ESA Mission Update

In brief

The pressure is on at ESA’s mission control. An ESA satellite dodges out of the way of a mystery piece of space junk spotted just hours before a potential collision.

Now a crucial step in the spacecraft’s ongoing journey to safer skies has to be quickly rescheduled, as violent solar activity related to the ramping up of the solar cycle warps Earth’s atmosphere and threatens to drag it down out of orbit…

PARIS (CNES PR) — On Tuesday July 12, 2022, the Pitch Day of the CNES Artificial Intelligence R&D Challenge applied to space transport was held. The objective of this challenge was to imagine innovative concepts and breakthrough technologies for launchers by 2040.

Start-ups, TPI, SMEs, associations, laboratories and large industrial groups were invited to present their innovation proposals to an audience of experts from the space sector, partners, supervisory authorities, industrialists… In total, 700,000 euros in contracts from the CNES were won by the winners, for an amount of up to 100,000 euros, in order to boost innovation activities and develop the space economy.

NASA Mission Update Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians continue to prepare the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis I.   During work to repair the source of a hydrogen leak, engineers identified a loose fitting on the inside wall of the rocket’s engine section, where the quick disconnect for the liquid hydrogen umbilical attaches. The component, called a “collet,” is a […]

NASA Mission Update

While the International Space Station was traveling more than 267 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at 11:21 a.m. EDT today, with NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins monitoring operations from the station.

The Dragon launched on SpaceX’s 25th contracted commercial resupply mission for NASA at 8:44 p.m., Thursday, July 14, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After Dragon spends about one month attached to the space station, the spacecraft will return to Earth with cargo and research.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — To ensure continued safe operations of the International Space Station (station), protect the lives of astronauts, and ensure continuous U.S. presence in space, NASA will resume integrated crews on U.S. crew spacecraft and the Russian Soyuz with the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos.

Flying integrated crews ensures there are appropriately trained crew members on board the station for essential maintenance and spacewalks. It also protects against contingencies such as a problem with any crew spacecraft, serious crew medical issues, or an emergency aboard the station that requires a crew and the vehicle they are assigned to return to Earth sooner than planned.

U.S. Space Development Agency’s new satellite initiative is latest sign of growth in UND’s space ecosystem

GRAND FORKS, ND (University of North Dakota Media Relations) — Members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation visited Grand Forks Air Force Base on Tuesday, June 28, along with national space experts and UND President Andrew Armacost, for a ribbon cutting ceremony commemorating the U.S. Space Development Agency’s latest initiative in the state.

WASHINGTON (AFNS) — The Department of the Air Force has completed the draft environmental assessment of the preferred alternative and other five reasonable alternatives for U.S. Space Command headquarters as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The draft document was made available July 13 for a 30-day public comment period in accordance with the NEPA process. The final environmental assessment will take into account comments received for the DAF to […]

BENGALURU, India (ISRO PR) — Honorable Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh Ji dedicated ISRO System for Safe & Sustainable Operations Management (IS4OM) to the nation in Bengaluru. Chairman, ISRO Shri S. Somanath, Former chairmen Dr. Radhakrishnan, Shri Kiran Kumar and Dr. Sivan graced the occasion.  IS4OM is ISRO’s holistic approach to ensure the safety of our space assets and thus, sustains the utilization of outer space for national development. In response to […]

SOLNA, Sweden (Swedish Space Agency PR) — As a direct result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish Space Agency earlier this year suspended plans to launch the Swedish research satellite Mats (Mesospheric Airglow / Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) with a Russian launch vehicle. A new agreement has now been concluded between the main contractor, OHB Sweden AB, and American Rocket Lab for the launch of the Mats satellite from Rocket Lab’s launch base in New Zealand.

COCOA, Fla., July 14, 2022 – Vaya Space, Inc. the vortex-hybrid engine rocket company and emerging leader in sustainable space access, today announced that NASA has entered into a multi-faceted contract with Vaya Space to demonstrate the Company’s technologies and industry-leading engine performance at both the Stennis Space and Kennedy Space Centers.

Vaya Space conducted its inaugural launch earlier this year and has been rapidly expanding its operations and technology suite since that time. The Company received notification of its first patent award earlier this year and has multiple additional patents in progress on its breakthrough technologies that it believes will transform the Commercial Space sector in cost, reliability and safety.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — A small CubeSat carrying laser communications technology is readying for launch. Engineers are preparing the NASA-supported CLICK A CubeSat for launch no earlier than July 14, 2022, aboard SpaceX’s 25th Commercial Resupply Service (CRS-25) mission to the International Space Station as part of the next ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) mission.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (NOAA PR) — Michael C. Morgan, Ph.D., has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction, and also deputy NOAA administrator. In this role, Morgan will be responsible for providing agency-wide direction with regard to weather, water, climate, and ocean observations, including in situ instruments and satellites, and the process of converting observations to predictions for environmental threats.

“Dr. Morgan will be an invaluable addition to the Department and to our NOAA leadership team,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo. “His decades of world-renowned atmospheric and oceanic scientific expertise and dedicated service to the community make him ideally qualified to help guide NOAA’s lifesaving observation and prediction activities.”

Morgan brings over 25 years of demonstrated scientific leadership to this position. He most recently served as a professor and associate department chair in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his research was focused on the analysis, diagnosis, prediction, and predictability of mid-latitude and tropical weather systems.