FOUR O3B SATELLITES LAUNCHED TO BEAM INTERNET TO DEVELOPING WORLD - Four satellites set to join O3b’s expanding broadband network successfully launched Friday on top of a Russian-built Soyuz booster from French Guiana, joining 12 other craft linking developing nations, far-flung islands, cruise ships and other hard-to-reach locales with the Internet. Mounted on a carrying dispenser inside the Soyuz rocket’s nose cone, the four O3b spacecraft will grow the satellite-based broadband network’s reach and coverage, answering demand for more bandwidth from the initiative’s current and prospective customers.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 10)

CHINA UNVEILS PLANS FOR X-RAY SATELLITE TO PROBE MOST VIOLENT CORNERS OF THE UNIVERSE - China is raising the stakes in its bid to become a major player in space science. At a kick-off meeting in Beijing last week, China's National Space Science Center, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), began detailed design studies for a satellite that would round out an array of orbiting platforms for probing x-rays from the most violent corners of the cosmos. The enhanced X-Ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission would be China's most ambitious space science satellite yet—and its most expensive, with an estimated price tag of $473 million. To pull it off, China is assembling a collaboration involving more than 200 scientists so far from dozens of institutions in 20 countries.   More
(Source: Science Magazine - Mar 8)

IMAGE: ESA'S FIRST AUTOMATED TRANSFER VEHICLE - ESA's very first Automated Transfer Vehicle is seen approaching the International Space Station against the glow of Earth's horizon. Launched 10 years ago on 9 March 2008, the maiden cargo ferry was named after the 19th-century French author and visionary, Jules Verne, who fascinated millions of young people and inspired space scientists and explorers with his extraordinary stories. While it didn't take the spacecraft 80 days to go around the world and reach the Space Station, it was nevertheless an extraordinary voyage.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Mar 8)

SPACEX'S STARLINK SATELLITE PROGRAM COULD START A SPACE JUNK DISASTER - Last month signaled SpaceX's first steps toward creating worldwide broadband internet with a network of satellites, called Starlink. If you don't know what Starlink is, we don't blame you—SpaceX has been trying to keep it out of the public eye for a while, unlike some of their other crazy projects. It's a potentially world-changing project, but it comes with a huge risk: space junk. One of the major problems Starlink is trying to solve is latency—when you have satellites in high orbits providing your internet, it takes the data a long time to beam to and from the satellite, then through the various intermediary satellites.   More
(Source: Outer Places - Mar 7)

FIRST BLACKSKY OPERATIONAL SATELLITE READY FOR LAUNCH - Spaceflight Industries said March 6 that the first operational satellite for its BlackSky Earth imaging constellation is now complete and awaiting launch later this year. The 55-kilogram Global-1 satellite is the first of four satellites, each capable of producing imagery at a resolution of one meter, that Spaceflight plans to launch in the next year on U.S. and foreign vehicles, although the company did not disclose specific launch plans. The Global satellites build upon a demonstration satellite, Pathfinder, launched in September 2016.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Mar 7)

CHINA'S TESTS FOR A GLOBAL SATELLITE NETWORK WILL START THIS YEAR - Last month SpaceX launched a couple of satellites to test plans for a global internet provider (you can watch another non-internet satellite launch tonight), and now the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) said it will perform a test of its own later this year. CASIC Second Academy president Zhang Zhongyang announced today that the first satellite will be placed in low-Earth orbit to test its broadband tech, capable of transmitting 500MB per second, to prep for the Hongyun project's planned 156 satellites. After the first one goes up, four satellites will launch before 2020, with the full network scheduled to be in place by 2022 providing coverage around the world.   More
(Source: Engadget - Mar 7)

HEFTY HISPASAT SATELLITE RIDES SPACEX ROCKET INTO ORBIT - A Spanish-owned, U.S.-built commercial communications satellite climbed into orbit early Tuesday from Cape Canaveral on the 50th flight of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launching on a 15-year mission to relay video, data and broadband signals across the Americas, Europe and North Africa. Heading for a post in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator, the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite took off at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) Tuesday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 6)

SPACEX READY TO TRY AGAIN WITH SPANISH SATELLITE LAUNCH - SpaceX will try once again to launch a Spanish satellite into space from Florida early Tuesday morning. The Elon Musk-led company had to delay its mission in late February because SpaceX officials wanted to test the Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing. The launch is planned for 12:33 a.m. Tuesday. The rocket will carry with it a satellite for the 25-year-old Spanish communications operator Hispasat.   More
(Source: Orlando Sentinel - Mar 6)

CHINA'S TIANGONG-1 SPACE STATION WILL CRASH TO EARTH WITHIN WEEKS - Experts say it is impossible to plot where module will re-enter the atmosphere, but the chance is higher in parts of Europe, US, Australia and New Zealand. China’s first space station is expected to come crashing down to Earth within weeks, but scientists have not been able to predict where the 8.5-tonne module will hit. The US-funded Aerospace Corporation estimates Tiangong-1 will re-enter the atmosphere during the first week of April, give or take a week. The European Space Agency says the module will come down between 24 March and 19 April.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Mar 6)

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