Bipartisan legislation seeks to reform FCC satellite licensing rules
Monday, 14 February 2022 21:32
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The top Democrat and Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced a bipartisan effort Feb. 11 to update satellite licensing rules for the rapidly changing space industry.
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NASA's MinXSS instrument CubeSat launches to study sun's flares
Monday, 14 February 2022 21:18 Write a comment
The Miniature X-Ray Solar Spectrometer 3, or MinXSS-3, successfully launched on the InspireSat-1 small satellite at 7:29 p.m. EST on Feb. 13, 2022. Also known as the Dual Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer, or DAXSS, it is the third of three NASA-funded MinXSS CubeSats. It will spend up to a year in low-Earth orbit studying X-rays coming from flares on the sun.
The sun sometimes releases flares, which are energetic bursts of light and particles triggered by the release of magnetic energy on the sun that travel across the solar system. X-rays emitted by the sun during intense flares can interfere with GPS, radio, and other communications signals when they reach Earth. MinXSS will study the energetics of these flares in wavelengths known as soft X-rays, which are particularly impactful on Earth's ionosphere—an electrified upper layer of the atmosphere where communications signals travel.
SES forges Indian satellite capacity joint venture
Monday, 14 February 2022 20:09 Write a comment
Luxembourg-based SES said Feb. 14 it has formed a joint venture with India’s largest telecoms operator to provide multi-orbit connectivity in the country.
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SpaceX and Isaacman to partner on series of crewed Dragon and Starship flights
Monday, 14 February 2022 19:33 Write a comment
The billionaire who paid for and commanded the first private Crew Dragon mission last year announced Feb. 14 a program of additional missions that will culminate in the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle.
US billionaire announces three more ambitious SpaceX flights
Monday, 14 February 2022 16:45 Write a comment
US billionaire Jared Isaacman, who chartered the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight, announced Monday three more private missions with SpaceX—which will include spacewalking and culminate in the first crewed flight of the next-generation Starship rocket.
The first, named Polaris Dawn, will take place no sooner than the fourth quarter of this year, and will be commanded by Isaacman, the founder of payment processing company Shift4.
The program represents a new step for the commercial space sector, as Elon Musk's SpaceX seeks to carry out more ambitious missions that were until now the domain of national space agencies.
In a press call, Isaacman revealed that the Polaris Program, named after the North Star, will be co-funded by himself and SpaceX. He declined to give further details such as total cost, or the percentage each side would contribute.
Satellogic names former chair of the Pentagon’s joint chiefs Joe Dunford to board of directors
Monday, 14 February 2022 15:04 Write a comment
Joseph Dunford, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general and senior managing director of Liberty Strategic Capital, has joined the board of directors of Satellogic.
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India puts three satellites into orbit in the first launch of 2022
Monday, 14 February 2022 12:53 Write a comment
India launched three satellites Feb. 14 on its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in a rideshare mission marking the nation’s first launch of the year.
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Inventing the future of Navigation
Monday, 14 February 2022 12:30 Write a comment
Video:
00:05:15
Many of the experts that designed and oversaw the Galileo satnav system are now supporting cutting-edge European companies in the development of new navigation technologies and services. The result is ESA’s Navigation Innovation and Support Programme, NAVISP.
NAVISP is looking into all kinds of clever ideas about the future of navigation: ways to improve satellite navigation, alternative positioning systems and, new navigation services and applications. Working in partnership with European industry and researchers, more than 200 NAVISP projects have been initiated so far.
NAVISP is divided into three elements, the first looking into improving and expanding
Musk shows how they're planning to catch SuperHeavy boosters
Monday, 14 February 2022 11:14 Write a comment
SpaceX's entire business model is based on the reusability of its rockets. That business model has proven viable time and time again as boosters continue to land safely only to be reused later. But as the rockets they're using get bigger and bigger, the harder and harder it will get for them to land directly on the ground, as models they've completed so far have. So for its SuperHeavy Booster, designed to launch its Starship craft into orbit, SpaceX has to develop a new way of capturing the rockets without damaging them. Its head, Elon Musk, has shared a Twitter video showing how it will do just that.
The video, which is only 24 seconds long, shows a computer simulation of a SuperHeavy Booster descending back to Earth after launching its payload into orbit. It's been viewed 4.3 million times as of the time of writing and has prompted a firestorm of interest online.
SpaceX, Virgin Orbit and Ferrari join ESA-NASA Advanced Manufacturing event
Monday, 14 February 2022 08:50 Write a comment
Confirmed speakers at next month’s ESA-NASA 1st International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing for Air, Space and Land Transportation include leading technologists from Airbus, Boeing, SpaceX, Virgin Orbit and Ferrari’s Formula 1 team. Registration is now open for the four-day online event, which will include more than 185 speakers from the scientific and engineering communities.
Space stowage in 360° | Cosmic Kiss
Monday, 14 February 2022 08:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:02:36
Tour the Italian-built Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) of the International Space Station in 360° with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer.
Attached to Node 3, PMM is a large, reusable, pressurised element that was originally used to ferry cargo to and from the Station. It can hold up to 16 racks of equipment, experiments and supplies and has an end-cone with additional storage space for cargo bags, trash and other items.
The only thing PMM has no room for is a fear of enclosed spaces. Watch as Matthias maneuvers between the boxes and bags in this vital module in orbit.
Matthias is
Lockheed Martin terminates agreement to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne
Sunday, 13 February 2022 23:27 Write a comment
Lockheed Martin announced Feb. 13 it has decided to terminate a $4.4 billion deal to acquire rocket engine manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne.
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Chinese rocket, not Falcon 9, linked to upper stage on lunar impact trajectory
Sunday, 13 February 2022 18:15 Write a comment
In a case of celestial mistaken identity, a spent upper stage that will crash on the far side of the moon in March is now linked to a Chinese launch in 2014, not a SpaceX launch of an Earth and space science satellite in 2015, illustrating the difficulties in tracking objects beyond Earth orbit.
Webb Is Chilling Out
Sunday, 13 February 2022 10:32 Write a comment
While we have started the long process of aligning the telescope mirrors, almost all of the components on Webb's cold side are still continuing to cool.
Webb's giant sunshield keeps the telescope and cameras out of both direct sunlight and sunlight that is reflected from Earth and the Moon. Everything on the cold side of the sunshield is passively cooling, radiating heat into deep space. Orbital Assembly raises over $1 Million for artificial gravity technology development
Sunday, 13 February 2022 10:32 Write a comment
Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC) the leader in providing artificial gravity technologies enabling humanity to work, play and thrive in the space ecosystem has raised an additional $1 million to advance its space station facility development.
The company raised the funds on the Netcapital (Reg CF) crowdfunding site after its first successful funding round in 2021. This round is scheduled