SPACE AGENCY SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES 100TH SATELLITE CARTOSAT-2, PM CONGRATULATES SCIENTISTS - India on Friday launched a polar rocket with 31 satellites, including three Indian and 28 of six other nations from its spaceport here. The 44.4-metre tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) roared into a clear sky after a perfect lift-off at 9.29 a.m. after a 28-hour countdown. The 320-tonne rocket will eject the satellites one-by-one and deploy them into the earth’s lower orbit about 17 minutes and 18 seconds after the lift-off.   More
(Source: Hindustan Times - Jan 12)

ULA SCRUBS DELTA IV LAUNCH WITH NROL-47 - United Launch Alliance has scrubbed a Delta IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, set to carry the classified NROL-47 mission for the US National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff will now be attempted on Friday with the window opening at 21:00 UTC.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 12)

ISRO EYES ITS 100TH SATELLITE - India will launch ISRO's 100th satellite along with 30 others in a single mission on January 12 from Sriharikota, in a milestone event in the country's space history. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it was "back in the game" with the launch, the first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) mission after the unsuccessful launch of the navigation satellite IRNSS-1H in August last. "The 31 spacecrafts, including weather observation Cartosat-2 series will be launched by PSLV-C40," ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) director M Annadurai said today.    More
(Source: Economic Times - Jan 11)

ULA DELTA IV LAUNCH WITH NROL-47 MOVED TO THURSDAY - United Launch Alliance will attempt to launch a Delta IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, carrying out the classified NROL-47 mission for the US National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff is now scheduled for Thursday, 13:00 local time (21:00 UTC), following a scrub due to unacceptable weather on Wednesday.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 10)

SECOND SUPERVIEW SATELLITE PAIR LAUNCHED FROM CHINA - A second satellite duo for Beijing Space View Technology successfully launched Tuesday atop a Long March 2D rocket, doubling the company’s high-resolution imaging capacity for sale on the global market. Burning a mixture of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, the 134-f00t-tall (41-meter) Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan space center in northeastern China’s Shanxi province at 0324 GMT Tuesday (10:24 p.m. EST Monday), according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 10)

CLASSIFIED SATELLITE FELL INTO OCEAN AFTER SPACEX LAUNCH, OFFICIAL CONFIRMS - A highly classified satellite launched by SpaceX this weekend ended up plummeting into the Indian Ocean, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News. Following its launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Sunday night, the satellite, codenamed Zuma, failed to remain in orbit, the official said. Northrop Grumman, the defense contractor that manufactured the payload -- reportedly a billion-dollar spy satellite -- told ABC News its mission is classified and declined to comment on the loss of the satellite.    More
(Source: ABC News - Jan 10)

FOX-1D SATELLITE SET TO LAUNCH THIS WEEK, CHINA TO LAUNCH FIVE NEW CUBESATS - The launch of AMSAT-NA’s Fox-1D CubeSat will take place from India on January 12 (UTC). The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight had to be rescheduled from December 30. AMSAT Vice-President Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, delivered Fox-1D to Spaceflight Inc in Seattle last November for integration. In addition to a Fox-1 U/V FM transponder, Fox-1D will carry several university experiments, including a MEMS gyro from Pennsylvania State University-Erie, a camera from Virginia Tech, and the University of Iowa’s High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument (HERCI) radiation mapping experiment.   More
(Source: ARRL - Jan 10)

U.S. CARGO SPACECRAFT SET FOR DEPARTURE FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - After delivering more than 4,800 pounds of science and supplies to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft will depart the orbiting laboratory on Saturday, Jan. 13. NASA will provide live coverage of Dragon’s departure beginning at 4:30 a.m. EST. On Friday, Jan. 12, flight controllers will use the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach Dragon from the Earth-facing side of the station’s Harmony module. After Dragon is maneuvered into place, a ground-controlled command will release the spacecraft as NASA’s Expedition 54 Flight Engineers Joe Acaba and Scott Tingle monitor its departure at 5 a.m. Saturday.   More
(Source: Space Fellowship - Jan 9)

SECRET ZUMA SATELLITE'S FATE UNKNOWN AFTER SPACEX LAUNCH - SpaceX on Monday said a Falcon 9 rocket appeared to have performed as expected during its Sunday night launch of the government's classified Zuma mission, amid rumors of a possible mission failure. “We do not comment on missions of this nature; but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally,” a SpaceX spokesperson said in a statement. Northrop Grumman, which was responsible for the spacecraft and contracted for the launch, did not immediately respond to questions.   More
(Source: USA Today - Jan 9)

Previous Next