OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dicit:

European Organisation of Telecommunications by Satellite S.A. (EUTELSAT) is a European satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world’s third largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat’s satellites are used for broadcasting nearly 7,000 television stations, of which 1,400 are in HD, and 1,100 radio stations to over 274 million cable and satellite homes. They also serve requirements for TV contribution services, corporate networks, mobile communications, Internet backbone connectivity and broadband access for terrestrial, maritime and in-flight applications.

The Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) is a spacecraft concept proposed by ViviSat. ViviSat was a 50/50 joint venture of aerospace firms U.S. Space and ATK created in 2010 for the purpose of designing, producing and operating the MEV-program. The purpose of the MEV-spacecraft is to operate as a small-scale in-space satellite-refueling spacecraft. Since the original conception of the MEV-program by the ViviSat-company, the Vivisat-venture has been shut down and the company dissolved by ATK (one of the partners in Vivisat) in April of 2016. The MEV-program has continued as a solo-project of ATK. ATK has been since purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018, and is now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The MEV-program continues under Northrop Grumman.

Video Credit: Roscosmos

NASA dicit:

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Hazzaa Ali Almansoori from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched safely for their mission aboard the International Space Station on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft at 9:57 a.m. EDT. [September 25, 2019]

The crew began their six-hour trip to the orbital laboratory during which they will orbit Earth four times.

Video Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

NASA dicit:

The SpaceX CrewDragon spacecraft parachutes successfully deploy during the latest development test. This test simulated a pad abort, where the vehicle is tumbling at low altitude before parachute deploy, validating SpaceX’s parachute models and margins. As a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX has been developing and testing the Crew Dragon parachute system, which is comprised of two drogue parachutes and four main ring-sail parachutes—the same type of parachutes that have been commonly and successfully used for human spaceflight in the past.

Video Credit: NASA

NASA dicit:

A terrain relative navigation system developed by Draper of Cambridge, Massachusetts, will be tested on a Masten Space Systems Xodiac rocket. The flight is made possible with support from NASA’s Flight Opportunities and Game Changing Development programs. The Draper technology will eventually be ported directly into a NASA-developed descent landing computer for additional testing.

This video shows one of a series of tether tests of the navigation system mounted on the rocket. Tether tests like this ensure the rocket and navigation technology are communicating before the actual suborbital launch and landing.

NASA and commercial partners are relying on the most advanced technology to upgrade navigation for future robotic and crewed missions to the Moon. The agency is developing a suite of precision landing technologies for possible use on future commercial lunar landers.

Video Credit: NASA

Wikipedia dicit:

The construction of the initial test article—the “Starship test flight rocket” “test hopper,” “Starship Hopper” or “Starhopper” —was begun in early December 2018 and the external frame and skin was complete by 10 January 2019. Constructed outside in the open on a SpaceX property just two miles (3.2 km) from Boca Chica Beach in South Texas, the external body of the rocket rapidly came together in less than six weeks. Originally thought by watchers of construction at the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site to be the initial construction of a large water tower, the stainless steel vehicle was built by welders and construction workers in more of a shipyard form of construction than traditional aerospace manufacturing. The full Starhopper vehicle is 9 meters (30 ft) in diameter and was originally 39 meters (128 ft) tall in January 2019. Subsequent wind damage to the nose cone of the vehicle resulted in a SpaceX decision to scrap the nose section, and fly the low-velocity hopper tests with no nose cone, resulting in a much shorter test vehicle.

Video Credit: SpaceX

Wikipedia dicit:

Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) is a series of communications satellites operated by the United States Air Force Space Command. They will be used to relay secure communications for the Armed Forces of the United States, the British Armed Forces, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces and the Australian Defence Force. The system will consist of six satellites in geostationary orbits, five of which have been launched. AEHF is backward compatible with, and will replace, the older Milstar system and will operate at 44 GHz Uplink (EHF band) and 20 GHz Downlink (SHF band). AEHF systems is a joint service communications system that will provide survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. It is the follow-on to the Milstar system. AEHF systems’ uplinks and crosslinks will operate in the extremely high frequency (EHF) range and downlinks in the super high frequency (SHF) range.

AEHF satellites use a large number of narrow spot beams directed towards the Earth to relay communications to and from users. Crosslinks between the satellites allow them to relay communications directly rather than via a ground station. The satellites are designed to provide jam-resistant communications with a low probability of interception. They incorporate frequency-hopping radio technology, as well as phased array antennas that can adapt their radiation patterns in order to block out potential sources of jamming.

Video Credit: ULA