Five More Launches Scheduled for November

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Rideshare launch (Credit: Spaceflight)

The following is a list of launches for the remainder of November based on Spaceflightnow.com’s Launch Schedule. The list includes two launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and one launch apiece from Xichang in China, Kourou in French Guiana, and Satish Dhawan in India.

Please check Spaceflightnow’s launch page regularly because launches tend to slip on a regular basis.

November 19

Launch Vehicle: Long March 3B
Payload: 2 Beidou navigation satellites
Launch Time: TBA
Launch Site: Xichang, China

Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9
Payload: Spaceflight, Inc. SSO-A rideshare mission
Launch Time: 1:31 p.m. EST; 10:31 a.m. PST (1831 GMT)
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Webcast: http://www.spacex.com

This flight will deploy more than 70 spacecraft from approximately 35 different organizations.

November 20/21

Launch Vehicle: Vega
Payload: Mohammed VI-B Earth observation satellite
Launch Time: 8:42 p.m. EST on 20th (0142 GMT on 21st)
Launch Site: Kourou, French Guiana
Webcast: http://www.esa.int

November 26

Launch Vehicle: PSLV
Payload: HySIS hyperspectral imaging satellite
Launch Time: TBA
Launch Site: Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India
Webcast: https://www.isro.gov.in/

November 29

Launch Vehicle: Delta 4-Heavy
Payload: NROL-71 reconnaissance satellite
Launch Time: TBA
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Webcast: https://www.ulalaunch.com/

Northrop Grumman Antares Launches Cygnus Resupply Ship to Station

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Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket launched the company’s Cygnus spacecraft carrying about 7,400 pounds of cargo for the International Space Station on Nov. 17, 2018. (Credit: Northrop Grumman)

DULLES, Va., Nov. 17, 2018 (Northrop Grumman PR) – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announced it successfully launched its AntaresTM rocket carrying the “S.S. John Young” CygnusTM spacecraft today at 4:01 a.m. EST from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The launch marks Northrop Grumman’s 10th cargo mission carrying vital supplies to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station for NASA.

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Starlink 12K: Elon Musk’s Big Gamble on Global Satellite Internet

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plan to provide high-speed communications to virtually any location on Earth got a big boost this week when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the company’s plan to add 7,518 satellites to the company’s Starlink constellation.

The action brings the total number of satellites in Starlink to 11,943 following the FCC’s earlier approval of 4,425 spacecraft last year.

Starlink is Musk’s ambitious entry into the global satellite Internet race. He is gambling big that there is a sufficient market worldwide to make the constellation profitable.

SpaceX launched two test Starlink test satellites into orbit earlier this year. Published reports say Musk wants to launch the first batch of satellites in the middle of next year, with service to begin in 2020.

Starlink is facing competition from OneWeb, which is planning to launch a constellation of 882 satellites to provide similar service. OneWeb plans to begin launching spacecraft next year.

The FCC also approved satellite broadband constellations by three other satellite companies last week. Telesat Canada received approval for an 117-satellite constellation while LeoSat plans to launch 78 spacecraft.

Kepler Communication’s 140-satellite constellation is focused on providing communications for the Internet of Things.

“These proposed satellite systems are expected to enable fixed satellite service in the United States, expanding global connectivity and advancing the goals of increasing high-speed broadband availability and competition in the marketplace,” the FCC said in a press release.

The constellations will greatly increase the number of satellites in Earth orbit. There are currently about 4,900 spacecraft in orbit out of the approximately 8,100 launched since the Space Age began in October 1957. Nearly 2,000 spacecraft are currently operational.

ESA Microlauncher Workshop Looks at New Ways to Access Space

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Microlauncher concepts (Credit: ESA)

PARIS, 16 November 2018 (ESA PR) — Access to space was in the spotlight at this week’s Φ event which followed an ESA-hosted workshop on Europe’s emerging microlaunch services held in Paris, France for industry, investors and institutions.

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ANA & Marubeni to Establish Spaceport in Japan

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A planned suborbital space plane. Credit: (PD AeroSpace Ltd./Koike Terumasa Design and Aerospace)

Nikkei Asian Review reports on efforts to establish a new spaceport in Japan.

All Nippon Airways operator ANA Holdings and trading house Marubeni will set up a spaceport in Japan as early as 2021, Nikkei has learned.

The launch site, equivalent to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft, will be for private space travel, and feature 3-km runways for craft that take off horizontally like airplanes….

The two companies, together with four other partners — including Airbus Japan, satellite broadcaster Sky Perfect JSAT and real estate company Mitsui Fudosan — have established a company named Spaceport Japan to advance the project. The Tokyo-based team will begin work on Friday.

ANA is working with PD Aerospace on developing a suborbital space plane.

Russia to Deliver Magnetic 3-D Bioprinter to Space Station

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Russia plans to deliver a magnetic 3-D bioprinter capable of growing living tissues and eventually organs.to the International Space Station (ISS) next month, TASS reports.

The Organ-Avt bioprinter, built by 3D Bioprinting Solutions, is a copy of one that was lost in the abort of the Soyuz MS-10 mission on Oct. 11. Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague parachuted to safety after a malfunction of their Soyuz-FG booster.

The bioprinter, which also can be used to used to study the effects on living organisms during long-duration spaceflights. will be carried to ISS aboard the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft. The spacecraft is set to lift off from the Baiknour Cosmodrome on Dec. 3 with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, American astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques aboard.

Soyuz-FG Rocket Launches Progress MS-10 Resupply Ship to ISS

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A Soyuz-FG rocket lifts off with the Progress MS-10 spacecraft. (Credit: Roscosmos)

Editor’s Note: The successful launch of the Soyuz-FG booster — which malfunctioned in October — paves the way for a crew launch to the station on Dec. 3.

BAIKONUR, Kazahkstan (Roscosmos PR) — On November 16, 2018, at 21:14 Moscow time, from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the Soyuz-FG space launch vehicle was successfully launched under the International Space Station (ISS) program. The launch vehicle launched the Progress MS-10 transport cargo ship (TGK) into near-earth orbit.

After the separation of the spacecraft from the third stage of the carrier rocket, the TGK began to carry out the flight program for the ISS.

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Officials Give Widely Varying Estimates on Cost of Space Force

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Defense One reports that senior Pentagon officials remain widely apart on what the Space Force will cost to set up.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday told reporters at the Pentagon that it would cost “single digit, not a double-digit” billions of dollars. “It might be lower than $5” billion, he said.

About two hours later, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson defended her service’s far higher estimate. In September, she estimated that standing up a Space Force and a new combatant command for space warfare would cost about $13 billion over five years. (Shanahan did not specify the timeframe for his $5 billion estimate on Thursday.)

“Our cost estimate that we gave to a lot of people in the Pentagon in September was the cost of a fully-fledged, stand-alone department and also a unified combatant command,” she said at the Defense One Summit. “Whatever is put forward needs to implement the president’s proposal,” she said.

“Mutually Respectful Cooperation” Needed for Human Moon Missions, Rogozin Says

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Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: A. Savin)

Roscomos State Space Corporation Director General Dmitry Rogozin said an international effort based on parity and “mutually respectful cooperation is needed to send humans back to the moon, TASS reports.

If the United States is unable to work on that basis, Russia will cooperate with other international partners, he added.

Rogozin added that Russia should be able to develop a system for human lunar flights by 2024.

“Today the Russian Federation has the sole space transport system so far. We have carrier rockets and manned spacecraft. Ballistics specialists of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation have made calculations of our possibilities. In about 6-7 years, we will be able, using already the Angara-A5 rocket, in case that it blasts off from the Vostochny spaceport beginning from 2023-2024, we will be able, even using the current manned spacecraft, to ensure the permanently operating transport system capable of reaching the Moon and working in the lunar orbit,” the Roscosmos chief said.

Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryazansky says that human missions to Mars should be undertaken as an international effort as well, TASS reports.

“Mars should become a global task. We should strive for it. The youth will join the effort, investments will come and, most importantly, the flight can be implemented, in principle. Another thing is that other technologies should be developed to make the flight quicker and safer and all of them will recoup investments in the Martian project because they will be in demand on Earth,” said Ryazansky, who called the moon an “intermediate step” toward the Red Planet.

Russia to Leapfrog Elon Musk’s “Old Tech” with Nuclear Engines, Expert Says

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Artist conception of Russian nulcear engine. (Credit: Roscosmos)

Russia plans to leapfrog Elon Musk’s “old tech” by developing nuclear-powered engines that will make human missions to Mars faster and safer for crews, the head of a research center told Russian media.

“Elon Musk is using the existing tech, developed a long time ago,” said Vladimir Koshlakov, head of the Keldysh Research Center. “He is a businessman; he took a solution that was already there, and applied it successfully. Notably, he is also doing his work with help from the government.”

Keldysh is working on a nuclear engines that will make human exploration of the Red Planet feasible within the near future, he added. The engines will allow cosmonauts to make the voyage in seven months.

“A person should not spend more than a year or two in space. Nuclear-powered spacecraft will allow a relatively fast journey, and, most importantly, a return flight. This technology has special significance for interplanetary flights and research of far planets,” Koshlakov said.

The Keldysh center has successfully conducted the first ground test of the nuclear engine’s cooling system, he added.

Sources:

‘Unlike us, Elon Musk is using old tech’: Russia shows off reusable NUKE ENGINE for Mars mission
https://www.rt.com/news/443889-mars-nuclear-reusable-russian-rocket/amp/

Senior designer outlines future of Russia’s space industry
http://tass.com/science/1030739

Roscosmos shows image of future nuclear-powered spacecraft
http://tass.com/science/1030596

FCC Proposes to Further Streamline Satellite Regulations

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WASHINGTON, November 15, 2018 (FCC PR) — The Federal Communications Commission today proposed to further simplify and streamline its rules governing satellite communications. This proceeding is part of an ongoing effort to make the regulatory approval process for satellite licenses more efficient and less burdensome.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted today builds upon the FCC’s 2016 Biennial Review as well as initiatives developed by Commission staff during its independent review. One significant proposal is to create a new unified license for space stations and earth stations operating in a geostationary orbit, fixed-satellite service network. The proposed unified network license would eliminate redundancies in the separate licensing processes for satellites and earth stations.

The NPRM also seeks comment on other proposals, such as eliminating certain annual reporting requirements for satellite operators and aligning the build-out periods for some earth stations with the accompanying build-out periods for their communicating satellites.

Action by the Commission November 15, 2018 by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 18-165). Chairman Pai, Commissioners O’Rielly, Carr, and Rosenworcel approving. Chairman Pai and Commissioner O’Rielly issuing separate statements.

SpaceX Conducts 18th Launch of Year

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (SpaceX PR) — SpaceX successfully launched the Es’hail-2 satellite on Thursday, November 15 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 3:46 p.m. EST, or 20:46 UTC, and the satellite was deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after liftoff.

Falcon 9’s first stage for the Es’hail-2 mission previously supported the Telstar 19 VANTAGE mission in July 2018. Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

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FCC Approves Satellite Constellations for SpaceX, Kepler, Telesat Canada & LeoSat

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  • SpaceX constellation includes 7,518 satellite Internet spacecraft
  • Three other approved constellations total 335 satellites

WASHINGTON, November 15, 2018 (FCC PR) —  The Federal Communications Commission today approved the requests of four companies—Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (SpaceX), Kepler Communications, Inc. (Kepler), Telesat Canada (Telesat), and LeoSat MA, Inc. (LeoSat)—seeking to roll-out new and expanded services using proposed non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) satellites.

These proposed satellite systems are expected to enable fixed satellite service in the United States, expanding global connectivity and advancing the goals of increasing high-speed broadband availability and competition in the marketplace.

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NASA Learns More About Interstellar Visitor ‘Oumuamua

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Artist’s concept of interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua) as it passed through the solar system after its discovery in October 2017. The aspect ratio of up to 10:1 is unlike that of any object seen in our own solar system. (Credit: European Southern Observatory / M. Kornmesser)

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — In November 2017, scientists pointed NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope toward the object known as ‘Oumuamua — the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system. The infrared Spitzer was one of many telescopes pointed at ‘Oumuamua in the weeks after its discovery that October.

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