On the evening of January 31, 2011, Space Shuttle Discovery was moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A at NASA\’s Kennedy Space Center. Discovery will soon depart on the STS-133 mission.
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On January 29, 2011, the Progress M-09M Russian resupply spacecraft docked to the Pirs Module on the Russian segment of the International Space Station. Progress carries to the station three tons of food, fuel, and supplies.
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On January 28, 2011, a Soyuz-U launch vehicle carrying the cargo spacecraft Progress M-09M lifted off from Launch Complex #1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
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A launch vehicle Soyuz-U with the cargo spacecraft Progress M-09M left the assembly and test facility area 112 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on January 26, 2011. The launch vehicle was elevated on the pad at the Launch Complex #1, Gagarin\’s start.
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The Japanese resuply ship KOUNOTORI 2 was captured and berthed to the Harmony module of the International Space Station on January 27, 2011. KOUNOTORI 2 will leave the station at the end of March.
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| Credits: MSCI |
The COMMStellation satellites will orbit the Earth on polar orbits 1,000 km above the surface of the Earth. The satellites will be deployed in six orbital planes, thirteen operational satellites per plane, plus one for redundancy. The deployment will be cost efficient, only six launches being required to deploy the whole constellation.
As oppose to Iridium, which is accessible from portable devices, the COMMStellation will be connected to terrestrial telecommunication networks through twenty ground stations located around the Earth. The required ground stations are less expensive than those used for communication with satellites on medium Earth orbits and geostationary orbits.
MSCI claims it has perfected the construction of microsatellites and the use of commercial-grade components for development of microsatellites. These factors have led to low manufacturing costs and improved schedules.
An alternative to COMMStellation is proposed by O3b Networks, located in St. John, Jersey, Channel Islands. The O3b Networks constellation satellites will provide broadband connectivity within forty-five degrees latitude north and south of the equator. The constellation will consist of eight satellites at 8,000 km above the surface of the Earth. There are a number of advantages in using the low Earth orbit polar microsatellites, as MSCI is proposing, over using equatorial medium Earth orbit satellites: the polar orbits provide full coverage of the terrestrial surface and microsatellite technology has less cost and increased reliability associated with it.
It is also worth mentioning a previous attempt at creating a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to provide access to the Internet – Teledesic.
You can read more about COMMStellation on MSCI’s website.
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