Weekly Links
Down to Earth
Virgin Galactic conducted their first glide flight of SpaceShipTwo since last August.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy has been attempting to conduct a static fire test ahead of launch, but has scrubbed three days in a row. It has been rescheduled for Monday.
#FalconHeavy static fire update: Looks like static fire is moving to Monday with an approximate target time of 1600 EST (2100 UTC) for the opening of the test window.
— Chris G – NSF (@ChrisG_NSF) January 13, 2018
In Orbit
Launches this past week included:
- Jan 8 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a classified payload for the US government.
- Jan 9 – China launched a Long March 2D rocket carrying two earth-observing satellites.
- Jan 11 – China launched a Long March 3B rocket carrying two global navigation satellites.
- Jan 12 – India launched a PSLV rocket carrying an Earth observing satellite.
- Jan 12 – ULA launched a Delta IV rocket carrying a classified payload for the NRO.
- Jan 13 – China launched a Long March 2D rocket carrying a native Earth observing satellite and a satellite for Saudi Arabia (this was early this morning, so no news reports yet other than the tweet below).
Long March 2D successfully launched Land Survey Satellite 3 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center today. pic.twitter.com/jSMCTPy95Y
— CGWIC (@CGWIC) January 13, 2018
In the case of the SpaceX launch, there have been many reports from reliable journalists over the past week that the classified Zuma payload perhaps did not reach orbit. However, no official statement has yet been forthcoming.
Upcoming launches of interest include a ULA Atlas V from Florida on Jan 19, the next Rocket Lab Electron launch attempt on Jan 20, and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy test flight (possibly on Jan 25?).
On the ISS, the 13th SpaceX Dragon mission ended successfully with release and splashdown. SpaceX ships are currently retrieving the capsule to return its science samples.
ドラゴン宇宙船が、大切な貨物を積んで出発しました。
この1ヶ月は、このドラゴン宇宙船で地上から届けられたさまざまな実験に追われて大忙しでしたが、期限どおりに送り出せて、ホッと一安心です。 pic.twitter.com/L2XKjCGbAZ— 金井 宣茂 (@Astro_Kanai) January 13, 2018