SWARM REVEALS WHY GPS SATELLITES LOSE TRACK OVER THE EQUATOR BETWEEN AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA - Satellite engineers have been puzzling over why GPS navigation systems on low-orbiting satellites like ESA's Swarm sometimes black out when they fly over the equator between Africa and South America. Thanks to Swarm, it appears 'thunderstorms' in the ionosphere are to blame. Launched in 2013, the Swarm trio is measuring and untangling the different magnetic fields that stem from Earth's core, mantle, crust, oceans, ionosphere and magnetosphere – an undertaking of at least four years. As with many satellites, ESA's three Swarm satellites carry GPS receivers as part of their positioning system so that operators keep them in the correct orbits. In addition, GPS pinpoints where the satellites are making their scientific measurements.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Nov 1)

THESE NASA PHOTOS OF A SPACE STATION CREW LANDING ARE SIMPLY GORGEOUS - When the Expedition 49 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) came to an end over the weekend, three space travelers returned to Earth on a Soyuz spacecraft while a NASA photographer capturing their arrival from the air in some spectacular photos. The crew, consisting of Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, floated back to Earth in the Soyuz MS-01 space capsule, landing in Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 9:58 a.m. local time on Sunday, Oct. 30 (11:58 p.m. EDT Oct. 29). NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured gorgeous images of the space capsule's descent, including one breathtaking photo showing the Soyuz passing through serene rays of sunlight beneath a serene cloud layer.    More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 1)

ISRO AIMING FOR WORLD RECORD, PLANNING TO PUT 83 SATELLITES ON SINGLE ROCKET - Indian space agency ISRO is aiming for a world record by putting into orbit 83 satellites — two Indian and 81 foreign — on a single rocket in early 2017, a top official of Antrix Corporation said. He said the company’s order book stands at Rs 500 crore while negotiations are on for launch order for another Rs 500 crore.“During the first quarter of 2017 we plan to launch a single rocket carrying 83 satellites. Most foreign satellites are nano satellites,” Rakesh Sasibhushan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Antrix Corporation told IANS.   More
(Source: The Indian Express - Oct 30)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE CREW WRAPS UP NEARLY FOUR MONTHS IN ORBIT - A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese flight engineer and a NASA scientist-astronaut undocked from the International Space Station and returned to Earth Saturday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 115-day mission. With Soyuz MS-01 commander Anatoly Ivanishin at the controls, flanked on the left by flight engineer Takuya Onishi and on the right by NASA’s Kate Rubins, the charred descent module settled to a jarring rocket-and-parachute-assisted touchdown east of Dzhezkazgan at 11:58 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 9:58 a.m. Sunday local time). Russian recovery crews deployed nearby reached the capsule within minutes to help the returning station fliers out of the cramped descent module as they began re-adjusting to the unfamiliar pull of Earth’s gravity — and its weather. The crew was greeted by an overcast sky and temperatures in the low 30s Fahrenheit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 30)

COSMIC RAYS MAY THREATEN SPACE-WEATHER SATELLITE - A US space-weather satellite that is supposed to alert Earth to incoming solar storms has temporarily dropped offline five times in the year since it became operational. Its onboard computer may be experiencing hiccups caused unexpectedly by galactic cosmic rays. The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) went out of action most recently on 11 October. In each case, it unexpectedly entered a ‘safe hold’ in which scientific data stopped flowing and engineers had to scramble to try to recover the spacecraft. In total, DSCOVR’s space-weather forecasting instruments have been offline for more than 42 hours since 28 October 2015, when the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) took the spacecraft over from NASA, which built and launched it.   More
(Source: Nature.com - Oct 29)

CHINESE SPACE STATION PROVIDES HALLOWEEN TREAT - The original Taingong-1 was described as a Space Target. It supported the testing of automated docking. The new Tiangong-2 is called a Space Laboratory. The planned Tiangong-3 is called a Space Station. Yet Tiangong-3 — to be launched in the 2020’s — will only provide 40 days of life support for a crew of three. The true long-term Chinese Space Station will be a third-generation modular space station. Combining Tiangong space lab modules with the Modular Space Station Core Module, called Tianhe, would form the basic structure. Additional modules would contain experiments and perform cargo transport.   More
(Source: Florida Today - Oct 29)

NEW SATELLITE SET TO ‘REVOLUTIONIZE’ THE US WEATHER FORECAST - A new satellite is being launched next month which will help U.S. weather forecasters make their first big technological leap forward since the 1970's. The joint venture between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will eventually launch four new weather satellites that will cover the western hemisphere. NASA is currently preparing the launch pad at Cape Canaveral to send the first satellite, known as GOES-R, into orbit on November 16 at 4:42 p.m. ET. According to NOAA, the new weather station will contribute to more accurate weather forecasts and better predictions of severe storms.    More
(Source: CNBC - Oct 28)

CHINESE SPACE LAB DEPLOYS COMPACT SATELLITE FOR EXTERNAL SURVEYS - A companion satellite ejected from China’s orbiting Tiangong 2 research module has snapped unique views of the space lab as two astronauts inside press on with experiments and other tasks in their second week aboard the mini-space station. The cubical craft deployed from Tiangong 2 on Sunday is about the size of a printer, and it took sharp black-and-white pictures of the space lab and the Shenzhou 11 crew transport craft docked together around 235 miles (380 kilometers) above Earth.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 28)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION PASSES BY VENUS AND SATURN - Look west in the evening sky and Venus is almost impossible to miss, shining with a brilliant steady light. In fact, it is so bright it's often mistaken for a plane. On the evening of Friday October 28, Venus is going to pair up with the planet Saturn and in a rare treat, the International Space Station (ISS) will be seen gliding right past the two planets. But heads up Darwin, you'll catch a preview of the show on Thursday October 27. From Darwin on Thursday, and from Sydney and Perth on Friday, the ISS will pass just below Saturn and just above Venus.    More
(Source: Phys.Org - Oct 28)

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