PTI reports that India’s human space flight program is likely to be delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the mandate of Gaganyaan, two uncrewed missions would be undertaken prior to the manned mission. Accordingly, the unmanned missions were slated for launch in December 2020 and July 2021, and the first manned mission was scheduled in December 2021. “That will be delayed because of COVID,” ISRO […]

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: 1. Monday, Dec. 7, 2020; 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST) NO PROGRAM TODAY. 2. Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): As we approach the end of 2020, Dr. Haym Benaroya suggested a light hearted and fun program around a book written years ago by a then NASA engineer, Josef […]

PARIS (ESA PR) — The team behind ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence congratulates JAXA for returning Hayabusa2’s capsule to Earth laden with pristine asteroid samples. They look forward to applying insights from this audacious space adventure to their own mission.

ROME (Thales Alenia Space PR) – Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67 %) and Leonardo (33 %), announced today that it has signed a 482 million euro contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to build the Copernicus Radar Observation System for Europe in L-band (ROSE-L) environmental monitoring satellite, as part of Europe’s Copernicus program, the first tranche being 90 million euros.

Winning Pitches by Resilient Solutions 21, Starfish Space, and Space Domain Awareness Address Three Key Ways to Improve Autonomous Space Operations

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Dec. 3, 2020 (Central New Mexico Community College PR) — Hyperspace Challenge, a business accelerator run by the Air Force Research Laboratory and CNM Ingenuity for the U.S. Space Force, announced today the first, second and third place winners of its 2020 cohort, which focused on identifying and developing safe and secure autonomous technology for the space domain.

The 2020 cohort’s first place winner was Resilient Solutions 21 (RS21), a data science analytics company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. RS21 is leveraging machine learning and precision oncology techniques to predict satellite systems failures and provide operators with advance warning.

Video Caption: Having completed its mission, Chang’e-5’s ascender separated from the orbiter-sample return vehicle. According to Gao Lei(CNSA official), the orbiter-returner will orbit the Moon for about six to seven days, then enter the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, and experience another three to four days of flight before returning to Earth”. For the rendezvous and docking operations Chang’e-5 used a microwave radar. After docking, the lunar samples were transferred from the […]

BEIJING (CALT PR) — On Dec. 6 at 11:58 a.m., the Long March 3B successfully launched the Gaofen 14 remote sensing satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. There are two major changes in the Long March 3B rocket that performed the mission: the fairing has been increased by 900 mm; and it will perform the low-orbit launch mission for the first time. The Gaofen 14 satellite launched […]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., December 6, 2020 (Nanoracks PR)  – The privately-owned Nanoracks Bishop Airlock, nested inside the SpaceX Dragon trunk, has reached a stable orbit after a successful launch onboard the CRS-21 mission. Today’s mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 11:17 AM ET.

PARIS (ESA PR) — For the past 20 years, astronauts have been performing experiments on the International Space Station. Science in low Earth orbit is not only hugely important in preparation for continued space exploration, the research also benefits life on Earth. We’ve seen discoveries that have advanced Earth-bound medicine, engineering and agriculture, and from this weekend onwards, microgravity will help us in our fight against COVID-19, with European commercial experiments launched to the International Space Station on the 21st SpaceX cargo mission.

LONGUEIUL, Que. (CSA PR) — On December 6, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo ship launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center atop a Falcon 9 rocket, headed for the International Space Station (ISS).

In a first for the cargo vehicle, Dragon will dock to the Station autonomously. Station crew previously used Canadarm2 to “catch” Dragon and berth it to one of the Station’s eight ports.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — The latest SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station with more than 6,400 pounds of science investigations, a new airlock, and other cargo after launching at 11:17 a.m. EST Sunday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

by Thomas Zurbuchen
Associate Administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate

Today marks an exciting and historic event as precious samples from asteroid Ryugu have been brought to Earth by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 mission. This is an extremely challenging endeavor and we commend and congratulate Japan on being not only the first nation that has been able to carry out a successful asteroid retrieval mission, but to now have done so for the second time!