Tag Archives: Nasa

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and the European Space Policy Institute, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and briefs. This is ESPI Briefs No. 53: ‘Europe and Human Spaceflight: new context, new strategy?’, originally published in October 2021.

Poland has joined the list of nations committed to ensuring sustainable space practices by signing the Artemis Accords at the International Aeronautical Congress in Dubai, NASA reported. President of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), Grzegorz Wrochna, signed the document during a ceremony.

Nanoracks, Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin want to develop the “first-ever free-flying commercial space station”, Starlab, the companies said. The space station will be a continuously crewed commercial platform, dedicated to conducting critical research, fostering industrial activity, and ensuring continued U.S. presence and leadership in low-Earth orbit (LEO), the partners said.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is currently undergoing final checks after a successful arrival at the ESA launch Facility in Kourou French Guiana. Its launch is still scheduled for 18th December 2021, on an Ariane 5 rocket. The operational preparations of the world’s largest and most complex space science observatory will take two months in total.

A Russian film crew comprising actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko are back on Earth after wrapping up scenes on the ISS for the first movie shot in space. The landing of the Soyuz MS-18 in Kazakhstan was filmed and touchdown scenes will be used in the movie.

Following a successful launch on Saturday, analysis showed that Lucy’s second array had not fully latched. NASA is currently investigating what caused the failure and how they could achieve full deployment of the solar array. The solar panels were successfully deployed 91 minutes after a smooth launch.

NASA’s Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids successfully launched on Saturday on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41. Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt, and seven Trojan asteroids. The spacecraft will investigate “fossils” of planetary formation.

The 2021 Wernher Von Braun Symposium, October 12 - 14, an annual event that brings together the rocket, propulsion and aerospace part of the NASA community, has just ended in Huntsville, Alabama. This year’s priorities were linked to the upcoming launch of Artemis I, the first unmanned phase of the long-term Artemis project,

Rocket Lab has acquired Advanced Solutions, a Colorado-based aerospace engineering firm, for $40 million, the company announced. Advanced Solution delivers mission proven space software, mission simulation and test systems, and Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) solutions.

Rocket Lab USA announced it has been selected to launch NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System satellite, (ACS3), on an Electron rocket. The ACS3 technology relies on a combination of materials with different properties. Lightweight booms will deploy from a 12U CubeSat designed and built by NanoAvionics of Columbia, to support a solar sail.