Tag: spacecraft

Silent Barker Spacecraft Expected to Begin Operation in 2025

Aviation Week reports, “The first spacecraft from a joint U.S. Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) program to conduct space situational awareness are close to entering operation next year. The Silent Barker spacecraft were launched Sept. 10, 2023, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Since then, the satellites have been undergoing the test-and-checkout phase, which is nearing completion, U.S. Space Command chief Gen. Stephen Whiting told reporters Dec. 11.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

SLIM Moon Lander Powers Back on

Space News reports that Japan’s SLIM moon lander “has resumed operations more than a week after its imperfect yet historic lunar landing.” The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) “confirmed contact had been reestablished with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft late Jan. 28.” The development “comes just days ahead of a likely mission-ending sunset.” The large SUV-sized spacecraft “was forced to power down just two over hours after landing Jan. 19 due to its solar cell not generating electricity.” SLIM finally “powered up again as the position of the sun in the sky changed, finally illuminated SLIM’s solar cell.”
Full Story (Space News)

JAXA’s ‘Moon Sniper’ Missed its Mark

CNN reports that Japan’s space agency “said Thursday that its ‘moon sniper’ robotic explorer landed 55 meters (165 feet) from its target on the lunar surface last week, calling it a ‘significant achievement’ despite problems during the landing that put the mission in jeopardy.” The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission “reached the moon’s surface just after 10:20 a.m. ET (12:20 a.m. Saturday Japan Standard Time) on January 19, according to data shared by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.” During its descent, the spacecraft experienced “some kind of anomaly” at a “distance of around 50 meters (165 feet) above the surface, JAXA officials said in a news conference.” The thrust from “one of the main engines was lost as a result, forcing the spacecraft to land on its nose with its ‘main engine facing upward and in an almost vertical position.’”
Full Story (CNN)

Japan Becomes Fifth Country to Land a Spacecraft on the Moon

ABC News reports “Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon” when one of its uncrewed spacecrafts “successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface early Saturday.”  Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down within the Shioli crater at 10:20 a.m. Eastern, Jan. 19 (12:20 a.m. JST, Jan. 20). JAXA confirmed the successful landing approximately two hours later. Japanese space officials “said the craft’s solar panel had failed to generate power, which could shorten its activity on the moon.”  Japan joins the US, China, the Soviet Union, and India as all having made it to the lunar surface.
Full Story (ABC News)

Russia Launches One-man, Two-woman Crew to Space Station

CBS News reports, “Two days after a rare last-second launch abort, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off Saturday on a flight to the International Space Station, carrying two short-duration crew members and a NASA astronaut bound for a six-month tour of duty.” The Soyuz is expected to catch up with the space station Monday, “moving in for docking at a port on the station’s Earth-facing Prichal module at 11:09 a.m. local time.”
Full Story (CBS News)

NASA Spacecraft Continues its 17-Year Journey

The Washington Post reports that for nearly 17 years, NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-A spacecraft “drifted through space on a lonely mission.” It traveled “around the sun far ahead of Earth, conducting groundbreaking research on the solar system’s star.” Like many NASA spacecraft, STEREO-A “outlived its mission life span of two years.” Instead, it “traveled further and further away from Earth on a journey that became fraught with uncertainty as it passed behind the sun in 2015, temporarily severing contact with NASA.” The same year, the agency “lost contact with STEREO-A’s sibling vessel, STEREO-B, which was traveling a similar path.” But STEREO-A kept going. And its orbital trajectory “around the sun meant that it had a chance to do what very few other NASA spacecraft could: eventually make its way back toward home.”
Full Story (Washington Post)

Ispace Details Moon Lander Crash

The Hill reports that Tokyo-based ispace “confirmed Wednesday that its HAKUTO-R spacecraft, which was scheduled to make a historic lunar landing on Tuesday, likely crashed into the Moon’s surface.” The lander entered the moon’s orbit on March 21 and prepared to land on the lunar surface. However, during the lander’s descent, ground control lost communication with the craft, and the team “determined it was in a vertical position as it approached the lunar surface, however, no data was ever received that indicated a successful touchdown.” Company officials released a statement that reads, “Based on the data, it has been determined that there is a high probability that the lander eventually made a hard landing on the moon’s surface.”
Full Story (The Hill)

NASA Attempts to Regain Control of CAPSTONE

The Daily Mail (UK) reports that NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft as of last Thursday “experienced an anomaly that put the probe in a protective ‘safe mode.’” The probe, “which is around the size of a microwave oven and weighs just 55 pounds, has also been experiencing temperature issues and had problems generating power from its solar panels.” Ground teams “are now trying to stabilise the motion of the small scouting satellite and rescue the mission.”
Full Story (Daily Mail)

Sierra Space Bolsters Spaceplane Fleet Via In-House Mission Control

Space News reports, “The long-awaited inaugural cargo flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane has been delayed to no earlier than May 2025, pushing back a launch previously expected this year. In the meantime, Sierra Space is moving forward with its second cargo spaceplane, Reverence, alongside work on an array of inflatable habitats and other structures to meet growing demand for in-space infrastructure.”
Full Story (Space News)

Olivier L. de Weck Appointed Editor-in-Chief of AIAA’s Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

December 21, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected Olivier L. de Weck, Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an AIAA Fellow, as its new editor-in-chief for the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets (JSR). He succeeds Professor Hanspeter Schaub of the University of Colorado Boulder, who has served as editor-in-chief for JSR since 2017. De Weck, the 11th editor-in-chief for JSR, will begin this new role in January 2022.

The AIAA Publications Committee oversees the search and selection effort for new editors-in-chief. This year’s search committee was led by Dr. Jacqueline A. O’Connor, Pennsylvania State University, Publications Committee member. De Weck was chosen from among a group of highly qualified candidates.

“The field of spacecraft engineering and astronautics is more dynamic today than it has ever been with novel technologies, methods, launches, and mission concepts emerging daily. JSR is a trusted source of truth for the industry. It is a great honor to have been chosen as its next editor,” said de Weck.

De Weck holds a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Systems from MIT. As a professor at MIT, he serves as co-director of the MIT Small Satellite Center and faculty co-director of the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership (MIT GEL) Program and the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program (MIT UPOP). His research interests include systems engineering, astronautics and space logistics, and multidisciplinary design optimization. He studies how new technologies and designs enable the creation of complex systems such as vehicles, missions, and industrial ecosystems, how they evolve, and how they can be optimized over time. He also is the co-founder of Intelligent Action, Inc., and was also senior vice president for Technology Planning and Roadmapping at Airbus (2017-2018).

De Weck previously held positions as an associate editor of JSR (2007-2012) and as the editor-in-chief of Wiley’s INCOSE journal Systems Engineering (2013-2018). He has authored or co-authored four books and over 400 scholarly publications, and won 13 best paper awards since 2004. His book Engineering Systems: Meeting Human Needs in a Complex Technological World was the 2012 bestseller at the MIT Press. De Weck’s past honors include the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising and the MIT Teaching with Digital Technology Award.

JSR is devoted to reporting advancements in the science and technology associated with spacecraft and tactical and strategic missile systems, including subsystems, applications, missions, environmental interactions, and space sciences.

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

NASA Posts RFI for ISS Deorbit Spacecraft

GovCon Wire reports that NASA “expects the International Space Station to conclude operations in late 2030 and is seeking information from potential industry sources of spacecraft that will work to deorbit the government-funded laboratory.” A request for information “posted Friday on SAM.gov says the deorbit vehicle should attach to the Node 2 Forward port one year before the controlled reentry of ISS into an unpopulated region.”
Full Story (GovCon Wire)

CAPSTONE Reaches Lunar Orbit

In what UPI describes as a “major win” for NASA, the CAPSTONE CubeSat probe “arrived in orbit around the moon Sunday night.” NASA “made the announcement Monday amid a flurry of test missions in recent months that set the stage for astronauts to return to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years.” CAPSTONE “was disabled for several weeks after a faulty engine burn sent it careening into outer space on Sept. 8.”
Full Story (UPI)

Assembly on Dream Chaser Spacecraft Continues

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports the launch of the first Dream Chaser spacecraft could take place by this time next year. The first Dream Chaser, named Tenacity, “has undergone aeroshell and wing deployment system installation at the company’s headquarters in Colorado, shown in a time-lapse video posted to the company’s YouTube channel on Tuesday.” Dream Chaser “will join SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for bringing cargo to the International Space Station, but the company is already planning to build out a human-rated version that could become one of the players to launch crew to the ISS or other private space stations, including their own, this decade.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

DARPA Asking Private Industry for Lunar Orbiter Capable of Searching for Water

SPACE reports, “DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is looking for a private company to build spacecraft to orbit the moon and search for water. A program solicitation that DARPA released on April 14 outlines the plan for the LASSO (Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter) program, with the goal of developing a system of one or several affordable satellites.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Greek Entrepreneur Hopes to Build Giant Net to Catch Incoming Cargo on the Moon

SPACE reports, “Greece-based entrepreneur has a unique idea for moon-bound deliveries: using a giant net to catch packages launched from lunar orbit. Although there are still many hurdles to clear, the system would address many of the key challenges for moon-bound deliveries and could aid in the future mining of lunar resources. Right now, lunar landers are costly, especially when they fail. Rather than using landers for deliveries to the moon’s surface, Charis Kosmas has developed a concept called the Momentum Absorption Catcher for Express Deliveries on Non-Atmospheric Somata (MACEDONAS).”
Full Story (SPACE)

ESA Sets Record with Deep-space Laser Link to NASA’s Psyche Probe Using Altechna Optics

Military Aerospace reports, “The European Space Agency (ESA) has completed a deep-space optical communications campaign by sending a laser signal to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Psyche spacecraft more than 186 million miles from Earth, using optical components provided by Altechna. Altechna, a global custom optics manufacturer based in Vilnius, Lithuania, supplied 3-inch mirrors and windows for the Ground Laser Transmitter system, which shaped and stabilized the laser beam. The components maintained beam quality under heavy power use and atmospheric interference.”
Full Story (Military Aerospace)

Japan’s HTV-X Spacecraft Arrives at International Space Station

Ars Technica reports, “A cargo ship from Japan pulled alongside the International Space Station on Wednesday, maneuvering close enough for the lab’s robotic arm to reach out and grab it as the vehicles soared 260 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean. ‘HTV capture complete,’ Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui radioed from the ISS. ‘I just want to say congratulations to all teams and people involved in this mission. Also, thank you very much for your hard work and support for the first HTV-X mission.’”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

MAVEN Telemetry Reveals Changes to Spacecraft Orbit and Rotation

Space News reports, “New analysis suggests that problems with NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter may be more serious than a simple communications glitch. NASA said Dec. 9 that it lost contact with the spacecraft three days earlierafter MAVEN failed to resume communications following a pass behind Mars as viewed from Earth. At the time, the agency provided few details and did not indicate the problem extended beyond the spacecraft’s communications systems.”
Full Story (Space News)