CONSTRUCTION OF ONEWEB’S NEW SATELLITE FACTORY IS MOVING QUICKLY - The manufacturing plant, located just outside the gates of the Kennedy Space Center and near Blue Origin’s New Glenn factory, will be used to produce the bulk of the company’s initial constellation of 900 broadband communications satellites. OneWeb broke ground on the factory in March, and recent photos showed its exterior structure already in place. OneWeb expects the factory to start satellite production in early 2018.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 9)

CHUCK SCHUMER SAYS PROPOSED CUTS IN WEATHER SATELLITE FUNDS MAY AFFECT HOW N.Y. PREPARES FOR STORMS - Proposed massive cuts to a weather satellite program could lead to dangerously delayed storm warnings in New York City and Long Island, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday. Congress should heed the lessons of Hurricane Sandy and reverse a proposed $369 million cut to the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which provides satellite data to the National Weather Service, warned Schumer, who said the reduction would put lives at risk.   More
(Source: New York Daily News - Aug 8)

WORLD'S FIRST PRIVATE WEATHER SATELLITE LAUNCHED INTO ORBIT - The world's largest provider of ocean weather data, Weathernews, successfully launched its own microsatellite on July 14, making it the first weather company to have its own satellite. It was the company's second try at putting a satellite into orbit after a failed attempt in 2013. Weathernews transmits information and analysis to roughly 6,000 ships a year, including sea ice information for vessels plying Arctic routes. Its clients include Maersk Group of Denmark and other major shipping companies.   More
(Source: Nikkei Asian Review - Aug 7)

ISRO SET TO LAUNCH SATELLITE WITH CORRECTED CLOCKS - Indian Space Research Organisation will soon launch a replacement navigation satellite fitted with corrected atomic clocks to make up for the crippled satellite, IRNSS-1A. The upcoming IRNSS-1H will be sent up towards the end of August and a date is yet to be fixed, ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said. Its launch became imperative after all three rubidium atomic clocks on IRNSS-1A failed in mid-2016, Mr. Kumar told The Hindu. Three more clocks failed later across the fleet of seven satellites, which together had 21 atomic clocks.   More
(Source: The Hindu - Aug 5)

MINI-SATELLITE NAMED AFTER 'GOD OF DAWN' WILL LAUNCH THIS MONTH - The nanosatellite, known as Dellingr, is about the size of a table picture frame, and will carry six instruments, one of which is smaller than a fingernail. After ascending toward the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the tiny satellite will later be deployed into low Earth orbit, NASA officials said in a statement. Small-satellite missions can be challenging to conduct: A mission with a similarly loaded cubesat, or miniature spacecraft, was aborted in 2016 just six months after it launched.    More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 5)

DOD METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE MISSION TO END - The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Flight 19 will soon cease transmitting weather data after nearly three and a half years of operational service, the U.S. Air Force said. There is no impact to the strategic weather mission, and the DMSP constellation remains able to support military requirements through resilient systems and processes, the Air Force reported. The remainder of the constellation continues to provide weather and atmospheric data to users.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 5)

USAF SEES “MINIMAL” MISSION IMPACT WITH AEHF-4 SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAY - A problem with the power regulator on the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF)-4 satellite is forcing the U.S. Air Force to slip the launch of the satellite until the coming calendar year but the service says the delay will not result in a major mission impact. The target date for the for the satellite was Oct. 17, Capt. AnnMarie Annicelli, an Air Force spokeswoman, said. “The AEHF-4 launch is delayed due to an issue with a power regulator unit that was discovered in January 2017 and confirmed via testing in Apr 2017,” she said. Satellite contractor Lockheed Martin declined to comment.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 5)

SES AGREES TO LAUNCH ANOTHER SATELLITE ON PREVIOUSLY-FLOWN FALCON 9 BOOSTER - Six months after sending one of its communications satellites to orbit on the first re-flight of a SpaceX rocket, SES intends to launch a hybrid television broadcasting satellite owned in partnership with EchoStar on another previously-used Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Space Coast as soon as late September, industry officials told Spaceflight Now. The launch of the SES 11 spacecraft, also named EchoStar 105, will be the third time SpaceX has sent a customer’s satellite into orbit with the help of a reused rocket stage.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 5)

VECTOR SPACE SYSTEMS WANTS TO BE THE “MCDONALD’S OF THE ROCKET BUSINESS” - Most of the private space-faring news these days seems to be courtesy of SpaceX, but there are other fish in the sea. Or maybe stars in the sky would be a more apt comparison here. However you want to explain it, SpaceX isn’t the only game in town when it comes to private spaceflight. Vector Space Systems might not be a household name, but they’re aiming to be very much like one of the very biggest household names: McDonald’s.   More
(Source: Techaeris - Aug 5)

Previous Next