“JPL scientist Marina Brozovic explains how radar will be used to study asteroid 2015 TB145 when it safely passes Earth on Oct. 31, 2015. Scientists are tracking the Halloween flyby with several optical observatories and the radar capabilities of the agency’s Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California. Radar images should be available within a few days of the flyby.
The asteroid will fly past Earth at a safe distance slightly farther than the moon’s orbit on Oct. 31 at 10:01 a.m. PDT (1:01 p.m. EDT). Scientists are treating the flyby of the estimated 1,300-foot-wide (400-meter) asteroid as a science target of opportunity.”
Further extending Ariane 5’s track record of highly accurate payload delivery, the estimated orbital parameters at injection of its cryogenic upper stage for Flight VA226 were:
– Perigee: 249.2 km. for a target of 249.5 km.
– Apogee: 35,911 km. for a target of 35,927 km.
– Inclination: 5.99 deg. for a target of 6.00 deg.
The first-released passenger on today’s mission was Sky Muster, which is the initial satellite to be operated by nbnâ„¢ – a service provider owned by the Commonwealth of Australia. This company’s objective is to ensure all Australians have access to fast broadband as soon as possible, at affordable prices and at the least cost to taxpayers. Built by Palo Alto-based SSL (Space Systems Loral), Sky Muster is scheduled to operate from geostationary orbit. It is designed to deliver broadband services to more than 200,000 rural and remote Australians, providing coverage to the entire country – including the Norfolk, Christmas, Macquarie and Cocos islands. Launch of nbn’s second spacecraft also has been entrusted to Arianespace. […]
Completing today’s mission was the deployment of ARSAT-2, which is the second of three geostationary satellites that will increase Argentina’s telecommunications capacity and guarantee the same level of connectivity quality across the country’s regions. Arianespace successfully orbited the first of these relay platforms – ARSAT-1 – on an Ariane 5 flight in October 2014. Built under the responsibility Argentina’s INVAP, ARSAT-2 will be operated by the state-owned Argentinian operator ARSAT (Empresa Argentina de Soluciones Satelitales Sociedad Anónima) to provide direct-to-home (DTH) television, Internet access services for reception on VSAT antennas, along with data transmission and IP telephony.”
“Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are developing the Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration, a technology that could one day explore oceans under the ice layers of planetary bodies. The prototype was tested in arctic lakes near Barrow, Alaska.”
“On Sept. 12, the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft carrying Expedition 44 Commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Flight Engineers Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency (Kazcosmos) undocked from the International Space Station to begin the return journey home for the trio.”
“After launching on September 2 in their Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 45 Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and visiting crew members Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency (Kazcosmos) arrived at the International Space Station on Sept. 4. They docked their craft to the Poisk module on the Russian segment of the complex.”
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