IAC 2019
Download all four SpaceNews show dailies from the 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC)
The SpaceNews editorial team produced the official Show Daily for the 70th International Astronautical Congress in Washington, Oct. 21-25. The Day 1 issue,, features an IAC curtain raiser on the efforts of NASA's international partners to keep up with the U.S. space agency's lunar ambitions.
NASA confirms plans to send prospecting rover to the moon
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Oct. 25 that the agency would send a robotic rover to the moon in 2022 to look for water ice, confirming plans that had been taking shape for months.
Stopgap funding bill could impair NASA’s lunar ambitions
The prospect of another stopgap funding bill, one that could stretch well into next year, is raising concerns in industry it could slow down work on NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the moon by 2024.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries mulls upgraded H3 rocket variants for lunar missions
As Japan prepares to join NASA’s Artemis lunar program, the country’s largest rocket manufacturer says it could upgrade the H3 rocket debuting next year to deliver cargo to the moon as soon as 2025.
UAE plans to expand astronaut corps
On the heels of the first flight of an Emirati in space, the United Arab Emirates’ space agency expects to soon expand its small corps of astronauts in anticipation of future missions in the next several years.
Firefly agreement with Aerojet offering immediate benefits
A partnership between small launch vehicle company Firefly Aerospace and propulsion developer Aerojet Rocketdyne, highlighted by Firefly’s potential use of Aerojet’s AR1 engine, also has more immediate benefits for the companies.
Virgin Orbit to add extra rocket stage to LauncherOne for interplanetary missions
Virgin Orbit, while preparing for the first flight of its LauncherOne smallsat rocket, is in the process of choosing an engine for a three-stage variant that would be capable of sending payloads to other planets.
NSLComm reports 90 percent success on first cubesat mission
“As a part of the New Space industry I see no reason why I am replacing my laptop every two years but a satellite is replaced every six years,” said Raz Itzhaki, NSLComm CEO and co-founder. “We constantly improve, launch test, improve launch test.”
MILO Institute invites partners to join missions to moon, near-Earth objects
The nonprofit MILO Institute plans to begin revealing at the 2019 International Astronautical Congress some of the universities and government agencies around the world signing onto its plan to share the cost of deep space science missions across multiple organizations.
Capella orders more Addvalue data-relay terminals
WASHINGTON – Addvalue Innovation, a subsidiary of Addvalue Technologies of Singapore, delivered its first commercial Inter-satellite Data Relay System (IDRS) terminal to Capella Space, a San Francisco company developing a constellation of synthe…
New Zealand Space Agency aims for sustainability, agility, collaboration
The New Zealand Space Agency established in 2016 is moving quickly to develop a comprehensive strategy reflecting its priorities including sustainability, agility and collaboration.
Spacebit forms partnership, prepares to send tiny rover to the moon
London-based Spacebit plans to send a rover small enough to explore lava tubes to the moon in 2021 on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander.
How many small launch vehicles are being developed? Too many to track!
Of the 148 small launch vehicles on a popular industry watch list, about 41 “are likely dead,” Carlos Niederstrasser, a Northrop Grumman master systems engineer, said at the 2019 International Astronautical Congress here.
Japanese lunar lander company ispace on schedule for 2021 first mission
Japanese lunar lander company ispace says it’s on track to launch its first mission in 2021 while supporting an American partner on potential NASA missions.
NASA encourages industry to develop spacecraft cleanliness standards
As part of its planetary protection campaign, NASA is encouraging companies to establish a working group to establish standards to ensure spacecraft do not accidentally transfer extra-terrestrial life to Earth.
DLR, Teledyne begin hyperspectral imaging from ISS
The German Space Agency DLR and Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Alabama, have started operation of a jointly funded hyperspectral imager attached to the exterior of the International Space Station.
