SYNOPSIS: SATELLITE MISHAP PROVIDES CHANCE FOR RELATIVITY TEST - In 2014, two satellites of the Galileo European Global Navigation Satellite System were unintentionally launched on elliptical, rather than circular, orbits. This ellipticity created problems for their use in the global navigation network, but scientists turned this misfortune into an opportunity. Two independent teams, one led by Sven Herrmann at the University of Bremen in Germany and the other by Pacôme Delva, at both the Paris Sciences & Letters–PSL University and Sorbonne University in France, used clocks on the satellites to perform the most precise tests to date of one aspect of general relativity: the gravitational redshift of a clock’s frequency.   More
(Source: Physics - Dec 6)

POLISH STUDENTS’ SATELLITE LAUNCHED INTO ORBIT - A satellite designed by Warsaw students to cut down on space junk has been launched into orbit. The satellite was designed by students from the Warsaw University of Technology. It was sent into space on Monday on board a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US. The satellite will be used to test a so-called deorbitation sail system, akin to a drag parachute, which it is carrying. The mechanism will be released after the satellite completes its mission. By increasing drag, the sail slows the satellite, causing it to descend to earth and burn up in the atmosphere, rather than remaining in orbit and becoming another piece of junk floating around the planet.   More
(Source: thenews.pl - Dec 6)

ASTROCAST SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES ITS FIRST SATELLITE - Yesterday evening, Astrocast – a young start-up spun out of EPFL – launched its first demonstration satellite intended to test its Internet-of-Things system. It was put into orbit by a SpaceX rocket that took off from California. This Monday December 3rd was a big day for Astrocast. At 7:34pm Swiss time, the first satellite produced by this EPFL start-up took off from California on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, went smoothly.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Dec 6)

INDIA LAUNCHES 'HEAVIEST' SATELLITE FOR INTERNET ACCESS - India's heaviest satellite has gone into orbit on a French rocket to help boost broadband internet services. Weighing about 5,854kg (12,906lb), the GSAT-11 is India's "most-advanced" multi-band communication satellite. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) launched the satellite from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana early on Wednesday morning. It will be placed in a geostationary orbit by the end of this month and its transponders will be switched on. Isro chief K Sivan told reporters that the satellite will "play a vital role in providing broadband services across the country".   More
(Source: BBC News - Dec 6)

FOX-1CLIFF DESIGNATED AMSAT-OSCAR 95 (AO-95) - On December 3rd, 2018, Fox-1Cliff was launched on a Falcon 9 vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Part of Spaceflight’s SSO-A: SmallSat Express launch, Fox-1Cliff was named after long time AMSAT supporter Cliff Buttschardt, K7RR (SK). In the 48 hours after launch, more than 110 amateur radio operators around the world have successfully received and submitted telemetry from the satellite. Following in our long tradition of naming amateur satellites, AMSAT hereby designates Fox-1Cliff as AMSAT-OSCAR 95 (AO-95).   More
(Source: AMSAT - Dec 6)

3 ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE SAFELY ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FOLLOWING PREVIOUS FAILED LAUNCH - Three astronauts who were launched into space aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Monday entered the International Space Station nearly eight hours later, a relief to relatives and scientists months after a rocket failure aborted another mission. The hatch of the capsule carrying NASA astronaut Anne McClain, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of Russian space agency Roscosmos was opened while the station was flying over the southern coast of Yemen.   More
(Source: TIME - Dec 5)

WHY MASSIVE SATELLITE LAUNCH SIGNALS START OF IOT REVOLUTION - The Dec. 3 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried 64 tiny satellites into orbit, with several of those spacecraft dedicated to a new wave of IoT communications. It was the sort of picture-perfect launch that has now become routine for SpaceX, with a Falcon 9 rocket on its third trip into space carrying a pair of deployment vehicles from Spaceflight designed to safely launch dozens of satellites into their respective orbits. Among those satellites were several satellites devoted specifically to providing communications for internet of things devices worldwide.   More
(Source: eWeek - Dec 5)

SPACEX CARGO LAUNCH SLIPS A DAY AFTER RODENT EXPERIMENT SNAG - NASA has announced a one-day delay in SpaceX’s next cargo launch until Wednesday to allow time for ground teams to replace moldy food bars meant for 40 mice heading for the International Space Station as part of a biological research experiment, denying the launch company a chance at two Falcon 9 missions on back-to-back days. The commercial cargo flight, previously set for Tuesday, is now scheduled for 1:16 p.m. EST (1816 GMT) Wednesday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon 9 will loft SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule into orbit in pursuit of the space station, where astronauts will snare the supply ship with the station’s robotic arm.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 5)

ARIANESPACE LAUNCHES TWO ASIAN SATELLITES ON ARIANE 5 ROCKET - Arianespace completed its final Ariane 5 launch of 2018 and penultimate overall mission for the year on Dec. 4, carrying a satellite for India and another for South Korea to geostationary transfer orbit. The Ariane 5 lifted off from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana along the South American coast at 3:37 p.m. Eastern. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s GSAT-11 telecom satellite detached from the rocket’s upper stage 29 minutes later, followed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s GEO-Kompsat-2A weather satellite another four and a half minutes later. The mission was Arianespace of Evry, France’s sixth Ariane 5 mission of the year and 10th cumulative launch for 2018.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 5)

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