The Space Roundup - Oct 3rd, 2021

Hello, hello, my dear space lovers!

Get ready for yet another week of space awesomeness!

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3, 2, 1, zero! Lift-off!

Asteroids: there we go!

The most exciting mission yet to explore asteroids is almost ready to launch! LUCY is launching on October 16th, prepared for a 12-year mission to learn about how planets form by studying the Trojan asteroids that are “close” to Jupiter. I can’t wait to see all we’ll learn from this beauty. Go, Lucy!

Space awesomeness on Earth

This week we’ve known that Nanoracks (a commercial company with a strong experience in space agriculture, sending seeds to the ISS for tests and experiments) and the United Arab Emirates have partnered up to adapt space agriculture technology for use in inhospitable regions on earth. Earth deserts and deep-space have some commonalities and this initiative aims to get space tech repurposed to bring needed food to very challenging regions of our planet. I love to see space-related tech being used for good purposes on Earth.

Commercial hyperactivity

Blue Origin announced the next commercial flight of the New Shepard is going to be next week, on October 12th. Interestingly, it’s going to have the oldest person to ever go to space: William Shatner. The 90-year-old actor, known as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, will be onboard. They are planning this launch in the middle of a real shit storm: safety allegation, sexism, toxic workplace… wow.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been a key actor this week: first, they gave Virgin Galactic permission to resume commercial flights after an issue during past July’s flight, and they plan to do so by mid-October. Then, they extended the environmental review of the Spaceship program to November 1st, sadly delaying SpaceX’s plans to test this monster rocket.

Axiom-1, the first all-commercial mission to the ISS now has a formal date: February 21st!

Japan and Vietnam: scrub!

This week JAXA scrubbed its planned EPSILON mission due to a problem with the ground station. It was a pity and I hope they launch soon as, apart from several Japanese satellites, it carried the first satellite ever built by Vietnam: the NANODRAGON.

South Korea to the Moon!

Next year, South Korea will be flying KPLO (Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter): its first deep-space satellite mission to the Moon. This satellite will travel onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its mission consist of exploring the moon, helping the community learn more about resources available. It’s carrying ShadowCam, a very sensitive camera capable of imaging the shadowed craters to see whether there’s water ice in them.

…and China too

During a major airshow this week, China has been showcasing a series of elements that will be the foundation for their plans to send taikonauts and long-term habitats to the lunar surface. A massive crew vehicle, a lunar lander, and several launchers.

The human lunar landing project hasn’t been officially approved yet, but it might come with the 15th Five-year plan (2026-2030). We’ll need to wait for more information then.

Pic of the week

No, no! This is not the Moon! This is a picture from Mercury sent a couple of hours ago by the European-Japanese mission “BepiColombo”. It was taken just 200km from the surface and this is the first of six planned flybys to the planet. Launched in 2018, the mission aims to perform a very comprehensive study of the planet.

Launches of the week!

• Tuesday Oct. 5th - Soyuz • ISS 65S - A Russian mission to shot a movie! :)
  

And that’s it for this week!

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Cheers from sunny Spain!

Juan, the Curious Astronaut