by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

A bill designed to protect artifacts where Apollo astronauts and spacecraft explored the surface of the moon has been signed into law by President Donald Trump.

BANGKOK, Thailand (mu Space PR) — We have successfully built the factory model 1. The factory is a prototype for a large scale factory to be built next year.  

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — The outgoing year 2020 has become a difficult test for the entire world marked by the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Many world economic players have encountered objective difficulties in the implementation of previously outlined plans.

Unfortunately, Roscosmos also had to correct a number of plans, including those related to launch activities. Nevertheless, Roscosmos management put the quality of production and the safety of personnel working at the Russian rocket and space industry enterprises and cosmodromes at the forefront.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

With the Trump Administration winding down, Scott Pace has left his position as executive executive of the National Space Council and returned to his previous post in academia.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in my capacity as Executive Secretary of the National Space Council,” Pace said in a statement. “The leadership of the president in reviving the National Space Council and the active chairmanship of the Vice President have made the past four years among the most ambitious and productive years for the Unite States space enterprise.

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Roscosmos First Deputy Director General Yuri Urlichich and PJSC Gazprom Chairman of the Board held a meeting to discuss the spacecraft assembly production construction process in Moscow region currently lead by Gazprom, as well as the issue of Roscosmos entering LLC Gazprom SPKA share capital (project operator company).

The plant will manufacture civil spacecraft for Gazprom and other customers. These include Yamal communication satellites and SMOTR system Earth remote sensing optical satellites. Moreover, the plant will be capable of assembly and testing mass-produced smaller satellites to be used for the perspective Sfera program implemented by Roscosmos.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has rejected a recommendation from a government watchdog that it conduct detailed analysis of a broad range of financing tools for funding infrastructure projects at the nation’s spaceports.

In a report to Congressional committees, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it recommended to the FAA that it analyze the trade-offs of using direct loans, loan guarantees, tax incentives and other tools to increase investment in spaceport infrastructure.

SpaceX has won an $150.45 million contract from the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency (SDA) to launch up to 28 satellites. SpaceX will conduct the first of two launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in September 2022. SDA wants the entire 28-satellite constellation in orbit by March 31, 2023. SDA’s constellation will be composed of small and medium size spacecraft, with 20 data-relay and eight missile-warning satellites. The satellites […]

Arctic Report Card: 15 years of observations document impact of changing polar climate

SILVER SPRING, Md. (NOAA PR) — NOAA’s 15th Arctic Report Card catalogs for 2020 the numerous ways that climate change continues to disrupt the polar region, with second-highest air temperatures and second-lowest summer sea ice driving a cascade of impacts, including the loss of snow and extraordinary wildfires in northern Russia.

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — On December 15, 2020, a state contract was signed between Roscosmos and Progress Rocket Space Center (Samara, part of Roscosmos) to develop key elements and technologies for creating a super-heavy space rocket complex. The contract provides for the development and release of a technical design for a space rocket complex with a super-heavy launch vehicle and an upper stage. Alexander Cherevan, Soyuz-5 launch vehicle Chief Designer […]

Happy new year! It’s been a long, difficult year. And we’re not out of the woods yet. But, we can hope that 2021 will be a better year. Parabolic Arc will resume coverage on Saturday.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Back in February, I went out on a limb and predicted that 2020 could be the Year of the Four Spaceships, with SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic and reaching major milestones in human spaceflight. (See 2020: Four Spaceships & the End of America’s Cosmic Groundhog Day)

With the disruption and deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t the easiest year to get things done. Keeping that in mind, let’s see how the companies did in 2020. (Spoiler Alert: they came up a little short.)

ISRO Chairman K Sivan has been given an one-year extension to his term, postponing his planned Jan. 14, 2021 retirement date. Sivan, 63, was appointed ISRO chairman in January 2018. He joined ISRO in 1982 and previously served as director of the space agency’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. In an interview with the Times of India, Sivan said he would do his best to move […]