31 December 2009 – The Dnepr rocket that will launch CryoSat-2 arrived at Tyurstam railway station where it is completing customs checks before being moved the short distance to site 75 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The rocket will launch ESA’s CryoSat-2 early in 2010. The satellite has been designed to answer the question of whether global climate change is causing the polar ice caps to shrink which is one of the most hotly debated environmental issues we currently face. By monitoring precise changes in the thickness of the polar ice sheets and floating sea ice, CryoSat-2 aims to answer this question. It will carry a sophisticated radar altimeter called SIRAL (Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometric Radar Altimeter) that is based on heritage from existing instruments, but with several major enhancements designed to overcome the difficulties intrinsic to the precise measurement of ice surfaces.
30 December 2009 - Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Federal Space Agency, said on the Voice of Russia radio station that by the end of 2010 the GLONASS orbital group will consist of 24 satellites. However, the head of the Federal Space Agency acknowledged that the GLONASS - a very complex program, has not always gone smoothly. According to Perminov, next year, the focus should be given not only the orbital grouping, but also using ground-based equipment.
29 December 2009 - The Proton M Breeze M rocket carrying the DirecTV 12 satellite took off successfully from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The three stages of the Proton vehicle all performed as planned. The 5-burn Breeze M upper stage performed all the planned mission maneuvers to complete the mission approximately 9 hours and 10 minutes after lift-off.
28 December 2009 - The Proton-M has been moved to the launch pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ready for the launch tomorrow of DirecTV-12. The DIRECTV 12 next-generation satellite will play an important role in extending DIRECTV’s content leadership position in the pay TV industry. When it becomes operational, at 102.8 degrees longitude, in the first half of next year, it will expand DIRECTV’s HD capacity by 50 percent to more than 200 national channels. The 131-transponder payload integrates 32 active and 12 spare TWTAs (Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiers) at Ka-band for national service and 55 active and 15 spare TWTAs for spot beams. The payload is powered by a gallium arsenide solar array that spans more than 48 meters. DIRECTV 12 will receive and transmit programming throughout the United States with two large Ka-band reflectors, each measuring 2.8 meters in diameter and nine other Ka-band reflectors. The first three stages of the Proton will use a standard ascent profile to place the Ascent Unit (payload fairing, Breeze M upper stage and the DIRECTV12 satellite) into a sub-orbital trajectory. From this point in the mission, the Breeze M will perform planned mission maneuvers to advance the Orbital Unit first to a circular parking orbit, then to an intermediate orbit, followed by a transfer orbit, and finally to a geo-transfer orbit. Separation of the DIRECTV 12 satellite is scheduled to occur approximately 9 hours, 10 minutes after liftoff.
26 December 2009 - The European Space Agency has signed a contract with Astrium for the initial development phase of its program to enhance the performance of the Ariane launch vehicle and make it even more competitive. With the 49th flight of Ariane 5 from Kourou successfully launched, Astrium, is already at work on an even more powerful version of the launcher on behalf of ESA. The Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME) program aims to raise the payload capacity of Ariane 5 from 10 to 12 tonnes, an increase of 20%. The teams at Astrium Space Transportation are working on the development of an entirely new upper stage for the launch vehicle. Among other things, it will feature a new, re-ignitable Vinci engine, which will make it possible to optimise the insertion into orbit of the satellites and other spacecraft it transports and prolong their service life in orbit. Astrium is also planning to introduce a new generation of avionics and flight software that will further enhance the performance of the launch vehicle’s electronic control systems. The contract is worth €150 million over two years.
23 December 2009 - Orbital Sciences Corporatio has signed a contract for a new geosynchronous communications satellite contract with OverHorizon. The spacecraft will be based on Orbital’s industry-leading STARTM 2 satellite platform and will carry an on-board processing payload provided by Thales Alenia Space. Both Orbital and Thales Alenia Space will share in the contract responsibilities as co-prime partners. The satellite will be delivered in early 2012. The OverHorizon satellite will provide a regenerative system for broadband communications services. Delivered via satellite, OverHorizon will provide its services to, from, and between small, inexpensive user terminals installed on mobile vehicles, such as cars, trucks, boats and airplanes.
23 December 2009 - NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi docked with the ISS at 5:48pm EST Tuesday. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at 4:52pm Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. From inside the station, Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev monitored the approach of the Russian spacecraft as it docked to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module.
22 December 2009 - Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A on January 6. Liftoff of the spacecraft on the STS-130 mission is targeted for February 7 at 4:39am EST. Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission and Terry Virts will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space. Endeavour will deliver a third connecting module, the Tranquility node, to the station in addition to the seven-windowed Cupola module, which will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.
22 December 2009 – Following the partial success of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) in August this year South Korea is to attempt a second launch of the rocket in the first half of 2010. The two-stage Naro-1 rocket was the first rocket launched from South Korea and was developed in cooperation with Russia. KSLV-2 will be launched from the Naro Space Center south of Seoul.
21 December 2009 – The Russian TMA-17 spacecraft was successfully launched at 00:52 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and separated from the Soyuz-FG booster on schedule at 1:01 Moscow time carrying the crew of Expedition 22, Oleg Kotov (Roscosmos), JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi and NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer. It is scheduled to dock with the ISS in its automated mode at 1:52 on Wednesday (22:52 Tuesday GMT) where they will join NASA’s Jeff Williams, commander of the Expedition 22 crew and and Russian Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev, who have been on the complex since October.
19 December 2009 – Yesterday’s successful launch of the French Helios 2B military observation satellite aboard the seventh Ariane 5 launch of the year came only days before the 30th anniversary of Ariane’s maiden flight, which was performed on December 24, 1979 with an Ariane 1 version. During the past 30 years there has been 277 satellites launched. Yesterday’s flight also marked the 35th consecutive successful launch for Ariane 5. The company has signed 10 new contracts in 2009 and will comntinue with a launch rate of six to seven Ariane 5s. Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said that 2010 promises to be another busy year for Arianespace, with mission planning that includes the second flight of an Automated Transfer Vehicle to service the International Space Station, as well as the introduction of Soyuz and Vega launchers at the Spaceport.
18 December 2009 - Arianespace’s year-ending mission of 2009 is now underway following liftoff of an Ariane 5 GS from Europe’s Spaceport carrying the Helios 2B military observation platform. Payload lift performance for today's launch is approximately 4,200kg with the spacecraft to be injected into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit at the conclusion of a 59 min., 23 sec. mission.
18 December 2009 - Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the final module of the US portion of the International Space Station on the STS-130 mission, now targeted to launch February 7. Endeavour's flight will begin the final year of space shuttle operations. Five shuttle missions are planned in 2010, with the final flight currently targeted for launch in September. Endeavour's 13-day flight will include three spacewalks and the delivery of the Tranquility node, a connecting module that will increase the International Space Station's interior space. Tranquility will provide additional room for crew members and many of the space station's life support and environmental control systems. Attached to the node is a cupola, which is a robotic control station and has seven windows to provide a panoramic view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecrafts. After the node and cupola are added, the space station will be about 90 percent complete.
17 December 2009 – The final Ariane 5 flight of the year has been scrubbed after the countdown was halted during the final minutes. As this mission has an exact moment of liftoff due to its trajectory to place Helios 2B into Sun-synchronous polar orbit, the countdown’s interruption requires a rescheduling of the mission. The third attempt to launch the rocket will take place tomorrow.
17 December 2009 - Orbital Sciences Corporation has been selected by Intelsat to design, build and deliver the Intelsat 23 (IS-23) commercial communications satellite. The satellite will be based on Orbital's flight-proven STAR-2 platform. The IS-23 satellite will generate 4.8 kilowatts of payload power and carry 15 active Ku-band and 24 active C-band transponders. It will be located in orbit at 53 degrees West longitude following its launch in late 2011. The spacecraft will provide communications services for the Americas, Europe and Africa. The IS-23 satellite is expected to have a useful life of at least 15 years. It is the 28th Orbital-built geosynchronous communications satellite ordered by customers throughout the world since 2001 and will be the 10th in the Intelsat fleet.
17 December 2009 - Arianespace's seventh and final Ariane 5 for 2009 is back on the launch ready to start the final countdown to today’s liftoff. The vehicle was transferred from its Final Assembly Building to the ELA-3 launch zone yesterday morning following corrective actions that were taken on the liquid helium subsystem in Ariane 5's cryogenic main stage. This work was required after an anomaly occurred during the original final countdown on December 9. For the year-ending mission, Helios 2B is a solo payload on Ariane 5, with the 4,200-kg satellite to be deployed into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit.
16 December 2009 - NASA has purchased two reusable solid rocket motors from ATK Launch Systems Inc. of Brigham City, Utah, to provide a "launch on need" rescue capability for the final planned space shuttle mission, targeted for September 2010. The reusable solid rocket motors are the propellant-loaded sections of the solid rocket boosters that provide thrust for the first two minutes of a shuttle flight. The $64.6 million modification brings the total value of the contract, which was awarded in October 1998, to $4.1 billion and covers work started in February to produce and transport the two motors. Work will be performed at the contractor's plants in Brigham City and Clearfield, Utah, and facilities at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
14 December 2009 – Three Glonass-M satellites were launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome today. The navigational spacecraft numbers 30, 33 and 34 were launched by a Proton-M booster rocket at 13:38 Moscow time. The system now has the 18 satellites that are required for continuous navigation services covering the entire territory of Russia. It was hoped the last six satellites needed to provide worldwide services would be launched in 2009 however, today’s launch will be the last this year so the final three, taking the total to 24, will not now be launched until February 2010.
14 December 2009 - NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, lifted off over the Pacific Ocean earlier today on its way to map the entire sky in infrared light. A Delta II rocket carrying the spacecraft launched at 9:09am EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket deposited WISE into a polar orbit 326 miles above Earth. Engineers acquired a signal from the spacecraft via NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System just 10 seconds after the spacecraft separated from the rocket. Approximately three minutes later, WISE re-oriented itself with its solar panels facing the sun to generate its own power. The next major event occurred about 17 minutes later. Valves on the cryostat, a chamber of super-cold hydrogen ice that cools the WISE instrument, opened. Because the instrument sees the infrared, or heat, signatures of objects, it must be kept at chilly temperatures -- its coldest detectors are less than minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit. With the spacecraft stable, cold and communicating with mission controllers at JPL, a month-long checkout and calibration is underway. WISE will see the infrared colors of the whole sky with sensitivity and resolution far better than the last infrared sky survey, performed 26 years ago. The space telescope will spend nine months scanning the sky once, then one-half the sky a second time. The primary mission will end when WISE's frozen hydrogen runs out, about 10 months after launch.
14 December 2009 - Corrective actions on the liquid helium subsystem on Ariane 5's cryogenic main stage are now being completed, enabling Arianespace to set a new date for the launch of the HELIOS 2B satellite.Liftoff of the Ariane 5 launcher is now scheduled for Thursday, December 17, 2009 at: 1:26pm local time in Kourou, French Guiana.
14 December 2009 - China will launch a remote-sensing satellite, " Yaogan VIII" this week aboard a Long March 4C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province. On Wednesday 9 December China launched “Yaogan VII” from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
12 December 2009 - The launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, spacecraft aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been rescheduled for Monday, December 14. The launch window extends from 9:09 to 9:23am EST. The first launch attempt scheduled for December 11 was delayed because of a problem with the motion of a booster steering engine. Mission managers have implemented a plan to resolve the issue. This plan includes removing and replacing a suspect component. The current weather forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather at launch time on Monday.
11 December 2009 – On Wednesday China launched Yaogan VII, a remote-sensing satellite, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The satellite, launched by a Long March 2D carrier rocket, was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and will be used for scientific experiment, land resources survey, crop yield estimates and disaster prevention and reduction.
10 December 2009 - Alliant Techsystems and the US Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center have successfully ground tested the second stage rocket motor of the company's Taurus II launch vehicle at AEDC in Tennessee. The solid-fuel CASTOR 30 motor, which is supplied to Orbital Sciences Corporation by ATK Space Systems of Magna, Utah, was test fired for approximately 150 seconds, producing 72,000lbs of maximum thrust. In order to accurately test the motor performance, the static fire test was conducted using a vacuum chamber specially designed to simulate upper atmospheric conditions, since motor is designed to ignite at altitudes in excess of 100,000ft. Taurus II is a two-stage launch vehicle designed to provide reliable and affordable access to space for medium-class payloads weighing up to 12,000lbs. Orbital currently has a backlog of nine Taurus II launches that support NASA's cargo transportation requirements for the International Space Station. The first launch of the Taurus II rocket is scheduled for March 2011 to demonstrate the capabilities of the cargo delivery system the company is developing for NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) research and development project. NASA has also selected Orbital for an eight-mission, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services
9 December 2009 - During the final count-down operations at Kourou for the final Ariane flight of the year, Flight 193 slated for today, an anomaly occurred in a launcher subsystem. As a result, Arianespace has decided to replace this part, and thus to postpone the launch for a few days. The launch vehicle and its HELIOS 2B satellite payload have been placed in stand-by mode and maintained in fully safe conditions.
8 December 2009 - Arianespace’s seventh and final Ariane 5 launch of 2009 was given the green light yesterday, clearing this mission for a mid-day liftoff on December 9 with the French Helios 2B military observation satellite. The flight’s go-ahead was granted after yesterday’s launch readiness review, which is held before every Ariane mission to validate the Ariane 5’s status, along with its payload, the launch infrastructure at Europe’s Spaceport, and the network of ground tracking stations. The Helios 2B will be injected into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit during a mission lasting 59 min., 23 sec.
8 December 2009 - The launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, aboard a Delta II rocket is scheduled for Friday, December 11, between 9:09am and 9:23am EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
7 December 2009 – According to Roscosmos Russia will launch four manned and six cargo supply missions to the International Space Station in 2010.
6 December 2009 - The 30th anniversary of Ariane's first flight was celebrated on December 3 in Washington, D.C., where Arianespace Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall underscored the importance of launch services maturity and continuity in today's competitive marketplace. Speaking to attendees at the company's annual holiday gathering, Le Gall said three decades of operations has seen the Ariane launch site in French Guiana become the world's most advanced space center.He recalled the maiden flight of Ariane 1 on Christmas Eve 1979, noting that the dedication of a small, but determined team of engineers and scientists paved the way for Arianespace's creation as the world's first commercial launch services company. In a reference to the operational expertise gained since this milestone Ariane mission, Le Gall joked that one key conclusion of such a successful heritage is: "Don't trust anyone under the age of 30," noting that experience is vital for launch services quality and performance.
4 December 2009 – SpaceX has recently conducted its first Dragon spacecraft operations training for a group of NASA astronauts and personnel at its corporate headquarters in Hawthorne, California. The October training focused on how the crew will interface with the Dragon spacecraft while it is approaching and berthed to the International Space Station. Three of the participating astronauts—Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock—will be on board the ISS when Dragon makes its first visit under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The astronauts were briefed on vehicle ingress and egress, habitability of the spacecraft, payload handling and commanding through SpaceX's COTS UHF Communication Unit. The training was a key step in SpaceX's progress towards providing NASA an alternative for cargo transport to and from the ISS when the Space Shuttle retires. Under the COTS program, SpaceX will execute three flights of the Dragon spacecraft. Dragon will pass in close proximity to, and berth with, the ISS as part of the second and third COTS missions, respectively. Upon completion of these demonstration flights, SpaceX will begin to fulfill the Commercial Resupply Services contract for 12 cargo flights between 2010 and 2015 and represents a guaranteed minimum of 20,000kg to be carried to the ISS.
3 December 2009 - Arianespace’s last Ariane 5 flight of the year has entered final preparations for its liftoff next week with France’s Helios 2B military observation satellite. This seventh launch of the year is set for 1:26pm on December 9 from the Spaceport in French Guiana. Helios 2B will weigh approximately 4,200kg at liftoff and was produced by EADS Astrium as prime contractor. The satellite’s European industrial team also includes Thales Alenia Space, which supplied the reconnaissance satellite’s high resolution imaging instrument.
2 December 2009 – Following the recent successful launch of Texus 46, Texus 47 was successfully launched from Esrange Space Center on November 29. The Texus project is a sounding rocket program with the primary aim to investigate the properties and behaviour of materials, chemicals and biological substances in a microgravity environment. The program started in 1977 and is a part of the European programme for Life and Physical Sciences and applications using the International Space Station (ELIPS) as well as of the German programme ‘Forschung unter Weltraumbedingungen’. “Both launches went very smooth and all systems functioned as planned”, said Otfried Joop, the Texus project manager at DLR. “The payloads were back at Esrange very quickly after the flights and the de-integration work of the experiments shows excellent conditions of the experiment modules. According to preliminary analysis, the scientific results are very good”. The Texus program is carried out jointly by the German Space Agency (DLR), the European Space Agency (ESA), EADS Astrium and the SSC. The experiments for flight 46 and 47 were financed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and DLR.
2 December 2009 – Yesterday’s launch of the Air Force Delta IV Wideband Global SATCOM-3 has been delayed by 24 hours due to approaching inclement weather at Cape Canaveral AFS. The WGS satellites provide high-capacity military communications for the United States and are a replacement for the country’s Defense Satellite Communication System which has been in use over two decades. WGS-3 is the third and final satellite of the first phase with a further two satellites planned for the second phase.
1 December 2009 - A Land Lunch Zenit-3SLB vehicle successfully launched the Intelsat 15 satellite (IS-15) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan 4:00pm ET, followed by signal acquisition and spacecraft separation about six and a half hours later at 10:28pm ET. The satellite, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, will provide video and data services through its high power Ku-band payload. Once IS-15 is operational, it will replace Intelsat’s 709 satellite at 85º E, and is expected to have a useful life of at least 17 years. The Zenit-3SLB is a modernized three-stage version of the Zenit-3SL, used on Sea Launch's floating platform in the Pacific Ocean, developed for land-based launches.
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