NEXT CYGNUS CARGO LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION SWITCHED TO ULA ATLAS V - In a complete change of plans from less than three weeks ago, NASA has asked Orbital ATK to switch rockets and launch the firms next Cygnus commercial cargo freighter to the space station on the tried and true Atlas V rather than their own Antares rocket – which just successfully delivered another Cygnus to the orbiting outpost with a hefty stash of science and supplies. The altered schedule “provides margin flexibility for the entire Antares workforce” Orbital ATK noted in a statement to Universe Today. However, the change of events comes as something of a surprise following the spectacularly successful nighttime blastoff of Antares on Oct. 17 with the Cygnus OA-5 resupply ship from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s picturesque Eastern shore – as I reported on from onsite.   More
(Source: Universe Today - Nov 8)

ASTRONAUT VOTES FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The lone American off the planet has cast his vote from space. That's in keeping with NASA's motto of "Vote while you float." NASA said Monday that astronaut Shane Kimbrough filed his ballot from the International Space Station sometime over the past few days. He arrived at the orbiting lab in mid-October. Before launching, Kimbrough said it was going to be special, being able to say "I voted from space." NASA says the previous U.S. space station resident, Kate Rubins, also cast an absentee ballot from up there, before returning to Earth a week ago.   More
(Source: WSET - Nov 8)

3D-PRINTED SATELLITE LAUNCHER HEADS TO ISS WITH BLESSING OF CHRIS HADFIELD AND GRANT IMAHARA - If you could print something out aboard the International Space Station, what would it be? That was the question posed to engineers and enthusiasts in the ISS Design Competition, and the winner — a clever and powerful device for launching palm-size satellites — will actually be getting beamed up. Nearly 250 ideas were submitted, everything from tools to toys to scientific instruments. The proposals were vetted and submitted for judgment by tech-savvy astronaut and former ISS resident Col. Chris Hadfield, and Grant Imahara, of Mythbusters fame. The whole thing was organized by Mouser, a major component distributor.   More
(Source: TechCrunch - Nov 8)

CHINA UNVEILS NEW SATELLITE SMARTPHONE THAT CAN COVER SOUTH CHINA SEA - China has unveiled its first satellite smartphone capable of covering the whole country and the disputed South China Sea. The satellite phone is designed for use with the country's a first mobile communications satellite, Tiantong-1 (TT-1), at the six-day Air show China in Zhuhai, Guangdong, which ended on Sunday. The new smartphone, developed by state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), is scheduled to go on sale in two to three months, where it will compete in a global market dominated by the British Inmarsat system, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.    More
(Source: NDTV - Nov 7)

NASA SATELLITE MISSION EARNS GUINNESS WORLD RECORD - Earlier this year, NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS) achieved the closest flying separation of a multi-spacecraft formation with only four-and-a-half miles between the four satellites. Now, the team of four satellites is breaking records again, this time earning a Guinness World Record for the highest altitude fix of a GPS signal. When the satellites are closest to Earth, they move at up to 22,000 miles per hour, making them the fastest known operational use of a GPS receiver.    More
(Source: Raw Story - Nov 7)

ELON MUSK SAYS SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCHES MIGHT RESUME NEXT MONTH - Engineers investigating the explosion of one of SpaceX’s rockets in September have figured out what went wrong, and launches could resume in mid-December, Elon Musk, the company’s chief executive, said on Friday. “I think we’ve gotten to the bottom of the problem,” Mr. Musk said during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box program. “Really surprising problem that’s never been encountered before in the history of rocketry.” Mr. Musk described it as the toughest puzzle solved that the company has ever had to solve.   More
(Source: New York Times - Nov 7)

ATLAS 5 ROCKET TO LAUNCH SPACE STATION CARGO DELIVERY MISSION IN MARCH - Calling on the Atlas 5 rocket to flex its muscles one more time, Orbital ATK will partner with United Launch Alliance once again to send a massive load of supplies to the International Space Station astronauts early next year. In what becomes the first rocket flight booked under ULA’s new RapidLaunch contracting service to substantially shorten the time between signing a contract and liftoff, this new launch is scheduled to occur just four months from now. The Atlas 5 will launch the Cygnus cargo freighter to the station in March, departing from Cape Canaveral on Orbital ATK’s commercial OA-7 cargo-delivery mission.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 5)

CHINA ROCKET LAUNCH BRINGS SPACE STATION PLANS CLOSER - China's biggest rocket has blasted off from the southern coast, helping to advance its own plans for a space station. The Long March 5 is estimated to be three times as powerful as previous Chinese technology. The ML5, which is larger than previous versions of the Long March carrier rockets, was launched from a pad in the southern province of Hainan on Thursday evening, the state news agency Xinhua said. "Its successful launch has propelled China to the forefront of the world in terms of rocket carrying capacity, and marks a milestone in China's transition from a major player in space to a major power in space," Xinhua cited the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee and powerful Central Military Commission as saying in a letter.   More
(Source: Deutsche Welle - Nov 5)

AN ABANDONED 1960'S U.S. SATELLITE RECENTLY STARTED TRANSMITTING A 'GHOSTLY' SIGNAL - It might sound like the start of a low-budget sci-fi horror flick, but this is for real. A satellite that was abandoned back in 1967 and left for dead has come back to life, and is now sending back what radio astronomers describe as a “ghostly” signal. But it’s not quite as supernatural as it sounds. According to The Vintage News, the satellite was put together by MIT to test satellite communication techniques and launched in 1965, but it never actually made it into the correct orbit. It was still usable for two years, but was eventually written off as just another piece of space junk by 1967.   More
(Source: Blastr - Nov 4)

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