After two years, the Nanoracks Bishop Airlock has only opened once. It expelled 172...
. But until then, commercial efforts must be worked into a busy schedule with competing priorities, government agendas and geopolitical tensions.who joined Nanoracks after the airlock reached the station, said expectations of opening the airlock six to 10 times a year were ambitious. The airlock cannot be opened when spacecraft visit the station or crew members conduct spacewalks.
And space industry analysts don’t view the airlock's less-than-desired use as a bad omen for the commercial space sector. They said the infrequent openings could be a manifestation of the overall competition for getting satellites into space, along with diplomatic concerns that arose when Russia invaded Ukraine.
To open the airlock — or deploy it, as Kopra prefers to say, since the airlock is removed from the station and doesn’t have a hatch or door that opens — astronauts leave the Nanoracks device and air is sucked out. The space station’s robotic arm disconnects the airlock from the station.
Later this year, Kopra said the airlock will be opened when GITAI conducts another robotic arm experiment. There will also be another trash deployment for NASA. Using the airlock method, Nanoracks said satellites reach the space station in a pressurized compartment. They’re not exposed to the same magnitude of shock, vibration and depressurization that small satellites experience on other missions,. Nanoracks also said it offers competitive pricing and a visual inspection of the satellite on deployment.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Kathy Lueders Was NASA's Top Human Spaceflight Official. Now She Works for SpaceXAnother of NASA’s top human spaceflight officials has joined SpaceX. Kathy Leuders, the former associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, retired from NASA on May 1 after 31 years of service. But this week, CNBC reports that Lueders has joined SpaceX at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas. She follows Bill Gerstenmaier, who … Continue reading 'Kathy Lueders Was NASA's Top Human Spaceflight Official. Now She Works for SpaceX'
Read more »
PolitiFact - NASA astronaut dropped the ball, but video shows only part of the storyAn edited video shared on social media shows a NASA astronaut dropping a plastic globe, which appeared to fall to the ground. But it’s not evidence of a space conspiracy theory; the full video shows the globe floating back up seconds later.
Read more »
SpaceX hires former NASA human spaceflight chief Kathy Lueders: reportLueders will work out of SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas, according to CNBC.
Read more »
SpaceX hires ex-NASA official Kathy Lueders for key role on Starship programThe former NASA associate administrator recently retired from the space agency after three decades at the organization.
Read more »
NASA Tests a Robotic Snake That Could Explore Other WorldsRovers have enabled some amazing explorations of other worlds like the Moon and Mars. However, rovers are limited by the terrain they can reach. To explore inaccessible terrain, NASA is testing a versatile snake-like robot that could crawl up steep slopes, slither across ice, and even slide into lava tubes. Called Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor … Continue reading 'NASA Tests a Robotic Snake That Could Explore Other Worlds'
Read more »
NASA to Select Second Lunar Lander Partner for Artemis Moon MissionDuring an event at 10 a.m. EDT Friday, May 19, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, the agency will announce the company selected to develop a sustainable human landing system for the Artemis V Moon mission. The human landing system will take astronauts to and from Gateway in lunar orbit to the surface and back to the lunar space station as part of
Read more »