December 28, 2019

Last Russian Rockot Launches Three Satellites (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
A Russian Rockot launched three communications satellites Thursday on the final flight of the vehicle. The Rockot lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 6:11 p.m. Eastern and deployed three Gonets-M store-and-forward communications satellites into low Earth orbit. The launch was the last scheduled launch of the Rockot, a converted SS-19 ICBM, as it is being retired in favor of the Angara-1.2 and other rockets. (12/27)

Boeing Completes WGS Satellite for DoD (Source: Space News)
Boeing announced Thursday that it will deliver the 11th Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite in 2024. The company said WGS-11 will be based on a new variant of its commercial 702 satellite line that will provide improved signal power and bandwidth efficiency compared to earlier WGS satellites. The announcement comes eight months after Boeing received a $605 million contract for the production of the WGS-11 satellite that Congress funded in 2018. The WGS constellation provides broadband communications to the U.S. military and allies. (12/27)

ESA Tests ExoMars Parachute (Source: The Guardian)
ESA is making progress test revised parachute designs for its ExoMars 2020 lander. Ground tests of the new parachutes, being conducted at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, have started well. Those ground tests will be followed by high-altitude drop tests in early 2020. Problems with the parachute designs, found in drop tests earlier this year, led to changes in the design and raised questions if the parachutes will be ready in time for the spacecraft's launch in mid-2020. (12/27)

NASA NEOCam Gets $35.6 Million in Funding Bill (Source: Space News)
A NASA mission to search for near Earth objects (NEOs) received funding in the final fiscal year 2020 appropriations bill. That bill provided $35.6 million for the NEO Surveillance Mission to allow development to get started. The mission is based on the earlier NEOCam proposal from NASA's Discovery program, but will be run as a directed mission. The NEO Surveillance Mission will fly a small telescope with an infrared camera to look for potentially hazardous NEOs. The project will be managed by JPL, but with the University of Arizona responsible for the overall science of the mission. (12/27)

China Launches Long March 5 (Source: Space News)
China is clear to embark on ambitious exploration and space station missions following a successful return-to-flight Friday of the Long March 5. Liftoff from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, south China, occurred at 7:45 a.m. Eastern. The Shijian-20 communications satellite successfully separated from the upper stage and entered geostationary transfer orbit 40 minutes later.  The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the state-owned main contractor for the country’s space programs, declared mission success within an hour of launch. (12/27)

China to Complete Beidou NavSat System in 2020 (Source: Xinhua)
China expects to have the Beidou satellite navigation system completed by the middle of next year. A spokesperson for the system said two more geostationary satellites are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2020, completing the Beidou-3 system. That spokesman said the Chinese government is already planning a future satellite navigation system that would be "more ubiquitous, integrated and intelligent"; that system would be ready by 2035. (12/27)

Radio Waves Could Clean Up Radiation Belts (Source: Science)
Scientists are studying ways to clean up Earth's radiation belts in the event of a nuclear explosion in orbit. Such an explosion could pump the belts full of high-energy electrons that can damage satellites, as was the case in the 1962 Starfish Prime test that exploded a 1.4 megaton weapon in space. One approach under study would beam radio waves into the belts, which would resonate with the electrons and help sweep them from the belts. Space-based tests of those techniques could take place as soon as 2021. (12/27)

US Expected to Rocket Ahead in Space During 2020 (Source: Space Daily)
American courage and ingenuity in space exploration will be tested as it hasn't in decades as 2020 begins. NASA and a number of space entrepreneurs hope that, 51 years since the first Apollo lunar landing, America resumes human spaceflight and takes a leap toward a return to the moon. Launching people from U.S. soil for the first time in almost a decade is the most anticipated space event planned for the New Year, along with growth of global satellite networks for high-speed Internet connections.

The U.S. space industry is expected to continue rapid expansion as it did in 2019, with a steady pace of launches and a test flight of NASA's new moon rocket. America's reputation as the global leader in space exploration is at stake, along with billions of dollars in anticipated growth of commercial space led by Boeing and SpaceX - both of which are building capsules to carry crews. (12/27)