HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA and U.S. Space Command continue to monitor the debris cloud created by a recent Russian anti-satellite test. The International Space Station and crew members are safe and have resumed normal operations. The largest risk from the debris was in the first 24 hours and telemetry from the space station indicates no issues during that time. About 1:20 a.m. EST today, radial hatches extending from the […]

IRVINE, Calif., November 18, 2021 (ICEYE PR) – ICEYE, the global leader in persistent monitoring with radar satellite imaging, announced today that it has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Technical Center (SMDTC) to advance state-of-the-art Earth observation technology in support of U.S. Army missions.

This joint R&D effort will explore low-cost, on-orbit, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) related concepts. The areas of interest include exploration of cost-effective SAR systems including imagery tasking and uplink, SAR satellite downlink and ground station(s), image processing, and image dissemination as these abilities relate to U.S. Army and other DoD requirements more broadly. Emphasis will be placed on significant data latency reduction between the sensor and the shooter, as well as interfacing with the U.S. Army’s current Common Ground Terminal (CGT) and the future Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN), a mobile ground station system that’s currently under development.

Two satellites at 19.2 degrees East will enable SES’s major European broadcasters’ content distribution operations as well as deliver connectivity services over Europe.

Luxembourg, 18 November 2021 (SES PR) – SES announced today it has ordered two geostationary (GEO) Ku-band satellites for its prime orbital slot at 19.2 degrees East to maintain the premium services it provides to its European video customers and to capture new opportunities in the region. These two replacement satellites – ASTRA 1P and ASTRA 1Q – will be built by Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%) and are expected to launch in 2024.

The MP42 microsat will carry payloads from OQ Technology and Veoware into low Earth orbit

BREMEN, Germany, 17 November 2021 (NanoAvionics PR) – Smallsat integrator NanoAvionics has announced its latest satellite rideshare mission “MP42” to be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 with payloads from OQ Technology and Veoware. Using the prototype of its new MP42 microsatellite bus, it is the fifth shared satellite mission by NanoAvionics, which has been one of the firsts companies in the nanosatellite industry to successfully kickstart and continue such a commercial programme. The launch of NanoAvionics’ satellite has been booked for the SpaceX Transporter-4 mission, planned for 2022.

The government-owned TASS Russian News Agency reports that it will have cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin serve as its correspondent during a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) next month. The first TASS correspondent onboard the orbital outpost will be Hero of Russia, cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. His task will be to report on the space station’s daily routine. His reports will be available to the agency’s readership from TASS news resources […]

LONDON, UK, 17 November 2021 (Isotropic Systems PR) — Isotropic Systems, a leading developer of transformational broadband terminal technologies, has joined the consortium led by CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A), which has been selected by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the UK Space Agency, and the European Space Agency (ESA), to develop a demonstration of a hybrid satellite communications and terrestrial network for use on trains.

The project is part of a joint initiative in the UK to demonstrate the integrated use of 5G in the area of transport and logistics. The Satellites for Digitalisation of Railways (SODOR) project will deliver pilot demonstrations of improved network connectivity for train monitoring and passenger broadband in 2022.

MAHIA, New Zealand. 18 November 2021 (Rocket Lab PR) – Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB), a leading launch and space systems company, has successfully deployed two satellites to orbit for real-time geospatial monitoring company BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY). Rocket Lab also successfully introduced helicopter operations to a recovery mission for the first time, using a helicopter to observe and track the Electron rocket’s first stage as it descended to Earth under parachute as part of the company’s program to make Electron the world’s first reusable, orbital-class commercial small rocket.

SpinLaunch’s plan to launch payloads into orbit using a giant centrifuge has generated a lot of skepticism, as seen in the above video.

DUBAI, UAE (Roscosmos PR) — On the second day of the Dubai Airshow 2021 Roscosmos, the UAE Space Agency and the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed a joint Letter of Intent confirming the interest of the parties to implement space projects in trilateral format. In particular, the document states the mutual intention to shortly start a detailed analysis of the tripartite […]

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston a contract to deliver research, including science investigations and a technology demonstration, to the Moon in 2024. The commercial delivery is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and the Artemis program.

Thierry Breton
European Union Commissioner for Internal Market

As the European Union Commissioner in charge of EU Space policy and in particular of Galileo & Copernicus, I join the strongest condemnations expressed against the test conducted by Russia on Monday 15 Nov., which led to the destruction of a satellite in low orbit (COSMOS 1408).

This anti-satellite weapon test has caused the generation of a significant amount of debris of a size that could endanger the European Union’s space activities as well as those of our Member States.

– Arianespace signed a contract with Australian operator SingTel Optus to orbit the Optus-11 satellite using the Ariane 6 heavy launch vehicle.
– Optus-11 will be the seventh SingTel Optus satellite launched by Arianespace.

PARIS (Arianespace PR) — Arianespace and Australian operator SingTel Optus signed the launch contract for the Optus-11 communications satellite. The launch, scheduled for the second half of 2023, will use the Ariane 64 version of the Ariane 6 launcher, with four solid boosters.