 | Top Stories
ABL Space Systems says its second RS1 rocket suffered "irrecoverable" damage after a test on its launch pad. The company, in a brief statement Monday, said the rocket was damaged by a residual fire after a static-fire test on the pad at Kodiak Island, Alaska. The company was preparing for the first launch of the rocket since its inaugural flight more than 18 months ago, when its engines shut down seconds after liftoff. ABL did not provide any other details about the incident or the impact on its plans. The company has attracted a lineup of customers that includes the U.S. Space Force and Lockheed Martin, and is also slated to perform a "U.K. Pathfinder" launch from SaxaVord Spaceport next year. [SpaceNews]
ESA's leadership believes Europe's "launcher crisis" is behind it after the Ariane 6 launch earlier this month. Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow Monday, Josef Aschbacher called the launch a "100% success" despite an anomaly later in the mission that prevented the upper stage from performing a deorbit burn. ESA expects to provide more details about that anomaly after a task force meeting at the end of this week. The first operational Ariane 6 launch is planned for late this year. The smaller Vega C rocket is also on track for a return to flight between mid-November and mid-December, its first since a failure in late 2022. [SpaceNews]
Space plays a key role in a new Defense Department Arctic strategy. The strategy, released Monday, emphasizes the increasing reliance on satellites for critical activities in the Arctic. The Pentagon is calling for investments in space-based capabilities to enhance communications, intelligence gathering and monitoring activities. A key trend highlighted in the document is China's ambition to expand its footprint in the Arctic through infrastructure investments and an increased military presence, in collaboration with Russia. [SpaceNews]
Astroscale has secured the final funding from ESA and the U.K. Space Agency for a mission to deorbit a satellite. The company's British subsidiary secured around $15 million from the agencies to support the fourth and final phase of ELSA-M, or End of Life Services by Astroscale-Multiple mission. That covers assembly, integration and testing of an ELSA-M flight model with a capture mechanism compatible with magnetic docking plates on most of OneWeb's more than 600 satellites in LEO. The funding will also back the launch of ELSA-M, where the spacecraft will capture a defunct OneWeb satellite and remove it from orbit. [SpaceNews]
China wants to have 50 nations involved in its International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) effort. The chief designer of China's lunar exploration program said in a television interview that China wants to work 500 foreign scientific institutions in 50 countries on the ILRS, which has the long-term goal of establishing a base at the south polar region of the moon. China and Russia have attracted 10 countries, while a series of universities, companies, institutes and regional organizations have signed memorandums of understanding on the ILRS. However, that effort is going slower than expected, with China yet to create the International Lunar Research Station Cooperation Organization (ILRSCO) it once said it would set up in 2023. [SpaceNews]
| | | 
| Other News
NASA selected SpaceX to launch a weather satellite. NASA announced Monday it awarded SpaceX a contract valued at $112.7 million for the launch of NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) 4 spacecraft on a Falcon 9 in 2027. JPSS-4 is the fourth and final satellite in the series of polar-orbiting weather satellites. It is unclear if any other launch vehicles were eligible to compete for the launch. [NASA]
The Pentagon's head of space acquisition wants to integrate the various organizations that handle procurement of space systems and services. Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, announced in a memo earlier this month he has created a high-level office to oversee procurement work by the Space Force's Space Systems Command as well as the Space Development Agency and Space Rapid Capabilities Office. The new office, led by Claire Leon, will work to ensure the efforts by the three organizations fit together. [Breaking Defense]
Southern California's space industry is wondering about life after SpaceX. That company's CEO, Elon Musk, announced last week he was moving SpaceX's headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to its Starbase site in South Texas. It is unclear how much of a near-term impact the move will have on the company, with manufacturing work currently done in Hawthorne unlikely to move. SpaceX has helped stimulate a wave of new space startups in the region, many founded by former SpaceX employees. As SpaceX gradually shifts to the Starship vehicle built in Texas, some industry officials say SpaceX's role as an anchor for the space industry in Southern California could wane. [Los Angeles Times]
The head of the Indian space agency ISRO has earned his doctorate. S Somanath received his doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras at a ceremony over the weekend. The doctorate is not an honorary degree but instead based on work he did as an an engineer on vibration isolators years ago. He recently took that work and put into a series of papers that formed a thesis he defended to earn the doctorate. he had set aside the work for years but returned to it because, he said, "I felt that I must pay attention to all such passions that I have in my life, and I must try to fulfill them." [NDTV]
| |  | Or a Rocket Scientist
"Our challenge is to somehow strike a balance between and among the facts that we're running huge deficits, we have a large debt, we have to increase defense spending and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act measures are before us, we have to make a decision about that. Now, you don't have to be Mensa material to see that those interests are all competing and something's going to have to give."
– Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), discussing challenges facing Senate appropriators during a briefing held by the Aerospace Industries Association Monday at the Farnborough International Airshow.
| | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment