NASA Mission Update
The Flight Readiness Review for NASA’s Artemis I mission has concluded, and teams are proceeding toward a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. EDT Monday, August 29, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B in Florida.
Live coverage of events will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, with prelaunch events starting Monday, Aug. 22. The launch countdown will begin Saturday, Aug. 27, at 10:23 a.m.
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Jack Black, Chris Evans, Yo-Yo Ma and more to headline launch day coverage
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA will provide coverage of prelaunch, launch, and postlaunch activities for Artemis I, the first integrated test of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the ground systems at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This uncrewed flight test around the Moon will pave the way for a crewed flight test and future human lunar exploration as part of Artemis.
The SLS rocket is targeted to launch during a two-hour window that opens at 8:33 a.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 29, from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy.
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PARIS (ESA PR) — Europe’s first commercial satellite capable of being completely reprogrammed while in space is now in commercial use.
Satellite operator Eutelsat has sold six of its eight beams – used for data and mobile communications – to organisations including governments and other users. It is expected that the entire satellite capacity will be sold in the coming months.
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PARIS (ESA PR) — A large data-driven telecommunications satellite that uses innovative technology to keep cool as well as other innovations – developed under an ESA Partnership Project – has started its commercial service.
The satellite will provide broadband connectivity for commercial shipping, aviation, governments and enterprises through its operator, SES, as well connecting underserved areas and accelerating digital inclusion.
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BERLIN (DLR PR) — On July 5, 2022, the winners of this year’s INNOspace Masters competition were announced by Dr. Peter Gräf, Director of Applications and Science at the German Space Agency at DLR, and Dr. Anna Christmann, Federal Government Coordinator for German Aerospace. Under the motto “Sustainable and Efficient Innovations for Space and Earth”, new ideas and concepts were sought that take up current challenges in space travel and other sectors and offer innovative solutions. The participants could choose from five competition categories – the “Challenges” – which cover different development and innovation phases along the entire innovation chain. Accordingly, there was an overall winner and five other winners – one per competition category.
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FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (Airbus PR) – Airbus has finished the third instrument for the Sentinel-1 satellite series. It features a world premiere of a new separation mechanism which will help avoid space debris. The C-band radar for the Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite, is now on its way to “meet” its spacecraft at Thales Alenia Space facilities in Rome, Italy, where it will undergo integration and testing. The satellite is scheduled for launch in the first half of 2023.
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NATICK, Mass. (Busek Co. PR) — The in-space propulsion firm Busek Co. confirmed its supply of BHT-350 Hall effect thrusters for a range of missions supported by Airbus OneWeb Satellites (AOS). The Busek thrusters have been engineered and qualified to rigorous standards and are suitable for high-reliability, long-lifetime applications where thrusters are used for orbit raising, maintenance, and end-of-life de-orbit.
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CARLSBAD, Calif. (Viasat, Inc. PR) — Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, today announced it has been awarded a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Validation of Supplemental Type Certificate (VSTC) to install its complete, advanced Ka-band satellite system on Airbus A320 series of aircraft. This CAAC validation, Viasat’s first in China, lays the foundation for Chinese airlines to install and deploy Viasat’s industry-leading In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) system, including antenna, radome, modem, server and WAPs, on Airbus A320s.
The CAAC VSTC was awarded based on an Airbus A320 STC previously certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). It joins a portfolio of STCs that has been applied globally on 1,800+ commercial aircraft installed with Viasat’s in-flight connectivity system. In total, the Company’s current IFC solution has accumulated more than 16.5 million flight hours.
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PARIS (ESA PR) — ESA is going to the Moon – in collaboration with its international partners – and seeks to build a lasting lunar link to enable sustainable space exploration.
The agency has now evaluated initial ideas to create a network of lunar telecommunications and navigation satellites.
Creating a commercial telecommunications and navigation service for the Moon will allow many of the dozens of planned lunar missions to share the same infrastructure to communicate with Earth, as well as to find their way on the lunar surface.
The service is needed because the planned missions are becoming regular trips to Earth’s natural satellite rather than one-off expeditions.
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British space technology will help pioneer new approaches to energy, communications and resources, thanks to new projects from the UK Space Agency
LONDON (UK Space Agency PR) — Science and Innovation Minister George Freeman announced the £2 million boost for 13 new projects during British Science Week (11-20 March), which aims to inspire interest in and celebrate science, engineering, technology and maths for people of all ages.
The projects include Rolls-Royce developing a power station for space that could power the generation of water, breathable oxygen and fuels for solar exploration.
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TOULOUSE, France (CNES PR) — The AsterX 2022 exercise took up residence at the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse from 24/02 to 4/03/2022. This space threat simulation exercise, entirely piloted by the Space Command, is the second to be organized in close collaboration with CNES.
The objective of this exercise, the first edition of which took place in March 2021 at CNES: to define and test certain operational processes in the field of Space Situational Awareness and to test our reaction capacities in emergency situations. A unique operation in Europe.
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Amsterdam, 17 February 2022 – Airbus SE (stock exchange symbol: AIR) reported consolidated Full-Year (FY) 2021 financial results and provided guidance for 2022.
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SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) — The UK-built ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover is set for launch in September after a series of successful tests, including driving off its landing platform.
The European Space Agency (ESA) rover starts the year with months of successful maintenance and functional tests behind it. All its instruments are go for flight, with some minor tuning left to complete this month.
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Tangible proof of What’s Next in Space: the entire space ecosystem working together to deliver the best space possible
TOULOUSE, France, 14 January 2022 (Airbus PR) – Airbus has been contracted to supply space start-up Loft Orbital with more than fifteen satellite platforms derived from the Airbus Arrow platform. Arrow is the foundational satellite platform of the OneWeb constellation. There are 394 Airbus Arrow platforms in orbit for the OneWeb constellation and a further 254 are being produced to complete the 648 spacecraft required by OneWeb. With this acquisition, Loft Orbital confirms its intention to make the Airbus Arrow platform a true workhorse enabling its service business model.
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Enabling the future Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) servicing astronauts on their way to the Moon
MADRID 11 January 2022 (Airbus PR) — Airbus Crisa, an affiliate company of Airbus, has signed a contract for the development of the Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) system for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) with Northrop Grumman.
Airbus Crisa is a Spanish company founded in 1985 to design and manufacture electronic equipment and software for space applications, and engineering projects for ground stations. It is fully integrated into Airbus Defence and Space.
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