US ASTRONAUTS HEADING BACK TO SPACE ON AMERICAN ROCKETS IN JULY: NASA - President Trump vowed to send US astronauts “back to space on American rockets” during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night — and now NASA officially has a launch date. The agency on Wednesday selected March 2 as the date for the first unmanned test flight, and an undisclosed date in July for when US spacemen finally get shot back into orbit from American soil. More (Source: New York Post - Feb 8)
NASA, SPACEX AIM FOR MARCH TEST OF 1ST NEW ASTRONAUT CAPSULE - NASA and SpaceX are now aiming for a March debut of the first capsule from a private company designed to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. No one will be on board for the crew Dragon's inaugural test flight to the orbiting outpost. Officials on Wednesday set March 2 as the latest launch date. If the demo goes well, two NASA astronauts will take a test flight in July aboard the SpaceX capsule. More (Source: WSAZ-TV - Feb 7)
IMAGES SUGGEST IRAN LAUNCHED SATELLITE DESPITE US CRITICISM - Iran appears to have attempted a second satellite launch despite U.S. criticism that its space program helps it develop ballistic missiles, satellite images released Thursday suggest. Iran has not acknowledged conducting such a launch. Images released by the Colorado-based company DigitalGlobe show a rocket at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran’s Semnan province on Tuesday. Images from Wednesday show the rocket was gone with what appears to be burn marks on its launch pad. Iranian state media did not immediately report on the rocket launch, though such delays have happened in previous launches. More (Source: Washington Post - Feb 7)
IRIDIUM ENDS LEGACY SATELLITE SERVICE, SWITCHES ALL TRAFFIC TO NEXT FLEET - With its full second-generation constellation now in orbit, Iridium has transferred all its communications services off of its two-decade-old legacy fleet. “For the first time since the initial launch of the system over 20 years ago, zero traffic is going through the old satellites,” Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, said Feb. 6 at the National Press Club here. The final two satellites in Iridium’s new fleet, called Iridium Next, entered service Feb. 5 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern, completing a refresh that began as the legacy fleet started to lose operational capability. More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 7)
AFTER MAKING HISTORY, NASA’S TINY DEEP-SPACE SATELLITES GO SILENT - The first two tiny satellites to ever go interplanetary have fallen silent in deep space for some unknown reason, and it’s likely we may never hear from them again. But for NASA, which launched the probes last year, this loss of communication isn’t considered a failure. Before the pair went quiet, these vehicles demonstrated that tiny satellites could become critical tools for exploring other worlds deep within our Solar System. The silent satellites are the two MarCO probes — nicknamed EVE and WALL-E from Pixar’s sci-fi movie — which flew to Mars along with NASA’s InSight lander last year. More (Source: The Verge - Feb 7)
ARIANESPACE LAUNCHES INDIAN, SAUDI TELECOM SATELLITES IN YEAR’S FIRST ARIANE 5 MISSION - European launch provider Arianespace completed the first Ariane 5 mission of the year Feb. 5, lofting two telecom satellites into geostationary transfer orbits. The Ariane 5, Europe’s heavy-lift rocket, took off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 4:01 p.m. Eastern. Saudi Geostationary Satellite-1/Hellas Sat-4, a hefty 6,500-kilogram “condominium satellite,” carrying payloads for two operators, separated from the launcher’s upper stage after 27 minutes. GSAT-31, a 2,540-kilogram satellite for the Indian Space Research Organisation, separated 42 minutes after liftoff. More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 6)
A PLAN TO CREATE ARTIFICIAL METEORS - Everyone loves a good meteor shower, but what about an artificial one? A Japanese company plans to create one and has just launched hundreds of pellets to space. They’ll ultimately rain down again in colorful displays. Meteors are one of nature’s most awe-inspiring phenomena. These “shooting stars” streak across the night sky quite regularly and can put on intense displays during annual meteor showers. Now, a Japanese company called AstroLive Experiences (ALE) is planning to create the first-ever artificial meteor shower. More (Source: EarthSky - Feb 6)
HOW SMALL SATELLITES WILL HELP POLICE EARTH'S VAST OCEANS - The oceans are just too big to police—and if you want just one example, consider fishing. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing nets up to 26 million tons of fish each year, which adds up to almost a quarter of the profits of legal fishing. Powered by a shadow fleet, this multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise hurts legit fishermen and wreaks environmental havoc through overfishing. More (Source: Popular Mechanics - Feb 5)
HOW A SHOE-BOX SIZED SATELLITE COULD TRANSFORM LOGISTICS COMMUNICATIONS - As telecommunication giants begin moving large areas of the country to 5G cellular communications networks over the next several years, there is another technological breakthrough getting little attention that is lowering the cost of tracking and other communications vital to supply chains. Low-cost, low-orbit satellites have gone from a vision to reality in recent years, and they are being increasingly used to support global tracking needs for logistics companies, especially in the maritime and air segments. More (Source: FreightWaves - Feb 5)
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