Blue Origin New Shepard’s first human flight mission is ready to lift off tomorrow, with its founder and owner Jeff Bezos on board, the company said. "New Shepard is go for launch, “ Blue Origin said. “On July 20, Blue Origin will fly its 16th New Shepard flight to space, and its first with astronauts on board.”
Read More »Malaysia’s Measat-3 satellite is in trouble – reports
Malaysia’s Measat-3 satellite is drifting in an uncontrolled orbit in the geostationary arc and believed to be a “total loss”, Advanced Television and other trade media reported. “It might now be a ‘zombie satellite’ and start causing problems for other satellites in its path”, Advanced Television said.
Read More »Smithsonian receives $200 million donation from Jeff Bezos
The Smithsonian will receive a $200 million donation from Jeff Bezos, the museum in Washington, DC, said. The donation is the “largest gift to the Smithsonian since the institution’s founding gift from James Smithson in 1846”. A $70 million portion will support the renovation of the National Air and Space Museum and $130 million will launch a new education center.
Read More »Thales builds two Axiom Space modules for ISS
Thales Alenia Space will build two modules of the Axiom Space Station, “the world’s first commercial space station”. Thales and Axiom Space signed a contract for the development of the two elements that are scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025 respectively, and will be docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The value of the contract is € 110 million.
Read More »RUAG continues to build fairings for Atlas and Vulcan Centaur
RUAG Space extends its partnership with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to produce payload fairings for the Atlas and the Vulcan Centaur rocket programs, the Swiss company said. RUAG Space and ULA modified and extended their existing development and production contract until 2024.
Read More »ESA and NASA partner in Earth science to respond to climate change
The European and the American space agencies, ESA and NASA, formed a strategic partnership to further Earth science and combat climate change. The aim of the partnership is to advance science and ensure that data from Earth-observing satellites are used to their best advantage, ESA said.
Read More »NASA pushes nuclear thermal propulsion systems
NASA supports nuclear space propulsion technologies and pushes for the design of nuclear thermal engines, the agency said. Together with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), NASA has selected three reactor design concepts for a nuclear thermal propulsion system. The 12-month contracts go to three consortia and are valued at approximately $5 million each.
Read More »ispace’s lunar lander fit for assembly at ArianeGroup Germany
The Japanese lunar exploration company ispace has begun the assembly of the flight model for its lunar lander, which is to be used in the company’s first mission scheduled to launch in 2022, the company said. The final assembly of the flight model lander will be carried out in cooperation with Ariane Group at its facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany.
Read More »Kongsberg opens new Ka-band antenna at Antarctica
Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), provider of space-ground network and Earth observation (EO) services, has opened a new Ka-band antenna at its Antarctic station Troll, the company said. The antenna is part of the KSATlite network and will augment KSAT's Ka-band polar network to eight antennas by the end of the year, the company said.
Read More »Eutelsat’s Quantum ready for launch while SES leads quantum consortium
Double quantum, different quantums: Eutelsat’s Quantum, the first in a new generation of software-defined satellites, will be launched on 27 July from Kourou while SES said it pushes a Luxembourgish consortium to develop a super secure quantum key distribution system.
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