Military weather spy satellite apparently exploded in orbit

Dear readers and followers,

A 20-year-old military weather satellite apparently exploded in orbit February. 3rd 2015 following what the U.S. Air Force described as a sudden temperature spike. The “catastrophic event” produced 43 pieces of space debris, according to Air Force Space Command, which disclosed the loss of the satellite on February 27th 2015. 

Credit image: US air force

The satellite, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13, was the oldest continuously operational satellite in the DMSP weather constellation. Launched in 1995, DMSP-F13 provided thousands of hours of weather imagery to Air Force and Navy forecasters before transitioning to a backup role in 2006. The Air Force said its sudden loss would have minimal impact. DMSP-F13 flew in a 800 kilometers sun-synchronous polar orbit popular for weather and spy satellites.

“Because this satellite was no longer used by the National Weather Service or the Air Force Weather Agency, the impact of the loss of this satellite is minimal,” the Air Force said. “We anticipate real-time weather data for tactical users will be slightly reduced without this satellite, but its data was not being used for weather forecast modeling.”

The Air Force still has six DMSP satellites in service following the launch last April of DMSP-F19. A seventh satellite, DMSP-F20, was under consideration for a 2016 launch as recently as November.

Air Force Space Command said DMSP-F13’s power subsystem experienced “a sudden spike in temperature” followed by “an unrecoverable loss of attitude control.” As DMSP operators were deciding to “render the vehicle safe” the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, identified a debris field near the satellite. The Air Force said it is continuing to track the debris and will issue conjunction warnings if necessary.

“While the initial response is complete, JSpOC personnel will continue to assess this event to learn more about what happened and what it will mean for users within this orbit,” said Air Force Col. John Giles, the Joint Space Operations Center’s director.

The first public indication of a problem with DMSP-F13 came from T.S. Kelso, a senior research astrodynamicist for Analytical Graphics’ Center for Space Standards and Innovation in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who noted Feb. 25 that there had been “another debris event with 26 new pieces” in addition to five previously cataloged DMSP-F13 objects.

Source: Space news

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Student built rocket took off from the Bonneville salt flats, Utah

Credit image: NASA - Dusty hood 

A student-built rocket took off from the brilliant white hardpan of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, Utah, May 17th 2014 during the Student Launch rocketry competition. 

Sixteen teams, comprised of some 250 student participants from 15 states, launched rockets of their own design, complete with three working science and engineering payloads apiece, cheered on by approximately 500 spectators.

NASA Student Launch is an annual education event, designed to inspire young people to pursue studies and careers in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics field. The event is organized by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and sponsored by ATK Aerospace Group of Magna, Utah. The grand-prize-winning school team will be named by NASA and ATK in late May. 

NASA Minotaur liftoff viewed by a Tarheel

As many of you know, there was a launch from NASA Wallops on the US East Coast and for many it was an unexpected chance to see a rocket go into orbit even if we were several hundred miles away.

I was following the countdown on +Ustream and went outside my home about 5 minutes before launch. As Ustream showed the final seconds I and a neighbour oriented ourselves and saw a bright red dot ascend into the perfectly clear fall sky very quickly. By the time the live feed said "LIFTOFF" she was already well up in the sky and almost out of visual range.

 

Credits image: +NASA / Brea Reeves

It was over in a matter of just a few seconds and had you not known where or when to look you would have missed the entire event. As it was, the launch has kept me smiling even until now. Although not as thrilling as when myself and 3.5 million others participated in Curiosity's landing on Mars, this was a true geek-out moment.

The Minotaur rocket was carrying a hush-hush, what are you looking at, USAF satellite but launch had been delayed by a faulty communications station in my home state of North Carolina and one errant sailboat captain who had wandered into the safety zone.

Article is written by Anthony Scott

Successful take-off of Soyuz from Baikonur [with video]

Dear followers,

yesterday, the Soyuz was ready on the pad for its launch. This morning the Russian spacecraft took-off with success from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Credits: REUTERS / Shamil Zhumatov

Actually, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos successfully launched the Soyuz spacecraft TMA-11M bound for the International Space Station. The crew comprises the Japanese Koichi Wakata, the American +Rick Mastracchio and the Russian Mikhail Tyurin. The trio are carrying a replica of the Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games that are set to take place in Sotchi, Russia.

"It's just an outstanding day and a spectacular launch" said William Gerstenmaier, the NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operation.

Enjoy, the video of the take-off (with French commentary) : the launch starts at 14:30 in the video

Bright meteor over New Mexico on Saturday October 19th 2013

A private capsule launched with success to ISS

Dear followers,

yesterday was a busy day for the space launches in USA. Actually after the successful liftoff of the space rocket Atlas5, the private company, Orbital Sciences, became the second private challenger to successfully launch a cargo vessel to the International Space Station. The lift off could be watched from New York was depicted on the picture below.

Credit: Orbital Sciences / +Google Earth 

The next step for the Cygnus spacecraft is four days of tests while its in orbit. If successful, the mission will take a rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station on Sunday, September 22th , as the ATV4, from +European Space Agency, ESA did few weeks ago.

The liftoff of the space rocket Antares happened from the center of Wallops Flight, located on an island near the coast of Virginia. Cygnus is separated from the second stage of the launcher ten minutes after launch to reach the Earth orbit. 

For this first flight, Cygnus carries 589 kg of supplies including food and clothing. It will remain docked to the ISS thirty days. Upon his return, Cygnus will be destroyed in the atmosphere.

Source

SpaceShipTwo test flight successfully done ! More Photos, video, and details to follow

Dear follower,

this morning, the rumor about a new test of rocket-powered fight of the SpaceShip two has been shared we you.

Today we have the confirmation about this flight from +Richard Branson and +Virgin Galactic . The weather seems be perfect, cool morning temperatures and light winds out of the west at  Spaceport at Mojave, California, USA. All world news will be attended to this great event.

16:03 GMT or 7:03 PDT: The take-off was performed at  with success !

7:47 (PDT): WhiteKnightTwo (pilots: Mackay, Nichols) has reached today's target release altitude of 47K ft. SpaceShipTwo release and it is now flying freely.

You could find here several picture taken by Mark Greenberg from +Virgin Galactic

Photo: Mark Greenberg

Photo: +Virgin Galactic 

A video of the first part of the flight is proposed by 23ABC  News  http://www.turnto23.com/video/video

Other pictures and video will be proposed soon

An other meteorite ... this time in Connecticut, USA

After the meteorite seen in Argentina (video and photo), and other stone crashes in USA this time !

A rock that crashed through a house in Connecticut last weekend has been confirmed to be a meteorite.
The owner of the house, Larry Beck called police on April 20, 2013 and said a baseball-sized rock crashed through his home the night before, causing damage to his roof and pipes in the attic before cracking the ceiling in his kitchen.
Police reported that people from several towns in the area had called to report a loud boom that rattled windows last Friday evening.

Source from NBC Connecticut