INFLATABLE HABITAT FOR SPACE STATION PLANNED BY NASA, BIGELOW - NASA, building the International Space Station over the last two decades, ran into ballooning costs. One solution it's now embraced is ballooning -- literally -- in orbit. NASA has signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow Aerospace, a firm based near Las Vegas, to build an inflatable habitat that could be added to the space station by 2015. The new compartment is called BEAM, short for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module. More (Source: ABC News - Jan 18)
LOCKHEED MOVES MUOS-2 SATELLITE CLOSER TO JULY LAUNCH - Lockheed Martin has completed the required system testing on the second satellite in the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), and has placed the satellite in temporary storage before its scheduled launch in July, the company said Jan. 16. In the spring, the company will remove the satellite from storage, perform final spacecraft component installations and conduct a final factory confidence test in Sunnyvale, Calif., before shipping MUOS-2 to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., for its launch aboard an Atlas V rocket. More (Source: Defense Systems - Jan 18)
NASA TO LAUNCH NEW LANDSAT EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE - NASA is preparing to launch the eighth observation satellite in the Landsat remote sensing program that has chronicled changes in the Earth’s land cover for four decades. Landsat 8, set for a Feb. 11 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, will be equipped with instruments capable of more sensitive data collection than its predecessors. “This will be the best Landsat satellite ever in terms of quality and quantity,” said NASA project scientist Jim Irons. More (Source: Los Angeles Times - Jan 13)
NEXT-GENERATION SATELLITE PREPARED FOR LAUNCH - The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-K) spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services. More (Source: NASA - Jan 12)
RUSSIA FACING NO ACCESS TO SPACE FOR FIRST TIME SINCE COLD WAR - Russia could find itself without access to space for the first time since space travel began if a property row with neighboring Kazakhstan goes unresolved. The Kremlin has formally demanded an explanation for comments by the head of the Kazakh space agency about the future of the Baikonur Cosmodrome – the main connection between earth and the International Space Station. More (Source: Telegraph.co.uk - Jan 11)
NASA DEAL MAY PUT INFLATABLE PRIVATE MODULE ON SPACE STATION - NASA and Bigelow Aerospace have reached an agreement that could pave the way for attaching a Bigelow-built inflatable space habitat to the International Space Station, a NASA spokesman said. The $17.8 million contract was signed in late December, NASA spokesman Trent Perrotto told SpaceNews Monday (Jan. 7). Perrotto declined to provide other terms of the agreement, except to say that it centers around the Bigelow Expanded Aerospace Module (BEAM). He said a formal announcement is in the works. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 10)
WILL CHINA LAUNCH AN ANTI-SATELLITE TEST SOON? - China may be gearing up to perform a controversial anti-satellite test this month, perhaps in the next week or two, some experts say. For several months, rumors have been circulating within the United States defense and intelligence communities that a Chinese anti-satellite test is imminent, says Gregory Kulacki of the Union of Concerned Scientists. It could even be conducted on Jan. 11, the date on which China performed ASAT operations in both 2007 and 2010. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 6)
ARIANESPACE TO LAUNCH VIETNAMESE SATELLITE - The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has signed a contract with Arianespace to launch its VNREDSat-1A satellite. The satellite is intended for Earth observations to assist with scientific research, and will be constructed by Astrium. In the second quarter of this year, the satellite will be launched by Arianespace’s Vega rocket. The satellite will be placed into sun-synchronous orbit about 670km above the Earth’s surface. A sun-synchronous orbit means that the satellite will cross the same latitudes at the same time. That means that the same spot on the Earth being observed will have consistent lighting as the satellite orbits the Earth, making it easier to see changes over time. More (Source: Forbes - Jan 6)
ANOTHER COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE LAUNCHED - A fourth British military communications satellite built by Europe's aerospace company Astrium has been launched into orbit. The satellite, the fourth launched since 2007 as part of the Skynet 5 program, was sent into orbit from a facility in French Guiana under a $6.5 billion Private Finance Initiative program. "The Skynet program provides vital support to the armed forces," said Col. Mike Griffiths, head of Networks for the Defense Equipment and Support organization of Britain's Defense Ministry. "The launch of this latest satellite will deliver additional global communications capacity to support our operations." More (Source: UPI - Jan 3)
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