Satellite News
Telesat to become a public company next week amid Lightspeed delay
Canadian satellite operator Telesat expects to start publicly trading shares next week, broadening potential funding sources for its delayed $5 billion low Earth orbit Lightspeed broadband network.
Planet to acquire VanderSat in $28 million deal
Planet announced an agreement to acquire VanderSat, a Dutch company that provides data on Earth surface conditions, like soil moisture and land surface temperature for about $28 million.
Exploration News
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 Astronauts Headed to ISS
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts are in orbit following their launch to the International Space Station on the third commercial crew rotation mission aboard the microgravity laboratory. The international crew of astronauts lifted off at 9:03 p.m. EST Wednesday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft with NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, as well as ESA (European
Cosmic Kiss Mission Begins As Matthias Maurer Arrives at the Space Station
The four Crew-3 astronauts were launched in a new SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Endurance, atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA at 02:03 GMT/03:03 CET Thursday 11 November. They arrived at the Station around 22 hours later for a six-month stay in orbit. Matthias and his crew mates were welcomed aboard by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov when the hatch opened at 01:25 GMT/02:25 CET
Astronaut training in the land of volcanoes
A team of astronauts, engineers and geologists is travelling to Spain’s Canary Islands, one of Europe’s volcanic hot spots, to learn how to best explore the Moon and Mars during ESA’s Pangaea training course
NASA delays human lunar landing to at least 2025
NASA leadership has formally given up on the goal of returning humans to the moon by 2024, pushing back a landing by NASA astronauts on the lunar surface to at least 2025.
Bezos’ Blue Origin announces plans for private space stationplans …
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin on Monday announced it wants to launch a space station that will house up to 10 people in the second half of the decade, as the race to commercialize the cosmos heats up.
Launcher News
South Korea to develop reusable rocket with 100-ton thrust engines
The plan to develop a reusable rocket came as a surprise because “reusability” was nowhere to be seen in the government’s budget request for 2022 — in which South Korea’s next-generation rocket was supposed to be an expendable rocket.
Japan’s Epsilon 5 rocket launches nine small satellites
Japan’s solid-fuel Epsilon 5 rocket successfully put nine small satellites into orbit Nov. 9, including an orbital debris removal technology demonstrator.
NewSpace News
Orbital Assembly Corporation promote space hotels in LEO for investment
Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC) a company focused on becoming the leading large-scale space construction company enabling humanity to work, play and thrive in the space ecosystem announces its crowdfunding equity offering (Regulation CF). Commercial Space tourism became a reality this year and Orbital Assembly is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the intense interest in livable space facilities, specifically low orbit space habitation in a low gravity environment,” says Orbital Assembly Chief Executive Officer Rhonda Stevenson
Morpheus unveils Sphere product line for satellite constellations
by Debra Werner — November 12, 2021
Morpheus, a German propulsion startup that opened an office in Los Angeles earlier this year, unveiled a suite of products, called the Sphere ecosystem, that are designed to work together to reduce the cost and complexity of satellite constellation operations.
Space tracking startup Privateer hires Jah as chief scientific adviser
by Jeff Foust — November 8, 2021
A space sustainability startup still largely in stealth mode has hired a leading “space environmentalist” as its chief scientific adviser as it develops satellites to track objects in orbit.
HawkEye 360 raises $145 million in Series D round
Hawkeye 360 raised $145 million in a Series D investment round led by Insight Partners and Seraphim Space Investment Trust.
Space Safety News
Hubble is Back Online — Partially
The Hubble Space Telescope has been in ‘safe mode’ since October 23, with all of the science instruments offline and unavailable for observations. However, engineers have now been able to bring one instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), back online, and have restarted its science observations. NASA said engineers are still investigating the issue … Continue reading “Hubble is Back Online — Partially”
Space companies forge alliance to reduce in-orbit debris by 2030
Ten companies and organizations from across the space industry have vowed to devise concrete measures for reducing the amount of in-orbit debris by 2030. The other Net Zero Space members so far are Chinese Earth observation operator CGSTL, French space agency CNES, European satellite-tracking group EUSST, Dutch research and teaching institution IIASL and French space situational awareness (SSA) startups Share my Space and Spaceable.
Astroscale and New Zealand to partner on space sustainability projects
Astroscale signed an agreement with the government of New Zealand Nov. 10 to study advanced concepts for orbital debris removal.
Spaceports address environmental impact concerns
Spaceports are working together to address environmental concerns and share solutions.
Science & Technology News
Fungi Were Able to Absorb Radiation on the ISS. Could Astronauts Grow Their own Radiation Shields in Space?
A lack of effective radiation shielding is one of the biggest challenges still to be overcome if humans are to embark on long-term voyages into deep space. On Earth, the planet’s powerful magnetosphere protects us from the deadliest forms of radiation – those produced by solar flares, and galactic cosmic rays arriving from afar – … Continue reading “Fungi Were Able to Absorb Radiation on the ISS. Could Astronauts Grow Their own Radiation Shields in Space?” The post Fungi Were Able to Absorb Radiation on the ISS. Could Astronauts Grow Their own Radiation Shields in Space?
The Moon’s top layer alone has enough oxygen to sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years
Alongside advances in space exploration, we’ve recently seen much time and money invested into technologies that could allow effective space resource utilisation. And at the forefront of these efforts has been a laser-sharp focus on finding the best way to produce oxygen on the Moon. In October, the Australian Space Agency and NASA signed a deal to send an Australian-made rover to the Moon under the Artemis program, with a goal to collect lunar rocks that could ultimately provide breathable oxygen
Russia successfully tests ‘space radiation shield’
Specialists from the Russian Space Systems holding (RSS) have successfully tested a miniature device designed to protect the electronic onboard systems of state-of-the-art satellites from cosmic radiation
A universal device measuring three by three centimetres is integrated into the electrical circuits of onboard equipment units, continuously monitors the condition of the input and output voltage current. It also detects the destructive effect of radiation and quickly conducts short-term disconnections of the circuit with a duration of five microseconds, something that helps avoid the degradation of onboard components”
