SEND YOUR OWN SATELLITE INTO SPACE - Zac Manchester is taking this whole private space exploration idea into his own hands. A Cornell graduate student in aerospace engineering, Manchester hopes to raise enough money to launch 100 chip-size satellites into space. He and some collaborators have created a DIY satellite called Sprite, which Manchester calls the "world's smallest spacecraft." The devices measure the size of a couple of postage stamps, and pack solar cells, a radio transceiver, and a microcontroller onto a single silicon microchip.    More
(Source: CNET - Oct 12)

PSLV ROCKET LAUNCH COUNTDOWN MAKES SMOOTH PROGRESS - The countdown to Wednesday's launch of the Indian PSLV rocket ferrying four satellites is progressing smoothly, with the fourth stage fully fuelled up, said an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "The countdown is progressing with butter smoothness. There are no surprises or hitches till now. The fourth stage has been fuelled up. Fuelling of the second stage will begin at 4 p.m. today (Tuesday) and will be completed by midnight," said the official who did not want to be named.   More
(Source: Zee News - Oct 12)

SECRETIVE US X-37B SPACE PLANE COULD EVOLVE TO CARRY ASTRONAUTS - The maker of the X-37B robotic space plane has outlined new plans for the spacecraft and a scaled-up version to support space station cargo deliveries or even carry astronauts into orbit. The Boeing X-37B robotic space plane — also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle or OTV — is being operated by the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, toting top-secret payloads into Earth orbit. An X-37B OTV and derivatives plan was outlined here by Arthur Grantz, chief engineer, Experimental Systems Group at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in Seal Beach, Calif. He spoke at Space 2011, a conference organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).    More
(Source: Fox News - Oct 11)

EUROPEAN BROADCASTING SATELLITE LAUNCHED BY CHINA - A French communications satellite destined to serve markets in a swath from Europe to the Indian Ocean launched on top of a Chinese Long March rocket Friday. The spacecraft will be operated by Eutelsat, a leading international communications satellite owner based in Paris. Named W3C, the platform carries Ku-band and Ka-band transponders for television broadcasting and data services, according to Eutelsat.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 10)

CANADIAN SATELLITE MALFUNCTION LEAVES THOUSANDS WITHOUT COMMUNICATIONS - A satellite malfunction left thousands of people across parts of rural northern Canada without communications services and grounded dozens of flights Thursday (Oct. 6), according to Canadian press reports. Officials with the Ottawa-based satellite operator Telesat Canada said the malfunction began at 6:36 a.m. EDT (1036 GMT), when its Anik F2 communications satellite suffered a "technical anomaly." The glitch affected satellite-served communities in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut territory, according to Canadian communications provider Northwestel.    More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 8)

METEOR SHOWER THIS WEEKEND: SPACE STATION AT RISK? - Draconids could be a meteor storm, threatening satellites, expert says. The usually humdrum Draconid meteor shower is set to go into overdrive this weekend: Astronomers predict that Saturday's sky show may be a not just a shower but a storm. If the forecasts are correct, the Draconids could see peak rates of up to 600 meteors an hour—an outburst that would far outpace even the crowd-pleasing August Perseids. (See Perseid pictures: "Meteor Shower Dazzles Every August.") The possibility of a meteor storm has NASA and other spacecraft operators keeping keen eyes on how the Draconids might affect the International Space Station (ISS) and other satellites currently in Earth's orbit.    More
(Source: National Geographic - Oct 7)

HOW TO SEE CHINA'S NEW SPACE LAB IN NIGHT SKY - Over the last 13 years skywatchers have had the opportunity to watch the world's largest man-made object in space, the International Space Station, take shape. As the space station gradually grew in size, observers here on Earth could see it become steadily brighter as it sailed across the twilight sky. Occasionally, it would be accompanied by a second object, usually the space shuttle, ferrying astronauts and cosmonauts to the station or back to Earth. With the construction of the space station finally completed this summer, as well as the end of the 30-year-old space shuttle program, attention now turns to a new space facility currently orbiting the Earth.    More
(Source: MSNBC - Oct 6)

SOYUZ LAUNCH RESTORES RUSSIAN NAVIGATION SYSTEM - A fresh satellite for Russia's Glonass navigation network launched aboard a modernized Soyuz rocket Sunday on the first flight of the workhorse booster since a mishap doomed a mission in August. The Soyuz 2-1b rocket lifted off at 2015 GMT (4:15 p.m. EDT) Sunday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Launch occurred at 12:15 a.m. Moscow time. The rocket's three core stages finished their work in less than 10 minutes, then a Fregat upper stage fired three times to reach a circular orbit almost 12,000 miles above Earth.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 3)

RUSSIA LAUNCHES FIRST SOYUZ ROCKET SINCE AUGUST CRASH - A Russian Soyuz-2 rocket launched a GLONASS navigation satellite on Sunday, the defence ministry said, in the first launch since a freighter carried by the flagship vehicle crashed into Earth in August. Russia has "successfully completed the launch of a Soyuz-2 rocket with the GLONASS-M (satellite) at 0015 (2015 GMT)," Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. The satellite was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome 800 kilometres (500 miles) south of Moscow.    More
(Source: AFP - Oct 3)

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