NASA INSTALLS A SWEET NEW HD CAMERA ON THE SPACE STATION - The International Space Station has been in orbit since 1998. Camera technology has come a long way since then. Astronauts out on a spacewalk on Friday just installed a new enhanced HD camera and NASA posted a first look at its eye-catching capabilities. It gives viewers a much crisper look at exterior activities like Friday's spacewalk.   More
(Source: CNET - Oct 21)

HOW TO SEE A SPACE STATION FALL FROM THE SKY - Six years after it launched, a truck-sized space station is flying out of control on a collision course with Earth—and it could come crashing down almost anytime between now and next April. The 8.5-ton spacecraft is China’s first space station, named Tiangong-1, which translates to “Heavenly Palace.” Placed in orbit in September 2011, the station was designed to be a test-bed for robotic technologies, and it has seen multiple vehicle rendezvous, dockings, and taikonaut visits during its operational lifetime. The activity lays the groundwork for a more permanent space station the Chinese plan to launch in the near future.   More
(Source: National Geographic - Oct 21)

RADFXSAT (FOX-1B) FM SATELLITE SET TO LAUNCH IN NOVEMBER - The next AMSAT Fox-1 satellite, RadFxSat (Fox-1B), is scheduled to launch on November 10 at 0947 UTC. RadFxSat (Fox-1B), which will carry a 435/145 MHz FM transponder, is one of four CubeSats making up the NASA ELaNa XIV mission, riding as secondary payloads aboard the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) mission. JPSS-1 will launch on a Delta II vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. RadFxSat is a partnership with Vanderbilt University Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE) and hosts four payloads for the study of radiation effects on commercial off-the-shelf components.   More
(Source: ARRL - Oct 21)

SPACEX GIVES FREE RIDE TO REPLACEMENT FOR FACEBOOK'S FRIED SATELLITE - Spacecom and SpaceX have settled their differences over a burned satellite. The Israeli company has once again signed Elon Musk's company for launch services. Spacecom has told the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange it expects to use SpaceX for a launch in 2019, and possibly a further launch in 2020. Their relationship looked doomed after a spectacular Falcon 9 launch failure in 2016 destroyed a Spacecom satellite built to help Facebook take over those parts of the world not yet under Mark Zuckerberg's loving gaze.   More
(Source: The Register - Oct 20)

JAPANESE START-UP TAPS INTO SPACE BOOM WITH AN AIRBNB SERVICE FOR SATELLITES - The small satellite revolution sparked by Elon Musk and others has created a need for more viable options for sending massive amounts of data back to Earth. An industry now estimated at $260.5 billion, this niche satellite market is set for more rapid growth as SpaceX, Boeing and Oneweb all plan huge constellations. Thousands of cube- and microsatellite launches are also scheduled over the next six years. Recognizing the trend, a Japanese start-up called Infostellar has plans to disrupt the status quo.    More
(Source: CNBC - Oct 20)

CHINESE CAS-4A AND CAS-4B AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITE TRANSPONDERS ACTIVATED - The Amateur Radio linear (SSB/CW) inverting transponders on the CAS-4A and CAS-4B satellites were activated on October 18. CAMSAT’s Amateur Radio payloads piggybacked on the optical remote-sensing micro-satellites OVS-1A (CAS-4A) and OVS-1B (CAS-4B), launched on June 15. CAS-4A (call sign BJ1SK) has a CW telemetry beacon on 145.855 MHz, and 4.8 kB GMSK telemetry on 145.835 MHz. The uplink is 435.220 MHz, the downlink is 145.870 MHz (20-kHz passband).   More
(Source: ARRL - Oct 19)

ICON SATELLITE EXPLORES THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN EARTH AND SPACE - On Dec. 8, 2017, NASA launches the Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, a low-Earth orbiting satellite that will give us new information about how Earth's atmosphere interacts with near-Earth space—a give-and-take that plays a major role in the safety of our satellites and reliability of communications signals. Specifically, ICON investigates the connections between the neutral atmosphere—which extends from here near the surface to far above us, at the edge of space—and the electrically charged part of the atmosphere, called the ionosphere.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Oct 19)

NORTH KOREA PLANS TO LAUNCH MORE SATELLITES, SAYS US TRYING TO BLOCK SPACE EFFORTS - North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador said Tuesday the country plans to launch many more satellites and accused the United States of trying to block its efforts to help peacefully develop outer space. Kim In Ryong told a UN General Assembly committee meeting on “International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space” that the country’s five-year plan for 2016-2020 includes development of “practical satellites that can contribute to the economic development and improvement of the people’s living.”   More
(Source: New York Post - Oct 19)

PARTS OF UNMANNED RUSSIAN SPACESHIP BURN UP OVER DUBAI - Parts of an unmanned Russian cargo spaceship burned across the night sky of the Arabian Peninsula, drawing gasps from Dubai to Riyadh before breaking up in the Earth's atmosphere and scattering in the Indian Ocean. The fiery end Monday night to parts of Progress MS-07 came as planned after it delivered 2.5 metric tons (2.75 tons) of water, food and scientific equipment to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.   More
(Source: ABC News - Oct 18)

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