new space Archives - Impact Hound

22 Sep Eyes From the Sky: HawkEye 360

Posted at 17:08h in Posts, Space by Shen Ge 0 Comments

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HawkEye 360 booth at new space conference in August 2018. Credit: Shen Ge

With the abundance of new small satellite companies, HawkEye 360 stands out as one that detects radio wavelengths instead of visible light (what your eyes can see). HawkEye 360 plans to create a constellation of at least eighteen satellites in clusters of three that will map and analyze RF signals coming from communications and transportation services. Its applications include identifying transportation activity and logistics tracking, emergency response and rescue efforts, communications interference detection, and spectrum mapping and use. HawkEye 360 has gathered an impressive team for their initial Pathfinder mission including a university research laboratory, an asteroid mining company and a space communications payload company. University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) has a specialty lab called Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) which has developed and refined microspace technologies for 22 smallsats in the last two decades. Though UTIAS-SFL has been contracted to develop the satellites using the Nemo-V1 satellite bus, the lab is actually a subcontractor for asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries (DSI). In addition to being a prime contractor, Deep Space Industries (DSI) is also providing an innovative water-based propulsion system. Meanwhile, HawkEye 360 has collaborated with GomSpace on the RF payload.

02 Jul Space: Axiom Space

Posted at 15:38h in Space by Shen Ge 0 Comments

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Commercial Space Station Made by Axiom Space

Axiom Space Station orbiting 250 miles above planet Earth.

Axiom Space plans to develop and build the first commercial space station in the world. Credit: Axiom Space

Axiom Space is a Houston-based company established in January 2016 that plans to build the world’s first commercial space station. Axiom Space plans to launch its first space station in 2020, which will be initially docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is currently funded up to 2024 and when it is decommissioned, Axiom’s orbital module will detach and fly freely on its own. Axiom’s station can house eight passengers. One prominent initial market is space tourists that would each pay $55 million for the adventure. Aside from an eight-day stay in space, this cost covers 15 weeks of training, much of it at the Johnson Space Center, a 10-minute drive from Axiom’s headquarters. Thus far, three entities have reserved for on-the-ground training, which starts at $1 million. The commercial station's interiors are being designed in partnership with famed French architect Philippe Starck, so they'll be quite a bit different from the utilitarian spaces of the ISS. Mr. Starck lined the walls with a padded, quilted, cream-colored, suede-like fabric and hundreds of tiny LED lights that glow in varying hues depending on the time of day and where the space station is floating in relation to the earth.