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ESA has revised the ClearSpace-1 debris removal mission. The agency announced Wednesday that the spacecraft, originally designed to capture and deorbit a Vega payload adapter called Vespa left in low Earth orbit, will instead seek to deorbit the defunct Proba-A satellite. The change came after Vespa apparently suffered a collision last year that generated debris in its vicinity. The mission, which had been under development by Swiss startup ClearSpace, will now be led by German company OHB, with ClearSpace handling proximity operations and capture. [SpaceNews]
A reorganization of China's military is likely to affect the country's space operations. Xi Jinping, China's president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, established last week the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Information Support Force (ISF), which effectively replaces the the Strategic Support Force (SSF) that commanded the PLA's space forces. The move appears to represent a strategic shift towards prioritizing information warfare, which includes cyber operations, electronic warfare, and potentially space aspects such as satellite communication and reconnaissance. The move is the biggest PLA reorganization since 2015, when the SSF was created. [SpaceNews]
A Space Force official says the service's new commercial space strategy will start an effort to see what private sector capabilities will be of real utility to the military. Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements, said at an Atlantic Council event this week that potential commercial capabilities, like in-space refueling, are currently immature, and the Space Force is still trying to understand what is possible and useful. Many questions have yet to be answered about how to employ new commercial space services, he said. The Space Force's watchword is "understanding the art of the possible." [SpaceNews]
Companies are pitching concepts for missions to visit an asteroid that will make a close approach to Earth in five years. The asteroid Apophis will pass closer to the Earth than the GEO satellite belt in April 2029, but with no risk of impact, and scientists are eager to send spacecraft to study Apophis both before and after the flyby. At a workshop this week, Blue Origin said it is offering its Blue Ring spacecraft for an Apophis mission, with room for up to 13 instruments or deployable spacecraft. JPL is working with startup ExLabs on another Apophis mission concept that could be privately funded. Short timelines for the missions and constrained government budgets, though, may make it difficult for many of the proposed missions to launch. [SpaceNews]
China has named the crew for its next space station mission. The crew of Shenzhou-18, named Wednesday, includes commander Ye Guangfu along with Li Cong and Li Guangsu. The flight is the second for Ye, who was on the Shenzhou-13 mission in 2021-2022, and the first for the other two. Launch of Shenzhou-18 is scheduled for 8:59 a.m. Eastern Thursday. [Xinhua]
| | Footprints on the Moon Begin with L3Harris
For six decades, L3Harris has teamed with NASA to develop technology that's been critical to the evolution of human spaceflight. In fact, our technology has been part of every crewed NASA mission: from Project Mercury to Apollo to the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station era and now beyond – as part of NASA's Artemis campaign. L3Harris' contributions to NASA's Artemis missions include propulsion, communications and launch avionics for NASA's Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and Gateway lunar space station. Learn more. | | Other News
Rocket Lab launched a South Korean imaging satellite and a NASA solar sail experiment Tuesday. An Electron rocket lifted off at 6:32 p.m. Eastern from the company's New Zealand launch site. It first deployed into a 520-kilometer orbit NEONSAT-1, the first spacecraft in an 11-satellite constellation by South Korea to provide imagery for civil and national security applications. It then placed into a 1,000-kilometer orbit ACS3, a NASA cubesat that will test a solar sail deployment system. The launch was the fifth this year for Rocket Lab. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX achieved its 300th booster landing on a launch Tuesday evening. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:17 p.m. Eastern and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The booster landed on a droneship in the Atlantic, the ninth flight for that particular booster and the 300th time that SpaceX has landed a booster. [Space.com]
L3Harris plans to lay off 2,500 employees this year to reduce costs. An email to company employees Tuesday announced that the company will reduce its 50,000-person workforce by 5% this year as part of efforts to find $1 billion in savings in the next three years. The layoffs will target redundant functions at the companies, with a source stating it is not specifically targeted at Aerojet Rocketdyne, the propulsion company acquired by L3Harris last year. [Reuters]
Japan's SLIM lunar lander has once again awakened after an extended lunar night. The Japanese space agency JAXA said that the lander resumed communications with Earth on Tuesday after its third lunar night. SLIM, or Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, landed in January and was not designed to survive the two-week lunar night. However, the spacecraft awakened in February and March before this latest revival. JAXA plans to continue monitoring the spacecraft to see how the wide temperature swings between lunar day and night degrade its systems. [AP]
An Earth observation mission launched by NASA almost 18 years ago has formally ended. NASA announced Tuesday that it has decommissioned the CloudSat spacecraft, launched in April 2006 to study the vertical structure and water content of clouds using a W-band radar. The spacecraft, originally designed for a two-year prime mission, operated the radar until last December. Controllers then lowered the spacecraft's orbit to ensure it will deorbit with 25 years. [NASA/JPL]
| | Funnier In Person
"I thought it would be weird if I tried to dial in from outside via Teams or Webex to try and do this keynote. Not only would that be awkward because I wanted to see everybody, but also the dad jokes I'm going to tell would not be remotely funny."
– Kurt "Spuds" Vogel, NASA associate administrator for space technology, speaking in person at a meeting of the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Tuesday after a virtual introduction from NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free.
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