March 11, 2023

Tesat-Spacecom Establishes U.S. Subsidiary on Florida's Space Coast (Source: Space News)
Tesat-Spacecom, a Germany-based manufacturer of optical terminals for communications satellites, announced March 9 it is establishing a U.S. subsidiary to support military and commercial programs. Tesat-Spacecom is an independent subsidiary of Airbus Defense & Space. The U.S. subsidiary, named Tesat Government, is organized under Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, and will be able to support classified work, the company said. Tesat plans to start manufacturing optical terminals in Merritt Island, Florida, in late 2023. (3/9)

International Space Art and Poetry Contest (Source: Axiom)
Students from around the world are encouraged to let their imagination soar! The International Space Art and Poetry contest invites children ages 5-18 to create an original drawing, painting or written poetry showcasing what it would look like if we lived in space! Submissions will be categorized by age divisions (5-8, 9-13, 14-18) and by genre (visual art and poetry). Students from around the world will have the chance to showcase vivid color, creativity, and curiosity as they take us on a journey into space as they envision it.

Two representatives from each age division, one art and one poetry, will receive special recognition LIVE from space. Click here. (3/9)

NASA Image May Show First 'Rogue' Roaming Supermassive Black Hole (Source: Business Insider)
The Hubble Space Telescope is still making first-of-a-kind discoveries after more than three decades in space. Its latest? Observations of the first ever supermassive black hole gone rogue from its own galaxy. That's what a team of astronomers is suggesting in a new study posted online. Click here. (3/9)

Satellite Boom Fuels Growth in Arctic (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Halfway between Norway's mainland and the North Pole, a key satellite station serves governments and companies globally. And a fiber-optic cable -- a rarity this far north -- transmits the satellite data. Now the booming satellite sector is pressuring the station to build more antennas. Click here. (3/10)

Israel's Gilat Satellite Networks to Acquire DataPath to Boost its Presence in the US Defense Market (Source: Via Satellite)
Gilat Satellite Networks has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DataPath to boost its presence in the U.S. defense market. Gilat said the acquisition will increase its annual revenues by $50 million. Gilat supplies technology to the satellite industry including VSAT (very small aperture terminal) network platforms that support use cases like cellular backhaul, in-flight connectivity, and maritime connectivity. According to industry analyst NSR, Gilat was the No. 1 vendor in modem shipments for cellular backhaul, with a 40% market share. Gilat reported $240 million in revenue in 2022, up 12% compared to 2021. (3/9)

Vector Launch Partners with Ursa Major (Source: Ars Technica)
Vector Launch—yes, the same company that went bankrupt in 2019—is apparently back with plans to build its Vector-R rocket. For a revamped version of the rocket, Vector is purchasing Hadley engines built by Ursa Major, Payload reports. Vector's first launch is coming "soon," the company says. Hey, maybe it is. We'll see.

Ursa Major is a promising propulsion company that is building the 5,000-pounds-per-thrust Hadley engine and has a larger one in development. In addition to Vector, the company is supplying Hadley engines to Phantom Space, Stratolaunch, and a handful of other commercial and government customers. And that's interesting because Jim Cantrell, who led Vector into bankruptcy, is now running Phantom Space. (3/10)

Arianespace Chief Plans Rapid Ariane-6 Ramp-Up (Source: Ars Technica)
Arianespace President Stéphane Israël defended the European launch company after an "unprecedented series of crises" in 2022, including the sudden loss of cooperation with Russia for the Soyuz vehicle, a Vega C launch failure, and further delays in readying the Ariane 6 rocket for launch. But, Israël argued, it would be wrong to criticize Arianespace or the decisions made by the European Space Agency.

That's a lot to ask ... Rather, he argues that better times are coming for the European launch industry, noting in particular that the Ariane 6 vehicle had won a "historic" contract for 18 of Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite launches. To meet this demand, he says, Arianespace plans to be launching a dozen Ariane 6 rockets a year by 2025. This ramp-up is "essential" Israël said. It may indeed be essential, but launching an Ariane 6 rocket a month in 2025, with the booster unlikely to make its debut before early 2024, seems almost like magical thinking. (3/10)

Astra Investigating 'Potential Illegal Short Selling' as Delisting Deadline Looms (Source: CNBC)
Spacecraft engine manufacturer and small rocket builder Astra announced on Friday that the company is investigating “potential illegal short selling” among shareholders of its common stock. The company said it hired financial software firm ShareIntel to assist with its review of “suspicious, aberrant or unusual trading activity.” (3/10)

Alabama, Colorado Face Off on U.S. Senate Floor in Space Command Feud (Source: AL.com)
A Colorado senator accused U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville on the Senate floor this week of freezing for the first time in history all Department of Defense civilian and military promotion nominees, including new generals and admirals, until a final decision is made about the U.S. Space Command Headquarters.

“There is no precedent for what the senator from Alabama is doing,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said Tuesday on the Senate floor. Bennet said he “couldn’t believe it” when he heard it. Bennet and other Colorado lawmakers are trying to stop the U.S. Space Command’s move from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala., after that city won a government comparison competition. Bennet moved that the Senate immediately consider the promotions and Tuberville rose to object.

Tuberville said Bennet “may have good intentions but he’s wrong on the facts.” Tuberville said he was holding up the Defense Department promotions “because the secretary of defense is trying to push through a massive expansion of taxpayer subsidized abortions without going through this body.” Austin signed a memo in October “designed to ensure that service members and their families can access reproductive health care and to support Department of Defense health care providers concerned about potential risks while providing federally authorized care.” (3/9)

Biden's Proposed DoD Budget Highlights Space Reslilience (Source: Space News)
The administration's defense budget proposal highlights space resilience. The budget outline released Thursday sought $842 billion for the Defense Department but did not break out spending on military space. A running theme in the summary document is that increased defense spending is needed to compete with China. That included, the budget document stated, "improving the resilience of U.S. space architectures, such as in space sensing and communications." (3/10)

Crew Dragon to Return Astronauts From ISS with Florida Coast Splashdown (Source: NASA)
A Crew Dragon spacecraft is set to return to Earth on Saturday. The Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station will conclude with an undocking of the Endurance capsule from the station at 2:05 a.m. Eastern Saturday, followed by splashdown off the Florida coast at 9:19 p.m. Eastern. The spacecraft will return NASA and JAXA astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut from the station after more than five months in space. (3/10)

Russia Considers Earlier Launch of Next Soyuz Capsule to ISS (Source: TASS)
Russia may move up the launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft to the station. Russian media, citing industry sources, said that the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft could launch in June, three months earlier than currently planned. The spacecraft would deliver a new crew of two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut to the station. Russia launched an uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft to the station in February to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22. The Russian sources said they could not rule out production defects as the cause of coolant leaks on both Soyuz MS-22 and a Progress spacecraft. (3/10)

China Launches Two Earth Imaging Satellites (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a pair of satellites Thursday. A Long March 4C rocket lifted off at 5:41 p.m. Eastern Thursday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and placed the Tianhui-6 A and B satellites into orbit. The twin satellites will be used for Earth imaging and other applications, according to Chinese media. (3/10)

China Developing Quantum Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
Chinese institutes are working on a quantum communications satellite constellation. The satellites, based in a range of orbits, would use elements of quantum mechanics for encryption and secure transmission of information. The plan builds on breakthroughs made by China's 2016 Quantum Science Satellite, which carried out experiments in quantum key distribution (QKD), quantum entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation. The effort will start with three to five satellites in sun-synchronous orbits, followed by satellites in higher orbits to support longer-duration tests. (3/10)

Momentus Prepares Propulsion System Test for Space Tug (Source: Space News)
Momentus is preparing to test the propulsion system on one of its orbital transfer vehicles as it ships another for launch. The company said this week that commissioning of its Vigoride-5 tug in low Earth orbit is going well as it gears up to test its microwave electrothermal thruster in the "coming weeks." The company has completed the Vigoride-6 tug, which it shipped to Vandenberg Space Force Base for launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission in April. The company hopes that the performance of those vehicles will help it win more business, including from government customers. (3/10)

Atlas Space Operations Expands Antenna Network (Source: Space News)
Atlas Space Operations will expand its antenna network and offer customers access to larger antennas thanks to a partnership with Viasat. The agreement with Viasat Real-Time Earth gives Atlas access to 10 antennas, with two more by the end of the year. Atlas operates 13 antennas with access to 11 other sites through Amazon's AWS Ground Stations service. Click here. (3/10)

Netherlands Joins ASAT Test Ban (Source: Kingdom of the Netherlands)
The Netherlands is the latest to join a ban on destructive anti-satellite testing. In a recent speech at the Conference on Disarmament, the Dutch government announced its intent not to perform such ASAT tests as part of efforts to ensure "a safe, secure and sustainable outer space." The United States announced the ASAT testing ban last April, and about a dozen countries have signed on since. (3/10)

Canada's First Astronaut Retiring From Politics (Source: CBC)
The first Canadian to go to space is retiring from politics. Marc Garneau announced this week he was resigning from Parliament, where he represented a Montréal-area district since 2008. Garneau said he had promised his family he would retire after completing work on a special committee studying medical assistance in dying. While in Parliament, he served as transport minister and foreign affairs minister under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Garneau was part of the first class of Canadian astronauts and became the first Canadian in space on a shuttle mission in 1984. (3/10)

SpaceX Mission May Herald Era of Low-Cost, Reliable Space Transport (Source: C4ISRnet)
The Pentagon’s interest in using space launch vehicles to quickly transport cargo and personnel around the globe has its origins in the space race of the 1950s, though technology, feasibility and cost constraints have kept the concept out of reach for decades. A SpaceX mission scheduled to launch in March could be a significant step toward changing that.

If all goes as planned, the company’s 400-foot-tall Starship rocket will be the first fully reusable launch vehicle to reach orbit. Designed to carry people and cargo to and from space, or to fixed points around the world, Starship can lift up to 100 tons; as a comparison, a C-17 aircraft can carry about 85 tons of cargo. “We have designed Starship to be as much like [an] aircraft operation as we possibly can,” she said. “I’m talking about dozens, if not hundreds of launches a day. How many airplanes take off and land every day? Let’s think about space with that frame of mind,”said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.

Rather than invest billions of dollars to develop a rocket of its own, the Defense Department wants to leverage that mindset and the technology behind it. For the last few years, U.S. Transportation Command, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Space Force have worked to ensure that when commercial companies like SpaceX are ready to offer space-enabled transport services, the DoD is the first customer in line. (3/9)

Shatner on Jeff Bezos’ Space Agenda (Source: IndieWire)
"Bezos’ idea of space is not necessarily about going to Mars, which is such an impossible task, but to lift polluting industries into space and living quarters for people in that industry. He wants to have them up in geocentric orbit so that Earth returns to its park-like exterior and people working out there can come down, living two weeks here, two weeks there. That’s his ultimate objective... I told him that it has to be 100 years away, and he said, “We have to have hope. Without hope, what do we have?” He’s right, because this self-destruction is coming upon us. (3/9)

Starlink Explains Why its FCC Map Listings are So Different From Reality (Source: Ars Technica)
SpaceX has offered a public explanation for why Starlink's actual service availability falls far short of what it claimed on the Federal Communications Commission's national broadband map. SpaceX's FCC filings indicate it offers fixed broadband at virtually every address in the US even though the Starlink website's service map shows it has a waitlist in huge portions of the country.

As we previously reported, SpaceX removed some homes from the FCC database when residents filed challenges because they were unable to order Starlink at addresses listed as served on the FCC map. SpaceX tried to clear up the confusion in an FCC filing last week. The company says it followed FCC rules when submitting data and blamed the FCC system for not allowing it to report data more precisely. Under the map system rules, SpaceX argues that it is allowed to report an address as "served" even if the resident can only order Starlink's RV service. (3/8)

Spanish Space Exploration is Playing Part of its Future This Month: These Are the Plans for Miura 1 (Source: Ruetir)
The months of April and May are going to be key for PLD Space and its rockets: Miura 1, its suborbital reusable launcher, is already at the launch base in Huelva and has two launch windows ready. The path up to here has not been one of roses and there is still a long way to go.

Two launch windows. The great litmus test of the first space rocket created in Spain, the Miura 1, will take place between this month of March and next month. The launcher is already, in fact, at the El Arenosillo Experimentation Center (CEDEA) of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) in the province of Huelva. The flight, originally planned for the second quarter of 2022, already seems imminent. (3/9)

Intelsat Adds More LEO/GEO Capacity with Eutelsat/OneWeb Deal (Source: Paxex.Aero)
Intelsat will expand its partnership with Eutelsat and OneWeb, securing additional capacity for its mobile connectivity solutions over Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific. The deal builds on relationships between the companies, and also highlights potential synergies tied to Eutelsat’s planned purchase of OneWeb in both the LEO and GEO constellations. (3/9)

Hughes Unveils Jupiter 3 Satellite (Source: Space News)
Hughes Network System unveiled Jupiter 3, a massive geostationary communications satellite built by Maxar Technologies. While much of the industry focuses on packing increasing capability into small satellites, Jupiter 3 is a reminder large spacecraft remain important for certain applications. With its antennas and solar panels stowed, Jupiter 3 is about the size of a standard school bus. The satellite, weighing roughly nine metric tons, is designed to offer 500 gigabit-per-second Ka-band capacity for North and South America. (3/10)

SOFIA Makes First Detection of Heavy Oxygen in Earth's Upper Atmosphere (Source: Space Daily)
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) made the first-ever measurement of heavy atomic oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere. Heavy oxygen is so called because it has 10 neutrons, rather than the normal eight of "main" oxygen, the form we breathe. Heavy oxygen is seen as a signature of biological activity, common in the lower atmosphere. Both forms are byproducts of photosynthesis, but main oxygen is consumed by the respiration of living things more than its heavy counterpart, leaving a larger concentration of heavy oxygen behind. (3/8)

NASA Engages US Farmers to Bring Satellite Data Down to Earth (Source: Space Daily)
Since the launch of the first Landsat satellite in 1972, NASA and its partners have mapped agriculture worldwide and provided key input into global supply outlooks that bolster the economy and food security. Now NASA is increasing its decades-long investment in U.S. agriculture through the launch of NASA Acres, a new consortium that will unite physical, social, and economic scientists with leaders in agriculture from public and private sectors. They will have the shared mission of bringing NASA data, science, and tools down-to-Earth for the benefit of the many people working to feed the nation. (3/9)

BlackSky Wins $150M Competitive Bid for Space-Based Tactical GEOINT Solution (Source: Space Daily)
BlackSky Technology won a $150+ million competitive contract to provide advanced space-based tactical GEOINT-as-a-service to an international ministry of defense customer. This multi-year contract for advanced subscription-based GEOINT-as-a-services is aligned with the deployment of Blacksky's next-generation constellation and contains options to extend services as needed. (3/8)

SatixFy and Kythera Partner to Deliver Advanced Payload Solutions for LEO Constellations (Source: Space Daily)
SatixFy and Kythera Space Solutions have partnered to deliver advanced payload solutions for LEO constellations. SatixFy's advanced SX-4000 processor drives high performance and flexibility of software defined satellite (SDS) platforms, delivering on-board regenerative processing capability and on-orbit reconfigurability.

Kythera makes the Kythera Operating System (KOS), the emerging industry standard for dynamically and autonomously managing and optimizing SDS payloads and NextGen SATCOM networks. KOS optimizes payload and network resources, capacity, and service. The partnership leverages Kythera's KOS to manage and optimize SatixFy's SDS payloads, delivering a fully integrated solution that includes the space assets, as well as space and ground segment management and orchestration capabilities for LEO constellation optimization. (3/9)

China to Launch LEO Constellation of Remote Sensing Satellites (Source: Space Daily)
China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, a major space contractor, is planning to deploy a remote-sensing satellite network in low-altitude orbits, according to a project leader. Song Xiaoming said that China intends to establish a space-based, high-performance infrastructure system for global remote-sensing operations. The network will feature low construction and operational cost, a large fleet of space-based assets and fast satellite production and deployment so it will be able to compete with existing networks, according to Song. (3/7)

Distant Star TOI-700 Has Two Potentially Habitable Planets (Source: Space Daily)
NASA recently announced the discovery of a new, Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a nearby star called TOI-700. TOI-700 e is just over 100 light years from Earth - too far away for humans to visit - but we do know that it is similar in size to the Earth, likely rocky in composition and could potentially support life. TOI-700 e is one of two potentially habitable planets just in the TOI-700 star system. (3/9)