SPACE STATION LEAKING VITAL COOLANT, NASA SAYS - Astronauts on the International Space Station have discovered a leak of ammonia coolant on their orbiting habitat, and NASA is looking into the problem, though it poses no immediate danger to the crew, officials said today (May 9). The space station uses chilled liquid ammonia to cool down the power systems on its eight giant solar array panels. A minor leak of this ammonia was first noticed in 2007, and NASA has been studying the issue ever since.    More
(Source: Space.com - May 10)

PENTAGON PREPS NEW ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONS PROGRAM - The Pentagon has launched what a top defense official described as a “long overdue” effort to develop anti-satellite weapons and protect US national security satellites, as rivals such as China roll out their own advanced space capabilities. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced plans to ratchet up US space capabilities in light of the changing realities of the militarization of space.    More
(Source: RT - May 10)

SPACE STATION’S ORBIT TO BE RAISED BY 2.6 KM - Russia's Progress M-19M resupply spacecraft will readjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. “The space freighter’s engines will be started at 10:51 a.m. Moscow Time [6:34 GMT]. They will work for 858.7 seconds [over 14 minutes]. As a result of the maneuver, the ISS’s orbit will be raised by about 2.6 kilometers [1.6 miles],” the spokesman said adding that the station’s orbit will total 413.8 kilometers (257 miles).    More
(Source: RIA Novosti - May 9)

ESTONIA'S FIRST EVER SATELLITE BEGINS CIRCLING EARTH - Estonia's first satellite, ESTCube-1, was sent into orbit on Tuesday, making the small Baltic nation the 41st one in the world owning manmade object in space. Launched from the Guiana Space Center, the one-kilogram nanosatellite reached orbit at around 07:06 Estonian time (0606 GMT). It was accompanied by two other satellites, Europe's Proba V and Vietnam's VNREDSat 1A. Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) reported one of the project's leaders, senior researcher Mart Noorma, as saying, "I am very proud to be seeing all these students here who are watching their handiwork of five years."    More
(Source: Xinhua - May 8)

VIETNAM SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES FIRST REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - After three days of delay due to the bad weather, Vietnam's first remote sensing satellite, VNRED Sat-1, was successfully launched Tuesday morning by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana, local media reported. According to Tuoi Tre online, the earth observation satellite was launched by a Vega lightweight rocket at 9:06 a.m., Hanoi time. It is said that 1 hour 57 minutes and 24 seconds after taking off, the satellite would activate its propulsion engine to make its way to sun synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of nearly 670 km.    More
(Source: Xinhua - May 8)

GPS SATELLITE FITTED TO ATLAS 5 ROCKET FOR UPCOMING LAUNCH - An Atlas rocket and a Global Positioning System satellite were joined together for the first time in 28 years Monday, as the pairing of booster and payload were united for their May 15 launch from Cape Canaveral. Already shrouded in the launcher's 39-foot-tall, 14-foot-diameter aluminum nose cone, the spacecraft was hauled to the Atlas assembly building and hoisted atop the Centaur upper stage by United Launch Alliance workers. The fully assembled rocket, standing 189 feet tall for launch, will be wheeled out to the Complex 41 pad aboard a mobile platform on May 14.    More
(Source: Spaceflight Now - May 8)

BAD WEATHER POSTPONES EUROPE'S VEGA ROCKET LAUNCH - The latest outing for Europe's new small satellite launcher, Vega, has been postponed until an unspecified date because of bad weather conditions. The lift-off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana was originally scheduled for 23:06 local time on Friday (02:06 GMT, Saturday). Controllers decided the high altitude wind conditions were unacceptable. The mission is part of series planned by the European Space Agency (Esa) to demonstrate the rocket's capabilities.    More
(Source: BBC News - May 5)

VIETNAM TO LAUNCH FIRST REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - Vietnam will launch the first remote sensing satellite, VNREDSat-1, into orbit on May 4 from the Kourou launch pad, Guyana, France, reported the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) on its website, quoting sources from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology as saying. Specifically, the VNREDSat-1 Project has a total investment of 55.8 million EUR (73.3 million U.S. dollars) in preferential Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) of the French government and 64,820 million VND (3.1 million U.S. dollars) in corresponding capital from Vietnam.    More
(Source: Xinhua - May 4)

TELEVISION BROADCASTING SATELLITE LAUNCHED BY CHINA - China launched a state-owned communications satellite into orbit Wednesday to beam television and data to commercial customers across Asia, Africa and Australia for the next 15 years. The Chinasat 11 satellite, owned by China Satellite Communications Corp., will link millions of customers in China and neighboring regions with direct-to-home television, digital broadband and streaming media services. The spacecraft is the heaviest and most powerful commercial communications ever built in China, according to its manufacturer, the China Academy of Space Technology.   More
(Source: Spaceflight Now - May 2)

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