NASA’s engineers have identified Voyager 1’s onboard computer as the cause of distorted information coming from the spacecraft’s attitude articulation and control system. The computer ceased working several years ago and corrupted the telemetry data sent to mission controllers. Experts at the space agency speculated that the AACS started routing data about the spacecraft’s health […]
The Space Vehicles Directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory has confirmed the installation of new spacecraft materials on the International Space Station as part of research designed to determine the impact of space weather on such equipment. A SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule delivered the 16 Materials International Space Station Experiment to the orbiting laboratory […]
Aerospace engineering company Sierra Nevada Corp. has secured a potential five-year, $13.78 million contract to demonstrate a trash compaction and processing system for the International Space Station. SNC will show how its microgravity-compatible solution can perform trash processing, heat transfer, fluid flow, liquid and vapor condensation, and phase separation. The company must also implement a […]
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory plans to send samples of four strains of fungi into space as part of the Aug. 29 launch of the Artemis I moon orbit mission, aiming to study how space radiation affects living things outside the Earth’s magnetosphere. Researchers also aim to test how the microorganisms naturally protect against radiation and adapt […]
Management services provider Guardians of Honor has secured the National Aeronautics and Space Administration‘s potential five-year, $290 million Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics contract. Services will support the Office of STEM Management and other organizations within NASA. The contract is indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity in nature with a firm-fixed-price level-of-effort basis. Guardians of Honor will provide STEM services […]
The U.S. Space Force’s SpaceWERX has awarded Scout Space two phase-one Small Business Technology Transfer contracts to develop on-orbit autonomous risk monitoring and tracking technologies for space safety and sustainability. Scout Space will collaborate with Stanford University’s Space Rendezvous Laboratory and the Florida Institute of Technology’s Orion Lab under the STTR awards, which require small […]
HawkEye 360 will demonstrate to the U.S. Army how its space-based radio frequency data and analytics can support military surveillance operations. Work will be performed under a two-year cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. According to Alex Fox, HawkEye 360 chief growth officer, the Army will evaluate […]
NASA has selected Astrobotic Technology, Honeybee Robotics and Lockheed Martin to prototype and test deployable solar array systems that can power lunar habitats, rovers and construction systems to support crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions. The solar arrays should have the capability to deploy autonomously up to 32 feet high and should be retractable for potential […]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Strategic Technology Office has awarded SpaceLink a contract that allows the company to participate in a program that aims to connect satellites from any constellation. Under the Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node contract, SpaceLink will combine its optical relay network with Parsons’ Optimyz automated enterprise scheduling platform to support the […]
SES Government Solutions and Telesat Government Solutions have selected Planet Labs to showcase its real-time space-to-space connectivity solutions. Planet Labs will support communications satellites that are operated by SES and Telesat for NASA’s Communications Services Project. Planet’s involvement in CSP takes the form of research and development support for near-Earth space communication capabilities and real-time […]
