Tag: Astronautical

Space Florida to Bring Spacecraft Manufacturing to Melbourne Airport

Florida Today reports that the Space Florida board of directors “approved a staff request to complete negotiations with a company that is expected to invest more than $300 million in a new facility at the Melbourne Orlando International Airport.” The facility will bring 2,100 spacecraft manufacturing jobs “expected to have an average wage of $84,000 a year, plus benefits.”
Full Story (Florida Today)

NASA Announces Three More Commercial Space Station Proposals

SPACE reports that NASA “has announced three commercial space station proposals for development, joining an earlier proposal by Axiom Space.” SPACE interviewed Axiom Chief Technology Officer Matt Ondler on “the company’s space station plans, the outlook for private industry in LEO and the importance of commercial missions such as SpaceX’s recent Inspiration4 crewed orbital flight.”
Full Story and More Info (SPACE)

NASA Puts Out Request for Proposals for Moon Nuclear Plant

The AP reported that NASA and the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory “put out a request for proposals for a fission surface power system” to be deployed on the moon. Fission Surface Power Project lead Sebastian Corbisiero said, “Providing a reliable, high-power system on the moon is a vital next step in human space exploration, and achieving it is within our grasp.”
Full Story (Associated Press)

Opinions Differ on Whether Market Can Support Multiple Private Stations

Aerospace America reports that the answer to whether “enough research and space tourism dollars will flow through the market to keep more than one” private space station has not yet been reached. While Axiom Space believes it has a strong case for a profitable private space station, Axiom Space Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Mary Lynne Dittmar said multiple private space stations could “end up diluting the market to such an extent” that it would be impossible for privately owned stations to make a profit. Voyager Space Holdings Vice President of Infrastructure Adrian Manguica said, “I think the market can sustain many more than one space platform because the issue that we’re seeing today is one of access on the ISS.”
Full Story (Aerospace America)

ISS Dodges Chinese Space Debris

The New York Times reports that the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday “was forced to maneuver itself to avoid a piece of debris spawned by a Chinese antisatellite weapon test in 2007.” NASA and Roscosmos worked together to fire the ISS’ thrusters, raising its altitude by nearly a mile.
Full Story (New York Times)

NASA Moves Orion to Vehicle Assembly Building

Spaceflight Now reports that NASA teams at the Kennedy Space Center “moved the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 moon mission into the Vehicle Assembly Building Tuesday for stacking on top of the Space Launch System.” The Orion spacecraft was rolled “into the iconic assembly building around 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) Tuesday.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

Starliner Valve Investigation Focuses on Moisture Interaction with Propellant

Space News reported that The Boeing Company continues to investigate what caused 13 of the CST-100 Starliner’s valves to stick in the closed position before its scrubbed test flight in early August. The leading cause for the valve failure “is that nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) propellant, leaking through the valve, reacted with moisture and created nitric oxide, corroding the valve.”
Full Story (Space News)

NASA’s Lucy to Visit Eight Asteroids

The AP reports that NASA “is set to launch a series of spacecraft to visit and even bash some of the solar system’s most enticing space rocks.” The Lucy probe is to launch this weekend “on a 12-year cruise to swarms of asteroids out near Jupiter – unexplored time capsules from the dawn of the solar system.” A month later, the Dart impactor will strike a double-asteroid’s moonlet in an attempt to change its orbit.
Full Story (Associated Press)