WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO (AFRL PR) – The Air Force Research Laboratory has selected Dr. Andrew Williams for the Deputy Technology Engagement Officer for Space Science and Technology (D-TEO), overseeing the lab’s responsibility to carry out the U.S. Space Force mission.
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Agreement between international NewSpace pioneers will pilot a cutting-edge in-space debris tracking technology and service.
HARWELL, UK, 4 November 2021 (OrbAstro PR) – Digantara Research and Technologies Pvt. Ltd., (Digantara), a space situational awareness company, has signed a contract with Orbital Astronautics Ltd (OrbAstro), a satellite and in-orbit service provider, to fly its SCOT (Space–based space Climate and Object Tracker) payload onboard an ORB-6 satellite platform launching towards the end of 2022. The mission will focus on demonstration of a novel LiDAR-based technology developed by Digantara, and will serve as the pilot for their LEO constellation providing a space situational awareness service.
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by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
SpaceX’s operations at its Boca Chica test site in Texas have severely impacted the adjacent Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and its wildlife due to rocket explosions, wildfires and excessive road and beach closings, according to a letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Federation Aviation Administration (FAA).
“Frequent closures of the Refuge caused by SpaceX activities are already substantially impairing both the Refuge’s ability to adequately manage the Refuge and the public’s enjoyment of the Boca Chica Beach area for wildlife-dependent recreation. There are both ‘adverse’ and ‘severe’ impacts to Refuge public use, management, wildlife, and habitat from the SpaceX activities,” the letter said.
(more…)WASHINGTON, November 3, 2021 (FCC PR) — The Federal Communications Commission today approved an application from The Boeing Company for a license to construct, deploy, and operate a satellite constellation. As detailed in its FCC application, Boeing plans to provide broadband and communications services for residential, commercial, institutional, governmental, and professional users in the United States and globally. “Advanced satellite broadband services have an important role to play in connecting […]
Startup Devises Autonomous Navigation Module for Commercial and Military Spacecraft
WASHINGTON, DC, November 03, 2021 (SpaceFund PR) – SpaceFund Inc. announced today that it has invested in the rapidly growing astrophysics start-up company Rhea Space Activity (RSA). SpaceFund’s capital injection into RSA will energize the company’s ongoing development of scientific and engineering infrastructure needed to create a holistic, world-leading Lunar Intelligence (LUNINT) capability as soon as 2024. This capability will yield a vital product for the commercial space sector: the introduction of an autonomous navigation capability that will help the NewSpace ecosystem travel further into the solar system.
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Isotropic Systems simultaneously connects multiple SES satellites across separate orbits to converge broadband satellite networks and provide industry-leading quality of service and experience
READING, UK/Luxembourg, 2 November 2021 (Isotropic Systems PR) – Isotropic Systems, the leading developer of transformational multi-link satellite technology, and SES today announced the successful completion of the first-ever simultaneous multi-orbit antenna field tests, a game-changing development empowering a new age of connectivity on land, in the air and at sea for both civil and defense communications.
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By Thaddeus Cesari
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Md. — Now that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has safely arrived at its launch site in French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America, technical teams have begun making progress on the final checklist of preparations before liftoff later this year.
These preparations are expected to last 55 days from the observatory’s arrival by ship to the day of launch.
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By Hillary Smith
NASA’s Langley Research Center
HAMPTON, Va. — In late 2022, NASA will send an ice-mining experiment attached to a robotic lander to the lunar South Pole on a ridge not far from Shackleton crater – a location engineers and scientists have assessed for months. NASA and Intuitive Machines, an agency partner for commercial Moon deliveries, announced the location selection Nov. 3.
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Selected projects to receive funding from CASIS and Boeing through the Technology in Space Prize
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla, November 2, 2021 (CASIS PR) – The Center for the Advancement of Science and Space, Inc. (CASIS) and Boeing [NYSE: BA] are awarding up to $500,000 in grants to two startup companies through the Technology in Space Prize. The startups, krtkl inc. and Oculogenex, Inc., were identified through the MassChallenge (Boston) startup accelerator program. The companies will leverage the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, managed by CASIS, to further their research and technology development in low Earth orbit.
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BENGALURU, India, Nov. 1, 2021 (SatSure PR) — SatSure, a Bengaluru-based space-technology startup that builds decision insights using data from satellites for the banking and insurance sectors, has raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding led by Baring Private Equity India. SatSure will use the capital to hire more people to grow its product portfolio and increase its international business footprint, while also capitalizing its high-resolution optical and multispectral payload demonstration mission in orbit that was announced earlier this year.
SatSure was founded in 2017 by Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) alumni Prateep Basu and Rashmit Singh Sukhmani, along with Abhishek Raju. The startup bootstrapped its way to a 50+ people team before raising its first institutional round of funding. The company’s work in the areas of enablement of farmer’s financial inclusion, insurance, Agri inputs and ClimateTech has been recognized by reputed international and domestic organizations, such as the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, World Economic Forum, and the Asian Development Bank to name a few.
(more…)MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — The Chief Medical Commission meeting was held at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) to analyze medical examination data of the cosmonauts and the spaceflight participants of the 20th visiting expedition to the International Space Station. The Commission consisted of the representatives of GCTC, Roscosmos, Federal Medico-Biological Agency, Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Ministry of Health and Russian Ministry […]
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFRL PR) – The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate held an inaugural Space Cyber Summit October 13–14. More than 140 space professionals participated in the in-person and virtual event held at Kirtland AFB.
The gathering included space experts from across AFRL, the U.S. Space Force, several federally funded research and development centers, NASA, and many other organizations.
Col. Eric Felt, director of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate, initiated the first-ever event, prompted by anticipated R&D technology challenges:
