BROOMFIELD, Colo. (Ball Aerospace PR) — Ball Aerospace is celebrating the launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) from French Guiana. The Colorado-based company designed and built the advanced optical technology and lightweight mirror system that will enable Webb to detect light from the first stars and galaxies.

By Erika Peters
NASA Johnson Space Center

HOUSTON — Flying on NASA’s Orion spacecraft during the uncrewed Artemis I mission will be Callisto, a technology demonstration developed through a reimbursable space act agreement with Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin has partnered with Amazon, and Cisco to bring the Alexa digital assistant and Webex video collaboration aboard Orion’s first flight test in deep space.

WALLOPS, Va. (NASA PR) — NASA has provided an advance release of its NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU) software code to the launch industry, a critical milestone toward the final certification of NAFTU, which is on-track for February 2022.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (Ball PR) — Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) today announced that The Ball Foundation will donate $1 million and deploy other disaster relief efforts to support communities in Colorado devastated by the recent wildfires.

To support victims of the Marshall fire, Ball coordinated with the governor’s office to ensure any support was directed at the most local and targeted level, and will contribute $1 million to the Community Foundation Boulder County, benefiting the Boulder County Wildfire Fund, which is working closely with local government and nonprofit partners to coordinate, align resources and fill gaps to support those most impacted by the wildfire. The Ball Foundation will match employee donations as part of the company’s ongoing community giving support efforts in addition to working with local partners, to assess local clean drinking water needs and will distribute canned water as needed.

NASA Mission UpdateJan. 5, 2022 While the Webb team was tensioning the sunshield, other activities were also taking place among the instruments. One milestone: unlocking the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) Contamination Control Cover. We’ve asked Gillian Wright, European principal investigator for MIRI, to tell us about it. “MIRI has a Contamination Control Cover, because the constraints of its extra-cold operating temperature mean that it is not possible to include other means […]

NASA James Webb Space Telescope Mission Update
Jan. 5, 2022

Today, Webb teams successfully deployed the observatory’s secondary mirror support structure. When light from the distant universe hits Webb’s iconic 18 gold primary mirrors, it will reflect off and hit the smaller, 2.4-foot (.74-meter) secondary mirror, which will direct the light into its instruments. The secondary mirror is supported by three lightweight deployable struts that are each almost 25 feet long and are designed to withstand the space environment. Specialized heating systems were used to warm up the joints and motors needed for seamless operation.

HERNDON, Va. (BlackSky PR) — BlackSky has named Aly Bonilla as its Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Bonilla reports to BlackSky Chief Financial Officer Johan Broekhuysen and will serve as the primary liaison between the company, its shareholders, and the investment community.

“We are excited to welcome Aly to the BlackSky team and look forward to having him lead our investor relations strategy as we build a world-class program,” said Broekhuysen.

“Aly is a seasoned financial executive who brings a unique perspective and extensive experience in investor relations and financial planning for large, established companies, which will enhance BlackSky’s commitment to deliver long-term shareholder value and elevate our profile among analysts and investors,” added Broekhuysen.

DENVER, Jan. 5, 2022 (Voyager Space PR) — Voyager Space Inc. (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration today announced it has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in San Diego-based Space Micro. Voyager will provide strategic operations support to help advance Space Micro’s technology throughput to civil, commercial, and defense customers.

Space Micro is an innovative, engineering-driven business focused on advancing high-performance satellite communications, digital, and electro-optic systems with 2.8 million hours of space flight heritage. Today, the company has multiple active contracts, including the development of AI for Earth observation missions and for providing X-Band transponders for two lunar missions selected under the NASA Artemis program. Space Micro also has a history of providing critical technology for the U.S. Department of Defense, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) space payloads, secure laser communications terminals, and is also developing a digital RF-to-optical and optical-to-RF signal converter. Space Micro developed a 100-Gbps Laser Communications Terminal which has been on orbit for over a year.

VIENNA, Va. (Spire Global PR) –Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) (“Spire” or the “Company”), a leading global provider of space-based data, analytics, and space services today announced that it has appointed Tim Braswell as Chief People Officer. Mr. Braswell will report to Peter Platzer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spire.

As Chief People Officer, Mr. Braswell will oversee all aspects of Spire’s global human resources activities, including recruitment, talent development, employee systems, and health and wellness program management. Spire employs a diverse team of over 375 employees from more than 40 countries. Mr. Braswell will work closely with Spire management to cultivate an inclusive culture of growth and learning as the Company continues to grow rapidly.

PALMDALE, Calif. (NASA PR) — 2021 saw significant milestones achieved in the assembly of NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft (QueSST), and all eyes now look forward to a pivotal 2022. Following the X-plane’s temporary move from Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works in California to their facilities in Texas, the X-59 is set to start 2022 with critical ground testing, as progress continues toward NASA’s target of the aircraft’s first flight […]

EXTON, Pa. (COMSPOC PR) — Six weeks have elapsed since the Russian ASAT test occurred.  Previous posts by COMSPOC’s CSSI and others have examined the space objects currently tracked, how many of those have reentered, and why there might be slightly fewer fragments than can sometimes accompany such ASAT tests.  Yet there are some critical questions that remain: Specifically, which satellites are placed at greatest risk, where can the debris fragments go in the short-term based upon the velocities they experienced, how much will collision probabilities (and therefore spacecraft operator flight safety workloads) increase in the long-term, and how long will such fragments remain in orbit.  In this blog, we set out to answer all of those questions based on the latest published data.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (NASA PR) — Looking deeper at the way fire behaves in space, Glenn researchers delivered the fifth in a series of NASA investigations in January. The Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment-V (Saffire-V) successfully tested larger, more dynamic fires for over 26 hours inside Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft.

As NASA Glenn continued to manage the difficulties of the pandemic, scientific and technology research continued at a rapid clip this year with an eye toward the future.