December 19, 2018

Russia to Decommission Rocket With Ukraine-Made Components (Source: Sputnik)
The last launches of the Rokot carrier rocket fitted with a Ukrainian-made control system will be carried out in 2019, then the vehicle will be decommissioned, a source in the space industry told Sputnik. "In 2019, it is planned to carry out two launches of Rokot [launch vehicle] with Briz-KM upper stages from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, after which the rocket will be decommissioned," the source said. (12/19)

Vostochny Cosmodrome to Have Only One Space Launch in 2019 (Source: Sputnik)
There is only one launch planned to be conducted from Russia's Vostochny cosmodrome next year, a source in the space industry told Sputnik Tuesday. "Most likely, it will be the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b booster... planned for spring or summer 2019," the source said. The first launch from the cosmodrome, on which construction commenced in 2012, was held on April 28, 2016. (12/19)

‘It’s a Briefcase! It’s a Pizza Box! No, It’s a Mini Satellite’ (Source: New York Times)
Have you ever wanted to build something that could be launched into outer space? Well, now you can. On Nov. 10, a CubeSat satellite designed by students from six high schools in Irvine, Calif., was launched into orbit. The satellites are operated by Planet Labs, a company in San Francisco that runs the world’s largest fleet of Earth-observing satellites. Its craft number around 140. All of them carry cameras and telescopes. In size, most rival a loaf of bread.

As a group, the satellites can view the same spot on the ground once or even twice a day. Until now, commercial satellites could observe a location only weekly or monthly, if at all. The quicker pace enables the close monitoring of rapid environmental change, including fires, floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hurricanes and the effects of such events on urban areas. (12/11)

Mega Launch Day Turns to Day of Scrubs (Source: Space News)
A day of planned launches Tuesday turned into a day of launch scrubs. SpaceX scrubbed its launch of a GPS 3 satellite in the final minutes of the countdown because of a sensor issue. While the launch was rescheduled for today, Air Force officials were not confident it would be ready, and SpaceX announced this morning it was postponing the launch to continue investigations of "out of family readings" on first stage sensors.

Blue Origin postponed its New Shepard suborbital launch from West Texas because of ground equipment issues, and has delayed it to no earlier than Friday. High upper-level winds delayed a Soyuz launch from French Guiana, with the launch now scheduled for 11:37 a.m. Eastern today. Strong ground-level winds delayed a Delta 4 Heavy launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, with that launch rescheduled for 8:44 p.m. Eastern tonight under more favorable weather. (12/19)

India Launches Military Satellite on GSLV (Source: The Hindu)
India successfully launched a military communications satellite early Wednesday. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark 2 rocket lifted off on schedule at 5:40 a.m. Eastern and deployed the GSAT-7A satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit 19 minutes later. The 2,250-kilogram satellite will provide Ku-band communications services for the Indian Air Force. (12/19)

SpaceX Raising Money for Satellite Internet (Source: Wall Street Journal)
SpaceX is raising another $500 million from both new and existing investors. The new funding round would value the company at $30.5 billion, a new high, according to those working on the round. Baillie Gifford & Co., a Scottish money management company, is believed to be a new investor in SpaceX in this round, joining existing shareholders. The funding round could be closed by the end of the year. The fundraising is a bid to help get its internet-service business off the ground, according to people familiar with the fundraising. (12/19)

Sierra Nevada Gets NASA Go-Ahead to Produce Dream Chaser (Source: Space News)
NASA has given approval to Sierra Nevada Corporation to begin full production of its Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft. The company announced Tuesday it had cleared a milestone in its Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract with NASA where the agency approved plans to go into full-scale assembly and testing of the first Dream Chaser vehicle. That spacecraft, capable of carrying 5,500 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station and returning 1,850 kilograms to Earth, is scheduled to make its first flight as soon as late 2020. (12/19)

Delayed NASA Missions Likely to Launch Soon (Source: Space News)
NASA hopes to launch two long-delayed space science missions in the first few months of next year. At an advisory committee meeting Tuesday, the director of NASA's heliophysics division said the Space Environment Testbed, a payload on an Air Force experimental satellite, is now expected to launch no earlier than April on a Falcon Heavy rocket. That launch will be the second of two back-to-back Falcon Heavy launches planned for early 2018 using the same set of first-stage booster cores. NASA's ICON mission, whose launch has been delayed by problems with its Pegasus XL rocket, is now scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2019, depending on the status of troubleshooting of the rocket. (12/19)

Wonder Why Your Flight is Delayed? It Could Be Due to a Launch (Source: LA Times)
The launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket in February was a triumph of engineering and another celebrated coup for Elon Musk's space company. The airline industry says it was also a headache. To accommodate the launch, and the possibility that the rocket could explode, the FAA had to shut down a large swath of airspace for more than three hours, stretching from the Florida coast about 1,300 miles east over the Atlantic. That meant flights up and down the busy Eastern Seaboard had to go around the safety zone, causing delays and forcing planes to burn additional fuel.

As a growing number of commercial rocket companies ultimately plan to fly on a weekly basis, and from more places, airlines are concerned that they will significantly affect the already congested airspace, which handles more than 15 million airline flights annually.

Rockets have been blasting off into space since the dawn of the Space Age more than 60 years ago. But the launches have been relatively rare events — over its 30-year life span, the space shuttle took off just 135 times, an average of fewer than five times a year. So the effects have been limited — "small in comparison to other constraints in the system because there are so few of them," according to Gregory Martin, a spokesman for the FAA. Still, he said, a single launch "can affect hundreds of flights." (12/13)

Why NASA's Date with a Space Rock bBeyond Pluto Matters (Source: MNN)
On Jan. 1, while the confetti is still fresh on the streets of Times Square, a space probe billions of miles from Earth will make a historic flyby of an object dating back to the earliest days of our solar system. Officially known as 2014 MU69, but nicknamed "Ultima Thule" by NASA, this celestial time capsule will be visited by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft at about 12:33 a.m. EST on New Year's Day. Unlike New Horizons' unprecedented flyby of Pluto that completely upended our knowledge of the dwarf planet in 2015, Ultima Thule is tiny — only 19 miles in diameter — compared to Pluto's diameter of more than 1,477 miles.

Despite its small size, Ultima Thule is no ordinary space rock. A resident of the Kuiper Belt, a location beyond Neptune containing early remnants from our solar system's formation, it has largely remained untouched for billions of years. "We don't know what a primordial, ancient, perfectly preserved object like Ultima is, because no one's ever been to something like this," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern told Geek Wire. "It's terra incognita. It is pure exploration. We'll just see what it's all about — if it's got rings, if it's got a swarm of satellites." (12/19)

The Future of Ultrahigh-End Space Travel (Source: Barrons)
Virgin Galactic will launch the budding space-travel industry sometime within the next year, the company says, when it begins ferrying aspiring cosmonauts on 90-minute suborbital trips. Passengers will spend four minutes floating in zero gravity, check out the curvature of the Earth, and be home in time for dinner. So far, 600 customers have booked seats at $250,000 apiece.

But for those with loftier space-travel ambitions—and deeper pockets—there is a slew of new luxury start-ups that want to install you in regal floating hotels that will actually orbit the Earth. You’ll need a hearty checkbook. And maybe some baby wipes. Click here. (12/12)