ASTRONAUTS SPOT AUSTRALIA'S DEADLY WILDFIRES FROM SPACE STATION AS SATELLITES KEEP WATCH - The horrific wildfires of southeastern Australia right are clearly visible to satellites in space, and now astronauts have begun tracking them from the International Space Station. A new photo, which NASA shared on Twitter Jan. 3, shows billowing smoke that surrounds Sydney and is blowing into the nearby Tasman Sea. At the time, the space station was roughly 269 miles (433 kilometers) above Australia at the time, NASA said in the tweet.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 7)

SPACEX KICK-STARTS GLOBAL 2020 LAUNCH YEAR WITH STARLINK MISSION - NASASpaceFlight.com Forums L2 Sign Up SLS/Orion SpaceX Commercial ISS International Other SpaceX kick-starts global 2020 launch year with Starlink mission written by Chris Gebhardt January 6, 2020 The first rocket flight of the 2020s was conducted by SpaceX, using its Falcon 9 to deliver the newest batch of 60 operational Starlink satellites into orbit. The mission not only represents the start of a busy year for SpaceX but also for the Eastern Range in Florida, which expects 48 launches this year from the Florida Spaceport. Falcon 9 launched midway through a 20-minute window that extended from 21:09 to 21:29 EST (02:09 – 02:29 UTC on 7 January), with the preferred in-plane liftoff targeted for 21:19 EST (02:19 UTC).   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 7)

S. KOREAN AIR, OCEAN MONITORING SATELLITE HEADS TO FRENCH GUIANA AHEAD OF LAUNCH - A South Korean geostationary environmental monitoring satellite that can closely check the movement of fine dust and ocean conditions is being moved to French Guiana ahead of its launch, the government said Sunday. The 3.4-ton Chollian-2B, scheduled to be sent into orbit on Feb. 19, has been placed in a specially built non-vibration shipping container in Daejeon, 164 kilometers south of Seoul, where it was built by the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the Ministry of Science and ICT said.   More
(Source: The Korea Herald - Jan 6)

SPACEX'S NEW STARSHIP PROTOTYPE COULD FLY IN JUST 3 MONTHS, ELON MUSK SAYS - SpaceX's newly redesigned prototype of its Mars-colonizing Starship craft could get off the ground for the first time just two or three months from now, company founder and CEO Elon Musk said. SpaceX initiated that redesign after the first full-size Starship prototype, called the Mk1, blew its top during a pressurization test in November of last year. Construction of the new test vehicle, known as the SN1, is underway at the company's site near the South Texas village of Boca Chica, Musk said via Twitter last week.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 5)

WATCH HOW SPACEX'S CREW DRAGON WILL LAUNCH ASTRONAUTS INTO SPACE IN THIS NEW VIDEO - If you're not yet hyped about the upcoming first crewed flight of SpaceX's astronaut taxi, a new video could help get you there. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk posted the 2.5-minute animation on Twitter on Dec. 29, 2019. It takes viewers through many of the key phases of the Demo-2 mission, during which the company's Crew Dragon capsule will ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 5)

SPACEX STARLINK LAUNCH: HOW TO WATCH FALCON 9 DELIVER 60 MORE SATELLITES TO SPACE - We're only a few days into 2020 and SpaceX is already gearing up for its first launch of the year. On Jan. 6, the workhorse Falcon 9 booster will be sending a batch of 60 Starlink satellites into low-earth orbit, part of the company's plans to deliver broadband internet across the globe. If you want to watch the launch and landing live (launches are always thrilling), here's how you can do it. The launch has been delayed several times, but the Falcon 9 is now scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday, at approximately 9:19 p.m. ET (6:19 p.m. PT).   More
(Source: CNET - Jan 5)

EARTH OBSERVATION STARTUP SKYWATCH RAISES $7.5 MILLION - Canadian startup SkyWatch Space Applications has raised $7.5 million to continue developing software that makes satellite imagery more accessible. SkyWatch is building up a distribution platform for satellite imagery, and software optimized for ground systems of remote-sensing satellites. The Waterloo company has raised $10.9 million to date, counting this Series A and a 2018 seed round led by Space Angels and Sinai Ventures.    More
(Source: Space News - Jan 5)

AUSTRALIA’S MASSIVE FIRES, AS SEEN FROM SPACE - The massive bushfires in Australia are still spreading as heat, high winds, and dry weather are pushing flames through much of the southeastern part of the country. The blazes have proved deadly and destructive, burning through more than 14.8 million acres, or 23,000 square miles, an area almost as large as the state of West Virginia. The fires have now killed at least 20 people and destroyed more than 1,400 homes.   More
(Source: Vox - Jan 5)

NASA SAYS FAREWELL TO TINY SATELLITE THAT PAVED THE WAY FOR EXOPLANET DISCOVERY - NASA has lost contact with one of its tiniest explorers, a miniature satellite called ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics). Operators have been unable to contact the satellite since December 5, 2019, though they will continue attempting to make contact until March this year. ASTERIA was deployed into low Earth orbit from the International Space Station on November 20, 2017, from where it observed nearby stars in order to precisely measure their brightness.   More
(Source: Digital Trends - Jan 5)

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