STARTUPS SCOUT AND PRIVATEER TO COLLABORATE ON SPACE-TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES - Space-tracking startup Scout Space announced Sept. 1 it is partnering with Privateer Space, a new venture also focused on space situational awareness services for satellite operators. Scout is based in Alexandria, Virginia; Privateer is located in Maui, Hawaii. “The collaboration is focused on integrating Scout’s systems architecture and data collection capabilities with Privateer’s data solutions,” the companies said in a statement. More (Source: SpaceNews - Sep 5)
CHINA LAUNCHES YAOGAN-33 02 SATELLITE - China launched the Yaogan-33 02 satellite atop a Long March-4C carrier rocket at 7:44 a.m. Beijing Time from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China on Saturday. The remote sensing satellite entered its preset orbit which signals the launch was a complete success, according to China Media Group. It will be used for science experiments, census of national land resources, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention. More (Source: CGTN - Sep 4)
GIANT SOLAR SAIL WILL PROPEL TINY SPACECRAFT TO INTERCEPT AND STUDY ASTEROID - Catching a ride on Artemis 1 is a miniaturized CubeSat called NEA Scout that will use a thin, aluminum-coated solar sail about the size of a tennis court to propel it towards the smallest asteroid ever to be studied by a spacecraft. NEA Scout will serve as a bold robotic reconnaissance mission to fly by and return data from an asteroid representative of near-Earth asteroids that may one day become destinations for humans. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 4)
ROBOTIC SPACE ARM SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES TEST BY MOVING A SUITCASE-SIZED OBJECT AROUND THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The European Space Agency (ESA) is celebrating another milestone for the European Robotic Arm (ERA), which "effortlessly" completed a test on the International Space Station last week. The 11-metre arm completed its first transfer following commands from cosmonauts inside the space station as teams from Russia and the Netherlands watched on from Earth. More (Source: ABC - Sep 3)
RUSSIA CALLS AGEING SPACE STATION "DANGEROUS" AS IT PLANS SUCCESSOR - The International Space Station (ISS) is dangerous and unfit for purpose, Russia's space chief said on Thursday, as Moscow pushes ahead with plans to quit the project and launch its own station. Yuri Borisov, head of the Roscosmos agency, said mass equipment failures and ageing parts were endangering crew safety on the 24-year-old station. More (Source: Yahoo News - Sep 2)
INTELSAT’S GALAXY 15 MUTES PAYLOAD AS IT DRIFTS INTO OTHER SATELLITE PATHS - Intelsat said the Galaxy 15 broadcast satellite that stopped responding to commands earlier this month shut down its payload Aug. 31, reducing the risk of interfering with signals from other spacecraft. However, Galaxy 15 continues to drift out of its geostationary orbit slot at 133 degrees West, and “will soon begin transiting through orbital locations licensed for other satellites,” an Intelsat spokesperson said. More (Source: SpaceNews - Sep 2)
STARTUP WANTS TO BUILD A SPACE STATION THAT REFUELS SATELLITES BY 2025 - Spacecraft running low on fuel could get a refill from an orbital station by the year 2025, according to a startup named Orbit Fab that reckons it can charge $20 million to top up your tank. The American upstart believes there's a market for its planned service because the growing number of companies launching satellites want their hardware to have longer working lives. One way to achieve lengthier missions is orbital refueling. More (Source: The Register - Sep 1)
NASA AWARDS SPACEX MORE CREW FLIGHTS TO SPACE STATION - NASA has awarded five additional missions to Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, for crew transportation services to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract. The CCtCap modification brings the total missions for SpaceX to 14 and allows NASA to maintain an uninterrupted U.S. capability for human access to the space station until 2030, with two unique commercial crew industry partners. More (Source: NASA - Sep 1)
ON 6 SEPTEMBER, ARIANESPACE WILL LAUNCH THE INNOVATIVE EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS SATELLITE ON BOARD ARIANE 5 - On Tuesday 6 September 2022, at 18:45 local time, an Ariane 5 built by ArianeGroup and operated by Arianespace will lift off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS telecommunications satellite. This satellite will be the 37th launched by Arianespace for Eutelsat, one of the world’s leading commercial satellite operators, thus continuing the close collaboration between the two companies, which goes back to 1983. More (Source: Arianespace - Sep 1)
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