Satellite News
Atlas 5 blasts off with NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket streaked into space from Cape Canaveral before dawn Oct. 16 with NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission, a robotic probe to explore a group of enigmatic asteroids leading and trailing Jupiter in its orbit around the sun.
Successful Deployment of Giant Reflector for Forest Monitoring Satellite Biomass
Biomass, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) forest measuring satellite has passed a key milestone with the successful deployment of the Large Deployable Reflector (LDR) which will receive P-band data reflected back from the world’s forests. The test, which took place at L3Harris Technologies in Florida who manufactured the 12m wide reflector, was witnessed by representatives from Airbus, ESA and JPL (NASA)
Exploration News
Musk says Starship may be ready for orbital launch next month, but FAA review continues
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, said Friday the company’s huge new Starship rocket may be ready for its first orbital test launch from South Texas as soon as November, but the schedule comes with two big uncertainties that could push the launch to next year.
SpaceX Boca Chica environmental review draws strong public support and criticism
SpaceX performed a static-fire test of a Starship vehicle Oct. 21 as debate continues about an environmental assessment of the company’s proposed launch operations in Texas.
Space Adventures no longer planning Crew Dragon flight
Space Adventures has dropped plans to fly space tourists on a high-altitude Crew Dragon flight but has not ruled out revisiting the mission concept in the future.
Senate appropriators direct NASA to select second Artemis lunar lander
Senate appropriators want NASA to select a second company for its program to develop crewed lunar landers, but provided the agency with only a small increase in funding to support that.
Launcher News
South Korea launches first domestic space rocket but mission fails
South Korea launched its first domestically developed space rocket on Thursday but failed to put its dummy payload into orbit, a setback in the country’s attempts to join the ranks of advanced space-faring nation
US conducts ‘successful’ test of hypersonic missile technology
The United States successfully tested hypersonic missile technology, a new weapons system which is already being deployed by China and Russia.
NewSpace News
Nanoracks, Voyager Space, and LM Teaming to Develop Commercial Space Station
Nanoracks, in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], has formed a team to develop the first-ever free flying commercial space station. The space station, known as Starlab, will be a continuously crewed commercial platform, dedicated to conducting critical research, fostering industrial activity, and ensuring continued U.S. presence and leadership in low-Earth orbit. Starlab is expected to achieve initial operational capability by 2027.
D-Orbit’s Nebula Cloud Platform Offering Is Successfully Demo’d In Space
D-Orbit has successfully completed the orbital testing of Nebula, a cloud platform designed to provide distributed, high-performance, data analytics computing and storage capabilities in space. Nebula is a hardware-software environment that enables end-users to uplink and run software and AI/ML apps in a way similar to conventional, terrestrial cloud environments.
A New, Compact, Hyperspectral Instrument From AMOS Is Destined For Smallsats
AMOS s.a., a Belgian company specializing in the design and manufacture of advanced optical instruments, and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a contract to build and qualify a first flight model of an advanced compact hyperspectral imager designed by AMOS and called ELOIS. AMOS’ ELOIS hyperspectral imager
Kleos Space orders reconnaissance satellites for 2022 launch
Luxembourg-based startup Kleos Space has ordered four more RF reconnaissance satellites, securing a launch in mid-2022 to improve data collection and revisit times.
Polish Armed Forces enlist industry consortium for imaging nanosatellites
Under the recently launched Polish Imaging Satellites (PIAST) project, a consortium formed by local space industry players will develop three nanosatellites to be operated by the country’s armed forces and placed into orbit in 2024.
PlanetIQ announces highest-performance radio occultation satellite
PlanetIQ is raising money to accelerate its campaign to establish a 20-satellite Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation constellation by 2024.
Space Safety News
From space traffic awareness to space traffic management
The term “space traffic management” (STM) inevitably triggers comparisons to air traffic management. The reality is far different.
Rocket Lab’s Upcoming Launch Also Attempt 1st Stage Electron Rocket Ocean Recovery
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. will attempt a controlled, ocean splashdown and recovery of the first stage of an Electron rocket during the company’s next launch in November. The mission will be Rocket Lab’s third ocean recovery of an Electron stage.
Uh oh, one of Lucy’s Solar Arrays Hasn’t Latched Properly
As we’re fond of saying here at UT, space exploration is hard. Many things can go wrong when launching thousands of kgs of highly engineered equipment that took years to develop into space. Now, something seems to have gone wrong with NASA’s latest Discovery mission. Lucy, launched successfully by a ULA rocket on October 16th, … Continue reading “Uh oh, one of Lucy’s Solar Arrays Hasn’t Latched Properly” The post Uh oh, one of Lucy’s Solar Arrays Hasn’t Latched Properly appeared first on Universe Today.
Three hours to save Integral
On 22 September, around midday, ESA’s Integral spacecraft went into emergency Safe Mode. One of the spacecraft’s three active ‘reaction wheels’ had turned off without warning and stopped spinning, causing a ripple effect that meant the satellite itself began to rotate
Virgin Galactic postpones SpaceShipTwo flight, begins maintenance period
Virgin Galactic will postpone a SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceflight that had been scheduled for this month, electing to instead immediately begin an extended maintenance period for the spaceplane and its carrier aircraft that will further delay the start of commercial flights.
Science & Technology News
Printable steak, insect protein, fungus among NASA space food idea winners
NASA has chosen 18 companies to continue developing space food that astronauts could eat on long-term, Deep Space missions to Mars or other planets, such as 3D-printed steak and ingredients including insect protein, fungus and algae
