MOUNT ETNA GLOWS HOT IN NEW SATELLITE IMAGE - Sicily sparkles with city lights in a new satellite image, but what’s that lighting up Mount Etna? Hot lava. A new image taken by an instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite shows the nighttime glow of lava during a recent active period at the volcano, which towers 10,922 feet over the island. Mount Etna has been belching ash and lava in the past few weeks. On March 16, 10 people were injured in an explosion of hot rock on the mountain, an incident captured by a BBC film crew.   More
(Source: CBS News - Mar 21)

SPACEX’S DRAGON SUPPLY CARRIER WRAPS UP 10TH MISSION TO SPACE STATION - SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft ended a four-week mission Sunday with a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, returning from the International Space Station with more than 3,600 pounds of cargo, blood and urine samples, and specimens from a rodent research experiment aimed at helping patients with catastrophic bone injuries and osteoporosis. Flying northwest to southeast over the Pacific Ocean, the 12-foot-wide (3.7-meter) automated spaceship streaked through the upper atmosphere, its carbon ablative heat shield weathering temperatures up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 21)

SPACEX DRAGON SPACECRAFT DEPARTS SPACE STATION - Expedition 50 astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and Shane Kimbrough of NASA released the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station‘s robotic arm at 5:11 a.m. EDT. With the spacecraft a safe distance from the station, SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, will command its deorbit burn around 10 a.m. The capsule will splash down at about 10:54 a.m. in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery forces will retrieve the capsule and its more than 5,400 pounds of cargo. The cargo includes science samples from human and animal research, external payloads, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities.   More
(Source: NASA - Mar 20)

INTERNATIONALLY-BACKED MILITARY SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED ATOP DELTA 4 ROCKET - With an international flair for collaboration, a military communications satellite jointly purchased by five allies was rocketed in space Saturday to further expand the U.S.-operated network that serves battlefield forces anywhere on Earth. The Wideband Global SATCOM satellite No. 9, which will act like an information router in space, was successfully propelled into orbit by a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The 8:18 p.m. EDT (0018 GMT) liftoff occurred from Complex 37 following an afternoon loading of 170,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant into the two-stage rocket.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 19)

NEW US MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE TO LAUNCH SATURDAY - A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket is poised to lift off this Saturday (March 18) to deliver a multipurpose communications satellite into orbit for the U.S. military. Blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is scheduled for 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT), and will be the second launch this week from the Eastern Range. The launch window closes at 8:59 p.m. EDT (0059 GMT on March 19). Perched atop the rocket is the ninth member of the $442 million Boeing-built Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) network, which collects and routes real-time data through thousands of terminals worldwide and supports the military's Global Broadcast Service.    More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 18)

NASA SAYS GOODBYE TO EARTH OBSERVING-1 (EO-1) SATELLITE AFTER 17 YEARS - The first to map active lava flows from space. The first to measure a facility's methane leak from space. The first to track re-growth in a partially logged Amazon forest from space. After 17 years in orbit, one of NASA's pathfinder Earth satellites for testing new satellite technologies and concepts comes to an end on March 30, 2017. The Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite will be powered off on that date but will not enter Earth's atmosphere until 2056. Launched on Nov. 21, 2000, EO-1 was designed as a technology validation mission focused on testing cutting-edge satellite and instrument technologies that could be incorporated into future missions.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Mar 18)

CYGNUS SPACECRAFT LAUNCH TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SET FOR MARCH 24 - ULA - According to the statement, ULA has also requested the option to launch on March 23, pending Eastern Range availability. "The launch of the ULA Atlas V rocket carrying the OA-7 Cygnus spacecraft for Orbital ATK and NASA is confirmed on the Eastern Range for Friday, March 24," ULA said on Wednesday. The launch was initially scheduled for March 19, according to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Last week, it was postponed until March 21 amid booster hydraulic issues discovered during pre-launch testing.   More
(Source: Sputnik International - Mar 18)

JAPANESE SPY SATELLITE LAUNCHES TO WATCH NORTH KOREA - Japan launched a new spy satellite into orbit tonight (March 16) to help keep an eye on the nation's unpredictable, nuclear-armed neighbor, North Korea. The Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) Radar 5 lifted off atop a Japanese H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT, and 10:20 a.m. local Japan time on March 17). While the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency did not provide a live webcast for the IGS Radar 5 launch, a video stream was available via the company Neconvideo Visual Solutions.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 17)

TV BROADCAST SATELLITE LAUNCHED ABOARD FALCON 9 ROCKET - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched into a starry moonlit sky Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, making a speedy trek across the Atlantic Ocean to place a commercial television broadcast satellite into orbit for EchoStar. The nearly 23-story rocket, powered by nine Merlin 1D engines, ignited and blasted off from historic launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT), turned east and rumbled skyward on top of 1.7 million pounds of thrust. The fiery orange takeoff was pushed back 25 minutes Thursday out of concern for unfavorable high-altitude winds. High winds also scrubbed a launch attempt Tuesday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 17)

Previous Next