ISRO TO TEST RE-USABLE SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE IN SEPTEMBER - In a major technology demonstration ultimately aimed at cutting down the cost of satellite launches to one-tenth the present rates, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will flight test an indigenously developed re-usable satellite launch vehicle for the first time this September. Under the project, a plane will be flown into outer space at five times the speed of sound, deliver the payload and then land back like an aircraft. At present, the various stages in a satellite launch vehicle fall off in succession during launch and cannot be reused, making such launches expensive.   More
(Source: The Hindu - Jun 16)

ONEWEB SELECTS AIRBUS TO BUILD 900 INTERNET SATELLITES - Airbus Defense and Space and OneWeb, a startup backed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and wireless tech giant Qualcomm, announced Monday plans to set up a joint venture for the construction of 900 Internet broadcasting satellites for launches beginning in 2018. OneWeb’s selection of Airbus comes after a competition among U.S. and European satellite manufacturers to win the lucrative deal to construct the largest fleet of spacecraft ever launched. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Airbus officials said it requires the company to scale up its satellite manufacturing business to complete construction of up to four spacecraft per day.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 16)

CANADIAN SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAYED TWO YEARS OVER RUSSIAN EMBARGO - The launch of a Canadian surveillance satellite has fallen two years behind schedule because the federal government won’t allow it to be put into orbit by a Russian rocket. By the time the Canadian defence satellite is in place next year, its technology could be out of date, warns a space analyst. The Conservative government scuttled the June 2014 launch of the spacecraft known as M3MSat because of Russia’s support of separatists in Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimea. The satellite, designed to track ships, is now scheduled to be put into orbit in 2016 on board an Indian rocket.   More
(Source: Ottawa Citizen - Jun 15)

FAREWELL, LIGHTSAIL: SATELLITE WATCHERS SAY SOLAR SAIL FADES AWAY - One week after the Planetary Society's experimental LightSail spacecraft spread its solar sail, satellite watchers reported Sunday that it fell from orbit and broke apart in Earth's atmosphere. Based on its orbital trajectory, the shoebox-sized spacecraft should have disintegrated around 1:23 p.m. ET Sunday, Ted Molczan said in an analysis posted to the SatObs discussion forum. There were no immediate eyewitness reports of LightSail's demise, but neither were there any sightings of the craft after that time. Over the past few days, skywatchers have delighted to watch LightSail pass through the sky as a bright speck. One of those observers was Bill Nye the Science Guy, the Planetary Society's CEO. "It was just the faintest pinprick against the bright lights of the big city," Nye wrote in a blog posting.    More
(Source: NBC News - Jun 15)

NASA SOLICITS TINY SATELLITE LAUNCH SERVICES - NASA today officially asked for proposals from companies interested in launching small rockets from Kennedy Space Center to send tiny satellites into space at a fraction of what big rocket launches cost. NASA is opening the door to what it calls "Venture Class," or V-Class, rockets that could be the size of the very earliest rockets the agency and its predecessor were launching in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They could be as small as 30 feet tall, and they'd be launched from a new pad NASA envisions constructing not far from the big 39-A and 39-B pads that were used for Saturn and space shuttle rockets.   More
(Source: Orlando Sentinel - Jun 14)

EUROPEAN SPACE CHIEF SUGGESTS MAKING ROOM FOR CHINA, INDIA ON STATION - The incoming head of the European Space Agency said in a published interview that the International Space Station should be opened up to astronauts from India and China. The $100 billion space station, visible from Earth to the naked eye, is a habitable research outpost backed by 15 countries including the United States, Russia and Germany. China and India are not part of the group. "We need to get away from the principle of being a closed club," Johann-Dietrich Woerner told German magazine Spiegel.   More
(Source: Reuters - Jun 14)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS COME BACK DOWN TO EARTH AFTER DRAMA-FILLED 6 MONTHS ABOARD OR - Three astronauts are returning to Earth after an eventful six months aboard the International Space Station - undeterred the mysterious engine glitch that knocked the orbiting laboratory off course earlier this week . Samantha Cristoforetti, Terry Virts and Anton Shkaplerov climbed into their Soyuz space capsule to make the three-and-a-half hour descent later today (June 11). All going well, they will land in Kazakhstan just before 3pm UK time. The three have been on the Space Station since November 2014. In their time, they've been carrying out research, making repairs and documenting life in space in a series of fascinating social media posts. Thanks to the crew, we now know about these weird devices used when going to the loo in space, how to cut hair in microgravity and what constitutes a 'cheeseburger' when you don't have access to McDonald's.    More
(Source: Mirror.co.uk - Jun 12)

ELON MUSK IS ALMOST READY TO PROVIDE HIGH-SPEED SATELLITE INTERNET TO ALL - Unsatisfied with just running Tesla, SpaceX, revolutionizing batteries and planning to send people to Mars, Elon Musk also wants to tackle the internet problem. And by problem I don’t mean that your internet is sometimes a bit slow because that’s more of an inconvenience than a major issue. A real problem is that a lot of people around the world have a very difficult time, or even find it downright impossible to access the internet at all. Seeing as how most internet service providers are unlikely to venture to remote parts of the world and sell their services, Elon Musk figured that we should have a global satellite network capable of providing high-speed internet to all straight from low-Earth orbit.   More
(Source: Geek Snack - Jun 11)

EVERY SATELLITE GOT INTO SPACE THANKS TO NEWTON'S LAW OF GRAVITATION - What goes up must come down — though not always in the way you’d expect. This is Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation, and you can thank it for GPS, Google Earth and even the pictures beamed back from the other side of the Solar System. Here’s why. The equation neatly describes the gravitational attraction that two objects experience between each other, as a result of their masses and how far apart their centers lie. It’s this equation that predicts how hard objects fall to Earth when they’re dropped. But it wasn’t entirely Newton’s work, despite its name.   More
(Source: Gizmodo - Jun 11)

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