Space @ interstellar news

Space Adventures signs contract for Soyuz flight with spacewalk option WASHINGTON — Space tourism company Space Adventures has signed a contract with RSC Energia for a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station that will include an opportunity for one customer to perform a spacewalk. Under the contract announced June 25, a Soyuz spacecraft will fly a “short duration” mission, which Space Adventures described in a statement as lasting 14 days, to the ISS with two spaceflight participants and one professional cosmonaut on board. The contract is similar to an agreement announced in February 2019 for a 2021 Soyuz flight to the station, also with two spaceflight participants and one professional cosmonaut on board. The new contract, though, would include the opportunity for one of the spaceflight participants to walk in space. According to a Roscosmos statement, that person, along with a Russian cosmonaut, would perform a spacewalk from the station’s Russian segment. “A private citizen...

Northrop Grumman receives $222 million contract to update aging missile-warning satellites The contract would keep the Defense Support Program early-warning satellites in service until 2030. WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $222.5 million contract for technology upgrades to the Defense Support Program, a constellation of early warning satellites that has been in operation since the 1970s. The contract announced on June 26 by the Space and Missile Systems Center would add another decade of service life to the DSP constellation. Northrop Grumman will provide technical and engineering support until 2030. Northrop Grumman built both the DSP satellites and sensors that have been part of the U.S. military’s early-warning system since 1970. The satellites detect ballistic missile launches and nuclear detonations using infrared detectors that sense the heat from missile plumes against the earth background. The final DSP was launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 heavy roc...

MDA to build robotic arm for lunar Gateway WASHINGTON — The Canadian Space Agency announced June 26 it plans to award a contract to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) to build a robotic arm that will be Canada’s contribution to the lunar Gateway. The deal covers development of what the agency calls Canadarm3, which is an overarching robotic system for the Gateway rather than a single robotic arm. It features one arm 8.5 meters long as well as a smaller but more dexterous second arm. The system also includes set of specialized tools and incorporates artificial intelligence technologies to enable operations without human controllers. The agency did not disclose the value of the contract, which has yet to be formally awarded. It also did not give a firm schedule for developing Canadarm3. “The Canadian Space Agency is actively working with its partners on defining Gateway architecture and determining when Canadarm3 will be needed in the mid-2020s,” the agency stated. “The exact laun...

Japan partially resumes international flights for business travelers Japan on Thursday partially resumed international flights, with a chartered plane leaving Narita Airport near Tokyo bound for Vietnam. The flight is the first of three arranged by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam and operated by Vietnam Airlines that will depart from Narita Airport from Thursday through Saturday. The plane departed Japan with 150 passengers aboard, all of whom were provided with protective gowns and face masks for the flight as a measure to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On their arrival at northern Vietnam's Van Don International Airport, the passengers will have to undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the virus and then self-quarantine for two weeks. Production at some Japanese facilities based in Vietnam have suffered due to a lack of Japanese workers. "I am more relieved, than happy. We will now have the human resources w...

Russia plans to take first tourist on space walk in 2023 Russia's Energia space corporation said Thursday it will take the first tourist on a space walk in 2023, under the terms of a new contract with a US partner. Energia has inked a contract with Space Adventures, which promises to take two space tourists to the International Space Station that year.  "We plan that one of the participants of the expedition will do a space walk from the Russian segment, together with a professional Russian cosmonaut," said Energia, which is part of Russia's space agency Roscosmos. The announcement comes days after NASA signed a deal with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism company to promote private missions to the station after a special training program in the US. It also follows the first successful mission by Elon Musk's SpaceX last month to bring astronauts to the station on a reusable Crew Dragon spacecraft, ending nearly a decade of Russia holding a monopol...

White House officials recommends slow approach to high-speed suborbital transportation WASHINGTON — A White House official said June 22 that while the administration supports commercial space transportation, companies with ambitions of high-speed point-to-point suborbital spaceflight should focus on near-term goals instead. At an online meeting of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), Scott Pace, executive secretary of the National Space Council, reaffirmed the White House’s support for the commercial space industry in general and commercial space transportation in particular. “The creation of a lightly regulated entrepreneurial space industry, supported by regulation that adapts to changes, is really a model for the rest of the world as they decide how they want to take advantage of space,” he said. Pace largely gave an overview of the various space policy directives issued by the Trump administration to date, as well as on...

China launches final satellite to complete Beidou system, booster falls downrange HELSINKI — China launched a Beidou-3 navigation satellite late Monday to complete a project designed to provide military independence and immense commercial value. Launch occurred at 9:43 p.m. Eastern at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China.  The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)  confirmed  the Long March 3B launch vehicle had successfully placed the Beidou-3 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit shortly after. The satellite was later  reported  catalogued in a 218 x 35,784-kilometer orbit. A previous attempt was  scrubbed  a week ago due to ‘technical issues’ discovered during pre-launch checks. CASC revealed Tuesday that data from a pressure release value indicated an  issue  with a third stage hydrolox engine. The new satellite will complete the Beidou navigation and positioning system, consisting of 27 satellit...

Redwire acquires Made In Space WASHINGTON — Made In Space, a pioneer of in-space manufacturing and assembly technologies, is being acquired by Redwire, a new venture that is rolling up a number of smaller space companies. The companies announced the deal June 23, terms of which they did not disclose. Made In Space, founded in 2010 and based in Jacksonville, Florida, has developed 3-D printers flown on the International Space Station and has  a NASA contract for a mission called Archinaut One  to demonstrate the in-space assembly of solar arrays. AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm, formally established Redwire at the beginning of June by combining two companies it had acquired, Adcole Space and Deep Space Systems (DSS). Both companies are best known as suppliers of spacecraft components and engineering services, although DSS has also developed a robotic lunar lander and is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. “What we wanted to do with Redwire is...

On This Day in Space! June 23, 1949: XS-1 rocket plane takes 117th Flight On June 23, 1949, the XS-1 rocket plane flew for the 117th time. The XS-1, later called the Bell X-1, was a piloted, rocket engine-powered X-plane that could fly faster than the speed of sound.  During this flight, pilot Robert Champine tested the aircraft's stability, control and handling at transonic speeds. He even managed to pull a few stunts, like pull-ups and rolls. There were 157 flights in total for the XS-1. These provided data for future US fighter designs as well as spacecraft designs.

Our Milky Way galaxy may be teeming with ocean worlds Far-off alien planets covered in vast oceans might be common in our Milky Way galaxy, scientists find.  " Ocean worlds " are terrestrial planets that have significant amounts of water either on their surfaces or in a subsurface sea. Right here in our own solar system, Saturn and Jupiter host moons that fall under this watery category. For example,  Enceladus , Saturn's geyser-spewing moon, has a massive, global ocean made up of liquid saltwater that lies just below its icy surface. But how common are these "ocean worlds" throughout the cosmos?  In a new study, researchers decided to see how many planets in the Milky Way might fit into the category of "ocean world." They also wanted to explore how many of these worlds might even spit watery plumes, stemming from their oceans, out into space as Enceladus does. And they found that more than a quarter of the 53 exoplanets they studied could potentially ...

Zodiacal Light meets the Milky Way in stunning night sky photo Miguel Claro  is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a  European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador  and member of  The World At Night  and the official astrophotographer of the  Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve , he specializes in astronomical "Skyscapes" that connect both Earth and night sky. Join Miguel here as he takes us through his photograph "A Strong Zodiacal Light and Winter Milky Way Shines above Pampilhosa da Serra." Captured from Pampilhosa da Serra, in the heart of a new "starlight tourism destination" created in the center of Portugal, called  Dark Sky Aldeias do Xisto , this image shows the strongest  zodiacal light  I have ever photographed. The very faint and diffuse light, coming from the region where planet Venus was located in the western sky, was bright enou...