SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCH SCRUBBED, RESCHEDULED FOR MONDAY - Tonight's SpaceX Falcon 9 launch has been scrubbed. The next launch attempt has been set for 6:07 p.m. Monday. Issues with a first-stage transmitter and a range radar caused crews to scrub the launch attempt.   More
(Source: News 13 Orlando - Feb 8)

SPACEX TO TRY ROCKET LANDING AGAIN WITH DSCOVR SATELLITE LAUNCH - When SpaceX launches a long-delayed satellite to study space weather on Sunday, the private spaceflight company also hopes to do the amazing: return a rocket to Earth and land it on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX will attempt to land the first stage of its 14-story Falcon 9 rocket after launching the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR for short) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. Liftoff is set for Sunday, Feb. 8, at 6:10 p.m. EST (2310 GMT) and will be webcast live by NASA TV. It will be SpaceX's second try in two months to land a rocket on an ocean drone ship as part of company founder Elon Musk's dream of making reusable rocket technology a reality. On Jan. 10, SpaceX attempted a Falcon 9 rocket landing but the booster ran out of hydraulic fluid for its four grid steering fins on the way down. The rocket stage slammed into SpaceX's drone ship and exploded.    More
(Source: Space.com - Feb 8)

SATELLITE SET TO STREAM DAILY IMAGES OF EARTH FROM SPACE - There's something majestic, even awe-inspiring about the sight of planet Earth as a blue disc, hanging in the vastness of space. The three astronauts aboard Apollo 8 were the first to get that view; if all goes well, later this year everyone will be able to get it on a daily basis over the Internet. The images will come courtesy of a spacecraft called Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). It's a mission with an unusual history. Al Gore first proposed the idea for DSCOVR back in 1998, when he was vice president. Gore was so smitten with the view of Earth from space that he put an enormous print of a picture taken by Apollo 17 on the wall of his West Wing office. "Wouldn't it be nice," Gore asked in 1998, "to have that image continuous, live, 24 hours a day?"   More
(Source: NPR - Feb 7)

NASA TV COVERAGE SET FOR U.S. CARGO SHIP’S DEPARTURE FROM SPACE STATION - After delivering more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station last month, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is set to leave the orbiting laboratory on Tuesday, Feb. 10. NASA Television will provide live coverage of Dragon's departure beginning at 1:45 p.m. EST. The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to detach from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module and release through commands sent by ground controllers in mission control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston operating the Canadarm 2 robotic arm. Mission control will maneuver Dragon into place for its release, which is scheduled for 2:09 p.m.   More
(Source: Space Ref - Feb 7)

NASA SET TO LAUNCH SATELLITE TO DETECT DISRUPTIVE SOLAR STORMS - A satellite that had sat in storage for years will be launched this month to replace an aging satellite used to monitor space weather for the United States. The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) will give officials a 15- to 60-minute lead time for approaching solar storms that could disrupt electric supplies, communications, GPS navigation, satellites and air travel. A severe solar event could cause up to $2 trillion in damages and other costs and take up to 10 years from which to recover, the National Research Council of the National Academies estimated in a 2008 report.   More
(Source: Accuweather.com - Feb 6)

NASA SATELLITE HEADS TO ORBIT -- AND YOU CAN WATCH - A strategically placed video camera aboard an upper-stage rocket motor captured NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, spacecraft as it scooted off toward an operational orbit 425 miles above the planet. The footage, courtesy of NASA’s spaceflight services company, United Launch Alliance, provides a birds-eye view of the orbital action, backdropped against the marble blue beauty of Earth. The satellite, which is designed to map the amount of moisture in topsoil worldwide, can be seen unfolding its solar panel wings before the video feed ends.   More
(Source: Discovery News - Feb 5)

GERMANY JOINS SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS PROGRAM - Germany is to receive space situational information and services from the U.S. Air Force under an agreement signed recently with the U.S. Strategic Command. The Air Force said the deal will enable and enhance each nation's awareness within the space and increase the safety of their spaceflight operations. "Space Situational Awareness requires cooperation, and arrangements such as this allow us to partner more effectively," said STRATCOM commander U.S. Navy Adm. Cecil D. Haney. "As more countries, companies and organizations field space capabilities and benefit from the use of space systems, it is in our collective interest to act responsibly, promote transparency and enhance the long-term sustainability, stability, safety and security of space."   More
(Source: Space Daily - Feb 5)

INMARSAT LAUNCHES SECOND GLOBAL XPRESS SATELLITE - The UK satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat has launched the second of its I5 series of spacecraft. The 7m-long, 6.1-tonne platform went into orbit on a Proton M rocket, despatched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The I5s - there will be four in total - make up Inmarsat's next-generation constellation called Global Xpress. And with an investment of £1bn ($1.5bn), they represent the single biggest commercial space project in Britain right now. The I5-F2 was released into its super-synchronous transfer orbit at 04:02 GMT on Monday, following a mammoth 15-and-a-half-hour journey aboard the Proton and its Breeze upper-stage. Currently, this orbit takes the satellite out to a distance of 65,000km from the Earth.   More
(Source: BBC News - Feb 3)

AMATEUR RADIO PAYLOADS SHARE RIDE INTO SPACE WITH SOIL MOISTURE MONITORING SATELLITE - Four NASA Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNA-X) CubeSats carrying Amateur Radio payloads launched successfully January 31 from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base. The primary payload for the Delta II launcher was the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. SMAP's onboard radar will share Amateur Radio spectrum at 1.26 GHz. Amateur Radio is secondary on the 23 centimeter band, which covers 1240 to 1300 MHz. “This is a good example of a compatible sharing partner,” ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, observed. “Any interference to amateur communication in the band will be brief as the satellite passes overhead.”   More
(Source: ARRL - Feb 3)

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