Rachael Zisk
Astrobotic Tests Lunar Wireless Charging System
If your phone dies on the Moon, Astrobotic has you covered. Yesterday, the Pittsburgh-based company announced it has completed testing on a wireless charging system that can prep a variety of lunar surface infrastructure for the two-week lunar night. The lunar colony: Big plans are in the works for a lunar and cislunar economy in…
Sierra Space Announces Astronaut Training Program
Sierra Space announced on Tuesday that it will begin its own astronaut training program, led by Janet Kavandi, the company’s president and a retired NASA astronaut. As Sierra edges closer to the debut flight of Dream Chaser and, later on, the buildout of Orbital Reef, it’s thinking in advance about future LEO staffing needs. Dream…
Northrop Grumman and Partners Demo Laser Communications for SDA
Northrop Grumman ($NOC) has completed a ground demonstration of a laser communication system that will be used in its constellation for the Space Development Agency’s mesh, space-based security network. The defense prime also revealed that Mynaric ($MYNA) and Innoflight are providing the optical inter-satellite links and security systems, respectively, to support the satellite network’s secure…
SFL Performs Passive Deorbiting with Drag Sails
Yesterday, the Toronto-based Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) announced that it has achieved a major milestone in debris removal: successfully deorbiting a spacecraft without the use of propulsion. The 24-year-old laboratory used a drag sail to deorbit a nanosatellite within five years from a ~688km altitude, ~178 years more quickly than it would have without the…
FAA Releases Starship Environmental Assessment Finding of No Significant Impact
After a long and arduous review process, the FAA has finally released its environmental assessment of SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy launch site in Boca Chica. The agency found that the site would have no significant impact on the local environment—and that SpaceX is essentially cleared to proceed, but with some caveats. SpaceX will need to take…
NASA Delays Psyche Mission
NASA has delayed its Psyche mission, which was previously meant to launch on a Falcon Heavy in early August to begin its journey to study the eponymous asteroid. Another NASA mission, Janus, is hitching a ride on Psyche’s rocket, but the launch delay poses a problem—the two Janus probes may not be able to meet…
NASA OIG Releases Second Mobile Launcher Report
The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) published its report on the agency’s management of a second mobile launch tower for the SLS mega-moon rocket—and the forecast isn’t looking good. Right now, the OIG anticipates that the project will cost more than twice what was originally budgeted and will be completed ~2.5 years behind schedule.…
JWST Sustains Micrometeoroid Impact
Earlier this year, we held our breaths for weeks as the super-powerful and highly delicate JWST made a galactic journey a million miles away to its final orbit and unfolded all its individual components. The observatory had 344 single points of failure in its deployment phase. In January, NASA announced that the telescope had fully…
France Signs Artemis Accords
France has signed the Artemis Accords, joining 19 other signatories in an agreement to maintain safe and cooperative operations in space. About the accords: In 2020, NASA kickstarted an initiative to foster international cooperation and set some ground rules for spacefaring before humans returned to the moon. Nations who sign the Artemis Accords agree to…
Sony Opens Laser Communications Business
Japanese communications and entertainment giant Sony has opened the doors to a new business: Sony Space Communications. The new San Mateo, CA-based business plans to begin developing laser optical communications tech for small satellites in LEO. This isn’t Sony’s first venture into space tech. Since 2016, the company has worked with JAXA on optical communications…
Satellite Imagery Illuminates 100 Days of War in Ukraine
Tomorrow marks 100 days since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Over the course of the last few months, satellite imagery has served as the world’s window into the destruction and tolls of war, providing vital intelligence that the Ukrainian and allied governments and humanitarian groups have used to defend the country and ease human…
NASA Awards Commercial Spacesuit Contracts
NASA has named the long-awaited designers who will build the next generation of spacesuits. Axiom Space and a team led by Collins Aerospace have won the agency’s Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract, and will dress the next astronauts to return to the lunar surface. The background: NASA’s astronauts need new clothes for a new…
