MORE SATELLITE COLLISION WARNINGS TO COME WITH SPACE FENCE DATA - A senior Pentagon official said the U.S. Air Force will need to rethink how it issues satellite collision warnings when a new space object tracking system goes online or risk overwhelming satellite operators and hardware systems with overly cautious alerts. In 2018, the Air Force’s next-generation space object tracking system, known as the Space Fence, will go online and detect satellites and space debris 5 centimeters and larger. Defense Department officials said they are optimistic that on the best days, the $900 million Space Fence, built by Lockheed Martin on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, may be able to track objects as small as 1 centimeter. That’s a marked improvement over the Defense Department’s current network of radars and sensors, which tracks objects 10 centimeters and larger.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 23)

CHINA JUST LAUNCHED BOTTLES OF WINE INTO SPACE FOR AN EXPERIMENT - China launched a cache of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir vines into space on the orbiting Tiangong-2 lab during this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival on September 15, in an experiment that hopes to yield a sturdier plant by exposing them to the harsh climates and radiation of space. According to DecanterChina.com, scientists hope the experiments will create a vine that is more drought, cold, and virus resistant making the vines more suitable for Chinese weather. The auspicious launch date is perhaps a nod to Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival folklore, as legend tells the story of the moon goddess, Chang’e, levitating all the way in to space after getting drunk on the “elixir of life.”   More
(Source: Fortune - Sep 23)

CHINA’S FALLING SPACE STATION IS NOT GOING TO HIT YOU ON THE HEAD. UNLESS IT DOES - No day counts as a good day when an eight-ton Chinese space station falls on your head. If you’re like most people, you don’t give that danger a lot of thought, and the good news is, you don’t have to start now. Probably. The dangers posed by an eight-ton Chinese space station have been much in the news of late, after Chinese officials admitted during a Sept. 14 press conference that its Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace) space station, launched in 2011, having “comprehensively fulfilled its historical mission,” is going to come crashing back to Earth sometime in 2017. Where exactly will it land? Well, hard to say. When exactly will the reentry happen? In the second half of the year—if it doesn’t happen earlier or later.   More
(Source: TIME - Sep 23)

ISRO TO LAUNCH SCATSAT, 7 OTHER SATELLITES ON SEPTEMBER 26 - Indian Space Research Organisation on Wednesday said it would launch SCATSAT-1 for ocean and weather related studies and seven co-passenger satellites into polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) on September 26. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 37th flight, (PSLV-C35) will launch the satellites at 9:12 hours on September 26, 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, ISRO said. The 377 kg SCATSAT-1 satellite will have satellites from Algeria, Canada and USA, as well as two satellites from Indian Universities as its co-passenger. ISRO said SCATSAT-1 would be placed into a 720 km Polar SSO, whereas the two Universities satellites and the five foreign satellites will be placed into a 670 km polar orbit.    More
(Source: Times of India - Sep 22)

CHINA LOSES CONTROL OF SPACE STATION NOW HURTLING TOWARDS EARTH - China has begrudgingly admitted that the country's first and only space station is most likely out of control -- and is expected to crash into the Earth's atmosphere next year. The Tiangong-1 space station, launched in September 2011, means "heavenly palace" and was used to perform docking exercises in preparation for the country to build and launch a larger space complex by 2020. The station is also equipped with monitoring equipment and sensor payloads for space observation. However, speculation over the past few months has led to rumors that the 8.5-ton Tiangong-1's telemetry link to Earth operators has failed, which would result in an uncontrolled plummet to Earth in the next few years.   More
(Source: ZDNet - Sep 22)

BREATHTAKING IMAGE OF MEDITERRANEAN STORM TAKEN FROM SPACE STATION - 4Share to TwitterShare to RedditShare to StumbleUponShare to Google+Share to Tumblr NASA have released stunning new night-time pictures taken from onboard the International Space Station (ISS), giving a fascinating perspective of cities and regions bordering the Mediterranean. The Strait of Gibraltar, the Nile river, southern Italy and a powerful thunderstorm, seen from more than 400km (250 miles) above, were all captured on film by members of the Expedition 49 crew as the space station passed over Earth in low orbit.   More
(Source: RT - Sep 22)

SCIENTISTS ARE SENDING A TINY SATELLITE PROPELLED BY WATER TO ORBIT THE MOON - Say ‘hello’ to a new way to travel the solar system. As part of the Cube Quest Challenge, sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Centennial Challenge Program, students from Cornell are attempting to be the first to send a CubeSat to orbit the moon. Even more impressive is that they’re powering the spacecraft using only water. A CubeSat is a tiny satellite about the size of a cereal box, and weighs approximately 1.3 kg. It is usually made out of off-the-shelf electronic materials only.   More
(Source: Futurism - Sep 21)

KCNA: NORTH KOREA 'SUCCESSFULLY' TESTED SATELLITE ROCKET ENGINE - North Korea stated that it has successfully completed a test of a new satellite rocket engine. Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun ran a front-page article on Tuesday, local time, that showed what appeared to be the engine test. The newspaper also stated "Comrade Kim Jong Un" provided guidance during the test at the site identified as the Sohae satellite launchpad, according to Yonhap. The Rodong ran nine color photographs of Kim and the engine, and Kim reportedly said North Korea must become a geostationary-satellite state in a few years' time, after conducting several more tests. Kim also said space development is an important project for the Party and on the "national level."   More
(Source: UPI - Sep 21)

CHINA'S FIRST SPACE STATION WILL BURN UP IN LATE 2017 - Officials in China have conceded that Tiangong-1, the nation's first space station, has now settled into a decaying orbit. That's a sanitized, polite way of saying that the 18,753 pound craft is now hurtling towards Earth with no way of controlling its descent. The vessel is expected to begin burning up towards the end of 2017, although there's a couple of caveats that may not music to anyone's ears. Reading between the lines, Popular Mechanics believes that China cannot anticipate where the burn up and re-entry will take place. The thinking goes that most controlled descents are planned to take place over the ocean, where there's little to no risk of harming people. An uncontrolled descent means that any debris that survives re-entry could strike a populated area, and if you've seen Armageddon, you know what that means.   More
(Source: Engadget - Sep 21)

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