RUSSIA PLANS ALL-RUSSIAN SPACE STATION CALLED ROS TO REPLACE THE ISS - Russia's announcement it plans a new space station called the Russian Orbital Station, or ROS, to replace the International Space Station (ISS) confirms the ISS won't make it to the 30th anniversary of its existence in 2028. It also seems to confirm the United States will exit from the ISS consortium of countries to focus its limited funding on its deep space programs such as landing humans on Mars by 2035. The U.S.' "ISS-xit" comes despite Russia's insistence the ISS will operate until 2024 and that Roscosmos and NASA "do not rule out that the station's flight could be extended."    More
(Source: ChinaTopix - Jul 7)

BRAND NEW SOYUZ ROCKET LIFTS OFF FROM BAIKONUR, TAKING 3-MAN CREW TO ISS - A modernized Soyuz capsule has successfully blasted off into space from the Baikonur cosmodrome with a three-man crew on board. The extended two-day flight to the ISS will give Russian scientists and engineers a chance to test out the new space technology. In less than 10 minutes, the rocket carrier Soyuz-FG with manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-01 will reach orbit. Once in outer space, the three-man team will take a two-day route to the International Space Station, instead of the six-hour journey completed by recently launched Soyuz missions.   More
(Source: RT - Jul 7)

IS CHINA’S MYSTERIOUS NEW SATELLITE REALLY A JUNK COLLECTOR—OR A WEAPON? - China just boosted a high-tech, mysterious new satellite into orbit. It might be a weapon. It might not be a weapon. There’s no way to be certain, either way—and that’s a problem for all spacefaring countries. Especially the United States and China. Washington and Beijing are lofting more and more of these ambiguous satellites into orbit without agreements governing their use. In failing to agree to the proverbial rules of the orbital road, the two governments risk ongoing suspicion, or worse—a misunderstanding possibly leading to war. The Roaming Dragon satellite rode into space atop a Long March 7 rocket that blasted off from Hainan in southern China on June 25.   More
(Source: Daily Beast - Jul 6)

RUSSIANS PREP NEW SOYUZ FOR LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - A veteran cosmonaut, a former Japanese 767 airline pilot and a NASA astronaut with a Ph.D. in cancer biology are making final preparations for launch July 6 on a two-day flight to the International Space Station. It will be the first flight in an upgraded Soyuz ferry craft with improved, more redundant navigation, communications and computer equipment. Soyuz MS-01 commander Anatoly Ivanishin, flight engineer Takuya Onishi and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins are scheduled for blastoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:36:41 p.m. EDT Wednesday (GMT-4, 7:36 a.m. Thursday local time).   More
(Source: CBSD News - Jul 6)

TWO RADIO AMATEURS SET TO HEAD FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Two Amateur Radio licensees are part of the International Space Station (ISS) crew increment bound for the orbiting outpost this week. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, KG5FYJ, astronaut Takuya Onishi, KF5LKS, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos will launch early on July 7 (0136 UTC) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio will spend approximately 4 months on station and will return to Earth in October. An upgraded Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft will carry Rubins, Onishi, and Ivanishin into space.    More
(Source: ARRL - Jul 6)

SPACE JUNK CLEANUP MISSION PREPARES FOR LAUNCH - Harpoons, nets and sails are to be sent into space in an effort to tackle the problem of space junk, scientists have revealed. The mission, dubbed RemoveDebris, is expected to launch early next year and will test a range of devices designed to sweep up litter orbiting the Earth. Without such technology, the scientists say, satellite-based communication, weather monitoring and navigation systems could be at risk. “The problem with so much junk up there now is it is actually starting to prove a real issue, and the chance of collisions is increasing all the time,” said Jason Forshaw, the project manager of RemoveDebris at the Surrey Space Centre.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Jul 5)

7 MOST AMAZING PIECES OF TECH ON BOARD THE ISS - The International Space Station (ISS) orbits our planet some 250 miles up in space, travelling at a speed of around 17,500 mph - without that kind of velocity it would come crashing back down to Earth fairly rapidly. It's been in space since November 1998. As well as providing a place to live for up to six astronauts, the ISS is home to a wealth of high-tech scientific gadgets and state-of-the-art research kit that you can't buy from Amazon. Here are seven seriously cool bits of hardware currently on board the ISS.   More
(Source: T3 - Jul 5)

US SHOULD REASSESS ITS RESTRICTION ON INDIA'S SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE - With the recent launch, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed into orbit 17 US commercial small satellites, one of them belonging to Google. Later this year, it will launch another two. Given the low-cost launch requirements of US small satellite companies, the absence of a relevant launch vehicle in the domestic market and the overall political relations between the US and India, it is imperative for the former to reassess its restriction on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The small satellite industry relies on the Cubesat standard and develops satellites using commercial-off-the-shelf components. To keep the low cost strategy intact, this industry requires low-cost launch vehicles to deploy them in orbit.    More
(Source: Daily News & Analysis - Jul 4)

DISPOSABLE PROGRESS CARGO VESSEL LEAVES SPACE STATION FOR OCEAN 'CEMETERY' - Progress MS-01, the first Progress MS series expendable cargo spacecraft, has successfully undocked from the International Space Station and is on course to be submerged in the so-called spacecraft cemetery zone of the southern Pacific Ocean, a representative of Russia's Mission Control Center said Sunday. Manufactured by the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, Progress MS-01 is the first vehicle in Russia's modernized Progress-MS series and is designed to carry out resupply missions to the ISS. The spacecraft was docked to the ISS in December 2015.    More
(Source: Sputnik International - Jul 4)

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