Leaf Space expands ground station network ahead of busy SpaceX ride-share mission
TAMPA, Fla. — Leaf Space has added three more ground stations to its managed network service, helping the Italian company support its largest number of satellite customers on a single launch in an upcoming mission.
Satellite propulsion supplier Orbion raises $20 million in Series B funding
WASHINGTON — Orbion Space Technology, a Michigan-based supplier of electric propulsion for small satellites, announced June 24 it has raised $20 million in Series B funding.
The new funding is to scale up production of plasma thrusters for small satellites, the company said.
Space Perspective performs first balloon test flight, begins ticket sales
WASHINGTON — Space Perspective, the company planning to offer stratospheric balloon flights for tourists, has formally opened ticket sales days after its first test flight.
Space Perspective announced June 23 it is offering flights on its Spaceship Neptune vehicle, a capsule carried aloft to an altitude of 30 kilometers, for $125,000 per person.
Op-ed | Assessing new launch vehicles on the market
Launch service providers and integrators exist at the intersection of two highly specialized fields: launch vehicle development and satellite development. These fields overlap, but generally contain different specialties, with both groups speaking fundamentally different languages.
Image: Thomas and the blue marble
A snap of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the second spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station's power system, taken by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
The duo performed the second extra vehicular activity to bolt in place and unfurl an IROSA, or ISS Roll-Out Solar Array, on Sunday 20 June.
The series of spacewalks last week was not without some challenges. During the first spacewalk on 16 June, Shane experienced a small technical problem in his spacesuit that required him to return to the airlock and restart his Display and Control Module. This module provides astronauts with continuous information on pressure, temperature and other vital data during a spacewalk.
Though the restart was successful and Shane was in no danger, it delayed the duo's work, preventing them from completing installation of the first new solar array as planned.
The duo succeeded in taking the IROSA panel out of its storage area outside the Space Station and passed from spacewalker to spacewalker to the worksite. There the rolled arrays were secured. The spacewalk lasted 7 hours and 15 minutes.
During the second spacewalk, the duo unfolded, bolted and connected the wires.
Software-as-a-Service model takes the space sector by storm
Astro Digital started out as an Earth-observation company.
The Santa Clara, California, startup was building a constellation of satellites and software for multispectral imagery when word got out that it possessed an efficient suite of microsatellite products.
Research looks to outer space to learn about human health on Earth
As an oncologist, Adam Dicker has seen how cancer treatments can pummel the body to knock out tumors, sometimes leading to deteriorating bones, more infections, and haywire sleep cycles. But others have observed similar ailments in a group of healthy people: astronauts who spend time in space.
Next year, Dicker and fellow researchers at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia will launch three studies of how space travel affects aspects of the human body—immunity, microbes in urine, and stress—as part of the first private mission to the International Space Station. Researchers believe that the unique environment in space can also shed light on human health on Earth.
"I never thought I'd ever do a project in space," said Paul H. Chung, assistant professor of urology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College,who is involved in one of the space studies. "Most people don't even know the logistics of how someone would do a project in space."
The eight-day mission is the first of its kind to be approved by NASA. Organized by Axiom Space, on Jan. 22, 2022 a SpaceX rocket will ferry four paying passengers to the International Space Station along with 44 scientific experiments commissioned by the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency.
NASA studying larger Mars helicopters
WASHINGTON — With the Ingenuity helicopter continuing to demonstrate its abilities on Mars, NASA engineers are examining concepts for larger, more capable rotorcraft that could be flown on future missions.
Ingenuity performed its eighth flight on Mars June 21, traveling 160 meters and landing at a new site 133.5 meters from the Perseverance rover.
U.S. Army selects Iridium to develop payload for low Earth orbit satellite navigation system
WASHINGTON — Iridium Communications announced June 24 it received a U.S. Army contract to develop a payload that could be used to broadcast data such as timing or location signals.
The contract, worth up to $30 million, is for research and development work.
Study Looks More Closely at Mars' Underground Water Signals
A new paper finds more radar signals suggesting the presence of subsurface 'lakes,' but many are in areas too cold for water to remain liquid.
In 2018, scientists working with data from ESA's (the European Space Agency's) Mars Express orbiter announced a surprising discovery: Signals from a radar instrument reflected off the Red Planet's south pole appeared to reveal a liquid subsurface la 
