U-F-NO! NASA SHOOTS DOWN SPECULATION OVER SPACE STATION VIDEO - There's a rumor swirling around the internet that NASA intentionally turned off a live camera on the International Space Station (ISS) after the feed showed a small object just above Earth. The suggestion (or outright accusation, by some) is that NASA is trying to cover something up — that the bright light was an alien UFO or a large piece of space debris that the agency doesn't want people to know about. Is there any truth to the rumors? Here's what we know: A bright object was visible in the video feed coming from the live camera on the ISS, and the camera cut out shortly after the object appeared (the camera came back on shortly after, and is now running as usual). More (Source: Space.com - Jul 15)
NEXT SPACEX LAUNCH WILL BRING CRITICAL DOCKING ADAPTER TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The International Space Station is getting an important piece of cargo next week: a new International Docking Adapter, or IDA, that will allow future crewed spacecraft to automatically dock with the station. The large metallic ring, which measures 63 inches in diameter, will eventually be installed on the Harmony module. This is the second IDA to be sent to space, though the first one never actually made it to orbit; it was destroyed when the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying it to the ISS disintegrated during launch in June 2015. "This is the second IDA to be sent to space, though the first one never actually made it" This new IDA is slated to launch early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The vehicle will carry around 3,800 pounds of fresh cargo and science experiments, including a space-based DNA sequencer called minION that will be used by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins to sequence DNA in space for the first time. But the IDA is perhaps the key item onboard. More (Source: The Verge - Jul 14)
CLUSTERS OF SMALL SATELLITES COULD HELP ESTIMATE EARTH'S REFLECTED ENERGY - A team of small, shoebox-sized satellites, flying in formation around the Earth, could estimate the planet's reflected energy with twice the accuracy of traditional monolith satellites, according to an MIT-led study published online in Acta Astronautica. If done right, such satellite swarms could also be cheaper to build, launch, and maintain. The researchers, led by Sreeja Nag, a former graduate student in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), simulated the performance of a single large, orbiting satellite with nine sensors, compared with a cluster of three to eight small, single-sensor satellites flying together around the Earth. In particular, the team looked at how each satellite formation measures albedo... More (Source: EurekAlert - Jul 14)
CHINA’S FIRST SPACE STATION COULD BE IN FREEFALL AND HURTLING BACK TOWARDS EARTH - CHINA’S first space station could be in freefall and about to come crashing back down to Earth, it has been warned. The Tiangong-1 satellite has been orbited Earth since 2011, used in docking exercises and is still used in investigative and scientific work, but concerns have been raised that China has lost control of the station, which means it could come crashing back through Earth’s atmosphere. But amateur astronomers have been watching the satellite with concerns the space station has gone into freefall. More (Source: The Sun - Jul 14)
DIGITALGLOBE UNVEILS NEXT-GENERATION IMAGING SATELLITE - It’s really frustrating when that super-fly Snapchat you took at 55 mph of the unreleased Tesla Model 3 you caught in the wild turns out blurry. DigitalGlobe will be able to snap that picture from 400 miles away, at 17,000 mph, with its new satellite. TechCrunch got a sneak preview of DigitalGlobe‘s, nearly billion dollar, satellite that will be able to send hella dope grams, #NoFilter, back to earth within minutes. Dr.Walter Scott, founder and CTO of DigitalGlobe, spent nearly four years designing and building WorldView 4. All the components are powered by solar panels on the base-unit. WorldView uses a standard base-unit from Lockheed Martin to cut down on costs and uses a custom adapter to connect the optics. More (Source: TechCrunch - Jul 14)
MOBILE-PHONE EXPANSION COULD DISRUPT KEY WEATHER SATELLITES - As Hurricane Patricia barrelled down on Mexico last October, forecasters at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grabbed as many satellite images as they could to track its progress. But at least one crucial shot failed to download. A 22 October image from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system showed a black swathe — no data — across most of the Pacific Ocean. “You couldn’t even see the hurricane,” says Al Wissman, chief of data management and continuity operations for NOAA’s satellite and information service in Silver Spring, Maryland. “That’s how devastated the imagery was.” The culprit was radio interference from mobile-phone companies. And the problem may soon get worse. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering whether to allow a commercial mobile-phone company to share a crucial... More (Source: Nature.com - Jul 14)
PHOTOBOMB! SATELLITE CATCHES MOON CROSSING EARTH'S FACE - The moon has photobombed Earth again. For the second time in a year, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite has captured a stunning time-lapse video of the moon crossing the sunlit face of Earth. "For the second time in the life of DSCOVR, the moon moved between the spacecraft and Earth," DSCOVR project scientist Adam Szabo, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a statement. "The project recorded this event on July 5 with the same cadence and spatial resolution as the first 'lunar photobomb' last year." More (Source: CBS News - Jul 14)
CHINESE SATELLITE FREE-WHEELING THROUGH SPACE COULD FALL BACK TO EARTH ANY MINUTE - China’s first space station may be orbiting Earth out of control with potentially lethal consequences, space experts have warned. The Tiangong-1 satellite is reported to have lost radio connection with China’s space authorities in March this year leaving them with no control over its descent. Now it is feared the free-wheeling satellite is in a deteriorating orbit and will eventually fall back to Earth. Satellite tracker Thomas Dorman, who has been monitoring the progress of the spacecraft, told Space.com: “If I am right, China will wait until the last minute to let the world know it has a problem with their space station. More (Source: iNews - Jul 11)
MYSTERY PAYLOAD FOR SPY SATELLITE AGENCY LAUNCHING ABOARD NEXT ATLAS 5 - United Launch Alliance is preparing an Atlas 5 rocket to boost an undercover satellite into orbit for national security later this month. Details are scarce and informed speculation is nonexistent in the lead up to launching the clandestine NROL-61 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff is scheduled for July 28 during a four-hour unclassified launch period of 8 a.m. to 12 noon EDT (1200-1600 GMT). Stacking of the rocket began Friday, July 8. Satellite-deployments for the NRO are a mainstay in the U.S. launch industry as the agency sends up fresh replacements for its constellations of imaging, eavesdropping, surveillance and data-relay spacecraft. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 10)
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