NASA TESTS SPACEX CREW DRAGON CAPSULE'S LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEMS - NASA engineers are evaluating the life-support system planned for SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to make sure it will keep astronauts safe while they're traveling to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX built the ECLSS (pronounced EE'-cliss, and short for "environmental control and life support system") Module to test the essential life-support systems for the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which could fly crewed missions to the orbiting lab as soon as 2018. The module is a prototype spacecraft designed "as close to the specifications of operational spacecraft as possible," allowing engineers to work out all the kinks before flight versions of the Crew Dragon are manufactured, NASA officials said in a statement.    More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 13)

ECHOSTAR 23 SATELLITE WILL LAUNCH TUESDAY ABOARD SPACEX FALCON 9 - SpaceX will be launching its second Falcon 9 rocket from Complex 39A, their leased compound of the Kennedy Space Center, on Tuesday, March 14, at 5:34 a.m. It will put the EchoStar 23 communications satellite into orbit, and because the payload is so heavy, the rocket’s first stage will not be recovered, as the rocket needs as much fuel as possible to accomplish its mission. So far, SpaceX has managed to recover eight Falcon 9 first stages, and they plan to reuse their boosters on their upcoming launches.   More
(Source: Pulse Headlines - Mar 13)

CHINA SAYS ITS BUILDING NEW SPACE CAPSULE FOR LOW EARTH ORBIT MISSIONS & MOON LANDINGS - China is developing a new spacecraft for missions in low Earth orbit and Moon landings, according to Chinese state media. Beijing is pursuing an independent space program, with the conquest Moon in the pipeline. The new unnamed spaceship would be recoverable and have room for a number of astronauts, spaceship engineer Zhang Bainian said, as cited by the Science and Technology Daily newspaper.   More
(Source: RT - Mar 12)

PLANET UNVEILS SATELLITE IMAGERY ONLINE TOOL - Planet, the San Francisco startup that began building a constellation five years ago to offer frequently updated Earth imagery, took a major step towards achieving that goal March 10 when it unveiled Planet Explorer Beta, an online geospatial data tool. “You can search an area of the world you care about and see changes,” Robbie Schingler, Planet co-founder and chief strategy officer, said March 9 at the Satellite 2017 conference. “This is extremely useful for us as citizens, as inhabitants of spaceship Earth, and also for businesses and governments.” Satellite imagery online today is typically years old, Will Marshall, Planet co-founder and chief executive said in a March 10 blog post on the company’s web site.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Mar 11)

SENTINEL-2B SATELLITE DECLARED FIT AND READY FOR COMMISSIONING - The 1100 kg Sentinel was launched on Tuesday atop a Vega rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Joining its orbiting twin, the new satellite will double the high-resolution coverage from the Sentinel-2 mission for the EU's Copernicus environmental monitoring system. Information from the mission is helping to improve agricultural practices, monitor the world's forests, detect pollution in lakes and coastal waters, and contribute to timely disaster mapping. The Vega upper stage delivered Sentinel-2B into the targeted orbit just under an hour after a flawless lift off and powered flight.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Mar 11)

SPACEX TEST FIRES ROCKET, AIMS FOR MARCH 14 SATELLITE LAUNCH - The private spaceflight company SpaceX test fired a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday (March 9), setting the stage for a commercial satellite launch next week. SpaceX conducted the Falcon 9 static test fire at Launch Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to ensure that the rocket is ready to launch the communications satellite EchoStar 23 on Tuesday (March 14). The test, which was captured on video by SpaceflightNow, is a standard preflight check ahead of every SpaceX launch.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 11)

NEXT CYGNUS COMMERCIAL SPACE FREIGHTER CHRISTENED THE S.S. JOHN GLENN - Orbital ATK’s next commercial resupply freighter going to the International Space Station will be named the S.S. John Glenn, paying tribute to the legendary first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn died Dec. 8 at age 95. The company has made it tradition to give each of its autonomous Cygnus cargo ships launched under NASA’s privatized logistics delivery program to the space station a name to honor a former astronaut who has passed away. Previous Cygnus vehicles have been named for G. David Low, C. Gordon Fullerton, Janice Voss, Deke Slayton, Rick Husband and Alan Poindexter. John H. Glenn Jr., a decorated combat veteran and test pilot, was one of the original Mercury 7 — the pioneering cadre of NASA astronauts at the dawn of the space age.   More
(Source: SpacveFlight Now - Mar 10)

CSUNSAT1 SLATED TO LAUNCH TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS - In less than two weeks, California State University, Northridge and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will be waiting for a Morse code signal from the university’s first stellar explorer — CSUNSat1, a cube-shaped satellite about the size of a backpack, signaling its successful venture out in space. CSUN electrical and computer engineering professor Sharlene Katz said the satellite project is the first of its kind for the university. “We’ve never done anything like this before,” she said. “The satellite hardware and software were designed and built from scratch. The ground station was done from scratch. We want to run the mission. It’s time. We feel confident in it.”   More
(Source: CSUN Today - Mar 10)

PRIVATE SPACE STATIONS COULD ORBIT THE MOON BY 2020, ROBERT BIGELOW SAYS - Giant space-station refueling depots could be orbiting the moon by 2020, but only if the Trump administration makes the funding and national drive needed for it to happen a priority, according to aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow. Bigelow, whose company, Bigelow Aerospace, has launched three private space-habitat prototypes into orbit — including the first inflatable space-station module, said that a commercial station in lunar orbit would be a vital destination for moon exploration.    More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 10)

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