Spaceleaks daily: Mar 16, 2021

The newsletter for space professionals

Spaceleaks daily: Mar 16, 2021

Worldwide:

• City under pressure to invest into UK space industry
• US astronaut launching next month may spend year in space
• Paraguay’s first satellite enters Earth orbit
• ISRO to offload most activities to industry, enhance focus on advanced research
• Canadian Space Agency release new lunar letter of interest solicitation

Business:

• Maxar Technologies announces launch of common stock offering of $400 million
• SEAKR Engineering wins $60.5 million DARPA contract for Blackjack Program
• Relativity Space wins responsive launch contract
• Kratos provides sounding rocket systems, avionics for Space Force experiment
• Air Force enlists Viasat to help integrate commercial and military satellite networks
• British startup FocalPoint raises €7 million to accelerate roll-out of high accuracy satellite positioning software
• Calian chosen by MDA to provide satellite flight operations support to the Canadian Space Agency
• Stefanie Tompkins appointed 23rd DARPA director

Technology:

• Omnispace demonstrates 5G satellite capability with U.S. Navy & Marine Corps
• Skoltech and MIT researchers identify optimal human landing system architectures to land on the Moon
• NASA partners with companies to test satellite fixtures for robotic grappling

Science:

• From Vitamin C to Spinach: researching ways to protect astronaut cardiovascular health from space radiation

Reports:

• NSR: finally time for optical satcom?

Education:

• NASA honors Navajo language on Mars with Perseverance rover rock names

The ASCEND 16 March Summit: Next-Generation Workforce will be today 1000 – 1400 hrs ET USA.

NASA will host a virtual symposium exploring rise of commercial space Wednesday, March 17, through Friday, March 19, with a final session Thursday, March 25.

This is a letter from House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Rep. Babin to NASA Administrator Jurczyk regarding Europa Clipper and SLS launch issues.