Frank Rubio is likely to be the first U.S. astronaut to fly on a Soyuz spaceship under the new seat exchange agreement between Roscosmos and NASA, the Russian space corporation reported on Jan 20.
U.K.-based Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE) announced plans Jan. 20 to develop an expandable module to equip the Axiom Space commercial space station with SEE-1, an entertainment studio and multipurpose arena.
The Nov. 15, 2021, Russian anti-satellite direct-ascent missile test that created a large, lingering field of debris in Earth’s orbit has prompted the U.S. military to work in tandem with its closest allies to share intelligence and shows the importance of increasing international collaboration in space operations.
A new Link 16 antenna designed to operate in space has been delivered to one of the two teams signed up to demonstrate Transport Layer satellites later this year.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on Jan. 20 awarded contracts to five companies to provide synthetic aperture radar capabilities as part of the agency’s effort to guide innovation and collect commercial remote sensing capabilities for national security and defense missions.
The U.S. Space Force this spring will finish an analysis of technologies that can serve a space-based Ground Moving Target Indicator mission, moving the role away from aircraft and into orbit.
Two Russian cosmonauts on Jan. 19 completed the first in a series of up to nine spacewalks planned over 2022 to fully integrate Russia’s new multiport Prichal docking and Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory modules to the International Space Station.
Radian Aerospace has unveiled plans for “the world’s first fully reusable horizontal takeoff and landing, single-stage to orbit spaceplane” for sending passengers and cargo to low Earth orbit.
Satellite-powered hyperspectral imagery and analytics startup HySpecIQ is aiming to raise more funds and grow its small staff ahead of an expected September 2023 launch of its first of 12 orbital assets.
Northrop Grumman has finalized a contract with Paragon Space Development worth more than $100 million to provide the life support system for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost program, aimed for lunar orbit as the first crew module of NASA’s Lunar Gateway.
The Air Force Research Laboratory on Jan. 14 awarded SpaceX a $102 million contract for its Rocket Cargo program, an effort studying the feasibility of moving military materiel through space.
A surprise November 2021 Russian anti-satellite test has nearly doubled the risk of a penetrating collision between test debris and the International Space Station, NASA ISS Director Robyn Gatens says.
The European Space Agency is working toward the inaugural flight of the Ariane 6 medium-to-heavy launcher, but a precise date–in 2022 or later–cannot be set, Director General Josef Aschbacher says.
HeroX and DrivenData have joined with NASA to launch a “NASAAir-athon” crowdsourcing competition to establish a satellite data source to improve and make more publicly accessible urban air quality estimates.
NASA is working with crowdsourcing platform HeroX to award prizes for recycling concepts that could help diminish the trash buildup associated with early-stage human expeditions to Mars.
Hours after SpaceX delivered a batch of satellites into polar orbits from Florida—previously an exclusive West Coast route—Virgin Orbit pulled off the reverse feat: deploying its customers’ spacecraft into 45-deg. inclination orbits from the California-launched LauncherOne rocket.
