LONDON (Royal Astronomical Society PR) — Scientists reported new research results today suggesting that artificial objects in orbit around the Earth are brightening night skies on our planet significantly more than previously understood.

Set to launch next year, the agency’s Psyche spacecraft will explore a metal-rich asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — A major component of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has been delivered to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the phase known as assembly, test, and launch operations is now underway. Over the next year, the spacecraft will finish assembly and undergo rigorous checkout and testing before it’s shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for an August 2022 launch to the main asteroid belt.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts aboard the International Space Station will mark another first for commercial spaceflight Monday, April 5, when the four astronauts will relocate the Crew Dragon spacecraft to prepare for the arrival of new crew members in late April and the upcoming delivery of new solar arrays this summer.

Live coverage will begin at 6 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, March 30. 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): We welcome back MICHELLE EVANS who will be presenting new material for her classic X-15 book. Wednesday, March 31. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded. See upcoming show menu on the home page for program details. Thursday, April 1. Welcome to the San Francisco AIAA Chapter 6:30 PM PDT webinar […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

NASA recently outlined its plans to continue its human presence in low Earth orbit (LEO) as it sends astronauts back to the moon and decommissions the International Space Station later in the 2020s. This slides in this story are from an industry briefing.

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Roscosmos State Corporation took part in commemorative events dedicated to the tragic death of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and test pilot Vladimir Seryogin on March 27, 2021. On behalf of the State Corporation, State Secretary – Deputy General Director for Exercising State Powers Sergey Dubik, representatives of the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps represented by Heroes of Russia, Roscosmos cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko and Alexander Misurkin, test cosmonaut Mukhtar Aimakhanov and family took part in the laying of flowers at the Kremlin wall in Moscow.

TOKYO (JAXA PR) – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Japanese national aerospace and space agency, and NTT DATA Corporation, a leading digital business and IT services provider, will jointly conduct research to enhance the precision of three-dimensional mapping using laser altimeters (LIDAR¹) mounted on a satellite or other spacecraft.

ADELAIDE, S.A. (Southern Launch PR) — In a historic announcement the Koonibba Test Range, developed by Southern Launch with strong support and involvement from the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation, has been approved to host rocket launches to space.

Australia’s first ever Launch Facility Licence was signed by the Hon Karen Andrews MP Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Technology after Southern Launch completed the licensing process through the Australian Space Agency, which in January 2021 welcomed its new Head, Mr Enrico Palermo.

PARIS (CNES PR) — Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of CNES (Center National d’Etudes Spatiales) and Patrice Caine, President of ANRT (Association Nationale Recherche Technologie), signed a letter of intent relating to the association from the ANRT to the Moonshot Institute project, led by CNES, with a view to creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem around the economy for and by the Moon.

• For the first time, a signal from the DLR terminal OSIRISv1 was received on a NICT ground station in Japan.
• OSIRISv1 was developed by the DLR Institute for Communication and Navigation and launched in 2017 on the “Flying Laptop” satellite in cooperation with the Institute for Space Systems (IRS) at the University of Stuttgart.
• Optical communication systems that use laser beams for data transmission make it possible to significantly increase the data rates between satellites and ground stations.

COLOGNE, Germany (DLR PR) — The resolution of cameras and other sensors on earth observation satellites is increasing steadily. This leads to ever-increasing amounts of data that are still transmitted to earth using radio systems today. The data connection between the satellite and the earth limits the capabilities of the systems.  With optical communication systems that use laser beams for data transmission, a significant increase in data rates is possible. Numerous images can be transmitted with high resolution. 

Designed to spot potential natural hazards and help researchers measure how melting land ice will affect sea level rise, the NISAR spacecraft marks a big step as it takes shape.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — An SUV-size Earth satellite that will be equipped with the largest reflector antenna ever launched by NASA is taking shape in the clean room at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Called NISAR, the joint mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has big goals: By tracking subtle changes in Earth’s surface, it will spot warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, help to monitor groundwater supplies, track the melt rate of ice sheets tied to sea level rise, and observe shifts in the distribution of vegetation around the world. Monitoring these kinds of changes in the planet’s surface over nearly the entire globe hasn’t been done before with the high resolution in space and time that NISAR will deliver.

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Fifty-three years ago, on March 27, 1968, at 10:18 a.m. near the village of Novoselovo, Kirzhachsky District, Vladimir Region, the first cosmonaut of the planet Yuri Gagarin and military pilot Vladimir Seryogin were killed during a training flight on the MiG-15 UTI. At that time, Gagarin was 34 years old, and Seryogin was 45 years old.

Gagarin and Seryogin took off from the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow in Shchelkovo. At the time of takeoff, visibility conditions were normal – the bottom edge of the clouds was 900 m above the ground. The mission in the aerobatic zone was supposed to take at least 20 minutes, but after four minutes (at 10:30) Gagarin announced the end of the mission, requesting permission to turn around and fly to the base. After that, communication with the aircraft was interrupted.