THIS SCHOOL-BUS-SIZED SATELLITE WILL DELIVER INSANELY ACCURATE WEATHER REPORTS - Europe will receive nearly infallible weather data thanks to this trio of school bus-sized spacecraft, and the EU saves £4.5 billion in weather-related damage annually. This is what the atmosphere will look like in HD. The satellite MetOp-B, which launched yesterday, is part of a 3.2 billion Euro joint venture between the European Space Agency and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).    More
(Source: Gizmodo - Sep 21)

NASA AWARDS CONTRACT TO STUDY NANOTHOR TETHER DEPLOYED SATELLITES - According to NASA, a company called Tethers Unlimited has received a $100,000 grant to Tethers Unlimited develop a design for the deployment of nano-satellites using a tether. The concept is called NanoThor, bringing to mind the way the Norse god Thor deployed his hammer by swinging it. The concept works like this: A nano satellite would ride to a Geo Transfer Orbit as a secondary payload with a larger satellite, such as a comsat.    More
(Source: Examiner.com - Sep 20)

CHINA ADDS 2 SATELLITES TO GLOBAL POSITIONING NET - China has added two more satellites to a global navigation network that will eventually compete with America's Global Positioning System. State media say the 14th and 15th satellites in the Beidou system were launched aboard a single Long March 3B rocket early Wednesday. The system, whose name means compass in English, is due to have 35 satellites in total by its 2020 completion date.   More
(Source: Phys.Org - Sep 20)

HOW TO WATCH SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR'S FERRY FLIGHT ONLINE TODAY - The space shuttle Endeavour will begin a three-day trip across the United States today (Sept. 19), and you can catch some of that journey —the final piggyback flight ever for a NASA shuttle — live via the Internet. Endeavour's cross-country flight, which will transport the orbiter to Los Angeles where it will become a museum piece at the California Science Center, is the last shuttle ferry flight ever for NASA's space shuttle program.    More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 19)

PRIVATE CAPSULE SET TO LAUNCH SPACE STATION CARGO NEXT MONTH - A glitch with a Russian spacecraft has helped clear the way for a private capsule's first contracted cargo flight to the International Space Station early next month, NASA officials say. Russia's Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft was originally set to launch three astronauts toward the station on Oct. 15. But the Soyuz's liftoff will be delayed by about a week while technicians install a replacement part to fix a technical issue, Russian space officials announced Sunday (Sept. 16).    More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 19)

SNAG DEFERS INDIAN SATELLITE LAUNCH FROM KOUROU - A minor snag has delayed by five days to Sep 29 the launch of India’s heaviest communication satellite (GSAT-10) on board the European Ariane-5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, a top space official said Monday.   More
(Source: Firstpost - Sep 19)

METOP WEATHER SATELLITE LAUNCHED ON SOYUZ ROCKET - A Soyuz rocket lifted off from Kazakhstan on Monday and delivered Europe's newest weather satellite into polar orbit, reinforcing the meteorological toolkit of forecasters around the world. The commercialized Soyuz 2-1a booster launched at 1628 GMT (12:28 p.m. EDT), turned north from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and climbed into a dark sky on the way to orbit with the second of three MetOp weather observatories for Eumetsat, the European weather satellite agency.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 19)

U.S.-RUSSIAN SPACE CREW LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN - A Russian Soyuz capsule landed on the Kazakh steppe on Monday, delivering a trio of astronauts from a four-month stint on the International Space Station. The capsule, carrying U.S. astronaut Joseph Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, parachuted through a cloudless sky and touched down in a cloud of dust at 8:53 local time (0253 GMT).    More
(Source: Reuters - Sep 17)

JAPANESE RESUPPLY SHIP ENDS MISSION WITH FIERY RE-ENTRY - Japanese engineers remotely guided a space station cargo craft back into the atmosphere Friday, destroying the garbage-filled spaceship as planned after a nearly two-month mission. The HTV resupply freighter fell back into Earth's atmosphere at about 0527 GMT (1:27 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft was expected to break apart and burn up from the heat of re-entry, and any leftover debris fell into a predetermined zone in the southern Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Chile.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 16)

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