HERE'S WHAT THE HAWAII VOLCANO ERUPTION LOOKS LIKE FROM SPACE - The first pictures are emerging of what Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano eruption looks like from space. Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station shared photos of their view of the massive smoke plume on Hawaii’s big island. The rolling eruptions of Kilauea, which have caused hundreds of earthquakes, forced thousands of people in the nearby communities to evacuate. “We hope those in the vicinity of the eruption can stay out of harm’s way,” tweeted Drew Feustel, a NASA flight engineer aboard the ISS, on Monday.   More
(Source: TIME - May 16)

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER LAUNCH: TWO NASA EDUCATIONAL CUBESATS - A small group of students recently got to experience a rare, spaceflight thrill: seeing if the tiny satellite, called a CubeSat, they designed and built not only survived a rocket launch to space but also successfully gathered and transmitted data once on orbit. The educational CubeSat missions were selected through the CubeSat Launch Initiative as part of the 14th installment of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions.    More
(Source: Space Daily - May 15)

CHINA PREPARING TO LAUNCH CHANG’E-4 RELAY SATELLITE MAY 21 - China is set to launch a relay satellite to the second Earth-moon Lagrange point May 21, in a necessary precursor to the planned Chang’e-4 soft-landing on the lunar far side late in the year. Chang’e-4 is the backup to the Chang’e-3 mission which put a lander and rover on Mare Imbrium in late 2013. Following that success, the lunar craft have been repurposed for a pioneering landing on the moon’s far side. The lunar far side does not face the Earth as the moon’s orbital period matches its rotational period, thus requiring a relay satellite to facilitate communications.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 15)

EVER WONDERED WHAT’S FLOATING AROUND IN SPACE? - The night sky is full of stars, but it’s also full of garbage. Humans put lots of satellites up there — about 1,700 working spacecraft are in orbit around our planet — and not every piece of machinery comes right back when its job is done. Many keep speeding through the sky long after scientists have lost touch, leaving them liable to crash into one another and break into small pieces. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) estimates that there are about 23,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 centimeters (or about four inches), about 500,000 larger than one centimeter, and about 100,000,000 larger than one millimeter.    More
(Source: Washington Post - May 14)

SPACEX DEBUTS NEW MODEL OF THE FALCON 9 ROCKET DESIGNED FOR ASTRONAUTS - SpaceX debuted a more reusable, higher-thrust model of the Falcon 9 rocket Friday, hauling Bangladesh’s first communications satellite into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast. The successful launch propelled SpaceX closer to launching astronauts for NASA, which will fly on the same “Block 5” model of the Falcon 9 rocket that flew Friday. Musk said the enhanced launch vehicle will also be easier to reuse, moving toward the California-based space transport company’s ambitious mission of drastically cutting launch costs and building settlements on other worlds.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 13)

STATION TO ORBIT HIGHER BEFORE SPACEWALK AND CREW LANDING - The International Space Station will be orbiting a little higher this weekend to prepare for the departure of three Expedition 55 crew members and the arrival of a new Russian cargo craft. The docked Russian Progress 69 resupply ship will fire its engines Saturday at 6:07 p.m. EDT for two minutes and 52 seconds slightly boosting the orbital lab’s altitude.   More
(Source: NASA - May 12)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FIRST "BLOCK 5" FALCON 9 ROCKET - Running a day late because of a last-minute countdown glitch, an upgraded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, a booster NASA is counting on to eventually launch astronauts to the space station, roared to life and shot away from the Kennedy Space Center on its maiden flight Friday carrying Bangladesh's first communications satellite into space. The booster's first stage, sporting redesigned landing legs, improved heat shield insulation, upgraded avionics and more powerful engines with crack-resistant turbine hardware, flipped around moments after falling away from the Falcon 9's second stage and flew itself back to an on-target landing on an offshore droneship.   More
(Source: CBS News - May 12)

THREE CUBESATS WITH AMATEUR RADIO PAYLOADS DEPLOYED FROM ISS - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that three CubeSats carrying Amateur Radio payloads, including one with a V/U linear transponder, were deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on May 11 at around 1030 UTC. Irazu (Costa Rica) and 1KUNS-PF (Kenya) carry beacon/telemetry in the 70-centimeter Amateur Radio band, while UBAKUSAT (Turkey) carries an Amateur Radio linear transponder for SSB and CW, in addition to CW and telemetry beacons.    More
(Source: ARRL - May 11)

CHINA LAUNCHES NEW ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING SATELLITE - As part of their high-resolution Earth observation project, China launched the Gaofen-5 hyperspectral imaging satellite. Designed and developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, it is expected to have an 8-year lifespan and will be used for comprehensive environmental monitoring. Launched on 9 May 2018 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi province, it is the latest of 15 satellite launches that China has made this year.   More
(Source: OpenGov Asia - May 11)

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