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A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS WANT TO LAUNCH A SATELLITE TO MAKE AN ARTIFICIAL AURORA A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS WANT TO LAUNCH A SATELLITE TO MAKE AN ARTIFICIAL AURORA - The Northern Lights are more than just something pretty to look at on your next Canadian camping trip. They indicate changes in our planet’s magnetic field and potential threats from solar flares. Scientists think Northern Lights can tell us even more, but to find out, they'll need to do something that until now has been impossible: create their own. The Earth’s atmosphere is filled with layers. The bottom layer—where those of us who don't live in cloud cities spend most of our time—is called the troposphere. Above that is the stratosphere, the domain of aircraft and high-altitude balloons. Above that is the ionosphere, which is the highest layer of our atmosphere, and which sits at the border between our planet and space.   More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Oct 30)


ASTRONAUT TO RIDE ON NEXT CREWED SOYUZ HAS CONFIDENCE IN RUSSIAN SPACE TECH ASTRONAUT TO RIDE ON NEXT CREWED SOYUZ HAS CONFIDENCE IN RUSSIAN SPACE TECH - Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques — who witnessed the aborted launch of Expedition 57 two weeks ago in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and is next on the list to fly on a Soyuz — says he is more confident than ever in the Russian technology that carries astronauts to the International Space Station. Saint-Jacques was initially scheduled to fly into space Dec. 20 on Expedition 58; since the abort, his next flight date hasn't been set. Yesterday (Oct. 23) in Washington, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told the National Space Council that he is confident the next Soyuz flight will still be in December, as the Russians are close to finding the cause of the abort that derailed the last crewed launch Oct. 11.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 30)


JAPAN LAUNCHES ROCKET CARRYING GREENHOUSE GAS OBSERVATION SATELLITE JAPAN LAUNCHES ROCKET CARRYING GREENHOUSE GAS OBSERVATION SATELLITE - An H-2A rocket carrying an Ibuki-2 greenhouse gas observation satellite was launched Monday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, successfully putting the satellite into its planned orbit. The satellite, launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is more precise than its predecessor that was put up in 2009 and will orbit the earth at an altitude of 600 kilometers to collect data on carbon dioxide and methane gas.   More
(Source: Kyodo News Plus - Oct 29)


LANDSPACE FAILS TO REACH ORBIT WITH MILESTONE PRIVATE CHINESE LAUNCH LANDSPACE FAILS TO REACH ORBIT WITH MILESTONE PRIVATE CHINESE LAUNCH - Landspace suffered an issue with the third stage of its Zhuque-1 solid launch vehicle Saturday as it bid to become the first Chinese private launch company to reach orbit. The three-stage Zhuque-1, named after the Vermillion Bird from Chinese mythology, lifted off from a mobile platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China, at 4 a.m. Eastern (4 p.m. local time). No live coverage or reporting was available, but space enthusiasts tracking Chinese launches attended, posting apparent images and footage of the launch on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like microblogging service. After nominal first and second stages and fairing separation an issue with the third stage resulted in the spacecraft failing to achieve orbit, Landspace CEO Zhang Changwu confirmed to press at the site following the launch.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 28)


HAZARDOUS SPACE JUNK IS PILING UP. CAN THIS SATELLITE HELP? HAZARDOUS SPACE JUNK IS PILING UP. CAN THIS SATELLITE HELP? - Space is vast. But around our planet, it is getting a bit crowded — with space junk. More than a half million chunks of decommissioned, human-made satellites, lost tools, broken parts and trash the size of a pea or larger whiz at more than 17,000 miles per hour around the planet. Space junk threatens the lives of astronauts on the International Space Station and the functionality of satellites scattered across low Earth orbit.    More
(Source: PBS Newsletter - Oct 27)


CHINA’S UNVEILING AN UP-CLOSE LOOK AT THE DESIGN OF ITS FUTURE SPACE STATION CHINA’S UNVEILING AN UP-CLOSE LOOK AT THE DESIGN OF ITS FUTURE SPACE STATION - Seven years ago, China was shut out of using the International Space Station by the US over national security concerns, driving China to aspire to a space station of its own. Now the country is getting ready to show the world what it has built for the first time. China’s Manned Space Agency announced it will put a life-size model of the future space station’s core module on display at China’s biggest aviation and aerospace trade show, which kicks off in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai next week. It will be the first time (link in Chinese) people in China will get an up-close sense of the station’s design for themselves, according to the agency, which oversees the country’s manned spaceflights.   More
(Source: Quartz - Oct 27)


VIASAT CONFIRMS SPACEX’S FALCON HEAVY WILL LAUNCH NEXT-GEN BROADBAND SATELLITE VIASAT CONFIRMS SPACEX’S FALCON HEAVY WILL LAUNCH NEXT-GEN BROADBAND SATELLITE - Viasat announced Thursday that a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch a next-generation broadband satellite from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center some time between 2020 and 2022, joining Arianespace and United Launch Alliance in a three-way split for Viasat’s new launch contracts. The fresh launch deal is the second commercial Falcon Heavy launch contract signed by SpaceX in recent weeks. The Swedish company Ovzon announced Oct. 16 its selection of a Falcon Heavy rocket to haul its first geostationary communications satellite to orbit from Florida’s Space Coast as soon as the fourth quarter of 2020.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 27)


RUSSIA RETURNS SOYUZ ROCKET TO FLIGHT WITH LOTOS-S1 MISSION RUSSIA RETURNS SOYUZ ROCKET TO FLIGHT WITH LOTOS-S1 MISSION - Russia’s Soyuz rocket has returned to flight with the successful launch of a Lotos reconnaissance satellite Thursday, two weeks after its failed launch of the Soyuz MS-10 mission. Soyuz lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 03:15 Moscow Time (00:15 UTC) on Thursday, deploying its payload into orbit about ten minutes later. Thursday’s launch has deployed Lotos-S1 No.804, the fourth satellite in the Russian military’s Liana signals intelligence (SIGINT) programme. Liana consists of two families of satellite – Lotos and Pion – however, all of the satellites launched to date have been part of the Lotos series.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 26)


PEGASUS ROCKET LAUNCH POSTPONED PEGASUS ROCKET LAUNCH POSTPONED - Continuing a series of delays keeping NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer on Earth, NASA announced Tuesday that the satellite’s launch aboard an air-dropped Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket will not occur as scheduled Friday. The $252 million science mission was set launch from an airborne carrier jet around 4:05 a.m. EDT (0805 GMT) Friday, but NASA said Tuesday mission managers decided to delay the flight “to conduct further pre-launch testing on the rocket.”   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 25)


SUCCESSFUL HAM RADIO CONTACT BETWEEN STUDENTS AND SPACE STATION EXCITES AND INSPIRES SUCCESSFUL HAM RADIO CONTACT BETWEEN STUDENTS AND SPACE STATION EXCITES AND INSPIRES - “My best day as a teacher!” That was educator Kathryn Craven’s exuberant reaction following a successful October 22 ham radio contact between International Space Station (ISS) crew member Serena Auñón-Chancellor, KG5TMT, and youngsters at Ashford School in Ashford, Connecticut. ARRL Headquarters provided equipment for the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)-sponsored event, and several ARRL Headquarters staffers were among those assisting in setting up the station, working with teachers, students, and the media, shooting photos, and offering other support.    More
(Source: ARRL - Oct 25)

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