VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (NASA PR) — Social media users are invited to register to take part in our global virtual NASA Social for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, directed by NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). This mission is targeted to launch at 10:20 p.m. PST, Nov. 23, 2021, (1:20 a.m. EST, Nov. 24), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

GLASGOW, Scotland (UK Space Agency PR) — A new project to map existing work to tackle climate action through the use of space technology and identify what more could be done has been launched by the UK Space Agency and the United Nations at COP26.

The government’s National Space Strategy, which was unveiled in September, set out an ambition for the UK to be a leader on using space for climate action. Now, the UK Space Agency will work with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) on a new review of existing activity on climate action through the use of space technologies.

The aim is to develop a strategic view of climate activities being carried out in space on a scale that has never been done before and, through this, increase policy coherence across the multilateral system and relevant international organisations.

PARIS (Astroscale PR) — Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”), the market leader in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits, today revealed a universal docking device the company hopes will become standard fitment on all future low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Following on from the COP26 climate conference, Paris Peace Forum Net Zero Space Declaration, and the G7 statement on space sustainability, Astroscale calls on operators to prepare their spacecraft with a Docking Plate to prepare for future removal and to help safeguard the space environment.

There are an unprecedented number of satellites due to launch over the next decade, the majority into LEO, (250km to 2000km above Earth). The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has approved 16,447 satellites within constellations to date and has applications pending for an additional 64,816 satellites. The potential for high-velocity, high impact collisions is likely to increase unless disposal of satellites becomes part of everyday space operations.

HARWELL, Oxford, UK, Nov. 9, 2021 (Astroscale PR) – Astroscale Ltd., the UK subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”), the market leader in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits, today announced plans to develop new offices and satellite manufacturing facilities within the Zeus building complex located on Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire, UK.

Astroscale’s new UK office will be at the heart of the Harwell Campus Space Cluster, close to stakeholders such as the European Space Agency, Satellite Applications Catapult, UK Space Agency, and many key industry partners. The interior fit-out will begin this month, with the intention to move into the new offices by summer 2022.

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE BASE, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 53 Starlink broadband satellites equipped with crosslink laser communications systems into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday morning. The laser communications systems will allow for faster transmission of data. SpaceX normally launches 60 Starlink satellites at a time, but the laser systems appear to make the satellites heavier. It was the first […]

NEW YORK, November 12, 2021 (Mynaric PR) – Mynaric AG, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-speed and high-security laser communication products for air and spaceborne applications in government and commercial markets, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 4,000,000 American Depositary Shares (the “ADSs”), representing 1,000,000 ordinary bearer shares at a public offering price of $16.50 per ADS. In addition, Mynaric has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 ADSs at the initial public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by Mynaric, assuming the underwriters fully exercise their over-allotment option, are expected to be $75.9 million.

WASHINGTON (FAA PR) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) invites the public to comment on a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for Huntsville International Airport (HSV) to serve as a reentry site for horizontally landed commercial reentry vehicles. The Draft EA also addresses a proposal by Sierra Space Corporation to land its Dream Chaser vehicle at the site up to eight times between 2023 and 2027. 

The FAA plans to hold a virtual public hearing for the draft review on Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. Central Time as part of the 40-day public comment period that ends on Dec. 22. Public comments can also be submitted to [email protected].

The Huntsville-Madison Airport Authority is seeking a Reentry Site Operator License and Sierra Space is seeking a Vehicle Operator License. The draft review is part of both licensing processes. It evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the proposed reentry operations, including associated airspace closures. 

BlackSky to bring smallsat imagery for NASA-funded Earth and applied science research

HERNDON, Va., November 12, 2021 (BlackSky PR) — BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY) secured a five-year, sole-source blanket purchase agreement by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to provide high revisit satellite imaging data in support of the agency’s existing Earth observation research to advance predictive capabilities.

“This award reflects yet another valuable point of alignment between government demand and BlackSky’s commercially available real-time, global intelligence products,” said Brian E. O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky. “Helping NASA-backed researchers broaden their understanding around critical changes in the Earth’s ecosystems, oceanography, geographic and polar sciences is vitally important.”

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., Nov. 10, 2021 (Lockheed Martin PR) – Today, the next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-T successfully arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, to begin launch preparations. It is the third of four satellites in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s GOES-R weather satellite series built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] in Littleton, Colorado.

GOES-T will help NOAA provide forecasters in the U.S. and western hemisphere with sharper, more defined images of severe storms, hurricanes, wildfires and other weather hazards.

TUCSON, Ariz. (University of Arizona PR) — A near-Earth asteroid named Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon, according to a paper published today in Nature Communications Earth and Environment by a team of astronomers led by the University of Arizona.

SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) — Satellite data will be used to monitor and map heat in locations at greatest risk from climate change in one of two new projects being backed by the UK Space Agency.

Satellite data will be used to monitor and map heat in locations at greatest risk from climate change in one of two new projects being backed by the UK Space Agency.

Entrepreneur Glen de Vries, who rode to space with “Star Trek” actor William Shatner aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle on Oct. 13, was killed in the crash of a small plane in New Jersey on Thursday. Media reports say de Vries died in the crash of a single-engine Cessna 172 near a state park in Lake Kermah, Hampton Township. New Jersey aviation company owner Thomas Fischer also died in […]