IRANIAN SATELLITE TO BE LAUNCHED ON SUNDAY - "The Zafar satellite will be placed in orbit today from Semnan at a speed of 7,400 kilometers," Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said. A government minister announced that Iran would be launching a new satellite on Sunday after the planned launch on Saturday was delayed for unknown reasons.   More
(Source: The Jerusalem Post - Feb 9)

SPACEX CONSIDERS STARLINK SPINOFF AS TEAMS READY FOR MID-FEBRUARY LAUNCH - SpaceX says it is considering spinning off its Starlink broadband Internet project into a separate company, while teams at Cape Canaveral ready to launch around 60 more of the flat-panel data relay nodes into Earth orbit as soon as Feb. 15. Bloomberg first reported this week that SpaceX is could create a new company to oversee the Starlink network and pursue a public stock offering, allowing investors to buy ownership shares in the Starlink project.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 8)

INDIA PROUDLY SHOWCASES ITS ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPON AT AN ARMS BAZAAR - This week, India's Ministry of Defense is holding Defexpo 2020 in the northern part of the country. The event seeks to promote India as a "defense manufacturing hub." In other words, it is essentially an arms bazaar. One of the main exhibits of this week's show is a large display showing off a copy of the hardware used during Mission Shakti, the successful anti-satellite test conducted by India in March, 2019. During this test, the country successfully fired a missile from the ground to shoot down a satellite at an altitude of 300km.   More
(Source: Ars Technica - Feb 8)

ONEWEB PLANS APRIL LAUNCH BREAK TO TWEAK SATELLITE DESIGN - Deployment of OneWeb’s constellation of nearly 650 global broadband satellites is slated to begin in earnest Thursday when it launches its first 34 satellites built at the company’s Florida factory. But instead of launching at least 30 more satellites each month until achieving global coverage sometime in 2021, OneWeb now says it intends to pause its launch campaign for a month after one more launch planned for March. Additional short pauses are envisioned after launches planned for May and June expand the constellation to around 140 satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 8)

CYGNUS LAUNCH TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SET FEB. 9 FROM NASA’S WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY - Live coverage of the launch and briefings will begin at 5 p.m. The company’s 13th commercial resupply services mission using its Cygnus cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch on its Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Loaded with approximately 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware, the Cygnus spacecraft, dubbed the SS Robert H. Lawrence, will arrive at the space station Tuesday, Feb. 11 at about 4:30 a.m.   More
(Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Feb 7)

THE RACE FOR SPACE-BASED BROADBAND: ONEWEB LAUNCHES 34 MORE INTERNET SATELLITES - A rocket blazed into space Thursday afternoon carrying 34 OneWeb satellites. It's the latest sign that 2020 will be a year in which new devices are deployed into Earth's orbit at an unprecedented pace as OneWeb and rival SpaceX race to make global broadband a reality. The OneWeb satellites launched from Kazakhstan at 4:42 pm ET Thursday (Friday morning local time) atop a Russian-made Soyuz rocket. OneWeb purchased the rocket from Arianespace, an aerospace company based in France.   More
(Source: CNN - Feb 7)

KOCH AND CREWMATES BACK ON EARTH - Christina Koch, veteran of six spacewalks outside the International Space Station — including the first all-female excursion — joined a Russian commander and an Italian flight engineer for a fiery plunge to landing in frigid Kazakhstan early Thursday, setting a new record for the longest single flight by a female.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 6)

HERE COMES THE NEXT SATELLITE CONSTELLATION. ONEWEB LAUNCHES 34 SATELLITES ON THURSDAY - SpaceX has been garnering all the headlines when it comes to satellite constellations. Their Starlink system will eventually have thousands of tiny satellites working together to provide internet access, though only 242 of them have been deployed so far. But now another company is getting on the action: OneWeb. On Thursday February 6th, OneWeb will launch 34 satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz launch vehicle, operated by Arianespace.   More
(Source: Universe Today - Feb 6)

CYGNUS DEPARTS SPACE STATION, DEPLOYS CUBESATS - A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft departed the International Space Station Friday to close out a three-month stay, then raised its orbit to release multiple experimental nanosatellites for NASA, the U.S. military and research institutions, including one that was snap-assembled by astronauts using 3D-printed parts produced on the station.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 5)

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