A SUITCASE-SIZE SATELLITE’S BIG IMAGE OF FROZEN EARTH BELOW - About two weeks ago, a satellite called Iceye-X1 hitched a ride into orbit aboard an Indian rocket. It’s about the size of a suitcase, and has already sent its first picture, constructed out of microwave radar reflections, back to Earth. “I personally love this image,” said Rafal Modrzewski, the chief executive of Iceye, a Finnish start-up that built and operates the satellite, referring to a scene from the Noatak National Preserve in Alaska. “It’s full of snow, but it’s so much more complex than you think at first.”   More
(Source: New York Times - Jan 28)

SPACEX SETS FIRST FALCON HEAVY LAUNCH FOR FEB. 6 - SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said Jan. 27 that the company will attempt a first launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket on Feb. 6. The announcement came three days after the rocket completed a static-fire test at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, a final test milestone before the launch itself. Musk said the test was “good” shortly after the test, but neither he nor the company provided additional details. “Aiming for first flight of Falcon Heavy on Feb 6 from Apollo launchpad 39A at Cape Kennedy,” Musk tweeted. “Easy viewing from the public causeway.”   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 28)

FOX-1D (AO-92) NOW COMMISSIONED, OPEN FOR AMATEUR USE - AMSAT Vice President-Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, has declared that Fox-1D (AO-92) is now open for general Amateur Radio use. That word followed an announcement from AMSAT Vice President-Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, that AO-92 had been commissioned and formally turned over to AMSAT Operations. Initially, the U/v FM transponder will be open continuously for 1 week. After that, operation will be shared among the U/v FM transponder, L-Band Downshifter, Virginia Tech Camera, and the University of Iowa’s High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument (HERCI).   More
(Source: ARRL - Jan 27)

AFTER A BRIEF SILENCE, THE SATELLITE HOSTING NASA’S NEW SPACE WEATHER MISSION RESPONDS - A brief tracking failure led to fears that the satellite meant to host NASA’s new mission to better understand space weather had been lost, according to SpaceFlightNow. Though the European Ariane 5 rocket lifted off uneventfully, none of the customers with satellites on the rocket could reach their probes for some time. The satellites are in orbit and have communicated with their control centers, Arianespace announced. But it’s not clear yet what orbits they’re in. If they’re in the wrong spots, these satellites may not be able to do their jobs — though it’s possible they could course-correct.   More
(Source: The Verge - Jan 26)

ASTRONOMERS ARE ANNOYED AT A NEW ZEALAND COMPANY THAT LAUNCHED A DISCO BALL INTO ORBIT - On Saturday, the New Zealand space company Rocket Labs successfully sent a payload into orbit on its Electron rocket for the first time. Among the objects on board the rocket were two commercial satellites and the “Humanity Star,” a geodesic disco ball designed by Rocket Labs. The Humanity Star is purely an art object, with no real purpose other than looking good. According to Rocket Lab, the “bright, blinking satellite” is visible to the naked eye at night and is “designed to encourage everyone to look up and consider our place in the universe.” Aside from the fact that there are several other bright, blinking satellites in orbit that are visible to the naked eye and actually serve a useful function, Rocket Lab’s gesture is a rare nod to poetry in an industry that is usually pragmatic to the point of fault.   More
(Source: Motherboard - Jan 26)

ARIANE 5 ROCKET DELIVERS SATELLITES, NASA GOLD TO ORBIT DESPITE LAUNCH ANOMALY - Two commercial satellites and a NASA Earth-observation instrument managed to reach orbit despite a scare during liftoff today (Jan. 25). NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) instrument and the SES-14 and Al Yah 3 communications satellites launched atop an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket this evening from Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. GOLD, which is a bit bigger than a microwave, rode piggyback on SES-14. About 9 minutes after liftoff, the outlook turned grim: Arianespace lost contact with the rocket's upper stage, leading to speculation that the payloads had been lost.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 26)

NASA SATELLITE MAKES ART OF SHIP TRACKS, CLOUDS OVER ATLANTIC OCEAN - Using its Aqua satellite, NASA captured a beautiful image of ships tracks through the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Spain and Portugal on Jan. 16. The U.S. space agency posted the photo with a brief educational explanation on ship tracks and how they look through its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on Wednesday. "The narrow clouds, known as ship tracks, form when water vapor condenses around tiny particles of pollution that ships emit as exhaust or that form from gases in the exhaust," NASA writes.   More
(Source: MLive.com - Jan 25)

SPACEX FIRES UP ITS BIGGEST ROCKET, PAVING WAY FOR A TEST FLIGHT - SpaceX fired up its newest, biggest rocket in a critical launch pad test on Wednesday, advancing toward a long-anticipated test flight possibly in just a week. The Falcon Heavy briefly roared to life for the first time at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center. All three boosters – 27 engines in all – were tested. The thunderous booms could be heard at the press site three miles away, as huge white clouds of engine exhaust billowed into a clear blue sky. Everything appeared normal: the 230ft (70-meter) rocket stood tall and brilliantly white after the test on the historic pad once used by Nasa’s Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles.    More
(Source: The Guardian - Jan 25)

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WANTS TO END NASA FUNDING FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION BY 2025 - The Trump administration is preparing to end support for the International Space Station program by 2025, according to a draft budget proposal reviewed by The Verge. Without the ISS, American astronauts could be grounded on Earth for years with no destination in space until NASA develops new vehicles for its deep space travel plans. The draft may change before an official budget request is released on February 12th. However, two people familiar with the matter have confirmed to The Verge that the directive will be in the final proposal. We reached out to NASA for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.   More
(Source: The Verge - Jan 25)

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