ON-ORBIT SERVICING OF AGING SATELLITES POSSIBLE BY END OF YEAR - Orbital ATK is moving out aggressively to introduce on-orbit satellite servicing to the space industry, which its says will be a first step toward more advanced concepts such as on-orbit repairs and the assembly of satellites while in space. The company’s Mission Extension Vehicle 1 recently passed a critical design review and is scheduled for launch by the end of 2018. It will dock with a commercial communications satellite owned by Intelsat. The satellite communications giant — with some 50 spacecraft in orbit — is the system’s first customer. Intelsat also recently signed up to lease MEV 2, which is expected to be completed by mid-2020. The company ultimately would like to build five such space vehicles.   More
(Source: National Defense Magazine - Mar 15)

STEPHEN HAWKING, RENOWNED SCIENTIST, DIES AT 76 - Stephen Hawking, the brilliant British theoretical physicist who overcame a debilitating disease to publish wildly popular books probing the mysteries of the universe, has died, according to a family spokesman. He was 76. Considered by many to be the world's greatest living scientist, Hawking was also a cosmologist, astronomer, mathematician and author of numerous books including the landmark "A Brief History of Time," which has sold more than 10 million copies.   More
(Source: CNN - Mar 14)

NASA’S NEXT STOP: A SPACE STATION ORBITING THE MOON - The International Space Station is entering its twilight years. As such, NASA is making plans for the space station of the future — one that would orbit the moon. This new lunar outpost will be smaller and more remote than the ISS — orbing beyond Earth’s protective magnetic field. And the station’s goal would be to serve as a transit hub for deep space missions and exploration past low-Earth orbit, while continuing all the science that can be done in zero gravity. It would also be within easy reach of the lunar surface.   More
(Source: Discover Magazine - Mar 14)

SPACEX’S MOST RECENT LAUNCH CARRIED A SECRET MILITARY-FUNDED EXPERIMENT - A previously-undisclosed payload funded by a U.S. military research agency rode into orbit with a Spanish communications satellite on SpaceX’s most recent Falcon 9 rocket launch March 6, officials said Friday. The small spacecraft was fastened inside the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite, then ejected soon after the Falcon 9’s primary payload deployed in orbit following liftoff from Cape Canaveral.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 14)

SATELLITE STARTUP PROMISES COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK THAT CAN’T BE HACKED - LeoSat has not even built a single satellite but has already booked $500 million worth of orders, its executives claim. In a crowded market for low-earth-orbit satellite communications, the company believes it has found its niche selling premium services to secrecy-obsessed clients, including the U.S. military. “We’ve had a lot of interaction with DoD and combatant commands,” Michael Abad-Santos, senior vice president of LeoSat, told SpaceNews at the Satellite 2018 exposition.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Mar 14)

NEW NOAA WEATHER SATELLITE REACHES GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT - Less than two weeks after its launch from Cape Canaveral, a new NOAA weather observatory has boosted itself into a circular orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator, and officials have renamed it GOES-17 ahead of a test series before it enters service later this year. NOAA traditionally switches from a letter to a number designation for its weather satellites after they reach their operational geostationary orbit. This time, the GOES-S satellite became GOES-17.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 14)

THE OWNER’S GUIDE TO YOUR NEW SPACE STATION - The White House made headlines recently by pushing the idea of privatizing the International Space Station after federal funding runs out in 2024. But anyone who'd consider owning and operating their own outpost in orbit should know this: It's not as easy as opening a Motel 6. For deep, detailed proof of this fact, look no further than the Deep Space Exploration Standards. Drafted in secret by representatives from Canada, Japan, Russia, the European Union, and United States, and released publicly just two weeks ago, these rules amount to an owner's manual for a space station, outlining how to build so that all the parts connect and all the systems talk to each other.    More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Mar 13)

SATELLITE DESIGNED BY STUDENTS IN PRESCOTT CHOSEN BY NASA FOR LAUNCH - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has invited a team of students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott campus to launch a cube satellite designed at the school. According to a release, EagleSat-2 was one of 11 proposals selected by NASA to be apart of its CubeSat Launch Initiative, which provides opportunities for cube satellites to be launched in planned spaceflight missions.   More
(Source: KTAR.com - Mar 13)

EFFECTIVE SPACE RESERVES ILS PROTON RIDESHARE FOR TWO SATELLITE SERVICERS - Effective Space Solutions, a company developing spacecraft that can extend the lives of telecommunications satellites, has arranged to launch its first two spacecraft on a Russian Proton rocket in 2020. International Launch Services (ILS), the U.S.-based commercial arm of Proton’s manufacturer Khrunichev, is facilitating the launch, ILS announced March 12. U.K.-based Effective Space is building life-extension spacecraft called Space Drones that have a mass of 400 kilograms each. The two Space Drones launching on Proton will reach orbit via rideshare, piggybacking on a mission with a larger customer, ILS spokesperson Karen Soriano told SpaceNews. She declined to name the primary payload for that mission.    More
(Source: SapceNews - Mar 13)

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