NASA’S LONG DEAD ‘IMAGE’ SATELLITE IS ALIVE! - Over the past week the station has been dedicated to an S-band scan looking for new targets and refreshing the frequency list, triggered by the recent launch of the mysterious ZUMA mission. This tends to be a semi-annual activity as it can eat up a lot of observing resources even with much of the data gathering automated the data reviewing is tedious. Upon reviewing the data from January 20, 2018, I noticed a curve consistent with an satellite in High Earth Orbit (HEO) on 2275.905MHz, darn not ZUMA… This is not uncommon during these searches. So I set to work to identify the source.   More
(Source: https://skyriddles.wordpress.com/author/coastal8049/ - Jan 24)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHED A SECRET PAYLOAD INTO SPACE LAST WEEKEND - Last weekend, Rocket Lab successfully reached orbit for the first time with its Electron booster. Before the launch from New Zealand, the company publicized a handful of commercial payloads on board. But it turns out the rocket also carried a secret payload into space at the behest of the company's founder, Peter Beck. This was the "Humanity Star," a disco ball-like geodesic sphere, which measures about 1 meter in diameter. It served no business purpose but rather reflected Beck's philosophy that by going into space, humans can improve our lives on Earth. With his first orbital launch, Beck wanted to make a statement by putting a bright object into space that people back on Earth could observe.   More
(Source: Ars Technics - Jan 24)

RUSSIA TO BUILD ITS OWN SPACE STATION WITHOUT USA AND EUROPE - General designer for manned systems and complexes at Russia's Space Agency, Roscosmos, Yevgeny Mikrin, said that the Russian orbital station could be created after 2019 on the basis of five modules. Speaking at "Korolev readings" in Moscow, Mikrin stated that a Russian orbital station was possible. "It is planned that it will consist of five modules and will provide the work of a crew of three people," he added.   More
(Source: Pravda - Jan 24)

SPACEWALKING ASTRONAUTS SHRUG OFF GLITCH DURING REPAIR JOB ON SPACE STATION - Two NASA astronauts embarked on a spacewalk today (Jan. 23) and successfully replaced a degraded robotic "hand" outside the International Space Station (ISS) despite a software glitch that left the team running behind schedule. Expedition 54 flight engineers Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle suited up early today and emerged from the Quest airlock at 6:49 a.m. EST (1149 GMT) — 21 minutes ahead of schedule — and they spent a total of 7 hours and 24 minutes working outside the orbiting laboratory.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 24)

END TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SHOULD LIMIT IMPACT ON SPACE OPERATIONS - NASA and the U.S. Air Force are expected to return to normal operations Tuesday after lawmakers passed a budget bill Monday evening, ending a government funding lapse that threatened to cut off live television coverage of an International Space Station spacewalk and interrupt SpaceX launch operations in Florida and California. Astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle plan to begin their excursion shortly after 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) Tuesday to begin work to replace a latching end effector on the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 23)

COMMERCIAL ROCKET FIRM USES NEW ZEALAND AS LAUNCH-PAD FOR SMALL SATELLITE DEPLOYMENT - Rocket Lab successfully put three small satellites into low orbit on its second rocket launch. The company is looking to capitalize on what it sees as a burgeoning market for commercial satellites. Rocket Lab, a California-based rocket company, has successfully put three small satellites into orbit via a rocket launched from New Zealand on Sunday.   More
(Source: Deutsche Welle - Jan 22)

CHINA LAUNCHES 2 REMOTE SENSING SATELLITES, 4 SMALL SATELLITES - China launched two high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites into a preset orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 12:12pm Friday Beijing Time. The two commercial satellites, Jilin-1 Video 07 and 08, were independently developed by Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd., and will provide remote sensing data and products for government and industry users in conjunction with the eight previously launched Jilin-1 satellites.   More
(Source: Shine News - Jan 21)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES 2ND TEST FLIGHT OF ELECTRON SMALL-SATELLITE BOOSTER - An Electron rocket built by the commercial startup Rocket Lab successfully launched on its second test flight from New Zealand, carrying the company's first customer payloads into orbit. The Electron blasted off today from the company's private launch facility on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand at 2:43 p.m. local time, which is 8:43 p.m. EST on Jan. 19 (0143 GMT). The launch was delayed 24 hours after two ships encroached into the launch's offshore keep-out zone.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 21)

ROCKET LAB TEST LAUNCH HALTED BY SHIP TRAFFIC, DETERIORATING WEATHER - An attempt to place three small satellites in orbit on an experimental test flight was halted Friday after two ships strayed into a keep-out zone offshore Rocket Lab’s privately-owned launch base in New Zealand, delaying the Electron booster’s second demonstration mission at least 24 hours. The countdown was stopped less than a minute before a planned liftoff at 10:10 p.m. EST Friday (0310 GMT; 4:10 p.m. New Zealand time Saturday) after officials detected two ships inside a danger area in the Pacific Ocean downrange from Rocket Lab’s launch pad in New Zealand.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 20)

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