Tag Archives: Nasa

SpinLaunch has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA according to which SpinLaunch will develop, integrate, and fly a NASA payload on the company’s Suborbital Accelerator Launch System. This will provide valuable information to NASA for potential future commercial launch opportunities.

After an earlier issue with delays of gaseous nitrogen supply required for tanking preparations and resolving an issue with malfunctioning fans that caused the first wet dress rehearsal to come to a halt, the second attempt had to be cancelled halfway through as well. The Artemis I team ended Monday's attempt after partially loading liquid oxygen into the Space Launch System’s core stage tank.

The United Nations adopted a provision to phase out the use of mercury as a satellite propellant by 2025 during the Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, Zero Mercury said. Public interest NGOs (non-governmental organizations) welcomed the ban. Canada and Switzerland played vital roles in having the ban put in place.

Data and intelligence platform Privateer, announced the members of its Board of Advisors to be appointed effective immediately, supporting the growth and knowledge of Privateer and its offerings, the company said. Privateer’s Advisory Board members have expertise in strategy, technology, operations, public policy, and astroscience.

SpaceX is finishing the production of the fourth astronaut capsule and will not manufacture more to focus resources on its next-generation spaceship program, Starship, the company said. The decision reflects the firm’s business model relying on reusable spacecraft.

Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of Singapore, making it the 18th nation and first Southeast Asian country to join the US-led agreement on space exploration. The Artemis Accords launched in 2020 with eight founding members. The Accords got their name after NASA’s Artemis Moon programme.

Small satellite manufacturer company Terran Orbital, primarily serving the United States aerospace and defense industry, announced it will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbols “LLAP” and “LLAP WS”. The firm has made significant progress recently including an employee growth of 300% and a facility expansion from 5600 sqm to over 23,000 sqm.

NASA announced that it will support the development of a second lunar lander to transport astronauts to and from the Moon’s surface to provide competition with SpaceX during the sustainable phase of the Artemis program. The agency will soon kick off the Sustaining Lunar Development award for a second lander separate from the existing Human Landing System (HLS).

Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has been assigned a long-duration mission to the ISS and is scheduled to fly as the pilot of a Crew Dragon spacecraft in mid 2023 or early 2024, ESA announced. Mogensen’s first trip to the Station was a 10-day mission named Iriss in 2015.

Expedition 66 Flight Engineers Raja Chari of NASA and Matthias Maurer of ESA spent 6 hours and 54 minutes outside the ISS during the 248th spacewalk to carry out preparations for an upcoming solar array installation. Maurer and Chari installed hoses on one of the six radiators that keep systems at the proper temperature.