Challenges | Campaigns | Solicitations
Build a model to automatically analyze mass spectrometry data collected for Mars exploration to help scientists understand the past habitability of Mars. $30,000 in prizes. Closes April 18, 2022. [Forward]
Create a system that can detect hazards from high altitudes to facilitate a spacecraft’s landing in the dark. Up to $650,000 to each winning team. Closes May 5, 2022. [Forward]
The primary goal of this challenge is to create actionable design concepts for ash removal from a trash-to-gas reactor in microgravity. $30,000 in total prizes. Closes May 12, 2022. [Forward]
This challenge seeks to explore if recycling space assets (sections of rockets, satellites) can be cost-effective versus launching new materials into space. $55,000 in prizes. Closes May 27, 2022. [Forward]
Launch to space on the New Shepard rocket. Flights are 11 minutes, and passengers pass the Kármán Line reaching 3x the speed of sound. [Forward]
Virgin Galactic is taking reservations for suborbital flights ($450,000 total ticket price, $150,000 deposit). They expect to begin commercial human suborbital missions before the end of 2022. [Forward]
Book your six-hour voyage on Spaceship Neptune now for 2025 and see Earth from space. Book an individual seat or a full 8 person capsule. $125,000 per space explorer. [Forward]
XPRIZE Carbon Removal is aimed at tackling climate change and advancing space exploration. Teams will create and demonstrate solutions that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans. [Forward]
Events
The Keystone Space Collaborative inaugural conference will attract, grow, and solidify the current and next generation of commercial space businesses in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. April 20-21, 2022. [Forward]
The inaugural Military Space Disruptive Technology Conference and Exhibition will discuss critical topics like AI, agile launch, small satellite technology, and robotics. London, UK. Tickets: $1499. April 25-26, 2022. [Forward]
The CubeSat Developers Workshop is an annual 3-day global small-satellite conference hosted by CubeSat at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Tickets range from $60-$600. April 26–28, 2022. [Forward]
Join the brightest minds in the space industry at SPACEtalks 3.0. Expect to hear powerful presentations, network, and get involved in discussions regarding the industry’s future. April 27, 2022. [Forward]
Speakers will discuss new technologies and services being implemented to close the business case for the emerging space economy. Join students, academics, and industry professionals. $10 – $175. April 29, 2022. [Forward]
This no-cost event highlights how CADENCE can support your organization. Topics include how to access California Employment Training Panel dollars, how to access student interns, and more. April 29, 2022. [Forward]
This conference will explore mission concepts, discuss emerging technologies, and foster outside the box thinking that will be critical to future interplanetary small satellite missions. May 2-3, 2022. [Forward]
Space issues to be examined include engineering, healthcare, law, and space science. Montreal, Canada. May 3-4, 2022. [Forward]
Keynote speakers will detail the current state-of-the-art in spacecraft impact tolerance, collision avoidance, debris prevention, and debris remediation. Workshop will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland and online. May 4–5, 2022. [Forward]
Conference will discuss the operationalisation of space, the evolution of UK space command, and more. In-person tickets: £695+VAT. Virtual tickets: £99+VAT. IET, Savoy Place, London. May 10-11, 2022. [Forward]
Two virtual workshops will review current and future mission concepts, including applications, science objectives, mission design, and more for RF remote sensing instruments. Ticket range: €125-€150. May 10-12, 2022. [Forward]
A virtual symposium with discussions on the problems of design, fabrication, test, and operational use of aerospace mechanisms. Early bird tickets: $200. After April 15, tickets: $250. May 11-13, 2022. [Forward]
This symposium will cover technical sessions (mission and system analysis), applications (Earth observation, science, telecommunication, and navigation), and more. Standard ticket: €900. Student ticket: €400. Vilamoura, Portugal. May 15-22, 2022. [Forward]
AbiSciCon brings the astrobiology community together to share research and plan for the future. In-person tickets: $350-$575. Virtual tickets: $240-$375. Atlanta, Georgia. May 16-20, 2022. [Forward]
Various topics with a focus on advancing a human and robotic presence on Mars. Ticket range: $30-$360. Washington, DC. May 17-19, 2022. [Forward]
Sessions will focus on multiple areas of space development including Moon and Mars settlement and the commercialization of space. Ticket range: $75-$400. Arlington, Virginia from May 27-29, 2022. [Forward]
// FYI
Space Ecosystem | Startups | Deals
Impulse Space, founded by Tom Mueller, the first employee at SpaceX, raised $20 million in a round led by Founders Fund. Impulse Space will provide "last mile" delivery services. [Forward]
The new round of funding was led by venture firms Lux Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. The funding will go to building largely automated factories to transform the aerospace supply chain. [Forward]
Synspective aims to establish a constellation of 30 SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellites by 2026 that enable wide-area, high-frequency Earth observation. The round was led by Sompo Japan Insurance, among others. [Forward]
The funding will go to developing nanosatellite technologies needed for building an Earth-to-moon communication system and a multi-functional smallsat constellation. Investors include Incubate Fund and Real Tech Fund, among others. [Forward]
Space Exploration | Development
The delay is linked to a faulty helium check valve in the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS). The rehearsal will be modified with "minimal propellant operations" on the upper stage. [Forward]
Image Credit: REUTERS/Thom Baur
The rendezvous came about 21 hours after the four-man team representing Axiom Space lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX. [Forward]
Amazon secured the rights to 83 launches from United Launch Alliance, Arianespace, and Blue Origin. The lower bound of the value of this new deal is around $10 billion. [Forward]
A Sikorsky S-92 helicopter will attempt to retrieve the first stage of an “Electron rocket by snagging a hook onto the parachute line. The 14-day launch window starts April 19th. [Forward]
Image Credit: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin says the technical data for the Mission Augmentation Port (MAP) can be used by satellite manufacturers to develop their own docking adapters. [Forward]
Since their early rockets couldn’t house guidance systems, Japan designed a launch system that placed rockets at the correct angle to begin a gravity turn to take them to space. [Forward]
Astronomy | Astrophysics | Cosmology
The meteor’s high speed relative to the average speeds of our neighboring stars suggests it could have been ejected from deep within another planetary system, relatively close to its star. [Forward]
Gravitational lensing has magnified an object that was present less than a billion years after the Big Bang. It’s either a lone star or a compact system of 2-3 stars. [Forward]