AIRBUS TO BUILD TRIO OF INMARSAT-7 SATELLITES - Inmarsat on May 30 announced an order with Airbus Defence and Space to build three satellites using a serial production method that will enable faster build times for follow-on spacecraft. The reprogrammable geostationary satellites mark the beginning of London-based Inmarsat’s seventh-generation fleet, previously referred to as Global Xpress Flex, or GX Flex. The Inmarsat-7 satellites are expected to launch in 2023, expanding Inmarsat’s fleet of Ka-band high-throughput satellites to 10. More (Source: SpaceNews - May 31)
PROTON ROCKET LIFTS OFF WITH YAMAL 601 COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - On its first launch of the year, a Russian-made Proton rocket lifted off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a French-built, Russian-owned communications satellite. The 191-foot-tall (58-meter) Proton rocket lifted off at 1742 GMT (1:42 p.m. EDT; 10:42 p.m. Baikonur time) Thursday to carry the Yamal 601 spacecraft toward a perch in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator. Mounted on a mobile rail transporter, the Proton rocket, its Breeze M upper stage and the Yamal 601 communications satellite departed a hangar at the Central Asia space base around sunrise Monday. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 30)
WHY ASTRONOMERS ARE WORRIED THAT SPACEX’S SATELLITE NETWORK WILL POLLUTE THE NIGHT SKY - Over the weekend, astronomers and space enthusiasts everywhere caught a glimpse of SpaceX’s recently launched Starlink satellites in the sky. They’re the first 60 spacecraft of nearly 12,000 the company plans to launch for its massive “internet from space” initiative. For many on the internet, it was an amazing sight to see. For the astronomy community, it was devastating to watch. The satellites, strung out like a line of glowing army ants, shone brightly as they moved along their orbit around Earth, clearly visible to the naked eye. More (Source: The Verge - May 30)
WEATHER A CONCERN FOR SPACEX LAUNCH TO SEND SUPPLIES TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is set to be launched into orbit early Friday morning, atop a Falcon 9 rocket. That is, if Mother Nature permits. SpaceX is continuing to target 3:11 a.m. EDT Friday, for a launch of its 17th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-17) Mission from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; however, a disturbance in the tropics is delivering rain across the Florida Peninsula. More (Source: Fox 35 Orlando - May 30)
COSMONAUTS COMPLETE TASKS OUTSIDE SPACE STATION, HONOR SPACEWALK PIONEER - Two Russian cosmonauts stepped outside the International Space Station Wednesday, sent birthday greetings to former cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, the first man to walk in space, and then carried out a full slate of maintenance work. Expedition 59 commander Oleg Kononenko, making his fifth spacewalk, and crewmate Alexey Ovchinin, making his first, opened the hatch of the Pirs airlock compartment at 11:42 a.m. EDT to officially kick off what turned out to be a six-hour one-minute excursion, the year’s fourth spacewalk and the first by the Russians. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 30)
ASI TO LAUNCH CUBESAT DEMO THAT COULD LEAD TO QUICKER ACCESS TO SATELLITE DATA - Analytical Space Inc. (ASI) is launching a technology demonstration spacecraft intended to pave the way for users on the ground to gain faster access to satellite data. The spacecraft features a patented MITRE antenna that could help enable that application, as well as government missions including tactical communications and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. More (Source: Yahoo Finance - May 29)
NEW SATELLITE RADAR CONSTELLATIONS ARE COMING - Private companies have been launching constellations of Earth-observing satellites for years, but they've been focused on beaming back images taken using visible light. That's starting to change, however, as new firms enter what's currently a niche market: synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Details: SAR allows for data-gathering regardless of weather conditions, making it especially useful for monitoring the planet's disappearing ice sheets that are cloaked in darkness for half the year. More (Source: Axios - May 29)
SPACEX, NASA FINISH CLEANING UP SITE OF CREW DRAGON SPACECRAFT EXPLOSION - The investigation into the destruction of SpaceX's astronaut taxi last month is proceeding apace. On April 20, a Crew Dragon capsule exploded during a routine "static fire" test of the craft's emergency-escape thrusters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Nobody was hurt, but the spacecraft — which in March successfully flew an uncrewed test mission to the International Space Station (ISS) called Demo-1 — was lost. SpaceX and NASA have managed to clean up the accident site and are now focusing on what caused the mishap, agency officials announced today (May 28). More (Source: Space.com - May 29)
SOYUZ PERSEVERES THROUGH LIGHTNING STRIKE WITH GLONASS SATELLITE - A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Glonass navigation satellite withstood a lightning strike seconds after liftoff Monday, and still delivered its payload to orbit. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in far northern Russia at 0623 GMT (2:23 a.m. EDT; 9:23 a.m. Moscow time) Monday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Seconds later, a bolt of lightning struck the kerosene-fueled launcher as it climbed away from Plesetsk, located in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region around 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 29)
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