SPACE STATION CREW INSTALLS A NEW FRONT DOOR FOR SPACEX AND BOEING SPACESHIPS - The International Space Station now has a door that will let crews float in from the commercial space taxis that SpaceX and Boeing are building, thanks to a nearly six-hour spacewalk. NASA spacewalkers Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins installed the Boeing-built door, known as an International Docking Adapter or IDA, with an assist from the station’s robotic arm. This was the fourth spacewalk for Williams, and the first for Rubins. The 5-foot-wide IDA was hooked up to one of the ports on the station’s Harmony module – a port that was originally designed for use by the now-retired space shuttle fleet. Analogous to an electrical-plug adapter, the IDA fits over the port to provide a standard interface...   More
(Source: GeekWire - Aug 21)

GARBAGE ORBITING EARTH CAN PULVERIZE SATELLITES. HOW TO CLEAN UP? HERE ARE SOME IDEAS - Space junk is getting worse. Could the answer be smart plastic wrap? That concept, being investigated by Aerospace Corp. of El Segundo, involves blasting thousands of tiny, flat spacecraft into orbit. There they would find and hug the bits and pieces of failed satellites and rockets, dragging them into the atmosphere to burn up. There are more than 7,000 metric tons of material in the near-Earth space environment, said J.C. Liou, NASA chief scientist for orbital debris. It can slam into a operating satellite or spacecraft at about six miles per second — faster than a speeding bullet — which means that even debris the size of a sand grain could prove catastrophic.   More
(Source: Los Angeles Times - Aug 20)

DELTA 4 SUCCESSFULLY SOARS TO THE HIGH GROUND TO DEPLOY TWO PATROL SATELLITES - The 375th Delta rocket doubled the size of the Air Force’s “neighborhood watch” program today with the successful launch and deployment of two surveillance satellites into the vast geosynchronous belt of spacecraft around the planet. Evolved from its humble beginnings 56 years ago to today’s modern Delta 4 rockets, the 206-foot-tall vehicle produced 1.1 million pounds of thrust to launch at 12:52 a.m. EDT (0452 GMT) from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37. The mission: Carry twin Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites 22,000 miles above the Earth in a complex ascent that required three firings by the upper stage and lasted more than six hours.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 20)

ASTRONAUTS TAKING SPACEWALK TO INSTALL NEW SPACE STATION DOCKING PORT TODAY: WATCH LIVE - First-time flier Kate Rubins and veteran spacewalker Jeff Williams will venture outside the International Space Station this morning (Aug. 19) to install a massive, crucial piece of machinery: a vital new docking port that will allow private space taxis to link up with the station on future missions. The spacewalk is slated to begin at 8:05 a.m. EDT (1205 GMT), NASA officials said during a news briefing. You can watch the spacewalk live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. This spacewalk marks a first for Rubins, and the fourth of Williams' career. The two astronauts plan to spend about 6.5 hours outside the station installing this new heavy piece of machinery, known as an International Docking Adapter (IDA), which arrived at the station on July 20 aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 20)

AIR FORCE SENT GSSAP SATELLITE TO CHECK ON STALLED MUOS-5 - The U.S. Air Force said Aug. 18 it sent one of its high-orbiting space surveillance satellites to check on a Navy communications satellite that ran into propulsion problems about halfway to geosynchronous orbit. Following a June 24 launch, the fifth satellite in the Navy’s next-generation narrowband communications constellation, known as the Mobile User Objective System, had been expected to reach geosynchronous orbit and a test location about 35,400 kilometers above Hawaii by July 3. But the Navy said the satellite “experienced a failure of the orbit raising propulsion system,” five days into a 10-day climb, halting the transfer maneuver that would push the satellite from its initial elliptical launch orbit to geosynchronous orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 19)

NASA HOPES TO HAND THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO A COMMERCIAL OWNER BY MID 2020S - NASA is giving us some more insight into its plans to get humans to Mars, under the blanket mission called ‘Journey to Mars,’ and during the press conference, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development Bill Hill revealed that the current hope is to hand off control of the International Space Station to a commercial owner by sometime around the mid 2020s. “NASA’s trying to develop economic development in low-earth orbit,” Hill said, speaking on a panel of NASA staff assembled to discuss the upcoming Mars mission.    More
(Source: TechCrunch - Aug 19)

CO COMPANY TO LAUNCH YET ANOTHER SATELLITE - Westminster-based company DigitalGlobe will expand its fleet of high resolution satellites with the addition of WorldView-4 in September. The new satellite, which is expected to launch on Sept. 15, will be able to take high-resolution pictures of Earth from more than 380 miles above the earth. With the other network of satellites already in place, photographs of locations can be taken on average of 4.5 times per day. Several Colorado companies are behind the effort. WorldView-4 will be launched by Centennial based United Launch Alliance. It was built by Lockheed Martin which has several ties to the state.   More
(Source: The Denver Channel - Aug 17)

WALLOPS LAUNCH NOW PLANNED FOR WEDNESDAY - A Terrier Improved-Malemute suborbital sounding rocket is now scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wednesday morning after Tuesday’s scheduled launch was scrubbed due to boats being present in the hazard area off the coast, reported WTKR. The launch window is from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. with backup launch dates planned for August 18 and 19. The rocket will carry experiments developed by college students participating in the RockSat-X program in conjunction with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium.   More
(Source: wtvr.com - Aug 17)

WHY SMALL SATELLITES ARE BIG FOR STARTUPS - Small satellites, and the startups that make them, are becoming a big deal – and there’s a fresh flurry of industry reports that explain why. The bottom line is that new types of satellite data can give earthbound businesses an edge. For example, a hedge-fund manager can estimate how much revenue Walmart will report by counting the cars in the stores’ parking lots. Farmers can use custom-delivered, hyperspectral imaging to monitor how their crops are doing. Petroleum companies can get a quick alert on potential pipeline leaks.   More
(Source: GeekWire - Aug 16)

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