SSI News
Asiasat posts its results: revenue and profits are up for 2012
The Hong Kong-based satellite operator Asiasat has posted its financial results for 2012. Despite noting that budgetary constraint had affected some of its clientele, the firm noted that it had posted a 10% increase in its turnover/revenue over the previous year to HK$1.88 billion ($245 million) while its profits to shareholders were up 11% to HK$914.5 million.($118.8 million). Asiasat remains hopeful of continued improvement given that its Asiasat 7 communications satellite has now joined the fleet.
ExoMars deal is formally signed between ESA and Roscosmos
After NASA found it could no longer offer launches for the ExoMars mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) approached Russia for help. As a result of long running discussions, on 14 March the ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and Head of Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin have signed a formal agreement for their respective agencies to work in partnership on the ExoMars programme towards the launch of two missions: one to be launched in January 2016, and one to be launched in 2018.
Flightglobal space team to be at Satellite 2013 in Washington D.C.
A contingent of the Flightglobal/Ascend space analysis, sales and news writing teams (Phil Hylands, Ryanne Woltz and Zach Rosenberg) will be at Satellite 2013 in Washington D.C. next week (18-21 March 2013). If you would like to arrange a meeting there to get more information on our SpaceTrak or Space Review online data services, or just want to discuss recent news in the space industry, please get in touch via ryanne.woltz@ascendworldwide.com or phone +1 917 971 4745
NASA chief shows solidarity over travel cuts by cutting some of his own (Updated)
The recent “sequestration” of US government funding has led to some emergency travel funding cuts at NASA. For while the US Congress is intent on continuing the funding of key programmes such as the Space Launch System (SLS) or that developing a commercial crew launch capability, and passing emergency legislation to that effect, the same cannot be said for other funding at NASA. As a result, NASA Administrator, Major-General Charles Bolden has sent out an edict noting that only very necessary travel would be allowed for NASA’s managers, scientists and engineers and those of their contractors.
Comet Pan-STARRS has now become visible from Northern Hemisphere (Updated)
Two major comets are due to become visible this year to sky-watchers – clear skies permitting. The first has now disappeared from view from the Southern Hemisphere, but while viewers there have lost out, “northerners” have gained as Comet Pan-STARRS has now become visible to the naked eye from the Northern Hemisphere. To see it, look near the crescent Moon in the Western sky after sunset. The comet will rise further in the sky as the month of March wears on and should become more visible despite starting to move away from the Sun after its perihelion closest approach. The comet’s tail(s) should be able to be easily seen with binoculars.
Mars once had fresh water, the right energy gradients and chemicals to support life say NASA scientists
According to NASA scientists, an analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows that ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Data returned by the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instruments. allowed scientists to identifiy sulphur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -some of the key chemical ingredients for life – in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock at the Yellowknife Bay ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.
NASA puts ICESAT 2 on Delta II launch vehicle
In late February it was announced by NASA that its ICESAT 2 (Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite 2) would by launched by a Delta II launch vehicle provided by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin consortium, the United Launch Alliance (ULA). The flight is due to take place in July 2016 under a fixed price contract valued at $96.6 million. Originally ICESAT 2 had been set to fly on a ULA Atlas V flight as a co-payload to theUS Air Force meteorology satellite DMSP 20 but this flight was delayed to 2020.
Mystery change in satellite orbit blamed on Chinese debris strike may not be true (Updated)
The mystery change in the orbital parameters of a small Russian satellite have now have been explained: it was apparently caused by a debris strike and the debris came from a Chinese anti-satelltie missile test. On 4 February, the Russian Institute for Precision Instrumenet Engineering reported that the 7.5kg BLITS (Ball Lens In The Space) passive laser reflector nanosatellite had had significantly changes to elements of its Sun-synchronous near-polar orbit, to its spin velocity and in is attitude and may have split into two tracked objects. It was only after analysis by the Centre for Space Standards and Innovation that the change was traced to a debris strike which occured on 22 January 2013. There remains doubt however about why the BLITS spacecraft only split into two parts rather than several pieces which is more usual after such a collision while other sources suggest that no collision occured.
SpaceX’s Grasshopper flies ever-higher
A very impressive hop. It will probably be some time yet before Grasshopper -- not much more than the engine, struts and fueling system -- gets above 10,000ft or supersonic, but it can launch, hover and land. Not bad.
North Korea threatens first strike in a nuclear war
Stung by tough new sanctions just imposed by the United Nations over its fission-class nuclear weapons programme, and upset over the support these sanctions have had from its neighbour and recent ally China, North Korea has now threatened that it might use its nuclear weapons (presumably attached to ballistic missiles) in a first strike against its enemies, threating to turn South Korea’s capital Seoul and the US capital Washington D.C. into a “sea of fire”.
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