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)

A NEW SPACE RACE EMERGES AS NASA PREPARES TO AWARD CONTRACT TO FERRY SUPPLIES TO SPACE STATION - Lugging groceries and supplies to the astronauts on the International Space Station may not be as cool as ferrying the astronauts themselves into orbit. But the NASA contract to fly cargo to the station in unmanned rocket ships has attracted bids from high-profile companies in what analysts say is another indication of commercial spaceflight’s recent renaissance. It appears that at least five space firms have submitted proposals for the work, including giants such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which didn't bother to bid on the work the last time. In a new sort of space race, the contract has touched off an intense competition between stalwart defense contractors and new space start-ups that have, in just a few years, shown they can compete.   More
(Source: Washington Post - Mar 10)

UNH INSTRUMENTS TO LIFT OFF ON SATELLITE MISSION - A satellite launch from NASA scheduled Thursday will contain instruments constructed or coordinated by University of New Hampshire researchers. More than half of the key instruments that populate four satellites were worked on for nearly a decade by scientists, engineers and students from UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space. Each of the four satellites, flying together as a tightly coordinated, pyramid-shaped fleet, will study electromagnetic fields and "space weather" patterns that can impact communication satellites, GPS navigation, and Earth-based power grids.   More
(Source: WMUR Manchester - Mar 9)

SPACE STATION LAUNCHES SET TO RESUME FROM VIRGINIA NEXT MARCH - Mark your calendar and cross your fingers — an upgraded Antares rocket is expected to launch again from Virginia's spaceport this time next year. If and when that happens, it will mark the final recovery of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) from the worst disaster in its short history. The state-owned spaceport is located at NASA Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore. But many things must still go right in order for that to happen, said Barron "Barry" Beneski at Orbital ATK, formerly known as Orbital Sciences Corp.   More
(Source: Daily Press - Mar 9)

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