News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
NASA has awarded Southwest Research Institute US$3 million to develop a lunar version of its Laser Absorption Spectrometer for Volatiles and Evolved Gas (LASVEGAS) instrument. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020053105
Raytheon Intelligence & Space is conducting a design study for Real Time Imager, or RTI, a geostationary orbit environmental imager, under a contract from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020053106
Based on hot-fire tests of an Expander-cycle Integrated Demonstrator (ETID) that proved the technology and methods last year, ESA, ArianeGroup and DLR German Aerospace Center have built and hot-fire tested a fully additively-manufactured thrust chamber. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052800
Russia expects to launch its first special-purpose satellite to monitor space junk in the near-Earth space in 2027, according to Roskosmos Executive Director for Long-Term Programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052801
Lift-off of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a crewed Dragon capsule was scrubbed today owing to unfavourable weather conditions. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052700
Bankrupt satellite operator OneWeb submitted a modification request to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to increase the number of satellites in its constellation up to 48,000 satellites. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052701
Virgin Orbit said its LauncherOne rocket did ignite during its launch demonstration on 25 May, but this was followed seconds later by an anomaly. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052600
ISS-Reshetnev company will produce two more Meridian-M military communications satellites under a newly-signed contract with the Russian Defence Ministry, a space industry source was quoted as saying. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052601
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract with Airbus for the construction of the third European Service Module (ESM) for Orion, the American crewed spacecraft. The contract is worth around EUR250 million. Some service module systems will be supplied by subcontractor Thales Alenia Space. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052602
Thales Alenia Space and partners announced the launch of PROMISE (PROgrammable MIxed Signal Electronics), a three-year project conducted through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation programme. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020052603