Harpoons, robots and lasers: How to capture defunct satellites and other space junk and bring it back to Earth
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 13:54
More than half of the thousands of satellites in orbit are now defunct, and this accumulation of floating space debris has been described as a "fatal problem" for current and future space missions and human space travel.
An estimated 130 million objects smaller than 1cm and 34,000 larger than 10cm are traveling in orbit at speeds of thousands of kilometers per hour, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). A report presented at this year's European conference on space debris suggests the amount of space junk could increase fifty-fold by 2100.
While many fragments of space junk are small, they travel so fast their impact has enough energy to disable a satellite or cause significant damage to space stations.
Both the Hubble Telescope and the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellites had coin-sized holes punched into them by flying debris and a mirror on Nasa's James Webb space telescope was damaged by micrometeoroids.
Most satellites were not designed with the end of their usefulness in mind.
Competition is growing in the space-data-relay sector
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:25
Companies reveal plans for optical and RF data relay networks to address growing demand from satellite operators for high-speed data transfer.
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Uncrewed Blue Origin rocket crashes in setback for space tourism
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
An uncrewed Blue Origin rocket carrying research payloads crashed shortly after liftoff from Texas on Monday, but the capsule carrying experiments escaped and floated safely back to Earth.
The incident marked a setback for Amazon founder and executive chair Jeff Bezos' company as well as the space tourism sector, though observers were encouraged by the fact that had people been aboard, they NASA's Moon mission pushed back, again
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
NASA is now targeting September 27 as the earliest possible launch date for its uncrewed Artemis 1 mission to the Moon, the agency said in a blog post Monday.
The date would depend on engineering teams successfully carrying out a test to fuel up the Space Launch System rocket, and receive a waiver to avoid retesting batteries on an emergency flight system that is used to destroy the rocket i Sols 3592-3593: Onwards
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
Curiosity is back on the road! The arm (seen above while conducting science activities on sol 3583) is good to go, so the team planned a full day of activities. Curiosity has been sitting in the same place for a few sols, so the team has been taking advantage of that to get extra observations in this area.
One Mastcam observation is an extension of a mosaic ("Parai Pond") that was started Western researchers among first to capture James Webb Space Telescope images
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) has captured the most detailed and sharpest images ever taken of the inner region of the Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery situated in the constellation Orion 1,350 light-years away from Earth.
The new images released today were targeted by an international collaboration, which includes researchers from Western University.
"We are blown away by the brea SciTec awarded US Space Force contract for mission data processing application provider
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
SciTec, Inc. was awarded a $272M contract by U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) for Mission Data Processing Application Provider (MDPAP) to deliver critical applications for the Space Force's missile warning mission as part of the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) program.
The FORGE program supports the continued operations of legacy Space Based Infrared Sys Airbus to provide satellite communications for Armed Forces of Czech Republic and the Netherlands
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
Airbus has signed contracts with the Ministries of Defence of Czech Republic and the Netherlands to provide satellite communications for a 15 year period. The Armed Forces of Czech Republic and the Netherlands will utilise 2 and 3 channels respectively of the Airbus UHF (Ultra High Frequency) military communications hosted payload on-board the EUTELSAT 36D telecommunications satellite scheduled Ramon and Kythera partner to deliver autonomous communications payload solutions
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
Ramon.Space, the leader in space-resilient computing infrastructure, and Kythera Space Solutions (Kythera), the leader in dynamic management systems for next-generation payloads and SATCOM networks, have partnered to deliver highly dynamic and flexible communications payload solutions. This partnership leverages Kythera's Operating System to manage and optimize Ramon.Space's advanced Space Compu Vestigo Aerospace raises $375K in seed funding to spur deorbit systems
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
Vestigo Aerospace, a space technology company focused on deorbit systems, has closed a seed funding round with an investment of $375,000 from Manhattan West, a Los Angeles-based strategic investment firm. NASA will provide a 1:1 match of Manhattan West's investment through a Small Business Innovative Research Phase II-Extended (SBIR Phase II-E) contract.
The seed funding and the matching N Spaceflight signs with NewSpace India to launch Astrocast IoT satellite into orbit
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:05
Spaceflight, the leading global launch services provider, has announced it will launch four Astrocast 3U spacecraft aboard India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) mission under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). This mission, scheduled for October 2022, will launch from Sriharikota, India's Satish Dhawan Space Center, carrying the Astrocast spacecraft as a co-pass Slingshot Aerospace rolls out free space-traffic control service
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:00
Slingshot Aerospace, a space data analytics company, announced Sept. 13 it is offering a free version of its space traffic control software to satellite operators
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ESA Boost! for RFA One Launch Services
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 11:00
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), a German startup developing the three-stage RFA One orbital launch vehicle designed to operate at a high cadence, has received a contract worth €11.72 m from ESA's Boost! commercial space transportation services programme.
Speedcast nets first Starlink reseller deal for enterprise and maritime
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 10:56
Remote communications provider Speedcast has become the first company to sign a distribution deal to resell SpaceX’s Starlink broadband services to enterprise and maritime customers.
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Artemis 1 launch plans slip again
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 08:50
Days after NASA proposed to make its next attempt to launch the Artemis 1 mission on Sept. 23, the agency changed course and pushed back the launch.
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