A United Launch Alliance (ULA) "Atlas V rocket" carrying the Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit-6 (SBIRS GEO 6) mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command lifted off on 4th Aug 2022 at 6:29 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. To date ULA has launched 152 times with 100 percent mission success.  

 

"Thank you to our U.S. Space Force and industry partners for their outstanding teamwork in successfully delivering the sixth and final SBIRS satellite to orbit," said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs. "We are proud of our role in supporting the warfighter by launching the entire SBIRS satellite constellation, a critical constellation of missile warning satellites that expands the U.S. military’s situational awareness on the battlefield and beyond.” 

 

“This launch marked ULA’s 95th U.S. National Space Security launch,” added Wentz. “As the Air Force is gearing up to celebrate its 75th anniversary, we are honored to have been entrusted to deliver the vast majority of our nation’s critical assets to orbit. Our customer’s missions are vital to ensuring the safety of our women and men in harm’s way serving our country.” 

 

Leveraging a legacy of 100 percent mission success launching more than 150 missions to explore, protect and enhance our world, ULA is the nation’s most experienced and reliable launch service provider with world-leading reliability, schedule confidence, and mission optimization. We deliver value unmatched by any launch services company in the industry, a tireless drive to improve, and commitment to the extraordinary..

Source : ULA Launch

South Korea’s first lunar mission blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 7.08 p.m. local time 5th Aug 2022, and is now on its way to the Moon. The successful launch of Danuri, officially known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, takes the country beyond Earth’s orbit for the first time.

 

The launch was “spectacular”, says Mark Robinson, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University in Tempe, who is the principal investigator for one of Danuri’s instruments, called ShadowCam.

 

Danuri should arrive at its destination around mid-December. Its trajectory means it will take longer than most past missions to the Moon, which typically arrived in days, but will require minimal fuel.

 

About an hour after lift-off, the spacecraft detached from the Falcon 9 rocket on which it launched. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s control centre in Daejeon then took command and made contact with the spacecraft.

 

South Korean moon mission- Danuri is worth USD 180 million and is the country’s first step in lunar exploration. Danuri features a boxy, solar-powered satellite that has been designed to slide above 62 miles above the lunar surface..

Source : Nature

 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), through its commercial arms, has earned 279 million dollars in foreign exchange by launching satellites for global clients, Union Minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday(27th July 2022).

 

In a written reply to a question, Singh said ISRO in association with its commercial arms has successfully launched 345 foreign satellites from 34 countries on-board Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

 

"Total foreign exchange revenue earned through launching of foreign satellites amounts to USD 56 million (one million=10 lakhs) and 220 million Euros approximately," Singh said, without mentioning any time-frame for such launches.

 

As per current exchange rates, 220 million euros are equivalent to 223 million dollars.

 

The latest PSLV mission was on June 30 when ISRO's warhorse launch vehicle placed three Singaporean satellites into orbit.

 

PSLV-C53 mission by ISRO, successfully launched three Singapore customer satellites namely DS-EO, NeuSAR and SCOOB-1.

 

The PSLV-C53 was the second dedicated commercial mission for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise under administrative control of the Department of Space (DOS), Singh said..

Source : Business Standard

Russia has decided to quit the International Space Station "after 2024", the newly-appointed chief of Moscow's space agency told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday(26th July 2022).

 

"Of course, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made," Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov told Putin in comments released by the Kremlin.

 

This decision comes at a time the Kremlin's war with Ukraine has isolated Russia in terms of trade and financially. Western sanctions imposed on Russia following the special military operation launched by Putin on Ukraine has triggered speculations of of another world war. Albeit the real implications of the sanctions seems to have wearied off from the Western premediated script. 

 

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada)..

Source : Mint

China on Sunday(24th July 2022) launched the second of three modules to its permanent space station, in one of the final missions needed to complete the orbiting outpost by year’s end.

 

A live feed on state broadcaster CCTV showed the 23-tonne Wentian (“Quest for the Heavens”) laboratory module launching on the back of China’s most powerful rocket, the Long March 5B, at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the southern island of Hainan.

 

Space agency staff, seen on the live feed observing the progress of the launch from a control room, cheered and applauded when the Wentian separated from the rocket about 10 minutes after the launch.

 

China began constructing the space station in April 2021 with the launch of the Tianhe module, the main living quarters, in the first of 11 crewed and uncrewed missions in the undertaking.

 

The Wentian lab module, 17.9 metres (59 feet) long, will be where astronauts can carry out scientific experiments, along with the other lab module yet to be launched – Mengtian (“Dreaming of the Heavens”)..

Source : Indian Express

From model-plane-making workshops to interactive models of satellites, and a movie about the history of India’s space programme — these are among the attractions on offer at ISRO’s three-day Human Space Flight Expo in Bengaluru, which began Friday(22nd July 2022).

The three-day expo in Bengaluru was inaugurated Friday(22nd July 2022) by ISRO Chairman S. Somanath, former ISRO chair A.S. Kiran Kumar, director of the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, M. Sankaran, and director of the human space flight programme, R. Umamaheswaran. 

 

Exhibits at the expo include an interactive Gaganyaan (proposed project for India’s first crewed spaceflight) model, scaled models of rockets and satellites, simulations of a Mars rover, a space toilet, and a space suit, among others.

 

As part of the expo, ‘The Indian Space Odyssey – Sounding rockets to Gaganyaan’ — a movie tracing the history and evolution of ISRO over the decades — is also being screened at the planetarium’s sky theatre, and there will be live lectures on how to become an astronaut, amateur (ham) radio, and space flight history.

 

Scheduled on July 22, 23 and 24, the movie will be projected at 10 am, 10.45 am, 11.30 am, 1 pm, 1.45 pm, 2.30 pm, 3.15 pm and 4.45 pm. On the last day, the final show will be at 2.30 pm.

Source : The Print

A SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft has left for the International Space Station (ISS) carrying science experiments aiming to help carry out climate science research in space on 14 July 2022 at 8.44 pm (EDT). The Cargo Dragon spacecraft was launched the Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is transporting 5,800 pounds(2,630 kilograms)of science experiments, crew supplies, and other cargo.

 

The spacecraft is loaded with a number of experiments with one being the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Investigation (EMIT) that has been developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. It employs NASA imaging spectroscopy technology to measure the mineral composition of dust in Earth's arid regions. The mineral dust blown into the air can travel significant distances and affect Earth’s climate, weather, vegetation, and more.

The Dragon craft is expected to slowly catch up with the ISS and reach it Saturday morning (July 16) at around 11:20 a.m. EDT. After Dragon docks with the orbiting lab, astronauts will unload the capsule's payload, which includes fresh food and supplies, as well as scientific equipment for the ISS's dozens of active scientific investigations. .

Source : Live Science

 

A four stage, 44.4 m tall PSLV-C53 has a lift-off mass of 228.433 t. It would inject DS-EO satellite into an orbit with semi-major axis of 6948.137 + 20 km, at an altitude of 570 km measured from the equator, with a low inclination of 10 deg. + 0.20.  PSLV-C53 carries three satellites. DS-EO, a 365 kg and NeuSAR, a 155 kg satellite both belonging to Singapore. Third satellite is a 2.8 kg Scoob-1 of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore..

The NASA researchers successfully launched (28th June 2022) "CAPSTONE spacecraft" to the moon from New Zealand. The launch took place on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket.

Mission CAPSTONE stands for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment(CAPSTONE). With a price tag just shy of $30 million, NASA hopes the mission will verify that a specific type of moon orbit is suitable for the lunar Gateway space station that the agency aims to launch later this decade.

 

About CAPSTONE : CAPSTONE is a microwave oven-sized spacecraft with the aim to study a specific type of moon orbit that will be suitable for the lunar Gateway space station that NASA aims to launch later this decade. The lunar Gateway space station will be a small space station for astronauts in orbits where they can stop before and after going to the moon’s surface..

Source : Indian Express

The Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has started authorising Indian private firms, marking the beginning of private space sector launches in India. IN-SPACe is an autonomous, single window nodal agency; formed to promote, authorise, monitor and supervise the space activities of Non-Governmental Private Entities (NGPEs) in India.

 

Dhruva Space Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad and Digantara research & Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Bengaluru, were authorised by IN-SPACe on June 24 to launch their payloads.

 

Dhruva Space's Dhruva Space Satellite Orbital Deployer - (DSOD 1U), a technology demonstration payload, and Digantara's ROBust Integrating Proton Fluence Meter (ROBI), a Proton dosimeter payload, were authorised, an IN-SPACe statement said on Monday(27th June 2022). 

 

The payloads would fly onboard PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) of PSLV-C53 scheduled to be launched on June 30, 2022. .

Source : Economic Times