BANKRUPT ONEWEB FILES WITH FCC TO PUT 48,000 BROADBAND SATELLITES IN ORBIT - Even though the OneWeb satellite venture is going through bankruptcy and a potential sale, it filed an application overnight with the Federal Communications Commission to expand its planned broadband internet constellation to as many as 48,000 satellites. OneWeb has launched 74 satellites into low Earth orbit so far, and has FCC authorization for a total of 720. More (Source: GeekWire - May 29)
NASA CHIEF WANTS TO INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION WITH TOM CRUISE'S FILM ON SPACE STATION - NASA Administrator James Bridenstine says the space agency hopes to inspire the next generation with Tom Cruise's upcoming movie, which will be the first Hollywood project to be shot aboard the International Space Station. Cruise and technocrat Elon Musk's aviation company Space X are collaborating with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for filming the ambitious narrative movie aboard a real SpaceX vessel. More (Source: Economic Times - May 29)
CHINA OUTLINES INTENSE SPACE STATION LAUNCH SCHEDULE, NEW ASTRONAUT SELECTION - China is preparing to carry out 11 missions in two years to construct a space station and will soon select a new batch of astronauts for the project. The first module for the Chinese space station will launch next year, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, on the sidelines of a political conference in Beijing Tuesday. More (Source: SpaceNews - May 29)
RUSSIA PLANS NEW SPACE STATION, SAYING ISS BECOMING OBSOLETE - Russia plans to build a new space station because the current International Space Station will last only another decade at most, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in an interview published on Monday. "It's still unclear whether it (the new station) will be international or national," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said in comments carried by the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. More (Source: Daily Sabah - May 28)
RSCC PLANNING FOUR SATELLITES TO COVER RUSSIA’S FAR NORTH - Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC) plans to add arctic coverage to its fleet by ordering four satellites for highly elliptical orbits later this year. Yuri Prokhorov, RSCC’s chief executive, said the company wants to have the satellites in orbit in 2024 to provide Ku-band coverage to Russia’s Far North, a vast region beyond the reach of the state-owned satellite operator’s 10 geostationary satellites. The elliptical orbit satellites, called Express-RVs, will extend RSCC’s coverage deep into the Arctic Circle, he said by email. More (Source: SpaceNews - May 28)
HISTORIC SPACEX LAUNCH DELAYED DUE TO BAD WEATHER, NEXT ATTEMPT COMING THIS WEEKEND - History will be made this weekend at Cape Canaveral, Florida, as SpaceX launches astronauts into space for the first time. Not only will this be the first time that the privately owned company is sending astronauts into space, but it will be the first time that astronauts have launched from the United States in nearly a decade. The launch was originally set for Wednesday, May 27 at 4:33 p.m. EDT, but poor weather conditions forced SpaceX and NASA to delay the launch. The next launch attempt will be on Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EDT. More (Source: Accuweather - May 27)
NASA, SPACEX PICK MAY 27 TO RESUME ASTRONAUT LAUNCHES IN US - NASA and SpaceX have picked May 27 for resuming astronaut launches from the U.S. after nine years of complete Russian dependence. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the launch date Friday. Astronauts haven’t launched into orbit from the U.S. since NASA’s last space shuttle flight in 2011. SpaceX aims to end the drought by sending two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. More (Source: AP News - May 27)
CANADIAN ROBOTIC ARM CAPTURES JAPANESE SPACE FREIGHTER - After a five-day journey, the H-II Transport Vehicle-9 (HTV-9) was captured by Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA using the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm from the station’s cupola to grapple the 12-ton spacecraft. More (Source: NASA - May 27)
TWO PAYLOADS QUALIFIED FOR U.S. SPACE FORCE EARLY WARNING SATELLITES - Two sensor payloads for the U.S. Space Force’s new missile warning satellites have passed a key design review. One of them will be selected for the first Next-Generation Overhead Infrared satellite scheduled to launch in 2025. Raytheon and a Northrop Grumman/Ball Aerospace team designed competing sensor payloads for the Next-Gen OPIR geosynchronous satellites that Lockheed Martin is developing for the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center. Both payloads completed preliminary design reviews last week, SMC said on May 22. More (Source: SpaceNews - May 26)
Previous Next
