News Notes - 2009

Dec 20 - SOYUZ CARRIES ASTRONAUTS TO ISS
Launched from Baikonur, the Soyuz-TMA 17 Russian passenger craft carried a Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and a Japanese astronaut to the International Space Station.

Dec 18 - FRENCH MILSAT LAUNCHED
Helios 2B was placed into orbit by an Ariane 5 rocket launched from Korou.

Dec 15 - YAOGAN 8 AND AMATEUR RADIOSAT LAUNCHED
This Chinese observation satellite was launched by a Long March 4C rocket from Taiyuan.
As a secondary payload, Xiwang-1, a Chinese amateur radio satellite was placed into orbit carrying a beacon and three transponders. XW-1 is also known as Hope-1.

Dec 14 - WISE TO SURVEY INFRARED SKY
NASA's Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg. This satellite carries a 0.4m telescope with cryogenically cooled detectors to image the sky at wavelengths of 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns.

Dec 14 - THREE GLONASS SATELLITES ADD TO RUSSIAN GNSS
Three Glonass-M satellites were launched by a Proton-M from Baikonur to add to the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System. This GNSS now has a total of 19 active satellites.

Dec 09 - CHINESE OBSERVATION SATELLITE LAUNCHED
A Long March 2D (CZ-2D) rocket was used to launch the Yaogan 7 satellite from Jiuquan.

Dec 06 - THIRD US WGS MILCOMSAT LAUNCHED
WGS F3 was launched by a Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The F3 satellite will be stationed at 12o W, and is part of the Wideband Global Satellites communications system to which Australia has subscribed.

Nov 30 - INTELSAT 15 LAUNCHED
A Zenit-3 rocket launched this communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit. It carries 22 Ku band transponders and will be stationed at 85o E.

Nov 28 - JAPANESE MILSAT LAUNCHED FROM TANEGASHIMA
An H-2A rocket launched the military Information Gathering Satellite IGS-5A.

Nov 19 - AUSTRALIA CREATES NEW SPACE COUNCIL
The Australian government announced that it has established the Space Industry Innovation Council as part of the Government's response to the inquiry by the Senate Committee on Economics into the state of the Australian space science and industry sector. For more details see SIIC.

Nov 16 - STS-129 TO ISS
The Space Shuttle delivered over 12 tons of supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station. It carried six astronuats and included 3 spacewalks. It returned to Earth on 27 November.

Nov 10 - RUSSIAN MODULE TO ISS
Poisk brought cargo to the International Space Station and will serve as another docking port and airlock.

Nov 02 - ESA SMOS AND PROBA-2 SATELLITES LAUNCHED
SMOS was launched from Plesetck on a Rockot rocket. This is the European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite. The sensor is an L-band Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS).
PROBA-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) demonstrator satellite also carried two Belgain solar physics sensors (SWAP and LYRA) and two Czech plasma physics sensors (TPMU and DSLP).

Oct 18 - US DoD POLAR METSAT LAUNCHED
DMSP-F18 was launched by an Atlas rocket from Vandenberg. In an 830km sun-synchronous orbit, this adds a new satellite to the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program which provides terrestrial and space weather data and imagery.

Oct 08 - NEW COMMERCIAL IMAGING SATELLITE
Worldview-2, lauched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg, will provide multispectral Earth imagery with a resolution down to 0.5m from a 770km sun-synchronous orbit.

Oct 01 - GERMAN MILSAT LAUNCHED
COMSATBW-1, a German military comsat was launched from Kourou on an Ariane 5 rocket. It will be stationed in geosynchronous orbit at 63o E.

Sep 30 - SOYUZ TAKES THREE TO ISS
A Baikonur launch of a Soyuz-TMA 16 passenger craft delivered a Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and a Canadian tourist to the International Space Station Oct 2.

Sep 25 - US LAUNCHES TWO MISSILE TRACKERS
A Delta 2 rocket at Cape Canaveral launched two demonstration satellites as part of the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS). These satellites have sensors designed to track ballistic missiles.

Sep 23 - INDIANS LAUNCH OCEAN MONITORING SATELLITE
Oceansat-2 was launched on a PSLV from Sriharikota into a 728 km 98.3 degree inclination sun-synchronous orbit. Optical and radio sensors will monitor fish populations, algae, sediment, surface winds and atmospheric temperature and humity altitude profiles.
Four secondary 1 kg cubesats were also put into orbit as secondary payloads. These european picosatellites will demonstrate small satellite attitude and control systems, and measure optical airglow. Two other payloads (Rubin 9.1 and Rubin 9.2 remained attached to the fourth stage booster, and will be used to support the maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS).

Sep 17 - NEW RUSSIAN POLAR METSAT ET AL
The Meteor-M polar orbiting weather satellite was launched from Baikonur into an 830 km near circular orbit.
As well as meteorology data the satellite will provide information on ice floes to shipping in the polar regions. The same launcher also placed seven other secondary payloads into orbit. These included Sterkh-2, a search and rescue relay satellite (COSPAS constellation), Fregat/IRIS, a technology demonstrator, Tatiana-2, to monitor high energy transients in the Earth's atmosphere, UGATUSAT, an educational Earth observation satellite, SumbandilaSat, a South African remote sensing satellite and BLITS, a laser retroreflector spherical satellite.

Sep 10 - JAPANESE RESUPPLY ISS
A Japanese H2B rocket launched the HTV-1 unmanned resupply vehicle to the International Space Station from the Tanegashima spaceport. The cargo included food and scientific equipment.

Sep 09 - NEW HUBBLE IMAGES RELEASED
The first Hubble images since the May repairs and refurbishment by the STS-125 Space Shuttle mission were released today. The images were taken with the new WFC-3 Wide Field Camera and the new ACS Advanced Camera for Surveys, and show superb definition. The images can be viewed at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Sep 08 - US MANNED SPACE FLIGHT TO CEASE?
The Augustine report on US manned space flight was issued. It provides recommendations for the US President as to the future possibilities in this area. It essentially casts doubt on the future of manned space missions by NASA with comments such as:
The US human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory, and The Committee finds [that] no plan compatible with the FY2010 budget plan profile permits human exploration to continue in any meaningful way.
The report can be downloaded in pdf format from OSTP.

Sep 07 - ICRAR ANNOUNCES RADIO ASTRONOMY SUMMER SCHOLARSHIPS
The newly launched International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (Perth, WA) has just announced that 8 student fellowships will be available for summer vacation projects in radio astronomy and high speed computing. They will be available to Australian and New Zealand undergraduates who have completed two years of their degree. More information is available at ICRAR.

Aug 21 - NEW AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATION SATELLITE LAUNCHED
An Ariane 5 launch vehicle successfully lofted the Optus D3 and the Japanese JCSAT-12 communication satellites into orbit from the European spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana. Liftoff occurred at 22:09 UT. Optus D3 was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation and will be positioned at 156 degrees east longitude in geosynchronous orbit where it will provide direct broadcast TV and other services to Australia and New Zealand. The satellite carries 24 Ku band transponders and is designed for a lifetime of 15 years. For more information see Optus.

Aug 17 - LAST GPS BLOCK IIR SATELLITE LAUNCHED
A Delta II rocket launched the last one of eight Block-IIR GPS navigation satellites into orbit. Launch occurred from Cape Canaveral at 1035 UT. For more details see GPS.

Aug 17 - NEW SATELLITE TRACKING FACILITY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
An Hawaiian contractor, Oceanit, has just finished commissioning a satellite tracking station at Learmonth Solar Observatory on North West Cape in Western Australia. The station will use two half-metre class optical telescopes to obtain positional data on both geosynchronous and low-Earth orbiting satellites. This data will be fed to the US Air Force Maui Space Surveillance and Supercomputing centre where it will be ingested into the US Space Surveillance Network, and go toward production of the Space Object Catalog. The data in this catalog is vital for any country wishing to maintain space situational awareness of both active satellites and the ever increasing population of space debris. Hosting such a facility on Australian soil will assure continued access to this catalog for Australian operational and security purposes. For images showing the site construction see Ningaloo Skies. For one of the first images taken by the facility see LSO-HANDS first light.

Jul 30 - SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCHES FOUR MICROSATS
Four small satellites were deployed from the payload bay of the STS-127 Space Shuttle mission, following the completion of International Space Station operations. Two of these form an Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE 2) to measure density of the upper atmosphere. The remaining two form the Dual RF Astrodynamic GPS Orbital Navigator Satellite (DRAGONSAT) system to test the use of GPS navigation satellites for the autonomous rendezvous of orbiting spacecraft.

Jul 29 - RUSSIANS LAUNCH 3 IMAGESATS FOR INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS
A Dnepr rocket launched from the Baikonaur spaceport has orbited six satellites including three remote sensing satellites: UK-DMC 2 for the United Kingdom, Deimos 1 for Spain and DubaiSat 1 for the United Arab Emirates. Both DMC 2 and Deimos 1 are part of the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) which is a fleet of small Earth imaging satellites used to provide quick-response images to global emergency managers, as well as for mapping, urban planning and resource management. Two other satellites, AprizeSat 3 & 4, will provide mobile communication services for US companies. The sixth satellite will be used by the Spanish Space Agency to demonstrate basic space technologies.

Jul 19 - AUSTRALIAN DISCOVERS NEW JUPITER IMPACT
Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley of Murrumbateman in New South Wales produced an image of Jupiter with his 14.5" homemade Newtonian telescope showing clearly that Jupiter had suffered a second impact in 15 years with an asteroid or comet. (Almost exactly 15 years ago fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy hit the planet). The recommissioning of the Hubble Telescope was interrupted to provide more detailed images, and the infrared emission from the impact site was seen in images from the Keck telescope in Hawaii. More details and the discovery image can be viewed at Anthony Wesley's web site.

Jul 17 - LRO IMAGES APOLLO SITES
NASA has released images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) showing the Apollo landing sites. In the image of the Apollo 14 site, not only can the base of the lander and the deployed scientific instruments be seen, but a track in the dust made by the astronauts as they travelled between the two is also visible. More information and images at LRO.

Jul 15 - STS-127 LAUNCHED TO ISS
The Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched from the Kennedy Space Center to rendezvous with the International Space Station. The major task for this mission is to deliver the Exposed Facility for the Japanese Kibo Laboratory. This is the last component of Kibo. This mission was delayed several times due to hydrogen leaks in the large external tank. More details at NASA Space Shuttle.

Jul 15 - EX-ASTRONAUT BOLDEN NEW NASA HEAD
A former astronaut on the Space Shuttle, Charles Bolden has been confirmed by the US Congress in the role of 12th Administrator of NASA.

Jul 13 - FIRST OPERATIONAL LAUNCH FOR SPACEX
The SpaceX company has succeeded in its launch of a commercial satellite with its Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein Atoll. The Malaysian built Earth-observation satellite RazakSAT was launched into a 685 km 9 degree inclination low Earth orbit. For more details see SpaceX.

Jul 02 - LAPAN SUB-ORBITAL LAUNCH
The Indonesian Space Agency (LAPAN) launched a small rocket to a height of 50 km in a program to achieve domestic orbital launch capability by 2014.

Jun 30 - ULYSSES SWITCHED OFF
The joint US-European Solar Polar Spacecraft Ulysses was commanded off by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California after 19 years exploring the interplanetary medium. It was the first space probe to fly over the polar regions of the Sun in its 6 year period heliocentric orbit. Details of its mission and science results may be found at ULYSSES.

Jun 29 - SIX PERSON CREW IN ISS
Russia launched a Soyuz capsule on June 27 which docked with the International Space Station on June 29, bringing three new crew members to make the total complement of people manning the ISS now six. This increased crew has been made possible with the commissioning of full water recycling aboard the station.

Jun 27 - GOES 14 IN ORBIT
A new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite has been orbited by a Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral. When it becomes operational it will provide both terrestrial and space weather information for the US National Weather Service. This includes a Solar X-ray Imager to monitor solar flares and other high energy phenomena in the solar atmosphere. For more details see GOES.

Jun 18 - NASA LAUNCHES LUNAR SPACECRAFT
NASA launched two lunar spacecraft from Cape Canaveral. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or LRO will orbit the moon at an altitude of about 50 km and provide high resolution images and other spectral data that will allow scientists to build up detailed 3-D maps of the lunar surface. A synthetic aperture radar will allow imaging of non-sunlit areas of the moon. LRO also carries instruments to measure the lunar ionising radiation and dust environments. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite LCROSS will observe its final stage rocket impact a crater in the Moon's south polar region and will then impact the same area itself. It is hoped that the impacts will allow determination of the presence of water in an area that is permanently shielded from the Sun. It has been estimated that anyone with a 12" or larger optical telescope has a chance to observe the impact plumes. Impact is due around October 9. More details at LRO and LCROSS.

Jun 17 - AUSTRALIAN SPACE RESEARCH PROGRAM
The Australian Government Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research released a discussion paper on a proposed Australian Space Research Program. Under this program $8.6M would be allocated to establish a Space Policy Unit to provide Government advice on space. Another $40M would be allocated to a new Australian Space Research Program to support space research, innovation and skills development in areas of national significance. For more details see DIISR SPACE.

Jun 10 - KAGUYA/SELENE HITS MOON
The Japanese Space Agency JAXA's lunar spacecraft Kaguya (also named Selene) made a controlled impact on the moon's surface in the unilluminated side just near the terminator. The impact occurred at 18:25 UT at a longitude of 80.4 deg and a latitude of 65.6 deg at a velocity of 1600 m/sec. JAXA have stated that they will release data of the 21 month mission in November this year. Australian scientists imaged the impact, see Kaguya Impact.

May 25 - SKYMAPPER BECOMES OPERATIONAL
A new telescope at the Australian National University Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarrabran will soon start to provide deep maps of the southern sky to astronomers around the world. Skymapper is a 1.3m telescope with a 16k x 16k CCD mosaic camera that covers almost 6 square degrees of sky. This telescope is a replacement of the Great Melbourne Telescope destroyed on Mount Stromlo in the Canberra bushfires of 2003. More details at Skymapper.

May 14 - ESA LAUNCHES HERSCHEL AND PLANCK
Two European space telescopes, named Herschel and Planck, were launched from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana by an Ariane 5 launcher. These spacecraft will eventually be stationed in orbits around the Lagrange gravitational stability point on the antisolar side of the Earth (called the L1 point by Lagrange, but now popularly known as L2). The first space signals from these satellites was received by the ESA ground station at New Norcia in Western Australia. It will take about two months for the two spacecraft to independently reach their final orbits. Herschel has the largest mirror (3.5m) ever launched into orbit and will conduct infrared observations of dark and cold objects such as interstellar dust and suspected planet-forming areas. Planck will be devoted to observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and to unravelling unseen parts of the Universe (such as the postulated dark matter). Herschel will cover electromagnetic wavelengths from about 60 to 700 microns, detecting objects with temperatures as low as 5 to 50 degrees Kelvin, and have the ability to see through much of the dust that obscures the vision of other optical instruments. Planck will monitor frequencies between 30 and 900 GHz. For more details see HERSCHEL and PLANCK.

May 11 - STS-125 LAUNCHES TO HUBBLE
The Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched for the fifth and final servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts replaced two failed instruments, installed two upgrades and extended the telescope's life by about five years, replacing batteries and gyros. The new-life Hubble will be most welcomed by all members of the astronomical community. Hubble has had an enormous impact on many areas of astronomical and astrophysical research. For more details see NASA Space Shuttle and Hubble Space Telescope.

May 07 - SPIRIT STUCK ON MARS
The Spirit Rover appears to have become bogged in Martian soil. Signals received at JPL show the left middle wheel is jammed with the other wheels probably dug in up to their hubs. Ground simulations will be conducted to decide on the best of action. More details see Mars Rover.

May 06 - AUSTRALIAN PHYSICIST ON LUNAR DUST
Dr Brian O'Brien, an Australian Physicist who was Professor of Space Science at Rice University (Houston, Texas) during the Apollo era, has published a paper on lunar dust using new results gathered from a simple experiment he flew aboard many of the Apollo missions nearly 40 years ago. He elucidates the effects of rocket exhausts on dust contamination and the effect of the Sun of dust behaviour. The research was published in Geophysical Research Letters, volume 36, paper L09201.

May - US MILITARY SPACE CENTRE INCREASES CONASS
The US Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base has increased its committment to Conjunction Assessment (the analysis of satellite collision probabilities) following the collision of an active satellite on February 10. Data from the analysis of up to 800 active satellites in LEO will be made available to relevant commercial entities.

Apr 30 - INTELSAT TO CARRY ADF COMMUNICATIONS PAYLOAD
The Intelsat consortium has announced that its Intelsat 22 satellite will carry a UHF package of communication transponders for the Australian Defence Forces. The package will comprise eighteen 25 MHz bandwidth channels and will consume about 2 kW power. It is expected to be placed at a geosynchronous orbital longitude of 72 degrees east in 2012.

Apr 22 - AUSTRALIAN SPACE ENGINE TO FLY
The Helicon Double Layer Thruster, developed by the School of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the Australia National University in Canberra, will be funded to fly in space. The European EADS-Astrium space company will fund the University of Surrey Space Centre to develop this electric engine into a space qualified vehicle. ANU Professor Christine Charles will spend time at UoS helping the development. More details at HDLT.

Apr 22 - CHINA LAUNCHES REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE
A Long March 2C rocket was used to launch the Yaogun 6 dual use (military and civilian) imaging satellite from the Taiyuan launch centre.

Apr 20 - ISRO LAUNCHES RADAR SATELLITE
The Indian Space Research Organisation has launched a radar imaging satellite RISAT-2 built with a modified Israeli radar package. It was launched by an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PLSV) into a 550 km, 41 degree inclination orbit from the ISRO island launch site in the Bay of Bengal. It was accompanied into orbit by a small digital communications test satellite ANUSAT. More details at ISRO.

Apr 13 - SOLAR POWER SATELLITE BY 2016?
While a vigourous debate has been underway for many years on the feasibility of Solar Power Satellites (SPS), a Californian company Solaren has contracted with the Californian Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) company to provide 200 MW of power from space by the year 2016. More details at PG&E and Solaren.

Apr 04 - SECOND WIDEBAND GLOBAL SATCOM LAUNCHED
The USAF WGS-2 satellite was launched by an Atlas 5 rocket. The first signals from this military satellite were received at a ground station at Dongara, near Geraldton in Western Australia. The Australian Defence Force will share in communications through the WGS network, having funded for a sixth satellite in the constellation.

Mar 24 - NEW GPS SATELLITE LAUNCHED
A new GPS satellite has been launched to orbit using a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral. This satellite carries a demonstration payload that will transmit a new signal, termed L5 on a frequency of 1176.45 MHz. For more details see Lockheed Martin.

Mar 17 - ESA GOCE SATELLITE LAUNCHED
The European Gravity field and steady state Ocean Circulation Explorer was launched using a Russian Rockot launch vehicle from the Russian Plesetsk launch site. The main payload is a gravity gradiometer to generate an accurate map of the Earth's gravitational field and to model sea level changes. To carry out this mission the satellite needs to be in the very low orbit of only 265 km altitude. Two ion thrusters will be used to maintain this orbit against the significant atmospheric drag that is encountered at this height. More details see GOCE.

Mar 15 - STS-119 LAUNCH TO ISS
The Space Shuttle Discovery launched to the International Space Station following several delays due to hydrogen leaks and other problems. The main purpose of this mission is to deliver and install the final station truss element and the fourth and last set of solar arrays. For more details see NASA Space Shuttle.

Mar 12 - ISS CREW SHELTERS FROM SPACE DEBRIS
The 3-member ISS crew sheltered for 10 minutes in the attached Soyuz capsule after being notified of a close approach by an old PAM payload assist motor. A collision avoidance maneuvre was not possible because of the late notification by US Strategic Command.

Mar 06 - KEPLER PLANETFINDER SATELLITE LAUNCHED
The NASA Kepler satellite, designed to find exoplanets, was launched from Cape Canaveral by a Delta 2 rocket into a heliocentric orbit trailing the Earth by 0.1 AU (about 15 million km). Kepler carries a 1.4m Schmidt telescope with a 42 CCD 95 megapixel camera sensitive enough to detect light intensity variations down to 20 parts per million. It will monitor 100,000 Sun-like stars with a 12 degree field of view in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra, for the passage of planets across the stars, which lie at distances of 30 to 3,000 light years from Earth. Kepler is the first spacecraft to use the Ka band to transmit its massive amount of data back to Earth. For more information see Kepler.

Mar 01 - CHINESE CHANG'E IMPACTS MOON
Chinese controllers commanded the Chang'E lunar orbiter to a controlled impact with the moon just south of the equator at a longitude 52.4 degrees east, terminating the mission after 16 months of acquiring lunar images.

Feb 10 - CATASTROPHIC LEO COLLISION
The first collision between two intact satellites in Low Earth Orbit occurred when the active Iridium 33 communication satellite was hit by the defunct Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite. The collision occurred over northern Siberia at a closing velocity of 11 km/sec and an almost 90 degree impact angle. With a combined mass of nearly 1500 kg, the impact is expected to generate several thousand pieces of debris over one centimetre in size, scattered around an orbital altitude of 790 km. This is already the most densely populated volume of low Earth orbit, and will further increase the risk of collision to active spacecraft in LEO. For a comprehensive analysis of the collision and continuing analysis of the resultant debris cloud see various issues of the Orbital Debris Quarterly Newsletter published by the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office.

Feb 11 - FRENCH DUO MONITOR BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCHES
The French military launched two microsatellites, Spirale A and Spirale B by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou. They will use IR imagery to monitor ballistic missile launches.

Feb 06 - NOAA 19 IN ORBIT
A Delta 2 rocket successfully launched the latest NOAA meteorological satellite into low Earth polar orbit at an altitude of 860 km. The satellite carries instruments to observe terrestrial and space weather as well as a search and rescue transponder. More detail at POES.

Feb 02 - IRAN LAUNCHES FIRST SATELLITE
A Safir-2 two-stage liquid fuel rocket was used to launch the small Omid, an Iranian developed radio-relay satellite into a 245 by 380 km orbit with an inclination of 55 degrees. The maximum operational life of 2 months is limited by its batteries. For a detailed analysis of this satellite and its transmissions see Zarya.

Jan 30 - RUSSIAN SOLAR OBSERVER LAUNCHED
The Koronas-Foton satellite was launched into a 550 km orbit to study the relationship between solar and geomagnetic activity. More details at CORONAS-PHOTON.

Jan 23 - JAPANESE LAUNCH GREENHOUSE GAS OBSERVER
The Japanese Space Agency JAXA used an H2A rocket to launch the GOSAT (named Ibuki in Japanese) Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite. It will orbit at 660 km in a sun synchronous orbit with an inclination of 98 degrees. The satellite will monitor the global distribution of carbon dioxide, clouds and aerosols. Seven microsats were also launched piggyback to Ibuki. Details at GOSAT.