North America

NASA has awarded a contract the development of the Orion Main Engine (OME), which will be used on the Orion spacecraft as part of the Artemis program, to Aerojet Rocketdyne, the U.S. space agency and the company said. Aerojet Rocketdyne will deliver up to 20 OME engines for use on Artemis missions beginning with Artemis VII.

The data, analytics, and space services provider Spire Global partners with Myriota to develop space-based Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. Myriota will use Spire's existing satellite platform and continue to scale the Myriota Network as Spire deploys new satellites, Spire said.

António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, mentioned space tourism alongside corruption and loss of freedoms as cause for the ever-increasing gap between socioeconomic groups. Addressing the General Assembly, Guterres said “billionaires joyriding to space” led to the growing mistrust towards governments and the values of the UN.

RBC Signals and Spaceflight Inc. announced having signed a ground station services agreement to test Sherpa-LTE1. There have already been successful communication tests conducted between Spaceflight’s Sherpa-LTE1 orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) and RBC’s global ground station network.  

The Turkish government announced launching its first domestically built communications satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch of Turksat 6A is scheduled for Q1 of 2023. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure did not disclose further details of the contract. Turksat 6A is being built by the TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute.

Rocket Lab has signed a dedicated launch contract with Astroscale Japan to launch the Active Debris Removal by the Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) satellite. A subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc., Astroscale is solely dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbits.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Mike Simmons, lead and founder of a diverse range of astronomy programs and organizations, in conversation with Markus Payer, editor-in-chief of SpaceWatch.Global. Astronomy: The Overview Effect for the Rest of Us

NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is planned to land near the western edge of the Nobile Crater at the Moon’s South Pole, NASA said. The mission, starting in 2023, will map and explore the region for water and other resources.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Dongfang Hour China Aerospace News Roundup 13 - 19 September 2021”. A special shout-out to our friends at SpaceWatch.Global

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Robin Geiss, director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. Live from the Outer Space Security Conference 2021.