SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS IRAN PREPARING TO LAUNCH SATELLITE - Just weeks after North Korea successfully launched a satellite into orbit, Iran is preparing an attempt to match that effort - and rocket ahead in the development of its own ICBM technology in the process. Images obtained by Melissa Hanham, Catherine Dill, and Dr Jeffrey Lewis of Arms Control Wonk from Apollo Mapping and Airbus Defense and Space show that the Imam Khomeni Space Center near Semnan, Iran, is actively preparing for a launch. The Iranian government has issued a NOTAM (notice to airmen) warning them away from the area from March 1 to March 2.   More
(Source: Ars Technica - Feb 25)

SPACEX'S FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCH SCRUBBED - SpaceX has chosen to delay the launch of the SES-9 satellite. The company didn't give a reason for the scrub, but perhaps they're hoping for some sunnier weather tomorrow. The next launch window will open on Thursday at 6:46pm Eastern. The rocket's payload, a nearly 12,000-pound satellite made by the satellite operator SES, will bolster communications and television broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region.   More
(Source: Popular Science - Feb 25)

SPACEX FALCON 9 SET TO LAUNCH SES-9 SATELLITE - Compared to the December mission that delivered satellites to a low orbit, this booster will be moving at considerably higher speed as it works to lift the nearly 12,000-pound SES-9 satellite on its way to an orbit 22,300 miles over the equator. The extra energy required for this mission makes a controlled, pinpoint landing a longshot. As it is, SpaceX has come close but not been able to land a booster during three previous tries at sea touching down on the barges it calls “autonomous spaceport drone ships.” All of the experimental landing attempts are part of SpaceX’s effort to lower launch costs by recovering and reusing rockets, rather than discarding them after one use.   More
(Source: Florida Today - Feb 24)

WATCH: 'GORILLA' CHASES ASTRONAUTS ABOARD SPACE STATION - Astronauts aboard the international space station recently had a surprise visitor, but it wasn’t an alien. In a video posted on Twitter, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly dresses up in a gorilla suit and chases his colleagues around the space station. Kelly’s brother, Mark Kelly, posted a video of the incident on Monday with the hashtag #ApeInSpace. In the video, Scott emerges from a white box dressed in a gorilla suit and races after an astronaut.   More
(Source: USA Today - Feb 24)

DIGITALGLOBE AND SAUDI GOVERNMENT SIGN JOINT VENTURE ON SATELLITE IMAGING CONSTELLATION - Geospatial satellite imagery and services provider DigitalGlobe Inc. on Feb. 21 said it is forming a joint venture with the government of Saudi Arabia to build at least six small optical Earth observation satellites to complement DigitalGlobe’s current fleet of large, high-resolution spacecraft. The satellites, capable of detecting objects of less than 1 meter in diameter, would be launched in 2018 and 2019 and designed for easy operation within DigitalGlobe’s existing ground infrastructure, the companies said.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 23)

U.S. RESUPPLY SHIP HEADED FOR SPACE STATION TO LAUNCH MARCH 22 - Signs that a launch to the International Space Station is approaching are obvious this week at Cape Canaveral, with the Atlas 5 booster rocket beginning to take shape and the commercial resupply ship heading to its propellant depot. Assembly of the Atlas started this morning at the Vertical Integration Facility at Complex 41 as United Launch Alliance workers erected the first stage aboard the mobile launch platform. The Centaur upper stage will be hoisted atop the first stage later this week. Meanwhile, the partially-loaded Cygnus cargo freighter will move to its fueling station tonight at the Kennedy Space Center.   More
(Source: SpaceFight Now - Feb 23)

PRIVATE CYGNUS CARGO SHIP LEAVES SPACE STATION TO MEET FIERY DOOM - Cygnus is ready to take the plunge: This morning (Feb. 19), at 7:26 a.m. EST (1226 GMT), the International Space Station's robotic arm released the latest Orbital ATK cargo ship into open space so the unmanned spacecraft can end its resupply mission with a death dive into Earth's atmosphere. Once it is safely away from the station, the commercial Cygnus spacecraft will fire its engines twice to re-enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean. The supply craft, named the S.S. Deke Slayton II, arrived at the space station in December, carrying more than 7,700 lbs. (3,500 kilograms) of cargo — the most ever carried in a Cygnus craft.   More
(Source: Space.com - Feb 20)

NORTH KOREA SATELLITE TUMBLING IN ORBIT AGAIN: U.S. SOURCES - North Korea’s recently launched satellite is once again tumbling in orbit, after stabilizing briefly, according to a U.S. official and other sources. The satellite update came as a key congressional watchdog agency said the U.S. military had not demonstrated its ability to protect the United States against a possible North Korea missile attack. Earlier this month North Korea launched what it said was an earth observation satellite but what the country's neighbors and the United States called a missile test. It was earlier believed to have achieved stable orbit but not to have transmitted data back to Earth.    More
(Source: Reuters - Feb 19)

IS CHINA'S RACE TO SPACE A MILITARY PLOY - China plans to launch more than 20 space missions in 2016, making the year ahead the busiest ever for the nation's rapidly growing space program. After successfully launching 19 missions in 2015, the People's Republic plans a range of civilian and military missions that will test new rockets, launch a space laboratory, hone China's manned spaceflight capability and loft new satellites into orbit - all while furthering plans to bring a habitable space station online by 2022 and put Chinese astronauts on the moon in the mid-2020s.    More
(Source: CNBC - Feb 19)

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