Iridium to Use Flight Proven Falcon 9 First Stages for Next Two Launches
MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 19, 2017 (Iridium Communications PR) — Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) announced today that the fourth Iridium NEXT launch has been targeted by SpaceX for December 22, 2017 at 5:26 p.m. PT [1:26 a.m. UTC on Dec. 23], from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
This launch signifies the mid-way point of the Iridium NEXT launch program and will deliver another 10 satellites to orbit, bringing the total number deployed to 40. Targeted for just over two months after the third Iridium NEXT launch, this December date enables Iridium to maintain its planned cadence of completing all launches by mid-2018, even with SpaceX’s busy launch manifest.
D-Orbit, Sky & Space Global to Collaborate on SAS Nanosat Constellation
- Sky and Space Global (SAS) has signed a binding agreement with Italian space system company, D-Orbit, to provide launch and deployment services for the upcoming roll-out of the SAS nanosatellite constellation
- The partnership will allow SAS to maximize the operational capabilities and potential revenue generation for their upcoming nanosatellite constellation
- The agreement follows the recent announcement of the Pearls, the next generation of SAS nanosatellites, which will be launched into space and were unveiled at the International
Astronautical Congress in Adelaide in September - This partnership demonstrates SAS’ strong commitment to the success of its constellation launch plans and delivering on its promises to investors and shareholders
Interorbital Rolls Out Neptune CPM 2.0 Rocket for Tests
Interorbital Rolls out NEPTUNE CPM 2.0 Test Rocket!
Successfully conducts water-flow test 10/16/17 pic.twitter.com/NszpNVFPcK— Randa Milliron (@interorbital) October 17, 2017
“Lighten Up” – Deep Space Communications via Faraway Photons
PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — A spacecraft destined to explore a unique asteroid will also test new communication hardware that uses lasers instead of radio waves.
The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) package aboard NASA’s Psyche mission utilizes photons — the fundamental particle of visible light — to transmit more data in a given amount of time. The DSOC goal is to increase spacecraft communications performance and efficiency by 10 to 100 times over conventional means, all without increasing the mission burden in mass, volume, power and/or spectrum.
World View Successfully Flight Tests Groundbreaking Altitude Control Technology
EDWARDS, Calif. (NASA PR) — Long-duration stratospheric research missions could allow scientists to collect vast amounts of data continuously for their payloads. Such missions could benefit NASA by maturing future space technology as well as allowing for Earth observations, such as storm monitoring and forest fire tracking.
Proton’s Competitiveness Threatened by High Insurance Costs
The Proton rocket’s’s string of failures and its year-long grounding following a 2016 launch anomaly have raised payload insurance rates so high for the booster that its commercial viability is threatened.
Insurance premiums for launches of International Launch Services’ Russian Proton rocket, which satellite operators and insurers say is a necessary third leg for the commercial market — the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the ArianeGroup Ariane 5 being the other two — total about 12% of the insured value.
That compares with 3-4% for Ariane 5 and 4-5% for the Falcon 9.
JAXA Spacecraft Data Indicate Massive Lava Tube on Moon
Some very cool news out of Japan today where researchers say they have found an enormous lava tube stretching about 50 km (31 miles) under the lunar surface
The cavern, found in the Marius Hills area on the near side of the moon, is about 100 meters wide and extends for about 50 km, according to data taken by JAXA’s Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), also called the Kaguya moon probe.
ESA Role in Europe’s First All-electric Telecom Satellite
PARIS (ESA PR) — Europe’s first all-electric telecom satellite has reached its final working orbit above the Pacific Ocean. Eutelsat-172B, built for Eutelsat by Airbus, carries new technologies developed through ESA-led projects, including fully articulated thruster arms.
The satellite relied entirely on electric thrusters to climb from its initial orbit into its planned slot over the equator some 35 800 km up, and is now using them to hold position.
RS-25 Engines Ready for SLS Maiden Flight
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. (Aerojet Rocketdyne PR) — Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), announces the four RS-25 engines slated to fly on Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the maiden flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), are ready for integration with the rocket’s core stage.
EM-1 is a three-week mission in which the SLS rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft into a distant retrograde orbit around the moon farther than a human-rated vehicle has traveled before, and also will deliver 13 small satellites to deep space.
NASA Develops New Housing for In-Orbit Science Payloads
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — Imagine cramming 20 years’ worth of science experiments — each requiring resources such as water, electricity and data connections — into a few closets in your home. For the crew members aboard the International Space Station, this is a reality. Thanks to an increase in investigations coming in through the National Lab and more demand for exploration technology development payloads, the space station is going to have to make room for a whole new wardrobe.
Eutelsat’s Airbus-built Full Electric EUTELSAT 172B Satellite Reaches Geostationary Orbit
PARIS, TOULOUSE (Eutelsat PR)– The EUTELSAT 172B spacecraft, built by Airbus for Eutelsat, one of the world’s leading satellite operators, has now reached geostationary orbit, breaking the record for the fastest satellite electric orbit raising (EOR).
USAF Space Command General Backs Reusable Rockets
The head of U.S. Air Force Space Command said he is “completely committed” to eventually using previously flown rockets to launch military payloads.
It would be “absolutely foolish” not to begin using pre-flown rockets, which bring such significant savings that they’ll soon be commonplace for the entire industry, General John W. “Jay” Raymond said in an interview Monday at Bloomberg headquarters in New York.
“The market’s going to go that way. We’d be dumb not to,” he said. “What we have to do is make sure we do it smartly.”
The Air Force won’t be able to use the recycled boosters until they’re certified for military use, a process that Raymond suggested may already be in the works.
“The folks out at Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles that work for me would be in those dialogues,” he said, declining to specify when certification could take place. “I don’t know how far down the road we’ve gotten, but I am completely committed to launching on a reused rocket, a previously flown rocket, and making sure that we have the processes in place to be able to make sure that we can do that safely.”
Read the full story.
Animation Showing Deployment of Bigelow Lunar Depot
Spaceport Camden Adds General to Steering Committee
WOODBINE, Ga., Oct. 16, 2017 (Spaceport Camden PR) — Major General Robert S. Dickman, the former commander of the 45 Space Wing and Director of the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral, FL is joining the Spaceport Camden Steering Committee.
An executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics, General Dickman also served as vice commander of what is now the 50th Space Wing at Schriever AFB, CO, responsible for operating all Air Force on-orbit satellite systems; Director of Air Force Space Systems in the Pentagon; the first Department of Defense Space Architect; the senior military officer at the National Reconnaissance Office and the Deputy for Military Space in the office of the Undersecretary of the Air Force.