ASTRONAUT DUO PERFORMS THEIR FIRST SPACEWALK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - Two NASA astronauts stepped out into the void of space Wednesday to perform some maintenance on the International Space Station, marking their first spacewalk. Kjell Lindgren and yearlong Space Station crewmember Scott Kelly completed their spacewalk Wednesday at 3:19 p.m. ET after a grueling seven hours and 16 minutes of work outside the orbiting laboratory. During the spacewalk, the two Americans did some work to prepare for the installation of a docking adaptor that will allow Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crewed Dragon to attach to the Space Station once they begin flying astronauts to the outpost in the not-too-distant future.    More
(Source: Mashable - Oct 31)

SPACEX EXEC SAYS THERE IS 'NOT A LOT OF EFFORT' GOING INTO SATELLITE INTERNET PLAN - SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company's plan to launch 4,000 internet-beaming satellites into space is "very speculative." Shotwell made the comments at the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia conference in Hong Kong Tuesday. Elon Musk petitioned the Federal Communications Commission over the summer to launch eight prototypes into space, with the goal of eventually launching 4,000, CNN Money reported.    More
(Source: Tech Insider - Oct 29)

AIR FORCE SET TO LAUNCH NEXT-TO-LAST GPS IIF SATELLITE - Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center and its mission partners are scheduled to launch the 11th Boeing-built Global Positioning System IIF satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 launch vehicle Oct. 30 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch window is set to open at 12:17 p.m. EDT and will remain open for 19 minutes. Ten GPS IIF satellites are currently on-orbit and meeting all mission requirements. Of the remaining satellites, GPS IIF-11 is awaiting launch and GPS IIF-12, the remaining IIF-series satellite, is in storage awaiting final processing and preparation for a Feb. 3 launch.   More
(Source: Air Force Link - Oct 29)

CHINA'S TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China’s space station plan emerged in the mid-1980s in the wake of a global race to establish permanent human presence in space. The Soviet Union had already launched a number of Salyut/Almaz space stations and began to assemble a new multi-module station Mir. The United States government unveiled its ambitious plan to build Space Station Freedom. Japan and Europe also announced their plans to send human into space. Chinese space professionals believed that the country should have its own space station to avoid falling behind. The goal of constructing an Earth-orbiting manned space station was set very early on in China’s manned space planning.    More
(Source: IndraStra Global - Oct 29)

ASTEROID OR SPACE JUNK HEADED FOR EARTH? SCIENTISTS RELEASE STATEMENT ON WTF - Space junk. It's out there in the great vacuum of space. Leftover bits of spacecrafts, satellites and other technologies destroyed in space by humans are orbiting Earth and will eventually fall into our atmosphere. Can scientists predict when Earth's atmosphere will be breached by these falling objects? Where will they land? And is this expected object an asteroid or just space junk? WTF? Researchers have spotted an object that they expect to enter Earth's atmosphere. It could just be space junk or it could be a natural body. Scientists now believe they can predict when and where it will make contact with the atmosphere - and if poses a danger for humans.   More
(Source: Headlines & Global News - Oct 28)

HOW FILTHY IS THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION? AN ASTROBIOLOGIST WEIGHS IN - Let’s face it: Floating 220 miles above Earth in a sealed space station for months doesn’t sound like the most sanitary venture. After all, even inhabitants of the junkiest dwellings on land have the benefit of occasional fresh air. Earlier this year, astronaut Scott Kelly described the International Space Station’s singular aroma as something akin to a mixture of antiseptic and garbage. There's no positive way to spin that one. But how clean (or dirty) is the International Space Station? New research on the spacecraft’s unique bacterial population contains some reassuring news — and a few icky insights. In their quest to characterize the cleanliness of the ISS, scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory got the literal dirt on the station. Astrobiologist Kasthuri Venkateswaran and his colleagues studied a HEPA filter that had been on the craft for 40 months (there are 21 total on the craft at any given time).    More
(Source: Washington Post - Oct 28)

LOW EARTH ORBIT CONSTELLATIONS COULD POSE INTERFERENCE RISK TO GEO SATELLITES - A proposed wave of low Earth orbit communications satellite constellations could become an interference hazard for satellites in geostationary orbit even if those new systems comply with existing rules, some satellite operators fear. Rules enacted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2000, during the previous wave of proposed nongeostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite systems, gives frequency priority to satellites in geostationary orbit. NGSO systems must take measures, such as reducing their power output, to avoid interfering with geostationary satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 27)

RUSSIA PREPARES TO LAUNCH GLONASS-M NAVIGATION SATELLITE IN DECEMBER - Russia's Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems company has begun preparations for the regular operation of a new Glonass-M navigation satellite scheduled to be launched in December from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia, the company’s press service said in a statement Monday. "Glonass-M navigation satellite №51 will be launched at the end of December 2015 from the Plesetsk space center," the statement reads. The company added that the satellite would serve as a scheduled replacement for another spacecraft, put into orbit in 2005.    More
(Source: Sputnik International - Oct 27)

CHINESE ROCKET DEPLOYS THIRD TIANHUI MAPPING SATELLITE - China’s third Tianhui mapping satellite, built for land resource surveys and scientific research, rocketed into space Monday aboard a Long March 2D rocket, Chinese state media reported. The spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan space center in northwest China’s Inner Mongolia province at 0710 GMT (3:10 a.m. EDT) Monday. The launch, which was not officially announced ahead of time except for a notice to pilots, occurred at 3:10 p.m. Beijing time. The 13-story Long March 2D booster, fueled by a mix of liquid hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, deployed the Tianhui 1C satellite into orbit a few minutes later. Tracking data released by the U.S. military showed an object attributed to Monday’s launch, presumably Tianhui 1C, in a near-circular orbit about 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth at an inclination of 97 degrees.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 27)

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