AO-85 COMMISSIONED - AO-85 has been formally commissioned and turned over to AMSAT-NA Operations, who are now responsible for the scheduling and modes. The following guidelines are provided for users: Uplink power should be on the order of minimum 200 W EIRP for full quieting at lower antenna elevation angles. Your mileage may vary. With an Arrow, 5 W has been used successfully to make contacts. Polarity is important. The satellite antennas are linear. So, if you are using linearly polarized antennas, you will need to adjust throughout the pass. Full duplex operation facilitates these adjustments while transmitting and is highly recommended.   More
(Source: AMSAT UK - Nov 19)

FIRST SATELLITE LAUNCHED FOR RUSSIA’S NEW MISSILE WARNING NETWORK - Russia launched an early warning satellite Tuesday, deploying the first in a new fleet of military satellites to detect missile launches heading for Russian territory. The secretive payload blasted off at 0634 GMT (1:34 a.m. EST) aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military facility in northern Russia’s Arkhangelsk region, according to a statement issued by the Russian Defense Ministry. The launcher flew in the modernized Soyuz-2.1b configuration with an upgraded third stage engine and a digital flight control system. A Fregat upper stage was programmed to fire multiple times to guide the mission’s satellite payload, believed to be the first EKS-class missile warning platform, into an elliptical Tundra-type orbit positioned over high latitudes.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 18)

SPACEX WILL LAUNCH THE NEXT GPS SATELLITE, THANKS IN PART TO VLADIMIR PUTIN - It took SpaceX several years of rigorous inspections and a lawsuit to earn the right to bid for US military satellite launches. Now the company looks set to win its first competitive bid—but only after the sole opposing bidder bowed out, citing a US ban on business with Russia. Bidding closed yesterday on a contract to launch a next generation GPS satellite for the Air Force, which will be used for both government and private purposes.   More
(Source: Quartz - Nov 18)

RUSSIAN SOYUZ 2.1B TO LAUNCH FIRST SATELLITE FOR EKS EARLY WARNING SYSTEM - Russia is readying a Soyuz-2.1b rocket to launch the first satellite of its newest early warning system called EKS (meaning Unified Space System). The spacecraft, named Tundra, is scheduled to lift off at 2:00 a.m. EST (7:00 GMT) on Tuesday, Nov. 17, from Site 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, located in Northern Russia. The satellite will be delivered into a highly-elliptical geosynchronous orbit, called a Tundra orbit. It is a high inclination orbit, usually near 63.4 degrees, and an orbital period of about four minutes less than a solar day. A satellite placed in this orbit spends most of its time over a chosen area of the Earth. Tundra provides higher elevation angles than can be offered by a geostationary orbit.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Nov 17)

SPACE STATION SUFFERS SHORT CIRCUIT, POWER SYSTEM DEGRADED - The International Space Station has taken a power hit, and spacewalking repairs may be needed. First, though, a replacement part must be delivered via rocket. NASA said Monday the six astronauts were left with one less power channel Friday. A short circuit in equipment on the station's framework is to blame. The short apparently tripped a current-switching device, resulting in the loss of one of eight channels used to power the orbiting lab. The affected systems were switched to alternate lines. NASA spokesman Dan Huot said the crew has been operating normally and is in no danger. A similar failure in 2014 required spacewalking repairs.   More
(Source: ABC News - Nov 17)

CHINA TO LAUNCH DARK MATTER SATELLITE IN DECEMBER - China is planning to launch its Dark Matter Particle Explorer Satellite, developed to study dark matter and high-energy particles in space, in mid-December after it left Shanghai today for the launch centre in the country's northwest Gansu Province. Developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite left Shanghai with its carrier Long March 2-D rocket and is expected to be launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.   More
(Source: IBNLive - Nov 16)

UPCOMING ARISS CONTACT WITH KILUUTAQ SCHOOL - An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Kiluutaq School, Umiujaq, Nunavik Quebec, Canada on 17 Nov. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:47 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time.The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible over the west coast of the U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.   More
(Source: Southgate Amateur Radio Club - Nov 15)

ATLAS V STACKED FOR FIRST INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LAUNCH - The award is named for Aviation Week’s late managing editor and Cape Canaveral bureau chief, who was also a founding member of the local Space Club and mentor to many space reporters. The award is bestowed each year to a journalist and communications professional for excellence in telling the space story. CBS Radio News correspondent Peter King, of Orlando, received the news half of the award. His two decades of space reporting span the International Space Station’s construction and include the first network radio report of the Columbia accident in 2003. “As a kid, I never dreamed that I’d wind up in this far off, mythical place that I used to see on TV called Cape Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center,” King said during a ceremony at the Radisson Resort at the Port.   More
(Source: Florida Today - Nov 15)

THE WT1190F OBJECT REENTERED AS PLANNED - The first imagery is in of the re-entry of artificial object WT1190F south of Sri Lanka at 6:18 UT today, coming from a trans-Lunar orbit is presented in this Youtube video. Imagery is from a research aircraft organized by UAE Space Agency, IAC, NASA, ESA.   More
(Source: N2YO.com - Nov 13)

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