THIS SATELLITE TOW TRUCK COULD BE THE START OF A MULTIBILION-DOLLAR BUSINESS - On Monday, February 24, 2020, at about 9 p.m. U.S. Eastern time, a robotic spacecraft named MEV-1 is traveling some 22,000 miles above the Pacific Ocean in a geosynchronous orbit. A satellite at that location holds a fixed position over the equator because its speed matches that of Earth’s rotation. At the moment, MEV-1, which stands for Mission Extension Vehicle-1, is in pursuit of its client, a $200 million satellite called IS-901. More (Source: Air & Space Magazine - Jul 18)
NASA PLANS EARLY AUGUST RETURN OF CREW DRAGON FROM SPACE STATION - NASA confirmed July 17 that the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, with two astronauts on board, will return to Earth from the International Space Station in early August. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted that the agency current plans to have the Crew Dragon spacecraft, with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board, undock from the ISS on Aug. 1, splashing down off the Florida coast Aug. 2. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 18)
FALCON 9 BOOSTER ARRIVES FOR NEXT ASTRONAUT LAUNCH FROM SPACE COAST - The SpaceX Falcon 9 booster slated for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ahead of a launch later this summer. Crew-1 will launch three NASA astronauts and one Japanese astronaut to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center. More (Source: WMFE - Jul 17)
SPACEWALKING ASTRONAUTS REPLACE OLD SPACE STATION BATTERIES AS PART OF YEARS-LONG UPGRADE - Two NASA spacewalkers swapped out vital solar array batteries on the International Space Station Thursday (July 16), nearly completing the extensive replacement work needed to keep the orbiting lab powered through at least 2024. NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken zoomed through their tasks, removing six aging nickel-hydrogen batteries on the far starboard S6 truss of the ISS. More (Source: Space.com - Jul 17)
MINOTAUR ROCKET SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYS FOUR NRO SATELLITES IN ORBIT - A solid-fueled Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket vaulted into orbit Wednesday from Virginia’s Eastern Shore and deployed four top secret spacecraft for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency, extending the program’s success record ahead of three more Minotaur missions planned in 2021. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 16)
BANKRUPTCY COURT FREES PAYMENT TO ONEWEB SATELLITES TO RESTART SATELLITE MANUFACTURING - OneWeb received permission from a U.S. bankruptcy court Friday to pay its satellite vendor to resume building spacecraft for the company’s broadband megaconstellation. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the payment during a July 10 hearing that clears the way for the sale of OneWeb to the British government and Bharti Global, which bid together July 3 as BidCo 100 Ltd. to acquire the bankrupt megaconstellation startup and return it to operations. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 16)
POCKET-SIZED GERMAN SATELLITE MAKER SHOOTS FOR STARS - Holding its own against aerospace giants like pan-European Airbus Space or French-Italian Thales Alenia, German minnow OHB has carved out a space as a national champion in satellite building. Its latest coup was claiming a hefty slice of business from contracts signed in early July by the European Space Agency (ESA) as it builds up its Earth observation programme known as Copernicus. More (Source: Phys.org - Jul 16)
MINOTAUR ROCKET READY TO LAUNCH FOUR PAYLOADS FOR U.S. SPY SATELLITE AGENCY - Four clandestine payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office are awaiting liftoff Wednesday from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a Minotaur 4 rocket powered by Cold War-era missile stages stored for more than 30 years until their conversion into a satellite launcher. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 15)
SPACEX DELAYS LAUNCH OF SOUTH KOREAN MILITARY SATELLITE TO PERFORM ROCKET CHECKS - SpaceX postponed the upcoming launch of a South Korean military satellite Monday (July 13), due to hardware issues with the Falcon 9 rocket. The California-based rocket builder planned to launch South Korea's first military satellite, called Anasis 2, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday evening (July 14). The Falcon 9 was scheduled to take off during a 4-hour window that opened at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT). More (Source: Space.com - Jul 15)
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