Op-ed | Representing the private astronaut is a new step for human spaceflight — and for space lawyers
Sunday, 28 February 2021 17:00
Write a comment
A new era of human spaceflight was launched with Axiom Space’s Jan. 26 announcement of the four private astronauts it will send to the International Space Station early next year aboard a chartered SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
Astra’s 100-year plan: Q&A with CEO Chris Kemp
Sunday, 28 February 2021 16:40 Write a comment
In February 2020, Astra was just starting to open up to the public. The small launch vehicle developer, which had kept a profile so low that it called itself “Stealth Space Company” in job listings, began talking to the media about its plans as it was preparing its first orbital launch attempt from Kodiak, Alaska, as part of the DARPA Launch Challenge.
New brine processor increases water recycling on International Space Station
Sunday, 28 February 2021 15:59 Write a comment
NASA's newest technology demonstration, which launched on Northrop Grumman's 15th commercial resupply services mission, is designed to improve water recycling on the International Space Station and boost the efficiency of water recycling for the Artemis generation.
The space station's regenerative life support hardware, called the Environmental Control and Life Support System, provides clean air and water for station crews. A new Brine Processor Assembly (BPA) will be tied into the system and allow more water to be recovered from crew urine. This new piece of technology ultimately will help scientists build better systems that can be used on future Moon and Mars missions and habitats.
ECLSS has enabled more crew members to live aboard the station for longer expeditions with fewer resource shipments. The key components of the regenerative ECLSS are the Water Recovery System and the Air Revitalization System.
Veteran journalist Jason Rainbow joins SpaceNews
Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:38 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — SpaceNews has hired veteran satellite industry reporter Jason Rainbow to anchor the organization’s satellite telecommunications coverage and expand its reporting on existing and emerging commercial space markets.
Rainbow has spent more than a decade covering the global space industry as a business journalist.
ESA is working on a mission to explore caves on the moon
Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:00 Write a comment
Infrastructure is going to be one of the biggest components of any permanent human settlement on the moon. NASA Artemis missions are focused directly on building up the facilities and processes necessary to support a moon base. ESA is also contributing both material and knowledge. Most recently, they made another step in their path to explore lava tubes and caves in the subterranean lunar world.
ESA recently started the third round of a series of studies that focus on exploring lunar caves. The current round, called a concurrent design facility (CDF) study, builds on the work done in two previous rounds of Sysnova studies. Originally encompassing five studies ranging from how to lower a probe into a cave to how to communicate with and power any probes that make that descent, ideas were elicited from the public as part of the CAVES and PANGAEA programs.
This is what rolling blackouts look like from space
Sunday, 28 February 2021 13:00 Write a comment
Extreme winter weather hit Texas hard this February. An air mass from the arctic extended deep into the United States from Canada, with disastrous results for the ordinarily warm state. Along with snow and unusually low temperatures, the state's capacity for power generation was significantly reduced by weather-related equipment failures. Images hosted by NASA's Earth Observatory show the effect of controlled, rolling blackouts across the Greater Houston Area.
One image, taken on February 7, shows Houston before the arctic weather system, and another picture taken on the February 16 shows large swaths of the city in darkness. Earth Observatory has conveniently layered the two images with a vertical slider allowing users to slide back and forth, highlighting (or low-lighting as it were) the blackouts' impact.
Hanwha Aerospace bets big on space business
Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:43 Write a comment
SEOUL, South Korea — Hanwha Aerospace, the leading aircraft engine producer in South Korea, is stepping up efforts to expand its space business.
In the latest move, Hanwha struck a 109 billion won ($96.8 million) deal in January to win a controlling 30 percent stake in a domestic satellite maker, Satrec Initiative (SI), by the end of April.
Rocket Lab to go public through SPAC merger and develop medium-lift rocket
Sunday, 28 February 2021 12:27 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab, a developer of launch vehicles and smallsats, will merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to support development of a larger launch vehicle, part of the latest wave of deals to take space companies public.
Ariane 5 bulkhead design assessed for Airbus airliners
Sunday, 28 February 2021 10:07 Write a comment
An adapted version of a composite bulkhead that safeguards satellites during their ascent on the ESA-developed Ariane 5 launch vehicle has been tested for service aboard single aisle Airbus aircraft. Fitted in the rear tail cone, it would serve as a firewall to protect passengers in the event of the rear auxiliary power unit engine catching fire or the main cabin pressure bulkhead rupturing.
SpaceX scrubs 20th Starlink communications satellite launch
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13 Write a comment
SpaceX failed to launch a cluster of Starlink commuications satellites Sunday night when the countdown halted 1 minute, 24 seconds before the planned liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
No immediate explanation was given for the scrubbed launch.
Elon Musk's rocket company said its next opportunity to get the Falcon 9 rocket off the ground and send 60 satellites into orb Futuristic space technology concepts selected by NASA for initial study
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13 Write a comment
Four advanced space concepts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been selected to receive grants for further research and development.
Early-stage research into futuristic space ideas - a lunar levitation track system, light bending lunar power system, method for making soil from asteroid material, and more - could help revolutionize NASA's technology toolbox and pioneer new kinds o MDA awarded first production contract for the Canadian Surface Combatant Project
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13 Write a comment
MDA reports it has been awarded an initial contract with an expected production value of more than CAD$60 million on the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) project.
Lockheed Martin Canada has contracted MDA to provide the Laser Warning and Countermeasure (LWCM) System that will protect the ships against laser and optical guided threats.
MDA's Canadian-built solutions have the potential War in Space - 2021
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13 Write a comment
A new arms race is unfolding among spacefaring nations. Space experts have been telling us about contested space for the last several years. The number of active satellites is exploding from about 1,000 a few years ago to an expected 50,000+ within 10 years. The sky is indeed getting very congested. These satellites provide worldwide communications, GPS navigation, weather forecasting and planet U.S. Military, industry executives, government and researchers to attend Hypersonic Weapons Summit
Sunday, 28 February 2021 07:13 Write a comment
The Hypersonic Weapons Online Summit provides a forum for military leaders, program executive officers, industry executives, academics and researchers to focus emerging initiatives and focus areas that are critical to understanding the US Military senior leadership approach to the ongoing global proliferation of hypersonic weapons and capabilities for FY2021 and beyond.
The event will take Josef Aschbacher is new ESA Director General
Sunday, 28 February 2021 02:51 Write a comment
As of today, 1 March 2021, ESA has a new Director General: Dr Josef Aschbacher, who has taken up duty at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France.