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Time keeping Space Development Agency could select three manufacturers to produce its next batch of satellites
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 22:42
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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency is considering buying its next 150 satellites from three different vendors, but that could change after the agency evaluates companies’ bids, SDA director Derek Tournear said April 14.
Speaking at the Washington Space Business Roundtable, Tournear said a request for proposals will be issued in August for the agency’s Transport Layer Tranche 1 — a network of hundreds of communications satellites in low Earth orbit projected to start launching in late 2024.
DoD space agency: Cyber attacks, not missiles, are the most worrisome threat to satellites
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 21:15 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Intelligence agencies and analysts warn China and Russia are developing missiles that could strike U.S. satellites in low-Earth orbit. This will be a concern for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, which plans to deploy a network of satellites within range of those missiles.
Mock crew straps into space capsule, exits before liftoff
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 20:03 Write a comment
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company strapped two employees into a fueled rocketship for practice, but pulled them out shortly before sending the capsule to the edge of space Wednesday with only a test dummy.
The crew rehearsal in West Texas brings Blue Origin closer to launching tourists and others into space.
Blue Origin wanted to see how well a crew could get in and out of the capsule. The pretend astronauts also tested seatbelts and radio links before the 10 1/2-minute flight, and went back to the capsule following touchdown to climb aboard for recovery practice.
Blue Origin aces dress rehearsal for New Shepard crewed flights
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 17:57 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Blue Origin completed another test flight of its New Shepard vehicle April 14, putting the company on the verge of finally flying people.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle lifted off from the company’s West Texas test site, known as Launch Site One by the company, at 12:51 p.m.
UAE to send rover to the Moon in 2022
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 14:58 Write a comment
Lunar exploration firm iSpace said Wednesday it will transport a United Arab Emirates unmanned rover to the Moon next year, as the Gulf state seeks to expand its space sector.
The UAE—made up of seven emirates including the capital Abu Dhabi and freewheeling Dubai—announced in September 2020 that it planned to launch the "Rashid" rover by 2024.
The rover "will be transported to the Moon on iSpace's lunar lander" during a mission in 2022, the Japanese company said in a statement.
Video: Drone test of Hera mission's asteroid radar
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 14:21 Write a comment
This drone hauled a model of the Juventas CubeSat high into the air, as a practical test of the antennas designed to perform the first radar sounding of the interior of an asteroid.
The shoebox-sized Juventas will be transported to the Didymos double-asteroid system by ESA's Hera mission. Once it flies freely in space, Juventas will deploy a cross antenna to perform a low-frequency radar scan up to 100 m deep within the smaller of the two asteroids, Dimorphos. Such low frequencies result in long wavelengths of around 6 m, too long for most indoor measurement facilities.
"To verify the antenna characteristics, we performed this aerial test with the support of the Hexapilots drone company," notes Martin Laabs of the Chair for Radio Frequency and Photonics Engineering of Technical University Dresden in Germany.
"For the most accurate measurements of the antennas' radiation properties, they had to be as far away as possible from other objects, so the Juventas model was hung 10 m down from the drone, which was flown up to 50 m into the sky.
Astranis secures $250 million to accelerate small GEO satellite development
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 14:15 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Astranis, a startup developing small geostationary satellites, has raised $250 million in a funding round that values the company at $1.4 billion.
Funds managed by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, led the Series C financing round.
Josef Aschbacher and Simonetta di Pippo discuss space debris
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 13:03 Write a comment
Josef Aschbacher and Simonetta di Pippo discuss space debris
Telesat raising $500 million in debt for Lightspeed broadband network
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 12:41 Write a comment
TAMPA, Fla. — Canadian satellite operator Telesat plans to raise $500 million with a bond to help fund its $5 billion Lightspeed broadband constellation.
The senior secured notes due 2026 will be issued around April 27 as part of a debt package that will fund 60% of the project’s cost, with the remaining 40% financed through equity.
Popping pills in space: Helping astronauts manage pain or sickness on crewed missions
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 12:30 Write a comment
And you think you've had a bad head cold.
Getting sick in space is no joke. You're stuck, surrounded by the most advanced equipment in the world, most of which is useless if you need a medicine you didn't think to bring.
Even taking a pill has its problems as the constant radiation breaks them down.
Professor Volker Hessel is a researcher at the University of Adelaide who has sent medicine up to the International Space Station (ISS) to test how pills survive in space.
The plan is to understand how we can make space drugs that can last the 3-year trip to Mars.
In space, no one can hear you sneeze
Astronauts are extremely fit for a reason. Space is incredibly stressful to human bodies. Microgravity means astronauts lose 1–2% of their bone mass each month.
Radiation also changes astronaut DNA.
NASA delays Mars helicopter flight again for software update
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 12:28 Write a comment
NASA has postponed the flight of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, the first controlled flight on another planet, to work through a software problem.
The flight had been planned for Thursday and then delayed to Sunday. NASA didn't immediately set a new target date for the flight.
"Our best estimate of a targeted flight date is fluid right now, but we are working toward achieving the NASA will continue working with Russia on space despite China plan
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 12:28 Write a comment
Russia and NASA will continue to cooperate in space in the near future, even as Russia moves to work with China on lunar exploration, experts said.
Russia and China announced March 9 they will cooperate on China's planned International Scientific Lunar Station, while the United States will have no involvement in the Chinese space program under a law passed in 2011.
But ultimately China sets up expert advisory committee for lunar samples
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 12:28 Write a comment
China has set up an expert committee for lunar samples, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said Tuesday.
According to the regulations on lunar sample management, the CNSA established the committee as an expert advisory institution for the management of lunar samples.
The committee aims to give full play to the scientific value of lunar samples and standardize their manage Lavrov calls for talks on binding treaty to prohibit weapons in space
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 12:28 Write a comment
Russia has called for talks to create a legally binding international instrument that would ban the deployment of any type of weapons in space, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic space flight.
The anniversary of the first Soviet cosmonaut's flight, marking the beginning of humanity's space era, is celebrated every year in Russia a