SILVER SPRING, Md. (NOAA PR) — NOAA and NASA are now targeting Feb. 16, 2022, for the launch of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite T (GOES-T) mission. The launch was previously planned for Jan. 8, 2022. Changes to launch dates in missions scheduled ahead of GOES-T prompted NASA, NOAA, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) to coordinate the new target date to optimize launch schedules for missions flying from Space Launch Complex-41.

Video Caption: A new Star Trek spinoff follows the adventures of Captain Jeff Bezos (Owen Wilson) and his brother (Luke Wilson).

NTP Technology Can Enable Human Missions to Mars

SEATTLE (USNC-Tech PR) — Idaho National Laboratory has selected USNC-Tech and its partners to develop a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) reactor concept design for space exploration: the Power-Adjusted Demonstration Mars Engine (PADME) NTP engine.

This effort, one of three selected by the government team, is a step toward the manufacture and demonstration of safe, affordable, reliable, high-performance NTP engines for crewed deep space travel. In the future, the designs could inform a full-scale NTP engine prototype. The funding for this procurement was provided by NASA. INL is operated by Battelle Energy Alliance for the Department of Energy.

AALBORG, Denmark (GomSpace PR) — GomSpace enters into an agreement with SpaceAble, to enhance the sustainability of Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The contract is worth 21MSEK [US $3.27 million] and the project will begin in 2021 with expected delivery in late 2023.

The mission is designed to enhance the sustainability of LEO. By tracking the inherent risk of space weather thanks to SpaceAble’s technology and GomSpace´s platform, we are working at a larger level on providing the market with a comprehensive solution—which includes both inspector satellites and critical space data—to strengthen the resilience of new constellations.

LEIDEN, Netherlands (Airbus Defence and Space PR) — Space based network infrastructure will very soon complement the 5G terrestrial mobile networks that are currently being deployed. This will lead to satellite communications becoming an integrated and indispensable part of the global telecommunications ecosystem with the potential to grow existing market segments such as backhauling and to expand into new areas such as hybrid networks and the Internet of Things (IoT). The use of satellites will strongly contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for a better society and sustainable growth across industrial sectors.

GREENBELT, Md. (NASA PR) — NASA has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colorado, and L3Harries Technologies of Fort Wayne, Ind., for Geostationary and Extended Observations (GeoXO) Sounder (GXS) Phase A Study contracts. The GXS Phase A Study requirement will provide services to help meet the objectives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GeoXO program.

A newly formed consortium led by Unseenlabs and Euroconsult has responded to a European Commission call for tenders aiming to collect disruptive ideas for an innovative European broadband constellation.

PARIS, RENNES, WASHINGTON, MONTREAL, YOKOHAMA, SYDNEY (Unseenlabs/Euroconsult PR) – A recently established collaboration between more than twenty European space sector companies has been assembled in response to a European Commission call for tenders entitled “New Space solutions for long-term availability of reliable, secure, cost-effective space based connectivity”. The consortium, known as New Symphonie, is being led by Unseenlabs and Euroconsult and was set up specifically for the call, which has been launched by the European Commission with assistance by from its Directorate General Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS).

The New Symphonie boasts an extensive European footprint with 22 members from no less than 8 different countries, bringing a multi-national approach to its European core. The grouping has “new space” at its heart, with the majority of members representing agile, responsive and commercially minded small and medium sized businesses. Coordinated by Unseenlabs the European leader in satellite-based radio-frequency detection services, currently operating a constellation of four satellites in orbit (twenty-five projected for 2025) processing and delivering geolocation and monitoring data as-a-service to clients worldwide, in partnership with Euroconsult, the leading global strategy consulting and market intelligence firm, specializing in the space sector and satellite enabled verticals.

STRASBOURG, France (Europlanet Society PR) — On 16 December 2020 the Chang’e-5 mission, China’s first sample return mission to the Moon, successfully delivered to Earth nearly two kilograms of rocky fragments and dust from our celestial companion.  

Chang’e-5 landed on an area of the Moon not sampled by the NASA Apollo or the Soviet Luna missions nearly 50 years ago, and thus retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for analysis in laboratories on Earth. The rocks are also different to those returned decades ago. Early-stage findings, which use geological mapping to link ‘exotic’ fragments in the collected samples to features near the landing site, have been presented by Mr Yuqi Qian, a PhD student at the China University of Geosciences, at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2021 virtual meeting.

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan (Roscosmos PR) — At the Test Training Complex of the Yu.A. Gagarin of the Baikonur cosmodrome, training of the main and backup crews of the Soyuz MS-19 manned transport vehicle continues . Its launch to the International Space Station is scheduled for October 5, 2021. Recall that the main crew of the ISS-66 expedition: Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, film director Klim Shipenko, actress Yulia Peresild. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, cameraman Alexei Dudin, actress […]

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss., Sept. 30, 2021 (Aerojet Rocketdyne PR) – Today’s RS-25 engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center completed the Retrofit-2 test series, which validated modernized, lower-cost components for new RS-25 engines to be used on the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket.

Bringing together the best-in-class technological and industrial expertise in France and Europe to accompany the revolution of the space sector

PARIS, September 30 2021 (Dawex PR) – Today marks the signature of the Space Data Marketplace project to facilitate access to space data and create value for the whole space industry in France, Europe and internationally, by offering inspiring use cases. 

Supported by the French Recovery Plan and the French space government agency CNES, the development of Space Data Marketplace will be driven by a consortium led by Dawex and including Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Systèmes, Thales Alenia Space, Geoflex, VisioTerra,  namR, Altametris, Murmuration and Occitanie Data leveraging improved capabilities for accessing and distributing data and services on the platform.

By Jim Cawley
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Data from a NASA payload investigating a new method for dealing with trash in space has researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida excited following the Aug. 26 flight test on Blue Origin’s 17th New Shepard mission.

The Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) team watched the launch from a neighboring hill, witnessing liftoff, booster landing, and payload touchdown. Though, as researchers, they became even more energized after landing.