NEWLY PROPOSED REFERENCE DATASETS IMPROVE WEATHER SATELLITE DATA QUALITY - "Traffic and weather, together on the hour!" blasts your local radio station, while your smartphone knows the weather halfway across the world. A network of satellites whizzing around Earth collecting mountains of data makes such constant and wide-ranging access to accurate weather forecasts possible. Just one satellite, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R that launched in 2016, can collect 3.5 terabytes of weather data per day. But how do scientists ensure satellite-measured weather data is good?   More
(Source: Science Daily - Jan 12)

RUSSIAN ASTRONAUTS TO HOLD TERMINATOR EXPERIMENT IN SPACE - Russian astronauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazansky are now undergoing training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center to be able to conduct the Terminator experiment onboard the ISS, a representative of the training center told journalists. The main goal of the experiment is to study wave flows rising from the lower to upper atmosphere. It will become the first step to work out a scientific and methodological basis for a new generation of space monitoring technologies that will provide useful information for building up climate models and predicting environmental conditions with their help.    More
(Source: Sputnik International - Jan 11)

THIS IS HOW HAWAII'S MAUNA-LOA VOLCANO LOOKS LIKE FROM SPACE STATION! - Have you wondered how a volcano would look like from space? Well, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), has shared a photograph of Hawaii's Mauna-Loa volcano from space station. He has shared the image with his social media followers and space enthusiast on January 8, 2017, captioned as, ''Ever looked straight into a volcano… from space?    More
(Source: Zee News - Jan 11)

THE DAY THE NIMBUS WEATHER SATELLITE EXPLODED - Growing up, my grandfather was largely a stranger to me. He quietly puttered on various projects, playing the supporting role to my grandmother’s vibrant presence. But then her Alzheimer's came, disassembling her brain as easily as taking apart a puzzle, erasing her memory and then her personality—until we lost her entirely. Her death had an unexpected effect. It brought my now 96-year-old grandfather, Isaiah Sheldon Haas, out of his shell.    More
(Source: Smithsonian - Jan 10)

KUAIZHOU ROCKET LIFTS OFF ON FIRST COMMERCIAL MISSION - A solid-fueled Chinese Kuaizhou launcher positioned to compete for worldwide business took off Monday on its first commercial mission with three small satellites to collect high-definition video and test communications technologies. The Kuaizhou 1A booster launched at 0411 GMT Monday (11:11 p.m. EST Sunday) from the Jiuquan space center in northwest China’s Gobi Desert, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. Developed as a low-cost, quick-response launch option, the Kuaizhou rocket flew on orbital missions two times before Monday’s launch, both times with secretive Chinese government payloads. The Kuaizhou 1A version debuted with the latest launch features upgrades to support the launch of multiple spacecraft on the same rocket, with the ability to deploy the satellites once in orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 10)

NEXT SPACEX LAUNCH SLIPPED TO AVOID STORMY WEATHER, RANGE CONFLICT - Forecasters predict a rainy, breezy week along California’s Central Coast, and the poor weather will keep SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket grounded until at least Jan. 14, officials said Sunday. Ground crews were connecting the Falcon 9 rocket with a package of 10 Iridium voice and data relay satellites Friday, aiming for a launch opportunity as soon as Monday on SpaceX’s first mission since a rocket exploded on its launch pad in Florida in September. Iridium officials early Sunday confirmed reports that the flight would be delayed to at least Jan. 14 — next Saturday — with an instantaneous launch opportunity at 9:54:34 a.m. PST (12:54:34 p.m. EST; 1754:34 GMT).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 9)

THERE’S ONE BIG PROBLEM WITH SATELLITE IMAGERY, AND A SPACE STARTUP HAS FOUND A SOLUTION FOR IT - Many space startups are vying to take the place of the world’s governments as the pre-eminent operators of imaging satellites, but this one has a unique scheme to take advantage of orbital radar. Capella Space, which will launch its first satellite this year, aims to take advantage of a gap in current commercial satellite coverage. Most imaging satellites rely on daylight and the absence of clouds for the clearest imagery. At night or when the weather isn’t cooperating, there’s not too much to see. That big image above of the Juan Fernandez islands is beautiful, but it would be difficult to count how many boats, for example, are in the vicinity.   More
(Source: Quartz - Jan 8)

SPACEWALKERS CONTINUE SPACE STATION BATTERY REFRESH WITH SUCCESSFUL EVA - Two spacewalking astronauts working outside the International Space Station Friday completed work to replace aging batteries in one of the lab’s eight main solar power circuits. A second spacewalk next week, along with additional work with the station’s robot arm, will upgrade a second power channel. Expedition 50 commander Shane Kimbrough and flight engineer Peggy Whitson — at 56, the oldest woman to fly in space and one of NASA’s most experienced spacewalkers — began the six-hour 32-minute excursion at 7:23 a.m. EST (GMT-5), leaving the Quest airlock and making their way to the right side of the station’s main solar power truss.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight now - Jan 7)

CHINA LAUNCHES NEXT-GEN TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - The launch was carried out at 15:19 GMT on Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center using the Chang Zheng 3B (CZ-3B, or Long March 3B) carrier rocket, the ministry said. The second Tongxin Jishu Shiyan (TJS) satellite will help test multi-frequency high-speed data transmission.    More
(Source: Sputnik International - Jan 6)

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