NASA's robotic OSAM-1 mission completes critical design review
Friday, 04 March 2022 14:44
NASA's On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1), a mission that will be the first to robotically refuel a satellite not designed to be serviced, and will also demonstrate assembly and manufacturing technologies and capabilities, has passed its mission critical design review (CDR). This is an important milestone that paves the way for the construction of the spacecraft, payloads, and ground system.
NASA and Maxar Technologies successfully completed the mission CDR in February 2022, less than a year after the same milestone was reached for the mission's spacecraft bus, which focused on the portion of the spacecraft responsible for communications, power, and maneuvering.
The mission review included all elements that will act together as an integrated system:
- Spacecraft bus
- Servicing payload with 16 subsystems including tools, visions systems, and two robotic arms
- Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER) payload that will manufacture a beam and assemble a communications antenna using a third robotic arm
- Ground system
During the review, NASA engineers and leadership confirmed that the OSAM-1 design is complete and meets specified requirements.
Week in images: 28 February - 4 March 2022
Friday, 04 March 2022 13:24
Week in images: 28 February - 4 March 2022
Discover our week through the lens
Image: Aerial antenna for Venus mission test
Friday, 04 March 2022 13:07
How can you accurately test a space antenna down here on Earth when it has been scaled up to penetrate the subterranean depths of another planet? This was the question faced by SENER in Spain, currently designing a candidate antenna for ESA's EnVision mission, which will explore Venus from its inner core to outermost cloud layers. To solve it they lifted their prototype skyward with a balloon.
"To develop key technologies for future missions, ESA's Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality often explores multiple approaches," explains ESA antenna engineer Paul Moseley.
"This includes parallel prototypes for EnVision's Subsurface Radar Sounder (SRS), which will transmit and receive radio signals to chart the Venusian subsurface. It will achieve this using very low frequencies—9 Mhz—which in turn means its antenna has to be very large, 16 m across.
"To accurately characterize the performance of SENER's current prototype it needs to be tested free of any interaction with its environment, but it is simply too big to fit dedicated test facilities such as ESA's Hertz chamber—which in any case is not equipped to work with such low frequencies.
HawkEye 360 detects GPS interference in Ukraine
Friday, 04 March 2022 13:00
Prior to the Feb. 24 invasion, HawkEye 360 noted increasing GPS interference near Ukraine.
The post HawkEye 360 detects GPS interference in Ukraine appeared first on SpaceNews.
Privateer unveils technology for improved tracking of space objects
Friday, 04 March 2022 11:55
A new venture that emerged from stealth this week promises better information about objects in orbit and more tailored space situational awareness services for satellite operators.
The post Privateer unveils technology for improved tracking of space objects appeared first on SpaceNews.
The International Space Station may become a casualty of the Russian war in Ukraine
Friday, 04 March 2022 11:29
Will the Russian war on Ukraine lead to the demise of the International Space Station (ISS)?
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, says Western sanctions resulting from its invasion of Ukraine have led Russia to question its commitment to the space station beyond 2024—news that casts doubt on the program's future. "We're in an unknown situation here," Scott Pace, a former executive secretary of the National Space Council, told The Wall Street Journal.
The space station is currently orbiting Earth at a speed of five miles per second with a crew that includes Russians and Americans. It has been a refuge from international conflict since its construction in 1998, says Mai'a Cross, the Edward W. Brooke Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Northeastern. But the reverberations of the new war may extend beyond the atmosphere.
"It is impossible for this space station to exist without teamwork," says Cross, who is serving as guest editor of a special edition of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy that will be focused on space diplomacy. "Many people have said it is the greatest, biggest, and most expensive example of civil cooperation that has existed.
Earth from Space: Snowy Pyrenees
Friday, 04 March 2022 08:00
Today, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe. The mountain range forms a natural border between France and Spain with the small, landlocked country of Andorra sandwiched in between.
Seeking out Moon and Mars superoxides for oxygen farming
Friday, 04 March 2022 08:00
The dusty faces of the Moon and Mars conceal unseen hazards for future explorers. Areas of highly oxidising material could be sufficiently reactive that they would produce chemical burns on astronauts’ unprotected skin or lungs. Taking inspiration from a pioneering search for Martian life, a Greek team is developing a device to detect these ‘reactive oxygen species’ – as well as harvest sufficient oxygen from them to keep astronauts breathing indefinitely.
Moon and Mars superoxides for oxygen farming
Friday, 04 March 2022 08:00The dusty faces of the Moon and Mars conceal unseen hazards for future explorers. Areas of highly oxidising material could be sufficiently reactive that they would produce chemical burns on astronauts’ unprotected skin or lungs. Taking inspiration from a pioneering search for Martian life, a Greek team is developing a device to detect these ‘reactive oxygen species’ – as well as harvest sufficient oxygen from them to keep astronauts breathing indefinitely.
How space engineering supports sustainable development
Friday, 04 March 2022 07:50
What do artificial hearts, crack-free wind turbines, and pig sewage treatments have in common? Perhaps surprisingly, they have all benefitted from technology developed for space.
How commercial satellites are shaping the Ukraine conflict
Friday, 04 March 2022 05:36
From a huge Russian military convoy snaking its way to Kyiv to missile strikes and refugee crossings, commercial satellite imagery of the Ukraine conflict is helping lift the fog of war, illuminating for the public what was previously the domain of spy agencies.
Technologies that can pierce cloud cover and work at night are also coming to the fore, as a growing army of open-source intelligen The state of planetary defense in the 2020s
Friday, 04 March 2022 05:36
The Earth exists in a dangerous environment. Cosmic bodies, like asteroids and comets, are constantly zooming through space and often crash into our planet. Most of these are too small to pose a threat, but some can be cause for concern.
As a scholar who studies space and international security, it is my job to ask what the likelihood of an object crashing into the planet really is - and w Integrated deterrence is key to protecting US, Allies and Partners
Friday, 04 March 2022 05:36
Strategic competitors China and Russia have watched the Defense Department's way of projecting power for at least two decades, if not longer, the commander of U.S. Northern Command said.
"They understand if we're allowed to project that force forward, that won't turn out well. So, they've developed capabilities below the nuclear threshold to hold us at risk with the idea that they can dela Roscosmos Chief warns cyberattacks against Russian satellites sre 'Casus Belli'
Friday, 04 March 2022 05:36
It was earlier claimed that a hacker group called "NB65" had "shut down" the control centre of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.
Attempts by hackers to attack Russian satellites are "casus belli", said Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin.
"I want to warn those who are trying to do this that this is a crime that should be very severely punished, because the removal of the space grouping of a Sanctions on Russia add to troubles facing global helium industry
Friday, 04 March 2022 05:36
Helium is the second most-abundant element in the known universe, but to the semiconductor fabricators and doctors who rely on it for their businesses, it is better known as the latest raw material to grow scarce - and the war in Ukraine could make the shortage worse.
Russia is expected to eventually begin producing the equivalent of a third of the world's current helium production from a m