Satellite News
Juice Arrives at ESA’s Technical Heart
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, has come ‘home’ to ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands to undergo an extreme environment test in Europe’s largest thermal vacuum chamber to prepare for its journey to the outer Solar System. The spacecraft arrived at ESTEC, ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre, from Airbus Friedrichshafen in Germany last week. It is now being unpacked and prepared to enter the ‘Large Space Simulator’ later this month. It will spend several weeks
NGC Solar Arrays to Power Airbus OneSat Spacecraft
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) was awarded a contract by Airbus Defence and Space for the design, development and production of 24 ship sets of solar arrays to support the OneSat satellite product line. The solar arrays will power the OneSat communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit. The solar array technology features the Northrop Grumman Compact Telescoping Array (CTA) design that utilizes a telescoping boom system to deploy an accordion-folded flexible solar array.
Exploration News
Why Ingenuity’s fifth flight will be different
Around the time of our first flight, we talked a lot about having our “Wright brothers moment” at Mars.
Blue Origin will fly first crew to space in July
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will send its first crew to space on July 20 and is offering one of the seats to the winner of an online auction.
Launcher News
Upgraded Starship prototype makes first soft landing after test flight
SpaceX launched and landed an upgraded prototype for the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle in South Texas on Wednesday, the company’s first Starship test flight since winning a $2.9 billion NASA contract to use the craft to land astronauts on the Moon.
SpaceX ready to break another rocket reuse record with launch early Sunday
A Falcon 9 rocket and 60 more Starlink internet satellites set for launch early Sunday at Cape Canaveral will mark the first time SpaceX has flown a first stage 10 times, reaching a milestone that the company once said could be a limit for reusing boosters. Now SpaceX plans to keep flying reused rockets on Starlink missions until one fails.
Starliner test flight scheduled for July 30
NASA and Boeing have scheduled a second uncrewed test flight of the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft for July 30.
NewSpace News
ISAR Aerospace Collects An 11 Million Euros Contract From DLR and German Government
The German Government and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have awarded Isar Aerospace with an 11 million euros contract through their C-STS program that is managed by the European Space Agency (ESA). The program is designed to strengthen commercial space
KSAT Adding 34 New Antennas Across The Globe Due To Increased Smallsat Constellation Network
The increasing pace of the commercial satellite industry continues and, as a response, KSAT is adding 34 new antennas this year that will be dedicated for the KSATlite network, the company’s network optimized to support smallsat constellations. The antennas will be installed across the globe, adding capacity in already existing sites as well as expanding […]
Dawn Aerospace’s Green Propellant Thruster Proves Itself On-Orbit With D-Orbit’s ION Space Tug
Dawn Aerospace has confirmed the company’s novel satellite thruster has been proven in space —six thrusters were onboard D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier — the companies have been working together since early 2019. Dawn Aerospace’s B20 thruster at work on-orbit. Image is courtesy of D-Orbit. Since launching on SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission in January of 2021, D-Orbit’s […]
Spaceflight Preps Four Rocket Lab Electron Launches For BlackSky
Spaceflight Inc. recently secured four, dedicated, Rocket Lab launches on behalf of the company’s customer, BlackSky. Spaceflight will provide the integration and launch services for eight BlackSky smallsats across four dedicated Electron missions throughout 2021 — the agreement also includes options for an additional two dedicated missions on Electron in Q4 2021.
Space Safety News
China’s Rocket Debris Landed Near Maldives: Here’s What to Know
Most of the debris burned up on re-entry Sunday morning, China said. The head of NASA accused it of “failing to meet responsible standards.” The rocket, a Long March 5B, launched the main module of China’s next space station, Tiangong, on April 29. Usually, the large booster stages of rockets immediately drop back to Earth after they are jettisoned, but the 23-ton core stage of the Long March 5B accompanied the space station segment all the way to orbit.
