#WASHINGTON — Gravitics, a startup developing modules for commercial space stations, will use its technologies for tactically responsive space applications for the U.S. Space Force.

The company announced April 25 it won a $1.7 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the Space Force. The contract, a “direct to phase 2” SBIR award, is in partnership with Space Systems Command’s Space Safari Program Office.

Gravitics, based near Seattle, is developing modules for use on future commercial space stations. One concept, called StarMax, is a cylindrical module with an aluminum full 7.6 meters in diameter and offers 400 cubic meters of volume, about 40% of the volume of the entire International Space Station

#WASHINGTON — A #NASA Mars smallsat mission is slated to launch in late September on the first flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, assuming the vehicle is ready in time.

In a presentation at a meeting of a planetary protection committee of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) in London April 24, Nick Benardini, NASA’s planetary protection officer, listed a Sept. 29 date for the launch of Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission, a pair of smallsats that will go into orbit around Mars to measure the interaction of the planet’s magnetosphere with the solar wind.

#Nicaragua signs up to China’s #ILRS moon program

#HELSINKI — #China’s latest crew of three astronauts arrived at the Tiangong space station Thursday following launch from Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert.

The Shenzhou-18 spacecraft completed rendezvous and docking with Tiangong’s radial docking port at 3:32 p.m. Eastern (1932 UTC), April 25, China’s human spaceflight agency announced shortly after the event.

The Shenzhou-18 astronauts—commander Ye Guangfu and rookies Li Cong and Li Guangsu—will soon be greeted aboard Tiangong by the Shenzhou-17 crew upon opening of the hatch.

#HELSINKI — #China is on target to reach its goal of putting its astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade, according to the country’s human spaceflight agency.

Officials with the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) provided a rare update on the crewed lunar program during a press conference at Jiuquan spaceport April 24.

“The program development for major flight products, including the Long March 10 rocket, the Mengzhou crew spacecraft, the lunar lander Lanyue and the lunar landing suits, are all complete,” said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of CMSEO. “Their prototype production and tests are in full swing.”

Chinese officials previously announced a plan to put a pair of astronauts on the moon before 2030. Two Long March 10 lunar variant rockets will separately launch Mengzhou and three astronauts and th

#WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force in early 2023 floated the idea of establishing a “commercial space reserve” that would allow the military to quickly tap private satellite operators during a conflict.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, said the Space Force is in the midst of figuring out how to establish such a commercial reserve, which will require intricate negotiations with satellite operators to hash out binding agreements.

Speaking April 24 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Guetlein said the military’s reliance on private sector contractors during past wars underscores the historical significance of its relationship with industry, and that dynamic that should extend to space operations through the envisioned commercial reserve.

#WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab launched a South Korean smallsat and a #NASA solar sail experiment on the company’s fifth flight of the year April 23.

An #Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 6:32 p.m. Eastern. Liftoff was delayed nearly 20 minutes because of a problem with ground equipment. The rocket’s kick stage, deployed from the upper stage nine minutes after liftoff, carried out a series of maneuvers to deploy its two payloads into different orbits.

The kick stage first moved into a circular orbit at an altitude of 520 kilometers, deploying the NEONSAT-1 spacecraft about 50 minutes after liftoff. The stage then moved into a 1,000-kilometer orbit before deploying the ACS3 satellite one hour and 45 minutes after liftoff.

#NEONSAT-1, the primary

SAN FRANCISCO – The #European Space Agency has approved major changes in the ClearSpace-1 debris-cleanup mission.

Under the new plan approved by ESA’s Space Safety Programme Board, OHB SE of Bremen, Germany, will provide the satellite bus in addition to leading systems integration and launch. Swiss startup ClearSpace will oversee proximity operations and capture of the mission’s new debris target, ESA’s Project for On-Board Autonomy-1 (PROBA-1) satellite.

Originally, the ClearSpace-1 mission was scheduled to capture a Vega rocket payload adapter, Vespa. In August, the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron notified ESA of debris in the vicinity of Vespa, indicating a probable collision

#WASHINGTON — NASA is continuing to refine its response to a decadal survey for biological and physical sciences in space, balancing ambitious science goals with limited budgets.

The decadal survey, released in September, identified 11 key science questions in three themes: adapting to space, living and traveling to space, and probing phenomena hidden by gravity or terrestrial limitations. It also identified two specific major research campaigns for NASA to undertake in those research areas.

In a recent interview, Lisa Carnell, director of NASA’s biological and physical sciences (BPS) division, said the agency is working to analyze and respond to the recommendations in the decadal survey. That includes an ongoing “roadmapping” approach to link programs to key science questions.

#WASHINGTON — #NASA has approved for development a mission to Saturn’s moon Titan despite a cost that has doubled since the agency selected the mission nearly five years ago.

#NASA announced April 16 that the Dragonfly mission had passed its confirmation review. Passing the review allows #Dragonfly, a nuclear-powered rotorcraft that will travel to various locations on Titan to study the moon’s habitability, to move into full-scale development.

The mission went through part of its confirmation review last fall, but the agency said in November that it would defer a final decision on the mission until the spring, after the release of the fiscal year 2025 budget proposal. NASA also announced then that the launch of the mission, previously scheduled for July 2027, had slipped a year to July 2028