July 13, 2015

SMAP Soil Moisture Satellite Suffers Instrument Problem (Source: NASA)
A NASA Earth science spacecraft has a problem with one of its major instruments. NASA said late Friday that the radar instrument on the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) spacecraft suffered an anomaly July 7. The cause of the problem is under investigation, and the rest of the spacecraft is working normally. The radar instrument is one of two science instruments on SMAP, launched early this year to measure soil moisture levels. (7/13)

Antrix Corporation Site Hacked (Source: The Hindu)
The website of India's national space agency commercial arm Antrix Corporation was hacked on Sunday. Highly placed ISRO officials underplayed it and said it was anyway being modified and reconstructed at this juncture when the mischief happened. "There is no need for concern," they said, without wishing to be named. They did not also name the misdeed as hacking. One top-level official accepted it as "certainly an illegal manipulation of the home page and linking it to a US site." (7/12)

UK Sees Space Industry Growth (Source: The Telegraph)
Britain's space industry is "punching above its weight" in the global market. The industry has more than doubled its revenue in the last decade, according to a report scheduled for release Tuesday in conjunction with the UK Space Conference. Satellite services play a major role in that revenue increase, but the report also credits the leading role played by British companies in small satellites. (7/13)

PlanetiQ Considers Indian Launcher (Source: Business Standard)
U.S.-based PlanetiQ is considering launching satellites on an Indian rocket. An official with Antrix said that PlanetiQ is one of several companies it is talking with for launches of satellites in the coming year. Two of PlanetiQ's constellation of small satellites, which use GPS radio occultation to collect weather data, would launch on a PSLV in the third quarter of 2016. (7/13)

A Midsummer Classic (Source: Space Review)
On Tuesday, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will fly past Pluto, offering our first closeup glimpse at this distant world. Jeff Foust provides an update on the mission, including its close call with catastrophe because of a computer glitch earlier this month. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2788/1 to view the article. (7/13)

What About the Next Pluto Mission? (Source: Space Review)
As New Horizons zooms past Pluto this week, the natural question many ask is, what's next? Andrew LePage offers some concepts for future missions to Pluto and other destinations in the outer solar system. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2787/1 to view the article. (7/13)

One Last First Time (Source: Space Review)
The last time we got a fleeting, closeup look at a distant world prior to New Horizons was the Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune in 1989. Dwayne Day recalls his experience witnessing that flyby from a planetarium in upstate New York. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2786/1 to view the article. (7/13)

What's the Long-Term Future of the ISS? (Source: Space Review)
Much of the current attention on the International Space Station has been on problems getting cargo to the station. Jeff Foust reports that, at a recent conference, some were more concerned about what will happen to the station in the long run. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2785/1 to view the article. (7/13)