SpaceX alums offer telemetry stack through startup Sift
Original Publication Date: 2023-12-18 04:05
Sift is a startup founded by former SpaceX software engineers. It developed a proprietary telemetry stack to improve the way machine data is recorded. Potential customers include space companies and other businesses building complex machines. Sift hired its first employee early this year and currently has a staff of 12.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard 24th mission is set for Monday, December 18th – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2023-12-17 00:00
New Shepard will carry 33 science payloads to space. This 24th flight and 13th payload mission for Blue Origin will fly on Monday, December 18th. The manifest includes the aforementioned number of payloads and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards from students around the world.
Defense and intelligence agencies now ‘Hear The Whole Sky’ with Quasar Sense – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2023-12-18 00:00
New technology can track and characterize over 30 satellites simultaneously in space, boosting national security. Quasar Satellite Technologies (‘Quasar’) launched Quasar Sense, a world first in space domain awareness capabilities (SDA), to the American defense, intelligence, and national security sectors. Quasar Sense deploys more than 30 steerable beams from a secure digitally defined phased array antenna.
UPDATE 1: The Ovzon 3 launch is now targeting liftoff no earlier than December 22, 2023 – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2023-12-18 00:00
Ovzon had previously indicated that the launch of the company’s Ovzon 3 satellite would occur as soon as December 2023. In coordination with launch provider SpaceX, the window has now been narrowed further with the liftoff now targeted for no earlier than December 22, 2023. The launch of spacecraft is, in general, dependent on good weather conditions and other circumstances that could alter the planned launch date, sometimes by several days.
Archimedes orbital system showcases successful applications of directed energy – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2023-12-18 00:00
Space Development and Electric Sky successfully tested their first rapidly deployable, free-flying, on-orbit platform, Archimedes. Archimedes will serve as an orbital system for solar panels, beamed power, and electronically steerable antenna arrays for communications and monitoring.
Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense helps to get spacecraft into orbit – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2023-12-17 00:00
Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense’s PRM was used to dispense spacecrafts from the SpaceX Transporter-9 Rideshare mission. This launch demo’d the PRM product’s dispensing capabilities and also reinforces EBAD’s dedication to deliver products on short lead times.
Spacecraft Makers: Sewing Blankets for NASA’s Europa Clipper
The Europa Clipper spacecraft will explore the ice-encrusted moon of Jupiter. The spacecraft needs to be hardy enough to survive a 1.6 billion-mile, six-year journey to Jupiter. Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Meet the Mars Samples: Pilot Mountain (Sample 21)
The rock sample is believed to be among the youngest preserved material in Jezero Crater. An initial abrasion revealed green, glassy grains that represent some of the youngest material Perseverance has investigated. Comparing rocks of different ages can help shed light on the evolution of the planet.
Mars Look Like if an Astronaut Could Orbit the Planet? (Mars Report - Nov. 2023)
Odyssey has been going strong for 22 years. Next year we're going to hit 100,000 orbits around Mars. One is a rock-mapping campaign that will help us land future missions more safely on the surface. We're also taking advantage of our special dawn-dusk orbit to map clouds, fog, and frost.
Two Views of a High-Altitude Flight for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter made its 59th flight on Mars on Sept.16, 2023. The highest altitude achieved in this flight was 66 feet. Ingenuity is the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet. This flight was part of an experimental test to help teams design the next generation of Martian helicopters.
Meet the Mars Samples: Otis Peak (Sample 20)
The first rock core sample taken from a conglomerate rock, which consists of pebbles cemented together. Scientists believe studying this sample may yield information about the formation and environmental evolution of Jezero Crater. As of early November 2023, the Perseverance rover has collected and sealed 23 scientifically selected samples inside pristine tubes.
How Your Name Will Fly Aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper
Go behind the scenes in the Microdevices Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. See how technicians will use an electron beam to stencil names onto microchips. The microchips will be attached to a metal plate engraved with the original poem “In Praise of Mystery,” written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to celebrate the mission.
How NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Will Map the Cosmos
SPHEREx is NASA's next cosmic mapmaker. It will scan the entire sky, charting the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies. SPHEREx can help us study everything from what happened a few seconds after the big bang to where water comes from in planetary systems.
Chinese spaceplane takes flight again; iSpace and LandSpace prepare to hop
Original Publication Date: 2023-12-17 20:51
Chang Zheng 2F/T launched the Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi (CSSHQ — Chinese Reusable Experimental Spaceplane), on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 14:12 UTC. The launch was conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. The spaceplane will operate in orbit, for a duration of a few months, before returning to Earth.