THE BIGGEST ROCKET LAUNCHES AND SPACE MISSIONS WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2018 - Next year is already overflowing with exciting missions to space. NASA is launching a new lander to Mars, as well as a spacecraft that will get closer to the Sun than ever before. And two of NASA’s vehicles already in space will finally arrive at their intended targets: one will rendezvous with a nearby asteroid, while another will pass by a distant space rock billions of miles from Earth. But it’s not just NASA that has a busy year ahead; the commercial space industry has a number of significant test flights planned, and the launch of one of the world’s most anticipated rockets, the Falcon Heavy, is slated for early 2018.    More
(Source: The Verge - Dec 30)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TEAM TO EXPERIENCE NEW YEAR'S EVE 16 TIMES - Six astronauts boarding the International Space Station (ISS) will experience New Year's eve 16 times as they orbit the Earth once every 90 minutes, NASA said. That is 16 sunrise and sunsets 402 kilometers above Earth, the US space agency said in a blog post. Three US astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and a Japanese astronaut will go into the last weekend of 2017 with light duty and family conferences before taking New Year's Day off.    More
(Source: Times of India - Dec 30)

ISRO TO LAUNCH 31 SATELLITES IN ONE GO ABOARD PSLV - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday said it would launch 31 satellites, including India’s Cartosat-2 series earth observation space craft, in a single mission on January 10. The mission will be the first ‘Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle’ (PSLV) mission after the unsuccessful launch of the navigation satellite IRNSS-1H in August this year. “The launch is tentatively scheduled for January 10,” a senior ISRO official said.   More
(Source: The Hindu - Dec 30)

RUSSIA RESTORES CONTACT WITH ANGOLAN SATELLITE - Russian specialists on Friday said they have restored communication with Angosat-1, the first national satellite it launched for Angola, days after they lost contact with it. "Specialists of Energia rocket and space corporation have received telemetry information from Angosat," Energia said in a statement. "All parameters of the spacecraft systems are normal." Energia is the maker of the satellite which Russia launched from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday evening.    More
(Source: Phys.Org - Dec 30)

PROGRESS MS-06 FREIGHTER UNDOCKS FROM ISS - Closing out visiting vehicle comings-and-goings for 2017, the unpiloted Russian Progress MS-06 cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station in preparation for an eventual deorbit into Earth’s atmosphere. Progress MS-06 pulled into port on June 16, 2017, at the aft end of the Zvezda service module on the Russian Orbital Segment of the space station. Over the last six months, the freighter’s 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of equipment, food, water, and fuel was emptied and replaced with trash and unneeded equipment that will burn up in the atmosphere with the rest of the one-time use spacecraft.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Dec 29)

DARPA AND NASA TEAM UP TO DESIGN REFUELING SATELLITES - The Department of Defense’s research and development arm is teaming up with NASA to create a new generation of satellites whose job will be to maintain existing ones. The new satellites, called “service stations in orbit” by The Washington Post, could extend the lives of billion-dollar satellites and fix minor maintenance issues, problems that are currently not possible. Such “service stations” however could also interfere with the satellites of adversaries.   More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Dec 28)

RUSSIA LOSES CONTACT WITH ANGOLAN SATELLITE - Russia has lost contact with Angola’s first national telecoms satellite launched from the Baikonur space pad, its maker said Wednesday — a fresh embarrassment for Moscow’s once proud space industry. The incident involving the Russian-made Angosat-1 followed a similar one in November when Russia lost contact with a weather satellite launched from a new cosmodrome in the country’s far east. Energia, Russia’s top spacecraft maker which produced the satellite for Angola, said it had reached orbit and established communication according to plan but “after a while it had stopped sending telemetry” data.   More
(Source: Mail & Guardian - Dec 28)

RUSSIAN SATELLITE LOST AFTER BEING SET TO LAUNCH FROM WRONG SPACEPORT - Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday the loss of a 2.6bn-rouble ($45m) satellite launched last month was due to an embarrassing programming error. Russian space agency Roscosmos said last month it had lost contact with the newly launched weather satellite – the Meteor-M – after it blasted off from Russia’s new Vostochny cosmodrome in the country’s far east.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Dec 28)

UNEASINESS AS N. KOREA PLANS 'SATELLITE' LAUNCH FOR SPACE PROGRAM - North Korea’s regime is planning to launch a satellite that observers warn could be a Trojan horse for more weapons tests, a South Korean newspaper reports. North Korea is being sanctioned by the United Nations over its nuclear and missile launches and is currently not allowed to carry out any launches using ballistic missile technology, which includes satellites. “Through various channels, we've recently learned that the North has completed a new satellite and named it Kwangmyongsong-5,” the Joongang Ilbo daily reported, quoting a South Korean government source.   More
(Source: Fox News - Dec 27)

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