STUDENTS WORK WITH NASA TO LAUNCH ELFIN SATELLITE INTO SPACE - Student researchers carried wrench sets, solar panels and other satellite parts as they boarded planes to Virginia this summer and early fall, in preparation for launch simulation tests on their satellite. A UCLA student research group conducted successful experiments that simulated launch forces on the satellite, called the Electron Losses and Fields Investigation, or ELFIN, which intends to predict weather conditions in space. A joint grant between NASA and the National Science Foundation from May 2014 funds the project and guarantees the satellite a launch opportunity. More (Source: Daily Bruin - Nov 3)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CELEBRATES 15TH BIRTHDAY - The International Space Station has plenty to celebrate. Not only did astronaut Scott Kelly set the American record for continuous days in space last week but the space station where he resides turned 15 on Monday. The first station crew docked Nov. 2, 2000 and Commander William Shepherd and Flight Engineers Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko spent 141 days in space. NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Expedition 24 flight engineer, looks through a window in the Cupola of the International Space Station. A blue and white part of Earth and the blackness of space are visible through the windows. Expand / Contract NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Expedition 24 flight engineer, looks through a window in the Cupola of the International Space Station. A blue and white part of Earth and the blackness of space are visible through the windows. (NASA) “I believe the station should be considered the blueprint for peaceful global cooperation. More (Source: Fox News - Nov 3)
CHINA TO LAUNCH RETRIEVABLE SATELLITE TO PROBE DARK MATTER - China will launch a series of scientific satellites including a retrievable one to probe 'dark matter' later this year, officials said today. The development of four scientific satellites is going well, National Space Science Centre's director Wu Ji under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of cooperation between China's Double Star space mission and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Cluster mission to investigate the earth's magnetosphere. The first of the series, the dark matter particle explorer, will be launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at the end of this year. More (Source: NDTV - Nov 2)
INDIAN COMMUNICATION SATELLITE TO BE LAUNCHED ON NOVEMBER 10 - Indian communication satellite GSAT-15 is to be launched on November 10 using an Ariane 5 rocket of European space agency Arianespace, the agency said.In a statement, Arianespace said preparations for its sixth heavy-lift mission of 2015 have advanced into the payload integration phase, with the Indian GSAT-15 satellite passenger making its first contact with launcher hardware. More (Source: India.com - Nov 1)
NASA ASTRONAUT SCOTT KELLY IS HAUNTING THE ISS IN A CREEPY HALLOWEEN MASK - Astronaut Scott Kelly has made it through seven months of his year-long stay on the International Space Station, and it looks like the sheer isolation of living in space — the vast, ever-expanding swirl of nothingness that completely envelopes us all and serves as a constant reminder that we live tiny, insignificant lives on a planet that doesn't matter — may be getting to him. More (Source: The Verge - Nov 1)
WE HAVE LIFTOFF! ROCKET DELIVERS NEW GPS SATELLITE TO ORBIT - The GPS constellation now includes 31 active satellites orbiting in six planes about 12,500 miles up. In about a month, the $245 million satellite will replace one that is 19 years old, more than twice the age it was designed to serve. The infusion of new GPS satellites in the past several years is weeding out older models, some of which have lasted far beyond the 7½ years they were designed to operate. The oldest is 25. More (Source: USA TOday - Nov 1)
'ROCKET-ON-A-RAIL' PREPARES TO LAUNCH SATELLITE - The US military is about to use a mindboggling set-up to launch a satellite: a rocket that whizzes along a rail before taking off. The rocket is scheduled to launch from a 41-metre-long metal rail, placed at a 45-degree angle at site on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, as soon as 1 November. If all goes well, the vehicle will carry an Earth-imaging satellite all the way to space. In some ways, the rail-guided launch system is retro — its design is based on a 1960s rocket meant to test a nuclear warhead in the high atmosphere — but it is also forward-looking. More (Source: Nature.com - Oct 31)
ULA’S ATLAS 5 WINS CONTRACT TO LAUNCH NASA DATA RELAY SATELLITE - The last of NASA’s current-generation tracking and data relay satellites designed to link mission control with the International Space Station has been assigned for launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in October 2017, officials announced Friday. An Atlas 5 rocket will haul the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, named TDRS M, into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. TDRS M is the last of three identical satellites built by Boeing Co., following launches of TDRS K and TDRS L in 2013 and 2014. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 31)
FIRE IN ENGINE DOOMED ORBITAL ROCKET ON SPACE STATION FLIGHT - A fire and explosion in a rocket engine are being blamed for a botched commercial space station shipment last October. NASA released an investigation report this week, a full year after the Virginia launch accident. NASA’s independent review team said the initial fire was caused by friction from rubbing parts in a liquid oxygen turbopump. The pump was in one of the old Russian-built engines of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s unmanned Antares rocket. More (Source: - Oct 31)
Previous Next
