Under the auspices of Taksha Institute, the following organizations have joined forces with JoSS to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math, Education, and Design (for all ages) under the theme of "STEAMED 4 SPACE (S4S)" at the  70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2019) .  

This year at the AIAA/USU SmallSat Conference, we had our first student poster competi-tion (not to be confused with the larger Frank J. Redd student paper and presentation

competition).  Many thanks to Science and Technology Corp. (STC) for sponsoring a small cash prize to the winners.

First place went to the poster "Effective Small-Satellite Radiation Assurance for Non-Specialists," with the following authors representing Vanderbilt University:  Rebekah Austin,  Arthur Witulski,  Brian Sierawski,  Nag Mahadevan,  Gabor Karsai,  Robert Reed, and  Ron Schrimpf.

Second place went to the poster "Pre-flight Testing of AQUARIUS: the Water Resistojet Thruster on the SLS EM-1 CubeSat for Deep Space Exploration from  Keita Nishii,  Hiroyuki Koizumi,  Jun Asakawa,  Akihiro Hattori,  Kosei Kikuchi,  Mariko Akiyama,  Qihang Wang, and  Masaya Murohara, all from the University of Tokyo.

There was a tie for third place, between the following teams:  "Development of a High-

	Kerri Cahoy, PhD

Altitude Balloon CubeSat Platform for Small Satellite Education and Research," submitted by Jill Davis, Alexander Reynolds, Yezad Anklesaria, Henry Pernicka, and Jillian Schmidt, of Missouri University of Science and Technology

and  "A 3U Cubesat Platform for Plant Growth Experiments," from Rochester Institute of Technology, Jared Loewenthal, Spencer Bradshaw, Laura Branch, Sandra Connelly, Jeffrey Mills, and Dorin Patru.

Well done, to all the contestants!

Artemis 2 will mark a significant step forward in NASA's plans to return humans to the Moon for long-term exploration, and future missions to worlds beyond, including Mars. CubeSats could play a significant role in this historic mission, helping to inform the next steps of space exploration. 

Under the agency's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI),  NASA is  seeking proposals  from US small satellite developers to fly their CubeSat missions as secondary payloads aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) on the Artemis 2 mission.  CSLI provides CubeSat developers a low-cost pathway to conduct research in space that advances NASA's strategic goals in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education and operations. The initiative allows students, teachers and faculty to gain hands-on experience designing, building, and operating these small research satellites.

Read more at: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-cubesat-launch-initiative-opens-call-for-payloads-on-artemis-2-mission .

On June 21, 2019, NASA demonstrated the first coordinated maneuver between two CubeSats in low-Earth orbit as part of NASA's Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration mission.  The twin spacecraft, each approximately the size of a tissue box, were orbiting Earth about 5.5 miles apart when they established a radio frequency communications cross-link to "talk" with each other. One spacecraft issued a command to the second to activate its thruster and close the gap between the two. The fuel tanks on both spacecraft are filled with water. During this propulsive maneuver, the water was converted to steam by the thrusters to propel the spacecraft.

"Demonstrations such as this will help advance technologies that will allow for greater and more extended use of small spacecraft in and beyond Earth-orbit," said Roger Hunter, program manager of the Small Spacecraft Technology program. 

Read more at:  https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/cubesats-dance-one-water-powered-nasa-spacecraft-commands-another-in-orbit .

NASA has selected two proposals to demonstrate technologies to improve science observations in deep space. The proposals could help NASA develop better models to predict space weather events that can affect astronauts and spacecraft, such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). In this image, taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory on Feb. 27, 2000, a CME is seen erupting from the Sun, which is hidden by the disk in the middle, so the fainter material around it can be seen.

Make plans to join JoSS representatives at these events!

Join your colleagues from c-suite and executive management, legislative affairs, business development, R&D, CTOs, engineers and scientists from aerospace, government, international space agencies and other industries! 

For more information, visit www.spacecomexpo.com .                                                                     

Satellite Innovation 2019 presents real time market data and technical knowledge from the world's preeminent experts. Learn in sessions, network with market dominant innovators, and decide what changes to implement in your organization to optimize your position in the rapidly changing Satellite industry. Read more information at https://2019.satelliteinnovation.com/.