INDIA PUTS 'LIGHTEST SATELLITE' KALAMSAT V2 INTO ORBIT - India has launched what it says is the world's lightest satellite ever to be put into orbit. Weighing only 1.26kg (2.6lb), the Kalamsat-V2 was made by students belonging to a space education firm. It will help ham radio operators and "inspire schoolchildren to become the scientists and engineers of the future", India's space agency says. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) launched the satellite from its Sriharikota space centre.    More
(Source: BBC News - Jan 25)

COLORADO-BUILT DREAM CHASER, SUCCESSOR TO THE SPACE SHUTTLE, TURNING INTO REALITY - Production of a successor to NASA’s space shuttle will get underway in Colorado and will be overseen by a former U.S. Air Force pilot and astronaut who piloted two shuttle flights and commanded another three. For the past few years, Steve Lindsey has overseen the design, development and testing of the Dream Chaser, a spacecraft that will be built by Sierra Nevada Corp. at its Space Systems operations in Louisville. In December, NASA declared production a “go” after the craft passed a critical review.   More
(Source: The Denver Post - Jan 25)

COUNTDOWN FOR LAUNCH OF DRDO SATELLITE TO START TODAY - The countdown for the flight on Thursday night of an Indian rocket carrying the Microsat R imaging satellite of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Kalamsat student satellite will begin later on Wednesday, an Indian space agency official said. "The countdown for the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket launch will start today (Wednesday). "The countdown duration and its starting time, the time of rocket launch would be announced later," an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS.   More
(Source: NDTV - Jan 24)

FIRST UP SATCOM | FIRST ONEWEB SATELLITES SHIPPED FOR LAUNCH - OneWeb and its manufacturing partner Airbus Defence and Space have shipped the first six satellites of OneWeb’s broadband smallsat constellation from Toulouse, France, to French Guiana. Those six satellites are scheduled to launch Feb. 19 on an Arianespace-operated Soyuz rocket. OneWeb originally planned to launch 10 satellites on the first launch, but reduced the number to six in order to keep four as spares. Arianespace is launching the roughly 150-kilogram satellites directly to their 1,200-kilometer operating orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 24)

THIS DARPA SATELLITE WILL BE DESIGNED, BUILT AND LAUNCHED IN 18 MONTHS - New Zealand-based space company Rocket Lab said it plans to launch a satellite for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) next month from the company’s main launch complex at the Mahia peninsula. Rocket Lab operates out of the world’s first privately owned launch facility in New Zealand and has a second launch site at Wallops Island on the eastern shore of Virginia. The launch will mark Rocket Lab’s first mission this year and will use a 56 foot (17 meters) Electron rocket to place DARPA’s Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration (R3D2) payload into orbit in late February.    More
(Source: C4ISRNet - Jan 24)

ROCKET LAB TO LAUNCH DARPA SATELLITE - Small launch vehicle developer Rocket Lab will launch an experimental satellite for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in February, the first of a planned dozen launches in 2019. Rocket Lab announced Jan. 22 that it will launch a small satellite for DARPA on the company’s Electron rocket from its launch site in New Zealand. That launch will take place in February, likely late in the month, Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck said in an interview.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 23)

LONG MARCH 11 LAUNCHES WITH FOUR SATELLITES - China conducted its second orbital launch of 2019 using a Long March 11 rocket – this time carrying four satellites into orbit. The launch took place from a mobile launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 05:42 UTC on Monday, per one of the payload customers – later confirmed by Chinese State media. Onboard the LM-11 (Y6) rocket were two Jilin commercial remote sensing satellites for hyperspectral observation. The two satellites arrived at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center later on January 3 ahead of Monday’s launch.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 22)

IRIDIUM COMPLETES HISTORIC SATELLITE LAUNCH PROJECT - Iridium Communications, in partnership with SpaceX, has deployed 75 new satellites into low earth orbit in under two years. The last 10 were launched in early January. "There are few words to describe what it feels like to complete a vision started many years ago," said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. "We're not quite across the finish line yet, as there is still some work to do to put these satellites into operation. Once that's complete, our future will be in place."   More
(Source: Engineering.com - Jan 22)

RUSSIA TO LAUNCH FIRST-EVER ARCTIC WEATHER SATELLITE - SOURCE - The first Russian satellite for weather forecasting and monitoring climate and environment in the Arctic region, Arktika-M, is planned to be sent to near-earth orbit in June 2019, a source in the Russian space industry told Sputnik on Sunday. "The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from the Baikonur cosmodrome with Fregat booster and the first hydrometeorological satellite Arktika-M is scheduled for June 2019", the source said.   More
(Source: Sputnik International - Jan 21)

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