulus Cloud Rule.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 6)

ARISS TO CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF HAM RADIO ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) will soon celebrate 20 years of continuous ham radio operations on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA is commemorating the milestone with a newly produced infographic highlighting the educational contacts via amateur radio between astronaut crew members aboard the ISS and students. Over its 20 years, ARISS has supported nearly 1,400 scheduled ham radio contacts with schools, student groups, and other organizations.   More
(Source: ARRL - Oct 6)

CYGNUS SUPPLY SHIP REACHES SPACE STATION WITH TITANIUM TOILET - A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, delivering nearly four tons of supplies and experiments to the research lab and its crew, including a $23 million titanium toilet and a high-definition virtual reality camera planned for use on a future spacewalk. Capping an automated laser-guided rendezvous sequence, the Cygnus cargo freighter moved within 40 feet (12 meters) of the space station early Monday, close enough for the lab’s Canadian-built robotic arm to reach out and grapple it.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 6)

IT'S TIME TO RECKON WITH SPACE JUNK - We’re well into our seventh decade of treating outer space like a dumpster. Sixty-three years ago, on Oct. 4, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite. Its rocket body was the first piece of orbital debris. Little did we know what had begun. Since then, the amount of space junk has increased astronomically, especially in low-Earth orbit (altitudes less than 1,000 km from Earth), due to its ease of access for satellite placement.   More
(Source: The Hill - Oct 5)

WORLD SPACE WEEK 2020 IS CELEBRATING SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY. HERE'S HOW TO WATCH. - World Space Week 2020 kicks off today (Oct. 4) and will celebrate how satellites have changed humanity with a variety of online events to appeal to space enthusiasts and young students alike. The international celebration commemorates how space improves "the human condition", according to the World Space Week website. The events stretch from Oct. 4 – the anniversary of first satellite Sputnik's launch in 1957 – to Oct. 10, the anniversary of the signing of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 that underlies space law.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 5)

AN ARISS SLOW-SCAN TV EVENT FROM THE ISS IS SCHEDULED - An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) slow-scan television (SSTV) event from the ISS is set to begin on October 4 at 1400 UTC for setup and operation, continuing until October 8 at 1915 UTC. Dates and times are subject to change, due to ISS operational adjustments. Images will be downlinked at 145.800 MHz ±3 kHz for Doppler shift. The expected SSTV mode is PD 120.   More
(Source: ARRL - Oct 4)

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