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NASA has confirmed plans for a mission to Saturn's moon Titan despite costs that have doubled. NASA said last week that the Dragonfly mission, which will send a rotorcraft to Titan to study its habitability, had been confirmed to go into full-scale development ahead of a launch in mid-2028. The total cost of the mission, including launch and operations, is now $3.35 billion, far higher than when NASA selected the mission in 2019 as the latest in the New Frontiers line, which had a cost cap excluding launch and operations of $850 million. NASA said that the costs included in the cap had doubled because of a series of replans to the mission caused by budget pressures, as well as supply chain and related pandemic impacts. NASA will also spend more on a heavy-lift launch vehicle to allow Dragonfly to reach Titan on schedule in 2034 despite two years of launch delays. [SpaceNews]
Defense contractor BlueHalo has won a $24.4 million Air Force Research Lab contract to study vulnerabilities of space systems. BlueHalo will be tasked to "accelerate the advancement of the directed energy modeling, simulation and analysis, assessment expertise, and highly technical capabilities to safeguard strategic U.S. space interests," according to a contract announcement last week. AFRL's Satellite Assessment Center, located at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, evaluates the vulnerabilities of space vehicles to lasers and laser radiation. [SpaceNews]
Small launch vehicle developer Orbex has raised more than $20 million. The company announced last week an extension to a Series C round it raised in 2022, with existing investor Scottish National Investment Bank contributing a majority of the new funds. The company said the funding will allow it to ramp up work on its Prime small launch vehicle that will launch from Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland. Orbex did not disclose a target date for the first flight of Prime, which has been delayed by several years. [SpaceNews]
Slovenia became the third European country in less than a week to sign the Artemis Accords. The country signed the accords Friday in Ljubljana as part of the U.S.–Slovenia Strategic Dialogue meeting held there. Slovenia, which formally petitioned to become a full member of ESA last fall, is seeking greater cooperation with the United States in space. Slovenia is the 39th nation to sign the accords, days after Switzerland and Sweden signed earlier last week. [SpaceNews]
| | 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
China launched its second Yaogan-42 reconnaissance satellite Saturday. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 7:45 p.m. Eastern and placed the Yaogan-42 (02) into a mid-inclination orbit. The first Yaogan-42 satellite launched early this month into a similar orbit. The Yaogan series of satellites are used for reconnaissance, although the payloads on the Yaogan-42 series have not been publicly disclosed. [SpaceNews]
ESA's latest class of astronauts have graduated. The agency held a ceremony Monday to mark the completion of the year-long training program for the five astronauts selected in November 2022. The five were joined by an Australian Space Agency astronaut candidate. The new ESA astronauts are now eligible for assignments for future ISS and other missions. [ESA]
A University of Florida scientist will conduct research on an upcoming Blue Origin suborbital mission. Rob Ferl will conduct biology experiments on a New Shepard flight, the date of which has yet to be announced. He is in line to be the first NASA-funded scientist to fly on a commercial suborbital mission. [Univ. of Florida]
The first Syrian to go to space has died. Muhammed Faris died last week in Turkey at the age of 72 after a long illness. Faris flew to the Mir space station in 1987, spending a week in space as Syria's first and, to date, only space traveler. A Syrian Air Force pilot, he served in the country's military after his flight, rising to the rank of general before detecting with his family to Turkey in 2012. [collectSPACE]
| | The Week Ahead
Monday: - Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 6:40 p.m. Eastern.
Monday-Tuesday: Monday-Wednesday: Tuesday: Tuesday-Thursday: Wednesday: Wednesday-Thursday: Wednesday-Friday: Thursday: Thursday-Friday: Friday: - Zurich/Online: ETH Zurich hosts a panel discussion on "Life on Earth and Beyond" featuring Nobel laureate Didier Queloz and former NASA associate administrator for science Thomas Zurbuchen at 11 a.m. Eastern.
- Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites.
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