LIGHTSAIL 2 SOLAR SAIL SPOTS HURRICANE LAURA FROM SPACE AS SATELLITES TRACK STORM'S PATH - A unique satellite has joined the fleet of orbital eyes keeping watch over Hurricane Laura as it approaches the Gulf Coast. The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 is a crowdfunded solar sail that launched in June 2019 to test whether a satellite could successfully orbit Earth for a year powered only by the sun's rays. It has succeeded and then some, remaining in orbit today. And on Aug. 24, it captured an image of Hurricane Laura (then still a tropical storm) swirling across the Gulf of Mexico. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 27)
SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS COULD HINDER ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH, SCIENTISTS WARN - SpaceX has so far sent a few hundred of Starlink broadband satellites into orbit, but the aerospace company has plans for a constellation featuring thousands of small satellites -- and this has researchers concerned. A report published Tuesday by the Satellite Constellations 1 workshop, an effort organized by the National Science Foundation and the American Astronomical Society, says the constellation could be bad news for astronomers and their research. More (Source: Space Daily - Aug 26)
SPACE STATION CREW SPEND EXTRA NIGHT IN RUSSIAN SEGMENT AS AIR LEAK INVESTIGATION CONTINUES - The trio of astronauts currently living and working on the International Space Station reopened the hatch between the Russian and American sides of the station this morning, according to NASA spokesperson Dan Huot. Support staff will continue to evaluate the situation and determine any tasks for the crew to complete over the course of the week. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 26)
TROPICAL STORMS MARCO AND LAURA CAPTURED ON NASA SATELLITE IMAGES - NASA satellite images show Tropical Storms Marco and Laura swirling in the Gulf of Mexico and drenching Hispaniola, respectively. The Suomi NPP satellite, which is operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), passed over Tropical Storm Marco in the Southern Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. The satellite used its VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument to capture an image of the storm at 3:24 a.m. EDT. More (Source: Fox News - Aug 26)
CHINA LAUNCHES ANOTHER GAOFEN EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE - Another Chinese Gaofen Earth-imaging satellite launched Sunday aboard a Long March 2D rocket, riding to space with a pair of experimental rideshare payloads for the Chinese military. The fifth in a series of Gaofen 9 Earth observation satellites lifted off at 0227 GMT Sunday (10:27 p.m. EDT Saturday) atop a liquid-fueled Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan space base in the Gobi Desert of northwestern China, according to Chinese state media. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 25)
AUGUST SET TO END WITH STRING OF LAUNCHES FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - Launch teams are readying three rockets for a series of blastoffs this week from Cape Canaveral to loft a classified orbiting spy platform for the U.S. government, a long-delayed Argentine radar imaging payload, and the next set of Starlink broadband satellites. The trio of missions — one by United Launch Alliance and two by SpaceX — could close out August with three rocket launches in a little more than three days. If all three launches get off the ground by the end of August, there will have been 20 orbital rocket launches from Cape Canaveral through the first eight months of 2020. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 24)
RUSSIAN COSMONAUT SPOTS 'SPACE GUESTS' AMID DAZZLING AURORAS IN VIDEO. THEY'RE NOT ALIENS. - Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner has captured some truly amazing views of Earth from above as seen from the International Space Station, but his latest video of auroras included an unexpected surprise: five bright lights on the horizon that he dubbed 'space guests.' They're likely satellites, not aliens, but still amazing to see for sure. The most likely culprit is the Starlink broadband satellites SpaceX launched on Tuesday (Aug. 18), a day before Vagner shared his video, although that has not yet been confirmed. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 23)
JAPAN'S KOUNOTORI SPACE CARGO TRANSPORTER ENDS FINAL MISSION - The last of the Kounotori unmanned cargo vessels ended its final mission Thursday as it burned up while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere after transporting supplies to the International Space Station, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said. The agency's Kounotori 9 left the ISS on Wednesday carrying waste materials from the station, following the delivery in May of food and water for astronauts, as well as equipment for experiments. More (Source: The Japan Times - Aug 22)
SPACEX AND AMAZON ARE MAKING SPACE CROWDED AND DANGEROUS WITH SO MANY SATELLITES - Space may seem endlessly vast, but the sky above Earth is actually very crowded—and poised to become more so. According to the European Space Agency’s latest count, there are more than 29,000 objects larger than 10 cm in diameter, including thousands of active and dead satellites, orbiting at various heights around Earth. And every year, more than 100 rockets blast off and deploy something new into space. It’s estimated that, by 2025, the number of manmade objects sent into space per year will grow past 1,100. More (Source: Observer - Aug 22)
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