56-YEAR-OLD NASA SATELLITE EXPECTED TO FALL TO EARTH THIS WEEKEND - A NASA geophysics satellite's long space odyssey is nearly at an end. The Orbiting Geophysics Observatory 1 spacecraft, or OGO-1, launched in September 1964 to study Earth's magnetic environment and how our planet interacts with the sun. The satellite gathered data until 1969, was officially decommissioned in 1971 and has been zooming silently around Earth on a highly elliptical two-day orbit ever since. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 29)
HOW LOW CAN SATELLITES GO? AIR FORCE BETS VERY LOW EARTH ORBIT WILL GIVE IT MORE CAPABILITIES - Earlier this month, a small San Francisco-based startup called Earth Observant announced it had won a development contract with the Air Force’s AFWERX technology incubator to advance its design for a small, very low Earth orbit (VLEO) optical imaging satellite. Another small satellite development contract might not seem like a big deal given the many smallsats now in production (and in space) for communications, data and imaging purposes. More (Source: Forbes - Aug 29)
BEFORE AND AFTER SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION FROM HURRICANE LAURA - New satellite images are giving a glimpse of the destruction that Hurricane Laura has waged across Louisiana. Hurricane Laura roared through southwestern Louisiana early Thursday morning, killing six and leaving behind a wide path of destruction. CNN has obtained new satellite images from Maxar Technologies that are showing just how destructive the storm was. More (Source: CNN - Aug 29)
RUSSIA’S LONG-DELAYED SPACE STATION RESEARCH MODULE ARRIVES AT LAUNCH BASE - A long-delayed Russian science module was transported by train from Moscow to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier this month for a final series of electrical tests and outfitting before launch to the International Space Station next year. The bus-sized Nauka research module — also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, or MLM — has been in development for more than 20 years, originally as a backup for Russia’s Zarya module, the first element of the space station to launch in 1998. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 29)
ETHIOPIA SET TO LAUNCH SECOND SATELLITE IN SEPTEMBER - Ethiopia is set to launch its second China-funded satellite into orbit in September, just eight months after the launch of its ETRSS-1 Satellite last December, according to Quartz. The satellite was designed by Ethiopian engineers in an initiative co-funded by both Ethiopia and China. More (Source: SatelliteProME.com - Aug 28)
ULA CALLS OFF LAUNCH OF TRIPLE-CORE DELTA 4-HEAVY ROCKET, WILL TRY AGAIN SATURDAY - United Launch Alliance early Thursday delayed the launch of a triple-core Delta 4-Heavy rocket — the largest launcher in the company’s fleet — until Saturday to allow engineers more time to resolve an issue with a ground pneumatics control system. The launch company planned to fire the Delta 4-Heavy rocket into space at 2:12 a.m. EDT (0612 GMT) Thursday from Cape Canaveral with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 28)
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)
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