Satellite News
China’s space industry faces impacts of coronavirus outbreak
China’s space industry is suffering adverse effects from the coronavirus outbreak which has so far infected mare than 30,000 in mainland China.
OneWeb’s first large batch of satellites launch on Arianespace Soyuz rocket
A Soyuz rocket launched 34 small broadband satellites for OneWeb Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, marking the beginning of a multi-launch campaign for the company.
OneWeb plans April launch break to tweak satellite design
Instead of kicking off a sustained campaign of monthly launches, OneWeb intends to take a break in April after putting up 68 satellites with the pair of launches planned for February and March.
Watch Solar Orbiter launch live
Watch the launch of ESA’s new powerful Sun explorer, Solar Orbiter, on ESA Web TV on Monday 10 February from 03:30 GMT (04:30 CET).
Exploration News
Industry puzzled by NASA withdrawal of CLPS task order
NASA withdrew without explanation last week a task order for its commercial lunar lander services program, frustrating many of the companies involved.
Luca emerges from Soyuz MS-13
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano returned to Earth today alongside NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, marking the end of his second six-month International Space Station mission known as ‘Beyond’. Christina Koch became new world recordwomen for the longuest flight in orbit .
SpaceX is holding a Starship career day to ramp up its Mars colonization effort
SpaceX is hosting a Starship career day today (Feb. 6) at the company’s facility near the South Texas village of Boca Chica, where the big spaceship is coming together.
Launcher News
Opportunities grow for smallsat rideshare launches
SpaceX disclosed new details about its small satellite rideshare efforts Feb. 5 as it, and other programs like it by large launch vehicle operators, put new pricing pressure on small launch vehicle companies.
Ariane 6 launch site gets ready
The first Ariane 6 flight is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020
PLD Space books first suborbital flight, nears resolution of engine setback
Spanish launch startup PLD Space says secured a second customer for the maiden flight of its Miura 1 reusable suborbital rocket while tackling development issues that prevented the mission from occurring last year.
Virgin Orbit nearing first launch
Virgin Orbit says it is weeks away from the first orbital launch of its LauncherOne rocket as the company makes plans to move quickly into operations if that flight is successful.
NewSpace News
A French smallsat company has raised more than $100 million to deploy an Internet of Things constellation.
Kinéis raised 100 million euros ($110 million) from a mix of public and private investors to fully fund the development of a constellation of 25 16U cubesats to provide IoT connectivity services, along with tracking ships using a secondary Automatic Identification System payload. The company plans to launch its satellites in groups of five during the second half of 2022, with service starting early in 2023. Kinéis spun out last year from Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), a French maritime and environmental monitoring company. [SpaceNews]
Momentus announces customers for in-space shuttle service
SteamJet Space Systems is the latest customer to sign up for Momentus’ Vigoride space transportation service.
Space Safety News
NASA safety panel calls for reviews after second Starliner software problem
A NASA safety panel is recommending a review of Boeing’s software verification processes after revealing there was a second software problem during a CST-100 Starliner test flight that could have led to a “catastrophic” failure.
Technology News
Aurora to test deorbit tether on Momentus mission
Finnish startup Aurora Propulsion Technologies signed a contract at the SmallSat Symposium to fly a deorbiting technology demonstration with Momentus Space.
Anti-solar cells: A photovoltaic cell that works at night
What if solar cells worked at night? That’s no joke, according to Jeremy Munday, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Davis.
