LOOKING UP: CATCH A PASSING SATELLITE TONIGHT - More Content Now One of the pleasures of star watching in the space age is the watching of manmade satellites as they cross the sky. If you gaze at the starry sky, it likely won't take long before you are notice a "star" moving past stars and through whole constellations. Here awesome pointers. Satellites are launched towards the east to benefit from the centrifugal force as the Earth also spins towards the east. That means while looking up you generally see satellites traveling west to east; you won't see them going the opposite way. Many satellites, however, are put in polar orbits, either north to south or the other way around; some may be traveling southwest to northeast, or northwest to southeast.   More
(Source: Beauregard Daily News - Jan 1)

WHAT GOES UP: THE YEAR IN SPACE, 2016 - It's been a busy year in space with new Mars missions launched, a NASA probe saying hello to Jupiter, and humanity's most ambitious comet exploration mission drawing to a close. It was a year when NASA geared up for the return of astronauts to deep space, and new launch vehicles reached technological milestones as well as suffering frustrating setbacks. It was also the year when we said goodbye to the last of the Mercury Seven astronauts. So join us as we look back on the highlights of the year in space, 2016. In some ways, 2016 felt a bit like the early 1960s as NASA and private companies jockeyed to create the next generation of launch vehicles that can not only deliver payloads into space, but also return to Earth for reuse. Unfortunately, like the 1960s, it was also a year marked by setbacks, delays, and spectacular launch pad explosions.    More
(Source: New Atlas - Jan 1)

CHINESE SATELLITES RAISING ORBITS AFTER LAUNCH ANOMALY - Two Chinese remote sensing satellites placed into a low orbit after an apparent problem with their launch vehicle are gradually raising their orbits and may still be able to carry out their missions. The two SuperView-1 satellites launched at 10:23 p.m. Eastern Dec. 27 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on a Long March 2D rocket. Chinese media declared the launch a success, but satellite observers noted the two spacecraft were placed in elliptical orbits ranging from 214 to 524 kilometers rather than the planned circular sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 530 kilometers. Since the launch, the two satellites have been gradually raising their orbits. Orbital data provided by the U.S. Air Force’s Joint Space Operations Center indicated that as of early Dec. 30 one spacecraft, designated SuperView-1 01, is in an orbit of 352 by 526 kilometers.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 31)

WATCH ASTRONAUTS WIN THE MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - As 2016 comes to a close, it’s only fair that one of the year’s better memes gets a last hurrah. The Mannequin Challenge had school kids, athletes, and presidential candidates posing like mannequins for the camera — and now it’s in space. Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station, posted a video today, showing five of the six crew members performing the challenge. Some cling to footholds and handholds as the camera passes by, while others float around, bodies rigid in the microgravity.   More
(Source: The Verge - Dec 31)

TOMSK-TPU-120 CUBESAT TO DEPLOY DURING EVA - The amateur radio CubeSat Tomsk-TPU-120 may be deployed during a Russian spacewalk (EVA) in July 2017. The satellite was developed by students at the Tomsk Polytechnic University to test new space materials technology and is the world’s first space vehicle with a 3D-printed structure. It was launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan to the ISS on March 31, 2016 in a Progress-MS-2 cargo vessel. It will be deployed by hand during a Russian spacewalk, which is why unlike other CubeSats this one has a handle. The call sign of the satellite is RS4S. According to Alexey Yakovlev, head of the Tomsk Polytechnic University’s Institute of High Technologies, the 3D printed satellite is something of a landmark for additive manufacturing, being the first example of a fully 3D printed satellite...   More
(Source: AMSAT UK - Dec 30)

CHINESE EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES LAUNCHED INTO LOWER-THAN-PLANNED ORBIT - Two commercial Earth-imaging satellites launched by a Chinese Long March 2D booster Wednesday are flying in lower-than-planned orbits after an apparent rocket mishap, according to tracking data published by the U.S. military. The two SuperView 1, or Gaojing 1, satellites are flying in egg-shaped orbits ranging from 133 miles (214 kilometers) to 325 miles (524 kilometers) in altitude at an inclination of 97.6 degrees. The satellites would likely re-enter Earth’s atmosphere within months in such a low orbit, and it was unclear late Wednesday whether the craft had enough propellant to raise their altitudes.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 30)

NASA PHOTOGRAPHER SEES INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CROSS THE SUN - Talk about being in the right place at the right time! NASA photographer Joel Kowsky captured this composite view of the International Space Station — the largest manmade structure in space — as it crossed in front of the sun earlier this month. Kowsky was in Newbury Park, California and ready to photograph the station when it appeared to cross the face of the sun on Dec. 17 at mindblowing about 5 miles per second (that's 18,000 mph, or 28,968 km/h)! Ten of the images were then combined into a single composite to create this view of the station's silhouette moving across the sun.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 29)

BY70-1 FM TRANSPONDER SATELLITE - BY70-1 is a 2U CubeSat project for school education and amateur radio. It features 3-axis stabilization and deployable solar panels. In addition to the FM transponder BY70-1 has a camera and it is planned to download images and telemetry via a 9600 bps BPSK downlink. The launch from the Taiyuan Space Launch Center was planned for December 26 but postponed due to adverse weather. It had been planned it would go into a 530 km circular Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) but instead the orbit appears to be 524 x 212 km which will give an orbital lifetime of just one or two months.   More
(Source: AMSAT-UK - Dec 29)

ORBITAL ATK HAS NO PLANS TO PHASE OUT SELDOM-USED PEGASUS ROCKET - The build-up of Orbital ATK’s next air-launched Pegasus XL rocket will start in the coming weeks at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and while its flight in mid-2017 is the last Pegasus launcher on the manifest with a confirmed payload, company officials are confident the unique vehicle has a future beyond next year. Solid-fueled rocket motors for the next Pegasus mission will arrive at Orbital ATK’s Vandenberg processing facility as soon as next month, with preparation activities picking up soon after the launch of the last Pegasus rocket over the Atlantic Ocean Dec. 15 with eight NASA hurricane research satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 28)

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