EUTELSAT W3B SATELLITE SCHEDULED FOR OCT. 28 LAUNCH - Paris based Eutelsat (News - Alert) is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. The company boasts of a capacity of 26 commercialized satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas. Through a recent press release, Eutelsat announced that its W3B Satellite is ready for the Oct. 28 Ariane launch.   More
(Source: TMC Net - Oct 8)

EUROPEAN SATELLITE 'BLINDED' BY RADIO INTERFERENCE - The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Wednesday that it had launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to shut down illicit radio and TV transmissions interfering with a major climate satellite. The 315-million-euro (434-million-dollar) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe "has been bugged by patches of interference from radar, TV and radio transmissions in what should be a protected band," ESA complained.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Oct 7)

SPACE TRAFFIC JAM DELAYS FINAL SHUTTLE LAUNCH A DAY - A looming traffic jam in space has caused NASA to push back the planned launch date for the final voyage of the space shuttle Endeavour by one day. Endeavour is now slated to lift off toward the International Space Station Feb. 27, 2011 a day later than previously planned to allow another spaceship time to arrive at the orbiting laboratory. The fuel tank for Endeavour's last flight arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida last month.    More
(Source: msnbc.com - Oct 6)

TURKEY PLANS TO LAUNCH SPY SATELLITE BY 2012, PM SAYS - Turkey plans to launch its first intelligence satellite by 2012, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said on Tuesday. In his speech at a meeting of his ruling Justice & Development Party, or AKP, Erdo?an said that the satellite was named "Goktürk" and it was now under construction by Turkish engineers. Turkey operates two communication satellites, Turksat 2A and Turksat 3A. It plans to procure two new communication satellites. Most recently, in September, another Turkish satellite Turksat 1C had "retired" 14 years after it was launched into space.    More
(Source: Hurriyet Daily News - Oct 6)

ONE-DAY DELAY OF FINAL SHUTTLE LAUNCH MAKES ROOM FOR ATV - After commercial interests pushed its launch into next year, Europe's next orbital cargo freighter will attempt to reach the International Space Station in a narrow docking window in February, pushing back the final planned space shuttle flight by one day, officials said this week. NASA is delaying the final planned space shuttle launch by a day to give the Automated Transfer Vehicle a chance to dock with the space station Feb. 26. The robotic spaceship is due to blast off Feb. 15.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 3)

BRITISH SATELLITE FLEET TO BE LAUNCHED INTO SPACE - The three spacecraft, which are built in Surrey, will be sent into orbit in 2013 to map the surface of the Earth in a project worth £100m. Cameras on board will show the planet in images down to the last metre, meaning individual trees, manhole covers and individual footballs should be visible from space.    More
(Source: Telegraph.co.uk - Sep 29)

AIR FORCE LAUNCHES SURVEILLANCE SATELLITE FROM CA. - A U.S. space surveillance satellite was launched late Saturday from the central California coast, the Air Force said. A Minotaur 4 rocket carrying the Space Based Space Surveillance satellite blasted off at 9:41 p.m. Pacific time and headed toward orbit, officials from Vandenberg Air Force Base said in a news release. The satellite was designed to detect and monitor debris, satellites and other space objects that could be a threat to national security, communications and weather satellites. Monitoring from space avoids the limitations that ground observing systems experience due to weather, the atmosphere and time of day.    More
(Source: The Associated Press - Sep 26)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TRIO SAFELY RETURNS TO EARTH - Running one day late, a Russian Soyuz capsule carried two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut back to Earth early Saturday, the final chapter in an action-packed six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Dropping through a clear sky under a huge orange-and-white parachute, the charred Soyuz descent module landed upright and on target near the town of Arkalyk at 1:23 a.m. EDT (11:23 a.m. local time). "And the search and recovery forces now report the Soyuz TMA-18 has landed," said Rob Navias, mission control commentator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Sep 26)

RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT TO TRY AGAIN TONIGHT TO UNDOCK FROM SPACE STATION - Russian officials plan to try again tonight to undock the Soyuz spacecraft from the International Space Station after running into a problem late Thursday with the hooks and latches that bind the spacecraft to the outpost. The Russian Space Agency waved off Thursday's attempt to bring the Soyuz and its crew of U.S. astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko home.    More
(Source: USA Today - Sep 24)

Previous Next