BROADBAND SATELLITE TO SERVE PACIFIC ISLANDS DELIVERED TO FLORIDA LAUNCH BASE - A powerful commercial communications satellite to broadcast Internet signals over the Asia-Pacific region has arrived at Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations ahead of a planned Dec. 15 liftoff on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The JCSAT 18/Kacific 1 communications satellite, based on Boeing’s 702MP satellite design, is a shared spacecraft between Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. of Japan and Kacific, a startup telecom company headquartered in Singapore.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 16)

WATCH SPACEWALK ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 15 - On Friday, November 15, 2019, two astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station for the first of a series of complex spacewalks to repair a cosmic ray detector. NASA TV begins its live spacewalk coverage Friday at 10:30 UTC (5:30 a.m. EST). Translate UTC to your time. The astronauts, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Flight Engineer Drew Morgan will set their spacesuits to battery power at 12:05 UTC (7:05 a.m EST), signifying the start of their spacewalk.   More
(Source: EarthSky - Nov 15)

NEW SOLAR POWER GENERATOR TO BE DEPLOYED TO SPACE STATION - A new solar power generator prototype developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and research teams in the United States, will be deployed on the first 2020 NASA flight launch to the International Space Station. According to research published in Optics Express, the compact, microconcentrator photovoltaic system could provide unprecedented watt per kilogram of power critical to lowering costs for private space flight.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Nov 15)

LIFE ON THE SPACE STATION IS ABOUT TO GET REALLY WEIRD AND LONELY - Right now, there are six astronauts aboard the International Space Station, floating 408km above our heads. But soon things could be about to get a lot lonelier up there. Delays in building new spacecraft to get astronauts into space mean that the next trio of astronauts set to join the ISS in April 2020 are facing the possibility of being the space station’s lone occupants for six months.   More
(Source: Wired.co.uk - Nov 15)

TWO CHINESE SATELLITE LAUNCHERS LIFT OFF THREE HOURS APART - Chinese rockets performed two satellite delivery missions in a three-hour span Wednesday, carrying a commercial Earth-imaging satellite and five mysterious surveillance payloads into orbit. The launches originated from two separate spaceports in northern China, using a light-class solid-fueled Kuaizhou 1A launcher and a liquid-fueled Long March 6 rocket, according to Chinese state media reports. The back-to-back launches carried different missions into orbit, and were not originally planned to occur on the same day. Officials aborted a Kuaizhou 1A launch attempt last month for unspecified technical reasons.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 14)

SPACEX EXECUTES GROUND-BASED TEST FIRING FOR CREW DRAGON’S LAUNCH ESCAPE SYSTEM - SpaceX went the distance today with a static-fire test of its Crew Dragon space taxi’s launch escape system — the same type of test that ended in a costly explosion when it was conducted in April. A photo released after the firing shows the Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters blazing away on the test stand at SpaceX’s Florida facility. The full-duration firing brings the company one step closer to flying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station next year.   More
(Source: GeekWire - Nov 14)

RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS PROPOSE CREATION OF SEPARATE ISS MODULE FOR SPORTS, MEDICINE - The Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Science (IBMP RAS) considers it necessary to create a special module for sports and medical experiments at the International Space Station (ISS), IBMP deputy chief designer Yevgenia Yarmanova said. "If we recall the plans for the Russian segment of the ISS, initially it would have included two Science Power Modules (SPM).    More
(Source: Space Daily - Nov 12)

SPACEX SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET WITH 60 SATELLITES ON BOARD - The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:56 a.m. Monday, with 60 Starlink satellites on board. The satellites will beam internet service to hard-to-access places across the world, according to SpaceX, which was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk. It was the fourth launch for the Falcon 9, and the first time that SpaceX reused the tip of the rocket known as the fairing. SpaceX deployed a first round of Starlink satellites in May.   More
(Source: Fox Business - Nov 11)

HOW TO TRACK AND PHOTOGRAPH SECRET SPACECRAFT - Earlier this year, Dutch science journalist and satellite tracker Ralf Vandebergh successfully snagged detailed images of the X-37B, the Air Force’s secret spaceplane that recently landed, in low orbit using a hand-trafficking method—catching sight of the vehicle and guiding his 10-inch reflector telescope manually—and video-based imaging techniques. Want to capture a satellite, booster rocket, or the ISS in action? Follow Vandebergh’s lead.   More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Nov 11)

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