| | | | | A weekly roundup of the top SpaceNews stories from this week, every Friday. | | | | |  | | This week, Intuitive Machines achieved a major space milestone when its robotic lander became the first privately-developed spacecraft to land on the moon. This marks the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in decades. Also this week, Varda Space's long-stranded space manufacturing capsule finally came back to Earth, China launched a classified military satellite, and the United Nations announced plans to study how satellites interfere with astronomy research. | | | Jeff Foust, Feb. 22, 2024 | | | WASHINGTON — A Varda Space Industries capsule landed in the Utah desert Feb. 21 as part of the company's efforts to demonstrate space manufacturing technologies.
In a statement, Varda said that the capsule from its W-Series 1 mission landed at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) west of Salt Lake City at 4:40 p.m. Eastern. An image released by the company showed the capsule lying intact on the desert floor, although the company did not release other details about the status of the spacecraft.
The Varda-developed capsule, about 90 centimeters in diameter and weighing less than 90 kilograms, was part of a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft launched in June 2023 on SpaceX's Transporter-8 rideshare mission. Varda used the spacecraft to test space manufacturing technologies, producing crystals of a drug called ritonavir that would be returned to Earth in the capsule. | | | | |  |  |  | | A robotic lander developed by Intuitive Machines landed safely on the moon Feb. 22, becoming the first privately developed spacecraft to touch down on the moon and the first American spacecraft to do so in more than half a century. The Nova-C lander, named Odysseus, landed on in the south polar regions of the moon at 6:23 p.m. Eastern on the IM-1 mission. It took about 15 minutes after landing for controllers to confirm they were receiving a signal from the lander on the surface, getting only a weak signal initially. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is supercharging its use of commercial satellite imagery and analytics with a new procurement program dubbed "Luno" that seeks to leverage commercial satellite imagery and data analytics to enhance NGA's global monitoring capabilities. Commercial space station developer Vast Space says it plans to bid on two future NASA private astronaut missions to the International Space Station, providing competition to Axiom Space.
Chinese rocket engine startup Space Circling secures funding
Chinese launch firm Space Circling has secured more than 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) in funding to back its work on innovative engines to power commercial space activities. | | China launched the TJS-11classified satellite early Friday as the country continues to build its geostationary capabilities. A Long March 5 lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island at 6:30 a.m. Eastern (1130 UTC), Feb. 23.
Software problem blamed for Firefly Alpha mishap
A software glitch prevented the upper stage of Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket from completing a second burn during a December launch, stranding its payload in a low orbit. Firefly said an error with the guidance, navigation and control (GNC) software for the upper stage kept the upper stage from firing as planned to circularize its orbit. That left the upper stage and its payload in an orbit with a low perigee.
Rocket Lab Electron launched an Astroscale spacecraft that will rendezvous with and inspect a spent upper stage in low Earth orbit as a precursor to removing it. The launch was the second this year for the company after the Jan. 31 launch of four satellites for space situational awareness company NorthStar Earth and Space. | | U.N. committee to take up issue of satellite interference with astronomy
A United Nations committee will study the interference risks that satellite constellations pose to astronomy, a year after rejecting a similar proposal to do so. The U.N.'s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) agreed to add an agenda item titled "Dark and quiet skies, astronomy and large constellations: addressing emerging issues and challenges" to its meetings in 2025 through 2029. | | Webinar - Wednesday, March 6, 11AM Eastern
One-on-One with SDA Director Derek Tournear - Register Today
Join us on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, for an exclusive online event with Derek Tournear, Director of the Space Development Agency (SDA), as we take a look back at SDA's remarkable journey over the past five years.
Moderator - Sandra Erwin, SpaceNews senior staff writer
sponsored by
 | | | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment