Satellite

SpaceX launched its first interplanetary mission in February 2015 and after having travelled too far to have enough fuel to return to Earth or to escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system, the spacecraft stayed on a chaotic orbit. According to sky observers, the defunct Falcon 9 second stage is now going to impact the Moon.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the U.S. sued to block Lockheed Martin’s proposed acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, the supplier of missile propulsion systems for $4.4 billion, the FTC said. Lockheed, and its competitors in this area - Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing - act as missile system contractors to the U.S. Department of Defense.

SayariLabs, the first Kenyan space start-up to provide satellite services and space-based solutions, and software-defined nanosatellite and space services provider, EnduroSat, signed a commercial agreement to launch TAIFA-1, the first Kenyan 3U nanosatellite.  East Africa has experienced heavy droughts and wildfires, causing water crisis, and damage to agriculture and local food supplies.

Launch service provider Isar Aerospace announced it has won the European Commission’s EIC Horizon Prize “Low-Cost Space Launch” award, receiving €10M in prize money. The prize was awarded to Isar for its launch service solution using the two-stage launch vehicle, Spectrum. The rocket offers flexible and cost-efficient access to space for small and medium-sized satellites and constellations.

ArianeGroup develops the concept of a new European launcher family with a reusable first stage and a new mini launcher called Maia, the company said. The family consists of a mini launch vehicle with a reusable first stage, a medium-heavy launch vehicle, a heavy launch vehicle and a super-heavy launch vehicle that uses the first stage of the mini launch vehicle as a booster, ArianeGroup said.

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 17 - 23 January 2022 ”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Space News Roundup! I’m Jean Deville, joined as always by my co-host Blaine Curcio.

The U.S. Air Force awarded a US $102M, five-year contract to SpaceX to demonstrate technologies and capabilities to transport military cargo and humanitarian aid on a heavy rocket, the U.S. Government announced. The contract is part of the rocket cargo program led by the Air Force Research Laboratory (ARFL).

Iceye signed a contract in the U.S. with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to participate in the evaluation of commercial remote sensing companies operating synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, the company said. It will focus on modeling and simulation and also support NRO’s detailed assessment of imaging modes, image quality, geolocation accuracy and coverage.

NASA will launch a mini asteroid scout mission called NEA Scout with the uncrewed first Artemis testflight in spring, the agency said. The target is 2020 GE, a near-Earth asteroid that is less 18 meters in size; asteroids smaller than 100 meters have never been explored up close before, NASA said. NEA stands for near Earth asteroid.

Plus Ultra Space Outposts, a European company developing a lunar satellite constellation, and ispace Europe have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for working together on joint lunar missions, ispace announced. The MoU comprises the deployment of communication and navigation satellites into lunar orbit as early as 2024.