Paris, France (SPX) Nov 15, 2022
The birth of a spacecraft takes many years from design through to assembly, testing and launch. Here we speak to Airbus engineer Paolo Artusio about how the ESM-1, the European Service Module which will propel the Orion spacecraft to the Moon, took shape. For Artusio, the moment a programme transitions to its assembly, integration and test (AIT) phase is: "When engineers' dreams leave thei

Washington (AFP) Nov 14, 2022
On September 12, 1962, then US president John F. Kennedy informed the public of his plan to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. It was the height of the Cold War and America needed a big victory to demonstrate its space superiority after the Soviet Union had launched the first satellite and put the first man in orbit. "We choose to go to the Moon," Kennedy told 40,000 people

Tempe AZ (SPX) Nov 15, 2022
A satellite designed by ASU researchers to detect evidence of water-ice on the moon will begin its journey through space on NASA's Artemis 1 mission, scheduled to launch later this month. NASA's Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, or LunaH-Map, was designed by ASU researchers and is the first ASU-led NASA mission. The small satellite, about the size of a shoebox, will orbit the moon to collect da

Washington DC (UPI) Nov 14, 2021
NASA's CAPSTONE CubeSat probe arrived in orbit around the moon Sunday night in a major win for the space agency following a major engine malfunction over the summer that nearly derailed the mission. CAPSTONE had to fire its engines twice more to get back to the moon, where it entered a highly elliptical near rectilinear halo orbit or NRHO about 7:39 p.m., NASA said. The U.S. spac

Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Nov 15, 2022
The Gateway space station, an essential element of NASA's Artemis program, will serve as humanity's first space station in lunar orbit supporting crewed and uncrewed missions to the surface of the Moon and future deep space exploration missions. NASA contracted Maxar, a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, to manufacture the PPE, which wil

Westminster CO (SPX) Nov 15, 2022
Advanced Space LLC., a leading space tech solutions company, announced CAPSTONE successfully completed the initial insertion maneuver into a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) on Sunday, November 13th. Two smaller correction maneuvers will take place this week to ensure the spacecraft is confirmed into the complex lunar orbit. This NRHO is an orbit around the Moon that has never been flown

Cape Canaveral (AFP) Nov 15, 2022
Third time's the charm? After two failed attempts, NASA plans to launch its new mega Moon rocket early Wednesday from Florida, less than a week after the massive machine withstood a hurricane. "Our time is coming. And we hope that that is on Wednesday," said Mike Sarafin, the manager of the much-delayed Artemis 1 mission, at NASA headquarters. The Artemis 1 mission, a test flight wit

Tucson AZ (SPX) Nov 15, 2022
Phantom Space Corporation (Phantom), a space applications company providing launch services and satellite manufacturing to business and government clients, has announced a successful stage hot fire test at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Phantom's pathfinder test stage, equipped with a single Hadley engine supplied by Ursa Major, completed a 60 second hot fire test to validate first and s

Kirtland AFB NM (SPX) Nov 15, 2022
The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded a $72 million contract to Advanced Space LLC to demonstrate space situational awareness, object detection and tracking in the region of the Moon, supporting a resurgence of interest in lunar exploration and development across civil, commercial and international space agencies. AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate awarded the contract to support th

Image: ESA Extremes