CHINESE SATELLITE WITH 3D PRINTED PARTS LAUNCHED INTO SPACE - China has successfully launched a satellite featuring 3D printing technology into space, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet. On Sept. 25, the new solid-fuel Long March-11 rocket completed its maiden mission by carrying four micro-satellites into orbit. The rocket took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu at 9:41 am local time. More (Source: WantChinaTimes - Sep 28)
COUNTDOWN BEGINS FOR ASTROSTAT, INDIA'S FIRST SATELLITE FOR ASTRONOMICAL STUDY - The Indian Space Research Organisation is all set to launch the Indian rocket carrying seven satellites including India's ASTROSAT on 28 September, 2015. The 50-hour countdown for the launch of nation's first satellite ASTROSAT began today at 8 am. The polar satellite launch vehicle PSLV-C30 will put the satellite into a low-earth, equatorial orbit. PSLV-C30 will launch ASTROSAT weighing 1,513 kg, apart from four from the US and one each from Indonesia and Canada on Monday. ASTROSAT will be launched at 10 am on Monday from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. More (Source: Zee News - Sep 27)
SATELLITE, MISSILE TEST OR SPACE JUNK? NORTH KOREA READIES LAUNCH - The satellite that North Korea launched into space three years ago circles the earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 540 km (335 miles), its orbit decaying. No signal has ever been detected from the crude-looking 100-kg (220-pound) hunk of black metal that the North said was mounted with cameras to take images and transmit them back to Pyongyang. The North is planning another satellite launch next month, re-igniting fears that it is really testing a system to deliver nuclear weapons. The secretive state is already under international sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests. More (Source: Reuters - Sep 27)
LAPAN-A2 LAUNCH - An Indonesian satellite LAPAN-A2/ORARI, carrying an FM transponder and an APRS digipeater, is planned to launch September 28, 2015 on India’s PSLV-C30 rocket. The satellite will be deployed in a 650 km near equatorial orbit with an inclination of between 6 and 8 degrees enabling it to cross the territory of Indonesia 14 times a day. The low inclination orbit means it will not be receivable in the UK. More (Source: AMSAT-UK - Sep 27)
MEXICAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE PUT ABOARD ATLAS 5 ROCKET FOR LAUNCH - A 12,000-pound Mexican mobile communications satellite was hoisted atop its Atlas 5 rocket today as crews finished assembling the vehicle for United Launch Alliance’s 100th liftoff next week. The Friday, Oct. 2 launch will deliver into a high-perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit the Morelos 3 spacecraft on its way to a parking spot 22,300 miles above Earth. The craft is designed to provide 3G+ cellular voice and data services to Mexican military forces, emergency responders, rural educators and hospitals in remote parts of the country. Boeing built the satellite for the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes of Mexico. It carries a 72-foot-diameter unfurlable antenna to be expanded once in space. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 26)
HIS MISSION: FIX THE SPACE STATION TOILET - This spaceman is reaching for the stars but landing in the toilet. British astronaut Tim Peake told London schoolchildren recently that his upcoming stint aboard the International Space Station will include critical latrine duty. “So it might not seem like a very glamorous task for an astronaut but we do spend an awful lot of time fixing the loo," he said in the interview from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, per the Irish Examiner. More (Source: Huffington Post - Sep 26)
ESA INVITES RADIO AMATEURS TO LISTEN FOR AAUSAT-5 CUBESAT - The AAUSAT-5 amateur radio CubeSat built by students at the University of Aalborg, Denmark is planned to be released from the International Space Station sometime in the week of October 5. The European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting radio amateurs to listen out for the signals from the satellite. The first to send in a recorded signal from AAUSAT-5 will receive a prize from ESA’s Education Office. Launched on August 19, 2015 to the ISS, the Danish student CubeSat is now waiting for its deployment from the Japanese Kibo module’s airlock. An astronaut will manipulate the Kibo robotic arm to lift AAUSAT-5 from the airlock and place it in orbit. More (Source: AMSAT-UK - Sep 26)
RUSSIA’S ‘ROKOT’ CARRIER LAUNCHES 3 MILITARY SATELLITES INTO ORBIT - Three Russian military communication satellites were successfully guided into orbit early Thursday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported. The satellites were launched via a Rokot carrier. At 1 am Moscow time on Thursday (22 GMT Wednesday), Russia’s Aerospace Forces successfully launched a Rokot space launcher with a Briz-KM booster stage from the Plesetsk Space Center, which is located in Arkhangelsk Region in northwestern Russia. It carried three military satellites into space for Russia’s Defense Ministry. More (Source: RT - Sep 24)
IS THE NEXT SPACE STATION GOING TO BE COMMERCIAL? - All good things must come to an end, and that's true even of the International Space Station. The orbital laboratory, which has been remarkable on many levels (including getting the US and Russia to get along, sort of), is set to be decommissioned in 2024. Russia already has plans for its own space station, but the American space program hasn't put forward anything new. At a meeting sponsored by the Secure World Foundation and the Alliance for Space Development, though, one solution was proposed: a privately owned or commercial space station, utilizing corporate (rather than national) stakeholders. Charles Miller, president of NexGen Space LLC, says that space industries will need a place for refueling, orbital assembly, and research in microgravity, and that needs to happen with or without a nationalized space station, according to Marsha Smith at Space Policy Online. Many CubeSat missions additionally utilize the ISS currently (rather than expensive, single serve rocket launches) and would need an in-space launch platform. More (Source: Popular Mechanics - Sep 24)
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