#HELSINKI — China’s human #spaceflight agency says the country’s commercial rocket companies could launch low-cost cargo missions in the future.

The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) opened a call for proposals for a low-cost cargo transportation system to supply the Tiangong space station in May this year. Four from a total of 10 submitted proposals meeting requirements were selected to proceed to the detailed design study phase in September.

Despite submissions from commercial companies, the chosen proposals came from entities belonging to state-owned enterprises.

#WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force is exploring the use of small #geosynchronous #satellites to enhance military communications networks — either through purchased commercial services or government-owned constellations.

“We’re trying to leverage new capabilities from the commercial industry,” Clare Hopper, chief of the Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office, said Oct. 19 at the annual MilSat Symposium in Mountain View, California.

Hopper said the Space Force is interested in procuring maneuverable small satellites that can deliver connectivity from geosynchronous Earth orbit.

#Spacenews, #HELSINKI — La #Chine a ajouté samedi soir à sa série de satellites de télédétection #Yunhai un lancement depuis le désert de Gobi. Une fusée Longue Marche 2D a décollé du centre de lancement de satellites de Jiuquan à 20h54 (heure locale). Est, 14 octobre (0054 UTC, 15 octobre). (CASC) a confirmé le succès du lancement en une heure, révélant également que la charge utile de la mission sera Yunhai-1 (04). L’Académie de technologie des vols spatiaux de Shanghai du #CASC a fourni le lanceur de la mission et développé le satellite Yunhai-1 (04). Les médias d’État chinois décrivent le #satellite comme fournissant « des services de détection des environnements atmosphérique, marin et spatial, de prévention et d’atténuation des catastrophes, ainsi que d’expérimentations scientifiques ». Ceci est une description généralement utilisée du vaisseau spatial Yunhai.

#Spacenews, #WASHINGTON — A #NASA spacecraft is finally on its way to a metallic main belt asteroid after a successful Falcon Heavy launch Oct. 13.

The #SpaceX Falcon Heavy #rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:19 a.m. Eastern. Its payload, #NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, separated from the upper stage 62 minutes after liftoff. The launch was the eighth for the Falcon Heavy but the first by that rocket for #NASA.

In a statement, #NASA said controllers established two-way communications with the #spacecraft at 11:50 a.m. Eastern, confirming the spacecraft was in good condition as it goes through initial post-launch commissioning.

Psyche is a Discovery-class planetary science mission whose destination is an object in the main asteroid belt also called Psyche. That asteroid is made primarily of metal and could be the core of a larger object whose outer layers were stripped away.

#Spacenews, #Startup #GuardianSat gets research grant for #satellite self-defense technology.
The company developed a system to “detect orbital debris, track potential collision threats, and autonomously adjust the satellite’s course to prevent accidents.”
#WASHINGTON — The startup GuardianSat announced Oct. 12 it won a grant from the National Science Foundation’s America’s Seed Fund to advance the company’s technology designed to protect satellites from collisions with debris objects in space.

#GuardianSat, based in Delaware, won a Small #Business Technology Transfer Phase 1 research contract worth about $273,000. In addition the company will get technical support from the Aerospace Corp. America’s Seed Fund invests up to $200 million a year in promising startups.

The company developed a debris-avoidance system for satellites, based on technology patented by one of its founders, Robert Briskman, who is a co-founder of Sirius XM #satellite radio.