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Northrop Grumman in 2024 plans to launch a new servicing vehicle equipped with a robotic arm that will install propulsion jet packs on dying satellites.

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The private space flight, SpaceX, completed a historic mission with the first all-civilian flight crew last weekend. The four members of the Inspiration4 crew raised $200 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and helped prove SpaceX founder Elon Musk's belief that non-professional astronauts can venture into space in regularity.

Every successful has its learning moments, however. One key takeaway from a three-day trip in space: Spacecraft bathrooms aren't ideal whatsoever.

In responding to followers asking about the mission, Musk tweeted Monday night that the Inspiration4 crew had some difficulties with the bathroom and promised upgrades for future missions.

"Definitely upgraded toilets :) We had some challenges with it this flight," Musk tweeted. The billionaire also promised better WiFi and oven.

While Musk didn't elaborate (for which we'll thank him), Inspiration4 member Jared Isaacman told Insider in July the facilities were located near the spacecraft's large cupola window.

"It's not a ton of privacy," he said. "But you do have this kind of privacy curtain that cuts across the top of the spacecraft, so you can kind of separate yourself from everyone else.

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OrbAstro, a space-as-a-service startup with visions of flying “tiny satellites in large flocks,” is gearing up to launch its first half-dozen smallsats in 2022 — including its just-announced first micro satellite.

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Astranis said Sept. 23 that SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will launch its first commercial satellite in a direct-inject mission to geostationary orbit in spring 2022.

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Life support cooked up from lunar rocks

Thursday, 23 September 2021 13:59
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Life support cooked up from lunar rocks
Artist’s impression of a lunar base. Credit: ESA – P Carril

Engineers have successfully shown how water and oxygen can be extracted by cooking up lunar soil, in order to support future Moon bases. A laboratory demonstrator, developed by a consortium of the Politecnico Milano, the European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency and the OHB Group, is presented this week at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2021.

The set-up uses a , well known in industrial chemistry for terrestrial applications, that has been customized to work with a mineral mixture that mimics the lunar . Around 50% of in all regions of the Moon is made up of silicon- or iron-oxides, and these in turn are around 26% oxygen. This means that a system that efficiently extracts oxygen from the soil could operate at any landing site or installation on the Moon.

In the experimental set-up, the soil simulant is vaporized in the presence of hydrogen and methane, then "washed" with .

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NASA invites learners of all ages, including students and teachers who recently returned to the classroom environment, to register for a special event ahead of the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
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What role is there for space and satellite industries in Industry 4.0? Plenty.

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Space station crew to relocate Soyuz, make room for new crewmates
The Soyuz MS-18 crew ship, pictured, will relocate from the Russian Rassvet module to the Nauka module on Sept. 28. Credit: NASA

Three residents of the International Space Station will take a short ride aboard a Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft Tuesday, Sept. 28, relocating the spacecraft to prepare for the arrival of the next set of station crew members.

Expedition 65 flight engineers Mark Vande Hei of NASA and Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos will undock from the station's Earth-facing Rassvet module at 8:21 a.m. EDT. They will dock again at the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module at 9 a.m. This will be the first time a spacecraft has attached to the new Nauka module, which arrived at the station in July.

Live coverage of the maneuver will begin at 8 a.m. on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

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NASA ballistic air gun hurls rocks at space suits to test their micrometeorite protection
Credit: NASA

Shock testing is commonly used throughout engineering to determine how a product will do when impacted by something. That something could be anything from the ground to a cruise missile. Like so much else in space exploration, engineers at NASA are performing the same type of test, just scaled up. Instead of simply dropping the object under test, as is common in most settings, they shoot it with a steel ball going 3000 ft/second.

Researchers at the Ballistics Impact Lab use a 40-foot-long gun to simulate what it would be like to be hit by a micrometeorite in . Recently, the team has focused on testing different types of for use in . A rapid decompression from a micrometeorite strike anywhere on a suit would be fatal to any astronaut unlucky enough to suffer one.

Understanding how a piece of fabric would fail in such a situation is critical to improving its design. Some forms of failure are worse than others. The lab has a series of high-speed cameras and sensors surrounding the material under to ensure it can capture as much data about those failure modes as possible.

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Rocket Lab will launch an Astroscale mission to rendezvous with a spent rocket stage in low Earth orbit, a prelude to eventually deorbiting the stage.

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Redmond WA (SPX) Sep 22, 2021
Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a Service, has announced it has received a $2M contract from National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) within the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) of the Department of Defense (DoD). This funding will accelerate the development of the Xcraft spacecraft platform, culminating with launch in 2023. Lisa Rich, Founder and COO of Xplore s
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National Harbor MD (SPX) Sep 22, 2021
Chief of Space Operations, Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond used a list of "firsts" and achievements across the Space Force's brief history Sept. 21 to illustrate how the nation's newest military service is "purpose built" for success at a time when the nation "can no longer take space for granted." "Space is clearly a warfighting domain and we're convinced that if deterrence were to fail, we're
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 21, 2021
Charged with studying the Mississippi River Delta, NASA's Delta-X project was gearing up to collect data on Louisiana's coastal wetlands when Hurricane Ida barreled ashore in late August. The storm - a high-end Category 4 when it made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Aug. 29 - damaged buildings and infrastructure alike, resulting in power outages, flooding, and oil slicks in the Gulf o
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Washington DC (UPI) Sep 22, 2021
The U.S. Space Force will take over satellite communications billets, funding and mission responsibility from the U.S. Army and Navy, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday. The transfer, which includes a total of 15 global units with 319 military and 259 civilian billets, is scheduled to be effective Oct. 1, if the Defense Department budget is passed and signed. "We're on
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South Ayrshire UK (SPX) Sep 22, 2021
Prestwick Spaceport has secured a launch partner for its spaceport development in a landmark deal that will boost Scotland's space industry ambitions and create an important strategic asset for the UK. The spaceport, represented by Glasgow Prestwick Airport and South Ayrs0hire Council, yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Astraius, the leading UK based, commercially op
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