by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

A week before the presidential election, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) set Twitter afire on Tuesday by crediting the Trump Administration with “ending the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Donald Trump has clearly not ended the pandemic, which has left more than 226,000 Americans dead and set a single-day record for new cases just last week.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will discuss their mission and the upcoming 20th anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station during an in-orbit news conference at 11:10 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 30. The news conference will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.

PARIS (ESA PR) — ESA Director General Jan Wörner and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to take Europe to the Moon.

The historic agreement will see ESA Member States contribute a number of essential elements to the first human outpost in lunar orbit, known as the Gateway.

by Douglas MessierManaging Editor SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service has launched an invitation-only public beta test that Elon Musk’s company is calling the Better Than Nothing Beta. According to an invitation email posted on Reddit, people testing the satellite Internet service can look forward to: Data speeds of 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s Latency from 20ms to 40ms for the next several months Brief periods of no connectivity at all Spending $499 for […]

MOJAVE, Calif. (Virgin Galactic PR) — Virgin Galactic today announced the appointment of two new pilots into its Pilot Corps, bringing the total number of pilots to eight.

Jameel Janjua and Patrick Moran will be based at Spaceport America, New Mexico, and join the Virgin Galactic team as preparations for commercial service continue.

by Jim Bridenstine
NASA Administrator

Today we announced the first in a series of upcoming commitments from our international partners to support our Artemis plans. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed an agreement committing our space agencies to building the Gateway together. As our outpost in lunar orbit, the Gateway is critical for sustainable exploration of the Moon as well as testing systems and operations for future missions to Mars.

With this Memorandum of Understanding, ESA will provide an additional habitation element, enhanced lunar communications, and a refueling capability to the Gateway later this decade. They will also provide two more European service modules for future Orion spacecraft.

SANTA CLARA, Calif, October 26, 2020 (Momentus PR) – Momentus Inc. (“Momentus” or the “Company”), a commercial space company providing in-space infrastructure services, and Gran Systems, a newspace service provider for Taiwainese and Southeast Asia, today announced a service agreement for Gran System’s 2U CubeSat NUTSAT to fly on Momentus’ December 2020 Vigoride demo mission.

Thales Alenia Space, LeoStella and NorthStar Earth and Space launch the development and production of the early satellites for the first constellation dedicated to monitor and track space debris

CANNES, TUKWILA, October 27th, 2020 – Thales Alenia Space, the Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), signed the first phase of a contract with NorthStar Earth and Space Inc., the Canadian space-based information services company, to start the development and production of the first three smallsat satellites that are part of the world’s first and most advanced commercial space-based environmental and near-space monitoring system.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., October 26, 2020 (CASIS PR) – When Northrop Grumman launched its Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 2, 2020, it was loaded with a multitude of research and technology development investigations to be carried out onboard the orbiting laboratory.

Once Cygnus berthed with the space station three days later and its contents were unloaded by the astronauts onboard, it was time to start performing some of the science that flew on Northrop Grumman’s 14th commercial resupply services (CRS) mission. 

LONGEUEIL, Quebec (CSA PR) — The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is working with national and international partners to write the next chapter of space exploration—sending humans to more distant destinations like the Moon and Mars.

These daring missions and emerging space activities pose new challenges. Canada and other countries are working to define the “rules of the road,” a shared framework that will guide the safe and sustainable use of space beyond Earth’s orbit.

Canada will continue its leadership in space by pushing the boundaries of science and technology. Our future space exploration activities will increase our knowledge of our planet and universe and advance research and discoveries that lead to breakthrough science in areas that benefit people on Earth.

All Canadians are invited to share their vision for our future in space.

Paris, Washington D.C., Montreal, Yokohama (Euroconsult PR)– In its research report, Earth Observation Data & Services Market, Euroconsult provides in-depth analysis of Earth Observation (EO) satellite systems, commercial EO data, and the value-added services that contribute to the sector. With a global market projected to reach $8 billion by 2029, growth is expected to be driven by a mix of defense and new commercial markets, supported by the arrival of new constellation operators with low-cost solutions.

In 2019, the total value of the industry was $4.6 billion with the data market reaching $1.6 billion and value-added services (VAS) contributing $3 billion. Defense accounted for 64% of the data market, while environmental monitoring was the largest user of VAS.

Virgin Galactic’s record of delays and broken promises raises doubts about its ambitious supersonic aircraft project as company founder Richard Branson fights to save his struggling empire in the midst of a global pandemic.

Updated on 10/27/20 at 12:39 p.m. PDT to include spending comparison of Virgin Orbit to Rocket Lab.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Richard Branson’s dream of a suborbital Virgin Galactic vehicle zipping passengers between distant cities at hypersonic speeds above Mach 5 (6,174 km/h, 3,836 mph) is dead. At least for now.

In August, the space tourism company he founded pivoted to a slower supersonic Mach 3 (3,704 km/h, 2,302 mph) business jet. Virgin Galactic unveiled a mission concept for an aircraft that would carry 9-19 passengers at a cruising altitude of 60,000 ft (18,288 m).