L3Harris to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.7 billion
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-18 23:02
L3Harris is buying Aerojet at $58 per share in an all-cash transaction. The deal is expected to close in 2023, pending regulatory approvals. Lockheed Martin sought to buy Aerojet in a $4.4 billion bid earlier this year. L3Harris is a global defense and aerospace firm with $17 billion in annual revenue.
NASA signs spaceflight safety agreement with AST SpaceMobile
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-18 19:10
Astronomers are concerned about the effects of AST SpaceMobile's satellites. NASA and AST SpaceMobile have signed an agreement to cooperate on spaceflight safety. The agreement includes avoiding conjunctions between their satellites and launch collision avoidance. The focus of the agreement is with on BlueWalker 3, the AST SpaceMobile satellite.
Perseverance prepares to deposit Mars sample cache
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-18 02:44
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover will soon start depositing a cache of samples. The first of 10 sample tubes will be placed on the surface as soon as Dec. 19. The cache is located in a region called Three Forks that will also serve as the landing site for the future Sample Retrieval Lander.
NASA postpones spacewalk to support Soyuz investigation
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-17 14:20
NASA: Spacewalk by astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio, previously scheduled for Dec. 19, will be pushed back to Dec. 21. The postponement would allow flight controllers to use the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to inspect the exterior of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked there. That spacecraft suffered a coolant leak late Dec. 14, canceling a Russian spacewalk that was about to start.
NASASpaceFlight.com
India launches a new ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning. The EOS-06 spacecraft was placed into a low Earth orbit. The mission, PSLV C54, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11:56 local time (06:26 UTC)
Commercial Archives
Rocket Lab has operated its Electron small-satellite launcher successfully from New Zealand since 2017. The flight will lift off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex-2 (LC-2) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. After weather and paperwork-related delays, the mission named “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers” was set to lift off within a two-hour window beginning at 6:00 PM EST (23:00 UTC) on Sunday, Dec. 18. Upper level winds on Sunday scrubbed that attempt, setting the current target for the same time on Monday, Dec. 19.
International Archives
The Yaogan 36 mission launched on a Chang Zheng 2D rocket from Xichang on Wednesday. On Friday, the launch of Shiyan 21 atop a Chang Zheng 11 rocket was conducted from the same spaceport. In total, four launches were conducted from China this week. This includes the failed ZhuQue-2 methane rocket demo flight on Wednesday, and the launch of a Chang Zheng 4C on Monday.
News – Spaceflight101
Russia's Rockot booster is set to blast off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:57 UTC on Wednesday with the Sentinel-3B multi-function satellite. The rocket will carry a Russian Rockot booster with a multi-function Sentinel-3B satellite.
ISS Updates – Spaceflight101 – International Space Station
A veteran NASA spacewalker and an EVA rookie from Japan ended their week with nearly six hours of work outside the International Space Station. The restoration of the Station’s Mobile Servicing System started last year and continued in January to provide Canadarm2 with a new pair of grappling hands.
Featured – Spaceflight101
SpaceX Falcon 9 takes to the skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Monday afternoon. Falcon 9 lifts flight-proven Dragon spacecraft into orbit for critical delivery of science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware. First of at least six cargo ships inbound to the U.S. Segment of ISS this year.
Re-Entry: Long March 11 Rocket Body – Spaceflight101
The CZ-11 fourth stage used leftover propellant for a partial de-orbit maneuver, lowering its perigee to 120 Kilometers to significantly accelerate its orbital decay. It is reportedly built around a YF-50 main engine and in a nominal mission conducts the orbital circularization after the three CZ-11 stages.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Begin Building Martian Sample Depot
Perseverance’s prime mission will conclude on Jan. 6, 2023 – one Mars year (about 687 Earth days) after its Feb. 18, 2021, landing. Called the Delta Top Campaign, this new science phase will begin when Perseverance finishes its ascent of the delta’s steep embankment.
Two Exoplanets May Be Mostly Water, NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Find
A team led by of researchers at the University of Montreal has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are “water worlds” where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet. These worlds, located in a planetary system 218 light-years away in the constellation Lyra, are unlike any planets found in our solar system.
NASA’s Juno Exploring Jovian Moons During Extended Mission
NASA’s Juno mission is scheduled to obtain images of the Jovian moon Io on Dec. 15. Juno is in the second year of its extended mission to investigate the interior of Jupiter. The solar-powered spacecraft performed a close flyby of Ganymede in 2021 and of Europa earlier this year.
NASA Sensors to Help Detect Methane Emitted by Landfills
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, the source of roughly a quarter to a third of global warming caused by humans. Methane produced by the waste sector contributes an estimated 20% of human-caused methane emissions. The aim of the new initiative is to establish a baseline assessment of global waste sites that emit methane at high rates.
Latest International Water Satellite Packs an Engineering Punch
KaRIn will measure the height of water in the ocean, “seeing” features like currents and eddies that are less than 13 miles (20 kilometers) across. It will also collect data on lakes and reservoirs larger than 15 acres (62,500 square meters) and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) across.
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight Has Launched – Follow the Mission in Real Time
The spacecraft’s avatar is an exact model of the real thing, down to its four solar arrays, science instrument, and thrusters. Users can change their perspective of the SmallSat and see where it is in space, whether on its long trek to lunar orbit or when it’s zooming above the lunar surface.
Practice Makes Perfect for Student Inventions at JPL Competition
The Invention Challenge returns to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. This year's contest was dubbed the "Sticky Wicket Contest" Teams created devices that launched bouncy rubber balls at croquet-inspired targets. Hammers and mallets, giant rubber bands and bungee cords, PVC piping and lots of wood were used.