Tag Archives: Nasa

September is upon us, and as our gaze shifts towards the stars during those warm, clear nights, SpaceWatch.Global brings you its fifth and final collection of the Summer Listening Series. Based on the vote by our newsroom, we have mapped out an interstellar journey across five categories. After "Moon and Exploration," "Climate - Space - Earth," "Trendsetters," and "Space Debris and Regulations", this week is the turn of  "Women in the Space Sector"

A NASA team in Utah’s West Desert is in the final stages of preparing for the arrival of the first U.S. asteroid sample. A mock-up of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample capsule was dropped on Wednesday from an aircraft and landed at the drop zone at the Department of Defence’s Utah Test and Training Range in the desert outside Salt Lake City.

EnduroSat will partner with the University of Berkley and NASA in the Solar PolArization and Directivity X-Ray Experiment (PADRE). It is a NASA CubeSat mission designed to study the Sun. The X-ray polarimeter and Directivity sensor will be hosted on EnduroSat’s 12U satellite scheduled for launch in 2025. It will enable observation of the Sun in hard X-rays (HXRs) from LEO to determine the angular distribution of accelerated electrons from standalone and joint SOLO/STIX observations. 

Spire Global, a provider of space-based data, analytics, and space services, announced it was awarded a $4.6 million, 12-month contract by NASA reports Business Wire. The contract has been awarded on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The contract is to participate in NOAA’s Sounder for Microwave-Base Applications (SMBA) Phase A study. 

The International Space University (ISU), Rice University, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) have announced the hosting of the 2024 Space Studies Program (SSP24) in Houston, Texas. The program, which will run from June 8 to August 3, 2024, will hold at Rice’s historic campus, a location deeply rooted in the annals of space exploration.

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is ready to launch on 26 August 2023 to observe the most energetic objects and events in the cosmos. In doing so, it will unveil the evolution of the Universe and the structure of spacetime. XRISM will tentatively launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 09:34 JST / 01:34 BST / 02:34 CEST. The mission is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, with significant participation from ESA. In return for providing hardware and scientific advice, ESA will also receive 8% of XRISM’s available observing time.

Greetings, SpaceWatchers, and welcome to Summer Listening Week Three! Summer is upon us, and as our gaze shifts towards the stars during those warm, clear nights, SpaceWatch.Global brings you its third collection or the Summer Listening Series. Based on the vote by our newsroom, we have mapped out an interstellar journey across five categories. After the Moon, Climate, Space and Earth this week is the turn of  “Trendsetters in the Space Sector.”

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced it has signed a double-launch deal with NASA to deliver the Agency’s climate change research-focused mission, PREFIRE, to low Earth orbit in 2024.  The launches will consequently be the 7th and 8th missions Rocket Lab has launched for NASA since 2018.

Spire Global, provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, announced on the 9th of August that it was awarded a $6.5 million, 12-month contract renewal to continue participation in NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program. The contract represents a $500,000 increase from the previous award of $6 million in June 2022. Spire will continue to deliver its comprehensive catalogue of Earth observation data, associated metadata and ancillary information from its fully deployed satellite constellation to NASA.

Axiom Space, a Houston-based space infrastructure developer, and Poland, with support from ESA have signed an agreement to send an ESA astronaut to space on a future Axiom space mission. The mission and name of the Polish astronaut will be officially announced at a later date, following approval by NASA and its international partners. In April 2023, Axiom Space and the Swedish National Space Agency signed a letter of intent to send an ESA astronaut to the ISS. Through this agreement, the upcoming Axiom Space mission, Ax-3 expected to launch in January 2024, will be the first commercial mission to the ISS to include an ESA project astronaut.