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)

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY REFUELS A SATELLITE IN ORBIT - China is now one of the precious few countries that knows how to refuel satellites in space. The nation's Tianyuan-1 system (launched aboard the Long March 7) has successfully topped up at least one satellite in orbit. Officials aren't describing the process beyond likening it to that for airplanes, but the result is clear: the refueling should help satellites stay in orbit for longer, or make adjustments that would otherwise be impractical. Refuelling systems could become a non-event in a few years thanks to robotic spacecraft. However, there's a strong incentive to get this technology into space as quickly as possible. If you can keep a satellite in orbit for even a year or two longer, you can save massive amounts of money by reducing the number of vehicles you need to deploy.    More
(Source: Engadget - Jul 3)

WITH MASSES OF HAZARDOUS SPACE JUNK ORBITING EARTH, JAPAN OFFERS A SOLUTION - While the star-filled night sky is truly a sight to behold, much closer to Earth things get a bit messy. Old orbiters, pieces of disused rockets, and countless fragments from past space-based collisions are all orbiting Earth, presenting unwelcome dangers for those aboard the International Space Station (ISS), as well as future space missions. On top of that, there’s also the risk of costly crashes with working satellites, which in turn would create even more hazardous space junk that could then collide with other debris to create even more trash. Yes, the situation is at risk of spiraling out of control. A myriad of solutions to clear up the trash are being examined, from lasers to solar-sail “parachutes” to targeted air puffs designed to force the junk to de-orbit and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.   More
(Source: Yahoo News - Jul 3)

RUSSIA’S PROGRESS CARGO SPACECRAFT RE-DOCKED TO ISS - Russia’s cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin has switched off the manual docking control system of the Progress MS from the International Space Station on a command from the Mission Control Center. According to NASA, the Progress cargo ship automatically undocked from the Pirs Docking Compartment of the space station before its manual guiding back in to re-dock. The maneuver took approximately 30 minutes. This activity tested an upgraded manual docking system and an associated signal converter.    More
(Source: TASS - Jul 2)

NEXT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CREW LAUNCH ON NASA TV - The next three crew members bound for the International Space Station are set to launch Wednesday, July 6. Live launch coverage will begin at 8:30 p.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agency's website. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch at 9:36 p.m. (7:36 a.m. Baikonur time, July 7) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. All three will spend approximately four months on the orbital complex, returning to Earth in October.   More
(Source: Kansas City infoZine - Jul 2)

Previous Next