ARIANESPACE TO LAUNCH SATELLITES FOR EARTH IMAGING, DATA RELAY - Arianespace announced four launch orders this week to deploy spacecraft in orbit for a subsidiary of Google, the United Arab Emirates and Europe’s new laser data relay satellite network. The missions will launch from the Guiana Space Center on the northern coast of South America, where Arianespace operates the Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega rocket families. Revealed in conjunction with the Satellite 2015 conference in Washington, the contracts cover launches starting in 2016, when a lightweight solid-fueled Vega rocket will send four high-resolution Earth observation satellites into polar orbit for Skybox Imaging.   More
(Source: SpaceFlignt Now - Mar 22)

SPACEX SWAPS ORDER OF NEXT TWO FALCON 9 LAUNCHES - Confronted with pesky problems in the Falcon 9 rocket’s helium pressurization system, SpaceX has shuffled the order of the next two launches, choosing to go ahead with the liftoff of a Dragon supply ship on a cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station around April 10. The launch of a European-built communications satellite for the government of Turkmenistan, originally set for March 21, will now occur no sooner than late April, tentatively around April 24, officials said this week. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president chief operating officer, said in Washington this week the extra time will allow engineers to complete an assessment of an issue with helium storage bottles inside the Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket uses helium gas to pressurize its propellant tanks.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 22)

BIGELOW AEROSPACE'S INFLATABLE HABITAT READY FOR SPACE STATION TRIP - A new, inflatable addition to the International Space Station is ready for its close-up. NASA officials viewed Bigelow Aerospace's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) at the company's facility in Las Vegas on March 12. BEAM is scheduled to depart later this year for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and then blast toward the station atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster. BEAM's time attached to the orbiting lab should provide a key test for expandable space habitats, which represent a dramatic departure from traditional metallic designs.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 20)

RUSSIAN PROTON-M LAUNCHES WITH EKSPRESS-AM7 MISSION - A Russian Proton-M was in action on Wednesday, lofting the Ekspress-AM7 communications satellite on what is a multi-hour flight to a geostationary orbit via its Briz-M Upper Stage. The Russian workhorse launched from its traditional home at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 22:05 UTC on a nominal first leg of the flight. The Proton booster tasked with launching the satellite was 4.1 m (13.5 ft) in diameter along its second and third stages, with a first stage diameter of 7.4 m (24.3 ft).   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 19)

LOCKHEED MARTIN THROWS ITS HAT INTO ISS CARGO COMPETITION - Lockheed Martin has proposed a semi-reusable resupply platform to send up cargo to the International Space Station beginning in 2018, adding another competitor to a crowded list of companies bidding to win multibillion-dollar contracts from NASA. The robotic logistics carrier would loft heftier cargo than any other vehicle currently servicing the space station and use a long-lived satellite to pick up supply containers launched into orbit, then fly the equipment to the crew aboard the 250-mile-high research laboratory.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 18)

ESA SUCCESSFULLY CORRECTS SIXTH GALILEO SATELLITE'S ORBIT - The ESA has successfully corrected the orbit of its sixth Galileo satellite following its launch into an elongated orbit in August 2014. It took 14 maneuvers to reposition the probe, which is designed to form part of a new global navigation system on par with existing GPS and Glonass solutions. The fifth and six Galileo satellites were launched together in August 2014, and are designed to follow the same path on their course around Earth, orbiting on opposite sides of the planet. Due to a malfunction during assent, the two satellites were launched into a lower orbit than intended, with the sixth probe hitting altitudes of between 13,713 km (8,521 miles) and 25,900 km (16,094 miles), bring it into contact with the harmful Van Allen Belt.   More
(Source: Gizmag - Mar 17)

ISRO'S FOURTH NAVIGATION SATELLITE TO BE MATED WITH ROCKET THIS WEEK - The Indian space agency is hoping to mate the country's fourth regional navigation satellite around March 19, after replacing a faulty transmitter on Monday, said a senior official. "The new transmitter is expected to be fixed in the satellite and tested. Then the fully assembled satellite will be mated with the rocket," M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) told IANS over phone. The transmitter from Isro Satellite Centre, located in Bangalore and that is part of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), reached SDSC on Sunday. After mating the satellite with the rocket, a full system check would be carried out and then the rocket launch date would be fixed.   More
(Source: NDTV - Mar 17)

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)

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