SOAR spaceplane atop an A-300. (Credit: S3)
NORTH BAY, Ont., June 26, 2014 (S3 PR) —Swiss Space Systems Holding SA (S3) announced today in the presence of local authorities and dignitaries its partnership with the City of North Bay and Canadore College.
This partnership will enable S3 to initiate several technical activities from this Canadian region, a highly interesting zone, because of its geographic situation and its large available test flight corridors.
A tethered harpoon system to capture derelict satellites is being studied for ESA’s e.DeOrbit mission, part of the Agency’s Clean Space initiative to tackle orbital debris while also reducing the impacts of the space industry on the terrestrial environment. The harpoon would be fired into the satellite structure to secure it, allowing it to be reeled in and mated. (Credit: Airbus Defence and Space)
4 June 2014
Faced with the challenge of capturing tumbling satellites to clear key orbits, ESA is considering turning to an ancient terrestrial technology: the harpoon.
Used since the Stone Age, first to spear fish and later to catch whales, the humble harpoon is being looked at for snagging derelict space hardware.
Angara-1.2 launch vehicle on pad at Plesetsk. (Credit: Khrunichev)
PLESETSK, Russia, June 25, 2014 (Khrunichev PR) – Today the first integrated launch vehicle of the Angara-1.2 family was transferred to the launch complex at the MoD State Testing Cosmodrome (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Archangelsk Region. Angara-1.2ML (“Maiden Launch”) was installed on the launch pad.
The go-ahead for the roll-out was given by the State Commission for Flight Testing of Spacecraft Launch Systems at its meeting on Tuesday, June 24.
The launch of the light-lift Angara-1.2ML is scheduled for June 27 and begins the flight tests of launch vehicles belonging to the latest Russian space rocket complex, Angara.
The purpose of the Angara-1.2ML launch is injecting Stage 2 and a mass/dimensional dummy payload, the latter not to be separated, to a ballistic trajectory. The stack is subsequently expected to reach its targeted impact area in the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Two of the 28 Planet Labs Dove satellites that make up the Flock 1 constellation are seen launching into orbit from the International Space Station on Feb. 11. (Credit: NASA)
SEATTLE (Spaceflight Inc. PR) -– Spaceflight Inc., the company reinventing the model for launching small satellites into space, announces that it has successfully deployed 11 Planet Labs Dove earth-imaging spacecraft from an International Space Company (ISC) Kosmotras-operated Dnepr launch vehicle.
“SmallSat constellations are a critical, growing piece of the space economy,” said Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight. “We are thrilled to expand our launch heritage with Planet Labs and ISC Kosmotras to enable the cost-effective and timely launch of small satellites.”
REDMOND, Washington, June 24, 2014 (Planetary Resources PR – Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining company, and Zooniverse today launched Asteroid Zoo (www.asteroidzoo.org), empowering students, citizen scientists and space enthusiasts to aid in the search for previously undiscovered asteroids. The program allows the public to join the search for Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) of interest to scientists, NASA and asteroid miners, while helping to train computers to better find them in the future.
Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (Credit: NASA)
KAUAI, Hawaii (NASA PR) — NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project plans to fly its rocket-powered, saucer-shaped landing technology test vehicle into near-space from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai, Hawaii later this week.
NASA has identified five potential launch dates for the high-altitude balloon carrying the LDSD experiment: June 28, 29, 30, July 1 and 3. The launch window for Saturday, June 28 extends from 8:15–9:30 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time (2:15-3:30 p.m. EDT).
The test will be carried live via UStream and simulcast on NASA Television.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, center, and former astronaut Chris Ferguson survey a mockup of the CST-100 spacecraft under development by The Boeing Company during a ceremony detailing Boeing’s plans to use Orbiter Processing Facility-3 as a manufacturing hub for the capsule-shaped spacecraft. (Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)
By Steven Siceloff
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida took another step down the path of transformation Monday, June 9, when The Boeing Company unveiled detailed plans to convert a shuttle processing facility into an assembly hub for the company’s next generation of crewed spacecraft.
Speaking inside the former engine shop of the spacious Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at Kennedy, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said Boeing’s plans demonstrate that the only place in the nation to have launched people into orbit remains well-positioned to serve the future of space exploration, too.
ISS External Payload Platform (Credit: NanoRacks)
HOUSTON (NanoRacks PR) – NanoRacks and Astrium North America are excited to announce that the first-ever commercial External Payload Platform for the International Space Station has entered NASA verification tests in preparation for a launch to the space station later this year.
This External Payload Platform (NREP) will provide low cost, repeatable access to the outside space environment as well as allowing payload return.
The External Payload Platform (NREP) will host payloads in the open space environment while attached to the JAXA Japanese External Facility (JEM-EF).
Roscosmos is not amused by a plan by RSC Energia and Space Adventures to spent two tourists on a trip around the moon in a modified Soyuz spacecraft: Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, will not be involved in a plan to send two space tourists on a flight around the Moon and was not consulted about the project, the federal space agency said. The mission, hatched by U.S.-based space tourism firm […]
World View parafoil at 120,000 feet. (Credit: World View)
TUCSON, AZ, June 24, 2014 (World View PR) – Representing a milestone accomplishment, World View, the commercial balloon spaceflight company, has successfully completed a scaled test flight of its high-altitude balloon spaceflight system breaking the world record for highest parafoil flight in the process. The flight launched from Roswell International Air Center in Roswell, NM on June 18 at 7:45 a.m. MT and lasted more than five hours.
Launching in 2016, World View will have Voyagers floating peacefully to the edge of space for a two-hour sailing-like experience within a luxuriously engineered pressurized capsule transported by a parafoil and high-altitude balloon. Guests will enjoy 360-degree vistas of the world’s most spectacular panorama, marveling at the beauty of the Earth below, watching the sun slowly rise above the curvature of our planet suspended in a vast, black and infinite universe. In addition to offering breathtaking experiences for Voyagers, the capabilities being developed by World View will offer unprecedented and affordable access to the near-space environment for educators, researchers, private companies and government agencies alike.
