SOUTH AFRICA TO LAUNCH MINI SATELLITE FOR SPACE WEATHER RESESARCH - A mini satellite weighing 1.2 kilograms will be launched from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in November to collect information about space weather, it was learned on Wednesday. Funded by the Department of Science and Technology, the satellite — ZACUBE-1– will be South Africa’s first nano- satellite running on the same amount of power used by a 5-watt light bulb, according to researchers at the CPUT. More (Source: Capital FM Kenya - Aug 25)
SCIENTISTS TO STUDY EARTH’S RADIATION BELT WITH HIGH-TECH SATELLITE INSTRUMENTS - NASA is launching twin satellites on August 24 from Cape Canaveral, Florida that will conduct the most intimate study to date of the Van Allen Radiation Belts that envelop Earth. The two-year Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission will study the extremes of space weather and should help scientists improve space weather forecasting. More (Source: RedOrbit - Aug 25)
SPACE STATION COSMONAUTS TOSS SATELLITE OVERBOARD IN SPACEWALK - Two Russian cosmonauts merged orbital construction with zero gravity sports in a spacewalk Monday (Aug. 20), when they moved a space station crane and — with a mighty throw — tossed a big steel ball into orbit. Veteran spacewalkers Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko spent nearly six hours working outside the International Space Station to upgrade the orbiting lab during Monday's spacewalk, which began at 11:37 a.m. EDT (1337 GMT). More (Source: Space.com - Aug 22)
LEAKY VALVE ON SPACE STATION DELAYS SPACEWALK - A suspected leaky valve on the International Space Station stalled the start of a spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts for nearly an hour today (Aug. 20), forcing them to wait in bulky spacesuits until it was deemed safe to venture outside. Veteran cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko were preparing to begin their space station spacewalk when the leak was detected during air pressure tests. Russian flight controllers at the station's Mission Control Center in Moscow asked the cosmonauts to stay put until the leaky valve could be isolated. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 22)
SEA LAUNCH DEPLOYS TV SATELLITE FOR LATIN AMERICA - A telecommunications satellite for broadcasting cable and direct-to-home TV programming across Latin America and the Caribbean was blasted into orbit today atop a 20-story-tall booster rocket launched from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. A commercial Sea Launch Zenit 3SL booster began its successful 30-minute ascent carrying the Intelsat 21 spacecraft from a converted oil-drilling rig positioned in equatorial waters of the Pacific about 1,400 miles south of Hawaii. Liftoff occurred at exactly 0654:59.145 GMT (2:54:59.145 a.m. EDT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 20)
ATV-3 VEHICLE FAILS TO ADJUST SPACE STATION ORBIT - The European Space Agency’s ATV-3 space freighter failed on Wednesday to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS), a space industry source said. Another attempt could be made on Friday. Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said earlier in the day the engines of the Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft, docked at Russia’s Zvezda module on the ISS, would be fired to raise the ISS orbit by 7.7 kilometers, to 414.42 km. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Aug 16)
EXTERNAL PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO STATION BY JAPANESE VESSEL - The International Space Station's robotics systems, under manual and remote control by astronauts and ground controllers, have transferred a cache of experiments from a Japanese resupply craft to external platforms aboard the orbiting outpost. The Japanese and U.S. experiments were launched July 21 aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's H-2 Transfer Vehicle, an automated cargo freighter designed to ferry pressurized and exposed supplies, spare parts and experiments to the space station. More (Source: Spaceflight Now - Aug 16)
NASA TO BROADCAST LIVE SPACEWALKS FROM THE SPACE STATION - NASA Television will broadcast live two spacewalks of astronauts and cosmonauts outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 20 and Aug. 30, 2012. The Aug. 20 spacewalk will begin at 10:40 a.m. EDT. Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonauts, Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko will take the first spacewalk. They will be outside for about 6.5 hours to relocate a cargo boom from Pirs to the Zarya module and to finish the installation of micrometeoroid debris shields on the Zvezda service module. They will also deploy a small science satellite. More (Source: Examiner.com - Aug 16)
ISRO CLOSE TO SIGNING DEALS TO LAUNCH 3 FOREIGN SATELLITES - Bangalore: Indian Space Research Organisation is close to signing contracts for launching three foreign satellites on board its home-built Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota spaceport. ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said Antrix Corporation, the space agency's marketing arm, is in advanced dialogue for three launch services contracts. More (Source: Zee News - Aug 14)
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