RUSSIA RESTORES DEFUNCT SOVIET NETWORK TO MONITOR NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS - Russia has restored a global network of mothballed Soviet observatories to monitor near-Earth objects, according to a report by a state research institute. The document, obtained by Sputnik from Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, said observatories had been brought out of mothballs in former Soviet member states, Bolivia and Switzerland. More (Source: Space Daily - Aug 28)
NEXT STOP SPACE: RESEARCHERS TO CARRY OUT 'COSMIC ELEVATOR' EXPERIMENT - A team made up of researchers at Shizuoka University and other institutions is set to conduct an experiment in September for a project to develop a "space elevator" connecting Earth and a space station by cable -- attracting attention as a possible dream vehicle for space travel and cargo shipments in the future. The experiment will be the first of its kind ever to be conducted in space. However, a number of challenges, including the development of special, high-strength cables, await researchers before they can bring a cosmic elevator into reality. More (Source: The Mainichi - Aug 28)
INSIDE THE HIGH-STAKES BUSINESS OF TRACKING SPACE JUNK - In a nondescript office building in the suburbs of Philadelphia, a software company is watching thousands of pieces of junk floating around in space. One mission of Analytical Graphics Inc., or AGI, is to ensure that none of that garbage comes close to colliding with the dozens of billion-dollar communications satellites orbiting Earth. Debris in space is a serious issue. Millions of pieces are already whirling around, the result of 50 years of space travel and few regulations to keep space clean. More (Source: CNNMoney - Aug 27)
NASA LAUNCHING LASER SATELLITE TO STUDY EARTH’S CHANGING ICE - NASA is launching a laser-armed satellite next month that will measure -- in unprecedented detail -- changes in the heights of Earth's polar ice to understand what is causing ice sheets to melt fast. In recent years, contributions of melt from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica alone have raised global sea level by more than a millimeter a year, accounting for approximately one-third of observed sea level rise, and the rate is increasing. More (Source: The Hans India - Aug 27)
TWO NEW BEIDOU-3 NAVIGATION SATELLITES LAUNCHED ATOP LONG MARCH 3B - On Saturday, August 25, China successfully launched its Long March 3B booster carrying two new BeiDou-3 spacecraft to replenish China’s homegrown satellite navigation network. Liftoff occurred at 7:52 a.m. local time (23:52 GMT; 7:52 p.m. EDT on August 24) from Launch Complex 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) in China’s Sichuan Province. The flight’s success was confirmed by the state-run Xinhua press agency some nine hours after the rocket had left the pad. “China on Saturday successfully sent twin BeiDou navigation satellites into space on a single carrier rocket,” Xinhua informed. Very little is known about the mission’s pre-launch preparations or about the launch itself. Xinhua only noted that both satellites were deployed into orbit more than three hours after the launch and that they will become operational after a series of on-orbit tests. More (Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Aug 27)
NASA SATELLITE WILL REVEAL HOW MUCH WE’VE MESSED UP EARTH - NASA spends plenty of time peering into space, but it’s also very interested in what’s going on with our own planet. Earth’s climate is shifting and not in a good way. We’re getting hotter and one of the best ways to track the changes is by studying polar ice. In just a few weeks, NASA is scheduled to launch the ICESat-2, which is short for the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2. It’s designed to keep a very close eye on the changes happening to the massive collections of ice in Greenland and Antarctica and will help researchers paint a clearer picture of how Earth (with the unwanted “help” of humanity) is changing. More (Source: https://nypost.com/2018/08/24/nasa-satellite-will-reveal-how-much-weve-messed-up-earth/ - Aug 25)
SPACEFLIGHT PREPS FOR FIRST LAUNCH OF UNIQUE ORBITING SATELLITE DEPLOYERS - Engineers working for Spaceflight, a Seattle-based launch services company, are in the final steps of preparing for the first launch of new robotic free flyers carrying more than 70 small government and commercial satellites into polar orbit later this year aboard a dedicated flight of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The company’s specialists earlier this month were finalizing avionics testing on two modules that will shepherd the microsatellites and nanosatellites into orbit, according to Jeff Roberts, Spaceflight’s mission director for the SSO-A “SmallSat Express” mission. More (Source: - Aug 24)
EUROPE LAUNCHES 'AEOLUS' SATELLITE ON MISSION TO MAP EARTH'S WINDS - The European launch company Arianespace successfully launched a new weather satellite today (Aug. 22). Named Aeolus, the spacecraft is the first satellite designed to measure Earth's winds on a global scale. After a 24-hour weather delay caused (ironically) by strong winds, Aeolus lifted off on an Arianespace Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, at 5:20 p.m. EDT (6:20 p.m. local time, 2120 GMT). More (Source: Space.com - Aug 23)
FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND SATELLITE TO MEASURE GLOBAL WINDS FINALLY READY FOR LIFTOFF - The European Space Agency’s $550 million Aeolus science mission, the product of a drawn-out 16-year development effort that required engineers to master new technologies, is in the starting blocks on a launch pad in French Guiana awaiting liftoff Wednesday to monitor wind speeds from space for the first time on a global scale. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 22)
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