INTERNATIONAL OCEAN RESEARCH OBSERVATORY FAILS IN ORBIT - An Argentine satellite hosting a NASA sensor designed to measure the saltiness of Earth’s oceans has ended its mission after four years in orbit, NASA said Wednesday. The Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D, or SAC-D, spacecraft ended its mission June 8 when part of its power and attitude control system failed, according to NASA. The spacecraft shut down a year shy of its five-year design life, but scientists say its primary instrument — the NASA-built Aquarius ocean salinity and soil moisture sensor — achieved all its objectives and exceeded its three-year mission goal.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 20)

NASA INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ON-ORBIT STATUS - The three-member Expedition 44 crew is conducting biomedical science today to study the effects of living in space on a crew member's body. The International Space Station will raise its orbit tomorrow to allow another trio of space residents to join the orbiting residents at the end of July. Commander Gennady Padalka and One-Year crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko took part in the Ocular Health study today. They looked at the interior of each other's eyes with a tonometer and checked their blood pressure. Scientists are exploring how microgravity affects an astronaut's vision and the eye's physiology.   More
(Source: Space Ref - Jun 19)

HOP ABOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN ULTRA HD - When astronaut Terry Virts headed to the International Space Station in December 2014 as commander of Expedition 43, he brought with him a camera capable of capturing content in 4K resolution. Back on Earth as of June 11, Virts and NASA are starting to share some of the footage captured during the mission, which included, among other things, astrophysics research and physical-science investigations.    More
(Source: CNET - Jun 18)

NOAA'S GOES-R SATELLITE SOLAR ARRAY SPREADS ITS WING - The solar panel array on NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) – R spacecraft has been successfully deployed in a test conducted at Lockheed Martin Corporation in Littleton, Colorado. The five sections of the solar array resemble a giant black wing. Engineers completed the deployment of the Solar Array Wing Assembly including the Solar Pointing Platform in a cleanroom facility where the GOES-R satellite is being assembled. The Sun Pointing Platform holds two of the GOES-R space weather instruments: the Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) and the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI).    More
(Source: Phys.Org - Jun 18)

NASA SATELLITE FALLS OUT OF SPACE, BURNS UP OVER TROPICS - A dead NASA satellite plunged out of space today and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere over the South Indian Ocean, ending a nearly two-decade mission studying the planet's rainfall. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, or TRMM, fell from orbit at 2:54 a.m. EDT (0654 GMT) as it was streaking over the tropical region of the South Indian Ocean, NASA officials wrote in an update. The satellite, a joint mission by NASA and Japan's space agency, launched in 1997 to map Earth's rainfall for weather and climate scientists. NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency shut the TRMM satellite down in April in anticipation of the spacecraft's fall from space.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 17)

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)

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