NORTH KOREA’S LATEST MISSILE TEST WENT MORE THAN 10 TIMES HIGHER THAN THE SPACE STATION - North Korea launched its likely third intercontinental ballistic missile test around 3:17 am local time on Wednesday, signaling an end to a two-month pause in its missile testing that could bring tensions between Washington and Pyongyang back to dangerous levels. The Pentagon confirmed the test went straight up about 2,800 miles into space, which is the highest missile test in North Korean history — going more than ten times higher than the International Space Station. The second-highest test was on July 28 and went up about 2,300 miles.    More
(Source: Vox - Nov 29)

SPACE STATION CARGO FLIGHT NEXT ON SPACEX’S LAUNCH SCHEDULE - In a reshuffling of SpaceX’s launch schedule, a Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff no earlier than Dec. 8 on a mission to deliver several tons of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station and return to service a Cape Canaveral launch pad damaged in a catastrophic rocket explosion last year. SpaceX will defer the deployment of a mysterious U.S. government payload named Zuma later in the company’s jam-packed manifest after managers postponed the launch from Nov. 15 to resolve concerns raised during testing of a payload shroud for another mission.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 29)

LOCKHEED MARTIN-BUILT SATELLITE POISED FOR FLORIDA LAUNCH - A major component of a next-generation missile-defense system, expected to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Space Coast early next year, has made its way from California to Florida. The satellite, part of the Space Based Infrared System, is scheduled to launch in January. The SBIRS is a system of satellites that detects missile launches and helps the military gather intelligence.   More
(Source: Orlando Sentinel - Nov 29)

RUSSIA SAYS CONTACT WITH SATELLITE LOST AFTER LAUNCH - The Russian space agency says that a weather satellite has failed to enter a designated orbit following its launch, another blow to the nation's space program. Roscosmos says it has failed to establish communications with the Meteor M 2-1 satellite that was launched atop a Soyuz-2 booster rocket Tuesday from Russia's new Vostochny launch pad in the Far East. The agency says it's trying to determine what happened.   More
(Source: CNS News - Nov 29)

RUSSIAN SOYUZ ROCKET BLASTS OFF - A Russian Soyuz rocket has blasted off from the far-eastern Vostochny Cosmodrome to deliver two Earth observation satellites and more than a dozen miniature satellites known as smallsats into orbit. The Soyuz-2.1B rocket was the second to blast off from the launch facility.   More
(Source: SBS - Nov 28)

LOCKHEED MARTIN ASSEMBLES THIRD U.S. AIR FORCE GPS III SATELLITE - The U.S. Air Force’s third GPS III satellite in production flow at Lockheed Martin’s advanced satellite manufacturing facility in Denver is now fully integrated into a complete space vehicle. GPS III Space Vehicle 03 (GPS III SV03) followed the first two GPS III satellites on a streamlined assembly and test production line. Technicians successfully integrated the satellite’s major components — its system module, navigation payload and propulsion core — into one fully assembled space vehicle on Aug. 14.   More
(Source: GPS World magazine - Nov 28)

WHEN WILL CHINA'S ROGUE SPACE STATION TIANGONG-1 FINALLY CRASH TO EARTH? NEW ESTIMATE NARROWS WINDOW - Where in the world is Tiangong-1, China’s rogue space station? Predictions of where and when the space station will land have shifted since the China National Space Administration (CNSA) lost control of it in September 2016. Now a researcher from France’s space agency claims the station will crash sometime in the first half of March 2018. When China first lost control of the space station in September 2016, it was expected to come falling down to Earth in several months. Since then, as Newsweek reported, it was predicted to crash in early 2018. The window of time in which Tiangong-1 is expected to crash has expanded and contracted since then.    More
(Source: Newsweek - Nov 28)

ROCKET MELTDOWN OVER PRAIRIE PROVINCES CONFIRMED BY U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND - The U.S. Strategic Command has confirmed a spectacular fireball witnessed in Saskatchewan and Alberta on Friday night was the Antares rocket body burning up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Witnesses were initially baffled by the streak of bright light, which many thought was a plane crashing or a meteor. Some described it as looking like metal melting or like fireworks in slow motion. But the U.S. Strategic Command confirmed Sunday it was space junk burning up as it hurtled out of orbit and fell towards Earth.   More
(Source: CBC.ca - Nov 27)

ON-ORBIT SATELLITE SERVICING AND REFUELING MAY BE ON THE HORIZON - A team of researchers and Pentagon contractors was recently selected to organize a space industry consortium that will consider new "rules of the road" for commercial on-orbit satellite repair and refueling. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), initiated its Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) program. The Secure World Foundation, along with the University of Southern California's Space Engineering Research Center and the Space Infrastructure Foundation were selected to coordinate CONFERS, while Advanced Technology International was awarded a contract to manage the operation.    More
(Source: Digital Journal - Nov 27)

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