BRIGHTMAN STEPS DOWN FROM STATION FLIGHT - Soprano and would-be space tourist Sarah Brightman, who was in training for a flight to the International Space Station this fall aboard a Russian Soyuz ferry craft, will not be chasing her dream aloft after all, the singer’s website and Facebook page revealed Wednesday. “Ms. Brightman said that for personal family reasons her intentions have had to change and she is postponing her cosmonaut training and flight plans at this time,” the posting, titled “Postponement of Flight Plans,” said. No other details were given for her withdrawal from training. In the same statement, Eric Anderson, co-founder and chairman of Space Adventures, the company that brokered the flight, hinted that Brightman might make another attempt to fly in space at some point in the future, although no details were provided.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 14)

SPACE STATION CREW'S EARTH RETURN DELAYED BY RUSSIAN SPACESHIP CRASH - Three astronauts won't be returning to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday (May 13) after all. NASA and its international partners have delayed the landing of NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and the European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti until early June, after learning new details about the recent failure of Russia's robotic Progress 59 cargo spaceship. "The partner agencies agreed to adjust the schedule after hearing the Russian Federal Space Agency's (Roscosmos) preliminary findings on the recent loss of the Progress 59 cargo craft," NASA officials wrote in an update today (May 12).    More
(Source: Space.com - May 13)

AIR FORCE WEATHER SATELLITE REMAINS IN LAUNCH LIMBO - The U.S. military wants to launch the final DMSP weather spacecraft, but the fate of the bird that is designed to observe the world’s weather for the warfighter is now waiting approval from Congress. Inside a Lockheed Martin cleanroom in Sunnyvale, California, work goes on to implement the service-life extension modifications to the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F20 craft to lengthen its service life beyond 80 months in orbit, just in case the budgetary decision is made to launch it as early as 2018. For more than a year, there has been uncertainty if the last satellite would be pressed into service or simply left on the ground in favor of a new, modern constellation of weather observatories coming in the next decade.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 12)

THE TROUBLE WITH SPACE JUNK - ACCORDING to NASA, America’s space agency, the skies high above the Earth are cluttered up with around 23,000 pieces of man-made space junk measuring 10cm or more across, zipping along at great speed and posing a threat to working satellites. The European Space Agency (ESA) reckons that collision alerts arising from worn-out satellites, defunct rockets and other clutter (such as launch adapters, lens covers, copper wires and the odd glove) have doubled in the past decade. Every such collision spawns more junk—a phenomenon known as the Kessler syndrome, named after Donald Kessler, an American physicist who postulated it in the 1970s. Why is space junk such a growing concern? Low-Earth orbit, the region between 160 and 2,000km above the Earth, is crucial to space exploration. It is home to about half of the roughly 1,300 satellites which scan the Earth in great detail for both military and civilian purposes.    More
(Source: The Economist - May 12)

CHINA'S ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONS PROGRAMME REVEALED - China has the most rapidly growing space program in the world, and continues to develop lasers, satellite jammers and other weapons aimed at the space-based assets of adversaries, a new US report said on Friday. China has also built a "vast ground infrastructure" to build, launch and control satellites, said the U.S. Defense Department's annual report to Congress on military and security issues related to China. The report marked the latest push by US military officials to highlight increasing threats to U.S. satellite systems. Those concerns prompted the Obama administration to propose $5 billion in extra spending over the next five years to increase the security and resilience of U.S. military and spy satellites.   More
(Source: eNCA - May 11)

EXPLOSION OF US MILITARY SATELLITE MAY ENDANGER SPACECRAFT AFTER ALL - The February explosion of an American military satellite may cause some problems for orbiting spacecraft after all, a new study reports. The U.S. Air Force's 20-year-old Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13 (DMSP-F13) craft blew apart on Feb. 3 after experiencing a power-system faillure. Analyses by the European Space Agency and other organizations found that the cloud of space junk generated by the explosion shouldn't pose much of a threat to their missions, but the new research suggests that not all spacecraft are in the clear. Study leader Francesca Letizia, a graduate student at the University of Southampton in England, and her team spotted 100 new chunks of debris produced by DMSP-F13's violent end. This number suggests that the explosion also created more than 50,000 pieces smaller than 1 millimeter in diameter, the scientists said. "Even though many of these objects will be   More
(Source: Space.com - May 9)

ASTEROID MINING FIRM SET TO DEPLOY ITS FIRST SATELLITE - Based in Redmond, Washington, Planetary Resources made news a few years ago when it received backing from technology heavyweights like Larry Page to set up an asteroid mining operation. The company has been largely quiet since the initial excitement died down, but Planetary Resources is about to take a big step. At this moment, Planetary Resources’ first satellite is sitting aboard the International Space Station, waiting to be deployed.   More
(Source: ExtremeTech - May 8)

EXPLODING SATELLITE DEBRIS POSES "GRAVITY" STYLE SPACE THREAT - Spacecraft are at risk from dangerous debris which is currently hurtling around Earth at enormous speed following the explosion of a US satellite, scientists have warned. The crisis echoes the plot of Hollywood science fiction blockbuster Gravity, in which Sandra Bullock and George Clooney were left stranded when fast-moving space junk collides with the Hubble Telescope during a repair mission. Now scientists at the University of Southampton claim that other missions, spacecraft and satellites are at risk from 50,000 pieces of debris which are no bigger than the ball of a ball-point pen.    More
(Source: Telegraph.co.uk - May 8)

NASA GIVES MORE INFORMATION ON ITS EXPERIMENT ABOARD THE X-37B - In addition to carrying an Air Force electric propulsion thruster test, a materials research investigation sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will be flying aboard the X-37B miniature spaceplane later this month. Liftoff is targeted for May 20 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Pentagon officials recently disclosed that the two experiments are flying aboard this fourth Orbital Test Vehicle mission, and now NASA has provided a bit more detail on its investigation that will ride up and down on the reusable X-37B.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 8)

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