ESA Press Release

In brief

Our planet is surrounded by spacecraft carrying out important work to study our changing climate, deliver global communication and navigation services and help us answer important scientific questions.

But their orbits are churning with deadly fragments of the past – fast-moving pieces of defunct satellites and rockets trapped in orbit – that threaten our future in space.

PARIS (ESA PR) — Europe experienced its warmest summer on record in 2021, accompanied by severe floods in western Europe and dry conditions in the Mediterranean. These are just some of the key findings from the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s European State of the Climate report released today. The in-depth report provides key insights and a comprehensive analysis of climate conditions in 2021, with a special focus on Europe and the Arctic.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (NOAA PR) — NOAA plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to explore the potential of acquiring commercial space-based weather data for a Commercial Weather Data Pilot (CWDP) study. The RFP will be posted to SAM.gov later this spring.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — At the conclusion of a weather briefing ahead of today’s planned undocking, NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX teams elected to wave off today’s undocking attempt due to a diurnal low wind trough which has been causing marginally high winds at the splashdown sites. The Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) crew is now targeting to undock from the International Space Station 8:55 p.m. EDT Sunday, April 24.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 3:52 a.m. EDT Wednesday, April 27, for launch of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (NOAA PR) — NOAA plans to release three Broad Agency Announcements, or BAAs, that may lead to a review of advanced technologies for its future satellite and ground architecture, products and services.   The BAAs – and the studies that will result – are part of NOAA’s Office of System Architecture and Advanced Planning (OSAAP) Joint Venture Program. Joint Venture examines the feasibility of partnering with other federal […]

Virginia-based MaxIQ has made their first payment to bluShift Aerospace for suborbital launch services aboard their first full-scale commercial rocket

BRUNSWICK, Maine (bluShift Aerospace PR) – On Earth Day 2022 bluShift Aerospace, a Maine-based New Space startup, announced receipt of the first tranche towards its ongoing launch contract with Virginia-based Space STEM educator and space launch broker MaxIQ Space. The receipt constitutes the first tranche of payment for suborbital launch services aboard bluShift’s first full-scale commercial flight, Starless Rogue Beta.

SOLNA, Sweden (SSC PR) — In the past few years, Swedish Space Corporation has made some quick developments within its ground segment activities. To celebrate SSC’s recent upgrades, the company now gather its capabilities and related services under one branded roof: SSC CONNECT^®. The name reflects, among other things, the company’s strengthened capabilities such as the launch of the market’s first global Ka-band network for EO missions, multiple investments and upgrades of its ground stations and antenna capabilities, as well as the company’s leading position in Lunar connectivity.

TOKYO (IHI Aerospace PR) — IHI Aerospace Co., Ltd (hereinafter ‘IA’) received order for launching the small SAR satellites owned by Institute for Q-Shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (hereinafter ‘iQPS’). IA and iQPS signed the contract for launch service of QPS-SAR-3 and QPS-SAR-4 on April 18, 2022.

QPS-SAR-3 and QPS-SAR-4 are under manufacturing by iQPS with more than 25 partner companies in northern Kyushu and other parts of Japan. Two satellites will be launched by Epsilon flight #6 in Japanese FY 2022 from Uchinoura Space Center in Kyushu. This is first commercial launch order for IA.

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has examined the application documents submitted by 4,127 applicants for astronaut candidate recruitment, and as a result, the following document selection passers have been determined. Number of successful applicants for document selection: 2,266 Breakdown 1,778 male (78.5%) 485 female (21.4%), 3 other (0.1%) Breakdown of Astronaut Candidates by Age Group Who Passed Document Selection Age Group Successful Applicants (Document Selection) […]

MSI’s “Lunar Insurance Plan” will cover ispace’s Mission 1 from launch to landing

TOKYO, April 21, 2022 (ispace PR) – Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. (“MSI”), a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc.  based in Tokyo, Japan, and lunar exploration company, ispace, inc. (“ispace”), announced today that the two companies have reached an agreement for ispace to utilize MSI’s new lunar insurance to cover risks arising in the lunar business named the “Lunar Insurance Plan”. The companies recently signed the agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which states the intention to finalize terms during 2022, in the months leading up to ispace’s first mission, Mission 1 (M1), which is currently planned to launch around Q4 2022* at the earliest.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Vowing that cooperation in space with the West will resume on Russia’s terms, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said the space corporation is eyeing cooperation on China’s space station and begun efforts to replace the American Global Positioning System (GPS) in airplanes with Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system that is also capable of receiving navigation signals from China’s Beidou satellite constellation.

Rogozin also said Roscosmos plans to begin shipments of silo-based hypersonic Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the fall amid continued tensions with the West over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The rocket was successfully test fired on Wednesday.