July 2, 2021

NASA Offers $45M to Solve Risks for Astronaut Lunar Landing Services (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is preparing to establish a regular cadence of trips to the Moon under Artemis. To help the agency fine-tune its approach, NASA will award firm fixed-price, milestone-based contracts of up to $45 million for commercial-led work under a broad agency announcement released Thursday. NASA is seeking new work to mature designs and conduct technology and engineering risk-reduction tasks for the human landing system (HLS), which will ferry Artemis astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back. Prior to opening the call for commercial space lunar transportation on a recurring basis, NASA is asking U.S. companies to hone HLS concepts and safety measures. (7/2)

Branson Plans Flight Aboard Virgin Galactic Mission on July 11 (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that founder Richard Branson will be on the next SpaceShipTwo suborbital flight July 11, flying to the edge of space days before Jeff Bezos. The company said Branson will join three employees in the cabin of SpaceShipTwo, along with two pilots, on the flight from Spaceport America. Branson will evaluate the overall experience "to enhance the journey for all future astronaut customers," the company said. Branson originally was to go on the second of three flights Virgin expects to carry out through the fall, and the company didn't elaborate on why Branson will be on the earlier flight. It does allow Branson the opportunity to go to space nine days before Bezos flies on Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle. (7/2)

OneWeb Launch Allows High Latitude Broadband Service (Source: Space News)
OneWeb successfully launched 36 satellites Thursday, allowing it to begin broadband services in northern latitudes later this year. Once the satellites reach their final orbits in about a month, OneWeb will have enough satellites to provide continuous service above 50 degrees north latitude. The company aims to launch four or five more batches of satellites in 2021 that will focus on filling out coverage of lower latitudes, with 10 more launches needed to provide global services with the constellation by next year. (7/2)

Astra Shares Rise in Nasdaq Trading After SPAC (Source: Space News)
Shares of launch vehicle company Astra closed higher in its first day of trading. Astra, which went public through a SPAC merger, closed up 4.5% Thursday to $12.90 per share on the Nasdaq exchange. The capital the company obtained through the deal will be used to accelerate its growth, with a goal of daily launches in 2025. Astra anticipates unveiling its first customer when it sets a launch date this summer for its upgraded Rocket 3.3. (7/2)

Russian Cargo Craft Docks with ISS, After Close Encounter with Falcon-9 Part (Source: Space.com)
A Russian cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station Thursday. The Progress MS-17 spacecraft docked with the station's Poisk module at 8:59 p.m. Eastern, two days after its launch. During the spacecraft's flight, Roscosmos warned that a Starlink satellite and an unspecified fragment of a Falcon 9 rocket would pass close to the Progress, but the Progress did not need to maneuver to avoid them. (7/2)

UAE Mars Orbiter Takes Images of Mars Auroras (Source: New York Times)
The United Arab Emirates' Mars orbiter has taken images of the planet's aurora. An ultraviolet instrument on the Hope orbiter obtained images of what's known as "discrete auroras" in particular regions of the planet where rocks have preserved the planet's original magnetic field. Those auroras have been seen by other spacecraft, but Hope has provided a global view. Scientists plan to combine those observations with solar particle observations from NASA's Maven orbiter to better understand the formation of those auroras. (7/2)

Rogue Space and Orbital Assembly Want to Lease 2 Laura Orbot Spacecraft (Source: Space Daily)
Rogue Space Systems Corporation announced the signing of a Letter of Intent by Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC), the world's first large scale space construction company, to lease two Laura Orbital Robot (Orbots) spacecrafts for Orbital Assembly's P-STAR Mission to launch construction technologies for the first low gravity space hotel.

As part of the agreement, Rogue Space and Orbital Assembly will collaboratively formulate a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and develop opportunities with 3rd party organizations who may wish to purchase or sponsor the collection and use of the data generated from the P-STAR Mission. Separate from the MOU, Orbital Assembly and Rogue will also be signing a Collaboration Agreement to support the development and pursuit of data, sales, and other opportunities. (7/2)

Artemis "Moonikin" Named After NASA Apollo Engineer (Source: CollectSpace)
A "moonikin" flying on the Artemis 1 mission has been named after a NASA engineer involved in the rescue of the Apollo 13 mission. NASA announced this week that it will name a spacesuited mannequin on the Orion spacecraft "Commander Moonikin Campos" after Arturo Campos, an engineer who developed the procedures for transferring power from Apollo 13's lunar module to its command module. That name was the winner of several rounds of online voting, beating out seven other finalists. (7/2)

Space Club Extends Nomination Deadline for Annual Awards (Source: NSCFL)
Nominations for the National Space Club Florida Committee 2021 Lifetime Achievement, Rising Star, Kolcum News & Communications, and Space Worker Hall of Fame Awards are now open. The extended deadline is July 16. Please help us recognize the contributions of those who work in this complex and historic business by taking time to submit your online nominations. You do not have to be a member of the NSCFL to make a nomination or to be a nominee. The recipients will be recognized at the Celebrate Space Awards Banquet. Click here. (76/2)

Perseverance Mars Rover Demonstrates Auto-Navigation (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's newest six-wheeled robot on Mars, the Perseverance rover, is beginning an epic journey across a crater floor seeking signs of ancient life. That means the rover team is deeply engaged with planning navigation routes, drafting instructions to be beamed up, even donning special 3D glasses to help map their course. But increasingly, the rover will take charge of the drive by itself, using a powerful auto-navigation system. Called AutoNav, this enhanced system makes 3D maps of the terrain ahead, identifies hazards, and plans a route around any obstacles without additional direction from controllers back on Earth. (7/2)

Space Development Agency Now Has Demo Satellites on Orbit. Here’s What They’ll Do (Source: C4ISRnet)
The Space Development Agency has launched a handful of demonstration satellites into orbit, which will be used to test critical technologies for a new military-owned proliferated constellation. The satellites hitched a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-2 rideshare mission that took place June 29. That mission carried 85 satellites into orbit.

SDA was created in 2019 to build the National Defense Space Architecture. Unlike most of the military’s satellite constellations, which are generally made up of a small number of exquisite satellites in geostationary orbit, the NDSA will be made up of a large number of small satellites operating far closer to Earth’s surface, mostly in low Earth orbit. SDA plans to grow the constellations in two-year tranches, starting with about 30 satellites to begin launching in 2022 and growing to hundreds of satellites by the end of the decade. (7/1)