Other News A European Space Agency initiative is working to improve the safe disposal of satellites, one component at a time. The ESA Clean Space initiative was launched in 2012 to consider the environmental impact of the agency's missions across their entire life cycle, with a focus on developing satellite components that can safely break up on reentry. That has included lab testing of satellite components and even a complete cubesat, placing them in a plasma wind chamber to simulate reentry. In addition to promoting space debris mitigation, the ESA Clean Space initiative is also exploring green satellite design, in-orbit servicing and active debris removal solutions. [SpaceNews] Astroscale has shipped a debris removal technology demonstration satellite for launch next year. The End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration (ELSA-d) satellite was shipped from the company's Tokyo headquarters to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch in March. Astroscale will use ELSA-d to test active debris removal technologies that the company plans to offer commercially. [Astroscale] Axiom Space will build a new headquarters and production facility for its commercial space station at Spaceport Houston. Axiom announced Tuesday it reached an agreement with the Houston Airport System to build a 14-acre campus at the spaceport, also known as Ellington Airport. That will serve as the company's headquarters as well as where it produces components of its planned commercial space station and trains people who will fly there. Terms of the deal, including any financial support from the city, are still being worked out, but construction could begin in 2021 and the headquarters opened in 2023. [Houston Chronicle] Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, is not happy about a U.S. decision to effectively block exports of sensitive technologies to Russian companies. The Commerce Department said Monday it was placing 43 Russia companies, along with 58 Chinese ones, on a list of "military end users," requiring U.S. companies to get an export license before shipping technologies to them. Among the companies listed is Progress Rocket Space Center, which produces the Soyuz rocket. Rogozin criticized the move, sugesting it could threaten the ability of NASA to launch any astronauts on Soyuz vehicles in the future. [Ars Technica] A former NASA deputy administrator will be the next director of the MIT Media Lab. The university said Tuesday it selected Dava Newman to be the next director of the center, effective in July. Newman served as NASA deputy administrator from 2015 to 2017, taking leave from her post as a professor in MIT's aeronautics and astronautics department. The Media Lab works on a wide range of projects, including some related to space, but has been mired in controversy because its former director had close ties with, and accepted donations from, Jeffrey Epstein. [Boston Globe] Note: FIRST UP will not publish Thursday and Friday because of the Christmas holidays. We will be back on Monday. |
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