Tracking 19571 objects as of 28-Feb. You can check the status and communication frequencies of all active amateur radio satellites on the following web pages: DK3WN, JE9PEL. Satellites marked with C support uplink communication in amateur radio bands. Ham radio exclusive: Amateur radio satellite passes for the next 6 hours.

SATELLITE NEWS NEXT SPACE STATION CREW LAUNCH SET THURSDAY ON SOYUZ FROM BAIKONUR COSMODROME - Two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are set to join the crew aboard the International Space Station next Thursday, March 14. The trio’s arrival will return the orbiting laboratory’s population to six, including three NASA astronauts. This launch will also mark the fourth Expedition crew with two female astronauts. Live coverage will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website. ( Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Mar 12) CHINA LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNICATION SATELLITE - China Sunday sent a new communication satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan province.

The 'ChinaSat 6C' satellite was launched at 0:28 a.m. Beijing Time by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It will provide high-quality radio and TV transmission services. The satellite has been sent to the geostationary orbit, and can cover China, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific island countries. ( Source: China.org.cn - Mar 11) AFTER A SUCCESSFUL TEST FLIGHT TO THE ISS, SPACEX LOOKS AHEAD TO LAUNCHING ASTRONAUTS - Over the course of the last week, SpaceX took a giant leap toward launching humans from Cape Canaveral for the first time since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.

On Saturday, March 2, at 2:49 a.m. EST, one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets lit up the pre-dawn sky, lofting a Crew Dragon spacecraft designed to carry humans—but carrying only a stuffed globe and a manikin named Ripley outfitted with a space suit and suite of sensors—to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX then landed the Falcon 9 first stage on one of the company’s two drone ships, Of Course I Still Love You, waiting out in the Atlantic. ( Source: Smithsonian - Mar 11) THE ARMY HOPES A NEW SATELLITE WILL HELP ALLEVIATE CONGESTION - The U.S. Air Force is expected to launch the next satellite in its Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) program as early as March 13, a move that will bolster the military’s foundational communication network. The addition comes at a time when the military is under increasing pressure to build up its communication capacity as tactical battlefield sensors and other data feeds create the need for added throughput. ( Source: C4ISRNet - Mar 10) TURNING SPACE DATA INTO SMART INSIGHTS - Today, big data is being collected thousands of miles up in space by a whole host of orbiting satellites.

The increase in data volumes continues to grow exponentially as more satellites are launched. According to a report by Sparks and Honey, 6,200 small satellites are expected to be launched over the next 10 years. The falling costs of satellites and their growing sophistication have enabled new uses for “space data” across many industries and fueled investment in the sector. The satellites orbit 99 to 1,200 miles (160 to 2,000 kilometers) above the Earth and provide an overhead view using cameras and sensors to create a very unique dataset. Those images are analyzed by computers using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms that extract information and extrapolate patterns. ( Source: Via Satellite - Mar 10) THE U.S.

WEATHER SATELLITE NETWORK IS STRONGER THAN EVER - In 2013, with a reliance on aging weather satellites in orbit past their intended life span, the nation faced a dire possibility: a “satellite gap” that would leave forecasters blind if one or more of these critical eyes in the sky should fail. This was a concern not only within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but also for the Government Accountability Office, which elevated it to the unenviable category of “high risk.” ( Source: Washington Post - Mar 10) SPACEX DRAGON DEMO CAPSULE RETURNS TO EARTH - America's new commercial astronaut capsule has completed its demonstration flight with a successful splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The SpaceX Dragon vehicle left the International Space Station after being docked there for the past week, and re-entered Earth's atmosphere. It had a heat-shield to protect it from the high temperatures of re-entry. Four parachutes brought it into 'soft contact' with water about 450km from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission - which had no humans aboard, only a dummy covered in sensors - went according to plan. ( Source: BBC News - Mar 8) WATCH LIVE: SPACEX CREW DRAGON PREPARES TO RETURN TO EARTH - SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft proved the private space company is capable of safely launching and carrying astronauts from Earth to the International Space Station.

Now, SpaceX and and Crew Dragon must demonstrate their ability to safely shepherd astronauts back to Earth. 'The uncrewed SpaceX DM-1 mission has one final milestone and that is the safe return to Earth,' NASA wrote in an update. On Thursday afternoon, the International Space Station confirmed in a tweet that the Crew Dragon hatch had closed. The spacecraft will undock at approximately 2:30 a.m. ET Friday morning. ( Source: UPI - Mar 8) WANT TO HACK A SATELLITE?

IT MIGHT BE EASIER THAN YOU THINK - Just because a satellite is high up in orbit doesn't mean it's beyond the reach of a determined hacker, as outlined by security experts here at the RSA conference. Satellites are basically Internet of Things (IoT) devices, said Bill Malik, VP of Infrastructure Strategies at Trend Micro.

'They're snazzy, they're wild, it's spaaaaace, but they're IoT devices,' he said. ( Source: PCMag.com - Mar 8) SPACECRAFTS’ SOLAR PANELS CAN SERVE DOUBLE-DUTY AS SAILS - Manoeuvring a satellite in orbit usually requires thrusters. Sometimes the thrust is provided by a fuel-burning rocket motor.

Sometimes it comes from electrically heated gas. Both methods, though, add weight in the form of propellant, thus reducing launch payload. They also involve parts that may fail.

And eventually they run out of juice. Moreover, satellites carrying an energetic fuel like hydrazine must undergo special tests to be certified as safe for inclusion in a launch. Other ways of manoeuvring spacecraft would thus be welcome. And two, in particular, are now being developed. ( Source: The Economist - Mar 8) NASA SAYS IT HAS SCHEDULED THE FIRST ALL-FEMALE SPACEWALK - Just in time for International Women’s Day, NASA announced Wednesday that it will be conducting the first-ever, all-female spacewalk, CNN reports. Astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain will exit the International Space Station on March 29, 35 years after the first woman performed a spacewalk.

They’ll be guided from the ground by flight director Mary Lawrence, and flight controllers Jackie Kagey and Kristen Facciol, according to CNN. ( Source: TIME - Mar 8) LITTLE EARTH'S BIG WEEK ON THE SPACE STATION - This week, Earth was introduced to something adorably wonderful: Little Earth. Little Earth, also called Buddy, has enjoyed an eventful week tagging along with the astronauts on the International Space Station after launching on SpaceX's Crew Dragon on Saturday.

The plush toy, made by Celestial Buddies, launched alongside space-suited dummy Ripley. Ripley, obviously named in honor of Ellen Ripley from the 'Alien' movies, was meant to make sure that the first commercially operated spacecraft designed to carry astronauts would be safe and comfortable for humans. Ripley even has little sensors at key points like the head, neck and spine to see what the experience might be like for astronauts who could be using it as soon as this summer.

( Source: CNN - Mar 8) ELON MUSK ALWAYS THOUGHT SPACEX WOULD 'FAIL' AND HE'D LOSE HIS PAYPAL MILLIONS - With Saturday's successful test launch of the spacecraft SpaceX will use to send humans to space for the first time, SpaceX has already vastly exceeded any expectations Elon Musk had when he founded the aerospace company 17 years ago. 'I always thought we would fail,' Musk said of founding SpaceX during a press conference Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 'So, this is it's all upside.'

( Source: CNBC - Mar 7) WOULD YOU WANT TO STAY IN A SPACE HOTEL? - It was intended to set the travel world on fire: Aurora Station, the world’s first in-orbit hotel. The official announcement took place last April during the Space 2.0 Conference in San Jose, California.

Housed aboard a structure about the size of a large private jet, guests would soar 200 miles above the Earth’s surface, enjoying epic views of the planet and the northern and southern lights. A jaunt won’t be cheap: the 12-day-journey aboard Aurora Station, scheduled to be in orbit by 2022, starts at a cool $9.5m (£7.3m) per person. Nevertheless, the company says the waiting list is booked nearly seven months ahead.

( Source: BBC News - Mar 7) THE SCIENCE CIRCLING ABOVE US ON THE SPACE STATION - The International Space Station orbits Earth, 400 km above our heads, running scientific experiments that cannot be done anywhere else. Read on for our bi-weekly update on European science in space. This week ESA is highlighting space weather, so let us start with the Atmosphere–Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) that was installed outside Europe's Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station last year.

( Source: Phys.org - Mar 7) ONEWEB ANNOUNCED AS CUSTOMER FOR INAUGURAL ARIANE 6 LAUNCH - Arianespace has announced OneWeb, the broadband Internet provider seeking to deploy more than 600 satellites into low Earth orbit, as the launch customer for the inaugural flight of the new Ariane 6 rocket in 2020. Officials announced the agreement hours after the successful deployment of OneWeb’s first six broadband satellites Feb. 27 aboard a Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana, a mission managed by Arianespace, the French launch services provider. ( Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 7) ROCKET LAB LAUNCH OF DARPA SATELLITE SLIPS - Rocket Lab’s first launch of the year, which was scheduled for late February, has been pushed back to the second half of March because of the delayed arrival of its payload, an experimental military satellite. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said March 5 that its Radiofrequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration, or R3D2, satellite arrived in New Zealand March 4 to begin integration with Rocket Lab’s Electron vehicle. The launch from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex (LC) 1 in New Zealand is now scheduled for the second half of March. ( Source: SpaceNews - Mar 7) ARE SMALL SATELLITES THE SOLUTION FOR SPACE WEATHER MONITORING?

- With key space weather satellites expected to fail before U.S. And European agencies launch replacements, “small satellites may be the only way of averting a bleak future,” said Daniel Baker, director of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Many of the instruments the U.S. Relies on to monitor solar flares, coronal mass ejections and other phenomena that pose a threat to satellites in orbit and technology on the ground are well beyond their anticipated life spans.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is sending new instruments into orbit on its latest generation of geostationary weather satellites but other updates to the space weather constellation are likely to fly years after current instruments fail. ( Source: SpaceNews - Mar 7) CHINA PLANS TO BUILD THE WORLD'S FIRST SOLAR POWER STATION IN SPACE - China is planning to build the world's first solar power station in space to provide 'inexhaustible clean energy' according to a story in Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of China's Ministry of Science and Technology. They claim to be already testing the technology and intend to build the station by 2050. Xie Gengxin, deputy head of the Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Research Institute for Civil-Military Integration in Southwestern China, told the China Daily newspaper that a testing facility in Chongqing's Bishan district is being built that will be used to test the theoretical viability of a space-based solar power station. ( Source: Forbes - Mar 6) ORBITAL MICRO SYSTEMS DELIVERS SATELLITES TO NANORACKS - Orbital Micro Systems (OMS) revealed that the first satellite in its Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) constellation has been delivered to NanoRacks for launch integration. Housed in an AAC Clyde Space bus, the satellite will be launched April 17 from Wallops Island, Virginia. It will be put into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) on the International Space Station (ISS) — via NanoRacks’ Space Act Agreement with NASA’s US National Lab.

In addition to this launch, OMS plans to place six to eight more weather observation satellites in orbit throughout 2019. The mission is part of the In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) Program, funded by Innovate U.K. And managed by the Satellite Applications Catapult. ( Source: Via Satellite - Mar 6).

Software is an integral part of the amateur satellite experience, and provides services from predicting satellite pass, steering antennas and tuning radios. Some software is available from AMSAT, other software is available from the vendor site. In either case we have done our best to make sure the following links point to the most recent version. We request that you order through the AMSAT Store when purchasing. If you purchase your software from AMSAT you are helping to fund future AMSAT activities.

The following software is recommended for current personal computer systems. If you do not find your platform or program here, please go to our. If you believe there is a package that should be listed here, please. If you are looking for satellite pass predictions online, also visit the page. Proprietary Tracking Software For Purchase. Advanced features intended for serious satellite users.

Satellite tracking and prediction. Antenna steering through popular interfaces. Radio tuning with automatic Doppler correction. Simulations and graphical interfaces. Extensive documentation and vendor support Package Platform Publisher Download License. Member Price Purchase Mac OS 10.4, 10.5 Dog Park Software $100 $80 Windows Northern Lights Software Assoc.

$60 $50 Windows DK1TB $50 $45 Windows Bytheway SDL Demo $60 $50 DOS Paul Williamson, KB5MU Demo $50 $30. Prices shown are US Dollars. AMSAT members pay the License fee minus the Member Discount. Proof of membership is required. Tracking Programs - Shareware or Open Source. Features more geared to beginners.

Satellite tracking and prediction. Simulations and graphical interfaces available. Generally no antenna steering. Generally Radio tuning. Minimal documentation and forum support Package Platform Publisher Download License Limitation Windows Sebastian Stoff Cardware None OSX, Linux, SunOS and Windows John A. Magliacane, KD2BD GPL GNU Public License OSX, Linux, SunOS and Windows John A.