March 14, 2023

NASA Selects L3Harris GeoXO Imager for NOAA Satellite Program (Source: Space News)
L3Harris Technologies has been awarded a $765.5 million contract by NASA under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Extended Observations satellite program. The company will be responsible for developing the GeoXO imager and conducting on-orbit operations as part of this contract. (3/13)

Russia Returns to the Moon (Maybe) (Source: Space Review)
Later this year, Russia is scheduled to launch a long-delayed lunar lander mission, its first mission to the Moon in decades. Dwayne Day, though, warns that the mission’s odds of success are long given the current state of Russia’s space program. Click here. (3/14)
 
Searching for Life and Grappling with Uncertainty (Source: Space Review)
As the number of known exoplanets grows, so do the hopes of scientists searching for evidence of life beyond Earth. Jeff Foust looks at new efforts to use exoplanets to better understand the formation of life as well as the challenges communicating those findings to the public. Click here. (3/14)
 
Building a Catalog to Track the Trash Around the Moon (Source: Space Review)
The increase in activity around the Moon brings with it an increase in defunct spacecraft and other debris in cislunar space. Vishnu Reddy discusses work he is leading to catalog that debris and ensure safe operations around the Moon. Click here. (3/14)
 
Suborbital Spaceflight and the Overview Effect (Source: Space Review)
The Overview Effect, or change in mindset from going to space, has been well-documented among those who have gone to orbit but some doubted a brief suborbital spaceflight could trigger it. Jeff Foust reports that the person who popularized the Overview Effect now believes it can. Click here. (3/14)

NASA Plans $1 Billion Tug to Deorbit ISS (Source: Space News)
NASA projects spending up to $1 billion on a tug to deorbit the International Space Station at the end of its life. The agency also released its full budget Monday, requesting $27.2 billion in 2024. That budget includes $180 million to start work on the deorbit tug, which the agency current expects to cost "a little bit short" of $1 billion, although agency officials hope companies will find ways to reduce the costs.

The tug is intended to provide redundancy to plans to use cargo spacecraft to deorbit the station in 2030. The tug is the biggest new program in the budget that largely continues existing ones, such as elements of Artemis. The budget, though, revealed that NASA has delayed the Artemis 4 mission from 2027 to 2028, while keeping Artemis 3 in late 2025. (3/14)

How Fast Will Direct-to-Device Grow? (Source: Space News)
Satellite industry executives are divided about how fast the direct-to-device market will grow. SpaceX, which announced a partnership last year with T-Mobile, plans to start testing direct-to-smartphone services this year and expects to benefit from its ability to iterate and deploy satellites very quickly, but an executive declined to offer details about the timing of those services and plans for higher-bandwidth offerings. Iridium's Matt Desch cautioned that regulatory, spectrum and other issues could slow the growth of such services, predicting it could take as long as 15 years to roll out. (3/14)

Space Force Pauses GPS Satellite Order (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is pausing orders of new GPS satellites because of excess inventory. The service had planned to order two GPS satellites in 2024 but removed them from its budget proposal. Officials cited the healthy state of the GPS constellation and a backlog of four satellites awaiting launch as the reasons for pausing new orders. Although it's not requesting new satellites, the Pentagon's 2024 budget does include significant funding for the GPS ground system and for receivers, or user equipment. (3/14)

Space Firms Regain Access to Silicon Valley Bank Accounts (Source: Space News)
Space startups breathed a collective sigh of relief after the U.S. government moved to protect all deposits placed with the Silicon Valley Bank. “We’d been panicking all weekend,” said Mark Boggett, CEO of U.K.-based venture capital firm Seraphim Space. When A third of the Seraphim Space portfolio companies had funds locked in SVB accounts. Before the U.S. government stepped in, only funds up to $250,000 were protected, via the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (3/13)

Rivada Space Networks Selects Aalyria Spacetime (Source: Space News)
Aalyria, the company marketing technology developed by Google parent Alphabet, announced an agreement March 13 with Rivada Space Networks. Rivada will use Spacetime, Aalyria’s network orchestration technology, in its planned low-Earth orbit communications constellation. Spacetime is designed to ensure reliable, secure communications by continuously analyzing possible data paths. (3/13)

LeoLabs to Build Radar in Argentina (Source: Space News)
LeoLabs announced plans March 13 to enhance tracking of space objects over the Southern Hemisphere with a new radar in Argentina. The S-band radar, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, will be located on the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. Currently, LeoLabs tracks objects in low-Earth orbit with phased array radars in Alaska, Australia, Portugal’s Azores archipelago, New Zealand, Texas and Costa Rica. (3/13)

CesiumAstro Enters IFC Market (Source: Space News)
CesiumAstro, a company known for supplying phased array antennas for satellites, is entering the in-flight connectivity market with demonstrations on Airbus airplanes and helicopters. The March 13 announcement brings Cesium one step closer to its goal of “supplying phased arrays for everything that’s mobile,” including aircraft, ships and autonomous vehicles, Shey Sabripour, Cesium founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. (3/13)

RS21 Earns Patent for AI-Based Monitoring (Source: Space News)
Someday, satellites may operate autonomously, dodging debris and resolving their own software issues. For now, engineers continuously monitor satellites to detect and diagnose problems. RS21’s artificial intelligence-based software called Space Prognostic AI Custodian Ecosystem, or SPAICE, is aimed at improving satellite monitoring. RS21 was awarded a patent for training AI and machine learning algorithms based on satellite telemetry and historical data. The patent includes description of an online portal for interacting with satellite operators “to prompt and facilitate investigations.” (3/10)

Voyager Space Acquires ZIN Technologies (Source: Voyager)
Voyager Space announced today the acquisition of ZIN Technologies, an engineering, design and integration company with decades-long experience providing critical human-rated spaceflight systems and monitoring solutions, propulsion, and more. Voyager Space's acquisition of ZIN is an essential step in expanding the company's space infrastructure and technology capabilities to further its Starlab development efforts. (3/13)

How NASA Satellite Data is Harnessed to Combat Food Insecurity (Source: Austin Chronicle)
“Science, when applied to decision-making, gets really interesting,” said moderator Lawrence Friedl, one of three panelists from NASA, alongside Carl McClellan of the Navajo Nation Water Management Branch that partners with NASA, speaking on March 11 on the subject of NASA satellite footage’s role in examining food insecurity.

NASA’s satellite data collection is not just futuristic nerd stuff. It’s proven valuable to understanding human needs, in real-time. Ukraine, for example, is one of the world’s top grain producers and the ongoing war puts global food security, as well as local citizens, at high risk. Knowing how and where aid can be delivered reduces harm on all fronts. Similarly, when the country of Togo experienced an unprecedented drought, officials on the ground needed info about which farmers were most in need of aid, and where their land was located so it could be distributed. NASA provided the analyzed data in 10 days. (3/12)

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Find Life on Mars or Icy Worlds? (Source: SETI Institute)
Wouldn’t finding life on other worlds be easier if we knew exactly where to look? Researchers have limited opportunities to collect samples on Mars or elsewhere or access remote sensing instruments when hunting for life beyond Earth. In a paper published in Nature Astronomy, an interdisciplinary study led by SETI Institute Senior Research Scientist Kim Warren-Rhodes, mapped the sparse life hidden away in salt domes, rocks and crystals at Salar de Pajonales at the boundary of the Chilean Atacama Desert and Altiplano.

Warren-Rhodes then worked with co-investigators Michael Phillips (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab) and Freddie Kalaitzis (University of Oxford) to train a machine learning model to recognize the patterns and rules associated with their distributions so it could learn to predict and find those same distributions in data on which it was not trained. In this case, by combining statistical ecology with AI/ML, the scientists could locate and detect biosignatures up to 87.5% of the time (versus ≤10% by random search) and decrease the area needed for search by up to 97%. (3/6)

Space Systems Command Demonstrates Satellite Anti-Jam Capability (Source: SSC)
Space Systems Command (SSC) successfully demonstrated its ground-based antijamming satellite communications (SATCOM) capability using an on-orbit operational satellite. The event demonstrated over-the-air Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) connectivity between a Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) Joint Hub and a test terminal, and over-the-wire connectivity to a PTW-capable modem developed by the Army Airforce Antijam Modem Program Office.

PTW provides joint warfighters with critical anti-jam capability.  SSC facilitated affordable upgrades to existing terminals, saving 95% over the cost of new terminal development. This is the second over-the-air demo for PTES and a key milestone for integration of end user equipment. PTES is the enabling ground system (mission management system, key management system, key loading and initialization facility, and joint hubs) for PTW operations over the Wideband Global SATCOM fleet, enhancing military features with high levels of jamming resistance and connectivity assurance. Initial operational capability is expected to be fielded in 2024. (3/8)

Statement from NASA’s Janet Petro on Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request (Source: NASA)
“Whether we are launching Artemis missions to the Moon, flying astronauts to the International Space Station, or sending probes to the far reaches of the universe, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is launching humanity’s future. The spaceport is the agency’s primary launch and operational site and is home to facilities that research and develop innovating solutions that government and commercial space ventures need to work and live on the surfaces of the Moon and other bodies in our solar system. President Biden’s newly announced Fiscal Year 2024 (FY 2024) budget request reflects the nation’s confidence in the agency and support for NASA’s missions.

“This investment in NASA benefits all of humanity through exploration, innovation, and discovery. America remains the world’s leader in aerospace, in no small part because of the commitment and innovation of our industry partners. Kennedy boasts about 100 private-sector partners and nearly 230 partnership agreements, which support the growth of commercial space companies, enable a new era of space exploration, and bring tremendous economic dividends to the Space Coast and the Sunshine State.

“It will be another historic year on Florida’s Space Coast, with more than 90 planned launches on the manifest, and the FY 2024 budget provides much needed resources for Kennedy Space Center programs. This includes missions sending crews, supplies, and science investigations to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew and Commercial Resupply Services programs. Likewise, the Launch Services Program will partner with commercial launchers that help answer questions about our home planet, solar system, and beyond. Kennedy teams also continue their critical work on the hardware that will carry humans back to the Moon as part of Artemis as well as developing and testing technologies needed for extended human exploration of the Moon and beyond." (3/9)

NASA Continues Test Series for Redesigned Artemis Moon Rocket Engines (Source: NASA)
NASA’s testing for redesigned RS-25 engines to be used on future Space Launch System (SLS) missions continued with a March 8 full-duration hot fire at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

The test, conducted on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA Stennis, was the third of the year and part of an ongoing certification hot fire series. It also was the third test since an upgraded nozzle was installed on the RS-25 engine just prior to a Feb 8 hot fire. The redesigned engines provided by lead SLS engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne will be used on future Artemis flights to the Moon, beginning with Artemis V, as NASA continues its mission to explore the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all. (3/8)

Cardiac Tissue Chips to Fly to the ISS to Refine Drug Screening (Source: CASIS)
More than 600,000 people die each year from cardiovascular disease in the United States. Many more experience weakened heart muscles, which often results in heart failure, a state in which the heart is unable to pump blood throughout the body. To improve patient care and quality of life for people with heart disease, a team of researchers from Stanford University led by Joseph Wu is turning to the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory.

The team will test whether engineered heart muscle tissue grown in microgravity can be used as a model for heart failure to screen potential new drugs. Space-based research provides a unique opportunity to study heart conditions because prolonged exposure to microgravity can weaken heart muscles at a much quicker rate than aging or heart disease do on Earth. Research has found that microgravity weakens heart muscle cells and engineered heart tissue in the same way. (3/7)

QuSecure Pioneers First-Ever U.S. Live End-to-End Satellite Quantum-Resilient Cryptographic Communications Link Through Space (Source: QuSecure)
QuSecure announced that the company has accomplished the first known live, end-to-end quantum-resilient cryptographic communications satellite link through space, marking the first time U.S. satellite data transmissions have been protected from classical and quantum decryption attacks using post-quantum cryptography (PQC). 

The quantum-secure communication to space and back to Earth was made through a Starlink satellite working with a leading Global System Integrator (GSI) and security provider. Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX consisting of more than 3,500 small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) which communicate with designated ground transceivers to provide satellite Internet access coverage to more than 45 countries. (3/9)

Biden’s Bezos Bailout Is Out Of This World (Source: Daily Caller)
Is the federal government prepared to hand Jeff Bezos, the third-richest man in the world, millions of our taxpayer dollars again? Unfortunately, it sure seems that way. Bezos knows when it comes to taxpayer subsidies, the sky is the limit, and with the help of President Joe Biden’s Space Force, his rocket company Blue Origin appears ready to blast off. 

Biden’s Space Force recently changed the longstanding selection criteria the government has used to decide who is (and isn’t) qualified to conduct national security launches. And it appears to have done so to ensure more of our hard-earned dollars orbit straight into the $116 billion-dollar man’s pockets.

Before the Biden administration changed the rules, federal law mandated the government only select companies with the proven ability to launch things into space by meeting certain “reference orbits.” But now, Biden’s Space Force has created a new section in the program that will allow Bezos — who has out-of-this-world space dreams but no completed, functioning rocket to transition them into reality — to win government contracts anyway. (3/9)

UK Spaceport Team Boldly Goes to Clear a Path Through Snowy Roads (Source: Shetland Times)
They are usually working on plans to launch satellites hundreds of kilometres into space. But this week their efforts have been focussed on journeys of a more terrestrial nature. The spaceport team has been helping out with road clearances in snowy Unst. SaxaVord Spaceport praised its “community minded” colleagues on Facebook this morning (Sunday), after they helped ensure staff at the Nordalea care home could get to and from work safely. The spaceport has also donated 1,000 liters of fuel to the care home. (3/12)

New Stars Emerging in India’s Space Trajectory (Source: Deccan Herald)
Although the potential is limitless, space entrepreneurs and industry analysts feel that the returns from this push for private participation will depend critically on the emerging funding and support ecosystem, creation of viable business models and the efficiency of policy frameworks and regulatory checks. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), created as a single-window nodal agency to monitor the private industry’s activities in the sector, has been an extension of concerted efforts to prepare India for the growth of its space economy. (3/11)

GMV provides the core software for the Greek SST System (Source: GMV)
MV has been awarded a contract to provide the core software for the Greek Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) System, which will contribute to the country’s capacity for the European EU-SST partnership. The solution is based on GMV’s COTS software for SST (FocusSST), including sensor tasking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, re-entry prediction, and optical data astrometrics and photometric reduction. (3/9)

Military Begins Scanning Neighborhood Near Patrick Space Force Base for Old Military Waste (Source: Florida Today)
World War II left lots of bad stuff behind — and buried — even on the Space Coast, where the only combat was offshore, where U-boats sank merchant ships and our soldiers sank U-boats in fiery oil-leaking infernos. Now, the federal government is back to locate, unearth and remove whatever long-hidden hazards from World War II and other decades-old military activities were buried near Patrick Space Force Base, an area where hundreds of homes now sit.

Residents of the area have long raised concerns about what they see as an abnormal number of rare illnesses among their number, and worry that long-forgotten military waste remains a continuing health risk. On Feb. 27, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers embarked on a $5.8 million project to use ground-penetrating radar to scan yards within a 52-acre site the federal agency has identified in South Patrick Shores, just south of Patrick Space Force Base, which was part of Banana River Naval Air Station during World War II. (3/13)

U.S. Space Force Budget Hits $30 Billion in 2024 Proposal (Source: Space News)
President Biden’s $842 billion budget request for the Defense Department for fiscal year 2024 includes $30 billion for the U.S. Space Force, the largest funding request to date for the military space branch. The $30 billion request is $3.7 billion more than what Congress enacted for the Space Force in 2023. (3/13)

Space Florida Considers Facility and Equipment Deals for Unnamed Aerospace Companies (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida's board met on Monday to consider support to two code-named projects for unnamed aerospace companies. One deal involves the development of a 50,000 square-foot facility on property to be leased for 15 years, along with a $6 million grant of equipment. The other deal involves a facility sublease for 15 years along with a lease of equipment from the first project. Click here. (3/13)