SpaceNews.com
• Andrew Parsonson
The European Space Agency has opened a call to establish a pilot plant producing European-manufactured americium-241 radioisotope heater units. The devices convert radioactive decay into heat, enabling spacecraft components to remain operational in cold environments during future exploration missions.
ESA
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The European Space Agency has opened a call to establish a pilot plant producing European-manufactured americium-241 radioisotope heater units. The devices convert radioactive decay into heat, enabling spacecraft components to remain operational in cold environments during future exploration missions.
The International Space Summit in Paris on Sept. 9-10 will bring together governments, industry and astronauts to debate Europe’s role in the next phase of space exploration. The absence of SpaceX and Blue Origin highlights geopolitical tensions and Europe’s industrial divisions, including strains between France and Germany.
ST Engineering iDirect demonstrated a pilot version of its INT3000 user equipment modem at the European Space Agency’s 5G NTN Forum. The multi-waveform 5G New Radio Non-Terrestrial Network device is intended to extend iDirect’s satellite networking technology into the broader 5G ecosystem, including aircraft connectivity applications.
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ESA’s BepiColombo mission has entered its arrival phase at Mercury, separating its transfer module from two scientific orbiters after an eight-year, 10-billion-kilometer voyage. The spacecraft now faces a high-risk final approach before beginning orbital operations to study one of the least-explored planets in the inner solar system.
The European-Japanese BepiColombo mission is set to begin its extended arrival phase at Mercury on Sept. 3, marking a major milestone in the spacecraft’s journey to the innermost planet. The event will be broadcast live, offering visibility into the mission’s next critical stage.
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Astroscale Japan has signed Isar Aerospace to launch ADRAS-J2 aboard a Spectrum rocket, targeting the capture and removal of a spent upper stage from orbit. Separately, NorthStar is leading FALCON, a new ESA-backed project focused on improving predictions of uncontrolled re-entries after recent debris incidents in Europe.
Polish space technology company Creotech Instruments has signed a €13.9 million ($16 million) contract with the European Space Agency to comprehensively implement SAWA, Poland’s second space-weather nanosatellite mission. The project is also described as the country’s first “mission-as-a-service” initiative, expanding Poland’s role in European space programs.
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OHB has won a contract worth more than $1 billion to build the MEO satellite layer of Europe’s IRIS² constellation. Separate agreements cover Italy’s PRISMA Second Generation, constellr’s HiVE thermal-imaging platforms and ESA’s FALCON consortium for tracking uncontrolled atmospheric reentries.
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