30 September 2009 – Today a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket bearing the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The flight is on schedule to dock with the ISS on Friday 2nd October. Soyuz Commander Max Suraev, NASA Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte will join ISS Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA's Mike Barratt and Nicole Stott, the European Space Agency's Frank De Winne, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and the Canadian Space Agency's Bob Thirsk. After Padalka, Barratt and Laliberte depart the station in the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft, De Winne will become commander of the next station mission, designated Expedition 21. Padalka and Barratt have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since March 2009
28 September 2009 - Arianespace’s fifth flight of 2009 has been rescheduled to the evening of October 1, allowing complementary checks to be performed on the heavy-lift Ariane 5 launcher. The Ariane 5 currently is positioned in the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building, where the vehicle and its dual-passenger payload of the Amazonas 2 and COMSATBw-1 telecommunications satellites are in a safe mode. With this new timing, the mission’s launch readiness review will be conducted on September 29, which will clear the Ariane 5 for its rollout to the launch zone on the following day. Liftoff is planned on October 1 at the start of a 1 hr. 11 min. launch window that opens at 6:59 p.m. local time in French Guiana. Arianespace remains on schedule to perform a total of seven Ariane 5 missions during 2009 – which will be the busiest year of launch activity for the workhorse launcher since its commercial introduction in 1999.
28 September 2009 - China has announced that it will build and launch, on a Long March rocket, a communication satellite for Laos although no details as to the launch timescale have been given. A new satellite control centre will also be built by the Chinese in Laos to operate the satellite as well as tracking stations.
27 September 2009 – The new launch date for last Friday’s delayed Glonass-M launch will be announced next month according to Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov. The delay of the three satellite launch was caused because of a problem detected in one of the satellites in orbit. The problem will take time to investigate but Roscosmos are confident that their plans to launch six more Glonass satellites this year, on two flights, are still valid.
26 September 2009 – The Thor 6 satellite, of Telenor Satellite Broadcasting AS, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecommunication provider Telenor, is ready to be shipped to Kourou in French Guyana by an Ariane 5. The launch is scheduled on October 29, 2009. Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor of the spacecraft which will be launched by Arianespace for service over Nordics and Central European regions from 1 degree West Longitude orbital location. Thor 6 is scheduled to leave the Thales Alenia Space Cannes plant on September 28. Based on Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000 B2 platform, Thor 6 has a launch mass of 3,050 kg at launch and is fitted with 36 Ku-band transponders. This 7 Kw bird will provide high power services over Europe during a minimum of 15 years lifetime. THOR 6 will provide high power Direct-To-Home (DTH) television broadcasting services. It will replace Thor 3, which is set to retire in 2010, and also provide additional transponder capacity.
26 September 2009 – The Amazonas 2 and COMSATBw-1 satellites have been installed onto the heavy-lift Ariane 5, which is now undergoing a final series of checks in preparation for liftoff on September 30 from the Spaceport in French Guiana. Amazonas 2 will be operated by Spain's HISPASAT with a coverage area extending from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. COMSATBw-1 is a German military satellite that will play an important role in the German Bundeswehr's (German Armed Forces) concept for network-centric operations.
26 September 2009 – SpaceX has successfully tested a proximity sensor, called DragonEye, on NASA's STS-127 shuttle mission. The Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor will be used to guide Dragon spacecraft as they approach the ISS by providing three-dimensional images based on the amount of time it takes for a single laser pulse from the sensor to the reach a target and bounce back, providing range and bearing information from the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. DragonEye will make its operational debut on the final flight of the Dragon spacecraft under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, where the spacecraft will demonstrate the ability to berth with the ISS. Together with SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the Dragon spacecraft is under contract with NASA to provide cargo resupply to the ISS when the Space Shuttle retires. This contract includes 12 flights between 2010 and 2015, with a guaranteed minimum of 20,000 kg of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to be carried to the ISS. SpaceX is the only COTS contender that has the capability to return cargo to Earth.
25 September 2009 – The latest Ariane 5 to arrive at the French Guiana from Europe via the MN Toucan has been transferred by road to the Spaceport – where it is now ready to begin initial build-up in the Launcher Integration Building. This will be the seventh and last flight of the launcher this year. The Launcher Integration Building currently is occupied by the sixth Ariane 5 for launch in 2009, which has completed its basic assembly process and is awaiting the transfer to the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building. The Final Assembly Building is hosting the fifth launcher which is now poised to receive its dual satellite payload of the German COMSATBw-1 military communications satellite and HISPASAT’s Amazonas 2 commercial relay platform due to lift off on September 30.
24 September 2009 – India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C14 successfully launched India’s Remote Sensing satellite, the 960kg Oceansat-2 along with six nanosatellites weighing a total of 20kg, on September 23 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Oceansat-2 is India’s sixteenth remote sensing satellite and it was carried on the sixteenth launch of a PSLC-C14 which is India’s workhorse launcher. The in-orbit replacement for Oceansat-1, launched in 1999, will be used to study physical and biological aspects of oceanography, and has a five year mission life. Four of the nanosatellites were from Germany with one from Switzerland and one from Turkey. All seven satellites were deployed within twenty minutes of the launch.
24 September 2009 – Following the securing of a US$260 million loan Viktor Yushchenko, President of the Ukraine, has announced that the country's Tsyklon (Cyclone)-4 launch vehicle project will be restarted with a launch from Brazil's Alcantara space center in 2010. The finance was secured from Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development.
23 September 2009 - NASA is targeting October 27 for the flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, pending successful testing and data verification. Senior managers made the decision after a meeting Monday at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The date has been confirmed with the Air Force's Eastern Range and the launch window will extend from 8.00am to noon EDT. There is another launch opportunity on October 28. Technicians at Kennedy have completed the assembly of the rocket on a mobile launch platform. This week, Ares I-X team members are conducting a launch countdown simulation and conducting final checks of the rocket's systems. The checks will begin with the launch abort system simulator atop the rocket
22 September 2009 - The Amazonas 2 satellite has been encapsulated inside Ariane 5’s payload fairing in preparation for the heavy-lift vehicle’s launch later this month. This spacecraft – which will provide the Spanish-based HISPASAT telecommunications operator with relay capacity over the Americas – will ride on the dual-payload flight with the German military satellite COMSATBw-1.
22 September 2009 - Yesterday the Progress M-67 cargo vehicle undocked from the International Space Station and started an autonomous mission that will last until September 27. The craft will carry out an experiment that will study the density, dimensions and reflection of the plasma caused by operation of the liquid propulsion which surrounds the vehicle. On completion of the experiment the Progress M-67 will be de-orbited into the South Pacific.
21 September 2009 - The Demonstration Flight of the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) was successfully berthed at the International Space Station (ISS) on September 18. The HTV was captured by the ISS robotic arm was berthed after being maneuvered by the ISS’s robotic arm. The crew will to transfer the cargo shipped in the Pressurized Carrier of the HTV and the cargo in the unpressurized section will be lifted out by the ISS and Kibo’s robotic arms.
21 September 2009 – The pre-launch processing of the Soyuz TMA-16 continues at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Russian Soyuz crew vehicle has been transported from site 254, the integration and test facility, to the prop filling station at site 31. The filling began on Sunday morning. The second stage of the launcher is currently being integrated with the 4 boosters of the first stage. The flight on September 30 to the ISS will be under the command of Maxim Suraev.
20 September 2009 – China has finished the preliminary selection of astronauts and the list includes 30 men and 15 women who are all serving in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force as pilots. From this list the final five men and two women will be chosen to join the space program. This is the first time women have been included in the selection process. China has sent six astronauts into space since 2003.
19 September 2009 – The next launch of India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C14, is scheduled to carry India’s Remote Sensing satellite, Oceansat-2 along with six nanosatellites on Wednesday, September 23 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. Oceansat-2 will be India’s sixteenth remote sensing satellite and the sixteenth launch of the PSLC-C14 which is India’s workhorse launcher.
19 September 2009 – ESA’s SMOS Earth Explorer has arrived safely at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, where it will be prepared for launch on 2 November. The spacecraft left Thales Alenia Space production facility in the south of France on 15 September and was delivered to the Cosmodrome by an Antonov aircraft along with seven containers of support equipment.
18 September 2009 – Following its successful launch in the early hours from Baikonur the Canadian spacecraft, Nimiq-5, separated from the Breeze-M upper stage and was put under the control of the customer, Telesat. The spacecraft was launched by Proton-M heavy launcher from Baikonur. Launch sequence was nominal, the spacecraft and the upper stage separated from the Launch Vehicle’s third stage in time. Injection into orbit was performed by activations of the upper stage propulsion.
18 September 2009 - The parallel launch campaigns for Arianespace's next two Ariane 5 missions are continuing apace as payload processing for the fifth Ariane 5 flight of 2009 marked a new milestone, and the sixth launcher completed its basic build-up during activity at the Spaceport in French Guiana. For Ariane 5's upcoming mission - planned for the end of this month - the Amazonas 2 payload has now made its first contact with launcher hardware. This step occurred yesterday (September 17) in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation facility as Amazonas 2 was installed on the cone-shaped adapter that serves as its interface with Ariane 5. Amazonas 2 was built by EADS Astrium using the Eurostar E3000 spacecraft bus and will weigh approximately 5,500kg at liftoff. It is to be operated by the Spanish HISPASAT telecommunications operator, and will provide relay capacity over the Americas with a coverage area extending from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Amazonas 2 carries 54 Ku-band transponders and 10 C-band transponders for a wide range of communications services, including direct-to-home television. Joining Amazonas 2 on Ariane 5's late-September mission will be the German COMSATBw-1 military telecommunications satellite, which also is undergoing its pre-launch processing in the Spaceport's S5 facility. With a liftoff weight of 2,500 kg., COMSATBw-1 will play an important role in the German Bundeswehr's (German Armed Forces) concept for network-centric operations. As payload preparations continue for Arianespace's fifth Ariane 5 flight of 2009, the sixth launch vehicle for this year has completed its basic build-up in the Spaceport's Launcher Integration Building. It was "topped off" with the ESC-A cryogenic upper stage and vehicle equipment bay - which were installed as a single unit. The combined integration step is part of a streamlined process for Ariane 5's build-up, which optimizes the preparation workflow and enables Arianespace to maintain the rapid-paced mission with its workhorse vehicle.
17 September 2009 – The two launches from Baikonur only a few hours apart are a record for Roscosmos and must be especially gratifying for the organization as today is celebrated in Russia as the birthday of its famous space scientist and the founder of space flight theory: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Only a few hours after a Soyuz rocket with Fregat upper stage lofted a cluster of satellites, including Russian weather spacecraft Meteor-M, an ILS Proton-M/Breeze-M blasted off from Baikonur to inject into orbit Canadian telecommunications satellite Nimiq-5. For Proton-M, it is the 7th launch this year.
17 September 2009 – Following the successsful launch earlier tonight of the Meteor-M N1 satellite on a Soyuz-2-1b launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 21.55 an International Launch Services’ Proton M/Breeze M rocket lifted off successfully at 01.19 September 18 local time carrying the NIMIQ 5 Communications satellite for Telesat of Canada. All the space on the satellite has been leased to Echo Star Corporation to provide High Powered Ku band capacity to its customer Dish Networks LLC.
17 September 2009 – The twice delayed launch of the Meteor-M N1 took off tonight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 21.55 local time. The Soyuz-2-1b launch vehicle with the Meteor-M-N1, a new generation of Russian meteorological satellites, was launched together with South Africa’s earth imaging Sumbandila ZA-002 microsatellite, SumbandilaSat; Sterkh #2, A COSPAS-SARSAT network satellite transmitting distress signals from ships and aircraft around the world to rescue centers; University Satellite Tatiana 2; UGATUSAT; and BLITS the Ball Lens In The Space, a retro-reflector satellite.
17 September 2009 – This will be very busy evening at the Baikonur Cosodrome if it is decided to try for a third time to launch the Soyuz-2-1b launch vehicle with the Meteor-M-N1 as its Primary Payload as an International Launch Services’ Proton M/Breeze M rocket is also due to lift tonight carrying the Nimiq 5 communications satellite for Telesat, Canada. Although no final decision has yet been taken about the Soyuz launch Baikonur services are preparing to support both launches. Nimiq 5, a Space Systems/Loral 1300 Spacecraft, has 32 Ku-Band transponders with the capability to switch capacity between Canada and the Continental United States coverage areas. The satellite will be located at 72.7° West longitude for the provision of direct-to-home services as part of Telesat's DTH fleet.
16 September 2009 – The second delay of the launch, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, of the Meteor-M-N1 was delayed for technical reasons and should now take place tomorrow.
16 September 2009 – The launch, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, of the Meteor-M-N1, a new generation of Russian meteorological satellites, has been delayed again for the second time in 24 hours.. A new launch time has yet to be decided. The launch on a Soyuz-2-1b launch vehicle with a "Fregat" upper stage has as its primary payload, the Meteor-M-N1 together with South Africa’s earth imaging Sumbandila ZA-002 microsatellite, SumbandilaSat; Sterkh #2, A COSPAS-SARSAT network satellite transmitting distress signals from ships and aircraft around the world to rescue centers; University Satellite Tatiana 2; UGATUSAT; and BLITS the Ball Lens In The Space, a retro-reflector satellite.
16 September 2009 - The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has ordered the first Minotaur V launch vehicle under the company’s Orbital/Suborbital Program-2 (OSP-2) from Orbital Sciences Corporation. The Minotaur V rocket will propel NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) probe on a trajectory to enable it to orbit the Moon. The Air Force’s Space Development and Test Wing (SDTW), located at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, administers the OSP-2 contract. The program office is responsible for all Minotaur vehicles for the Launch Test Squadron (LTS) of SDTW. The company’s new order brings the total number of Minotaur launch vehicles procured by the U.S. Air Force, including space launch and target vehicles, to 28 since the inception of the program in 1997. It also represents the first order of a Minotaur V rocket designed to launch U.S. government satellites into higher-energy orbits for missions related to space exploration and other activities beyond low-Earth orbit. LADEE is a NASA probe that will orbit the Moon to characterize the atmosphere and lunar dust environment and determine the global density, composition, and time variability of the lunar atmosphere before it is perturbed by further human activity. The mission is currently scheduled for launch in May 2012 from Wallops Island, Virginia. Minotaur V is a five-stage space launch vehicle capable of launching satellites weighing up to 650 Kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit or over 400 Kg to trans-lunar and other Earth-escape trajectories. The rocket’s first three stages consist of retired Peacekeeper rocket motors while its fourth and fifth stage motors are commercial Star 48 and Star 37 motors, respectively.
15 September 2009 – The launch, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, of the Meteor-M-N1, a new generation of Russian meteorological satellites, has been delayed by 24 hours because of bad weather conditions at the cosmodrome. The launch on a Soyuz-2-1b launch vehicle with a "Fregat" upper stage has as its primary payload, the Meteor-M-N1 together with South Africa’s earth imaging Sumbandila ZA-002 microsatellite, SumbandilaSat; Sterkh #2, A COSPAS-SARSAT network satellite transmitting distress signals from ships and aircraft around the world to rescue centers; University Satellite Tatiana 2; UGATUSAT; and BLITS the Ball Lens In The Space, a retro-reflector satellite.
14 September 2009 - Leonid Makridenko, DG of Iosifian R&D, the company, which designed and produces the Meteor-M satellites, says that the multipurpose Earth remote sensing spacecraft are considered to be the most complicated. "Our company has dealt with the development of such satellites for many years. About 50 spacecraft of the Meteor type have been orbited over 25 years. The new Meteor-M designed under the Federal Space Program is ready for launch", Makridenko says. The Meteor-M satellites are a new generation of Russian meteorological satellites and will feature following instruments: MSU-MR - Global and regional unit for cloud cover mapping; KMSS - multichannel scanning unit for Earth surface monitoring; MTVZA - imager/sounder for atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, sea surface wind; IRFS-2 - advanced IR sounder for atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles; Severjanin - SAR for Ice monitoring; Radiomet - radio occulation unit for atmospheric temperature and pressure profiles. Meteor-M#1 is due to be orbited by Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat tomorrow from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
13 September 2009 – The Soyuz-2.1b which is to launch the Meteor-M satellite, a new generation of russian meteorological satellites, and a cluster of small satellites on September 15 was rolled out and erected on the launch pad yesterday morning at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
12 September 2009 – The Space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven astronauts ended a 14-day journey of more than 5.7 million miles with an 5:53pm PDT landing Friday at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The mission, designated STS-128, delivered two refrigerator-sized science racks to the International Space Station. One rack will be used to conduct experiments on materials such as metals, glasses and ceramics. The results from these experiments could lead to the development of better materials on Earth. The other rack will be used for fluid physics research. Understanding how fluids react in microgravity could lead to improved designs for fuel tanks, water systems and other fluid-based systems. STS-128 Commander Rick Sturckow was joined on the mission by Pilot Kevin Ford, Mission Specialists Pat Forrester, Jose Hernandez, Danny Olivas and European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang. NASA astronaut Nicole Stott flew to the complex aboard Discovery to begin a nearly three-month mission as a station resident, replacing Tim Kopra, who returned home on Discovery. Weather concerns prevented the crew from returning to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the primary end-of-mission landing site. In 7-10 days, Discovery will be transported approximately 2,500 miles from California to Florida on the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet. Once at Kennedy, Discovery will be separated from the aircraft to begin processing for its next flight, targeted for March 2010. In addition to carrying a new station crew member, Discovery and the crew also delivered a new sleeping compartment, an air purification system and a treadmill named after comedian Stephen Colbert. The mission included three spacewalks that replaced experiments outside the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory and an empty ammonia storage tank. Ammonia is needed to move excess heat from inside the station to the radiators located outside.
12 September 2009 - NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain signed a memorandum of understanding Friday for cooperation in the field of space transportation. The agreement was signed at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "From shuttle Spacelab missions to the International Space Station, ESA has a long history of participating with NASA in human spaceflight," Bolden said. "With this agreement, it is our intent to continue to build this relationship, sharing valuable engineering analyses and technology concepts that will help transport humans to low Earth orbit and beyond." The agreement will allow NASA and ESA to exchange technical information and personnel, which will aid the eventual development of new transportation systems. It is expected that ESA's Ariane 5 development and flight experience will provide valuable engineering analyses and technology concepts for NASA's new launch and spacecraft systems. "The memorandum of understanding marks a new milestone in the already very strong and long-lasting cooperation between ESA and NASA," said ESA's Dordain. "The exchange of technical information this document allows in the fields of space transportation will be beneficial to both agencies and will facilitate our work toward future launch systems, human spaceflight and exploration missions." The exchanges of information will provide NASA with assistance in a number of areas, including: composite material technology; development of payload shrouds; and management of propellants in spacecraft propulsion systems used for transit to and from lunar orbit.
11 September 2009 - Japan has successfully launched it H-IIB launch vehicle together with the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) from the Yoshinobu Launch Pad at the Tanegashima Space Center at 2.01 am JST on September 11 (5.01pm GMT 10 September ). The H-IIB launch vehicle is an upgraded version of the H-IIA with a larger launch capacity. This was the maiden flight for the rocket, the first time the HTV has been used and when it docks with the ISS on Saturday it will be the first time that the grapple hook on the ISS has been used to capture a module. The two-stage launch vehicle, manufactured by Mitsubishi and JAXA, uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant and has four strap-on solid rocket boosters. The first-stage body diameter has been expanded to 5.2m and its length has been extended by 1 metre over the H-IIA rocket. This new first stage has two engines, not one as on the H-IIA and this engine stage is a first for JAXA and a real engineering challenge. The 10 metre HTV unmanned orbital transfer vehicle weighs 16.5 tons and carries a 6-ton load. The HTV has 2 types of logistics carrier: a pressurized section where crewmembers can work when the HTV is berthed to the ISS; and an unpressurized section that accommodates Kibo’s Exposed Facility payloads on the exposed pallet. The HTV will approach the ISS using the relative GPS navigation system and the Rendezvous Laser Radar. The vehicle will then halt at a predetermined region called Capture Box about 10 meters below KIBO, the Japanese experimental module and then the Space Station Remote Manipulator System will capture the HTV and berth it to the ISS.
11 September 2009 – Yesterday ATK Space Systems and NASA has conducted the successful stationary firing of the five-segment solid development motor 1, or DM-1. This was the initial full-scale, full-duration test firing of the first stage motor for the Ares I rocket. ATK Space Systems, a division of Alliant Techsystems of Brigham City, Utah, is the prime contractor for the Ares I first stage. Engineers will use the measurements gathered from the test to evaluate thrust, roll control, acoustics and motor vibrations. This data will provide valuable information as NASA develops the Ares I and Ares V vehicles. Another ground test is planned for summer 2010. "With this test, we have taken lessons learned from many years of experience in solid rocket motor development and have built on that foundation," said Alex Priskos, first stage manager for Ares Projects at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "Our team collected data from 650 sensors today to evaluate the motor's performance. This test and those that follow are essential to understanding as many aspects of our motor as possible, including strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately delivering the safest and most reliable motor possible." This was the second attempt to conduct the two-minute rocket test at ATK's test stand in Promontory, Utah. The first test on August 27 was canceled with 20 seconds left in the countdown because of a problem with a component of the ground controller unit, which sends power to the system that moves the nozzle during the test. Through a detailed investigation, the engineering team pinpointed the problem and replaced the faulty part. Marshall manages the Ares Projects and is responsible for design and development of the Ares I rocket and Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Constellation Program, which includes the Ares I, Ares V, Orion crew module and Altair lunar lander. The program also includes multiple project teams at NASA centers and contract organizations around the United States.
10 September 2009 – A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, on behalf of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, successfully launched the PAN satellite at 5:35 pm EDT on Tuesday from Space Launch Complex-41 as a commercial launch service. This launch marks the 10th overall mission for ULA in 2009 and the third Atlas V mission of the year. “ULA is proud to have played a critical role in the success of this important mission,” said Mark Wilkins, ULA vice president of Atlas programs. “Close teamwork with Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral made today’s launch possible.” This mission was launched aboard an Atlas V 401 configuration and used a single common core booster powered by the RD-180 engine and a single engine Centaur upper stage. The launch portion of the mission was completed with spacecraft separation approximately two hours after launch. ULA's next launch, currently scheduled for no earlier than September 18, is the STSS Demo satellite for the United States Missile Defense Agency aboard a Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-17B.
10 September 209 - NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Canadian Space Agency President Steve MacLean signed a framework agreement on Wednesday for cooperative activities in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. Canadian Ambassador to the United States Michael Wilson hosted the signing at the Canadian Embassy in Washington. "NASA is very proud of its long and outstanding relationship with Canada, one that has been nurtured during the past four decades with increasing collaboration in a wide range of space science and exploration activities," NASA's Bolden said. "As NASA continues to enhance the scientific observation of our planet and the solar system, we are looking to Canada and our other international partners to play key roles in our future exploration plans." Commenting on the significance of the signing, MacLean said, "The United States has been a critical partner for Canada ever since the launch of the Alouette-1 satellite in 1962. From these early beginnings, we have worked together to forge a space alliance that has become a catalyst, driving generations of space expertise, innovation, science, and technological excellence through our participation in space projects that continue to serve the interests of both our nations."
10 September 2009 – Arianespace's ability to maintain its Ariane 5 mission pace is underscored by the latest parallel launch campaign activity at Europe's Spaceport, where two of the heavy-lift vehicles are being prepared for upcoming launches. The sixth Ariane 5 for launch in 2009 is now taking shape in the Launcher Integration Building, where its core cryogenic stage has been erected and the vehicle's two solid rocket boosters are moved into position for mating. Nearby in the Final Assembly Building, an Ariane 5 that earlier completed the build-up process is awaiting the installation of its two satellite payloads - Germany's COMSATBw-1 military communications satellite and the Amazonas 2 commercial relay spacecraft for Spain's HISPASAT.
10 September 2009 – The reason for the abrupt ending to India’s ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission has now be discovered to be a miscalculation of the Moon’s temperature that had led to a faulty protection of the spacecraft being activated. Chandrayaan-1 may have met a premature death, but the mission met 90 to 95% of its scientific objectives. Chandrayaan’s high-resolutions cameras have sent over 70,000 digital images of the lunar surface including pictures of mountains, craters, and the permanently shadowed area of Moon’s polar region. All the data was downloaded from the spacecraft on a regular basis and no scientific data was lost. John Yembrick, public affair officer (space operations) NASA headquarters, said, "NASA has obtained an abundance of data during our operations. Work is on to analyze that information."
9 September 2009 – Russia has announced the construction of a new space centre in the Far East of the country will start in 2011. Russia currently uses two launch sites for space carrier rockets: The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia. The new Vostochny space center will be built on the former site of the Svobodny space center and will have seven launch pads including two for manned flights and two for space freighters. Work on the station will be carried out in three stages, and should be completed in 2018.
9 September 2009 – The Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew are expected to return to Earth Thursday after a 13-day mission. Two landing opportunities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are available at 7:05 p.m. and 8:42 p.m. EDT. NASA will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Discovery and its crew to land. If bad weather prevents a return on Thursday, both Kennedy and the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California will be activated for consideration on Friday.
9 September 2009 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has set the launch time of the H-IIB Launch Vehicle with the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Demonstration Flight onboard from the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) at 2:01:46 am on Friday September 11 2009 (JST).
9 September 2009 - New Horizons sails silently today through another milestone on the way to its historic reconnaissance of the Pluto system, reaching the halfway point between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. “Only five operating spacecraft have ever journeyed this far, and only one – the storied Voyager 2 mission – still had an encounter planned even farther out,” says New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. “New Horizons is on its way to the farthest planetary encounter ever.”
8 September 2009 – Eutelsat will launch its W7 satellite on an ILS Proton. satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space and is currently in preparation for delivery to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. ILS and Khrunichev are implementing a mission integration schedule to support a mid-November 2009 launch. The W7 satellite was built on the Spacebus 4000 C4 platform with a launch mass of approximately 5600 kg and has a 15 year life expectancy. Situated at 36 degrees East, the spacecraft will replace Eutelsat’s SESAT 1 satellite, launched on ILS Proton in early 2000. It will also double the capacity available within a key neighborhood among the fleet of geostationary satellites and provide enhanced coverage for Central Asia and Africa. The Proton vehicle is Russia’s premier heavy-lift launcher and is built by Khrunichev Research and Production Space Center, the majority owner of ILS.
8 September 2009 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has decided to hire another astronaut candidate, Norishige Kanai MD, from the back-up list of candidates. He will join Yui Kimiya and Takuya Onishi, hired in April. The three will train for two years and will be certified as astronauts upon completion of the course.
7 September 2009 - ORBCOMM Inc and SpaceX have reached an agreement for SpaceX to launch 18 ORBCOMM Generation 2 (OG2) satellites to begin as early as the fourth quarter of 2010 through 2014. SpaceX will deliver ORBCOMM's second-generation satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) for the purpose of supporting ORBCOMM's existing constellation of satellites, adding new features, and growing its global Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) offerings.Each new satellite will be equipped with an enhanced communication payload designed to increase subscriber capacity for M2M communication up to 12 times over the current satellite constellation, increase message sizes, and include AIS detection capability. SpaceX plans to launch the second-generation satellites on multiple Falcon 1e launch vehicles, an enhanced version of SpaceX's Falcon 1 launch vehicle. Most recently, Falcon 1 successfully delivered the RazakSAT satellite to orbit for ATSB of Malaysia. Designed from the ground up by SpaceX, the Falcon 1e has upgraded propulsion, structures and avionics systems in order to further improve reliability and mass-to-orbit capability.
7 September 2009 – After the failure of the Long March 3B rocket to inject Indosat’s Palapa D satellite into its correct orbit last week Thales Alenia Space has announced that the Palapa-D communications satellite has now been placed into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), which will enable starting a nominal Launch Early Operation Phase. The three perigee boost manoeuvres required to adapt the injection orbit at spacecraft separation were performed successfully. They were carried out securely and with optimised use of propellant.
7 September 2009 - The German military communications satellite passenger for Arianespace's upcoming Ariane 5 flight has arrived in French Guiana to begin its pre-launch processing in preparation for a liftoff later this month. COMSATBw-1 is a secure relay platform that will play an important role in the German Bundeswehr's (German armed forces) concept for network-centric operations. It is to handle secure information for use by units on deployed missions - including voice, fax, data, video and multimedia applications - as the backbone of a strategic command infrastructure and interface with the tactical arms of the German Armed Forces. The overall industrial responsibility for this secure communication program is with Milsat Services (a 75 percent Astrium/25 percent subsidiary of ND SatCom Defence). The COMSATBw-1 spacecraft was delivered to French Guiana this week, flown in aboard a chartered Antonov An-124 cargo jetliner that landed at Cayenne's Rochambeau International Airport. It was then transferred by road to the Spaceport's payload preparation facility, which is designed to provide total security in the processing of such sensitive satellites. COMSATBw-1 will be launched on Ariane 5's late September mission along with the Amazonas 2 satellite, which arrived in French Guiana last week and is undergoing pre-launch processing in the S5 facility.
5 September 2009 - NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc have rescheduled the test of the new first-stage solid rocket motor for the Ares I rocket. The static firing of the five-segment solid motor, designated development motor -1, is scheduled for 1 p.m. MDT on Thursday, Sept. 10, at the ATK test facility in Promontory, Utah. The first firing attempt on August 27 was scrubbed because of an anomaly with the ground test controller. The goal of this test is to obtain valuable thrust, roll-control, acoustics and vibration data as engineers continue to design the Ares vehicles.
3 September 2009 - The first-arrived payload for Ariane 5's next flight is undergoing initial checkout at the Spaceport in French Guiana as preparations move forward for Arianespace's dual-passenger mission later this month - which will be its fifth heavy-lift launch of 2009. Amazonas 2 is in the Spaceport's S5 satellite preparation facility, having been removed from the shipping container that protected this EADS Astrium-built spacecraft during its trans-Atlantic voyage from Europe aboard a cargo jetliner last week. Weighing approximately 5,500 kg at liftoff, Amazonas 2 will be injected into geostationary transfer orbit by Ariane 5, and is to operate from a final orbital slot of 61 deg. West. The satellite is based on EADS Astrium's Eurostar E3000 spacecraft bus, which will supply a payload power of about 14 kW. Riding with Amazonas 2 on the upcoming Ariane 5 mission will be Germany's COMSATBw-1 military telecommunications satellite. COMSATBw-1 is part of a secure information network to supply voice, fax and advanced data, video and multimedia applications for the German armed forces, including units on deployed missions. EADS Astrium is prime contractor for this program's space segment, which is composed of two satellites based on the Spacebus platform.
2 September 2009 - . NASA space shuttle Capcom Tony Antonelli informed Discovery commander Rick Sturckow about a possible conjunction with debris from a portion of an Ariane 5 rocket body. Tony Antonelli reported: We’ve been analyzing whether we need to do Debris Avoidance Maneuver (DAM). We’re considering all the options and they’re all still on the table. The closest point of approach is at GMT 247:15:06 minutes (11:06 a.m. EDT Friday). The options that are still being considered are: we don’t need to do anything; there would be an attitude maneuver with a reboost option that we would accomplish post-EVA; the other is a deboost that will take a good chunk of the time tomorrow and would delay EVA 2 by a day. NASA PAO commentary summarized that Mission Control has not yet decided if there is a need for an avoidance maneuver. Flight controllers will continue to evaluate the conjunction before making that determination. The object, with unknown dimensions, is in a highly-elliptical orbit, 32,000 by 317 kilometers. Experts in Mission Control believe the object will make its closest approach to the shuttle and station on Friday morning just after 11 a.m. EDT, at a distance of just under 11 kilometers. Since no DAM decision has been made, preparations will continue to conduct the second spacewalk on Thursday.
2 September 2009 - The first of three STS-128 spacewalks concluded today at 12:24 a.m. EDT. It lasted 6 hours, 35 minutes. The spacewalkers, Danny Olivas and Nicole Stott, completed all of their major objectives.
2 September 2009 – Following reports of the failure of the Palapa D satellite to reach its intended orbit after its launch on Sunday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China the satellite’s manufacturer, Thales Alenia Space, has announced that it has captured the satellite and it is now able to conduct orbit maneuvers. Just how the launch problems will impact on positioning the satellite into its preset orbit and over what timescale has yet to be determined along with the long term viability of the satellite. The satellite was launched by a Chinese-made Long March 3B rocket for the Indonesian satellite communications company Indosat, and is designed to provide satellite links and broadcasting services to Indonesia and other southeastern Asian nations.
2 September 2009 - NASA has taken a major step toward building the next crew exploration vehicle by completing the Orion Project's preliminary design review, or PDR. Orion is being designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and other destinations. The preliminary design review is one of a series of checkpoints that occurs in the design life cycle of a complex engineering project before hardware manufacturing can begin. As the review process progresses, details of the vehicle's design are assessed to ensure the overall system is safe and reliable for flight and meets all NASA mission requirements. The Orion features a capsule-shaped crew module designed for maximum crew operability and safety, a service module housing utility systems and propulsion components and a launch abort system for improved astronaut safety. The preliminary design review evaluated the vehicle's capability, as currently designed, to support three types of missions: flights to the International Space Station, weeklong missions to the moon and missions to the moon for up to 210 days. The PDR process culminated with a review board that concluded August 31 and established the basis for proceeding to the critical design phase of Orion. Participants identified technical and management challenges and addressed ways to reduce potential risks as the project goes forward. NASA will continue the review process with an independent agency-level evaluation to validate the PDR results and gain formal approval to transition the project into the next life cycle phase.
2 September 2009 - Arianespace has taken delivery of the fifth heavy-lift Ariane 5 to be launched from the Spaceport in French Guiana this year. This milestone occurred on Monday with the Ariane 5's transfer from the Spaceport's Launcher Integration Building - where its basic build-up was performed by industrial prime contractor EADS Astrium, to the Final Assembly Building - where Arianespace will handle the payload installation. For the upcoming flight, Arianespace will perform another of its trademark dual-passenger missions - orbiting the Amazonas 2 telecommunications satellite for Spain's HISPASAT, and the GMS military communications satellite for Germany
1 September 2009 – A problem with the third stage ignition of yesterday’s Long March 3B rocket launch means that the The Palapa-D satellite, that was scheduled to replace Palapa-C2, has not reached its required orbit and looks to be total loss. The launch took place at the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center, in Sichuan Province on Monday at 09:28 UTC. Palapa-C2 is due to come to the end of its life in 2011 and its replacement Palapa-D, based on a Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000B3, was equipped with 24 standard C-band, 11 extended C-band and 5 Ku-band transponders, to cover Indonesia, ASEAN countries, Asia, Middle East and Australia. This was China’s first launch for four months and the Long March 3B is their most powerful vehicle featuring enlarged launch propellant tanks, upgraded computer systems, a larger payload fairing and four strap-on boosters on the core of the rocket. The first successful launch of 3B took place in August 1997 and the Palapa launch was the 13th 3B flight.
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