Ground broken for Space Fence installation
Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands (UPI) Mar 24, 2015 -
Construction of facilities for the new Space Fence radar system has been started in the Marshall Islands by the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin.
Space Fence is an S-band ground-based radar system. It will replace the 1960s Air Force Space Surveillance System to track objects in orbit around the Earth and increase the ability to predict and prevent space-based collisions.
"The ...
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50 years ago today, space welcomed its first sandwich
Washington (UPI) Mar 24, 2015 -
Fifty years ago, on March 23, 1965, space welcomed a sandwich - a corned beef sandwich, snuck aboard the Gemini 3 probe.
The sandwich was smuggled into space by NASA pilot John Young. Commander pilot Gus Grissom accompanied Young on the mission - the first manned Gemini mission and second manned U.S. space mission ever.
As Space.com reports, when Young pulled the sandwich from ...
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India's frugal Mars mission extended by six months
Bangalore, India (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
India's famously frugal Mars mission has been extended by around six months thanks to a surplus of fuel on board the spacecraft, the country's space agency said Tuesday.
The Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft had been scheduled to wrap up its mission this month after India in September became the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet, all on a shoe-string budget.
But scientists said th ...
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Mars has nitrogen, key to life: NASA
Washington (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
NASA's Curiosity rover has found nitrogen on the surface of Mars, a significant discovery that adds to evidence the Red Planet could once have sustained life, the space agency said Tuesday.
By drilling into Martian rocks, Curiosity found evidence of nitrates, compounds containing nitrogen that can be used by living organisms.
The Curiosity team has already found evidence that other ingre ...
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Intelsat EpicNG Completes Major Milestone on the Road to 2016 Launch
Luxembourg (SPX) Mar 22, 2015 -
Intelsat has announced the completion of a series of tests demonstrating the compatibility of the Intelsat EpicNG digital payload with existing ground equipment platforms. The digital payload is one of many unique design features on the company's Intelsat EpicNG satellites, the first of which, Intelsat 29e, is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2016.
As part of the tests, Intelsat ...
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An Ocean Of Bandwidth: KVH Connects More Ships At Sea With SES
Luxembourg (SPX) Mar 22, 2015 -
SES and KVH Industries have signed a new satellite capacity agreement to connect more ships traversing prime sea routes along the eastern coasts of Canada and the U.S. and throughout the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Under the multi-year agreement, KVH will use 36 MHz of Ku-band capacity aboard the SES-4 satellite to expand high-speed Internet access and Voice over IP services across i ...
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Beijing behind Internet security violation: group
Beijing (AFP) March 25, 2015 -
China's cyberspace administration is "complicit" in attacks on major Internet companies including Google, an anti-censorship group said Wednesday, calling on firms worldwide to step up their defences.
GreatFire.org, which operates websites seeking to circumvent China's vast censorship apparatus, pointed to statements by Google, Microsoft and Mozilla as showing the Chinese government was invo ...
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Galileo meets Galileo as launch draws near
Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Mar 22, 2015 -
The seventh and eighth Galileo satellites, set for launch together in nine days' time, have been fitted together onto the dispenser that will carry them during their flight to orbit.
The fuelling of the two satellites was completed last week, leaving them ready to be placed into launch configuration. They were carefully lowered into place then attached to the dispenser.
The operation ...
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Proton launches Express AM-7 satellite for Russian Government
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (SPX) Mar 19, 2015 -
Lifting off from Baikonur at 01:05 am Moscow Time on Thursday, March 19, the Proton-M integrated launch vehicle (ILV) successfully orbited the Airbus DS-built Express AM-7 telecommunications satellite for Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC), under the Russian Federal Program, "Development of TV and Radio Broadcasting in the Russian Federation for 2009-2015". This second launch of 201 ...
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Global Eagle and SES sign capacity deals on three HTS satellites
Luxembourg (SPX) Mar 20, 2015 -
Satellite operator SES and Global Eagle Entertainment have announced they have signed important capacity deals for services on three SES satellites.
These agreements are part of a strategic partnership to deliver in-flight connectivity and services to airline passengers around the world.
Under the latest agreements, GEE will utilize Ku-band wide beam and High Throughput Satellite (HT ...
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Arianespace selected by Airbus to launch EDRS-C Satellite
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 22, 2015 -
Arianespace and Airbus Defence and Space have reached an agreement for the launch of EDRS-C which is the second geostationary satellite of the SpaceDataHighway system. The launch is scheduled for first quarter in 2017.
EDRS-C will increase the system capacity and provide redundancy for the SpaceDataHighway. Its orbital position will be 31 East.
Like optical fibre on the Earth, the ED ...
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Chaos in Yemen undercuts US war against AQAP
Washington (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
Yemen's descent into chaos has undermined the US campaign against Al-Qaeda there, forcing Washington to abandon a strategy once touted as a model for counter-terrorism efforts.
President Barack Obama's decision last week to withdraw all remaining US troops in Yemen from a base in the south underlined the gravity of the situation, with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) now potentially ...
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US drone strike kills 13 Pakistani militants in Afghanistan
Peshawar, Pakistan (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
A US drone strike in eastern Afghanistan has killed 13 militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban in an area close to the countries' rugged border, officials said Tuesday.
The strike came in the Nasyan area of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, close to the border with the Pakistani tribal district of Khyber.
Pakistani security officials said the militants belonged to the Lashkar-e ...
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US mulls air strikes on Tikrit, aids Iraqis with 'eye in the sky'
Baghdad (AFP) March 25, 2015 -
Washington is considering launching air strikes, possibly within days, to back up Iraqi and Shiite forces battling to recapture Tikrit from the Islamic State jihadist group, US officials said.
The statement came Tuesday after an official said the US was already providing reconnaissance support for Iraqi forces there, the first confirmation of American involvement in the operation.
Such a ...
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Russian bombers spark NATO scramble, protest in Baltic
Vilnius (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
NATO jets were scrambled Tuesday to escort Russian fighters and nuclear-capable bombers flying near the Baltic states and Sweden with their transponders switched off, sparking protests over the danger they posed to civil aviation.
Lithuania's defence ministry spokeswoman Asta Galdikaite said NATO air policing aircraft identified two Tu-22 type bombers and two SU-27 jets. The Swedish military ...
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Canada to extend airstrikes against IS, go into Syria
Ottawa (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
Canada will expand its campaign of air strikes against the Islamic State group and for the first time strike it in Syria as well as Iraq, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday.
Opposition leaders raised heated objections, but Harper's motion outlining the enlarged mission was assured of passage with the backing of his Conservative majority.
Addressing parliament, Harper said his gov ...
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Turkey-China wrangle over suspected Uighurs detained in Thailand
Bangkok (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
A family of suspected Uighur Muslims, among hundreds detained in Thailand since last year, will Friday learn their fate in a court case that has sparked a diplomatic wrangle between Turkey and China.
Both countries are seeking the repatriation of the family, who use the surname Teklimakan and claim they are Turkish.
They were detained by Thai police in March 2014 after illegally entering ...
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Russia warns US against sending missile defence system to South Korea
Moscow (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
Russia on Tuesday warned the United States against sending a ballistic missile defence system to South Korea, saying it could threaten regional security.
Washington says it wants to deploy the system, known as THAAD, to South Korea as a deterrent to military provocation by North Korea.
"Such a development cannot but cause concern about the destructive influence of the United States' g ...
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Stethoscopes and AK-47s: Pakistan medics face kidnap epidemic
Peshawar, Pakistan (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
When Pakistani doctor Mehmood Jafri gets ready for work in the morning, the first thing he does is put his AK-47 in the car.
Then, after briefing the armed guards at his home, he sets off for the hospital where he works in the troubled northwestern city of Peshawar with his most trusted relative beside him as an escort.
After surviving one murder attempt and one kidnap bid, Jafri takes n ...
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Israel wraps up mission lobbying against Iran deal
Jerusalem (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
Israel's intelligence minister on Tuesday wrapped up a two-day European diplomatic offensive against making concessions to Iran in nuclear negotiations with world powers, his spokesman said.
"Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz completed two days of intensive discussion in Paris and London," a statement from Eyal Basson said, adding that the minister was accompanied by National Security Adv ...
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Sri Lankan leader to renegotiate China deals on visit
Colombo (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
Sri Lanka's new president will use a visit to Beijing to renegotiate more than $5.3 billion-worth of Chinese deals signed by his predecessor, a minister said Tuesday, calling it a strategy of "economic self-defence".
President Maithripala Sirisena has already suspended construction work on a major Chinese-funded land reclamation project commissioned by his predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse, who ...
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India, China agree to foster peace on disputed border
New Delhi (AFP) March 24, 2015 -
India and China agreed Tuesday to foster peace along their Himalayan border after wrapping up two days of talks designed to resolve a long-festering boundary dispute.
In comments issued after the round of talks in the Indian capital, the governments of both countries stressed their common desire to maintain calm and to press ahead with further negotiations.
"Both sides agreed to take nec ...
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China completes second test on new carrier rocket's power system
Beijing (XNA) Mar 24, 2015 -
The second ground test of the power system of China's next-generation carrier rocket was completed Monday, ahead of its first flight in 2016.
Using non-toxic, non-polluting liquid propellant, the engines of Long March-5 were test-fired on the ground to test current technology, said Tan Yonghua, head of the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology.
Long March-5 was first test-fired ...
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DoD Works to Build Competition Into Space Launches
Washington DC (AFNS) Mar 24, 2015 -
Space capability is critical to national security, and the Defense Department is working to make its launch program more competitive and end its longtime use of a Russian rocket engine on the Atlas launch system, the assistant secretary of defense for acquisition said this week.
Katrina G. McFarland testified before the House Armed Services Committee's strategic forces subcommittee March 1 ...
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Three Chinese tourists killed in Thai bus crash
Bangkok (AFP) March 25, 2015 -
Three Chinese holidaymakers died and 17 were injured Wednesday in a bus crash on Thailand's southern tourist island of Phuket, a senior official said.
The accident happened shortly before midday when a bus smashed through a crash barrier and plunged into a ravine near Karon beach, on the island's southwest coast.
"Two women and one man were killed. Of the 17 injured, one is in a serious ...
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