TOHOKU UNIVERSITY - RISING-2 IN CAPTURE MODE - Rising-2 is a microsatellite developed by Tohoku University and Hokkaido University and was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, on May 24, 2014, and has been conducting various test operations. Dayside cloud imagery and night views of city lights and air glow have been acquired so far using a Wide Field-of-view CCD camera (WFC), and high resolution imaging experiments using HPT have recently started. On July 2, Rising-2 succeeded in shooting detailed landscape in sunny spells during the rainy season as shown in these images. The high resolution can have a significant impact on environmental monitoring, mapping   More
(Source: SatNews Publishers - Jul 18)

COMMERCIAL U.S. CARGO SHIP REACHES SPACE STATION - An Orbital Sciences Corp cargo ship reached the International Space Station on Wednesday with a delivery of food, supplies, science experiments and a fleet of tiny Earth-imaging satellites that will be launched from the orbital outpost. Working from a control panel inside the station's Cupola module, commander Steven Swanson delicately steered the station's 58-foot long (18 m) robotic arm to pluck the Cygnus capsule from orbit at 6:36 a.m. EDT (1036 GMT) as the ships sailed 260 miles (418 km) above northern Libya. "I think everyone is breathing again," NASA robotics officer Melanie Miller radioed to the crew from Mission Control in Houston.   More
(Source: Reuters - Jul 16)

SPACEX LAUNCH DELIVERS ORBCOMM SATELLITES TO ORBIT - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with six compact communications spacecraft Monday, marking a fiery first act in realizing a $230 million investment to modernize an orbital fleet owned by Orbcomm Inc., a New Jersey-based company that connects businesses with remote equipment via satellite. The 224-foot-tall booster soared away from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad at 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) Monday. The all-white launcher turned northeast from Florida's Space Coast, arcing over the Atlantic Ocean atop 1.3 million pounds of thrust and dispatching a rumble heard for miles around.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 16)

ANTARES LOFTS ORB-2 CYGNUS ON A PATH TO THE ISS - Orbital Sciences launched an Antares rocket with their third Cygnus spacecraft Sunday afternoon, beginning a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. The rocket launched at the end of a very smooth countdown at 12:52 local time (16:52 UTC) from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Cygnus was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, under which it made its first flight last September. Following this successful demonstration mission Orbital began fulfilling the launches they were awarded under a Commercial Resupply Services contract signed in 2008.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 13)

GALILEO PREPARES FOR LIFT-OFF - This summer will see significant progress in the world’s first civilian-owned and -operated satellite navigation system as Europe prepares to dispatch the first two full-capability Galileo satellites for lift-off. Payload preparation for Arianespace’s Soyuz Flight VS09 started in earnest in early May with the arrival in French Guiana of the first two Galileo full operational capability (FOC) satellites. After several months of testing in the Netherlands, the twin satellites were placed inside specially designed containers, maintaining temperature, humidity and air cleanliness within rigid limits in readiness for integration with the Soyuz launch vehicle in the middle of this month.   More
(Source: Aviation International News - Jul 13)

UK CUBESAIL HAM RADIO SATELLITE - CubeSail is an exciting, ground-breaking educational satellite project at the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) that hopes to launch into a 680 km Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) from India in December 2014 A key feature is the deployment of a 25 square metre sail structure, which will be used to demonstrate the propulsive effect of solar radiation pressure (i.e. solar sailing) and will demonstrate the de-orbiting capabilities of the sail as a drag augmentation device. CubeSail will be the first launched three-axis stabilised solar sail.    More
(Source: Southgate Amateur Radio Club - Jul 13)

SPACEX TARGETS FALCON 9 LAUNCH ON MONDAY - After a string of technical and weather-related delays, SpaceX engineers in Cape Canaveral are targeting liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket Monday with six machine-to-machine Orbcomm communications satellites designed to refresh the company's data relay network in low Earth orbit. The satellites will help Orbcomm clients track ships, trucks, cargo containers, remote oil and gas infrastructure, weather buoys, research stations and other assets. Liftoff is set for 9:21 a.m. EDT (1321 GMT) from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad. The launch window extends to 11:54 a.m. EDT (1554 GMT).    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 13)

WHERE TO VIEW THIS WEEKEND'S EAST COAST ROCKET LAUNCH - NASA's Cygnus cargo spacecraft has the crucial duty of delivering thousands of pounds of supplies to the International Space Station. But first it has to get into the air, and to that end the space agency has stuck it inside a rocket that will blast off spectacularly on Sunday afternoon*. At a scheduled launch time of 12:52 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 13*, a hulking Antares rocket (this thing) will rise like Odin's fiery spear from the Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's eastern shore. If the weather is clear, the launch should be visible over a big chunk of the East Coast, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Norfolk, and perhaps even New York.    More
(Source: Nextgov - Jul 13)

FOUR SATELLITES LAUNCHED TO BEAM INTERNET DOWN TO EARTH BY STEPHEN CLARK - Four broadband communications satellites for O3b Networks, a company based in Britain's Channel Islands with a mission to link developing countries via high-speed Internet, blasted off from French Guiana on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket Thursday. The satellites will fly in a unique orbit 5,000 miles over the equator, reaching customers in a band between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south latitude, home to most of the world's population.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 12)

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