DELAYED SATELLITE RADAR MISSION BUCKS THE SMALLSAT TREND - This space project is delayed, over budget and still waiting on a launch date. But despite the issues facing the Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM), the MDA built-project will fill a growing need in northern climes to monitor the effects of climate change, an analyst notes, because CubeSats can't fill the hole yet. The $1 billion CDN ($750 million) constellation was supposed to lift off in February, but an issue with a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster during a December 2018 launch delayed RCM for the sixth time; a new launch date has not been announced yet.    More
(Source: Forbes - Mar 14)

WALLOPS TO LAUNCH VIRGINIA SATELLITES TO SPACE STATION - Three small satellites that were developed at public universities in Virginia will be lifting off into space next month. Old Dominion University in Norfolk said in a press release that the satellites will be aboard Northrop Grumman's Antares launch to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for April 17 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.   More
(Source: Delmarva Public Radio - Mar 13)

JAPAN TO BUILD HABITATION MODULE FOR SPACE STATION - apan is set to build a habitation module for astronauts in a new space station that will orbit the Moon. US space agency NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, the European Space Agency, or ESA, and others plan to build the space station, called Gateway, by 2026.   More
(Source: NHK WORLD - Mar 13)

NEXT SPACE STATION CREW LAUNCH SET THURSDAY ON SOYUZ FROM BAIKONUR COSMODROME - Two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are set to join the crew aboard the International Space Station next Thursday, March 14. The trio’s arrival will return the orbiting laboratory’s population to six, including three NASA astronauts. This launch will also mark the fourth Expedition crew with two female astronauts. Live coverage will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.   More
(Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Mar 12)

CHINA LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNICATION SATELLITE - China Sunday sent a new communication satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan province. The "ChinaSat 6C" satellite was launched at 0:28 a.m. Beijing Time by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It will provide high-quality radio and TV transmission services. The satellite has been sent to the geostationary orbit, and can cover China, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific island countries.   More
(Source: China.org.cn - Mar 11)

AFTER A SUCCESSFUL TEST FLIGHT TO THE ISS, SPACEX LOOKS AHEAD TO LAUNCHING ASTRONAUTS - Over the course of the last week, SpaceX took a giant leap toward launching humans from Cape Canaveral for the first time since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. On Saturday, March 2, at 2:49 a.m. EST, one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets lit up the pre-dawn sky, lofting a Crew Dragon spacecraft designed to carry humans—but carrying only a stuffed globe and a manikin named Ripley outfitted with a space suit and suite of sensors—to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX then landed the Falcon 9 first stage on one of the company’s two drone ships, Of Course I Still Love You, waiting out in the Atlantic.    More
(Source: Smithsonian - Mar 11)

THE ARMY HOPES A NEW SATELLITE WILL HELP ALLEVIATE CONGESTION - The U.S. Air Force is expected to launch the next satellite in its Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) program as early as March 13, a move that will bolster the military’s foundational communication network. The addition comes at a time when the military is under increasing pressure to build up its communication capacity as tactical battlefield sensors and other data feeds create the need for added throughput.    More
(Source: C4ISRNet - Mar 10)

TURNING SPACE DATA INTO SMART INSIGHTS - Today, big data is being collected thousands of miles up in space by a whole host of orbiting satellites. The increase in data volumes continues to grow exponentially as more satellites are launched. According to a report by Sparks and Honey, 6,200 small satellites are expected to be launched over the next 10 years. The falling costs of satellites and their growing sophistication have enabled new uses for “space data” across many industries and fueled investment in the sector. The satellites orbit 99 to 1,200 miles (160 to 2,000 kilometers) above the Earth and provide an overhead view using cameras and sensors to create a very unique dataset. Those images are analyzed by computers using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms that extract information and extrapolate patterns.   More
(Source: Via Satellite - Mar 10)

THE U.S. WEATHER SATELLITE NETWORK IS STRONGER THAN EVER - In 2013, with a reliance on aging weather satellites in orbit past their intended life span, the nation faced a dire possibility: a “satellite gap” that would leave forecasters blind if one or more of these critical eyes in the sky should fail. This was a concern not only within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but also for the Government Accountability Office, which elevated it to the unenviable category of “high risk.”   More
(Source: Washington Post - Mar 10)

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