Space

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Proteus Space, a startup satellite developer, closed a $4.2 million seed round to create an automated, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system to design ESPA-class satellites in 30 days.

The company plans to develop a fully autonomous docking system for the Cygnus.

NASA has postponed a pair of International Space Station spacewalks planned for Oct. 12 and Oct. 20 due to a coolant leak.

Samples from the asteroid Bennu returned to Earth less than three weeks ago by NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission already are paying scientific dividends.

Planet Labs has delivered its Pelican-1 Earth imaging satellite to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California ahead of a planned launch in November.

Amazon becomes a satellite operator.

Azerbaijan has agreed to join the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program.

A pair of privately owned Iranian cubesats are slated to launch as secondary payloads aboard a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket in December.

The National Reconnaissance Office plans to quadruple the number of satellites it has in orbit.

An external coolant leak from a backup radiator on the International Space Station’s Russian segment Nauka multipurpose laboratory module has ceased.

Ground controllers saw flakes coming from the leak site—on one of two radiators—on Oct. 9 at about 1 p.m. EDT, using externally mounted ISS cameras, NASA says.

The European Space Agency has launched a competition for “visionary business ideas” for how to use its proposed “Moonlight” project.

China plans to double the size of its Tiangong space station to accommodate experiments from international customers and partners.

Germany has put the first of its new-generation synthetic aperture radar satellites into operational use.

The European Space Agency and Axiom Space have agreed to collaborate.

Arianespace's successful Vega launch is good news for a European space industry that is contending with delays on the Vega-C and Ariane 6 programs.

NASA plans a pair of International Space Station (ISS) spacewalks in October that will feature three different first-time Expedition 70 spacewalkers.

The 196-ft. Atlas V lifted off at 2:06 p.m. EDT on a dedicated ride for a pair of small satellites known as Kuipersat-1 and -2.

Japan’s space startups—and their U.S. subsidiaries—are playing a prominent role in several U.S. Space Force and NASA missions.

The U.S. Space Force released its final request for proposals for companies to provide National Security Space Launch services under the Phase 3 program.

Following a short-lived debut flight on April 20, an upgraded Starship-Super Heavy vehicle is being prepared for launch.

Prada, the Italian luxury fashion house, is partnering with Axiom Space for development of a new generation of NASA spacesuit to be donned by the astronauts assigned to the Artemis III lunar landing.

Achieving essential soft landings on the Moon with precision is proving to be a challenge.

Northrop was one of four teams to win NASA funding for early development of commercial LEO platforms.