APT ORDERS NEW SATELLITE AS APSTAR-9 REACHES ORBIT - Satellite fleet operator APT Satellite Holdings of Hong Kong has contracted with China Great Wall Industry Corp. to build, launch and insure an Apstar-6C satellite for launch in mid-2018 in a contract valued at $180 million. The contract was signed on the same day, Oct. 17, as APT’s Apstar-9 was successfully placed into geostationary transfer orbit by a Chinese Long March 3B rocket operating from China’s Xichang spaceport in Sichuan Province. The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) said the 5,250-kilogram Apstar-9 was placed into an orbit with an apogee of 41,965 kilometers and a perigee of 212 kilometers, and was healthy in orbit and sending signals.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 21)

RUSSIA SHRUGS OFF US ANXIETY OVER MILITARY SATELLITE - Ivan Moiseyev, head of Russia's Space Policy Institute, said he understood US concerns about the Luch relay satellite's manoeuvres. "But the possibility of a collision or some kind of interference is extremely small," he was quoted as saying. Intelsat said it had tried and failed to contact the satellite's operator. "Despite direct and indirect inquiries by the appropriate regulatory bodies and governmental agencies, the operator of the other satellite was unresponsive," it said in a statement to the BBC. Intelsat Inc. operates about 50 satellites, some of which are used by the US military, including for drone missions and communications with "remote military outposts".   More
(Source: BBC News - Oct 21)

THE LAST TIANGONG - In less than a year, China is expected to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory. Despite its name, Tiangong 2 is expected to be a small space station, just like its predecessor, Tiangong 1. With its long flights and complex tasks, the Tiangong program has taken China's human spaceflight program to new lengths, but it's really designed to prove the technologies required for the Chinese Space Station (CSS). This large, modular complex seems to be well on the pathway to launch in a few years. Tiangong is not an end in its own right, but an intermediate step between undocked human space missions and a permanent foothold in space. That's critical. The Tiangong program is useful only as long as it is preparing China for its space station.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Oct 21)

‘COME IN INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, THIS IS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’ - U.S. President Barack Obama made an ultra long-distance call to American astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren aboard the International Space Station on Monday. The President spoke to the astronauts ahead of astronomy night at the White House, praising their inspiring work and stellar Instagram feed. More than halfway through his one-year mission, Kelly just set an American record for the cumulative number of days in space and next week he will surpass the single-longest spaceflight record.   More
(Source: TIME - Oct 21)

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)

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