January 2013 Archives

The UK is set to build on its success as a leader in the provision of climate data and services, with a new strategy to increase the use of space technology in this growing market.

An Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's new advanced communications satellite, TDRS-K, successfully lifted off on Jan. 30, 2013 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Advanced propulsion researchers at NASA are a step closer to solving the challenge of safely sending human explorers to Mars and other solar system destinations.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) today announced they had selected Lockheed Martin Space Systems as a partner on its Dream Chaser program in its ongoing effort for NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Astrium, Europe's leading space technology company, 108 million worth of prime contractor agreements covering the development of the Ariane 6 and Ariane 5 ME launchers. The contracts follow on from the decisions reached at the ESA Ministerial Council meeting in Naples on 20-21 November 2012.

After two previous failures, South Korea successfully launched their rocket placing a satellite into orbit. The Korean Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-1), known as Naro-1, a two-stage rocket, took off at 4 p.m. local time (2 a.m. eastern).

NASA officials discuss the launch of the TDRS-K spacecraft to add to the space network that enables communications between the International Space Station and Earth-orbiting satellites and ground controllers.

The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University hosted a panel discussion on the need for a definitive space policy. The expert panel reviewed the present status and future of NASA and the U.S. civil space program with respect to space policy.

The sixth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), built for NASA by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC), marked 20 years of successful on-orbit performance Jan. 13, surpassing its design life by a decade.

Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world's leading space technology companies, today announced that the company is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the launch and successful operation of the company-built Solar and Radiation Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite.

Experts ensuring that aircraft can safely rely on satellite navigation across Europe and other parts of the globe met this week to share future plans, welcoming Russian and Indian representatives for the first time.

Inserting new capabilities into a satellite is no simple task. Doing so as that satellite hurdles through space 22,000 miles above the Earth is a bit more challenging still. DARPA's Phoenix program, which hopes to repurpose retired satellites while they remain in orbit, seeks to fundamentally change how space systems could be designed here on earth and then sustained once in space.

Virgin Galactic and the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association have agreed on liability issues that will form the basis of legislation that Senator Mary Kay Papen will introduce tomorrow and which is expected to have broad bipartisan support.

Deep Space Industries (DSI) is another new entry in the asteroid mining field who want to go beyond just mining asteroids and into manufacturing products in space. As with another recent new commercial space venture, Golden Spike, DSI showcased some savvy space veterans but lack the resources to execute their plans to completion.

NASA's Flight Opportunities Program has selected 13 cutting-edge space technology payloads for flights on commercial reusable launch vehicles, balloons and a commercial parabolic aircraft in 2013 and 2014. The flights will allow participants to demonstrate their technologies to the edge of space and back, before committing them to the harsh and unforgiving conditions of spaceflight.

Planetary Resources President Chris provided a monthly update this week on how the company is progressing including displaying a full scale model of its Arkyd-100. The Arkyd-100 is the companies space telescope and technology demonstrator for their Arkyd Series prospecting missions.

The "stack" of six Globalstar second-generation satellites is partly visible inside the protective container (at left) that was used for its transfer into Starsem's Upper Composite Integration Facility at Baikonur Cosmodrome. At center is the Fregat upper stage on which the stack will be installed, followed by encapsulation in the payload fairing (positioned at right).

TopCoder(R), Inc., the world's largest competitive Community of digital creators, today announced the Longeron Shadowing Optimization Challenge, a $30,000, open to the public competition to make the energy-gathering solar arrays of the International Space Station (ISS) more efficient by eliminating the shadows it casts upon itself at different points during orbit.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced Wednesday a newly planned addition to the International Space Station that will use the orbiting laboratory to test expandable space habitat technology.

NASA's Space Technology Program is looking for visionary advanced concepts. This year's annual call for NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts Program (NIAC) is seeking proposals for revolutionary concepts with the potential to transform future aerospace missions.

Pleiades 1B, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) Earth observation satellite, has captured its first images using e2v high performance imaging sensors.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Board of Directors has announced the Institute's key public policy issues for 2013, addressing some of the most pressing concerns facing the aerospace community.

SpaceX's Grasshopper takes a 12-story leap towards full and rapid rocket reusability in a test flight conducted December 17, 2012 at SpaceX's rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas.

Yesterday NASA held a Commercial Crew Program (CPP) press briefing with updates from the four participating companies. The CPP is NASA's program in which it is partnering with industry to establish an affordable and commercially-viable access to low Earth orbit.

ATK announced today it was awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) Defense Weather Systems Directorate to execute a study of Network-Centric Small Satellites as an element of SMC's Weather Satellite Follow-On Activities.

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will hold a news briefing at 10:30 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Jan. 16, to discuss the details of a recent agreement for ESA to provide a service module for the Orion spacecraft's Exploration Mission-1 in 2017. NASA Television will carry the briefing live from the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA will hold a status update news conference to discuss the progress of the agency's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) at 2 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 9. The briefing from Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website.

NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project is moving forward with its research efforts to "green" the skies. ERA is developing aircraft concepts and technologies to help reduce the impact of aviation on the environment during the next 30 years.

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation today thanked Members of Congress for the extension of government risk-sharing for commercial launch companies. A bill to extend the current framework for one year passed the House and Senate in the closing hours of the 112th Congress, and has been sent to the President for signature. The previous law expired on December 31, 2012.