MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Russian ISS-64 long-term expedition crewmembers have completed the repair works in the Zvezda service module of the Russian segment of the International Space Station. According to RSC Energia press service, “the International Space Station crew has completed the repair works of the Zvezda module hull. In the coming days Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov will close the Zvezda module hatches to perform pressure level […]

by Douglas MessierManaging Editor China’s Long March 7A rocket made its first successful flight on Friday, placing a technology verification satellite into orbit nearly a year after the booster failed in its maiden launch. The booster lifted off at 1:51 a.m. from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China. The payload was the Shiyan-9 satellite, which will demonstrate new technologies. A variant of the Long March 7 rocket, the […]

With US expansion, Satellogic joins United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, Intelligence and National Security Alliance, SmallSat Alliance, and Open Geospatial Consortium

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,  March 11, 2021 (Satellogic PR) — Satellogic, the first company to develop a scalable Earth observation platform with the ability to remap the entire planet at both high-frequency and high-resolution, today announced new partnerships with four major US-based space organizations: The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA), SmallSat Alliance and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

Through its partnership with USGIF and INSA, Satellogic will help promote the application of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) towards national security challenges, as well as advance intelligence and national security priorities. These organizational goals align with Satellogic’s long-term mission of providing the public sector with geospatial insights that enable decision makers to improve or protect their environments, including border, resource and infrastructure monitoring.

PARIS (ESA PR) — Space transportation technologies are intrinsically complex, some needing long development cycles of up to a decade. For this reason, ESA is seeking early insights into long-term trends and potential evolutions in all application domains taking into account the needs of future programmes currently under preparation.

• PERIOD consortium to prepare concept for in-orbit demonstrator
• In-space antenna and satellite assembly: first steps towards space manufacturing

BREMEN, Germany, 11 March 2021 (Airbus PR) – Airbus has been selected by the European Commission to study spacecraft manufacturing in space through the Horizon 2020 Programme. The PERIOD (PERASPERA In-Orbit Demonstration) project focuses on satellite assembly and manufacturing in orbit. This A/B1 phase study contract, worth €3 million [$3.6 million], will last two years, with the objective to continue with a demonstrator in orbit.

The “orbital factory” envisioned by PERIOD will pioneer construction of major components such as antenna reflectors, assembly of spacecraft components and satellite payload replacements, directly in space.

ZURICH, Switzerland (RUAG Space) — From a state-owned enterprise to a startup – CEO André Wall has set his sights on nothing less than this transformation, in the future RUAG International with solely focus on space. The vision is clear: RUAG International is to evolve into a company that advances humankind and enables the exploration of the world and beyond.

Startup with 100% mission success

André Wall explains the mission as follows: “We want to develop integrated satellite and launch system capabilities with strong partners in Europe. In doing this, we will guarantee our customers 100% mission success. We will be the first startup to combine agility, speed and innovation with decades of experience and proven quality.”

A Falcon 9 lit up the early morning Florida sky on Thursday, delivering an additional 60 Starlink satellites into orbit as SpaceX continues to build out its global broadband network. Liftoff took place at 3:13 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 60 Starlink broadband Internet satellites were successfully deployed into orbit. SpaceX has launched 1,265 Starlink satellites, with 1,201 still in orbit. […]

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — Two NASA astronauts will conduct the fifth spacewalk of the year Saturday, March 13, to complete several systems upgrades to the International Space Station. Live coverage will begin at 6:00 a.m. EST on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

Expedition 64 Flight Engineers Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover are scheduled to exit the station’s Quest airlock about 7:30 a.m. for a spacewalk planned to last approximately six and a half hours.

The partnership, leveraging Lepton’s global VSAT Network designed for small terminals, aligns with global need for networks that accommodate disadvantaged terminals.

MCLEAN, Va. (Lepton Global Solutions PR) — Lepton Global Solutions (www.leptonglobal.com), a Kymeta company, and leading provider of satellite-based customized turn-key communications solutions and services, announced today a strategic partnership with Satcube (www.satcube.com). The partnership will add Satcube’s class of extremely small VSAT terminals to the company’s global satellite network, which is engineered to support terminal aperture sizes down to 45cm.

In turn, Lepton Global Solutions will offer Satcube Ku terminals globally as a comms-on-the-pause (COTP) solution that are complementary with the Kymeta™ u8 comms-on-the-move (COTM) offering, running both on the same frequencies with easily transportable and operated hardware.

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I Award
Funding: up to $125,000
Study Period: 9 months

SWIM — Sensing with Independent Micro-swimmers
Ethan Schaler
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, Calif.

The next decades of space exploration will focus on Ocean Worlds – especially Enceladus, Europa, and Titan – whose liquid oceans beneath kilometers of icy crust are some of the most likely locations beyond Earth to harbor life. To access these aquatic environments, NASA is developing and maturing numerous ocean-access mission concepts, including the Scientific Exploration Subsurface Access Mechanism for Europa (SESAME) class of thermo-mechanical drilling robots.

We propose developing SWIM – Sensing with Independent Micro-swimmers – dramatically expand the capabilities of SESAME-class ocean-access robotic missions and significantly increase their likelihood of detecting evidence of habitability / biomarkers / life.

UPI reports that SpaceX has applied to provide Starlink satellite services to mobile vehicles: SpaceX attorneys filed an application on Friday with the Federal Communications Commission seeking “a blanket license” authorizing customer reception of the signal in vehicles, boats and planes. Musk said Monday on Twitter, however, that the Starlink terminal is too big for most passenger cars. “This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & RVs,” Musk wrote. Starlink […]

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (NASA PR) — NASA is targeting Thursday, March 18 for the second hot fire of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.