HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — NASA has completed the design certification review (DCR) for the Space Launch System Program (SLS) rocket ahead of the Artemis I mission to send the Orion spacecraft to the Moon. The review examined all the SLS systems, all test data, inspection reports, and analyses that support verification, to ensure every aspect of the rocket is technically mature and meets the requirements for SLS’s first flight on Artemis I.

– Arianespace has successfully performed Soyuz Flight ST36. This latest launch for OneWeb’s placed 36 more satellites into orbit.
– ST36 represents an important step in OneWeb and Arianespace’s partnership: the operator now has more than half, 358 satellites, of its constellation on orbit.
– ST36 is the 10th launch of Arianespace in 2021.

VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME, Russia (Arianespace PR) — Performed on Thursday, October 14 at precisely 6:40 pm. local time at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome (9:40 a.m. UTC), Soyuz Flight ST36 lifted-off with 36 OneWeb satellites onboard, bringing the size of the fleet in orbit to 358, after this successful deployment. Flight ST36 was the 61st Soyuz mission carried out by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate. The mission lasted three hours and 51 minutes. The 36 satellites were deployed during nine separation sequences, at an altitude of 450 km.

MALIBU, Calif., Oct. 13, 2021 (Embedded Ventures PR) — Embedded Ventures, a new venture capital firm investing in dual-use space startups beyond launch, today announced an unprecedented multi-year agreement with United States Space Force (USSF)’s SpaceWERX office. SpaceWERX is expanding the space industrial base by forming collaborative research agreements between the military’s operational experts and the top innovators in industry and academia, leveraging commercial investment, and rapidly pursuing new space technologies, while setting ambitious goals since its creation.

PARIS (ESA PR) — Kicking off with a bold flourish, Φ-week 2021 promises to bring space even closer to the forefront of addressing society’s biggest challenges, namely issues associated with the climate crisis, while boosting the economy through transformative New Space, artificial intelligence, and quantum and cognitive computing.

ESA’s Φ-week is now in its fourth edition, and each year this forward-looking event is increasingly relevant to society, business and the economy.

PARIS (ESA PR) — British scientists are set to use the microgravity environment of the International Space Station to investigate the health challenges ESA astronauts could experience on proposed long-duration missions to the Moon and beyond.

The projects will tackle medical issues such as muscle loss, and stress and anxiety caused by isolation.

PRAGUE (EUSPA PR) — The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) launches myEUspace competition. The EU prize contest targets innovators and entrepreneurs ready to explore, develop and commercialise innovative solutions that leverage EU Space data and services, going beyond the current space-applications horizon, and fusing and testing new technologies in location-based services, smart mobility, smart agriculture, geomatics, and for the first-time, quantum technologies.

Building on the success of the previous competitions and with an amplified scope of activities, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) announces the launch of myEUspace competition. The increased availability of space-based data and services and the evolution of mobile and computing technologies are pushing the bar of innovation higher allowing for the development of more ambitious applications that rely on Galileo’s accurate positioning paired with Earth observation data generated by Copernicus, while exploring new opportunities from Quantum technologies.

Roscosmos Mission Updates

Challenge Mission Day 8
October 13

October 13, 2021, the International Space Station Russian segment is a major day: preparations for the return to Earth of the ‘Challenge’ scientific educational project crew. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy continues preparations and training together with spaceflight participants for the upcoming landing of the Soyuz MS-18 Yuri Gagarin spacecraft.

New funding builds on a unique partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carbon Mapper, Planet, the State of California, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University (ASU), High Tide Foundation, and RMI to develop and deploy a constellation of satellites to help tackle potent methane emissions.

Investment will deliver powerful, advanced emissions data in support of the newly signed Global Methane Pledge 

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg Philanthropies PR) – Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carbon Mapper, and partners announced the Carbon Mapper Accelerator program, to accelerate the deployment of emerging remote sensing technologies needed to effectively pinpoint, quantify, and diagnose sources of high-emission methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) globally. The new initiative provides immediate support to governments committed to the Global Methane Pledge, an unprecedented agreement led by the United States and the European Union to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030, which yesterday gained 24 new country signatories.

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE BASE, Fla., Oct. 13, 2021 (ULA PR) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is in final preparations to launch the Lucy mission for NASA. The launch is on track for Oct. 16 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch is planned for 5:34 a.m. EDT. The live launch broadcast begins at 5 a.m. EDT on Oct. 16 at  www.ulalaunch.com.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Visibly moved to tears, Star Trek actor William Shatner struggled to describe the experience of spaceflight to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos after making a suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule.

“What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine. I am so filled with emotion about what just happened. Just extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now, I don’t wanna lose it,” he said.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — International and commercial partnerships are a critical component of NASA’s long-term plans on and around the Moon under the Artemis program. The agency recently signed a new agreement with the Australian Space Agency that will further support human and robotic lunar operations for both countries.

Video Caption: India is opening doors for private companies to enter space. PM Narendra Modi launched the Indian Space Association that will serve as a “single-window” for matters of space technology. What is India’s game plan to win the global space race? Palki Sharma tells you.