TIANGONG-1 SPACE LABORATORY TO CRASH TO EARTH BETWEEN MID-MARCH AND MID-APRIL - ESA’s Space Debris Office has issued a new updated forecast for the imminent atmospheric re-entry of China’s Tiangong-1 space laboratory, which appears to have been floating in space out of control for almost two years. The office, located at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, coordinates ESA’s research relating to space debris. As part of its activities, it also keeps a close eye on the upcoming re-entry of China’s Tiangong-1 space station, which is expected to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere soon, but there are fears that some of its components may strike the ground. More (Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Feb 6)
SPACEX RECEIVES COMMERCIAL LAUNCH LICENSE FOR FIRST FALCON HEAVY FLIGHT - The Federal Aviation Administration has approved a launch license for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket set for blastoff Tuesday, giving the U.S. government’s regulatory green light for the heavy-lifter to dispatch Elon Musk’s used electric sports car on a one-way trip into deep space. Dated Feb. 2, the FAA launch license clears a final regulatory hurdle for the Falcon Heavy’s test launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch window Tuesday opens at 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) and extends until 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 5)
SUPER BOWL 2018: EVEN ASTRONAUTS ARE WATCHING THE BIG GAME - It's official: Super Bowl LII is truly out of this world. That's because even astronauts in space are watching the big game. NASA astronaut Joe Acaba on the International Space Station posted a photo on Twitter tonight (Feb. 4) showing the big game on the orbiting laboratory's big projection screen, which allows astronauts to watch films and TV shows using a high-definition projector. The only question left is who are the astronauts rooting for in the football championship: The Philadelphia Eagles or the New England Patriots? More (Source: Space.com - Feb 5)
SPACEX FALCON HEAVY LAUNCH: WHAT HAPPENS IF IT FAILS? - On Tuesday, SpaceX will attempt to send its highly anticipated new rocket into orbit. There's a "good chance" it won't make it. At least, that's how Elon Musk -- the founder and CEO of the space start up -- put it when asked about the rocket, called Falcon Heavy, at a conference last year. "Real good chance that vehicle does not make it to orbit," was his uncharacteristically pessimistic response. Some industry experts agree. Paulo Lozano, a professor of astronautics at MIT, told CNNMoney that the Falcon Heavy -- which is poised to become the most powerful rocket in operation -- presents big challenges because of its design. More (Source: CNNMoney - Feb 5)
SOUPED-UP SOUNDING ROCKET LIFTS OFF FROM JAPAN WITH TINY SATELLITE - A year after its tiny, experimental rocket failed to reach orbit a year ago, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched (via Engadget) an experimental rocket into orbit this weekend, the smallest ever to do so. According to JAXA, the launch was a demonstration experiment, that carried the TRICOM-1R — a three-unit cubesat— into lower Earth orbit, where it will observe the Earth with a set of cameras. Now in orbit, JAXA says that its status is “nominal.” More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 4)
ARE JUNK CLEARING LASERS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS WEAPONIZING SPACE? - Space junk is old fragments of booster rockets or satellites that remain in orbit around the Earth. It is a huge problem because there is an increasing amount of space junk. There is an estimated 170 million pieces of space junk, some are tiny slivers or fragments, others are much larger. NASA estimates there are over 20 thousand pieces at the least the size of a softball. They travel at a speed of about 28 thousand kilometres per hour. Most of the millions of pieces of space junk are the tiny fragments. These are biggest problem because they are the hardest to detect. More (Source: CBC.ca - Feb 3)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: RUSSIA WANTS TO SEND YOU ON HOLIDAY TO SPACE - Forget the Bahamas—your next holiday destination could be infinitely more exotic. Russian space company Energia wants to take tourists on a 10-day trip to the International Space Station. “We are discussing the possibility of sending tourists on spacewalks,” Vladimir Solntsev, the head of the company, told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. Energia was behind the technology that took the first human into outer space. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off on April 12, 1961, in a Vostok spacecraft. More (Source: Newsweek - Feb 3)
CHINA LAUNCHES ELECTROMAGNETIC SATELLITE TO STUDY EARTHQUAKE PRECURSORS - China on Friday launched its first seismo-electromagnetic satellite to study seismic precursors, which might help establish a ground-space earthquake monitoring and forecasting network in the future. A Long March-2D rocket launched at 15:51 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in northwest China's Gobi Desert, carried the 730-kilogram China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 500 kilometers. More (Source: Xinhua - Feb 3)
SATELLITE TRANSFORMS INTO HUGE FIREBALL AS IT CRASHES TO EARTH IN PERU - This is the moment a huge fireball was seen soaring through the skies of South America on Saturday. But far from being a UFO or a planet-destroying asteroid, the Peruvian Air Force confirmed that the burning object was an old piece of satellite that burnt up after entering the earth’s orbit. The remaining parts of the satellite were discovered by peasants in southeastern Peru, who immediately contacted the Peruvian Air Force. More (Source: Yahoo News - Feb 2)
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