ROCKET LAB PREPS FOR FIRST COMMERCIAL SATELLITE LAUNCH - Rocket Lab’s first full-up commercial launch is set for April 19, U.S. time, from the company’s privately-operated launch base in New Zealand with three U.S.-owned satellites to collect weather data. The next Electron launch will loft two satellites owned by Spire Global and one for GeoOptics. Both companies are based in California, and are competitors in the market to gather weather and climate information with commercial spacecraft.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 8)

THIS SPACE JUNK REMOVAL EXPERIMENT WILL HARPOON & NET DEBRIS IN ORBIT - The first experiment designed to demonstrate active space-debris removal in orbit has just reached the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule. The RemoveDebris experiment, designed by a team led by the University of Surrey in the U.K. as part of a 15.2 million euro ($18.7 million), European Union (EU)-funded project, is about the size of a washing machine and weighs 100 kilograms (220 lbs.).   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 7)

FIRST LUXURY HOTEL IN SPACE ANNOUNCED - Want to see 16 sunrises in one day? Float in zero gravity? Be one of the few to have gazed upon our home planet from space? In just four years' time, and for an astronomical $9.5 million dollars, it's claimed you can. What's being billed as the world's first luxury space hotel, Aurora Station, was announced Thursday at the Space 2.0 Summit in San Jose, California. Developed by US-based space technology start-up Orion Span, the fully modular space station will host six people at a time...   More
(Source: CNN - Apr 7)

LOOK UP – IT'S A SATELLITE! - I saw my first artificial satellite with my naked eyes during the summer of 1994. I was watching pieces of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact Jupiter from a small observatory with a college astronomy club when someone pointed up – away from the telescope – and said, "Look, it's a satellite!" Before then, I had never really thought much about whether or not satellites were visible without a telescope or binoculars. They are fun to spot, though, so ever since then, I point them out whenever I am at the telescopes for a public observing event.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Apr 7)

STARTUP ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR LOW-COST COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION - A startup claims it will be able to place a single-module commercial space station into orbit by 2022, although the company faces multiple and significant technical and financial hurdles. Orion Span announced April 5 plans to develop what it calls the Aurora Station, a space station it says will be the “first luxury space hotel” in orbit. The company unveiled its plans at the Space 2.0 conference in San Jose, California. In an interview, Frank Bunger, chief executive of Orion Span, said he believes there’s a strong demand for orbital space tourism.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 6)

THERE’S A SPEEDING MASS OF SPACE JUNK ORBITING EARTH, SMASHING INTO THINGS - Earlier this year, a single rocket launched from India flung 104 small satellites into space. A second Indian effort in June put another 30 into orbit, each roughly the size of a coffee can. In July, a Russian rocket scattered 72 more satellites around Earth, like pebbles strewn from a speeding car. These swarms of small satellites—hard to track and hard to dodge—increase the risk of collision for the world’s vital communication, navigation and defense satellites.    More
(Source: Wall Street Journal - Apr 6)

END OF MISSION FOR PICSAT - PicSat, launched January 12, carried an amateur radio FM transponder. Unfortunately following a loss of communications in March the team has had to announce the end of the mission. On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 20, 2018 PicSat suddenly fell silent, after two successful morning passes over Europe. Attempts to re-establish contact have failed, nothing has been heard from the satellite, no sign of life.    More
(Source: AMSAT-UK - Apr 6)

EUROPEAN ROCKET LOFTS COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES IN 1ST LAUNCH SINCE GLITCH - A European rocket bounced back from a minor January anomaly with a picture-perfect launch of two commercial communications satellites today (April 5). An Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana today at 5:34 p.m. EDT (2134 GMT), successfully delivering the DSN-1/Superbird-8 and HYLAS 4 satellites to geostationary transfer orbit high above Earth.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 6)

SPACEX CARGO CAPSULE ARRIVES AT SPACE STATION WITH TONS OF SUPPLIES - A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule carrying nearly 3 tons of supplies and science gear has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) after a two-day orbital chase. Astronauts aboard the ISS snagged the uncrewed Dragon today (April 4) at 6:40 a.m. EDT (1040 GMT) using the orbiting lab's huge Canadarm2 robotic arm. The cargo vehicle had launched Monday afternoon (April 2) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, on a contracted mission for NASA. That liftoff initiated the second mission for both the rocket's first stage and the Dragon.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 5)

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