Science – Page 3 – Fargo Orbit

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

Electron and Long March end the week

Regional News

11 Oct 2019 South Dakota blizzard claims aviation lives
14 Oct 2019 Wisconsin Space Grant features Katiya Fosdick (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
14 Oct 2019 Minnesota Space Grant features Mike Alves (Augsburg University, University of California-San Diego)
15 Oct 2019 Wyoming Space Grant balloon mission
17 Oct 2019 Wisconsin Science Fest begins – will run through 20 Oct

Orbital News

11 Oct 2019 0159 Cape Canaveral Pegasus ICON
17 Oct 2019 0122 Māhia Electron Palisade
17 Oct 2019 ~1520 Xichang CZ-3B TJSW-4

Further News

11 Oct 2019 – New Mexico EOS operator Descartes Labs raises funds, names new CFO
14 Oct 2019 – SpaceX upgrades vertical test stand for Raptor
15 Oct 2019 – Fault postpones battery swaps on ISS; BCDU repair (Meir, Koch) planned 18 Oct
15 Oct 2019 – Lockheed Martin delivers DreamChaser airframe core to Sierra Nevada Corporation in Colorado
16 Oct 2019 – Satellites arrive at CSG for next Ariane launch
17 Oct 2019 – InSight Mole Heat Probe back in action on Mars
17 Oct 2019 – Boeing CST Starliner readies for test at White Sands

Late News

2 Oct 2019 – JAXA’s Tsubame low-orbit satellite reenters
10 Oct 2019 – Bowersox admits SLS flight slipped to 2021
10 Oct 2019 – NASA needs Soyuz thru 2021Q2, new enabling law from Congress
10 Oct 2019 – George Nield calls for more US spaceports

Wyoming balloon reaches 28 km

Wyoming Space Grant Stratostar 0349 balloon ground track, 15 Oct 2019 (Google / APRS.fi)

Wyoming Space Grant flew a Stratostar balloon mission 15 October 2019; the mission launched from Prexy’s Pasture in Laramie and landed near Hereford, Colorado after achieving an peak altitude of 28.6 km.

Wyoming Space Grant is also searching for University of Wyoming students interested in ballooning to apply to its 2020 LIFT Project. The deadline is 31 October 2019.

USGS sample data teases Landsat Collection 2

This image of the Florida Keys was collected by Landsat 8 in 10.60-11.19 µm infrared on 07 May 2013, and was one of the first datasets released for Landsat Collection 2, on 30 September 2019. (Credit: USGS / The Fargo Orbit)

On 30 September 2019, The US Geological Survey released new samples of Landsat data, leading up to Landsat Collection 2, a global multi-instrument survey of Planet Earth. Data processing will continue all through next year and is expected to be fully available in 2021.

If you’d like to try your own hand at processing Earth Observation Satellite data, you can take a look at the sample datasets at the USGS Landsat website.