ORBITAL PICKS ATLAS 5 TO LAUNCH NEXT SPACE STATION CARGO RUN - Orbital Sciences Corp. announced Tuesday it selected United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket to launch a Cygnus space station resupply mission in late 2015 while the company redesigns its Antares booster with a new engine following a catastrophic failure seconds after liftoff in October. The Atlas 5 launcher will take off from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 launch pad to send Orbital's Cygnus supply ship on a trek to the International Space Station. The flight is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2015, Orbital Sciences said in a statement. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 11)
PROBA-3 DOUBLE-SATELLITE NEARER TO SPACE - A pair of satellites flying in close formation to cast an artificial eclipse is now being turned into space-ready reality by ESA's industrial partners. The latest member of ESA's Proba minisatellite family will begin its ambitious mission in about four years' time. Two satellites will be launched together then separate to fly in tandem, going on to experiment with high-precision formation-flying techniques. More (Source: Phys.org - Dec 10)
THE TINY SPACE SATELLITE THAT YOU CAN BUILD AND LAUNCH YOURSELF - Most of the thousand or so operational satellites in orbit are multi-million-dollar machines that provide major industries with scientific research, global positioning or military espionage. Twenty-five-year-old Tom Walkinshaw, however, hopes to prove that satellites are not the preserve of leviathan space agencies, and that, for a comparatively small sum ($20,000), the workaday enthusiast can build and launch a fully functioning satellite of their own. One year old next January, his company PocketQube Shop provides the basic materials for doing this, most importantly the PocketQube structure itself - a tiny, 5cm3 casing made from aerospace-grade aluminium – which houses each satellite’s components. More (Source: The Guardian - Dec 8)
CHINESE-BRAZILIAN EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE LAUNCHED - An Earth-watching satellite developed by China and Brazil lifted off on a Long March 4B rocket Saturday, replacing an environmental craft lost in a launch mishap last year. The CBERS 4 spacecraft — the fifth in a series of joint China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites — lifted off at 0326 GMT Sunday (10:26 p.m. EST Saturday) from the Taiyuan space center in northern China’s Shanxi province, where it was 11:26 a.m. local time. A Long March 4B rocket boosted the 2.3-ton satellite into orbit about 460 miles, or 740 kilometers, above Earth. The launcher’s third stage deployed the CBERS 4 spacecraft in orbit about 12 minutes after liftoff, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, known by the acronym INPE. More (Source: SpaceFLight Now - Dec 8)
ORION SPLASHES DOWN AFTER FIRST, 2-ORBIT TEST FLIGHT - NASA's Orion capsule has splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after its first, unmanned, two-orbit test flight. It came down on the surface of the ocean at 11:29 a.m. ET about 270 miles off the coast of Baja California, NASA said. NASA's new Orion spacecraft lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral and rocketed to orbit Friday morning -- the first test flight for a program that NASA hopes eventually will get astronauts to asteroids and Mars. The 4.5-hour, uncrewed, two-orbit flight is taking Orion farther from Earth than any craft designed for human flight has been since the Apollo 17 mission to the moon in 1972. More (Source: CNN - Dec 5)
DELTA 4-HEAVY BLASTS OFF WITH ORION CAPSULE - NASA’s inaugural Orion spaceship has set sail on a two-orbit, four-hour shakedown cruise around the Earth, leaving port atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket and its incandescent power at 7:05 a.m. EST today. The 46,000-pound craft rocketed into its preliminary orbit, setting the stage for a coast period and another engine firing by the Delta 4-Heavy later this morning to put Orion on a trajectory to travel 15 times higher than the International Space Station before re-entering over the Pacific Ocean and splashing down 600 miles southwest of San Diego at 11:23 a.m. EST (1623 GMT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 5)
BRAZIL TO LAUNCH NEW SATELLITE TO TRACK DEFORESTATION - Brazil will launch a satellite from China Sunday to keep an eye in the sky on deforestation in the Amazon, the National Space Agency (Inpe) said Thursday. An agency spokesman said the launch of the Cbers-4 satellite was scheduled for 0326 GMT December from Tayuan, China, about 750 kilometers (460 miles) southwest of Beijing. Brazil and China will share the $30 million cost of sending the two-ton satellite into a 778-kilometer high orbit, the spokesman added. More (Source: Phys.org - Dec 5)
ROMANIA BECOMES CO-OWNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Romania has joined European partners in two programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA) of strategic importance - The International Space Station (ISS) and the development of the Ariane 6 rocket - said on Wednesday Minister-delegate for Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technological Development Mihnea Costoiu, in a press release. The decision was taken by the Ministerial Council of the European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday held in Luxembourg, reads the source. More (Source: ACTmedia - Dec 5)
NASA SCRUBS ORION LAUNCH; WILL TRY AGAIN FRIDAY - NASA has scrubbed the launch of its new Orion spacecraft due to wind, rocket valves; they will try again Friday. NASA stood poised to usher in a new era of exploration Thursday with the premier launch of its new Orion spacecraft, but the countdown was repeatedly stalled by gusty wind and then a sticky rocket valve. After halting the countdown twice because of high wind, NASA pushed ahead, only to be thwarted by a valve in the first-stage booster that failed to close on command with just three minutes and nine seconds to go. More (Source: CTV News - Dec 4)
Previous Next
