IRAN PREPARING TO LAUNCH SATELLITE IN 'COMING DAYS' - Iran is preparing to launch a new scientific observation satellite in the "coming days," according to AFP. Development of the "Zafar" (Victory) satellite began three years ago, said Morteza Barari, head of the country's national space agency, on Saturday. The 113-kilogram satellite will be launched by a Simorgh rocket.   More
(Source: The Jerusalem Post - Feb 3)

PENTAGON REPORT: DOD NEEDS TO TEST HOW SATELLITES WOULD PERFORM UNDER ATTACK - The Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation warns in a new report that the military today is not able to assess the durability of its satellites if they came under attack. DoD plans to invest at least $100 billion in space systems over the next decade, “and we are not alone,” writes DOT&E director Robert Behler in his just released annual report for fiscal year 2019.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 3)

A RUSSIAN SATELLITE SEEMS TO BE TAILING A US SPY SATELLITE IN EARTH ORBIT - A Russian satellite has positioned itself uncomfortably close to an American spy satellite in orbit around Earth, leading space trackers to speculate that the foreign vehicle is doing some spying of its own. The Russian spacecraft is meant to inspect other satellites, and experts in the space community believe it may now be keeping a watchful eye on the secretive US vehicle. But the motivation behind this in-space stalking is still unknown.   More
(Source: The Verge - Feb 1)

CYGNUS CARGO SHIP LEAVES INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, BEGINS NEW MISSION IN ORBIT - Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-12 cargo spacecraft departed the International Space Station today (Jan. 31), nearly three months after it arrived at the orbiting laboratory with about 4 tons of supplies and science experiments for the Expedition 61 crew. The cargo vessel, named the S.S. Alan Bean after the Apollo 12 astronaut, began its journey back to Earth after ground controllers in Houston used the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to release it in orbit. Before the spacecraft meets its fiery demise in Earth's atmosphere, it will spend about a month in orbit deploying various scientific payloads.    More
(Source: Space.com - Feb 1)

ROCKET NEARS SPACEPORT FOR CHINESE SPACE STATION TEST LAUNCH - The first flight model of a rocket designed to launch modules for a Chinese space station is set to arrive at Wenchang spaceport for a crucial test mission. The Long March 5B launch vehicle — including a five-meter-diameter core stage and four side boosters — is due to reach Qinglan port, Hainan island, Feb.1, ship tracking reveals. Specially designed cargo vessels Yuanwang-21 and 22 collected the components at the port city of Tianjin before departing Jan. 26.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 1)

A DEAD NASA SPACE TELESCOPE AND AN OLD AIR FORCE SATELLITE AVOIDED A CRASH ON WEDNESDAY, BEATING 'ALARMING' ODDS - Two dead satellites avoided a high-speed collision in space on Wednesday evening when their orbits crossed paths 560 miles above Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The larger object is an old space telescope called the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, or IRAS: a joint mission between NASA, the Netherlands, and the UK that ran out of fuel and died in November 1983. The other is a gravitational experiment called GGSE-4 that the US Air Force launched in May 1967.   More
(Source: Business Insider - Jan 31)

ROCKET LAB SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES NRO SATELLITE - A light-class Electron launcher built and owned by Rocket Lab fired into orbit Thursday (U.S. time) from a privately-owned spaceport in New Zealand with a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency. The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 — located on Mahia Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island — at 9:56 p.m. EST Thursday (0256 GMT; 3:56 p.m. New Zealand time on Friday).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 31)

KEPLER DECIDES TO BUILD ITS 140-SATELLITE CUBESAT CONSTELLATION IN-HOUSE - Kepler Communications has decided to manufacture its cubesat satellite constellation in-house. The company said Jan. 28 it will build its constellation of 140 cubesats in a 5,000-square-foot facility it commissioned late last year at its Toronto headquarters. Kepler CEO Mina Mitry said the company made that decision after an “exhaustive analysis” of the supply chain for smallsats, concluding that the industry has “a significant challenge ahead in maturing the supply chain” for smallsat components.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 30)

NASA SCIENTIST GETS NEW EARTH-OBSERVATION SATELLITE NAMED AFTER HIM, A RARE HONOR - An Earth-observation satellite scheduled to launch this fall was just named after the recently retired Freilich, who headed NASA's Earth Science division from 2006 to 2019. The Sentinel-6A/Jason CS satellite — a collaboration involving the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — will now be known as Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich, NASA officials announced today (Jan. 28).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 30)

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