Investors take long-term view of space industry amid near-term challenges
PARIS — Despite near-term headwinds in the economy and the markets, executives and investors remain bullish about the space industry’s long-term prospects.
Iceye and Satlantis propose optical and radar satellite constellation
PARIS – Iceye announced preliminary plans Sept. 14 to work with Satlantis, a Spanish Earth-observation technology company, to launch a constellation of four satellites to acquire high-resolution radar and optical imagery.
NASA science head to step down
PARIS — The NASA associate administrator responsible for the agency’s science programs will resign by the end of the year after more than six years on the job.
China discovers new moon mineral in lunar samples
The discovery means China is the third country to discover a new lunar mineral, following the United States and former Soviet Union.
NASA probe ready to slam into an asteroid this month in landmark planetary defense test
The milestone comes courtesy of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which launched just last fall. On Sept. 26, DART will slam headfirst into a small asteroid, the rare case when a spacecraft’s destruction is the desired outcome. The mission is in the name of planetary defense, which seeks to protect Earth from any potential asteroid impacts; scientists hope that should a dangerous asteroid threaten the planet in the future, a mission like DART could avert the disaster.
China’s next moon missions get the green light
China’s government has officially approved three robotic moon missions that will lay groundwork for a permanent lunar base.
ESA seeks major funding increase at ministerial
PARIS — The European Space Agency will seek a roughly 25% increase in funding from member states this fall despite economic and geopolitical challenges in Europe.
Artemis 1 launch plans slip again
PARIS — Days after NASA proposed to make its next attempt to launch the Artemis 1 mission on Sept. 23, the agency changed course and pushed back the launch.
China launches Zhongxing-1E military communications satellite
HELSINKI — China launched a Long March 7A rocket Tuesday, successfully inserting the Zhongxing-1E satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Competition is growing in the space-data-relay sector
PARIS – Skyloom and Space Compass, a joint venture between NTT and Sky Perfect JSAT, plan to establish a constellation to relay data from low Earth orbit to the ground through satellites in geostationary orbit.
New Shepard suffers in-flight abort on uncrewed suborbital flight
PARIS — A problem with Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle caused an in-flight abort a minute after liftoff Sept. 12, causing a capsule filled with payloads but not people to fire its launch abort motor and parachute to a safe landing.
Op-ed | Sealing the ISS Airlock Behind Putin
At NASA, it has been business as usual. While the Western world and much of the global space industry severed ties with Russia over the war, NASA’s administrator and key managers for the International Space Station have continued to embrace the pariah state as a valued partner. Doing so lends Putin’s regime a highly undeserved place of respect and undermines all the other efforts to defend Ukraine and the West from Russia.
Italian satellite may fly NASA Earth science payload
At a meeting of the Earth Science Advisory Committee Aug. 2, Greg Stover, program manager for NASA’s Earth System Pathfinder Program, said NASA was in talks with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to fly the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) instrument on a future Italian satellite.
Entire NASA astronaut corps eligible for Artemis missions
HOUSTON — As NASA prepares to select the crew of the second Artemis mission, the agency’s chief astronaut says the entire astronaut corps, and not a previously announced subset, is eligible for that flight and future missions to the moon.