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.
Space Launch System: One Step Closer to the Moon—and Beyond
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-19 16:00
Artemis I, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft atop SLS, launched on November 16. Artemis will establish the first long-term human-robotic presence on and around the Moon. Eventually, Artemis will send the first astronauts to Mars, 140 million miles away. The dedication, hard work, passion and excitement required to make these missions a reality falls largely on the shoulders of young enthusiasts.
Weather and range issues delay first Electron launch from Wallops to January
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-20 01:58
Rocket Lab scrubbed an Electron launch attempt Dec. 18 from Launch Complex 2. The company called off the launch near the end of the two-hour window. The company said it would reschedule the launch for some time in January. The mission will place into orbit three radio-frequency surveillance satellites.
SpaceX preparing to start Starlink Gen2 launches this month
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-19 21:56
SpaceX is asking the FCC for a 60-day special temporary authority. If granted, the STA would allow SpaceX to start providing Gen2 services. The FCC continues to review SpaceX’s overall proposal to expand the Gen2 constellation. The regulator also deferred a decision on SpaceX’s plans to add small radio frequency beacons.
U.S.-China milspace competition reaching critical stage - SpaceNews
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-19 15:00
The U.S. Space Force established its first foothold in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The Pentagon’s latest report warns that China’s advances in civil and military space are rapidly transitioning into warfighting systems. China’s armed forces are being trained to leverage the nation’s rapidly growing network of satellites.
South Korean spacecraft enters lunar orbit with deceleration maneuver
Original Publication Date: 2022-12-19 14:07
South Korea's first robotic lunar orbiter, Danuri, entered the lunar orbit. The orbiter is circling the moon in an elliptic orbit every 12.3 hours. It will conduct four more propulsive maneuvers with its thrusters by Dec. 28. Danuri mission marks the beginning of South Korea's deep space exploration initiative.
NASASpaceFlight.com
India launches a new ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning. The EOS-06 spacecraft was delivered 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's Electron small-satellite launcher will be launched from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The flight will lift off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex-2 (LC-2) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. 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, and a similar forecast precluded another attempt on Monday, Dec. 19.
International Archives
Four rocket launches were conducted from China this week. On Wednesday, the Yaogan 36 mission launched on a Chang Zheng 2D from Xichang. On Friday, the launch of Shiyan 21 atop a Chang Zheng 11 rocket was conducted from the same spaceport. This includes the failed ZhuQue-2 methane rocket demo flight on Wednesday.
News – Spaceflight101
Russia's Rockot booster is set to blast off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 17:57 UTC with the Sentinel-3B multi-function satellite. The rocket will carry the multi-function Sentinel-3B satellite into orbit. It is the latest addition to Europe's Copernicus satellite fleet.
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 conducts the orbital circularization after the three CZ-11 stages finish their job.
40-Year Study Finds Mysterious Patterns in Temperatures at Jupiter
Scientists have completed the longest-ever study tracking temperatures in Jupiter’s upper troposphere. The work, conducted over four decades, found unexpected patterns in how temperatures of Jupiter’s belts and zones change over time. The study is a major step toward a better understanding of what drives weather at our solar system’s largest planet.
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
Researchers at the University of Montreal have 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 project will entail conducting an initial remote-sensing survey in 2023 of more than 1,000 managed landfills.
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. Until now, researchers looking to study a body of water relied on instruments that measure at specific locations.
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight Has Launched – Follow the Mission in Real Time
Lunar Flashlight will use a reflectometer equipped with four lasers that emit near-infrared light in wavelengths readily absorbed by surface water ice. 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.