by David Todd | May 20, 2016 | History, Satellites, Science
Kelvin Mackenzie, an acerbic newspaper editor of the 1980s, famously fired the Sun newspaper’s astrologer with a letter of dismissal that started: “As you will already know…”. While the Sun’s astrologer may or may not have predicted her own departure, others are...
by David Todd | May 10, 2016 | NASA, Science
The little black spot observed moving across the Sun’s disk on 9 May 2016 was the passage of the planet Mercury. The “Transit of Mercury” took place between 1112 and 1842 GMT. While cloud obscured some observers’ view (including this writer’s), others were luckier and...
by David Todd | May 6, 2016 | ESA, Satellites, Science
The contract to build the European Space Agency (ESA) Biomass radar-based forest research satellite has been awarded to Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus DS). The contract is valued at €229 million (US$260 million). The 1,250 kg spacecraft is to use a P-band radar to...
by David Todd | Apr 28, 2016 | Launches, Russia, Satellites, Science, Soyuz
Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, witnessed the first flight of an orbital launch vehicle from the new Vostochny Cosmodrome in Far Eastern Russia on 28 April 2015. Following a one-day delay due to a ground support fault, the Soyuz 2-1a Volga rocket lifted off from...
by David Todd | Apr 26, 2016 | ESA, Launches, Satellites, Science
Having been delayed by the weather and by the need to change out an inertial measurement unit on the rocket, at 2102 GMT on 25 April 2016 a Soyuz ST-A (Fregat M) finally launched from the Sinnamary launch site near Kourou in French Guiana. The main payload aboard was...
by David Todd | Apr 19, 2016 | JAXA, Satellites, Science
The cause of the spin that led to the demise of the Japanese Astro H (Hitomi) space observatory, on 26 March 2016, has been described by JAXA. In fact there were two spins and two causes: an incorrect measurement of rotation and a subsequent firing by incorrectly set...
