Author: starpathwp-production
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Pixxel Opens New Spacecraft Manufacturing Facility in Bengaluru, India
Pixxel, one of the leaders in innovative hyperspectral earth-imaging technology inaugurated its first Spacecraft Manufacturing Facility “MegaPixxel” in Bengaluru. The new facility, spanning more than 30,000 sq ft, consolidates all satellite manufacturing services, providing a comprehensive Spacecraft Assembly, Integration, and Testing (AIT) facility under one roof. The facility will ensure a streamlined production process from…
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Japan becomes the fifth nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon
The Japanese space agency’s first lunar lander arrived on the the Moon’s surface Friday, but a power system problem threatens to cut short its mission. Japan’s robotic Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission began a 20-minute final descent using two hydrazine-fueled engines to drop out of orbit. After holding to hover at 500 meters…
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Axiom Mission 3 Successfully Launched to the International Space Station
Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), the first all-European commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station, successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Ax-3 crew is now in orbit and the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is anticipated to dock at the space-facing port of…
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Taking stock: Private investment in space companies rebounded in 2023
Private investors pumped $12.5 billion into space companies last year, around 30 percent more than the year before, but still shy of the space investment boom of 2021. This is welcome news for cash-hungry startups in the space sector, but investors are becoming more diligent about where they put their money. This has led to…
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How to watch Ax-3, Axiom’s first all-European commercial astronaut mission
Axiom Mission 3 details Ax-3 liftoff: No earlier than Thursday, January 18, 2024, at 4:49 p.m. ET. Objective: Demonstrate international commercial access to the International Space Station and conduct microgravity research Crew: Michael López-Alegría (Ax-3 Commander), Walter Villadei (Ax-3 Pilot), Alper Gezeravcı (Ax-3 Mission Specialist), and Marcus Wandt (Ax-3 Mission Specialist) Flight hardware: SpaceX Falcon…
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Lockheed Martin Secures Contract for 18 SDA Tranche 2 Satellites
The Space Development Agency has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to build 18 space vehicles as part of its Tranche 2 Tracking Layer constellation. Lockheed Martin will provide 16 wide field-of-view missile warning/missile tracking space vehicles with infrared sensors and two space vehicles with missile defense infrared sensors that can generate fire control-quality tracks to…
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Mynaric Selected by DARPA for Phase 2 of Space-BACN Program
Mynaric one of the leading providers of industrialized, cost-effective, and scalable laser communications products, has been selected as a key development partner for Phase 2 of the Space-based adaptive communications node (Space-BACN) program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA’s Space-BACN program envisions a low-cost, scalable optical communications terminal that could be reconfigured to…
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Viasat Reveals Details of Satellite Navigation Demonstration in UK
Viasat has revealed details of a key demonstration in the United Kingdom in the aviation arena. It has demonstrated a U.K. satellite-based augmentation system (UK SBAS) for the first time, showing how highly accurate GPS data can maximize safety and improve efficiency. The test flight was flown from Cranfield Airport last month using the National…
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Former NASA administrator hates Artemis, wants to party like it’s 2008
On Wednesday, former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, 73, put forward a deferential but determined countenance as he addressed a House subcommittee that was conducting a hearing on NASA’s Artemis Program to return humans to the Moon. “I will be direct,” Griffin said. “In my judgment, the Artemis Program is excessively complex, unrealistically priced, compromises crew…
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Tom Mueller Details Kick-Stage Helios — Designed to Disrupt Launch to GEO
Impulse Space is working to simplify access to Geostationary Orbit (GEO), unveiling a new high-performance kick stage on Wednesday called Helios, designed to take 5 tons from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to GEO in less than a day. Impulse Space is led by CEO and founder Tom Mueller, who was a founding member of SpaceX and…