CENTREVILLE, VA, May 17, 2021 (Parsons Corporation PR) – Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) has been awarded a task order contract by the Space and Missile Systems Center Special Programs Directorate (SMC/SPG) for Integrated Solutions for Situational Awareness (ISSA) support, potentially worth up to $185 million. The cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF) contract has a one-year base period with four one-year options. It will provide SMC/SPG and its strategic partners with highly specialized services in IT engineering, space domain expertise, software development, scientific analysis, and data analytics to develop, maintain, sustain, and enhance the ISSA system.

“We are proud to support SMC in their mission to deliver resilient and affordable space capabilities by continuing to provide our specialized operational and technical expertise for ISSA,” said Rich Aves, executive vice president, Parsons’ space and geospatial business unit. “Our agile and flexible solutions will help to improve and enhance the existing ISSA system and ensure the warfighter and other key stakeholders are fully supported.”

Duo testing Starfish CEPHALOPOD RPOD software with Benchmark’s Halcyon thruster powering first-ever Orbit Fab tanker maneuvers in space

BURLINGTON, Vt. and KENT, Wash., May 18, 2021 – The future of the space economy relies heavily on servicing infrastructure and vehicles that can make precision maneuvers to successfully approach, inspect and dock with spacecraft in need of refueling, maintenance and a wide range of on-orbit services.

Starfish Space, a satellite servicing company, and Benchmark Space Systems, a leading provider of in-space mobility systems and services, today announced a strategic collaboration to advance precision on-orbit refueling and docking capabilities, beginning with demonstrations during Orbit Fab’s Tanker 1 mission launching next month aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Boat Rocker Studios, Matador Content, BoomTown Content Co.
to produce the first of its kind, ground-breaking series

Axiom Space, Inc. set to act as mission provider

LOS ANGELES (Discovery Channel PR) – Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered what it would be like to travel to space? Today, Discovery announced it has ordered WHO WANTS TO BE AN ASTRONAUT? (w/t), produced by Boat Rocker Studios through Matador Content and BoomTown Content. This one-of-a-kind series offers ordinary people the chance to do something extraordinary – travel from Earth into space where they’ll live aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for eight days.

BEIJING (CASC PR) — The space station Tianhe core module, which was launched into orbit on April 29, has recently completed functional tests of rendezvous and docking, astronaut residency, robotic arms and other platforms, as well as space application project equipment on-orbit performance checks. All functions are normal and operating in good condition. Tianhe has entered the orbit of rendezvous and docking, and preparations for the rendezvous and docking with […]

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., May 17, 2021 (ABL Space PR) — ABL Space Systems announced its fourth contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). ABL was awarded “Responsive Launch II” by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a DoD organization that aims to strengthen U.S. national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology across the military and growing the national security innovation base. This award builds on ABL’s growing portfolio with the Department, which includes over $50M+ in active contracts.

Responsive Launch II is a multilateral effort between various DoD launch stakeholders, including DIU, the Space and Missile Systems Center Rocket Systems Launch Program, and the DoD Space Test Program. Within this Area of Interest, DIU sought solutions that increased flexibility to place payloads in their “mission-designated orbits” with minimal delay. This capability is key to achieving “responsive space access, mobility, and logistics” as outlined by the United States Space Force.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA has assigned Kayla Barron to serve as a mission specialist for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which is targeted to launch as early as Oct. 23. 

PARIS (ESA PR) — ESA needs you. We need a name for our new spacecraft. Its mission? To spot potentially hazardous solar storms before they reach Earth.

The new space weather mission will keep constant watch over our unpredictable and often unruly star, sending back a steady stream of data to ESA’s Space Weather Service Network. 

LONG BEACH, Calif. May 17, 2021 (Rocket Lab PR) — On May 15, 2021, Rocket Lab experienced an anomaly almost three minutes into the company’s 20^th Electron launch. Following a successful lift-off from Launch Complex 1, Electron proceeded through a nominal first stage engine burn, stage separation, and stage 2 ignition. Shortly after the second stage ignition the engine shut down, resulting in the loss of the mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla., May 17, 2021 (ULA PR) – The launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V carrying the SBIRS GEO Flight 5 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has been scrubbed. During Centaur liquid oxygen (LOX) chilldown operations, the team identified an anomalous system response that could not be resolved within the launch window.  Launch is now scheduled for 1:31 […]

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, May 18. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded @ 11:30 AM PDT: See upcoming show menu on the home page for program details. Tuesday, May 18. 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): We welcome back CHRIS CARBERRY of Explore Mars, Inc. for news and updates plus information on their current Mars programming and events. Friday, May 21. 9:30-11 […]

• ArianeGroup signs a new contract with ESA as lead contractor for the PHOEBUS project. This European Space Agency program aims to further the development of composite technologies, notably for the future upper stage of Ariane 6
• The future “black” carbon composite upper stage, called ICARUS (Innovative Carbon ARiane Upper Stage), will be lighter than the current metal upper stage and will further enhance the versatility and competitiveness of Ariane 6 in the next few years
• This contract, worth 14,6 M€, follows on from the first contracts signed in May 2019 and will confirm the technological maturity of the PHOEBUS demonstrator

MOULINEAUX, France (ArianeGroup PR) — The European Space Agency (ESA) and ArianeGroup, lead contractor and design authority for Ariane 6, have signed a new technological development contract in the field of carbon composites. The PHOEBUS (Prototype of a Highly OptimizEd Black UpperStage) program will increase the maturity of the technologies needed to lower both the manufacturing cost and the weight of the Ariane 6 upper stage. The goal is thus to improve its performance (in particular, an increased payload capacity of about two metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit), and to validate a new stage architecture.

PARIS (ESA PR) — ESA is forging ahead with advanced developments in two flagship space transportation demonstration projects, Prometheus and Phoebus. This will benefit Europe’s new Ariane 6 launcher in the near-term, and prepare for a new generation of European launch vehicles in the next decade.