HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA and SpaceX now are targeting 7:49 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 14, for the launch of the first crew rotation mission to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

Managers of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission will hold a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 28, to discuss the upcoming launch, including results from recent testing of the Falcon 9 Merlin engines following unexpected data SpaceX noted during a recent non-NASA launch. Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website.

GREENBELT, Md. (NASA PR) — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is ready to perform an early stow on Tuesday, Oct. 27, of the large sample it collected last week from the surface of the asteroid Bennu to protect and return as much of the sample as possible.

On Oct. 22, the OSIRIS-REx mission team received images that showed the spacecraft’s collector head overflowing with material collected from Bennu’s surface – well over the two-ounce (60-gram) mission requirement – and that some of these particles appeared to be slowly escaping from the collection head, called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM).

COLUMBIA, Ill. (NanoAvionics PR) — NanoAvionics, a leading nanosatellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator, has revealed the remaining three payloads of its ‘D-2/AtlaCom-1’ rideshare mission hosted on board its M6P 6U nanosatellite bus. The additional payloads, a camera for hyperspectral remote sensing, a new high-gain X-band antenna and an upgraded X-Band downlink transmitter, are all part of an international collaboration by an international consortium and its partners called “HyperActive”.

The consortium partners for this international collaboration comprise Dragonfly Aerospace (South Africa), Space JLTZ (Mexico) and NanoAvionics US as a supplier to the consortium, as well as mission contributors Polytechnical University of Atlacomulco (Mexico), and CubeCom (South Africa).

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

The Russian government says corruption has resurfaced at the Vostochny Cosmodrome despite years of efforts to get the problem under control.

Two government officials have been arrested for their alleged involvement in an embezzlement and bribery scheme at the spaceport in the country’s Far East. Russia Today reports:

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.

SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. Previous observations of the Moon’s surface detected some form of hydrogen, but were unable to distinguish between water and its close chemical relative, hydroxyl (OH). Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million – roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water – trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface. The results are published in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy.

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., Oct. 26, 2020 (ULA PR) – The launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V carrying the NROL-101 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office is scheduled for Nov. 3, 2020.

The launch period is 5:30 to 8:10 p.m. EST. The Atlas V will launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: 1. Monday, Oct. 26, 2020; 7 PM PDT (9 PM CDT; 10 PM EDT) NO PROGRAM TODAY. 2. Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, 7 PM PDT (9 PM CDT; 10 PM EDT): We welcome back CHRISTOPHER RICHINS of RBC Signals 3. Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020; Hotel Mars TBA pre-recorded. See upcoming show menu on the home page for program details. 4. […]

PLESETSK COSMODROME, Russia (Roscosmos PR) — On Sunday, October 25, 2020, at 22:08 Moscow time from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region, the combat crew of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces launched the Soyuz-2 carrier rocket developed by the Progress RCC (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) with a new generation spacecraft of the GLONASS system. The launch of the carrier rocket and the insertion of the spacecraft into the calculated orbit took place in the normal mode.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 21, 2020 (Aspectum PR) — Aspectum and Planet have announced the formation of a strategic partnership to offer businesses turnkey change and object detection projects based on satellite imagery. From now on, Aspectum users are able to access customized maps that feature analytics and high-resolution data from Planet’s constellations of satellites.

Planet is the leading provider of global, near-daily satellite imagery data and insights that pilots the world’s largest active fleet of Earth-imaging satellites. The company provides a wide array of imagery and analytic solutions available through Planet Explorer. Planet’s mission lies in better understanding the daily changes of the Earth and making them both accessible and actionable. The company prides itself on providing insights in near real-time, approach to agile aerospace, and cutting-edge solutions for complete geospatial data and analytics.

FINO MORNASCO, Italy (D-Orbit PR)– Despite the global challenges brought by the events of 2020, D-Orbit, an Italian systems and services provider for the space sector, is steadily moving forward with its roadmap.

In September, D-Orbit secured €15 million [$17.8 million] financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB), marking the first time that the EIB has funded a space firm. The funds will advance the expansion of the company, whose ultimate goal is redefining the standards of
the orbital transportation industry.

Paris, Washington D.C., Montreal, Yokohama (Euroconsult PR) – For its latest research titled, EO4AG – Earth Observation for Agriculture, Euroconsult has teamed up with TerraMetric, a US-based, global business development firm focused on geospatial and new space markets, to provide an in-depth analysis on the global trends, vertical integration opportunities and regional demand forecasted for Earth observation-based services and products addressing the agriculture sector.

The two companies forecast that by 2029, the total agricultural market is expected to double in value to reach over $815 million. While government-driven sales are foreseen to remain significant, the uptake of precision agriculture solutions within the private sector due to expected near-global broadband coverage is expected to be the main catalyst behind this anticipated market growth.

SSPI Video Video Caption: For decades, skilled engineers and technicians have been building satellites designed for unique missions and making them one at a time. They have delivered 1 or 2 dozen per year, each with a high price tag and each designed to operate for decades in high orbit around earth. But the business of space is changing, demanding hundreds and even thousands of satellites in record time. To […]