NASA selects a dozen companies for smallsat launch services
Thursday, 27 January 2022 11:50
NASA awarded contracts Jan. 26 to a dozen companies, ranging from industry stalwarts to startups yet to launch their first rocket, to provide low-cost launches of agency smallsats.
The post NASA selects a dozen companies for smallsat launch services appeared first on SpaceNews.
Image: Orbital resupply vehicle departs ISS
Thursday, 27 January 2022 11:48
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station farewelled over 2000 kg of scientific experiments and hardware on Sunday 23 January as a cargo Dragon spacecraft began its return to Earth.
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer captured the resupply vehicle in all its glory as it departed the orbital outpost at 15:40 GMT/16:40 CET. It splashed down approximately 29 hours later off the coast of Florida, U.S..
The SpaceX spacecraft arrived at the Space Station just before Christmas, bringing new experiments alongside Christmas treats. It returned with a bellyful of science, including several European experiments that were quickly transported to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, and other items that flew with ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during his Alpha mission.
Among the experiments were an investigation into the effect of microgravity on resting muscle tone known as Myotones, cell cultures for the Cytoskeleton experiment that looks at how human cells behave in weightlessness, and a new device called Thermo-Mini for continually monitoring core body temperature that you might have seen Matthias sporting on Station.
Join Webb Quest: Mind-blowing mission to the early Universe
Thursday, 27 January 2022 11:05
Meet the man who won a trip to space and gave it to a friend
Thursday, 27 January 2022 08:03![Meet the man who won a trip to space and gave it to a friend](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2022/meet-the-man-who-won-a.jpg "This photo provided by Kyle Hippchen shows him, right, with Chris Sembroski near launch complex 39A in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 21, 2021. Hippchen says Sembroski is the one person "who lives and breathes" space stuff like he does. Credit: Courtesy Kyle Hippchen via AP")
He told his family and a few friends. He dropped hints to a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew that the airline pilot could have—should have—been on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit last year.
Meet Kyle Hippchen, the real winner of a first-of-its-kind sweepstakes, who gave his seat to his college roommate.
He won a trip to space. Then he gave it away to a friend
Thursday, 27 January 2022 08:03He told his family and a few friends. He dropped hints to a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew that the airline pilot could have—should have—been on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit last year.
Meet Kyle Hippchen, the real winner of a first-of-its-kind sweepstakes, who gave his seat to his college roommate.
Reaching the tipping point for 3D printing satellites
Thursday, 27 January 2022 07:14
The number of 3D-printed parts on board satellites is growing amid advances in additive manufacturing. But how close is the industry to 3D printing entire satellites?
The post Reaching the tipping point for 3D printing satellites appeared first on SpaceNews.
Blue Origin set to acquire Honeybee Robotics
Thursday, 27 January 2022 06:07
Honeybee Robotics (Honeybee) will be acquired by Blue Origin. With major operations in Longmont, Colorado and Altadena, California, Honeybee will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Origin, headquartered in Kent, Washington. The deal between Honeybee's parent organization, Ensign-Bickford Industries, and Blue Origin is expected to close in mid-February. Terms of the deal are not being discl New tech spurs spaceplane vision: halfway around world in 40 minutes
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
Seattle-area company Radian Aerospace plans to build and commercialize a true spaceplane that could take off from a commercial runway, fly to space and return under its own power - a feat never achieved in aerospace history.
The company emerged from secrecy in an announcement last week that said a former Boeing official who oversaw that company's X-33 spaceplane program, Livingston Hol Satellogic completes transaction to become publicly traded company
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
Satellogic Inc., a leader in sub-meter resolution satellite imagery collection has completed its previously announced business combination with CF Acquisition Corp. V (Nasdaq: CFV) ("CFV"), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald. The business combination was approved at a special meeting of CFV stockholders on January 24, 2022. Beginning Wednesday, J Summit to ignite Europe's bold space ambitions
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
European leaders will reaffirm plans to launch Europe on a world-leading trajectory during a high-level space summit to be held on 16 February in Toulouse, France.
Urgent action is needed to tackle the unprecedented societal, economic and security challenges faced by Europe - from the climate crisis and its consequences to threats to crucial infrastructure in space and on Earth.
Spac Enabling artificial intelligence on satellites
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
Swarms of hundreds or thousands of small satellites are increasingly used for bringing data and internet services to Earth. To position, communicate and dispose such large amounts of satellites, Artificial Intelligence is getting increasingly important.
To enable a large-scale use of Artificial Intelligence in orbit, RUAG Space, Europe's leading supplier to the space industry, and Stream A 12 Companies to Provide Venture Class Launch Services for NASA
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
NASA has selected 12 companies to provide launch services for the agency's Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) missions, providing new opportunities for science and technology payloads and fostering a growing U.S. commercial launch market.
The fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts have a five-year ordering period with a maximum total value of Advances in Space Transportation Systems Transforming Space Coast
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
From a seaside perch overlooking the hustle and bustle of ships coming and going at Port Canaveral on Florida's east coast, Dale Ketcham reflects on decades of history with nostalgia.
"I moved here and learned how to walk on Cocoa Beach three years before NASA was created" in 1958, he said.
Not only can Ketcham trace his life alongside the U.S. space program, he's had a firsthand vie Making matter from collisions of light
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
Nuclear scientists have used a powerful particle accelerator to create matter directly from collisions of light. Scientists predicted this process in the 1930s, but it has never been achieved in a single direct step.
The researchers accelerated two beams of gold ions to close to the speed of light in opposite directions. At such speeds, each gold ion is surrounded by particles of light (re A VIPER in the Sand
Thursday, 27 January 2022 05:19
The test version of NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, kicks up high sinkage sand-like material while transiting NASA Glenn's Simulated Lunar Operations Laboratory, or SLOPE bed. In November 2021, the latest test rover visited SLOPE to complete the next iteration of mobility testing, a critical step toward ensuring the rover is ready for its 2023 mission to the Moo