Le cargo américain Dragon se sépare de l'ISS (video)

Le cargo privé Dragon s'est séparé mardi à 19h10 UTC du module américain Harmony de la Station spatiale internationale (ISS), a annoncé la NASA.


Le vaisseau de transport tombera dans le Pacifique, à l'ouest de la Californie, six heures plus tard, mercredi vers 00h44 UTC, ramenant sur Terre 1,5 tonne de fret, principalement des résultats d'expériences scientifiques réalisées en orbite.

Dragon a décollé le 10 janvier dernier. Il s'est arrimé à l'ISS deux jours plus tard, transportant plus de 2 tonnes de fret en orbite.

Le cargo Dragon est actuellement le seul vaisseau spatial capable de ramener des cargaisons sur Terre. Il s'agit du cinquième des douze vols prévus par un contrat passé entre la société américaine SpaceX, conceptrice de la capsule Dragon, et la NASA en décembre 2008.

Le premier vol commercial d'un Dragon s'est officiellement tenu en octobre 2012. En mai 2012, ce vaisseau de transport est devenu le premier cargo privé à s'arrimer à l'ISS.
[sputniknews.com]
10/2/15
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Related:

• US Dragon Spacecraft Blasts Off to ISS, Falcon 9 Rocket Landing Fails

• The American cargo spacecraft Dragon that was launched last Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the International Space Station (ISS) is to dock with the orbiting station on Monday...

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Mountain-Sized, 500-Meter-Wide Asteroid to Whizz By Earth on Monday

An asteroid, designated 2004 BL86, is set to pass near Earth on Monday, according to NASA.

The 500-meter-wide rock may seem apocalyptic in size, but thankfully it will pass no closer than 1.2 million kilometers of our planet — about three times the distance between Earth and the moon. The agency says it will provide a rare opportunity to get a good look at a near-Earth asteroid.
The next chance will come in 2027, when asteroid 1999 AN10 will fly past Earth.

Due to its orbit around the sun, the asteroid is currently only visible by astronomers with large telescopes who are located in the southern hemisphere.

However, by January 26, its changing position will make it visible to in the northern hemisphere.

"Monday, January 26 will be the closest asteroid 2004 BL86 will get to Earth for at least the next 200 years," Don Yeomans, who is retiring as manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California is quoted as saying in a statement on NASA’s website.

"And while it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it's a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more."

The scientists plan to track the fast-moving space rock using the 230-foot (70 m) dish-shaped Goldstone antenna at NASA's Deep Space Network in California, as well as the 1,000-foot (305 m) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. These radio dishes will beam microwave signals at the asteroid, which will then bounce off the target and return to Earth.

"When we get our radar data back the day after the flyby, we will have the first detailed images," said radar astronomer Lance Benner of the JPL, the principal investigator handling the Goldstone radar observations of the asteroid. "At present, we know almost nothing about the asteroid, so there are bound to be surprises."

Asteroid 2004 BL86 was initially discovered on January 30, 2004 by a telescope from the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey in White Sands, New Mexico.

The asteroid is expected to be observable to amateur astronomers with small telescopes and strong binoculars.
  http://sputniknews.com/science/20150125/1017328213.html
25/1/15
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Service module of China's lunar orbiter enters moon's orbit

The service module of China's unmanned test lunar orbiter successfully decelerated, allowing it to enter an 8-hour orbit on Sunday, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

Following instructions from the center, the service module conducted the braking at around 3 a.m. and entered the 8-hour elliptical moon orbit with a perilune of about 200 km and an apolune of about 5,300 km.

The spacecraft has sustained balanced energy and is in a sound condition, according to the center, adding that the center exercised timely and stable control and tracing of the service module and relevant tests had been carried out smoothly.

The module will make its second and third braking in the early hours of Jan. 12 and 13 respectively to enable it to enter the target 127-minute orbit for tests to prepare for the next lunar probe mission, Chang'e-5, said center's chief engineer Zhou Jianliang.

"The first braking is the most crucial," Zhou said. "Precise braking must be performed at perilune to prevent it from flying away from the moon."

The lunar orbiter was launched on Oct. 24. The service module was separated from the orbiter's return capsule on Nov. 1, which returned to Earth on Nov. 1 after circling the moon during its eight-day mission.

The service module reached the Earth-Moon second Lagrange Point (L2) in late November and left the L2 point on Jan. 4 after completing all preset scientific detection tasks.

The orbiter is a test run for the final chapter of China's three step lunar program -- orbiting, landing and returning.

The obtaining data and validating re-entry technology will inform the development of Chang'e-5, which is slated for launch around 2017. 
[xinhuanet.com]
11/1/15
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Related:

• China's unmanned lunar orbiter returns home, first in nearly four decades

 

• Reusable moon lander 

• China releases photos taken by Chang'e-3

• Lander and rover ready to perform exploration tasks.

• Full video: Journey to the moon: Yutu separates from lander (3 video)

• China launches probe and rover to moon (video cctvnews)

• China to launch Chang'e-3 lunar probe early Monday (video cctvnews)

Russia to build its own space station

During the coming years, Russia may begin deploying its own high-latitude space station, Kommersant newspaper wrote with reference to a source close to the administration of the Central Research Institute of Machine Engineering. The construction of the station in orbit, the newspaper wrote, is a key aspect of the project for the development of manned space exploration for the period up to 2050. 

At first, an anonymous source in the Federal Space Agency denied the information, saying that there was neither technical nor financial possibility for the realization of the idea. Later, however, deputy head of the agency Denis Lyskov said that there were "various options" considered. 

The project of the Federal Space Program does not provide for the deployment of a new space station in the years 2017-2019. Roscosmos will not be able to provide resources for such a project while implementing obligations under the project of the International Space Station (ISS), Interfax said with reference to a source in the space agency. "This is simply unfeasible both technically and financially," the source told the agency.

However, deputy head of the Federal Space Agency, Denis Lyskov, told TASS that Roscosmos was indeed considering various options to create a new national space station that could replace the ISS. "We are looking at different options, without being attached to one particular option," he said. Lyskov did not unveil any details of the project.

 

The Kommersant said that the Russian station would be built in the period from 2017 to 2019. The initial configuration will be formed on the basis of a multi-purpose laboratory and node modules, spacecraft OKA-T. Soyuz-MS and MS-Progress will maintain the operation of the station. In 2020-2024, energy and transformed modules used in the lunar program would be developed, the article said. According to Interfax, some orbital modules mentioned in the article were designed to supplement the Russian segment of the ISS.

"Roscosmos, as its leaders have repeatedly stated, is interested in extending the operation of the ISS at least before 2020. The resources for the Russian side to abide by obligations under the ISS program are stipulated in the Roscosmos budget. The project of a separate space station will require a much larger allocation of funds. The fact that they will be assigned in today's tense financial situation is unlikely," said the source......................http://english.pravda.ru/science/tech/17-11-2014/129053-russia_space_station-0/

17/11/14

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Related:

• Manned Space Capsule With Three ISS Astronauts Lands in Kazakhstan

• Περιπλανώμενα διαστημικά σκουπίδια απείλησαν τον Διαστημικό Σταθμό

China's unmanned lunar orbiter returns home, first in nearly four decades

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- China succeeded Saturday in the world's first mission to the Moon and back in some 40 years, becoming the third nation to do so after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

The test lunar orbiter, nicknamed "Xiaofei" on Chinese social networks, landed in Siziwang Banner of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region early Saturday morning.

Search teams have already recovered the orbiter at the designated landing area, about 500 kilometers away from Beijing.

The last documented mission of this kind was by the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

Launched Friday last week, the orbiter traversed 840,000 kilometers on its eight-day mission that saw it round the far side of the Moon and take some incredible pictures of Earth and Moon together.

The re-entry process began at around 6:13 a.m. Saturday morning, with the orbiter approaching Earth at a velocity of about 11.2 kilometers per second.

The high speed led to hefty friction between the orbiter and air and high temperatures on the craft's exterior, generating an ion sheath that cut off contact between ground command and the orbiter.

To help it slow down, the craft is designed to "bounce" off the edge of the atmosphere, before re-entering again. The process has been compared to a stone skipping across water, and can shorten the "braking distance" for the orbiter, according to Zhou Jianliang, chief engineer with the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center.

"Really, this is like braking a car," said Zhou, "The faster you drive, the longer the distance you need to bring the car to a complete stop."

• The "bounce" was one of the biggest challenges of the mission, because the craft must enter the atmosphere at a very precise angle. An error of 0.2 degrees would have rendered the mission a failure.

Wu Yanhua, vice director of China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, said the successful test mission has gathered a lot of experimental data and laid a solid foundation for future missions.`.......................http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-11/01/c_133757831.htm
1/11/14

Roscosmos: Η Ρωσία μπορεί να αναλάβει την τροφοδοσία και τις προμήθειες στον ISS, μετά το ατύχημα της NASA

Η Ρωσία είναι έτοιμη να αναλάβει την τροφοδοσία και την προμήθεια κάθε εξοπλισμού που χρειάζονται οι ρωσοι και αμερικανοί κοσμοναύτες στον Διεθνή Διαστημικό Σταθμό (ISS) αντικαθιστώντας τις απώλειες από την έκρηξη του μη επανδρωμένου διαστημικού σκάφους Antares κατά την εκτόξευσή του από τις εγκαταστάσεις της NASA στη Βιρτζίνια.

«Εάν λάβουμε αίτημα για την επείγουσα τροφοδοσία του Διεθνούς Διαστημικού Σταθμού (ISS) με αμερικανικό φορτίο μέσω δικού μας σκάφους, θα το ικανοποιήσουμε.
Προς το παρόν, δεν έχει υπάρξει τέτοιο αίτημα», δήλωσε στο ρωσικό πρακτορείο ειδήσεων Ria-Novosti ο επικεφαλής του προγράμματος των επανδρωμένων πτήσεων της Ρωσικής Διαστημικής Υπηρεσίας Roscosmos Αλεξέι Κρασνόφ:  «Mέχρι στιγμής, η NASA δεν μας έχει ζητήσει βοήθεια, όμως, έχουμε υποχρέωση να βοηθούμε ο ένας τον άλλον, σε περίπτωση απώλειας σκάφους ανεφοδιασμού ή άλλης έκτακτης ανάγκης, στα πλαίσια της συμφωνίας Κυρίων που έχουμε συνάψει. Σε τέτοιες περιπτώσεις θέτουμε πάντα τους εταίρους μας σε λίστα προτεραιότητας, και το ίδια θα κάνουν και εκείνοι για εμάς εάν χρειαστεί. Η Ρωσία μπορεί να στείλει άμεσα προμήθειες - καύσιμα, οξυγόνο, τρόφιμα και υλικό για επιστημονικά πειράματα – στον Διεθνή Διαστημικό Σταθμό».
Οπως διευκρίνισε ο Κρασνόφ, «η έκρηξη του Antares δεν έχει συνέπειες στην τροφοδοσία του ρωσικού τομέα του ISS, στο μέτρο που εμείς μεταφέρουμε με δικά μας σκάφη, τύπου Progress το μεγαλύτερο τμήμα των φορτίων μας.. Εξάλλου, δεν είναι διόλου σημαντικό το εάν η παράδοση προμηθειών θα γίνει από ρώσους ή αμερικανούς... »

Εξάλλου η Roscosmos εκτόξευσε με επιτυχία από το κοσμοδρόμιο Μπαϊκονούρ το σκάφος Progress M-25M με τον πύραυλο Soyuz-2.1a, μία ημέρα μετά την έκρηξη του Antares, με προορισμό τον ISS, δευτερόλεπτα μετά την απογείωσή του, στις εγκαταστάσεις της NASA στη Βιρτζίνια των ΗΠΑ. 

Το επίσης μη επανδρωμένο σκάφος Cygnus, το οποίο βρισκόταν στην κορυφή του Antares, επρόκειτο να μεταφέρει στον Διεθνή Διαστημικό Σταθμό 2,2 τόνους τροφίμων και εξοπλιστικού υλικού. Το ρωσικό διαστημόπλοιο μεταφέρει καύσιμα, οξυγόνο, τρόφιμα και υλικό για επιστημονικά πειράματα, καθώς και γράμματα για τους αμερικανούς και τους ρώσους κοσμοναύτες.
[gr.rbth.com]
29/10/14
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• U.S. rocket explodes seconds after launch (video) 

• Russia ready to deliver US supplies to ISS after Antares rocket explodes ...

• ISS Crew Has Enough Supplies Until March 2015: NASA ...

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  • Russia successfully launched an unmanned rocket with supplies for the International Space Station from Kazakhstan on Wednesday, hours after a catastrophic explosion destroyed a similar mission in the United States....

U.S. rocket explodes seconds after launch (video)

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The Antares rocket carrying the company's Cygnus spacecraft blew up seconds after its liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT (2222 GMT) from U.S. space agency NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.


"There has been a vehicle anomaly. We will update as soon as we are able," Orbital tweeted.

TV footage showed flames rising into the sky. The cause of the explosion remains unclear.

Orbital Sciences Corp. said no one was believed to have been injured and the damage seems to be limited to the facilities.

Cygnus is carrying 5,050 pounds (2,290 kilograms) of supplies for its third cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.
[cntv.cn]
29/10/14
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•  La capsule Cygnus doit partir lundi pour ravitailler l'ISS...

• Unmanned US rocket Antares explodes during launch ... 

Scientists develop new technique of orbiter defense from space debris

A new computer model that will help the scientists to increase orbiter defense from clashing with space junk has been developed in Ireland. The researchers from the country’s oldest university Trinity College reported that “new mathematical methods will help predict emergencies in terrestrial space”. 

According to one of the project initiators, Computer Science School Professor of Statistics, Simon Wilson, due to development in IT sphere they also managed to create new tools that will calculate more accurately impact points of satellite parts that didn’t burn in dense atmosphere.
“Particularly, we are now able to calculate with higher probability whether objects in dense atmosphere will burn or not,” he pointed out. Other details will be kept secret until researchers get international patent. It is known that European Space Agency is interested in the invention.

The main challenge that experts from Trinity College face is not to let the most pessimistic scenario of the Hollywood blockbuster “Gravity”, which came out in 2013, materialize. The plot of the movie describes how all crew members of shuttle “Columbia” die during the routine mission in space exactly because of the collision of spaceship with extraneous objects.

Experts estimate that total weight of space junk exceeds 100,000 tons nowadays.
This entails satellite fragments, rocket stages, inactive spacecrafts and its pieces. All this debris gradually moves on lower orbits, posing a danger for manned missions.
en.itar-tass.com
20/10/14
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Related:

• Russian scientists develop system for monitoring space junk

• Pentagon plans multi-billion dollar project to combat space junk

• Japan's Launching A Giant Net Into Orbit To Scoop Up Space Junk (video fr) 

• Russian satellite hit by remnants of destroyed Chinese spacecraft (VIDEO)

• Δορυφόροι από ανακυκλωμένα διαστημικά «σκουπίδια» σε τροχιά

• Weltraumschrott: Eine Müllabfuhr für die Umlaufbahn.....

• Εν αναμονή του «φαινομένου του Κέσλερ»

• Comment faire le ménage dans l'espace ?

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• Soviet-era satellite burns up in atmosphere after 34 years of service

Russian scientists develop system for monitoring space junk

Scientists from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University have developed a monitor system to follow space junk.

The system is a set of monitoring meters intended for a spaceship to ensure its safety if established on board, Rector of the St. Petersburg university Andrei Rudskoi told TASS on Thursday.

The space litter monitoring project aroused interest at the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos). Chief of the Roscosmos agency Oleg Ostapenko has promised support to St. Petersburg Polytechnic University to enable it to test the litter monitoring meters on the orbit.

Space litter poses a threat to the population of the Earth, manned orbital stations, spaceships and orbital satellites. Meters on board the spaceship might warn a space crew about space litter on the spaceship's trajectory, and a space crew might either change route or destroy the space litter before encounter.
http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/752499
2/10/14
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Related:

• Pentagon plans multi-billion dollar project to combat space junk

• Japan's Launching A Giant Net Into Orbit To Scoop Up Space Junk (video fr) 

• Russian satellite hit by remnants of destroyed Chinese spacecraft (VIDEO)

• Δορυφόροι από ανακυκλωμένα διαστημικά «σκουπίδια» σε τροχιά

• Weltraumschrott: Eine Müllabfuhr für die Umlaufbahn.....

• Εν αναμονή του «φαινομένου του Κέσλερ»

• Comment faire le ménage dans l'espace ?

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• Soviet-era satellite burns up in atmosphere after 34 years of service

India makes history with first spaceship to orbit Mars

India triumphed in its first interplanetary mission, placing a satellite into orbit around Mars on Wednesday morning and catapulting the country into an elite club of deep-space explorers.
Scientists broke into wild cheers as the orbiter's engines completed 24 minutes of burn time and maneuvered into its designated place around the red planet.
The success of India's Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, brings India into an elite club of Martian explorers that includes United States, the European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union.

"Today Mars has met MOM. MOM never disappoints. History has been created today," Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced amid applause at the Indian Space Research Organisation command center in Bangalore."We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation."
"We have navigated our craft through a route known to very few," Modi said, congratulating both the scientists and "all my fellow Indians on this historic occasion."
The Indian Space and Research Organisation described the mission as flawless.
The success marks a milestone for the space program in demonstrating that it can conduct complex missions and act as a global launch pad for commercial, navigational and research satellites.
It's also a major feat for the developing country of 1.2 billion people, most of whom are poor. At the same time, India has a robust scientific and technical educational system that has produced millions of software programmers, engineers and doctors, catapulting many into the middle class.
More than half the world's previous attempts — 23 out of 41 missions — have failed, including one by Japan in 1999. The United States had its first success with a 1964 flyby by a spacecraft called Mariner 4, returning 21 images of the surface of the planet. The former Soviet Union reached the planet in 1971, and the European Space Agency in 2003.
India was particularly proud that MOM, a 1,350-kilogram (nearly 3,000-pound) satellite, was developed with homegrown technology and for a bargain price of about $75 million. NASA's much larger Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or Maven, which reached its position around the red planet on Sunday, cost nearly 10 times as much at $671 million.

• MOM will now circle the planet for at least six months on an elliptical path that gets within 365 kilometers (227 miles) of the planet's surface at its closest and 80,000 kilometers (49,700 miles) at its farthest.

Five solar-powered instruments will gather data that will help determine how Martian weather systems work and what happened to the water that is believed to have once existed on Mars in large quantities. It also will search Mars for methane, a key chemical in life processes on Earth that could also come from geological processes.
None of the instruments will send back enough data to answer these questions definitively, but experts say the data will help them better understand how planets form, what conditions might make life possible and where else in the universe it might exist.

• There are three more satellites already circling the planet — NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey, and the ESA's Mars Express. On the Martian surface, NASA's Curiosity and Opportunity rovers are rolling across rocky terrain. 

India has said the spacecraft — also called Mangalyaan, meaning "Mars craft" in Hindi — is chiefly meant to showcase the country's ability to design, plan, manage and operate a deep-space mission. India has already conducted dozens of successful satellite launches, including sending up the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, which discovered key evidence of water on the Moon in 2008. 
AP
 haaretz.com
24/9/14
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Related:

• India launches its first-ever probe towards Mars (video)

• Indian Mars mission suffers glitch but 'no setback' ... 

• India’s First Mars Probe Successfully Leaves Earth's Orbit....

NASA spacecraft seeks answers to lost water in Mars. (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution/MAVEN)

A NASA spacecraft designed to investigate how Mars lost its water is expected to put itself into orbit around the Red Planet today after a 10-month journey....

After traveling 711 million km from Earth, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, probe faces a do-or-die burn of its six braking rockets beginning.
If successful, the thruster burns will trim enough speed for MAVEN to be captured by Mars' gravity and fall into a looping orbit.

Over the next six weeks, as engineers check MAVEN's nine science instruments, the spacecraft will maneuver itself into an operational orbit that comes as close as 150 km and as far away as 6,200 km from Mars' surface.

• Unlike previous Mars orbiters, landers and rovers, MAVEN will focus on the planet's atmosphere, which scientists suspect was once far thicker than the puny envelope of mostly carbon dioxide gas that surrounds it today.

Denser air would be needed for water to pool on the surface. While no water appears there today, Mars is covered with ancient river channels, lakebeds and chemical evidence of a warmer, wetter past.

• "Where did the water go? Where did the CO2 (carbon dioxide) go from that early environment?" MAVEN lead science Bruce Jakosky, of the University of Colorado, asked reporters this week. "It can go two places: down in the crust or up to the top of the atmosphere where it can be lost to space," he said.

• MAVEN's focus is the latter. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, will spend a year monitoring what happens when the solar wind and other charged particles hit the upper layers of Mars' atmosphere, stripping it away.

By studying the atmosphere today, scientists expect to learn about the processes involved and then use computer models to extrapolate back in time. Ultimately, scientists want to learn if Mars had the right conditions for life to evolve.
MAVEN, said Jakosky, will tell them "the boundary conditions that surround the potential for life."
MAVEN will join a fleet of two US orbiters, two US rovers and a European orbiter currently working at Mars. India's first Mars probe is due to arrive on Wednesday.
buenosairesherald.com
21/9/14
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• NASA rover discovers lake on Mars(10/12/14)

• NASA to Look at Climate Change - On Mars (18/11/13)

 

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Russian booster worked properly when deploying Galileo satellites

MOSCOW, August 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Soyuz rocket and Fregat booster worked properly when deploying European Galileo satellites last week when they found to be slightly deviating from the target orbit, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Monday.

“The express analysis of the telemetric data shows that there are no complaints about the work of the onboard equipment of the Soyuz carrier rocket and Fregat booster,” Roscosmos said.


Russia’s Lavochkin aerospace company confirmed on Saturday there were errors in the deployment of European Galileo satellites by its Fregat-MT booster.
“There were orbiting errors,” the company said, following reports that the satellites had deviated from the target orbit.

• Russia’s Soyuz rocket with a Fregat-MT upper stage and two Galileo navigation system satellites blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana, on Friday, August 22.

Roscomos has set up an independent emergency commission to investigate the matter.
http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/746603
25/8/14
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Related:

• Galileo: European Commission requests full details of launch problems from Arianespace and ESA

• Galileo satellites not on right orbit (Arianespace)

• Europe launches navigation satellites to rival GPS

• Galileo : les satellites n'ont pas atteint la bonne orbite...

Galileo: European Commission requests full details of launch problems from Arianespace and ESA

European Commission, Press release, Brussels, 25 August 2014:

Following the failure on Friday August 22nd to inject Galileo satellites 5 and 6 into the correct orbit, the European Commission has requested Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide full details of the incident, together with a schedule and an action plan to rectify the problem.

According to initial information from Arianespace, the problem involved the upper stage of the launcher, as a result of which the satellites were not injected into the required orbit.

The Commission is participating in the Board of Inquiry set up to identify the causes of the problem, which is expected to present preliminary results in the first half of September. This Board of Inquiry will aim to put in place corrective measures at the level of Arianespace to avoid such incidents being repeated with future launches.

ESA has informed the Commission that its Control Centre in Darmstadt (Germany) has the satellites under control, although they are not placed in their intended orbital position. The European Commission is working in close cooperation with the European Space Agency to maximise the possibilities to use the two satellites as part of the Galileo network. 

The Commission has set up an internal Task Force to monitor the situation, working in close contact with ESA and Arianespace. Both ESA and Arianespace have been invited to Brussels to present the initial results of their inquiry to European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship Ferdinando Nelli Feroci in the first week of September.

Commissioner Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, commented "The problem with the launch of the two Galileo satellites is very unfortunate. The European Commission will participate in an inquiry with ESA to understand the causes of the incident and to verify the extent to which the two satellites could be used for the Galileo programme. I remain convinced of the strategic importance of Galileo and I am confident that the deployment of the constellation of satellites will continue as planned."

 

Background - benefits of EU's satellite navigation systems

Galileo is the EU's programme to develop a global satellite navigation system under European civilian control. Galileo signals will allow users to know their exact position in time and space with greater precision and reliability than with the currently existing systems. Galileo will be compatible with and, for some of its services, interoperable with existing similar systems, but will be autonomous.

The improved positioning and timing information supplied by Galileo will have positive implications for many services and users in Europe. Products that people use daily, for example in-car navigation devices and mobile phones will benefit from the extra accuracy provided by Galileo. Galileo's satellite navigation data will also benefit critical services for citizens and users, for example it will make road and rail transport systems safer and improve our responses to emergency situations.

Once it has entered into its operational phase, Galileo will also allow the introduction of a wide range of innovative new products and services in other industries and generate economic growth, innovation and highly skilled jobs. In 2013 the annual global market for global navigation satellite products and services was valued at €175 billion and it is expected to grow over the next years to an estimated €237 billion by 2020.

The Commission aims to have the full constellation of 30 Galileo satellites (which includes six in-orbit active spares) in operation before the end of this decade.

To foster economic development and maximise the socio-economic benefits expected from the system, the Commission plans to update the EU's action plan for global navigation satellite system applications and propose new measures to promote the use of Galileo.

Since 2011, four Galileo satellites have been launched and used as part of the In-Orbit Validation phase, allowing the first autonomous position fix to be calculated based on Galileo-only signals in March 2013. 

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is already bringing practical benefits. EGNOS improves the accuracy and the reliability of signals from existing global navigation satellite systems by correcting signal measurement errors and by providing information about signal integrity. EGNOS is used for example by the aviation industry, to provide the positioning accuracy needed for more precise landings, fewer delays and diversions and more efficient routes in Europe.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-945_en.htm?locale=en

25/8/14

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Related:

• Galileo satellites not on right orbit (Arianespace)

• Europe launches navigation satellites to rival GPS

• Galileo : les satellites n'ont pas atteint la bonne orbite...

Galileo satellites not on right orbit (Arianespace)

PARIS: Two European Galileo satellites launched by a Russian-built rocket on Friday (Aug 22) from French Guiana have not reached their intended orbit, launch firm Arianespace said Saturday.

"Observations taken after the separation of the satellites from the Soyuz VS09 (rocket) for the Galileo Mission show a gap between the orbit achieved and that which was planned," the company said in a statement. "They have been placed on a lower orbit than expected. Teams are studying the impact this could have on the satellites.”
Arianespace declined to comment on whether their trajectories can be corrected.

The satellites Doresa and Milena took off from the Kourou space centre in French Guiana at 1227 GMT Friday after a 24-hour delay because of poor weather. They separated from the mothership to enter into free-flight orbit just under four hours after launch.

"These two satellites are the first of a new type of satellite that are fully owned by the EU, a step towards a fully-fledged European-owned satellite navigation system," said the European Commission, which funds the project.

The 5.4 billion euro (S$8.9 billion) Galileo constellation is designed as an alternative to the existing US Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russia's Glonass, and will have search and rescue capabilities.
Four Galileo satellites have been launched previously - one pair in October 2011 and another a year later.

- AFP/rw

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/galileo-satellites-not-on/1326618.html

23/8/14

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Related:

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Reusable moon lander

China is preparing for the launch of an experimental recoverable moon orbiter, said the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense on Sunday.

The orbiter arrived in Xichang in Southwest China's Sichuan Province via air on Sunday and was transported to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, according to a statement from the administration.

The launch will take place before the end of this year. 

The plan is for the orbiter to be launched into lunar orbit and return to Earth. 

It is one of the test models for China's new lunar probe Chang'e-5, which will be tasked with landing on the moon, collecting samples and returning to Earth.

China launched the Chang'e-3 lunar probe with its moon rover, Yutu, in late 2013. Chang'e-3 successfully landed on the moon and Yutu operated well until its control mechanism failed in January.
Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
11/8/14
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Soviet-era satellite burns up in atmosphere after 34 years of service

The Kosmos-1151, a Soviet-era satellite appears to have burned up upon reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, Russian Aerospace Defense Forces spokesman Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin said Tuesday.

“The data analysis … has proven that the Kosmos-1151 spacecraft left its orbit,” Zolotukhin said.

According to experts, parts of the satellite burned up in the dense layers of atmosphere over the Antarctic.

The Kosmos-1151 was launched into orbit on January 23, 1980. The expected lifetime of a satellite in orbit is about half a year.
[indian.ruvr.ru]
5/8/14
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