News: 1611749705

In Brief The UK will be making its first major industrial contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) with the Columbus Ka-band Terminal (ColKa), which will be fitted to the Columbus laboratory module [1]during a spacewalk by flight engineers Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover.

The new antenna will enable a dedicated link to Earth, quite an improvement over the current process which, according to the UK Space Agency, involves a hard drive being carried back from orbit. A sneakernet for space, if you will.

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Meanwhile, the government [3]is to spend £85k to "support international efforts to promote space sustainability."

While the figure, funded from the international element of the UK Space Agency's [4]National Space Innovation Programme , wouldn't make much of a dent in the cost of a mission to actually deal with orbiting debris, it will go towards a series of events and outreach efforts.

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The announcement was accompanied [6]by a natty video , the creators of which might have spent a little too long watching Pixar's WALL-E , judging by their representation of the clutter surrounding Earth. Thankfully, nobody had to dip into that £85k for the promotion. The UK Space Agency's own team put it together using footage from ESA.

NASA and Boeing set the date for Calamity Capsule Part 2: This time we tested it

More than a year after its near-disastrous debut, Boeing's CST-100 Starliner [7]is set to have another crack at getting to the ISS on 25 March this year.

The opening was cropped with the delay to the STP Satellite-6 mission [8].

The mission, dubbed Orbital Flight Test-2, [9]will launch atop United Launch Alliance's trusty Atlas V from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and, if all goes to plan, land a week later in the western United States.

First all-private Crew Dragon passengers lined up for 2022

Axiom Space, a company aiming to create a private space station, is making good [10]on its promise to fly a private crew to the orbiting lab by chartering a Crew Dragon flight and loading it with four humans.

[11]The mission , set for "no earlier than January 2022", will be the first entirely commercially operated crewed jaunt to the ISS. Named Ax-1, the crew will include former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, US entrepreneur Larry Connor, Canadian investor Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe.

López-Alegría is also a vice president at Axiom Space.

[12]The cost of an eight-day stint aboard the ISS is $55m for each of the three paying passengers.

While space tourists are hardly a new thing (the ISS has played host to such luminaries as Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth in the past) an entirely private orbital mission marks the beginning of a new era. Flights could occur as frequently as twice a year. If your pockets are deep enough, that is.

What Jim did next

Finally, [13]former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has wasted little time in moving on to the next thing. [14]He has joined Acorn Growth Companies , a private equity firm specialising in aerospace, defence and intelligence.

Bridenstine's role in the Oklahoma-based outfit will be as a full-time senior advisor. "Jim's wealth of knowledge in the space, military, aerospace and engineering sectors will be invaluable to Acorn," said Rick Nagel, managing partner of Acorn.

[15]

"He will play a key role in our efforts to deploy capital from our newest investment vehicle, Acorn Aerospace & Defense Fund V," he added. ®

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[1] https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2021/01/25/station-crew-gearing-up-for-wednesdays-spacewalk/

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_science/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBGcKcR4AqVBIWZPWHWIDAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/un-and-uk-sign-agreement-to-promote-space-sustainability

[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/call-for-proposals-national-space-innovation-programme-international/nsip-international-call-for-proposals-sep-2020

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_science/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBGcKcR4AqVBIWZPWHWIDAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://twitter.com/spacegovuk/status/1354008298228482048

[7] https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2021/01/25/nasa-and-boeing-target-new-launch-date-for-next-starliner-flight-test-2/

[8] https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1353724523787522080

[9] https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/atlas-v-starliner-oft-2

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/06/axiom_spacex/

[11] https://www.axiomspace.com/press-release/ax1-crew

[12] https://www.axiomspace.com/news/the-first-space-crew-composed-entirely-of-private-citizens-includes-two-grandfathers-and-a-father-with-three-young-children

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/21/bye_bye_bridenstine/

[14] https://acorngrowthcompanies.com/news/nasa-administrator-joins-acorn-growth-companies

[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_science/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBGcKcR4AqVBIWZPWHWIDAAAAEU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/