Space @ interstellar news

  Crew-1 launch remains on schedule despite Sentinel-6 slip The Crew-1 commercial crew mission remains on schedule for launch Nov. 14 despite a delay of another Falcon 9 launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean science satellite. Credit: SpaceX WASHINGTON — NASA is delaying the launch of an ocean science satellite on one Falcon 9 rocket, but says that delay will not affect another Falcon 9 launch of a commercial crew mission. The agency announced Nov. 3 it was delaying the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California from Nov. 10 to Nov. 21. The reason for the delay, the agency said, was to give SpaceX time to replace two engines in the rocket’s first stage. The performance of the Falcon 9’s Merlin engines had been under scrutiny since a launch abort seconds before the scheduled liftoff of a Falcon 9 carrying a GPS 3 satellite Oct. 2. An investigation  eventually blamed the abort on a “masking lacquer,” ...

  Space traffic management idling in first gear Credit: SpaceNews illustration Debate over which agency should manage civil STM stymies progress FOR THE HEAD OF NASA, IT WAS ONE CLOSE APPROACH TOO MANY. On Sept. 22, International Space Station controllers acted quickly to adjust the orbit of the station when U.S. Space Command informed them that an unidentified piece of debris would come within 1.4 kilometers of the station later that day. A Progress cargo spacecraft docked to the station fired its thrusters, nudging the station enough to ensure the object — later found to be debris from an H-2A rocket upper stage that broke apart last year — passed without incident. “The space station has maneuvered three times in 2020 to avoid debris. In the last two weeks, there have been three high concern potential conjunctions. Debris is getting worse!” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted shortly after the debris passed. “Time for Congress to provide the Commerce Department with the $1...

  China launches latest trio of Yaogan-30 remote sensing satellites A Long March 2C lifts off from LC-3 at Xichang carrying the Yaogan-30 (07) group of satellites. Credit: OurSpace HELSINKI — China launched a seventh group of Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellites Oct. 26, marking the country’s 31st launch of 2020. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from LC-3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:19 a.m. Eastern Monday carrying three Yaogan satellites and one smaller commercial payload. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), China’s state-owned main space contractor, confirmed launch success ( Chinese ) within an hour of liftoff.  The trio of satellites are expected to orbit in a roughly 600 kilometer altitude orbit inclined by 35 degrees. They join six earlier groups of Yaogan-30 designated satellites in similar orbits. The first Yaogan-30 trio was launched in September 2017. No details of the satellites have been released. Chinese state media reports sta...

  NASA weighing lunar lander budget options NASA's Human Landing System program manager said there are ways to stretch out the program should there be extended delays in a final fiscal year 2021 spending bill, but reiterated the need to get the $3.2 billion requested to support a 2024 landing. Credit: NASA WASHINGTON — NASA is looking at ways to stretch out the budget for its Human Landing System program should there be further delays in a final appropriations bill while still seeking full funding for the program in 2021. Funding for the HLS program, which supports development of commercial landers to carry astronauts to and from the lunar surface, has become a major uncertainty in the ability of NASA’s Artemis program to achieve the goal of landing humans on the moon by 2024. NASA requested $3.2 billion for the program in its fiscal year 2021 budget proposal. However, a House bill passed in July provided only about $600 million, while the Senate has yet to release its version of a...

  Lunar water discovery may have limited effect on NASA exploration plans Despite the discovery of traces of water in a sunlit crater on the moon, NASA's lunar exploration plans remain focused on the polar regions, the destination for an ice-prospecting rover called VIPER. Credit: NASA Ames/Daniel Rutter WASHINGTON — Water ice may be more prevalent on the surface of the moon that previously thought, but that discovery appears unlikely to have any near-term effect on NASA’s lunar exploration plans. In a paper published in the journal  Nature Astronomy  Oct. 26, scientists reported detecting traces of water in the crater Clavius on the near side of the moon using NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft. SOFIA detected an infrared emission feature at a wavelength of 6 microns consistent with water on the surface in the vicinity of the crater. The detection is not the first time that water has been seen on the moon. Over the last quarter-centu...

  Axiom Space finalizing first commercial ISS mission Axiom Space expects to finalize in the next few weeks its first commercial mission to the ISS, on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in late 2021. Credit: NASA WASHINGTON — Axiom Space hopes to soon finalize its first commercial mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for late 2021, as it continues development of a commercial module for the station. During a panel discussion at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) Oct. 13, Michael Suffredini, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said his company had lined up the the customers for that first mission, a 10-day flight to the space station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021. “We have all of our customers identified and we’re about to finish their contracting,” he said. The company  previously announced a contract with SpaceX for the flight  and is “just about done” with a NASA contract for the mission. ...

  Senate bill would assign space traffic management work to Commerce Department A Senate bill would authorize the Office of Space Commerce to take over civil space traffic management, but funding for that work has yet to be appropriated. Credit: ESA illustration WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee introduced a bill Oct. 21 to formally give the Commerce Department space traffic management (STM) responsibilities, but the funding required to carry out that work remains uncertain. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) announced he had introduced the Space Preservation and Conjunction Emergency, or SPACE, Act, a bill intended to codify portions of Space Policy Directive (SPD) 3 that transfer responsibility for civil STM from the Defense Department to Commerce. The bill would allow the Commerce Department to collect space situational awareness data from both U.S. government agencies and foreign and commercial sources, as well as provide such data and related services to gove...