Chang'e-6 Blasts Off🌓 - SpaceNews This Week

Top stories of the week from SpaceNews

A weekly roundup of the top SpaceNews stories from this week, every Friday Welcome to our weekly roundup. This week, China launched a sample return mission to the far side of the moon, Lockheed Martin backed out of plans to acquire Terran Orbital and more. Our Top Story China launches Chang'e-6 mission to collect first samples from the moon's far side By Andrew Jones, May 3 2024 HELSINKI — China launched its complex and ambitious Chang'e-6 mission Friday to collect the first ever samples from the far side of the moon. A 57-meter-tall Long March 5 lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5:30 a.m. Eastern (0930 UTC) May 3, carrying the roughly 8,200-kilogram Chang'e-6 into orbit. A first second stage burn was completed 12 minutes after launch, with a translunar injection burn set for around 14 minutes later. Spacecraft separation is scheduled for around 37 minutes into flight. If successful, samples delivered by the 53-day-long mission could change our understanding of the Earth and moon and the history of the early solar system. Other News From the Week COMMERCIAL NASA awards studies for commercial Mars missions NASA has selected nine companies to perform feasibility studies of commercial approaches to deliver spacecraft to Mars and provide services there. The agency announced May 1 the selection of the companies for its "Exploring Mars Together: Commercial Services Studies" program. Astroscale to go public on Tokyo exchange Astroscale, the satellite servicing and debris removal company, will go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June. Astroscale announced May 1 that it had filed to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, a portion of the exchange for companies with higher growth potential but also higher risk. Shares will start trading on June 5. Lockheed drops bid to acquire Terran Orbital Lockheed Martin has abandoned plans to acquire the portion of satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital it does not own for more than $500 million. In a filing, Terran Orbital said it was notified by Lockheed on April 30 that Lockheed was withdrawing a proposal made March 1 to purchase all outstanding shares for $1 each. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS NASA inspector general report highlights issues with Orion heat shield A report by NASA's inspector general has disclosed new details about problems with the Orion spacecraft's heat shield and other issues that delayed its first crewed launch. Advisory committee recommends moving FAA commercial space office out of the agency An advisory committee for the Federal Aviation Administration's commercial space office has recommended that the office be moved out of the FAA. Major changes approved for ClearSpace-1 mission The European Space Agency has approved major changes in the ClearSpace-1 debris-cleanup mission. Under the new plan approved April 23 by ESA, OHB SE of Bremen, Germany, will provide the satellite bus in addition to leading systems integration and launch. Lawmaker presses Pentagon official on Russia's potential space nuke U.S. intelligence reports on Russia's development of a space-based nuclear weapon were a key point of discussion at a congressional hearing May 1. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb faced questioning from lawmakers about the weapon's capabilities and potential impact. Nelson lobbies Congress to fund ISS deorbit vehicle in supplemental spending bill NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told a House committee that budget caps forced cuts to agency programs while pleading with them to include money for a space station deorbit vehicle in a supplemental funding bill. OPINION A religious test for space exploration? By Charles M. Chafer, May 1 2024 An editorial recently published on SpaceNews took the position that my company's Luna Memorial Spaceflight service should not be permitted on the Moon because the Navajo Nation views the Moon as sacred. In essence, the author is arguing that lawful space missions should be subject to the religious test of a single culture. The heart of the argument, however, really comes down to how we see our future and the moon's role in it. Is the moon a celestial body meant only for science and passive art, as the author says, or is there a more robust future for our nearest neighbor? Let's shoot for the stars like Robert Goddard By Supriya Chakrabarti Nurturing U.K. expertise: a strategic imperative in the emerging space era By Shonnel Malani SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community's diverse perspectives. Whether you're an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion@spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. Copyright (C) 2024 Multiverse Media Inc.. All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

Webinar - Space Loves AI

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MAY 15 | 1:00 PM ET Don't miss this important webinar: Space Loves AI For satellite operators, AI's potential benefits are impossible to ignore. As Earth observation and communications constellations expand, AI tools promise to streamline operations, reduce on-orbit collisions and speed up analysis of remote sensing data. We'll discuss the opportunities and challenges for space-based AI with experts from the Aerospace Corporation, Stanford University's Center for AEroSpace Autonomy Research (CAESAR) and Redwire Space. Moderated by: Debra Werner, Senior Staff Writer, SpaceNews The panelists include: Mike Nemerouf, Director, Innovation, Science and Technology, Aerospace Corporation Al Tadross, CTO, Redwire Space Simone D'Amico, Co-founder, Stanford Center for AEroSpace Autonomy Research Sponsored by Beyond Earth's atmosphere lies a sophisticated network of space technology that safeguards our nation and ensures the security of our daily activities. As threats to global security increase, so does the need for our vigilance and urgency. Redwire is proud to assist those responsible for defending our nation and its freedom to operate in space, offering intelligent vision systems, resilient mission architectures, warfighter communications and proven launch subsystems. Register Now Copyright © 2024 Multiverse Media Inc., All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

🛰️ Lockheed Martin drop Terran Orbital bid

Plus, China launches lunar sample-return mission and SpaceX launches Maxar's first WorldView Legion satellite

A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Friday, May 3, 2024 Top Stories   China launched a mission Friday to return samples from the far side of the moon. A Long March 5 rocket lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5:30 a.m. Eastern, carrying the Chang'e-6 spacecraft. Chang'e-6 will land on the lunar farside and collect up to two kilograms of samples to return to Earth nearly two months later. If successful, it will be the first mission to return samples from the moon's far side, and only the second spacecraft to land there after Chang'e-4. [SpaceNews] Lockheed Martin has withdrawn its bid to acquire smallsat manufacturer Terran Orbital. In an SEC filing late Thursday, Lockheed said it was withdrawing an offer made two months earlier to purchase the two-thirds of Terran Orbital it did not already own for $1 a share. The total value of the deal, including assuming or repaying Terran Orbital debt, was more than $500 million. Lockheed did not give a reason for withdrawing the deal but said it would continue to work with Terran, a supplier of smallsat buses for several Lockheed programs. Terran Orbital said it was continuing a strategic review started late last year to explore all options for the company. Shares in Terran Orbital fell 17% in after-hours trading. [SpaceNews] L3Harris will provide payloads for a set of hypersonic missile tracking satellites being built by Millennium Space. L3Harris said it will provide the payloads for the eight Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (Foo Fighter) that Millennium is building for the Space Development Agency under a $414 million contract awarded earlier this week. The selection of L3Harris as Millennium's payload supplier isn't a major surprise, given the company's expertise in providing advanced electro-optical infrared sensors and payloads for numerous U.S. military and intelligence satellites. [SpaceNews] Space capabilities are becoming a critical enabler for the Pentagon. Brig. Gen. Robert Hutt, director of plans and programs for the U.S. Space Force, said Thursday that it was clear that space has become the central nervous system of joint operations and a "critical part of the kill chains" for the Defense Department. "Kill chain" is a military term that describes the sequential steps involved in successfully targeting and eliminating an enemy threat. Hutt noted that the Space Force's budget has nearly doubled since the service's inception in late 2019. [SpaceNews] Other News One Falcon 9 launched the first WorldView Legion satellites for Maxar Intelligence Thursday. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2:36 p.m. Eastern and placed the two satellites into orbit. The spacecraft are the first in a six-satellite constellation that will provide images at a resolution of 30 centimeters and triple Maxar's imagery capacity. Supply chain problems and other pandemic-related delays have extensively delayed the development of the WorldView Legion satellites. [SpaceNews] Another Falcon 9 launched a set of Starlink satellites Thursday evening. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 10:37 p.m. Eastern and placed 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. The launch was the 19th for this Falcon 9 booster, while the launch earlier in the day from California features a booster making its 20th flight. [Space.com] A Crew Dragon spacecraft switched docking ports at the International Space Station Thursday. The Dragon, launched earlier this year on the Crew-8 mission, undocked from the forward docking port of the Harmony module at 8:57 a.m. Eastern and redocked to the module's zenith port nearly 50 minutes later. The maneuver frees up the forward port for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, currently approved to use only the forward docking port. Starliner is scheduled to launch Monday night on its first crewed test flight. [NASA] The next Virgin Galactic suborbital flight is scheduled for next month. The company announced this week that the Galactic 07 mission will launch no earlier than June 8 from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The flight of the VSS Unity suborbital spaceplane will carry three private astronauts, two from the U.S. and one from Italy, and a researcher affiliated with Axiom Space. The flight will be the last for Unity, which Virgin Galactic is retiring to focus on developing its new Delta class of vehicles. [Virgin Galactic] Pre-Flight Entertainment "It's epic. I mean, you're in the Astrovan. It's got cushioned seats and, of course, it's got a big video screen in the back. And, as you would expect, two Navy test pilots, you know what movie we put on and, actually, asked them to edit it out and only put in the flying scenes and the dramatic scenes. Of course, it was Top Gun: Maverick. We will watch the same one on the way out to the pad Monday night." "We did watch the beach scene as well." – NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, when asked at a briefing Wednesday what it was like to ride in Boeing's new "Astrovan" crew transport to the launch pad during a recent dress rehearsal for their upcoming Starliner test flight.   Forward First Up to a friend or Subscribe for yourself Copyright © 2024 Multiverse Media Inc., All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.