STATION HATCHES CLOSED, TRIO PREPARES TO HEAD HOME - At 2:58 p.m. EST, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. Expedition 54 crewmates Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA and Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos are scheduled to undock their Soyuz at 6:08 p.m. NASA Television will air live coverage of undocking beginning at 5:45 p.m. More (Source: NASA - Feb 28)
EUTELSAT QUANTUM — EUROPE'S NEW-GENERATION ULTRA-FLEXIBLE SATELLITE - This Monday, Eutelsat, Airbus and ESA presented the new Quantum satellite in Portsmouth, UK. A communications satellite of the latest generation, it is much more versatile than anything that came before. On July 9th 2015, less than three years ago, Eutelsat, Airbus, and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement for the construction of a telecommunications satellite called the "Quantum" that would be very different from all its predecessors. And now construction is finished: On Monday, the engineering partners presented the Quantum in the British coastal town of Portsmouth, with ESA astronaut Tim Peake in attendance. More (Source: Deutsche Welle - Feb 27)
JAPAN LAUNCHES H-2A ROCKET CARRYING RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE - Japan on Tuesday launched an H-2A rocket carrying a government intelligence-gathering satellite from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan. The optical reconnaissance satellite will be used for such purposes as monitoring developments at North Korean missile launch facilities, increasing the number of the nation's intelligence-gathering satellites to seven. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. launched the H-2A F38 rocket from JAXA's launch site in Kagoshima Prefecture. More (Source: Kyodo News Plus - Feb 27)
SPACE HOTELS COULD BE REALITY BY 2021 - For many of us, space tourism seems pretty far off. But according to the Daily Mail, the ultra-wealthy could be making reservations in a space hotel as early as 2021. Once again, we are all super jealous of rich people and their extravagant travel plans. Billionaire hotel mogul, Robert Bigelow, founder of private space company Bigelow Aerospace, has announced the company’s plans to send an inflatable hotel into orbit and create a new space station. More (Source: Travel Weekly - Feb 27)
JAPANESE SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAYED BY POOR WEATHER FORECAST - A bad weather forecast has prompted Japanese space officials to delay the launch of an H-2A rocket with a high-resolution government-owned reconnaissance satellite by at least 48 hours until Monday night, U.S. time. Ground crews at the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan’s primary spaceport in the southwestern part of the country, will keep the H-2A rocket protected inside a vertical assembly building before rollout to the launch pad around a half-day before liftoff. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 25)
SPACEX POSTPONES FALCON 9 LAUNCH OVER PAYLOAD FAIRING CONCERNS - SpaceX officials have postponed the launch of a Spanish-owned telecommunications satellite from Cape Canaveral planned for this weekend to conduct additional testing on the Falcon 9’s payload fairing pressurization system, the company announced Saturday. SpaceX did not set a new launch date, but the mission was expected to be pushed back multiple days from its previous Sunday launch target. “Standing down from this weekend’s launch attempt to conduct additional testing on the fairing’s pressurization system,” SpaceX said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Once complete, and pending range availability, we will confirm a new targeted launch date.” More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 25)
ASTRONAUT: TRUMP'S PLAN FOR THE SPACE STATION A HUGE MISTAKE - Donald Trump's administration is floating a proposal to return to the moon -- and to shut down the International Space Station to help pay for it. The first part of this idea is good. The second is horrible. If enacted, it could well spell the end of NASA's human spaceflight for the foreseeable future. There is a wild card here, too: I refer to the commercial spaceflight efforts of companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. For the first time, visionary leaders of commercial companies are striving to build space infrastructure and exploration programs funded by commercial activities. Yes, there is the possibility of NASA partnering with them, but that is not the pressing question in my view now; the continuation of ISS is. More (Source: CNN - Feb 23)
LOCKHEED MARTIN COMPLETES ASSEMBLY ON ARABSAT'S NEWEST COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - A new, high-capacity communications satellite that will deliver TV, internet and mobile phone services to the Middle East, Africa and Europe is one step closer to launch. Lockheed Martin has completed assembly on the Arabsat-6A satellite, which was recently shipped to its Sunnyvale, California facility to begin a comprehensive series of tests to ensure the satellite is ready for operations in orbit. "This new satellite will strengthen our existing fleet that offers millions of people mobile and landline communications service across the region," said Khalid Balkheyour, CEO of Arabsat. "We look forward to completing and launching this state-of-the-art new satellite to offer even greater internet, television and radio services to our customers." More (Source: Space Daily - Feb 23)
THE LOW-COST MINI SATELLITES BRINGING MOBILE TO THE WORLD - Large chunks of the planet are still of out of reach of mobile phone signals - that's about four billion people without access to digital communications. But this could change thanks to shrinking satellite sizes and costs. Lower-cost, space-based mobile phone services will soon be a reality thanks to one firm's fleet of nano-satellites that will bounce your voice or text signal from one spacecraft to the next and finally down to the person you're calling. More (Source: BBN News - Feb 23)
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