March 13, 2023

Russia Launches Military CommSat (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Russia launched a military communications satellite Sunday. A Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:13 p.m. Eastern Sunday and placed the Luch-5X satellite, also known as Olymp-K2, into a geostationary transfer orbit several hours later. The Luch/Olymp satellites are believed to provide secure military communications while also conducting signals intelligence activities. (3/13)

China Launches Egyptian Remote Sensing Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a second Egyptian remote sensing satellite early Monday. A Long March 2C rocket launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:02 a.m. Eastern and placed the Horus-2 satellite into orbit. The satellite is thought to be similar to Horus-1, launched last month for the Egyptian government. (3/13)

China Satellite Gathering Intel for Pearl Harbor-Style Hypersonic Missile Blitz (Source: The Sun)
China used green lasers fired from satellites to gather intelligence for a surprise hypersonic missile attack on Hawaii, it has been warned. The satellite was recorded flashing lasers for a fraction of a second by a livestream camera attached to a telescope on top of a mountain on one of the islands. Initially the lights were thought to come from a NASA satellite before it was finally established it was a Chinese pollution monitoring satellite the Daqi-1.

But questions immediately began to be raised about why the Chinese would feel it necessary to monitor pollution in Hawaii, given the large US military presence there. And it comes just weeks after China flew a giant balloon over the US - which was widely understood to be a spy tool even as Beijing claimed it was a civilian weather airship. Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii remains vital for the United States military and the presence of the satellite comes amid increased tensions between the US and China. (3/12)

NASA Report Examines Options for Orbital Debris Removal (Source: Space News)
A NASA report released Friday examined the costs and benefits of removing orbital debris. The study reviewed several technologies for removing both very small and very large debris and compared those costs with the savings that satellite operators would realize from reduced work to avoid debris and fewer collisions. Approaches using lasers to remove small debris appeared most promising, along with "just-in-time" techniques to nudge very large debris to avoid collisions; both of which, the study concluded, could yield net benefits within a decade. The study found that that the costs satellite operators bear from avoiding debris is surprisingly small. (3/13)

Korea's Innospace Announces March 7-21 Window for Inaugural Launch (Source: Space Radar)
South Korean rocket startup Innospace will conduct the inaugural launch of its suborbital technology demonstration rocket, HANBIT-TLV, between March 7 and 21 from the Alcantara Space Center in Brazil. The company announced the launch window on March 2, adding that it plans to finalize a more precise date for the launch after factoring in technical preparations and weather conditions.

HANBIT-TLV is a 16.3-meter, single-stage test rocket designed to be powered by the company’s self-developed 15-ton-thrust hybrid rocket engine that uses liquid oxygen and paraffin-based propellants. It is a precursor to the company’s planned commercial satellite launcher Hanbit-Nano, a two-stage small satellite launcher designed to carry a payload of up to 50 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. (3/3)

South Korea to Launch Space Agency with 'Full Autonomy, Flexibility' by Year-End (Source: Space Radar)
The South Korean government is pushing to develop and support the space sector by establishing a space agency based on a special law that grants a degree of autonomy and flexibility the country’s public sector has never seen before. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced March 2 the advanced publication of legislation for the special law on the establishment and operation of the country’s new space agency.

The tentative name for the space agency is the Korea Space and Aeronautics Administration (KSAA). Director General of the KSAA’s preparatory office, Choi Won-ho, stated that the unique legal measures for the new space body are aimed at recruiting talented space professionals. The special law puts no limit on the proportion of term-based public officials at the KSAA, unlike the Government Organization Act. (3/2)

Ax-2 Crew Completes Human Exploration Research Analog Mission (Source: Axiom)
To simulate their 12 days in space, the crew of Ax-2 participated in the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), a training program designed to push people to the extremes and intended to prepare this team for their mission to orbit. Ax-2 crew members spent about a week inside the HERA habitat, a unique 650-square-foot three-story structure at NASA Johnson Space Center. The habitat serves as a ground-based analog for isolation, confinement, and remote conditions in exploration scenarios.

As part of HERA, the Axiom Space Mission Integration and Operations (MI&O) team planned a space mission similar to what the crew will experience on Ax-2. Focused on completing several key objectives, crew members worked on completing tasks on their timeliness and trained on equipment and procedures they will be using when they visit the International Space Station. The crew worked through emergency scenarios and participated in team-building exercises ahead of their historic mission. (3/3)

Splashdown! NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 Returns After Nearly Six Months in Space (Source: Florida Today)
NASA's Crew-5 mission wrapped up Saturday night in the Gulf of Mexico with the splashdown return of a SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying a crew of four astronauts. After nearly six months in space, NASA's Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan's Koichi Wakata, and Russia's Anna Kikina departed the International Space Station at 2:20 a.m. EST Saturday before blazing through the atmosphere, their heat shield enduring temperatures up to 3,500 degrees.

The nearly 19-hour return trip concluded with a parachute-assisted splashdown of the Dragon "Endurance" capsule off the coast of Tampa at 9:02 p.m. ET. As the 17,000-pound capsule bobbed in an area cordoned off by the Coast Guard, a SpaceX recovery team approached to confirm that no toxic propellants were present. The capsule was then rigged up and hoisted onto the deck of SpaceX's custom-built recovery vessel named "Shannon."

The crew would complete medical checkouts aboard the vessel before boarding a helicopter destined for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From there, they travel home. For astronauts Mann, Cassada, and Wakata, the trip's final leg returns them to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, while Kikina will return home to Russia. Splashdown officially completes a mission dedicated to thousands of hours of science experiments and station maintenance. (3/11)

Next SpaceX Mission to International Space Station Includes a Variety of Research (Source: SpaceRef)
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will carry important research in the areas of life sciences and technology development to the International Space Station (ISS) on its 27th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission. Approximately 20 payloads launching on this mission are sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory. These investigations aim to improve life on Earth and foster commerce in low Earth orbit. Click here. (3/7)

An Archeological Mystery: UCF Students Study Blockhouse Site From Cape's 1st Rocket Launch (Source: Florida Today)
Inside a wooden tar-paper shack, technicians manning a crude control panel with dials and switches sent Cape Canaveral's first rocket — Bumper 8 — soaring skyward over the Atlantic Ocean on July 24, 1950, opening a new chapter in America's Space Race. But today, the Bumper blockhouse site is a tranquil field overrun with waving chest-high grasses, cacti, thorny brush and saw palmetto in a long-deactivated corner of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

And many details surrounding the hastily constructed building at historic Launch Complex 3 remain an aerospace archaeological mystery, said Tom Penders, Space Launch Delta 45 cultural resources manager. Now, nearly 73 years later, about 20 students with the University of Central Florida's Department of Anthropology are spearheading a scientific search. Their mission: Research the long-lost blockhouse site and collect remnants and artifacts, adding context to a watershed event in U.S. space history. (3/12)

NASA Spacecraft's New Images of Volcanic World Io are Tantalizing (Source: Mashable)
There's a moon teeming with lava-spewing volcanoes in our solar system, and a NASA spacecraft is getting closer to this intense world. The pioneering Juno spacecraft, which arrived at Jupiter in 2016 and is now swooping by the planet's intriguing moons, recently snapped images of the Jovian moon Io from some 32,044 miles away. The March 1 images are Juno's "best images so far of Io's colorful surface," Jason Perry, a professional imaging processor who uploaded new photos to NASA's Juno website, noted online. Click here. (3/11)

Japanese Astronomer Catches Meteorite Smashing into the Moon (Source: Space.com)
A Japanese astronomer captured the telltale flash of a meteorite impacting the moon, causing a brief flash on our celestial neighbor's nightside. Daichi Fujii, curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum, recorded the event using cameras set to monitor the moon. The time of the flash was 20:14:30.8 Japan Standard Time on Feb. 23. The meteorite appears to have struck near Ideler L crater, slightly northwest of Pitiscus crater, Fujii said. (3/10)

How is the US Military Space Sector Doing? Depends Who You Ask (Source: Defense News)
The military space-industrial base is seeing strong growth as nations around the world recognize the importance of these military assets. Once a static industry dominated by a handful of contractors, it now has significant participation from emerging startups, which have received billions in private sector investments over the past decade.

Still, like the defense sector and the economy as a whole, challenges related to inflation, staffing needs and supply chain disruptions are impacting operations — with small companies and the supplier base affected more so than the large prime contractors. It should come as no surprise the overall business of defense is booming around the globe, particularly in the United States and European NATO nations.

Today, it is absolutely critical to military planning, tactical solutions and operations, including monitoring the battlefield; identifying targets and assessing damage; providing data and communications from the platoon level to individual soldiers; controlling drones; monitoring weather; and providing navigation and positioning information. All of these activities have proved valuable to Ukrainian forces. President Biden’s $773 billion FY-2023 budget request for DoD included $28.5 billion in military space funding — up from $17.7 billion in FY21 and $21.8 billion in FY22. And for fiscal 2024, SPADE Indexes anticipates a rise by several billion dollars more. (3/13)

NASA Plans Small Business Networking Fair at KSC (Source: NASA)
The KSC Small Business Networking Fair will be held at the Debus Conference Facility, located at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. This event will feature open networking with approximately 30 KSC Prime Contractors and government exhibitors. It will be held on April 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Click here. (3/13)

Getting Real About Space Business Models (Source: Space News)
Innovation is happening in space. There is an exciting profusion of new ideas, companies, and funding in the space market. At the same time, we are also seeing pressures as investors seek to better understand their likely returns, driving more rigorous examination of space business models.

This is a healthy and important step in maturing the space innovation ecosystem. Many come to the space market from user or builder backgrounds, so naturally, early conversations focus heavily on desires and possibilities — on missions and engineering. And these are indeed critical: any successful product or service has to meet a real need, and it has to work. Click here. (3/13)

EU Space Strategy for Security and Defence for a Stronger and More Resilient EU (Source: EU Commission)
Today, the Commission and the High Representative present a first-ever Joint Communication on a European Space Strategy for Security and Defence. Space systems and services in the European Union are crucial for the functioning of our society and economy, as well as for security and defence. As such, the EU has identified space as a strategic domain.

In the current geopolitical context of increasing power competition and intensification of threats, the EU is taking action to protect its space assets, defend its interests, deter hostile activities in space and strengthen its strategic posture and autonomy. The Strategy is a direct implementation of the EU Strategic Compass adopted less than a year ago and which defined space, together with cyber and maritime, as contested strategic domains, the security of which must be ensured.

Based on a shared understanding of space threats, the strategy provides a set of actions encompassing the protection of space systems and services; the use of space for security and defence; a coordinated response to space threats and seek to strengthen existing space security cooperation for responsible behaviours in space. (3/10)

What One Space Force General Did When We Weren’t Watching (Source: Forbes)
While the rest of us have been distracted by the clickbait of commercial rockets that land themselves or venture-backed companies getting enticingly close to more responsive launch options, something far more significant has been playing in the background. The Space Force is well on its way to expanded use of commercial off-the-shelf satellites to augment and eventually replace the legacy constellations of billion-dollar behemoths.

Little mention, though, has been made to the pivotal organizational changes made to the launch industry, which are arguably more impactful and carry longer term possibilities than the creation of the service itself. Launch has become so common that even the Space Force has started to see it as a business function, rather than the elusive “rocket science” of old. In fact, the Space Force has already reorganized to see space mobility’s future for what it really is: more commercial than military. (3/10)

Meet the Brothers Building Massive Spacecraft to Leverage SpaceX’s Starship (Source: CNBC)
Los Angeles-based startup K2 Space, co-founded by brothers Karan and Neel Kunjur, is setting out to build satellite buses to leverage new large rockets such as SpaceX’s Starship. “The only path to go cheaper over the last decade was to go smaller. What we’re finding is that, with the new launch capabilities of vehicles like Starship, there’s actually an interesting opportunity to go the opposite direction,” Karan Kunjur told CNBC. Since its incorporation in June, K2 has raised $8.5 million in a seed round led by First Round Capital and Republic Capital. (3/10)

NASA’s Economic Impact Report Card for Washington State Highlights Blue Origin (Source: GeekWire)
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture leads the list of NASA’s Washington state contractors in a newly released analysis of the agency’s economic impact. The analysis came out today when NASA released data showing how many jobs and how many procurement dollars were generated during fiscal year 2021 in each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. NASA said this is the first time it has drafted state-specific fact sheets to complement its Economic Impact Report. (3/11)

Saudi Space Commission CEO Meets with Key Figures in India’s Space Industry (Source: Al Arabiya)
The Saudi Space Commission (SSC) CEO has held several meetings with key figures in the Indian space industry to discuss cooperation and strategic partnerships. SSC CEO Dr. Mohammed bin Saud al-Tamimi discussed ways to “enhance cooperation and build strategic partnerships in space economies and its future sectors in a way that serves common interests,” a Saudi Press Agency report said. (3/11)

Canadian Military Orders Space Surveillance Micro Satellite (Source: Space News)
Canada’s Department of National Defence is moving ahead with a new microsatellite project for space domain awareness. The Redwing satellite will monitor objects in congested orbits and will be able to record and transmit tracking data from anywhere in its orbit, according to the department.

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand announced March 9 that a contract worth $15.8 million Canadian dollars ($11.3 million) has been awarded to Magellan Aerospace of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Magellan is the prime contractor who will lead a team to design, build and operate the Redwing microsatellite hosting a suite of optical sensors. (3/10)

Space Sector Reacts to Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (Source: Space News)
Space companies and investors are reacting to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a financial institution many relied on for investment, loans and traditional banking services. Rocket Lab reported an aggregate balance with Silicon Valley Bank “of approximately $38 million, which is approximately 7.9 percent of the Company’s total cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2022,” in a March 10 report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Astra Space, BlackSky, Planet, Redwire, Rocket Lab and Space Perspective are among the companies that attracted investment or borrowed money from Silicon Valley Bank. Astra, Planet, Redwire and Rocket Lab repaid those loans when they went public through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies, according to annual 10-K SEC reports. (3/10)

Inside the UK's Resurrected Deep Space Hub Helping Astronauts Return to the Moon (Source: Science Focus)
In November 2022, Goonhilly made history as it tracked NASA’s Artemis 1 mission to the Moon. But that’s not the end of the story. The little-known station, nestled in the toe-tip of England, is poised to become the UK’s window to the next era of space exploration.  That was the catalyst for Ian Jones. He realized that, just as Goonhilly had been used to pioneer satellite-based broadcasting, there could be a new role for it pioneering commercial deep-space communications.

In 2014, he assembled a team to explore that possibility, set up a company called Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd (GES), negotiated with BT to take over the site and lease the antennas, and turned Goonhilly into the world’s first privately owned deep-space communications network. (3/11)

Stoke Space to Balance Past and Future at Historic LC-14 Launch Pad (Source: CollectSpace)
The long-retired launch pad where astronaut John Glenn lifted off to become to the first American to orbit Earth is getting a new lease on life. The U.S. Space Force on March 7 announced it had allocated Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) to Stoke Space, a Washington-based company developing a reusable rocket intended to fly daily.

In addition to LC-14 being the site where Glenn left the ground in February 1962, the Cape Canaveral, Florida complex also supported the launches of Scott Carpenter, Walter "Wally" Schirra and Gordon Cooper on the three NASA Mercury-Atlas missions that followed. "We're standing on the shoulders of giants," Andy Lapsa, co-founder and chief executive of Stoke Space, said. "The opportunity to reactivate this site is a profound responsibility that our entire team holds in the highest regard." (3/10)