UNITED ARAB EMIRATES LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE WITH DUAL-USE CAPABILITIES - The United Arab Emirates will launch its latest reconnaissance satellite, Falcon Eye 1, from the Guiana Space Centre in South America today. This will be the UAE’s tenth satellite in orbit and its fourth reconnaissance satellite, making it a geospatial development leader in the Middle East. Falcon Eye 1 is the first of two reconnaissance satellites arising from an Emirati-French agreement. As the most capable optics France has sold to a foreign country, the Falcon Eyes will be able to take ground images across a 20km swathe anywhere in the world 24 hours a day.   More
(Source: Foreign Brief - Jul 6)

SOYUZ ROCKET AND FREGAT UPPER STAGE DELIVER 33 SATELLITES TO THREE DIFFERENT ORBITS - A new Russian weather satellite, a CubeSat to test a Silicon Valley startup’s water-based propulsion system, and eight more members of Spire’s commercial fleet of nanosatellites were among 33 spacecraft that rode a Soyuz rocket into orbit Friday from Russia’s Far East. The mission took off at 0541:46 GMT (1:41:46 a.m. EDT) Friday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, located in Amur Oblast tin Russia’s Far East.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 6)

THE PENTAGON WANTS ITS OWN TINY SPACE STATION - An arm of the Defense Department wants ideas for a future robotic space station. The Orbital Outpost would support the military’s fleet of space satellites, conduct experiments, and even someday expand to support humans. Don’t get too excited about the human aspect: the first iteration will have an internal volume smaller than a camping tent. The Defense Innovation Unit is an arm of the Pentagon, growing companies with big, defense-related ideas. The DIU, which describes itself as “a fast-moving government entity that provides recurring revenue to companies to solve national security problems," has invested in companies both small and large in technologies such as internet security, robotics, communications, unmanned systems, computing, additive manufacturing, and space technologies.    More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Jul 6)

NASA SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE DAY - Two Americans are celebrating the Fourth of July 250 miles above Earth. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague are currently aboard the International Space Station, serving as flight engineers on the orbiting space lab’s Expedition 60. “As we orbit our planet high above you, we want to take a moment and wish all Americans at home, and around the world, a very happy fourth of July,” said Koch, in a video posted to Twitter...   More
(Source: Fox News - Jul 5)

RUSSIAN SOYUZ LAUNCHER SET TO CARRY 33 SATELLITES INTO ORBIT - A Soyuz rocket is scheduled for liftoff Friday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia’s newest launch site, with 33 satellites from 12 countries on-board to collect weather data and test new space technology. Liftoff of the Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, located in Amur Oblast in Russia’s Far East, is set for 0541:46 GMT (1:41:46 a.m. EDT) Friday, or 2:41 p.m. local time at the launch base near Russia’s border with China.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 5)

EXOLAUNCH WILL SEND BIG SATELLITE CLUSTER ALOFT USING NEW TECH - Exolaunch soon plans to test a new separation system that will gently push microsatellites into space. The German launch provider (formerly known as ECM-Space) says the separation system, called CarboNIX, is "shock free" — meaning that no pyrotechnics are involved, and instead there will be a simple spring and locking mechanism. "It's important because the pyrotechnic shock separation system is the highest shock a satellite will receive during launch," said Connor Jonas, a program manager with Exolaunch.   More
(Source: Forbes - Jul 5)

NASA'S ORION CREW CAPSULE ACES BIG SAFETY TEST - NASA's next crew-carrying spaceship just took a big step toward operational flight. The Orion capsule aced a critical launch-abort test this morning (July 2), showing that it can indeed get astronauts out of harm's way during a liftoff emergency and keeping the craft on target for a first crewed flight in 2022. "It looked beautiful from here," Ashley Tarpley, NASA's range flight safety lead for today's test, said during a NASA broadcast of the procedure. "I think that was excellent, we could not have hoped for a better kind of day. It's just wonderful."   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 3)

A SATELLITE CAPTURED A POWERFUL HURRICANE AND A SOLAR ECLIPSE AT THE SAME TIME - A total solar eclipse stretched across South America on Tuesday at the exact same time a Category 4 hurricane was developing near the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, and it was caught on the same satellite loop. "Not too often you catch a Category 4 hurricane and a solar eclipse occurring in the same satellite loop," the National Weather Service tweeted with a clip of video.   More
(Source: CNN - Jul 3)

BARRING A SURPRISE, SPACEX’S NEXT FALCON HEAVY FLIGHT IS PLANNED IN LATE 2020 - After two successful Falcon Heavy missions in less than 11 weeks, launch fans will likely have to wait until late 2020 for SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy flight, barring a surprise mission for an unannounced customer. SpaceX has successfully launched Falcon Heavy missions to date — all successfully — and has firm launch contracts or contract options for four more Falcon Heavy missions with the U.S. Air Force, Viasat and Inmarsat. All of the missions are expected to lift off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the only facility outfitted to accommodate the triple-core Falcon Heavy rocket.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 2)

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