FALLING GERMAN SATELLITE MAY CRASH INTO EARTH THIS WEEKEND - Pieces of a retired German satellite hurtling toward the atmosphere may crash to earth this weekend, the German Aerospace Center said Thursday. Scientists have now honed their initial estimate of when the satellite would hit from a span of four days to either Saturday or Sunday. As it nears, they will eventually be able to estimate impact within a window of about 10 hours. Parts of the satellite, which is the size of a minivan, will burn up during re-entry but up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could crash into the Earth with a speed of up to 280 mph (450 kph).    More
(Source: The Washington Post - Oct 21)

ORBCOMM ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF AIS-ENABLED SATELLITE - ORBCOMM Inc., a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, today announced the successful launch of VesselSat1, an Automatic Identification Service (AIS) enabled satellite built by LuxSpace Sarl (LuxSpace), an affiliate of OHB System AG. VesselSat1 launched from the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) launch pad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh near the Bay of the Bengal at 1:30 AM EDT. The satellite has been successfully separated from the PSLV launch vehicle in a proper equatorial orbit.    More
(Source: Space Ref - Oct 16)

NPP SATELLITE READY FOR LAUNCH OCT. 27 - The launch of the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 27. Liftoff from NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), Calif., is targeted during a nine-minute, 10 second launch window that opens at 2:48:01 a.m. PDT (5:48:01 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft's final circular polar orbit will be 512 miles (824 kilometers) at an inclination of 98 degrees.    More
(Source: Space Ref - Oct 15)

NASA CONFIRMS RUSSIAN SOYUZ FAILURE FINDINGS - An independent NASA panel reviewing data related to the Aug. 24 failure of the Russian Soyuz rocket transporting cargo to the International Space Station has confirmed that the Russian space agency correctly identified the cause of the problem and is taking appropriate steps to resolve it before the rocket’s next launch scheduled for Oct. 30, said William H. Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.    More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 15)

NASA TO LAUNCH NEW SATELLITE TO TRACK EARTH'S WEATHER, CLIMATE - A new NASA satellite that will be the first geared at observing key aspects of both Earth's climate and its weather is slated for launch on Oct. 27, the space agency announced today. The National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) is the first mission designed to collect critical data to improve weather forecasts in the short-term and increase our understanding of long-term climate change.    More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 14)

FALLING GERMAN SATELLITE GREATER THREAT THAN UARS - Less than a month after NASA's falling UARS satellite grabbed the headlines, the German space agency says one of its abandoned satellites will dive back to Earth later this month, but no one knows where it will land. The ROSAT X-ray astronomy observatory is smaller and less massive than NASA's Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite, or UARS, which fell back to Earth on Sept. 24. But officials predict it will spread three times more debris and pose a greater threat to people than UARS.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 14)

PSLV-C18 PUTS FOUR SATELLITES IN ORBIT - Along with Indo-French satellite Megha-Tropiques, PSLV-C18 rocket on Wednesday successfully placed in orbit three nano satellites —— VesselSat1-1 from Luxembourg, SRMSat from SRM University, Chennai, and Jugnu from IIT, Kanpur India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C18) demonstrated its reliability once again when it put successfully four satellites in orbit on Wednesday.    More
(Source: The Hindu - Oct 12)

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)

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