Lockheed Stresses Flexibility with New
Colorado Satellite Plant (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin's new satellite integration facility will make its
Waterton Canyon campus one of the largest space technology centers in
the country, with 3.5 million square feet of research, engineering,
test and office space. With a space portfolio that runs a gamut for
different requirement needs, Lockheed Martin has started construction
on a new $350 million facility the company says will provide the kind
of assembly, testing and validation Lockheed needs across the line of
satellite programs it has and expects to secure. (8/7)
CloudIX Joins Race to Develop
Small Rocket, With Balloon Assist Launches (Source: Space News)
CloudIX, a startup based in Hayward, California, plans to conduct its
first test flight in December of a prototype balloon-launched rocket
designed to send cubesats into low Earth orbit. With the initial test,
CloudIX (pronounced Cloud Nine) intends to demonstrate its launch
capability and show that subsystems including communications,
navigation and telemetry work as intended, Brandon Mairs, CloudIX
co-founder and chief executive, told SpaceNews.
CloudIX is developing its own thrust vectoring system and purchasing
solid rocketmotors to send 16 cubesats or one 22-kilogram satellite
into low Earth orbit. The firm plans to purchase high-altitude balloons
from existing manufacturers, who Mairs declined to name.
CloudIX has applied to the FAA for a license to operate its
trailer-based mobile deployment and launch operations center on the
U.S. East Coast to send high-altitude balloons with attached
rocket-launching platforms over the Atlantic Ocean. Once the balloons
reach an altitude of 41 kilometers, the rockets will fire to send
satellites to orbits of around 350 kilometers. In the future, CloudIX
intends to seek permission to perform similar operations from Mexico
and South America to give customers access to a wide variety of orbital
planes. (8/7)
More Launches Could Mean
more Business for Contractors (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space Coast contractors who experienced the post-shuttle era downturn
are cautiously optimistic that more business soon will be headed their
way. But the uptick hasn’t happened yet, said Carol Craig, CEO of Craig
Technologies. “You just try to tread water and not make too many big,
risky moves until you see where it’s going to go,” said Craig.
Areas growing because of an expanding privatization of the space
industry include manufacturing components that must adhere to tight
specifications, known as “precision machining,” along with launchpad
maintenance and construction and diagnostics work, said Lynda
Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of
Florida's Space Coast. “We are excited about the diversification of the
industry, from being a very launch-heavy area to having a robust
manufacturing component,” Weatherman said.
Craig said a shop such as hers, with about half of its 400-plus
employees based in Florida, has to be strategic in its proposals as the
industry emerges. Craig said she has reached out to OneWeb, which has
jobs in Florida posted online, in a bid to become part of the supply
chain it likely will need. Blue Origin could debut its
rocket-production site before the end of the year. “They are still
putting their infrastructure in place, so we haven’t seen the business
just yet,” she said. (8/8)
Aerojet's AR1 Rocket
R&D Costs Reach $228 Million (Source: Space News)
R&D costs for the AR1 rocket from the program’s inception
through June 30 have reached about $228 million, according to (SEC)
filings by Aerojet Rocketdyne. The Air Force in February 2016 selected
Aerojet Rocketdyne and ULA to share in a public-private partnership to
jointly develop the liquid oxygen-kerosene AR1 as a next-generation
engine alternative to the Russian RD-180. The total agreement is valued
at $804 million with the Air Force investing two-thirds of the funding.
The total potential U.S. government investment, including all options,
is $536.0 million, the company reports. The total potential investment
by Aerojet Rocketdyne and its partners, including all options, is
$268.0 million. Under the terms of the AR1 agreement, the Air Force
contributions are recognized proportionately as an offset to
R&D expenses. The Air Force thus far has funded about $135.3
million of the R&D costs and ULA has funded about $9.2 million,
with net Aerojet Rocketdyne applied contract costs reaching about $51.8
million. (8/8)
Cubesats: Are They
Reliable Enough for Important Missions? (Source: Space
News)
As cubesats and other small satellites take on more advanced missions,
reliability is a growing concern. In a talk at the Conference on Small
Satellites, a NASA official said that cubesats aren't suited to some
advanced science missions the agency is contemplating because of
concerns that such spacecraft have high failure rates. A "fly/re-try"
approach to cubesats works for some applications, but not others, so
NASA is taking a greater interest in improving reliability. NASA's
Small Satellite Virtual Institute has started a reliability initiative
to work wth industry on improving the "mission confidence" of cubesat
components. (8/8)
Shuttle Infrastructure at
LC-39A Slowly Being Dismantled Around SpaceX Operations
(Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A shuttle-era structure at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A is
slowly disappearing. Crews have been dismantling the Rotating Service
Structure at the pad, which is no longer needed by the pad's tenant,
SpaceX. Crews took advantage of down time at the pad in the last month
to take apart large sections of the structure. NASA owns the structure
and will sell the scrap metal from it. The structure should be
completely removed by the end of the year. (8/8)
B2Space Plans
Balloon-Assisted Launches From Wales (Source: BBC)
A British company believes it can create nearly 100 jobs by launching
satellites from a proposed spaceport in Wales. B2Space proposes to use
the Llanbedr airfield for a small launch vehicle, carried aloft by a
balloon, with as many as 20 missions a year by 2020 proposed from the
site should the company develop its vehicle on schedule. That would
would create 93 jobs at Llanbedr, which has previously been shortlisted
as a site for a commercial spaceport in the U.K. (8/8)
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