RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN DNEPR LV TO LAUNCH SOUTH KOREAN SATELLITE ON MARCH 26 - KOSMOTRANS - A Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr launch vehicle, a derivative from the RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, will put the South Korean KOMPSAT-3A satellite into orbit on March 26, Kosmotrans reports. "The RS-20 rocket coupled with KOMPSAT-3A will blast off from the Yasny launch site in the Orenburg region at 03:08:46 local time on March 26," says a report posted on the company website. Originally, the launch was planned for March 12. Three commercial Dnepr missions were scheduled for 2015.   More
(Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines - Mar 16)

CAPE CANAVERAL PREPPING FOR THIRD LAUNCH IN THREE WEEKS - Cape Canaveral Air Force Station could host its third launch in as many weeks if SpaceX lifts off as planned next Saturday afternoon. A Falcon 9 rocket is targeting launch of Turkmenistan’s first satellite at 4:04 p.m., the opening of a one-hour window at Launch Complex 40. The contact with satellite builder Thales Alenia Space calls for launch a communications satellite to a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles over the equator. The satellite will enable Turkmenistan “to secure and enhance Turkmenistan communication means,” according to Thales. As with SpaceX’s first launch this month on March 1, the company will not attempt to land the Falcon 9 booster on a drone ship in the ocean because of the satellite’s weight and flight to a high orbit.   More
(Source: Florida Today - Mar 15)

BIGELOW AEROSPACE SHOWS OFF ITS VISION FOR EXPANDABLE SPACE STATIONS - The International Space Station's next module looks like a hot tub wrapped up in bulletproof fabric, sitting on the floor of a Las Vegas warehouse — but when the module goes into orbit later this year, NASA plans to unfold it into the outer-space equivalent of a rec room. "This could be a very nice module potentially for the crews to go hang out in. ... It may become a very popular place," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told journalists who gathered Thursday at Bigelow Aerospace's Las Vegas headquarters for the module's unveiling. But that's just the start. If the experimental module works out the way NASA and Bigelow Aerospace hope it does, we could be seeing even bigger and better expandable spacecraft, including monster space blimps that have twice as much volume as the International Space Station.    More
(Source: NBC News - Mar 14)

LOCKHEED'S 'JUPITER' SPACE TUG COULD FLY TO SPACE STATION, MOON AND BEYOND - Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new spaceflight architecture that it says could take cargo to the International Space Station and help facilitate humanity's spread out into the solar system. Lockheed hopes the system — which features a space tug known as Jupiter and a supply module called Exoliner — wins a NASA contract for the next round of cargo missions to the space station, which would commence in 2018. But the company's ambitions extend far beyond low-Earth orbit, to destinations such as the moon and Mars. Lockheed unveiled the project, along with a video animation of how Jupiter and Exoliner would work, on Thursday (March 12). "Although our priority is going to be servicing the International Space Station and providing the ability to carry commercial payloads and deploy small satellites, we're also designing this system from the beginning to be able to do deep-space missions," Lockheed Martin space exploration architect Josh Hopkins told reporters during a news briefing Thursday.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 14)

ULA ATLAS V MMS LAUNCHES FROM THE CAPE - United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket has launched NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission on Thursday. Launching from Cape Canaveral, the rocket will place the four-satellite constellation into a highly elliptical orbit, beginning a two-year mission to study reconnection in the magnetosphere. Launch occurred at the start of a thirty-minute window at 22:44 local time (02:44 UTC on Friday). The Magnetic Multiscale – or MMS – mission consists of four identical spacecraft which will be used to conduct plasma physics research in the environment of the Earth’s magnetosphere. The mission is intended to help scientists better understand a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection which has been observed in plasmas.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 13)

WATCH MMS SPACECRAFT LAUNCH TONIGHT - A stack of four identical spacecraft will study Earth’s magnetosphere – the comet-shaped magnetic shield that protects us from “space weather.” The Atlas V rocket is on the launchpad. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission – a stack of four identical satellites atop a 191-foot Atlas V rocket – is scheduled to lift off at 10:44 p.m. EDT tonight (March 12, 2015) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television launch coverage begins Thursday at 8 p.m. The quartet of identical satellites will examine Earth’s magnetosphere, which helps protect the planet from “space weather” – a mixture of radiation and high-energy particles that bombard Earth from the sun and other sources. It’ll be used to study the phenomenon of magnetic reconnection. More about that below.   More
(Source: EarthSky - Mar 13)

CHINA TO LAUNCH A NEW SPACE STATION IN 2016 - China says it will launch its second space station, the Tiangong-2, in 2016. It will go into orbit aboard a Long Rocket 5 and replace the nation's current space station, the Tiangong-1, which will eventually be de-orbited. The 47-foot Tiangong-2 will be able to house a crew of three. This new project represents the second of three planned space habitations by the Chinese space agency. While Tiangong-1 is largely regarded as a prototype space station for the fledging Chinese space program, 2 is a stepping stone to Tiangong-3, planned for 2022, which will become the basis for a larger overall station. The agency is currently recruiting astronauts for the second space habitation.   More
(Source: Popular Mechanics - Mar 11)

FOX-1A READY FOR LAUNCH, FOX-1D TO CARRY RADIATION-MAPPING EXPERIMENT - Following successful vibration and thermal/vacuum testing, AMSAT-NA's Fox-1A CubeSat now sits in a clean environment awaiting launch. AMSAT Vice-President-Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, said that NASA, the launch provider, now is reviewing several required reports. Fox-1A completed its Mission Readiness Review at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, on February 24 before a review board of Cal Poly and NASA representatives, he said, adding that Fox-1A delivery and integration has been set for March 25. “From there, we won’t see her again, but certainly look forward to hearing from her again,” he said.   More
(Source: ARRL - Mar 11)

WEEKS FROM ANOTHER LAUNCH, SPACEX KEEPING PACE WITH MANIFEST - The next launch in SpaceX’s busy manifest this year is scheduled for March 21, when a Falcon 9 rocket will take off from Cape Canaveral and deliver Turkmenistan’s first satellite into orbit. The liftoff from SpaceX’s Complex 40 launch pad on Florida’s Space Coast will mark the Falcon 9 rocket’s fourth flight of more than a dozen missions on the docket for 2015. The satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral on Feb. 26 aboard a cargo plane after a trans-Atlantic journey from its factory at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France.   More
(Source: SpaceFlignt Now - Mar 10)

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