GOES-S SATELLITE EXIS INSTRUMENT PASSES FINAL REVIEW - The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) Flight Model 2 instrument that will fly on NOAA's GOES-S satellite is now complete. The instrument successfully concluded its Pre-Shipment Review on October 21, 2014, at instrument developer Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. The instrument will be placed into storage until GOES-S spacecraft integration begins. Earlier this year, the EXIS Flight Model 1 instrument for the GOES-R satellite was installed on the GOES-R spacecraft. The GOES-R satellite is scheduled for launch in early 2016. The EXIS Flight Model 3 instrument for the GOES-T spacecraft is currently undergoing post-environmental testing calibration. More (Source: Phys.Org - Nov 14)
STATION AVOIDS SATELLITE DEBRIS AFTER ATV-5 FIRES ENGINES - The International Space Station’s “Georges Lemaitre” Automated Transfer Vehicle fired its engines for 3 minutes, 25 seconds at 6:35 a.m. Central time today in a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) to move well away from a small piece of debris from a spent Chinese satellite (Yaogan 12) launched in November 2011. The maneuver, which was coordinated with Russian and European flight controllers, raised the station’s altitude by 9/10 of a mile at apogee and 2/10 of a mile at perigee and left the station in an orbit of 262.3 x 252.0 statute miles. More (Source: NASA - Nov 13)
SPACE STATION DODGES CHINESE SPACE JUNK - The International Space Station is out of harm's way after flying higher to avoid space junk. Flight controllers raised the space station's orbit by a mile Wednesday. That's because a small piece of debris from an old Chinese satellite was going to come dangerously close. Without the maneuver, the two objects would have come within seven-tenths of a mile later in the morning, too close for NASA's comfort. The three space station astronauts were informed of the situation. NASA says they were never in danger. More (Source: ABC News - Nov 13)
U.S. NAVY’S 3RD MUOS SATELLITE ARRIVES AT CAPE CANAVERAL - Lockheed Martin has delivered its third satellite in the U.S. Navy’s next-generation mobile communications program to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, for a January launch, the company said in a Nov. 7 press release. The multibillion-dollar Mobile User Objective System ultimately will consist of four geostationary-orbiting satellites plus one on-orbit spare, and four ground stations. Built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, California, the MUOS constellation is designed to provide smartphone-like communications to mobile forces at rates 10 times faster than the legacy system. More (Source: Space News - Nov 11)
EUROPEAN SATELLITE TO BEGIN CORRECTIVE MANEUVERS - The European Space Agency says one of two navigation satellites that accidentally launched into the wrong orbit will begin corrective maneuvers this month. The agency said Monday that the two-week operation won't be able to correct the orbit fully, but could get the satellite into a position where it flies over the same location every 20 days. The standard orbit puts the other Galileo navigation satellites over the same location every 10 days. The two satellites launched this summer ended up in an elongated orbit rather than a circular one. More (Source: ABC News - Nov 11)
ELON MUSK PLANNING SATELLITE 'CONSTELLATION' TO DELIVER INTERNET ACCESS - Elon Musk, the billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, is considering plans to launch a "constellation" of satellites that are capable of delivering Internet access around the world, according to a report. Musk has teamed up with Greg Wyler, a satellite-industry veteran and former Google executive, to work on the project, which would launch 700 satellites, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. The project would cost $1 billion or more to develop, according to the report. The idea is in its early stages and Musk isn't guaranteed to be a part of it, the report said. More (Source: Mashable - Nov 11)
SOYUZ LANDS IN KAZAKHSTAN WITH STATION CREW - A veteran cosmonaut, a German volcanologist and a Navy test pilot-turned-astronaut whose mastery of social media earned him — and NASA — a global following, undocked from the International Space Station and returned to Earth Sunday, descending through low clouds to a jarring parachute-and-rocket-assisted touchdown on the frigid steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 165-day stay in orbit. Despite freezing weather that hampered recovery crews earlier in the day, the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft, carrying commander Maxim Suraev, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA flight engineer Reid Wiseman, landed on target near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 10:58 p.m. EST (GMT-5; 9:38 a.m. Monday local time), three-and-a-half hours after the trio undocked from the orbiting lab complex. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 10)
PREPARATIONS FOR LAUNCH OF EUROPEAN SATELLITE ASTRA 2G PROCEED ACCORDING TO SCHEDULE - Preparations for the launch of the European satellite Astra 2G scheduled for November 28 are continuing at the Baikonur space center, Alexander Shmygov, a spokesman for the Khrunichev research and production space center, told Interfax-AVN. "All work is going according to schedule," Shmygov said in commenting on online reports alleging that the satellite's launch could be postponed to a later date. More (Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines - Nov 9)
U.S. NAVY COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE SHIPPED TO LAUNCH SITE - A massive U.S. Navy satellite to launch from Cape Canaveral in January arrived in Florida on Thursday, kicking off a campaign to ready the mobile communications craft for flight. The Mobile User Objective System No. 3 satellite (MUOS 3) is slated for launch Jan. 20 at 7:42 p.m. EST by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. “The delivery of MUOS 3 is an important step toward enabling our warfighters to be able to pick up the phone to seamlessly call or transfer data anywhere around the world,” said Iris Bombelyn, vice president of Narrowband Communications at Lockheed Martin. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 8)
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