ARE SMALL SATELLITES THE SOLUTION FOR SPACE WEATHER MONITORING? - With key space weather satellites expected to fail before U.S. and European agencies launch replacements, “small satellites may be the only way of averting a bleak future,” said Daniel Baker, director of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Many of the instruments the U.S. relies on to monitor solar flares, coronal mass ejections and other phenomena that pose a threat to satellites in orbit and technology on the ground are well beyond their anticipated life spans. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is sending new instruments into orbit on its latest generation of geostationary weather satellites but other updates to the space weather constellation are likely to fly years after current instruments fail. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 7)
CHINA PLANS TO BUILD THE WORLD'S FIRST SOLAR POWER STATION IN SPACE - China is planning to build the world's first solar power station in space to provide "inexhaustible clean energy" according to a story in Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of China's Ministry of Science and Technology. They claim to be already testing the technology and intend to build the station by 2050. Xie Gengxin, deputy head of the Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Research Institute for Civil-Military Integration in Southwestern China, told the China Daily newspaper that a testing facility in Chongqing's Bishan district is being built that will be used to test the theoretical viability of a space-based solar power station. More (Source: Forbes - Mar 6)
ORBITAL MICRO SYSTEMS DELIVERS SATELLITES TO NANORACKS - Orbital Micro Systems (OMS) revealed that the first satellite in its Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) constellation has been delivered to NanoRacks for launch integration. Housed in an AAC Clyde Space bus, the satellite will be launched April 17 from Wallops Island, Virginia. It will be put into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) on the International Space Station (ISS) — via NanoRacks’ Space Act Agreement with NASA’s US National Lab. In addition to this launch, OMS plans to place six to eight more weather observation satellites in orbit throughout 2019. The mission is part of the In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) Program, funded by Innovate U.K. and managed by the Satellite Applications Catapult. More (Source: Via Satellite - Mar 6)
CHINA HINTS AT SURPRISE SPACE STATION LAUNCH, SAYS ITS NEW ROCKET CAN CHALLENGE SPACEX - China has hinted that its new space station could launch into orbit later this year, sooner than previously thought, on a commercial-grade rocket that is designed to be more affordable than private rocket launch companies such as SpaceX. Xinhua News Agency, the official state-run press agency of the People's Republic of China, reported on Monday that the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) will send the core module of the now-in-development Chinese Space Station (CSS) to the launch site at Wenchang Space Launch Center in the second half of this year to prepare for the space station missions. The CSS had been expected to launch during 2020. More (Source: Forbes - Mar 6)
RUSSIAN MILITARY MULLS ANGARA-A5 HEAVY ROCKET FOR SATELLITE LAUNCHES - SOURCE - The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to use the Angara-A5 heavy-class carrier rockets to launch satellites from the Vostochny space center in Russia's Far East, a Russian space industry source told Sputnik. According to the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, the Angara developer and manufacturer, an Angara A5 rocket can carry up to 24.5 metric tons of payload to a low Earth orbit. More (Source: Sputnik International - Mar 4)
A WEATHER SATELLITE’S VIEW OF EARTH - Today’s Image of the Day from NASA shows southern Africa as Tropical Cyclone Joalane was moving over the Indian Ocean. The composite image represents six orbits on April 9, 2015 by a weather satellite called the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP). The photos were combined by the Ocean Biology Processing Group at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. More (Source: Earth.com - Mar 4)
SPACEX CREW CAPSULE WELCOMED ABOARD SPACE STATION - Closing out a 27-hour pursuit after a predawn launch from Florida’s Space Coast, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule glided to an automated docking early Sunday at the International Space Station, accomplishing one of the ship’s key test objectives before astronauts take a ride later this year. Aided by laser rangefinder and a thermal camera, the Crew Dragon approached the space station on autopilot and linked up with a docking port on the forward end of the complex at 5:51 a.m. EST (1051 GMT) Sunday, becoming the first privately-owned human-rated spaceship to reach the massive research outpost in orbit. More (Source: SpaceFlitght Now - Mar 4)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FIRST CREW DRAGON FERRY SHIP - Opening a new era in American spaceflight, a Falcon 9 rocket streaked into space early Saturday, boosting the company’s first Crew Dragon spacecraft into orbit on an unpiloted test flight, the first launch of a commercially developed capsule intended to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Lighting up the deep overnight sky for miles around, the rocket’s nine first stage engines ignited and throttled up to full thrust at 2:49 a.m. EST (GMT-5), generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust and quickly thundering skyward from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 2)
SENATE BILL SEEKS EXTENSION OF THE SPACE STATION - A bill introduced by a bipartisan pair of senators Feb. 27 would authorize an extension of the International Space Station to 2030 and also make permanent human settlement of space a national goal. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the Advancing Human Spaceflight Act Feb. 27, with its central provision authorizing an extension of operations of the ISS from 2024 to 2030. Other members of Congress sought such an extension last year in response to a proposal in NASA’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal to end direct federal funding of the station in 2025, part of an effort to commercialize low Earth orbit operations. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 1)
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