Space

PARIS — A technology demonstration satellite for which SES will lead the development could be a prototype of a constellation by the satellite operator providing quantum-encrypted communications. The European Space Agency and SES formally signed the contact for Eagle-1 during a ceremony at the International Astronautical Congress here. SES will lead a consortium of 20

TAMPA, Fla. — The European Space Agency has tasked an SES-led consortium to develop a satellite and begin operating it in 2024 to validate quantum key distribution (QKD) technology. The group of more than 20 European companies secured a contract for the Eagle-1 satellite that includes three years of missions in low Earth orbit, where

TAMPA, Fla. — Maritime connectivity specialist Marlink will offer Starlink to its customers as SpaceX’s broadband service turns to partners to expand beyond the consumer market. Marlink and OmniAccess, its division focusing on high-end superyachts and boutique cruise lines, said Sept. 22 they have become “authorized Starlink integrators” for maritime and enterprise customers. The agreement

PARIS — NASA said it completed all the objectives of a Space Launch System tanking test Sept. 21 despite the reoccurrence of liquid hydrogen leaks. The day-long test at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B involved filling the SLS core stage and upper stage with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, carrying out the “kickstart

A paper published last week proposed a hypothesis that identified 95% of the missing stuff in the universe, but the headlines have been a little over-hyped. Hosted by: Hank Green SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It’s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at https://www.scishowtangents.org ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ———-

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Pentagon plans to end procurements of very large geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) infrared satellites that provide initial warning of ballistic missile launches anywhere on the globe. Over the coming years DoD will start transitioning to a proliferated architecture of smaller satellites in lower orbits, officials said Sept. 21.  “The path

PARIS — Arkisys, a Southern California startup developing robotic infrastructure for on-orbit commerce, announced plans Sept. 21 for a spaceflight demonstration of a key technology. In 2023, Arkisys plans to launch Applique, a universal interface adapter designed to connect any spacecraft payload, using a variety of common interface standards and protocols. Funding for the mission comes

PARIS — SpinLaunch, a company developing a launch system that uses a centrifuge as a first stage, raised $71 million to continue work on that system and a line of satellites. SpinLaunch, based in Long Beach, California, announced Sept. 20 it raised the funding in a Series B round led by ATW Partners, with the

What was that giant swoop on Venus? And SpaceX continues to move forward. Learn more about Akatsuki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsDj-KJe65s Learn more about the SpaceX Explosion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_avyRlTUOs Hosted by: Hank Green ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ———- Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters—we couldn’t make SciShow without them! Shout out

Brig. Gen. Stephen Purdy said DoD has to approve the strategy before a draft request for proposals can be released NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Space Force is working to finalize a procurement strategy for the next national security launch services contracts expected to be awarded in 2024.  A draft request for industry proposals

PARIS — NASA officials say they’re ready to try a new approach to fueling the Space Launch System to prevent the return of leaks that scrubbed an earlier launch attempt even though they are not certain what caused that leak. Preparations are underway for the Sept. 21 tanking test of the SLS at Launch Complex

SAIC will integrate two Rogue cubesats for a planned 2023 mission NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — SAIC is partnering with startup Rogue Space Systems to develop small satellites for in-space services, the companies announced Sept. 20. Based in Reston, Virginia, SAIC is a $7.4 billion government services technology contractor. Rogue Space is a two-year-old startup based

Maj. Gen. Schiess: ‘We are preparing and posturing for the fight’ NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Space Operations Command is assigning cybersecurity and intelligence specialists to work side-by-side with satellite operators so they’re better prepared to protect U.S. systems from electronic and physical threats, said Maj. Gen. Douglas Schiess. “We are preparing and posturing

PARIS – Planet released additional information about the hyperspectral constellation the Earth-observation company is developing through the Carbon Mapper public-private partnership. San Francisco-based Planet remains on schedule to launch the first two hyperspectral satellites in 2023 to gather data in 400 spectral bands with a resolution of 30 meters per pixel. While data to pinpoint methane

PARIS — NASA has released a request for proposals for a second human lunar lander for the Artemis program to join the Starship lander under development by SpaceX. NASA released the call for proposals Sept. 16, nearly six months after announcing plans for the Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) project and releasing a draft call for

PARIS — A major arm of China’s state-owned space contractor is looking at developing a series of partially and fully-reusable launch vehicles apparently in response to SpaceX’s Starship. A paper published in the journal Aerospace Technology outlines plans under consideration by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) for a number of launch vehicles with

Nearly 300 space executives from 195 companies filled a University of Colorado auditorium in late July to hear the U.S. Space Force talk about its needs for space domain awareness. Known as SDA, space domain awareness is the military term for space situational awareness, which means knowledge of the space environment. The Air Force Space

PARIS – While much of the Earth-observation industry works to improve imagery resolution, EarthDaily Analytics is focused on high-quality imagery that can be quickly analyzed to detect change. “When I say quality, it’s the quality of the color, the size of the pixel, the geolocation of the pixel across 22 spectral bands,” said Don Osborne,