SHOEBOX-SIZED SATELLITE ENTERS ORBIT PACKING 3MBPS RADIO - The European Space Agency is congratulating itself for getting a satellite off the drawing board and into space in a single year. The satellite in question is GomX-X3, a “cubesat” that, at10cm x 10cm x 30cm, more closely resembles a shoebox than a cube. The craft has several intriguing payloads, namely: A software-defined radio (receiver), which is tuned to receive L-band signals This payload's programmability makes the satellite impressively flexible as it can be reconfigured for different roles;   More
(Source: The Register - Oct 20)

LAUNCH OF GOES-R SATELLITE DELAYED SIX MONTHS - The first of four next-generation U.S. civilian geostationary weather satellites will now launch in October 2016, about six months later than planned, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Oct. 15. The delay means NOAA will have to depend in some capacity on the aging GOES-13 for at least a year beyond its 10-year design life. The latest launch delay stems from unspecified issues with the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R spacecraft itself, NOAA spokesman John Leslie wrote in an Oct. 15 email. This is the second slip for the satellite since its launch contract was inked in 2012, at which time GOES-R was scheduled to lift off this month.   More
(Source: Space News - Oct 20)

REMEMBERING GEORGE MUELLER, THE 'FATHER OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE' - George Mueller, the celebrated creator and first leader of NASA’s Office of Manned Spaceflight during the Cold War, died last week at his residence in Irvine, Calif. He was 97. Born on July 16, 1918, the National Medal of Science recipient is perhaps best known for putting forth the aggressive, admittedly risky “all-up” guiding principle of spacecraft and rocket testing during his six years at NASA. The radical initiative, accompanied by a sweeping management overhaul, rocketed space mission trials forward at an accelerated pace, enabling the fledgling government space agency to meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of putting humans on the moon by the end of 1960s, despite persistent scheduling snafus.    More
(Source: Entrepreneur - Oct 20)

SKY IS FALLING! FARMERS WAKE UP TO PIECE OF SPACE ROCKET THAT FELL TO EARTH NARROWLY MISSING THEIR H - Villagers in southeastern China awoke this weekend to find a metal chunk from a space rocket had narrowly missed their homes as it fell to earth, slamming instead into a nearby hillside, state media reported. The piece, measuring about 10.3 metres long and 4.5 metres across, had broken off the rocket that launched the APSTAR-9 satellite, launched from Xichang in Sichuan province shortly after midnight on Saturday.   More
(Source: South China Morning Post - Oct 19)

SPACEX TO BEGIN SATELLITE LAUNCHES THIS DECEMBER - SpaceX has announced plans of commencing its satellite launch program as early as December this year with two launches already planned for two different companies. SpaceX suspended all satellite launches and space flights after its June launch ended up in flames. SpaceX immediately initiated an investigation along with NASA and all concerned parties and blamed defective structural component inside the second stage for a leak and subsequent explosion.   More
(Source: Dispatch Tribunal - Oct 18)

FORMOSAT-5 SLATED FOR FEBRUARY 2016 LAUNCH - Taiwan’s Formosat-5, an ultra-high-resolution Earth observation satellite operated by the Hsinchu City-headquartered National Space Organization, is scheduled for launch in February 2016, according to the NSPO. With over 70 percent of the satellite having been developed domestically, Formosat-5 contains a locally made optical remote sensing payload, a Cassegrain telescope-type remote sensing instrument and the world’s first complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor linear image sensor. NSPO Director-General Chang Guey-shin said Oct. 15 that the satellite has passed space environment and function tests and is set to take over duties from Formosat-2, which has been in orbit since 2004.    More
(Source: Taiwan Today - Oct 18)

ISRO TO LAUNCH 6 SINGAPORE SATELLITES IN DECEMBER - India will launch six satellites from Singapore, including a dedicated 500kg earth observation spacecraft, in mid-December, a top space official said on Friday. "The 500kg dedicated satellite (TeLOS-1) will be a commercial launch for Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd while five other smaller satellites are from Singapore universities," Indian space agency's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Chairman and Managing Director V.S. Hegde told IANS in Bengaluru. The polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), the most reliable workhorse and trusted rocket of the Indian Space Research and Organisation (Isro), will deploy the satellites into a near equatorial orbit, inclined 15 degrees lower to the south of equator.   More
(Source: NDTV - Oct 18)

SATELLITE LAUNCHED TO BEAM TV AND INTERNET TO THE ASIA-PACIFIC - A commercial Chinese communications satellite launched Friday aboard a Long March 3B rocket on a mission to broadcast television to consumers across the Asia-Pacific and connect passengers on ships and airplanes with the Internet. Owned and operated by APT Satellite in Hong Kong, the Apstar 9 communications platform is beginning a 15-year mission to replace the aging Apstar 9A satellite in orbit since 1998. Apstar 9 lifted off at 1616 GMT (12:16 p.m. EDT) Friday from the Xichang space base in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. A Long March 3B rocket, boosted by four liquid-fueled strap-on engines, put the satellite in orbit 26 minutes later, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 18)

TURKISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE LIFTS OFF FROM BAIKONUR - A Russian Proton rocket boosted a Turkish telecommunications satellite into space Friday after a blazing liftoff from Kazakhstan, but it was expected to take more than nine hours to inject the 5.4-ton broadcasting craft into an orbit ranging more than 20,000 miles above Earth. The Turksat 4B satellite — encapsulated in the nose cone of the 19-story Proton booster — blasted off at 2040:11 GMT (4:40:11 p.m. EDT) Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, riding a column of orange rocket exhaust through low clouds hanging above the arid space center. After pitching on a northeast trajectory from Baikonur, the Proton rocketed through the speed of sound and shed its six-engine first stage in the first two minutes of the flight.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 17)

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