Space

A 12U cubesat housing a nearly 900-sq.-ft. solar sail system developed by NASA will launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rideshare mission in mid-2022 for a trial run in low Earth orbit.

The Space Development Agency’s transition to the U.S. Space Force should not add additional bureaucracy because the agency is already going as fast as companies can move to bring new systems to space and unnecessary oversight would slow down that process, the SDA’s leader said.

Muon’s small satellites will focus on dense, scientific-grade measurements of the atmosphere, ocean, and land processes.

NASA has reassigned astronauts that were to have flown on the first crewed flight test and first planned operational flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station (ISS) as the company continues to work through a propellant valve issue that delayed a second attempt at an uncrewed test flight.

The upgrades should help prevent issues encountered during previous flights, including a debris strike that damaged a drogue parachute used during the descent of the Crew-1 mission in May.

The United Arab Emirates plans to follow its ongoing Mars mission with a second spacecraft, slated to launch in 2028, to explore seven asteroids in the main asteroid belt, culminating with a landing attempt in 2033.

Russia’s Soyuz MS-19 sprinted from launch to docking with the International Space Station early Oct. 5, delivering film actress Yulia Peresild, producer Klim Shipenko and veteran cosmonaut commander Anton Shkaplerov in the latest of a rapid-fire sequence of missions exposing nonprofessionals to the opportunities and challenges of human spaceflight.

The stratospheric balloon operator is jumping into the space tourism industry, announcing Oct. 4 it is accepting $500 deposits for its “edge-of-space” trips to an altitude of 100,000 ft.

The UK wants to grow its space sector, but a lack of government funding means it will need to rely on the private sector.

Command of the seven-person International Space Station transitioned on Oct. 4 from Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

The Russian Orbital Service Station, one of several low Earth orbiting outposts being planned to succeed the International Space Station (ISS), will feature six modules, including an inflatable unit with artificial gravity and a jig module to assembly components for future travel to the Moon, Roscosmos said.

Lockheed Martin has announced the opening in Courtland, Alabama, of the second of four planned “digital factories,” with this one dedicated to supporting the Defense Department’s portfolio of hypersonic glide vehicles.

Faced with cost, schedule and technical challenges, NASA is seeking proposals from the commercial sector for a new generation of spacesuits.

William Shatner, the Canadian actor whose portrayal of Capt. James T. Kirk in the 1966-69 television show Star Trek brought depictions of space exploration to millions of households, will get a real taste of space as a guest passenger aboard Blue Origin’s next New Shepard suborbital flight.

Engineers from NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have completed the second in a series of Space Launch System (SLS) rocket engine tests for the production of the advanced RS-25 liquid hydrogen and oxygen engines assigned to human missions to the Moon beyond Artemis IV.

Landsat 9 builds on a half-century legacy of Earth observations from space.

Japanese carmaker plans to fly prototype hybrid-electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi in 2023.

SpaceX’s 23rd NASA-contracted Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station splashed down under parachute in the ocean waters off Florida’s Atlantic coast near St. Augustine late Sept. 30, returning a 4,600-lb. cargo that included time-sensitive scientific research.

U.S. startup Launchspace Technologies has signed a contract with Airbus to test its orbital debris remediation and spacecraft shielding technology for 12 months on the Bartolomeo external platform on the International Space Station.

U.S. satellite servicing startup Starfish Space has raised $7 million in funding to develop its planned Otter space tug.

SpaceX’s 23rd NASA-contracted Dragon resupply mission capsule departed the International Space Station early Sept. 30 and headed for a late-night splashdown in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico waters off the Florida peninsula with a 4,200-lb. return cargo, including time-sensitive science experiments.

The facility reports directly to the Republic of Korea Air Force's chief of staff and is designed to act as a coordinating agency for domestic civilian and military space units as well as foreign space counterparts such as the U.S. Space Force.

The FAA on Sept. 29 signed off on Virgin Galactic’s plan to improve communications with the FAA during flight operations of SpaceShipTwo and request a larger zone of protected airspace to ensure violations, such as what occurred during its last flight on July 11, do not reoccur.

Eutelsat Communications confirmed Sept. 29 it had received an “unsolicited, preliminary” takeover proposal from billionaire Patrick Drahi but that his terms were not good enough.

The flagship James Webb Space Telescope has begun its 14-day journey from the coast of California through the Panama Canal to the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, program scientist Eric Smith told NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee on Sept. 29.