FIRST BATCH OF IRIDIUM NEXT SATELLITES GOOD TO GO FOR JULY SPACEX LAUNCH - Mobile satellite services provider Iridium Communications on April 28 said the contracting team for its second-generation Iridium Next constellation had put past delays behind it and would be ready for a first launch of 10 satellites in late July aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. McLean, Virginia-based Iridium said the launch date could slip by a few weeks, depending on SpaceX’s management of its busy manifest. But satellite prime contractor Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy, and Orbital ATK of Dulles, Virginia, which is handling the satellites’ assembly, integration and test, will have 10 satellites ready for the July rendezvous.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 30)

PH SATELLITE DIWATA-1 NOW IN SPACE - The long wait is over as the Diwata-1 is finally sent out to space to begin her 20-month-long journey. Diwata-1, officially named the Philippine Earth Observation Microsatellite, was released into orbit at exactly 7:45 p.m., Wednesday(Manila time), from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), nicknamed “Kibo,” where it was housed since it reached the International Space Station on March 26. The release of Diwata-1 into space was met with much jubilation by the Philippine delegation in Japan, led by Science Undersecretary for Research and Development Amelia Guevarra.    More
(Source: Inquirer.net - Apr 28)

RUSSIA’S BRAND NEW COSMODROME LAUNCHES FIRST-EVER ROCKET - Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome has conducted its first space launch on Thursday. A Soyuz rocket boosted three scientific and distance viewing satellites into orbit. The lift-off took place at 5:01am Moscow time (2:01am GMT) and some 8 minutes 44 seconds into the flight the Volga upper stage carrying three satellites successfully separated from the Soyuz rocket. All three satellites launched on the Soyuz rocket have been successfully deployed to their specified orbits.    More
(Source: RT - Apr 28)

INDIAN LAUNCH ROUNDS OUT DOMESTIC NAVIGATION NETWORK - India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle blasted off Thursday with the seventh and final spacecraft for a regional navigation network to provide position data to users across the subcontinent independent of foreign satellite systems. The PSLV took off from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s east coast at 0720 GMT (3:20 a.m. EDT), or 12:50 p.m. local time, Thursday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 28)

INDIA'S NAVIGATION SATELLITE LAUNCH: COUNTDOWN PROGRESSING SMOOTHLY - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch an Indian rocket with the country's seventh navigation satellite and the countdown has already begun on Tuesday morning The 51 hour, 30 minute countdown for the launch of 44.4 metre, 320 tonne Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-IRNSS-1G is scheduled for Thursday is progressing smoothly, ISRO said on Wednesday. According to the ISRO, the progressing status of the countdown for the launch of India's navigation satellite is expected to blast off at 12.50 pm on Thursday.   More
(Source: Zee News - Apr 28)

SPACEX WINS ITS FIRST SATELLITE LAUNCH FOR THE US AIR FORCE - SpaceX has been awarded an $87.2 million contract from the US Air Force to launch a military GPS satellite in May 2018, Space News reports. It will be the first national security launch SpaceX performs for the Air Force, since the company was authorized to launch military satellites in May 2015. "It was practically guaranteed that SpaceX would win" It was practically guaranteed that SpaceX would win the contract because the company was bidding unopposed. The only other spaceflight company authorized to launch military satellites is the United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.   More
(Source: The Verge - Apr 28)

NASA ASTRONAUTS WILL FLY COMMERCIAL TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Five years after the lastNASA astronauts flew from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the International Space Station, a new group is preparing for a trip, this time on a private spacecraft. On Tuesday, veteran astronauts Eric Boe and Sunita Williams used touch-screen simulators to practice docking Boeing Co.'s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft with the space station during a training session near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The simulator, called the Crew Part-Task Trainer, helps prepare astronauts and flight controllers for missions, flight conditions and situations including the rendezvous and docking with the space station.   More
(Source: CBS News - Apr 28)

NEW ‘MICROSCOPE’ SATELLITE TO TEST EINSTEIN’S THEORY OF RELATIVITY IN ORBIT - Einstein’s theory of general relativity is to be put to the test by a newly launched satellite in an experiment that could upend our understanding of physics. The French “Microscope” orbiter will try to poke a hole in one of Einstein’s most famous theories, which provides the basis for our modern understanding of gravity. Scientists will use the kit to measure how two different pieces of metal — one titanium and the other a platinum-rhodium alloy — behave in orbit.   More
(Source: Raw Story - Apr 27)

WE JUST LOST ANOTHER CRITICAL CLIMATE SATELLITE - One of climate change’s most important biographers — a 2,700-pound satellite orbiting 450 miles above the surface of the Earth — just recorded its last data point. Earlier this month, the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced that, after nine years and five months in orbit, the satellite known as F17 had stopped transmitting sea ice measurements. That’s not unusual — satellites in F17’s series, all named sequentially, are normally expected to last about five years, though some make it much longer. But F17’s failure could preempt the end of the series entirely. Walter Meier, a sea ice researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, called the satellite program “one of the longest, most iconic datasets” illustrating climate change, particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic.   More
(Source: Grist - Apr 27)

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