Canada – Page 4 – Fargo Orbit

Ariane 5 ends the week

Orbital news
15 Jan 2020 0253 UT – Taiyuan CZ-2D ÑuSat x2 Jilin-1 Tianqi-5
15 Jan 2020 – ISS EVA225 (Koch, Meir) fixes battery system
16 Jan 2020 0302 UT – Jiuquan KZ-1A Yinhe-1
16 Jan 2020 2105 UT – Kourou Ariane 5 KONNECT GSAT-30

Regional news
10 Jan 2020 – Lucas Bauer (U Wisconsin-Madison) featured by Wisconsin Space Grant
10 Jan 2020 – Space Force commander visits U North Dakota, Cavalier AFS
12 Jan 2020 – Cessna TR182 N736YU crashes near Dunn Mountain, MT, 4 dead
13 Jan 2020 – USGS EROS “Eyes on Earth” Podcast 14 released
13 Jan 2020 – Safe emergency landing in Calmar, AB
14 Jan 2020 – Bismarck Career Academy to buy its own plane
14 Jan 2020 – Allegiant announces seasonal flights
14 Jan 2020 – Iran crash casualites revised, investigators now cooperating
16 Jan 2020 – Joseph B. Habeck (U Minnesota-Twin Cities) featured by Minnesota Space Grant

Further news
10 Jan 2020 – Graduation of NASA Astronaut Group 22, “The Turtles”
12 Jan 2020 – Maesawa puts gameshow in critical path for moon flight
12 Jan 2020 – SLS test article reaches Stennis Space Center

Late news
06 Jan 2020 – 44th Air Race Classic will fly between Grand Forks and Terre Haute June 2020

Canada will aid PS752 investigation

Fallout is ongoing in the wake of the recent Tehran flight disaster. Among a very limited amount of positive development, officials have agreed to somewhat more cooperation between Canada and Iran during the investigation and recovery efforts.

Canadian investigators will be permitted significant levels of access to the investigation, including observing data transfer from the plane’s black boxes. The RCMP is also cooperating with a request to collect DNA to assist with identifying bodies.

In the meantime, Canadian officials have revised the official Canadian casualty count to 57, and Iran has admitted its military fired the surface-to-air missile that destroyed the plane. Though that solves one mystery, a great deal of work remains to be done.

Turtles on the Moon

Amid great levity, Astronaut Group 22, known as “The Turtles”, gathered on stage at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas to celebrate their graduation from training.

The class, which included two Albertans – Jenni Sidey-Gibbons and Josh Kutryk, two Coloradans – Matthew Dominick and Jessica Watkins, and one Iowan – Raja Chari, swapped stories about their two years together as each of them took to the stage for their hard-earned silver astronaut pins.

Being an astronaut is still a rare opportunity – the 14 members of the 2017 class were selected from 18,300 applications. Even then, it’s not for everyone: Alaska’s Robb Kulin left training in 2018 (and is now at Firefly Aerospace).

Apart from regular stints on the International Space Station, many of the graduates will serve on the Artemis program. Its goal of a lunar 2024 is a mighty and perhaps even improbable proposition, but with the Moon literally centre stage at the event, the landing is clearly just a matter of time, not will.

Starlink’s third launch tops the week

Orbital News
06 Jan 2020 – SOLAR (ISS) instruments removed, will deorbit with Cygnus NG-12
07 Jan 2020 0219 UT – Canaveral F9 Starlink-3
07 Jan 2020 1540 UT – SpaceX Dragon CRS-19 splashdown
07 Jan 2020 1513 UT – Xichang CZ-3B TJSW-5

Regional News
03 Jan 2020 – Delta employees take toxic uniforms case to Wisconsin court
04 Jan 2020 – Cedar Rapids pilots plan circumnavigation to fight polio
06 Jan 2020 ~ Saskatoon museum adds Avro Arrow design documents to exhibit
07 Jan 2020 – Jordan Bartlett (U Minnesota-Twin Cities) featured by MN Space Grant
07 Jan 2020 – Lethbridge races to preserve Fokker F28 used by Time Air
08 Jan 2020 – PS752 crashes after takeoff, 63 Canadians killed
08 Jan 2020 – Pilots in Casper say VOR shutdowns are risky
09 Jan 2020 – Wisconsin-designed DarkAero 1 kitplane featured by Flying

Further News
04 Jan 2020 – AAS: Cubesats proven useful in astrophysics
05 Jan 2020 – AAS: Astronomers must ask to use JWST before 1 May 2020
07 Jan 2020 – NASA and Boeing will study Starliner failure, no extra test planned
08 Jan 2020 – ESA, KTH announce improved 30 GHz waveguide antenna
08 Jan 2020 – SLS rocket rolls out of Michoud, will move to Stennis for tests
08 Jan 2020 – SpaceX wants to help astronomers, but low-vis coating still in tests
08 Jan 2020 – Virgin Galactic second hull can now stand on its own wheels

Alberta and Manitoba mourn dozens lost in Tehran plane crash

An aviation disaster has claimed the lives of 63 Canadians, including 30 from Edmonton and five Winnipeggers.

Wednesday, 8 January 2020, Ukraine International flight PS752 crashed at 0249 UT, about eight minutes after leaving Imam Khomeini International Airport (OIIE). The burning wreckage of the Boeing 737-800NG was found less than 20 kilometers from the airport. The plane, which was only three and a half years old, had last been inspected on 6 January.

A number of doctors, researchers, and graduate students are in the casualty list, including Edmonton OB-GYN Dr. Shekoufeh Choupannejad, University of Alberta electrical engineering professors Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand, University of Alberta computer science graduate students Pouneh Gorji and Arash Pourzarabi, Winnipeg immunologist Forough Khadem, and at least 9 other academics with ties elsewhere in Canada.

Aviation safety authorities may not be allowed to effectively cooperate on the investigation as a result of recent tensions between Iran and the United States. Just hours before, 2230 UT on 7 January, between 15 and 22 Iranian theatre ballistic missiles (TBMs) targeted two bases in Iraq used by the United States military. Due to the ambiguous safety situation, EASA and the FAA have asked passenger airlines to avoid flying over Iraq and Iran.

Long March 5 success highlights the week

A Long March 5 rocket carried the SJ-20 saellite from Wenchang to orbit, 27 Dec 2019 1245 UT (Weibo)

Orbital News
27 Dec 2019 1245 UT – Wenchang CZ-5 SJ-20 commsat
29 Dec 2019 – Christina Koch sets an orbital endurance record

Regional News
27 Dec 2019 – 12 injured in LN₂ breach at Beechcraft plant in Wichita
28 Dec 2019 –

Dr. Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg of Winnipeg named to the Order of Canada, for work on genetic disorders.
Also named, three from Ontario and B.C. for aviation matters, and
James Cameron of Saskatoon, for achievements in film.

29 Dec 2019 – Kauaʻi tourist flight crash killed two from Wisconsin
29 Dec 2019 – Starlink satellites spotted over Manitoba
30 Dec 2019 – Bismarck offers $4000 scholarships for new pilots
30 Dec 2019 – MDA splits off from Maxar in 1 G$ CAD deal
30 Dec 2019 – Sun Country Airlines may add Sioux Falls to express bus network
30 Dec 2019 – Honeywell cuts 90 aerospace jobs in Minnesota
31 Dec 2019 –

Colin O’Brady of Jackson Hole,
Andrew Towne of Grand Forks,
and 4 international adventurers,
reached Antarctica after rowing from South America

31 Dec 2019 – Billings adds flights to Dallas, Portland on American, Alaska
31 Dec 2019 – Colorado-based planes to track GHG emissions
02 Jan 2020 – United flight slides off runway at Bismarck Airport
02 Jan 2020 – Unidentified drones fly after sunset in Colorado and Nebraska

Further News
29 Dec 2019 – Boeing updates public on Starliner recovery and checkout
30 Dec 2019 – Iridium wonders aloud about how to deorbit 30 dead commsats
30 Dec 2019 – SLS test slips to perhaps April or later
02 Jan 2020 – Japanese Momo rocket test postponed

Late News
19 Dec 2019 – New (?) spaceport licence sought for the local airport near Cape Canaveral
22 Dec 2019 – Myrtle Cagle, pilot of Mercury 13 fame, dead at 94
23 Dec 2019 – Alaska Airlines upgrades Bozeman to mainline 21 May 2020
23 Dec 2019 – FAA ends untrained ATC quota, U of North Dakota pleased
25 Dec 2019 – Sioux Falls crash revisited one year later

CHEOPS exoplanet probe lifts off this week

Orbital News
16 Dec 2019 0722 UT – Xichang CZ-3B 2x Beidou
17 Dec 2019 0010 UT – Canaveral Falcon 9 JCSAT-18 Kacific-1
17 Dec 2019 0354 UT – Kourou Soyuz-ST-A Cosmo-SkyMed CHEOPS

Regional News
13 Dec 2019 – Chance Beaty (Carthage College) WiSGC feature
16 Dec 2019 – FCC gives ViaSat 18.4 M$ for MT, WI, WY rural broadband
16 Dec 2019 – Ethan Och (U of Minnesota – Twin Cities) MnSGC feature
17 Dec 2019 – Sioux City IA airport fined $150k for safety violations
17 Dec 2019 – Minnesota discussion on the science of Star Wars
18 Dec 2019 – Canadian tech company buys European satcom firm
19 Dec 2019 – FCC licence issued for 15 EOS sats, to be built in Toronto

Further news
17 Dec 2019 ~ US Congress delays civilian control of space traffic
19 Dec 2019 ~ Vector bankruptcy, safety issues delay Georgia spaceport

Late news
02 Dec 2019 – Sophie Gelhar (U of Wisconsin – Stout) WiSGC feature
05 Dec 2019 – 3 die in St. Cloud, MN helicopter crash
06 Dec 2019 – Taylor Peterson (Carthage College) WiSGC feature
07 Dec 2019 – Omaha rotorcraft destroyed in non-fatal crash

North Dakota microbes ride on New Shepard this week

UND’s “Dinonauts” payload readied for the NS-12 suborbital flight. (University of North Dakota)

Regional News

11 Dec 2019 1753 UT – University of North Dakota payload flown on Blue Origin NS-12 suborbital mission
12 Dec 2019 – University of Minnesota Rocket Team wins Bayer Alka-Seltzer rocketry challenge

Orbital News
06 Dec 2019 0818 UT – Māhia Electron ALE-2
07 Dec 2019 0255 UT – Taiyuan KZ-1A Gaofen-2B
07 Dec 2019 0852 UT – Taiyuan KZ-1A HEAD-2A, HEAD-2B
09 Dec 2019 0934 UT – Baikonur Soyuz-2.1a Progress MS-13
11 Dec 2019 0854 UT – Plesetsk Soyuz-2.1b GLONASS
11 Dec 2019 0955 UT – Sriharikota PSLV RISAT-2BR1

Further News
09 Dec 2019 – Updated US space debris standards draw mixed reaction from industry
11 Dec 2019 – Canadian Space Agency tests commercial spacesuit
12 Dec 2019 – Ribbon cutting at Electron launchpad in Virginia