News Notes - 2010

MAY 12 - GALAXY 15 PROBLEM
On April 5 the Galaxy 15 satellite in geosynchronous orbit refused to respond to commands, and its controller, Intelsat, effectively lost control of the vehicle. However, the transponders remained on and continued to transmit. Without station keeping, a geosat will drift in longitude due to gravitational perturbations of a non-spherical Earth. The builder of the satellite, Orbital Sciences Corp, considers that the problem may have been due to inclement space weather.
It is expected that Galaxy 15 will drift within the station-keeping volume of the AMC-11 commsat by the end of May, and as the two satellites use the same frequency spectrum, this may result in significant interference to AMC-11 ground stations. Both satellites are used extensively by cable TV rebroadcasters in the USA.

Apr 22 - USAF LAUNCHES MINI SPACE PLANE
The OTV 1 Orbital Test Vehicle was launched into low Earth orbit by an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Carnaveral. This reusable small space plane can make an autonomous return to Earth and horizontal landing. It is expected to remain in orbit for a few months, but less than 270 days. Also known by the United States Air Force as X-37B, its purpose is to test ways to make space access more routine, affordable and responsive.

Apr 21 - AUSTRALIA OKAYS HAYABUSA RETURN
The Australian Government has officially given the okay for a landing of the Japanese Hayabusa asteroid sample return capsule at the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia on June 13. This will be the first time that a piece of an asteroid has been brought back to Earth by a spacecraft (although meteorites have been bringing us samples throughout history, albeit contaminated by reentry through the Earth's atmosphere). An extensive effort employing ground and airborne sensors will be mounted to monitor this return. For more information see ISAS/JAXA.

Apr 15 - PRESIDENT OBAMA NASA ADDRESS
President Obama addressed NASA employees and other invited guests at the Kennedy Space Center on his new vision of the role of NASA in space exploration. This view appears to see NASA as an enabling organisation rather than one that develops hardware, particularly in the manned space flight arena. The aerospace industry has generally not reacted well to the President's ideas, and the US Congress may well request changes and modify the final outcome of this drastic revision of US space policy which goes well beyond the boundaries of NASA itself.

Apr 08 - EUROPEAN ICE MONITORING SATELLITE LAUNCHED
Cryosat 2 was launched from Baikonur on a Dnepr rocket. This ESA satellite will monitor floating sea ice the polar ice caps using a synthetic aperture radar altimeter.

Apr 05 - STS-131 LAUNCHES TO ISS
Space Shuttle Discovery carried seven astronauts, supplies and hardware to the International Space Station. The mission delivered a load oif equipment racks from the Italian built MultiPurpose Logistics Module (MPLM), and returned some experimental equipment to Earth for analysis. Discovery touched down at Kennedy Space Center on 20 April following a delay due to weather. For more details see NASA Space Shuttle.

Apr 02 - SOYUZ LAUNCHES THREE TO ISS
A Soyuz TMA18 passenger craft, launched from Baikonur, carried two Russian cosmonauts and one US astronaut to the International Space Station. It docked at the Poisk module on 4 April.

Mar 05 - CHINESE LAUNCH THREE MORE YAOGAN SATELLITES
Yaogan 9A, 9B and 9C, observation (remote sensing) satellites were launched from Jiuquan by a Long March 4C rocket.

Mar 04 - GOES 15 LAUNCHED
The 15th Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite was launched on a Delta 4 rocket from Cape Carnaveral. This satellite has terrestrial meteorological sensors as well as a Solar X-ray Imager and a Space Environmental Monitor for space weather monitoring and forecasting.

Mar 01 - RUSSIA LAUNCHES THREE MORE GLONASS SATELLITES
A Russian Proton-M rocket launched from Baikonur has put three more satellites of the Global Navigation Satellite System in orbit. The total number of active GLONASS satellites is now 18 (the complete constellation will have 24).

Feb 11 - SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY IN ORBIT
After much delay, the SDO is finally in orbit. This spacecraft will essentially replace the SOHO vehicle. It will be placed in a geosynchronous orbit with an inclination of 28.5 degrees. It will provide massive amounts of solar data and images at many different wavelengths. It was placed in geosynchronous orbit, rather than at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point (SOHO) because of the very large downlink bandwidth needed to handle the data. A ground station in White Sands, New Mexico, will downlink the SDO data 24 hours a day.
SDO has on board three main instruments, the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the Extreme-ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE). For more information see SDO.

Feb 10 - INAUGURAL MEETING OF SPACE COUNCIL
The Space Industry Innovation Council, headed by Dr Rosalind Dubs, held its first meeting in Canberra to develop a strategic roadmap for the future direction of the council. For more details see SIIC.

Feb 08 - STS-130 LAUNCHES TO ISS
The Space Shuttle Endeavour took off from Cape Carnaveral to the International Space Station with six astronauts aboard. As well as carrying supplies, hardware and experiments, it delivered the Italian built Tranquility node and its seven window cupola. This was installed on the side of the unity node. This launch is expected to be the last night launch of a shuttle. Endeavour landed back at the Cape on 22 February. For more details see NASA Space Shuttle.

Feb 01 - NASA TO ABANDON MANNED SPACEFLIGHT?
Exactly seven years after the Space Shuttle Colombia disaster, President Obama announced that he wanted NASA to abandon ongoing manned spaceflight hardware efforts, and that space shuttle flights would cease at the end of this year. In return he would make more money available for private enterprise to develop manned launch vehicles.

Jan 16 - THIRD CHINESE NAVSAT LAUNCHED
Beidou 3 (Compass G1) was launched from Xichang on a Long March 3C rocket. This satellite will be part of a constellation of 35 satellites in a mix of geosynchronous and medium altitude orbits that will form the Chinese Compass navigation system. Beidou 3 is destined for geosynchronous orbit.