April 4, 2022

Canada's Telesat Gets Clearances for US Government Sales (Source: Space News)
Telesat has secured security clearances needed for it to sell directly to U.S. government customers. The approval for the Canadian satellite operator’s U.S.-based Telesat Government Solutions subsidiary is an important milestone for Telesat's LEO ambitions, a company executive said. Telesat is developing its Lightspeed LEO constellation, and the approvals make it easier for it to ensure the system is developed with capabilities needed for potential U.S. government customers. (4/4)

Aerospace Corp. Plans Cubesat Tests (Source: Space News)
The Aerospace Corporation will test advanced technologies on a cubesat launching this fall. Slingshot 1 is a 12U cubesat using a bus provided by Blue Canyon Technologies expected to launch this fall on Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne. The satellite will carry 19 payloads and test an interface box to make it easier for such payloads to be integrated onto the satellite. The payloads range from artificial intelligence demonstrations to laser communications and a hydrogen peroxide thruster. (4/4)

SSTL Wins UK Space Command Contract for Reconnaissance Satellite (Source: SSTL)
British smallsat manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) has won a contract from U.K. Space Command. SSTL will build a 150-kilogram satellite based on its Carbonite+ bus for the command's Project TYCHE. That satellite is the first in a broader program called MINERVA that could lead to a satellite reconnaissance constellation. The contract is valued at nearly $29 million. (4/4)

Hackers Prove Potential Threats to Satellites (Source: WIRED)
Hackers used a decommissioned communications satellite to broadcast television signals. Security researchers used Telesat's Anik F1R satellite, which is in the process of being decommissioned and moved to a graveyard orbit, to broadcast video signals across its coverage zone. While the researchers had permission from Telesat for the test, they said it demonstrated that hackers with powerful enough uplink signals could easily take over GEO broadcast satellites, particularly those in the process of being decommissioned.  (4/4)

JWST Commissioning On Track (Source: Space.com)
NASA continues to make progress in commissioning the James Webb Space Telescope. The agency said Friday it had aligned other instruments on the telescope with its mirrors after the initial alignment process with a camera. Controllers still have to align a mid-infrared instrument called MIRI, a process that will happen once MIRI cools to its operational cryogenic temperatures. (4/4)

Georgia Spaceport Could Be Resurrected Through Private Investment, Project Manager Says (Source: WJXT)
A Georgia county is looking to private investors to help fund a spaceport. Camden County officials will hold a workshop this week to discuss how it could use private funding to develop a spaceport after residents voted last month to block the county from using its own funds to acquire land for the launch site. An investment firm, Spearhead Capital, will participate in the workshop. (4/1)

NASA Scrubs First Attempt at SLS Wet Dress Rehearsal After Pressure System Glitch (Source: Space News)
NASA called off the wet dress rehearsal around midday Sunday before crews started loading liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the rocket's core stage. Two fans in the mobile launch platform that create positive pressure to prevent the buildup of hazardous gases malfunctioned, for different reasons, causing the scrub. The launch team was also behind schedule after severe weather Saturday delayed launch preparations. The dress rehearsal is the final major test before the inaugural SLS launch on the Artemis 1 mission this summer. (4/4)

Threats of Space Arms Race Growing (Source: Space News)
Two new reports warn of an accelerating space arms race. One report released Monday by the Secure World Foundation said counterspace capabilities were proliferating, with a growing number of countries having tools to disrupt, damage or destroy satellites. A separate report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also released Monday, came to a similar conclusion, warning of growing capabilities by China and Russia in particular. Cyberattacks on space systems are an emerging threat because they are relatively easy to pull off and, while disruptive, do not create debris or other damage. (4/4)

At Trump Rally: Space Force to Overturn Election Results Soon (Source: GPB News)
Former President Donald Trump's most fervent supporters believe the 2020 election was stolen by a deep-state conspiracy, but it will soon be exposed for all to see, with Trump restored to the nation's highest office. One popular theory revealed by a rally goer last week has the Space Force playing a central role in bringing the bad guys to justice. The
Space Force has detailed information on ballot fakery, foreign countries involved in the election theft, and elected officials and other US citizens who played a part. Stay tuned for the tribunals and mass arrests. Click here. (4/3)

Russia Asked NASA to End Sanctions to Save the ISS, But the West Didn’t Blink (Source: Ars Technica)
For a few weeks now, the chief of Russia's spaceflight activities has said that the US and its Western allies must end sanctions on his country by March 31 or face the consequences when it comes to partnering on the ISS. After those sanctions remained in place at the end of March, the director general of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, vowed to issue a response on April 2.

True to his word, he did so early on Saturday morning. His Twitter response offered more bluster, more threats, but likely little change. In his new missive, Rogozin is still demanding "complete and unconditional" end of the Western sanctions on Russia, and he is still threatening to end the partnership on the ISS. Specifically, Rogozin said Roscosmos will soon send "specific proposals" to end its cooperation on the space station to the Russian government.

The tweets led to a firestorm of media coverage today, much of it saying that Russia will end its cooperation on the ISS. Such coverage lacks a fundamental understanding of Dmitry Rogozin and Russia's approach to spaceflight. Cooperation on the space station will, of course, end at some point in the future. Some of the ISS's hardware has been flying in space for nearly 25 years, and it will eventually age out. And while Russia could decide to end cooperation this month, that seems unlikely. (4/2)

37th Space Symposium Attendance to Top 10,000 (Source: Space News)
More than 10,000 people are expected to attend the 37th Space Symposium in person at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and online through a virtual platform. Roughly seven months after the 36th Space Symposium, which was rescheduled repeatedly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Space Foundation is preparing to welcome 275 exhibitors and representatives of 40 nations to the annual event that showcases military, civil and commercial space activities. (4/2)

Rocket Lab's Big Plans (Source: NZ Herald)
As Russia invaded Ukraine, and the Kremlin-backed Soyuz saw its contracts with the West suspended, Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck said his company had been planning to launch one of its much larger Neuron rockets in 2024. Now, there could be three Neuron rockets ready for launch by 2024. Each will be reusable - and could help fill the gap if the Soyuz programme remains sidelined, or the US and private firms want a fall-back option (SpaceX's Crew Dragon is also expected to help fill the breach).

Whereas Rocket Lab's Electron can carry a 300kg payload, the Neuron will be able to carry crew and up to 8 tonnes of cargo into space. Beck said Rocket Lab already has the money to fast-track Neuron development if necessary. The new rocket is being developed by funds from the Kiwi-American company's Nasdaq listing, a $35m contract from the US military (with another $70m in the offing), and a $69m subsidy from the state of Virgina, which wil host the Neutron's manufacturing facility and mission control complex.

After a series of big acquisitions, Rocket Lab now has a majority of its 1100 staff in the US. The firm recently said the value of its forward bookings now stands at US$545m - to a US$143m contract, announced this week, to design and manufacture 17 half-tonne satellites for North American communications network operator GlobalStar. (4/2)

Coloradans Rally to Keep U.S. Space Command, Question Decision on Move (Source: The Gazette)
Opponents of the decision to uproot U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs hope a pair of federal investigations due out soon could spur their efforts to block the move of the command and its 1,400 troops. The command — which oversees all military activities in space — was ordered out of Colorado Springs in the waning days of the Trump administration.

Later, President Donald Trump claimed personal responsibility for the decision, saying he accomplished it “single-handedly.” In January 2021 when Trump announced the command — provisionally housed at Peterson Space Force Base until at least 2026 — would be permanently based in Huntsville, Ala., it immediately drew outrage from lawmakers in Colorado and other states, triggering investigations by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General and the GAO.

“The transformation is not complete with this budget; it’s moving us forward, but it's not complete,” said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. “Looking ahead, I think there are again going to be a lot of decisions made as we get into (fiscal year) '24 and as we learn more about what our requirements are, and we assess our priorities for modernization. So, I anticipate some hard choices ahead.” The Pentagon’s budget proposal did not include planning or construction money to facilitate Space Command’s Alabama move. (4/2)

Northrop Grumman Wins Navy Contract for Satellite Terminals (Source: GovConWire)
Northrop Grumman has received a multi-year contract from the U.S. Navy for the development of space vehicle terminals. Northrop will provide the Navy with Relay Ground Station Asia under a $99.6 million contract, which covers RGS-A hardware and software design, development, testing and integration. The terminal will be used to link legacy space vehicles in the geosynchronous orbit with the Next Generation Space Based Infrared Systems Ground System of the Space System Command. (4/1)

Russian Space Agency Suspends ISS Cooperation Over Sanctions (Source: Space Daily)
Russia has suspended cooperation with other nations involved with the International Space Station over sanctions levied amid the war in Ukraine. Dmitry Rogozin, the director-general of Russian space agency Roscosmos, made the announcement in a series of tweets Saturday in response to a letter received from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former U.S. senator.

Nelson said in a letter sent Wednesday that NASA could continue to cooperate with Russia "to ensure continued safe operations of the ISS" after Roscosmos had sought clarification about the impact of the sanctions on the ISS, according to a copy of the letter shared by Rogozin. Rogozin said in his tweets that he had appealed to Nelson and the heads of the European and Canadian space agencies "demanding the lifting of sanctions" against Russian aerospace companies. European Space Agency Director-General Josef Aschbacher and Canadian Space Agency President Lisa Campbell had also responded to the appeal, Rogozin said. (4/2)

Rocket Lab Launches 112th Satellite to Orbit (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket Lab has successfully deployed two satellites to orbit for real-time geospatial intelligence company BlackSky, bringing the total number of satellites deployed by Rocket Lab to 112. The 'Without Mission A Beat' mission, arranged for BlackSky through global launch services provider Spaceflight Inc., was Electron's 25th lift-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula. BlackSky's constellation of real-time geospatial monitoring spacecraft has grown to 14. (4/2)

Successful Launch Shows New Chinese Rocket Factory's Solid Steps (Source: Space Daily)
China launched a Long March 11 solid-propellant carrier rocket on Wednesday morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China, deploying three satellites into space. The rocket blasted off at 10:29 am and soon placed the Tianping 2A, 2B and 2C satellites into their planned orbit. The launch was the 413th flight of the Long March rocket family and the eighth space mission by China this year.

The satellites will be used to survey space environment and correct orbital prediction models, the State-owned space conglomerate said. The company said the rocket was the first built by a new rocket factory in the eastern coastal province of Shandong. The factory is the first rocket manufacturing facility in Shandong and builds solid-propellant carrier rockets designed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing, a major subsidiary of the CASC. (4/1)

HawkEye 360 Launches Next-Generation Cluster 4 Satellites (Source: Space Daily)
eading commercial provider of space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, reports that its Cluster 4 satellites have successfully launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral site on April 1. The trio of HawkEye 360 satellites, each containing an RF payload developed by HawkEye 360, has established communication with ground control and is set to commence its commissioning process to meet increasing client demand. (4/1)

D-Orbit Launches its Fifth ION Satellite Carrier Mission (Source: Space Daily)
D-Orbit, the space logistics and orbital transportation company, has launched Spacelust, the fifth mission of the Company's proprietary ION Satellite Carrier, aboard SpaceX's Transporter-4 mission. ION, a versatile and cost-effective orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) designed both to precisely deploy satellites and perform technology demonstrations of third-party payloads in orbit, was successfully deployed at 1:50 PM EDT into a 500 km Sun synchronous orbit (SSO). (4/1)

Blue Canyon Technologies to Supply Spacecraft Buses for HelioSwarm Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC or "BCT" or "Blue Canyon", a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, was selected to build eight X-SAT Venus ESPA-class microsatellite buses for NASA's HelioSwarm science mission. The purpose of the mission will be to study the solar wind and space plasma turbulence.

The HelioSwarm mission is a multi-spacecraft observatory that will capture the first multiscale in-space measurements of fluctuations in the magnetic field and motions of solar wind turbulence. Launching in 2028, one hub spacecraft and eight small satellites will move in coordinated orbits as a swarm using a highly elliptical, lunar resonant earth-orbit. In addition to the spacecraft buses, Blue Canyon will integrate the science instrument payloads and perform spacecraft-level environmental testing. (4/3)