The avionics model of the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope has arrived at the agency’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. Euclid was launched aboard a Falcon 9 in July 2023 and is currently stationed about 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth at Lagrange Point 2. The telescope was designed to explore […]
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If a U.S. satellite gets taken out by an adversary, the default response cannot just be to speedily launch a replacement, Guetlein said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on January 18th, 2024, ending its mission after a 10 day, tumultuous journey through cislunar space. While its launch was fully successful, riding atop the first United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket, the lander encountered a series of anomalies during its checkout phase which ultimately precluded a lunar landing. The mission came to an end on January 18th when the spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, ensuring safe disposal and minimizing cislunar debris.
Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom 3: SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom successfully docked to the ISS at 4:56 AM CST today. With the arrival of the four private astronauts, Michael López-Alegría, Walter Villadei, Alper Gezeravcı, and Marcus Wandt, the ISS crew complement has increased to 11. The Ax-3 crew participated in a live welcome ceremony and …
ArianeGroup is preparing to ship the Ariane 6 core stage and upper stage that will be used for the vehicle’s first flight towards the middle of this year to the launch site in French Guiana. Although the development of Ariane 6 has been hit with several years of delays, ESA and ArianeGroup are on the […]
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Astrobotic CEO John Thornton today acknowledged disappointment that the Peregrine lunar lander did not achieve its goal of landing on the Moon, but was upbeat about how they responded to […]
Google and AT&T have joined a $155 million strategic investment in AST SpaceMobile, which is set to raise double that to help fund its direct-to-smartphone connectivity constellation.
With the Peregrine lunar lander mission now complete, Astrobotic is turning its attention to understanding what went wrong with the spacecraft and incorporating any changes into a much larger lander for NASA.
Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander appears to have achieved a soft touchdown on the Moon’s surface but is currently unable to generate electricity from onboard solar cells. To utilize the remaining battery life to maximum effect, controllers worked to prioritize the recording and downloading of data.
Japan became the fifth country to successfully soft land on the Moon today. The Small Lander for Investigating Moon, SLIM, touched down as scheduled, but its solar cells are not […]
The Office of Space Commerce has selected three companies to participate in a pathfinder program that could lead to the incorporation of commercial data into its space traffic coordination system.
On January 19th 2024, JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully touched down on the surface of the Moon. This makes Japan the fifth nation in history to conduct a successful soft landing on the surface of the Moon, following Russia, the United States, China, and India. 135 days after launching alongside the XRISM X-Ray Space Telescope, SLIM has demonstrated a new method for landing on the surface of the Moon. However, unexpected power problems have occurred, and it will take further time to confirm if the lander’s precision goals were met.
As NASA pushes out the schedule for Artemis II and III, development of the first major upgrade to the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is moving into qualification. SLS Stages prime contractor Boeing is activating production areas for the new Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans in parallel with refining assembly and outfitting techniques for the stage.
Advocates of space-based solar power are criticizing a NASA report that offered a skeptical assessment of that technology’s ability to provide low-cost green energy.
On January 18th, 2024 at 4:49 PM, SpaceX and Axiom Space launched their third mission to the International Space Station, Ax-3, carrying a historic all-European crew on a 14-day mission. With Axiom enabling missions for the continent without an established human spaceflight capability, this mission represents not only the establishment of a routine cadence for commercial missions to the station, but indicates a shift in the power dynamic of Europe’s ambitions.
Chinese launch startup Landspace executed a first vertical takeoff, vertical landing with a test article Friday at a launch and recovery site at Jiuquan spaceport.
The European Space Agency’s first project astronaut Marcus Wandt has launched aboard an Axiom-sponsored SpaceX Crew Dragon mission on his way to the International Space Station (ISS). Wandt and his three crew members were launched aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center late yesterday. After a successful […]
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Axiom Space’s third private astronaut flight is underway with the first all-European space crew. Astronauts from the Italian, Turkish and Swedish Air Forces are on their way to the International […]
Space investments should start picking up in 2024 after plummeting last year, executives discussing the industry’s outlook said Jan. 17, but will likely remain far short of record highs.
With no drama, the Senate and House passed another Continuing Resolution this afternoon to keep the government operating for a few more weeks. For the third time since September, House […]
SpaceX launched Axiom Space’s third private astronaut mission Jan. 18, sending a veteran former NASA astronaut and three astronauts from European governments to the International Space Station.
Scout Space, a five-year-old startup developing satellite safety technologies, announced Jan. 18 that Philip Hover-Smoot, its former chief counsel, is stepping up as chief executive officer.
I’ve written a bit about the Space Force’s satellite constellation program before but, with new awards already rolling this year, it’s worth checking in on who’s been added to the fray that I’m calling the PWSA Sweepstakes.
The first U.S. lunar lander since the Apollo era is about to meet its end. Astrobotic’s Peregrine suffered a mission-ending propulsion failure soon after launch earlier this month. Its trajectory […]
or many planetary missions, atmospheres are obstacles to be dreaded or overcome, be it the need for heavy payload fairings, the stress of EDL, or the inevitability of orbital decay and mission end. NASA is planning a flagship-class mission to Uranus, the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP), early in the next decade, and an ongoing study may turn atmospheres into a valuable asset for not just UOP, but many missions yet to come.
Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom 3 Launch: SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom successfully launched at 3:49 PM CST today from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Rendezvous and docking with the ISS is scheduled for 4:15 AM CST on Saturday, January 21st. With the arrival of the four private astronauts, Michael Lopez-Alegria, Walter Villadei, Alper Gezeravci, …
A space debris removal mission being developed by Swiss startup ClearSpace has passed a pair of milestones as part of its environmental test campaign. ClearSpace-1 is an active debris removal mission that aims to capture and deorbit a Vega payload adapter that was launched in 2013 carrying three satellites. To capture its 112-kilogram target, the […]
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Viasat has successfully demonstrated a satellite navigation signal on an airplane that could help the United Kingdom replace capabilities lost after leaving the European Union, the operator announced Jan. 18.
REA Spazio will conduct its first in-orbit test of the company’s Electrical Muscle Simulation (EMSi) spacesuit aboard the SpaceX Axiom Mission 3 (AX-3) flight, which is expected to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center later today. With the EMSi suit, REA hopes to reproduce the same muscular stimulation the human body receives on Earth […]
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Astrobotic confirmed Jan. 17 that its Peregrine lunar lander will reenter over the South Pacific on Jan. 18, concluding a 10-day mission that failed to land on the moon because of a propellant leak.
Members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee expressed strong support for NASA’s Artemis program today. Citing the need for U.S. leadership in space, especially to get U.S. astronauts […]
Payloads: Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Internal Ball Camera 2: The crew performed JEM Camera Robot 2 checkout and demonstration activities. JEM Internal Ball Camera 2 demonstrates technology for automating video and photos of research activities. Crew time is one of the most valuable resources on the ISS, and many simple, repetitive tasks could be automated. …
The Department of Defense is pushing to lower classification barriers and forge closer partnerships with the commercial space industry, John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said Jan. 17.
Members of a key congressional committee expressed disappointment over the latest delay in NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon but showed little interest in making major changes to that program.
Astroscale is developing an in-space refueling vehicle that will shuttle back and forth between a fuel depot in geostationary Earth orbit and a client satellite.
Impulse Space, which launched its first orbital transfer vehicle last year, has unveiled plans for a larger vehicle for transporting satellites to geostationary and other orbits.
The U.S. needs to flex its space muscles in the face of China's lunar ambitions, argues a new report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies released Jan. 17.
The private Axiom-3 mission to the International Space Station is now in orbit after a successful launch from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The mission features a crew representing five different countries, four of them wholly or partly in Europe.
Axiom Space is set to launch its third private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, although technical issues have compressed the timeline for launch preparations.
