Laying groundwork with $84.3 million worth of contracts issued to 17 companies

Researchers in three projects will split grants from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis) totaling $1.2 million to take advantage of the microgravity environment on the International Space Station for pharmaceutical research. Casis, set up to run the public portion of the U.S. National Laboratory on the ISS, awarded its first research grants to scientists at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, California Institute of Technology and iXpressGenes Inc.

NASA’s Glenn Research Center is looking for large fairings and adapters for the agency’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS). In a request for information published Nov. 1, the Cleveland-based field center asks industry to suggest options for fairings and payload adapters that can expand the big rocket’s ability to carry cargo and spacecraft to orbit.

Next target is ground systems and ascent preliminary design review

Controllers are checking out two large spacecraft built by Russia’s ISS-Reshetnev after their successful tandem launch on a Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome Nov. 2. Separating from the Proton’s Breeze-M upper stage were the Yamal 300K telecommunications bird, and a space station relay satellite designated Luch 5B.

An Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket first stage apparently will be able to undergo a hot-fire test later this month on its seaside launch pad, despite the high winds and water that blasted NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during Hurricane Sandy. A company spokesman said Nov. 2 that work crews were able to reach access hatches and environmental-data recorders on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 to complete their initial inspection of the kerosene-fueled rocket stage. “Everything apparently looks good,” he said. Dress Rehearsal

BRUSSELS — The European Space Agency (ESA) is seeking ideas for an orbital waste-management service capable of grabbing defunct satellites circling in low Earth orbit and disposing of them through controlled reentry into the atmosphere. By year-end, the 20-nation space agency plans to issue a tender for up to three industry study contracts dealing with concepts for orbital-debris removal o be awarded early next year.

As Iridium readies to launch its Aireon global aviation monitoring venture, the level of investment to come from partner Nav Canada remains in question. Iridium established Aireon in June to provide global aircraft tracking capability through Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receivers to be built into Iridium NEXT, the McLean, Va.-based satellite fleet operator’s second-generation communications satellite constellation scheduled to launch in 2015.