CMRP to play key role in space technology testing network
Wednesday, 23 June 2021 04:39
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The University of Wollongong (UOW) will contribute to a national network of facilities to test technology for use in space. Space exploration missions, satellites and permanent space stations require advanced electronic instrumentation with the highest level of reliability. The physically extreme environments in space travel mean most commercially available components are unsuitable.
To en Xi lauds 'new horizon' for humanity in space chat with astronauts
Wednesday, 23 June 2021 04:39 Write a comment
President Xi Jinping on Wednesday lauded the work of three astronauts building China's first space station as opening "new horizons" in humanity's bid to explore the cosmos.
The trio blasted off on a Long March-2F rocket from northwest China's Gobi desert last Thursday, docking around seven hours later at the Tiangong space station, where they will spend the next three months.
The launch Space Development Agency to launch five satellites aboard SpaceX rideshare
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 23:15 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Development Agency has five satellites riding on SpaceX’s Transporter-2 rideshare mission scheduled to launch June 25.
“There’s nothing in the space business that gets your blood pumping like the idea of a launch, especially if you’ve got multiple satellites,” a senior Space Development Agency (SDA) official told reporters June 22.
Europe proposes launcher alliance
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 22:32 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The European Union is proposing a “launcher alliance” involving companies and governments to develop the next generation of European launch vehicles, although some European startups are skeptical of those plans.
In a June 22 speech highlighting the EU’s space programs, including the signing of a Financial Framework Partnership Agreement with the European Space Agency, the EU commissioner responsible for space highlighted the launcher alliance as part of a “ambitious and disruptive space agenda.
DoD space agency to create marketplace for commercial satellite data
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 20:50 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency is looking to work with commercial operators of imaging satellites so they can send data directly to U.S. government satellites in orbit, the agency’s director Derek Tournear said June 22.
U.S. Army to evaluate Kymeta’s flat satellite antennas for mobile connectivity
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 18:58 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Kymeta’s flat panel satellite antennas will be among the products the U.S. Army will evaluate for future use in its communications networks, the company announced June 22.
Eight Kymeta u8 flat panel satellite antennas will be installed on military vehicles and tested as part of an Army pilot program.
Ligado Networks passes 3GPP review for 5G plan
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 18:45 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Ligado Networks is a step closer toward using its L-band satellite spectrum for terrestrial wireless services in the U.S., after getting clearance from the 3GPP consortium that sets global communications standards for 5G.
The company said June 21 that 3GPP approved technical specifications that enable vendors to build 5G-compatible products on its spectrum.
Patents help build a global map of new space industry
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 15:48 Write a comment
Skoltech researchers and their colleagues from Russia and Serbia have reviewed almost a thousand patents held by some two hundred organizations involved in the New Space economy. The analysis helped draw a comprehensive picture of technology trends in the field. The paper was published in the journal Progress in Aerospace Sciences.
'New Space' is a loosely-defined term that encompasses the recent flurry of space-related activities coming from smaller actors rather than a handful of space-faring nations. Put somewhat simply, while the Apollo missions were more traditional, SpaceX, Rocket Lab (launching small satellites from New Zealand) or LeoLabs (a space junk tracking company) are undeniably parts of a new and different space economy. In a 2020 paper, Skoltech Associate Professor Alessandro Golkar and Alejandro Salado of Virginia Tech found three distinguishing traits of New Space companies: explicit customer focus, new product development approaches, and new business models.
"In a nutshell, the main difference relates to how New Space organizations develop their products and how they approach the business. New Space organizations tend to embrace innovative development processes such as agile, have a risk-taker attitude, and focus on profit.
Seraphim Capital’s investment trust details $250 million public listing
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 14:37 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Space startup investor Seraphim Capital’s investment trust aims to raise up to 180 million British pounds ($250 million) by listing shares on the London Stock Exchange.
The initial public offer (IPO) for retail investors will close July 9 at the latest, Seraphim Space Investment Trust said June 22 in its offering prospectus.
Dirty laundry in space? NASA, Tide tackle cleaning challenge
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 14:24 Write a comment
Space object with orbit stretching into the Oort cloud discovered
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 12:40 Write a comment
Astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein discovered a space object recently that has an orbit around the sun and also stretches into the Oort cloud—they have named it 2014 UN271. The researchers made the discovery while studying archival images collected for the Dark Energy Survey over the years 2014 to 2018. Since its discovery, entities such as the MMPL forum, the Minor Planet Center and JPL Solar System Dynamics have been tracking the object and have found that it will make its closest approach to Earth in 2031.
Measurements of the object put it between the size of a very small planet and a comet—it is believed to have a diameter of 100 to 370 km. If it turns out to be on the larger end of that spectrum, it would mark the largest Oort cloud object discovered to date. But it is the path of the object that has drawn the attention of astronomers—its orbit is nearly perpendicular to the plane created by the nine inner planets and takes it deep into the solar system and into the Oort cloud.
Dropping power levels threaten InSight mission
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 10:49 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Dust accumulation on the solar panels of NASA’s InSight Mars lander is reducing the power to the spacecraft and could force the mission to end within a year.
At a June 21 meeting of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, Bruce Banerdt, principal investigator for the InSight mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said dust accumulating on the lander’s two solar panels has drastically reduced the amount of power they produce, requiring some instruments to be turned off at least temporarily.
Ex-Im Bank finances SpaceX launch deal
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 09:48 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The Export-Import Bank of the United States has arranged financing for the SpaceX launch of a Hispasat satellite, the first space deal the bank has done in six years.
ESA and EU celebrate a fresh start for space in Europe
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 07:15 Write a comment
Press Release N° 20–2021
After months of constructive negotiations, ESA and EU signed today a new Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA) in a ceremony to celebrate the launch of the new EU space programme.
Apollo 14 remembered as 'back to space' mission that expanded lunar science
Tuesday, 22 June 2021 06:33 Write a comment
Family members of the Apollo 14 crew that landed on the moon in 1971 marked the 50th anniversary of the historic expedition Saturday at Kennedy Space Center.
The three astronauts from Apollo 14 - Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell - have died, but their families and several other Apollo-era figures recalled the trip as a triumphant return to the moon after the Apollo 13 acc