'ACT OF ESPIONAGE': FRANCE ACCUSES RUSSIA OF TRYING TO SPY ON SATELLITE DATA - The French defence minister has accused Russia of attempting to intercept France’s satellite communications, calling it an act of espionage. Florence Parly said Russia tried to intercept transmissions and spy on a satellite providing secure communications for the French military last year. In a speech outlining France’s space policy and security issues, Parly said that the Athena-Fidus satellite, operated jointly by France and Italy, was approached “a bit too closely” by Russia’s Luch-Olymp craft, known for its advanced listening capacity.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Sep 8)

SPACEX LAUNCH DELAYED TO SUNDAY NIGHT - A commercial communications satellite set for launch from Florida’s Space Coast on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to beam broadband and television signals across the Asia-Pacific region will remain on Earth until at least Sunday night, 24 hours later than previously scheduled. The Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite, also known as APSTAR 5C, was supposed to launch atop a brand new Falcon 9 rocket Saturday night. The high-power telecom craft, built by SSL in Palo Alto, California, weighs around 15,564 pounds (7,060 kilograms) and is set to begin a 15-year mission for Telesat and APT Satellite, based in Canada and Hong Kong, respectively.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 7)

WATCH SPACEX'S DRAGON BID FAREWELL TO SPACE STATION IN THIS INCREDIBLE 4K VIDEO - It takes just 45 seconds for a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule to depart from the International Space Station and disappear from sight in an incredible new video. SpaceX released the footage on Twitter on Aug. 31. The video was captured from the space station's forward hatch on Aug. 3 during the most recent Dragon departure; you can also watch the video in 4K, for the best-quality footage.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 7)

RUSSIANS INVESTIGATE CAUSE OF SOYUZ LEAK, FOCUS ON HUMAN ERROR - Ruling out a strike by space debris or a micrometeoroid, Russian engineers say a small now-plugged leak in a Soyuz crew ferry ship docked to the International Space Station was the result of a hole drilled into the wall of the spacecraft’s upper compartment, an apparent case of human error. According to Russian media accounts, Dmitry Rogozin, director general of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, told reporters Monday the hole was drilled “by a human hand” and that he was not ruling out any theories, saying it could have happened on the ground before launch or after the spacecraft reached orbit June 6.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 6)

CHINESE PRIVATE SPACE COMPANY LAUNCHES SUBORBITAL ROCKET - A Chinese private company sent a suborbital rocket into space at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The SQX-1Z was developed by iSpace, a Beijing-based private rocket developer, founded in 2016 with a research center in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. The rocket carried three CubeSats, miniature satellites, for two Chinese commercial companies. After entering its preset orbit, the rocket will release two satellites for testing, and the other satellite will be parachuted to Earth, according to a statement by the company.   More
(Source: Xinhua - Sep 6)

SATELLITES MORE AT RISK FROM FAST SOLAR WIND THAN A MAJOR SPACE STORM - Satellites are more likely to be at risk from high-speed solar wind than a major geomagnetic storm according to a new UK-US study published this week in the Journal Space Weather. Researchers investigating the space weather risks to orbiting satellites calculated electron radiation levels within the Van Allen radiation belts. This ring-doughnut-shaped zone wraps around the Earth, trapping charged particles. Geostationary orbit lies inside the Van Allen radiation belts    More
(Source: Phys.org - Sep 4)

VIRGIN ORBIT NEARS FIRST TEST FLIGHTS WITH AIR-LAUNCHED ROCKET - The attachment of a mounting bracket for Virgin Orbit’s smallsat launcher under the wing of a modified passenger jetliner portends the start of a series of captive carry tests with a full-scale model of the rocket, culminating in a drop of the vehicle before the first orbital launch attempt. Virgin Orbit is developing the LauncherOne rocket, which is set to become the first liquid-fueled orbital-class rocket to be dropped from from a carrier aircraft. The company says the first launch could happen by the end of this year, but officials have not set a target date for LauncherOne’s maiden orbital test flight.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 4)

JAPAN TO CONDUCT FIRST TEST AS PART OF SPACE ELEVATOR PROJECT - Elon Musk may not believe in space elevators yet, but Japan is taking a step forward to realise the dream of travelling to space by elevators instead of the traditional rocket. A team of researchers from Japan's Shizuoka University and other institutions will conduct the first test in space this month as part of a project to build a space elevator, Japan's The Mainichi reported last week. The space elevator essentially ferries people and cargo shipments in an elevator car travelling on a cable connecting Earth to a space station.    More
(Source: CNET - Sep 4)

LABOR DAY 2018 IN SPACE! ASTRONAUTS RELAX WITH BUSY DAYS AHEAD - You may have traveled for the Labor Day weekend, but you can't top the holiday excursion being shared by the U.S. astronauts who marked the holiday in space. Three Americans are currently living onboard the International Space Station: commander Andrew Feustel, Ricky Arnold, and Serena Auñón-Chancellor. The trio had the holiday to themselves just a few days after the astronauts were forced to ignore their scheduled tasks by a small leak that was detected late on Aug. 29 in a Soyuz capsule attached to the space station.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 4)

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