KENT, Wash. (Blue Origin PR) — Blue Origin today announced New Glenn has been selected for 12 launches, with options for up to 15 additional launches to deploy Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite constellation. Project Kuiper’s constellation of 3,236 advanced satellites aims to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband service globally. The launches are manifested for a five-year period from Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which Blue Origin has rebuilt from the ground up.  

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Arianespace PR) — Arianespace and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced an unprecedented launch service contract during the International Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, USA, on April 5. Under the terms of the contract, Arianespace will perform 18 Ariane 6 launches for Amazon’s Project Kuiper over a period of three years from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Among the 18 launches planned for the deployment of the Project Kuiper, 16 will be carried out with an advanced version of the Ariane 64.

CENTENNIAL, Colo., April 5, 2022 (ULA PR) – United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced today that Amazon has selected its next-generation Vulcan rocket for 38 launches supporting deployment for its ambitious Project Kuiper, Amazon’s initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 advanced satellites in low Earth orbit. 

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — The seven-member Expedition 67 crew will wait an extra day to greet the first private astronauts who are due to launch this weekend to the International Space Station. In the meantime, the orbital residents focused on human research and physics today while gearing up for a pair of spacewalks later this month.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, April 05, 7 PM PDT (9 PM CDT; 10 PM EDT): TBD. Please check the upcoming show menu on the website for current information. Wednesday, April 06 — Hotel Mars pre-recorded. See the Upcoming Show Menu at www.thespaceshow.com for details. Friday, April 08, 9:30-11 AM PDT; 11:30 AM- 1 PM CDT; 12:30-2 PM EDT: TBD Please check the upcoming […]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — The Artemis I team has ended today’s attempt at the wet dress rehearsal  test at 5 p.m. The countdown ended after partially loading liquid oxygen into the Space Launch System core stage tank. This provided the teams a valuable opportunity for training and to make sure modeled loading procedures were accurate. This was the first time using new systems at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B. The team […]

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — We are pleased to inform you that the combustion test (blade vibration measurement test) of the LE-9 engine currently under development by JAXA as the first stage liquid fuel engine of the H3 rocket will be conducted as follows.

The LE-9 engine is considering multiple proposals in parallel as countermeasures to the problems that occurred in the past tests, and this test is to verify to narrow down the countermeasure proposals.

This demonstration is the keystone of an agreement between the two companies to enable new capabilities in the intersection of space and cloud.

CANNES, France, April 4, 2022 (Thales Alenia Space PR) – Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) (67%) and Leonardo (Milan stock exchange: LDO) (33%), announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft to explore the enablement of new capabilities in the Space Edge Computing (SEC), Artificial Intelligence Space Observation tools (DeeperVision) and Digital Ground Segment.

In particular, Thales Alenia Space plans to deliver advanced connectivity, analytics and compute in space with Space Edge Computing (SEC) with Microsoft. To this end, the companies will demonstrate and validate on-orbit computing technologies and potentialities onboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023. Thales Alenia Space will deploy a powerful on-orbit computer, an on-orbit application framework, and high-performance Earth Observation sensors to unlock new on-orbit climate data processing applications for the benefits of our planet sustainability. Thales Alenia Space will work with Microsoft Research in remote sensing, computer vision and climate science to demonstrate the potential of next-generation on-orbit compute for Earth observation. This space edge computing capacity will allow gathering faster, to-the-point Earth observation insights immediately applicable for our planet’s surveillance, understanding and protection.

REDMOND, Wash., April 04, 2022 (Xplore PR) — Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a Service®, today announced it has acquired the assets of Kubos Corporation and its Major Tom® mission and flight control software platform for satellites. Major Tom enables mission operations for more than a dozen satellites currently on orbit for commercial and government customers. In a seamless transition to Xplore, key Kubos employees joined the Xplore team and will expand Xplore’s offerings to include cloud-based mission operation software.

Major Tom is a scalable platform with powerful satellite mission operations and planning tools. The cloud-based software allows operators to perform ground station scheduling, satellite tasking and telemetry monitoring, saving money and time on planning and design. With Major Tom, users operate their missions on a unified cloud platform. It provides the ability to integrate and control ground segment applications and services, and further de-risks mission operations with features that include out-of-the-box ground network integrations, data analytics, real-time dashboards and a customizable commanding API.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

The Chinese government-owned CGTN website has an interview with Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin. With relations severely damaged with the West due to sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Roscosmos is increasingly focused on deepening cooperation with China’s surging space program. The partnership already includes jointly developing a crewed base on the moon in the 2030s.

On the suspended ExoMars mission with Europe, Rogozin said:

“In the construction of ExoMars, the main element is the landing module. The Mars research rover is not the essential element. I think we can make this mission happen with another partner like China or someone else.”

At the end of a long article about the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) efforts to develop a virbrant space industry, The National revealed this bit of news from Ibrahim Al Qasim, deputy director general of the UAE Space Agency. Mr Al Qasim revealed to The National that the agreement that was signed in 2019 with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to bring space tourism flights to Al Ain Airport is no longer in effect, without […]

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (SWF PR) — The Secure World Foundation (SWF) is proud to announce the release of its annual report, “Global Counterspace Capabilities: An Open Source Assessment.” Edited by SWF Director of Program Planning Brian Weeden and Washington Office Director Victoria Samson, this report compiles and assesses publicly available information on the counterspace capabilities being developed by multiple countries across five categories: direct-ascent, co-orbital, electronic warfare, directed energy, and cyber. […]