US MILITARY CREATES 'SPACE MISSION FORCE' TO WAGE SATELLITE WAR - If a major war ever happens, low-Earth orbit could turn into a combat zone. To that end, the US Air Force Space Command has created the "Space Mission Force" to train soldiers to operate military satellites in response to threats. "Adversaries have developed and fielded capabilities to disrupt and deny the space systems we operate on behalf of the United States and our allies," writes US General John Hyten. "Consequently, [we] must organize, train and equip our space forces in a way that maintains our vigilance." The Air Force already has Space Command squadrons to defend and attack military satellites, but wants to jack up the number of personnel.    More
(Source: Engadget - Jul 26)

MALFUNCTIONING WEATHER SATELLITE CAN'T BE RECOVERED, AIR FORCE FINDS - “At this time, there is no impact to the Department of Defense core weather sensing mission, and the DMSP constellation remains able to support mission requirements through resilient systems and processes,” the Air Force stated. The Flight 19 satellite will remain in space and will be able to gather data for as long as it remains pointed toward the Earth’s surface. Eventually, however, the accuracy of that data will degrade as it begins to point away from the Earth. At that point, the Air Force will continue tracking the satellite for situational awareness and collision avoidance purposes, the service said. Still unknown is whether the Air Force will opt to launch its completed DSMP Flight 20 satellite — which is currently being stored at manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s Sunnyvale, Calif.-facility — as a replacement capability.    More
(Source: DefenseNews.com - Jul 26)

LAUNCH OF SECOND NBN SATELLITE TO ADDRESS AUSTRALIA’S DIGITAL DIVIDE - The National Broadband Network is getting set to launch its second satellite into orbit as the company continues its mission to address what’s been dubbed as the digital divide in Australia. NBN Co. will launch its second Sky Muster satellite from French Guiana Space Centre in South America on October 5. Joining the company’s first satellite, the huge spacecraft is set to orbit 36,000km above Earth and will provide improved internet access to Australians in rural areas. The two NBN satellites will have a combined capacity of 135 gigabits per second and provide services to some 400,000 homes and businesses in regional and remote Australia.   More
(Source: NEWS.com.au - Jul 25)

ISRO TO USE RADAR IMAGING SATELLITE TO LOCATE MISSING IAF PLANE AN-32 - The Indian space agency will be using its Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) that can see through the clouds to locate the missing Indian Air Force (IAF) plane+ that went missing on Friday morning with 29 people on board, said its chief on Saturday. "We will be using RISAT to locate the missing aircraft. The satellite can take pictures both during the day and night. It can see through the clouds," Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) Chairman AS Kiran Kumar told IANS. He said Isro's satellites could be tilted to some extent to look at a different place in times of need.   More
(Source: Times of India - Jul 24)

ISRO TO LAUNCH INSAT-3DR WEATHER SATELLITE IN AUGUST - India will launch a weather satellite next month with its heavy rocket, the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-Mk II), Indian space agency chief A.S. Kiran Kumar said in Chennai on Friday. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch INSAT-3DR next month with its GSLV rocket, said Kiran Kumar at the Madras Institute of Technology Alumni Association meeting in Chennai. He also said Isro is targeting to increase the number of its satellite and rocket launches from the current six-eight per year to 12-18 per year.   More
(Source: NDTV - Jul 23)

NASA PREPARES FOR FIRST-EVER IN-SPACE DNA SEQUENCING EXPERIMENT - With the arrival of the SpaceX CRS-9 mission to the Space Station Wednesday morning, the first-ever in-space DNA sequencer experiment has arrived at the international orbiting lab. The experiment is designed to test the feasibility of DNA sequencing in a non-Earth environment as well as serve as a pathfinder for sequencing initiatives on long-duration human missions in the inner solar system and on Mars. NASASpaceflight.com’s Chris Gebhardt recently sat down with two members of the Biomolecule Sequencer Project – Aaron Burton, the Principal Investigator and astrobiologist, and Kristen John, Deputy Project Manager and engineer – for an interview about the potentially revolutionary project.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 23)

A YEAR OF EARTH: STUNNING VIDEO REVEALS 365 DAYS OF PICTURES FROM NASA'S EPIC SATELLITE - One million miles away from our planet sits Nasa’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera, aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, which has been stationed between the sun and Earth since February 2015. From this spot, EPIC has captured more than 3,000 stunning images of the Earth as it makes the 365 day journey around the bright ball of gas. Now, the EPIC team has used these images to create a stunning timelapse of its time in orbit. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) DSCOVR satellite is the nation's first operational satellite in deep space.    More
(Source: Daily Mail - Jul 22)

GOT IT! ASTRONAUTS CAPTURE SPACEX DRAGON SUPPLY SHIP AT SPACE STATION - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have snagged a SpaceX Dragon supply spacecraft, which reached the station today (July 20) after two days spent catching up to the station. At 6:56 a.m. EDT (1056 GMT), NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, the space station's current commander, used the 57.7-foot (17.6 meters) Canadarm2 robotic arm to grab the incoming craft as it rendezvoused with the space station. Williams was assisted by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi. Over the next hours, ground controllers will direct the arm from Johnson Space Center in Houston, to install the craft on the Earth-facing side of the space station.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 21)

WORLDVIEW-2 SATELLITE INVOLVED IN ‘DEBRIS CAUSING EVENT’ - A commercial Earth observation satellite was involved in a “debris causing event” yesterday, according to the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC), the part of the United States Defense Department that tracks space objects. The satellite in question, WorldView-2, is owned and operated by DigitalGlobe. JSpOC announced the event in a tweet and added the satellite has been confirmed as operational and maneuverable. However, eight pieces of debris were tracked. It is unclear exactly when the event occurred or how many of the pieces, if any, are part of WorldView-2.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Jul 21)

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