NASA TO LET SPACEX LAUNCH ISS DELIVERIES ON USED ROCKETS - SpaceX just secured permission to do something it has been planning for years, fly NASA payloads on Falcon 9 first stage boosters that have previously been launched and landed. According to NASASpaceflight.com, NASA has approved the use of a "flight-proven" Falcon 9 rocket for CRS-13, the 13th SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station. It's hard to overstate the significance of this announcement for SpaceX. The company has been perfecting vertical rocket landings ever since it stuck the first one back in December 2015, and those SpaceX aerospace engineers have gotten good, successfully landing all 12 Falcon 9 first stage boosters this year in missions where a landing was attempted. More (Source: Popular Mechanics - Nov 3)
TEN COMMERCIAL EARTH-OBSERVING SATELLITES LAUNCHED ABOARD MINOTAUR-C ROCKET - Returning to service after a six-year hiatus, Orbital ATK’s revamped Minotaur-C rocket soared into space Tuesday from California’s Central Coast with 10 commercial Earth-imaging spacecraft for Planet, a San Francisco-based company with a globe-spanning satellite fleet mapping the world’s land masses every day. The 104-foot-tall (32-meter) rocket ignited its solid-fueled Castor 120 first stage booster at 2:37 p.m. PDT (5:37 p.m. EDT; 2137 GMT) Tuesday after a smooth countdown, quickly climbing away from pad 576E at Vandenberg Air Force Base. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 2)
ORBITAL ATK'S 'FRANKENSTEIN' MINOTAUR C ROCKET BLASTS OFF ON HALLOWEEN - A brand-new type of rocket, the Minotaur C, blasted off on its maiden voyage today (Oct. 31) to deliver several new Earth observation satellites into orbit. Orbital ATK's Minotaur C lifted off from Space Launch Complex 576E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 5:37 p.m. EDT (2:37 p.m. local time, 2137 GMT). About 15 minutes later, the rocket deployed six SkySat Earth-imaging satellites and four Dove cubesats for the commercial imaging company Planet. "Liftoff of Minotaur C, carrying the SkySat and Dove satellites for Planet," Sean Wilson, director of corporate communications for Orbital ATK, said during a live webcast of the launch. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 1)
ISRO TO LAUNCH 30 SATELLITES IN A SINGLE MISSION - On Monday the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that it will launch 30 satellites in a single mission on board its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in December. The mission, whose main payload would be Cartosat-2 series earth observation satellite, will be the first PSLV mission after the unsuccessful launch of navigation satellite IRNSS-1H in August. While talking to the reporters ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar said, “We are planning our next launch in the second half of December; all things are in place. It will be a satellite of Cartosat-2 series along with other co-passengers.” More (Source: Easterneye - Oct 31)
NORTH KOREA SEEKS TO DEVELOP SPACE PROGRAM, VOWS TO LAUNCH MORE SATELLITES - As North Korea forges ahead with its nuke and missile programs, Kim Jong Un is also trying to boost Pyongyang's power in space, vowing to launch more satellites and saying efforts to kneecap the Hermit Kingdom's space program are "not tolerable." North Korea announced the five-year space plan in its main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, on Monday, citing the regime’s goals of improving the economy and “livelihood” of North Korean residents, according to Yonhap News Agency. More (Source: Fox News - Oct 31)
SPACEX LAUNCHES — AND LANDS — THIRD ROCKET IN THREE WEEKS - Heading into the home stretch of a banner year, SpaceX launched its third Falcon 9 rocket flight of the month Monday with a Korean-owned commercial communications satellite built to connect customers across a swath from the Middle East to East Asia. The Falcon 9 rocket took off with the Koreasat 5A communications satellite at 3:34 p.m. EDT (1934 GMT) Monday from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, turning east as it surpassed the speed of sound and climbed into a clear autumn sky with 1.7 million pounds of thrust from its nine Merlin 1D main engines. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 31)
KOREAN COMMUNICATIONS CRAFT INSTALLED ON SPACEX’S FALCON 9 ROCKET - A multipurpose communications satellite owned by a South Korean telecom company is set for liftoff Monday from Florida’s Space Coast aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, and forecasters predict near-ideal conditions for a rocket launch. The Koreasat 5A spacecraft, manufactured in Cannes, France, by Thales Alenia Space, was being attached this weekend to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket inside the company’s hangar near launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 30)
NASA’S GRACE-1 AND GRACE-2 SATELLITES END OPERATIONS - After more than 15 productive years in orbit, the U.S./German GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission has ended science operations. During their mission, the twin GRACE satellites have provided unprecedented insights into how our planet is changing by tracking the continuous movement of liquid water, ice and the solid Earth. GRACE made science measurements by precisely measuring the distance between its twin satellites, GRACE-1 and GRACE-2, which required that both spacecraft and their instruments be fully functional. More (Source: Clarksville Online - Oct 30)
U.S. ARMY’S KESTREL EYE IIM MICROSATELLITE DEPLOYED FROM SPACE STATION - NanoRacks LLC successfully deployed the Kestrel Eye IIM microsatellite on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017, using its Kaber Microsatellite Deployer (Kaber). The 110-pound (50-kilogram) Earth-imaging spacecraft, which is operated by the U.S. Army, is so far the largest satellite deployed by NanoRacks from the International Space Station (ISS). The satellite was released from the space station on Tuesday morning via the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) airlock. Kaber allows NanoRacks to deploy payloads via JEM with a mass of up to 220 pounds (100 kilograms). Kestrel Eye IIM is the first satellite ejected into space by this deployer. More (Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Oct 29)
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