CHINESE SPACE LAB SET TO SOAR - China looks ready to launch a small space lab into orbit, space policy experts report, perhaps as soon as this month. The 8.5-ton Tiangong I space lab, the next step in China's manned space program, follows three successful launches of Chinese astronauts, or Taikonauts, into orbit in the last decade. More (Source: USA Today - Aug 15)
PAKISTAN’S COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE IN ORBIT - Pakistan’s communications satellite, Paksat-1R, was launched on Thursday by China’s Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province. A press release issued here said Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Athar Ali, Foreign Affairs Secretary Salman Bashir, Strategic Plans Division’s director-general Lt-Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai and Ambassador to China Masood Khan witnessed the launch. The satellite successfully separated from the carrier rocket and entered geostationary transfer orbit as scheduled, 26 minutes after the launch. More (Source: DAWN.com - Aug 13)
CHINA APPEARS SET TO LAUNCH SPACE LAB IN AUGUST - All Things Nuclear, the blog of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, reports that although Beijing has yet to make it official, there are “good signs” that China plans to launch its Tiangong 1 experimental space laboratory before the end of the month. The 8-ton Tiangong 1 is designed to be a test bed for the technologies China will need to move forward with its space station program. It will be launched from the Jiuquan spaceport in Gansu Province aboard a modified Long March 2F. More (Source: Space News - Aug 11)
PAKSAT-1R LAUNCH IN CHINA THIS WEEK - Paksat-1R, a Pakistani geostationary and an advanced communication satellite, is due to be launched in space from a Chinese satellite launching site in Xichang city in the second week of August, depending on weather conditions. Paksat-1R will replace Paksat-1, which is going to complete its useful life this year. More (Source: The Nation, Pakistan - Aug 10)
IRAN TO SEND NEW HOME-MADE SATELLITE TO HIGHER ALTITUDE - Iran announced that it plans to send a new home-made satellite to higher altitudes, at least, 36,000km away from the Earth. The student satellite said to be the best home-made one in the country is built by students of Iranian prestigious Sharif University of Technology. More (Source: Fars News Agency - Aug 9)
ARIANE 5 ROCKET LAUNCHED FROM FRENCH GUIANA, CARRIES 2 TELECOM SATELLITES INTO ORBIT - The European space consortium Arianespace has launched two television broadcasting satellites into orbit from its Guiana Space Center in South America. One satellite taken aloft Saturday by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket is owned by Luxembourg-based SES Astra. The other is owned by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems of the U.S. under contract for Japan’s B-SAT Corp. and SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. More (Source: Washington Post - Aug 7)
HAM RADIO'S NEWEST SATELLITE IS SENDING SIGNALS FROM ORBIT - After months of delay, ARISSat-1 is finally orbiting our planet, giving ham radio operators another signal to seek, and the chance to try out new communications technology. ARISSat-1 was launched from the International Space Station on August 3rd, during a lengthy spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL), based in Newington, CT, was involved in ARISSat's development, along with AMSAT - the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, which promotes amateur radio and space technology. "There is always an increased flurry of ham radio satellite activity whenever a new bird comes over the horizon," said Allen Pitts, ARRL spokesman. More (Source: Examiner.com - Aug 7)
ARISSAT-1 FINALLY DEPLOYED FROM ISS - After a delay of almost four hours, cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, RU3DIS, and Alexander Samokutyaev, successfully deployed Amateur Radio’s newest satellite: ARISSat-1/KEDR. The deployment -- originally scheduled to occur at 1457 UTC on Wednesday, August 3 -- was delayed due to antenna concerns. According to US Mission Control in Houston, ARISSat-1 was supposed to have two antennas -- one 70 cm antenna and one 2 meter antenna -- but Volkov and Samokutyaev expressed concern when they saw only one antenna. After discussions between the cosmonauts, the payload manager and the ground teams in Houston and Moscow, it was decided to delay the deployment. More (Source: ARRL - Aug 4)
RUSSIAN SPACEWALKERS TO MOVE CARGO BOOM, DEPLOY HAM RADIO SATELLITE - Two Russian cosmonauts will leave the confines of the International Space Station on Aug.3 to move a cargo boom from one airlock to another, install a prototype laser communications system and deploy an amateur radio micro-satellite. Expedition 28 Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev are scheduled to venture outside the Pirs airlock at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday to begin the six-hour excursion. Both spacewalkers will wear Russian Orlan-MK spacesuits. Coverage of the spacewalk will be broadcast live on NASA Television beginning at 10 a.m. EDT. More (Source: NASA - Aug 3)
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