Space

The European Commission has chosen Thales Alenia Space to lead the next phase of the European Robotic Orbital Support Services program, slated to culminate with an in-orbit demonstration in 2026 and potentially follow on with commercial missions.

SpinLaunch, a startup looking to commercialize a centrifuge-based mass accelerator for space access, said Sept. 20 it has closed $71 million in a Series B round of venture-capital funding.

Europe and the U.S. are pursuing a powerful pair of infrared telescopes that, taken together, could help provide rapid warning of an asteroid hitting the planet.

NASA has released an updated exploration framework to guide the budding Artemis lunar program toward human missions to Mars and beyond.

Using a cadre of advanced technologies, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission is closing in on executing the world’s first-ever attempt at demonstrating whether a spacecraft can slam into an asteroid with enough force to prevent it from destructively colliding with the Earth given adequate warning.

Brian Binnie, who clinched the $10 million Ansari XPrize for the Paul Allen-Scaled Composites team that built the SpaceShipOne reusable suborbital spacecraft, has died, his family announced on Sept. 18.

NASA launch controllers will implement new procedures as they head into a Sept. 21 launch demonstration test of the repairs to a hydrogen propellant leak that prompted a delay in a second attempt to launch the uncrewed Artemis I test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule.

Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who holds the record for the longest single mission in space at 437 days, died on Sept. 7, Roscosmos Corp. reports.

Astroport Space Technologies is developing a system of baking Moon dust into bricks to create a landing pad on the lunar surface.

In a little more than a year, a moratorium on new safety regulations to protect people onboard space vehicles is set to expire,

NASA has formally requested proposals from the space industry for long-running, evolvable Human Landing Systems able to support a steady cadence of Artemis-era astronaut missions to the lunar surface.

The government of Turkey has signed an agreement with Houston-based Axiom Space to fly its first astronaut to the International Space Station.

Hungary is restarting its human space program, with eight finalists undergoing evaluation for a planned flight to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft, a reusable upper stage that would replace the payload fairing of an Ariane 64, SUSIE is an attempt by European industry to respond to a variety of competitors.

Although Russia remains a key and committed partner in the International Space Station program, the country is absent from the International Astronautical Congress.

The test, slated for Sept. 21, will determine if technicians at Kennedy Space Center have successfully repaired a hydrogen leak that scuttled the last launch try.

SpaceWERX awarded startup ThinkOrbital a Small Business Technology Transfer contract to study how the company’s autonomous robotic arm assembly and electron beam welding system might be used for in-space service assembly and manufacturing.

Intuitive Machines LLC and Inflection Point Acquisition Corp., a New York-based special purpose acquisition company, announced a merger agreement Sept. 16.

NASA has extended its cooperative agreement with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space for management of research aboard the U.S. National Laboratory portion of the International Space Station through 2027.

Scientists are increasingly grateful for the surprises that NASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered at Jezero Crater on Mars and the prospect that samples can determine whether they supported long-ago biological activity.

The FAA has awarded Raytheon Intelligence & Space an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with a ceiling of $375 million over 10 years to upgrade the Wide Area Augmentation System space-based precision navigation system.

The goal of having a European constellation enter into service in late 2024 appears ambitious at best.

The testing marks a major step toward the U.S. startup’s goal of developing a fully reusable, rapid turn-around rocket vehicle.

Masten Space Systems, a Mojave, California, pioneer of the modern era of new-space startups, has been sold and will combine with Astrobotic, another startup targeting a predicted lunar logistics marketplace.

Supply chain, radio and software delays as well as a contract protest contributed to a three-month delay in a planned launch of Space Development Agency satellites.