March 17, 2023

VR Tech Accelerates Northrop Grumman Satellite Development (Source: Breaking Defense)
Northrop Grumman is using a virtual environment to expedite the development of its Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar satellites. Through the use of the company's Highly Immersive Virtual Environment, engineers can construct, maintain, and service satellites in virtual reality prior to the procurement or manufacture of any hardware. (3/15)

Northrop Grumman and IHI Partner to Develop Small SSA Satellites (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman is partnering with Japan's IHI Corporation to develop small satellites for space domain awareness. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to work on "small, highly maneuverable satellites and other solutions" for space domain awareness, particularly in GEO. The Northrop-IHI deal is the latest in a series of efforts Japan has made to reinforce its space defense capabilities, including adding space to the operational domain of the country's Air Self-Defense Force. (3/16)

MEASAT Selects Hughes JUPITER System to Connect Malaysia's Unconnected (Source: Space Daily)
Hughes Network Systems reports that MEASAT Global Berhad (MEASAT), Malaysia's premier satellite operator, has selected the Hughes JUPITER System ground platform to enable broadband services on the MEASAT-3d High-Throughput Satellite (HTS). MEASAT-3d will leverage the JUPITER System gateway and terminals to extend its CONNECTme NOW satellite broadband services throughout Malaysia. (3/15)

Amazon Will Put $10B in Project Kuiper 'Before Seeing Much Cash Flow,' Says Exec (Source: Light Reading)
Amazon is targeting 2024 for the first launch of its satellites for Project Kuiper, and is on track to have over half of its low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellation up by mid-2026, the company said at the Satellite 2023 trade show this week. According to David Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon, who spoke at the conference on Tuesday morning, Amazon is in the process of launching prototype satellites in the coming weeks and aims to have its first commercial customers sometime in 2024. (3/15)

HawkEye 360's Latest Satellite Cluster Begins Operation (Source: Space Daily)
HawkEye 360 has reports its Cluster 6 satellites have begun operation. The rapidly growing constellation can collect up to 24 times per day over a region of interest, as often as once every hour. The enhanced payloads and an additional ground station optimizes the speed for delivering increased quantity and quality of data to customers around the world. (3/15)

AST SpaceMobile Announces Collaboration with Saudi Telcom Company (Source: Space Daily)
AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Saudi Telcom Company, a leading telecommunications provider in Saudi Arabia. The two companies signed the MoU during Mobile World Congress Barcelona, with the goal of developing innovative telecom solutions and satellite-based digital services that could improve mobile service accessibility. (3/14)

Crew-Capable Starship is a Long Pole for Artemis (Source: Quartz)
Even if everything goes perfectly on this first flight test, there is a lot left to do before the envisioned departure of the next generation of moonwalkers in December 2025. That includes building out the crew cabin onboard Starship and testing it with real people onboard, perfecting the in-space refueling techniques required to get the vehicle to the Moon, and demonstrating a successful lunar landing in 2024.

SpaceX will once again find itself standing between NASA and its most important goal, just as it did while attempting to return human spaceflight to the US. That’s a privilege the company has earned by delivering for the space agency, but last time it led to some harsh words (and reconciliation) between Elon Musk and NASA. With more ambitious goals, a much bigger rocket, and a large amount of money on the line, the Artemis fun is just beginning. (3/16)

Student-Built Satellite Uses 'Beach Ball' for an Antenna (Source: Space Daily)
After years of designing, building and testing, a team of UArizona students has readied CatSat for launch into space. The 6U cubesat was designed to demonstrate new space technology and overcome a major challenge in space exploration: high-speed, low-cost communication across vast distances. Reminiscent of a beach ball, the satellite's antenna is expected to transfer information from space to Earth at high data rates.

Stored inside of CatSat is a high-performance, software-defined radio named AstroSDR, which was designed, built and donated by Rincon Research Corporation. After launch, the inflatable antenna, AstroSDR and other components will work together to send down high-resolution images of Earth almost instantaneously. (3/14)

LEO Constellations are Starting to Disrupt GEO Capacity Contracts (Source: Space News)
Satellite broadband customers are increasingly demanding shorter-term contracts from GEO satellite operators to hold out for better prices. Those operators say customers are looking for better prices as LEO constellations like OneWeb and Starlink sharply increase capacity. Customers are increasingly pushing GEO operators for contracts they can renew annually where previously they were expected to sign five-year deals, executives with regional satellite operators said during a panel at the Satellite 2023 conference this week. However, those executives said LEO constellations have helped raise the profile of the entire satellite industry, helping to attract more business for their services in general. (3/16)

New SatCom Terminals Able to Connect to Both Military and Commercial Satellites (Source: Space News)
New terminals are offering to connect to both military and commercial satellites. Several companies used Satellite 2023 to unveil new products that can communicate with military satellites, like Wideband Global Satcom, and commercial satellites. Executives said the industry is trying to support the Pentagon's vision of a seamless military-commercial satcom architecture, an effort that has been underway for several years. Companies acknowledged, though, that those vision comes at a cost of increased complexity for their terminals. (3/16)

FCC Proposes Satellite-to-Phone Rules to Eliminate ‘No Signal’ Once and For All (Source: Tech Crunch)
The FCC has officially proposed, and voted unanimously to move forward with, a framework under which satellites can communicate directly with smartphones in a structured and useful way. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, circulated earlier this month and formally voted on today, is essentially a complete first public draft of what the FCC hopes to accomplish by establishing rules and guidelines around this emerging area of communication. (3/16)

Satellite Powered by 48 AA Batteries and a $20 Microprocessor Shows a Low-Cost Way to Reduce Space Junk (Source: Phys.org)
Common sense suggests that space missions can only happen with multimillion-dollar budgets, materials built to withstand the unforgiving conditions beyond Earth's atmosphere, and as a result of work done by highly trained specialists. But a team of engineering students from Brown University has turned that assumption on its head. They built a satellite on a shoestring budget and using off-the-shelf supplies available at most hardware stores.

They even sent the satellite—which is powered by 48 Energizer AA batteries and a $20 microprocessor popular with robot hobbyists—into space about 10 months ago, hitching a ride on Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket. Now, a new analysis of data from Air Force Space Command shows that the satellite not only successfully operated, but could have far-ranging impacts on efforts to cut down on the growing problem of space debris, which poses a potential danger to all current and future space vehicles.

The students added a 3D-printed drag sail made from Kapton polyimide film to the bread-loaf-sized cube satellite they built. Upon deployment at about 520 kilometers—well above the orbit of the International Space Station—the sail popped open like an umbrella and is helping to push the satellite back down to Earth sooner, according to initial data. In fact, the satellite is well below the other small devices that deployed with it. (3/16)

Spaceport Bill Passes Through Arkansas House and Senate (Source: KFSM)
Senator Justin Boyd from Fort Smith co-sponsored a bill that would begin the process of possibly building a spaceport in Arkansas. The bill defines a "spaceport" as a facility used for the "takeoff, landing, retrieval, servicing, and monitoring of vehicles capable of entering space."

HB1499, if passed, would direct the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to conduct a study that would assess the feasibility of building a spaceport using recommendations given in the Arkansas Council on Future Mobility's report in Dec. 2022. The bill also would instruct the AEDC to analyze the demand and interest of developing a spaceport and possible locations. (3/16)

Astra Outlines its Plan to Avoid Nasdaq Delisting, Including Possible Reverse Stock Split (Source: CNBC)
Spacecraft engine manufacturer and small rocket builder Astra on Thursday outlined a plan to avoid having its stock delisted from the Nasdaq. Astra is seeking a 180-day extension to Nasdaq’s deadline for the company’s stock to return above $1 a share. “We expect to hear back from Nasdaq regarding the status of our application on or around April 5, 2023, and we are not aware of any reason why our application would not be approved,” Astra CFO Axel Martinez wrote in a blog post. (3/16)

Rocket Lab Launches Radar Satellites From Virginia Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched a pair of Capella Space radar satellites Thursday night. An Electron rocket lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, at 6:38 p.m. Eastern and deployed the two Capella satellites into orbit an hour later. The launch was the second this year by Rocket Lab and the second Electron mission from Virginia. Rocket Lab says it's planning up to 15 launches this year and has "a strong manifest with increasing demand" for the small launch vehicle. (3/16)

China Launches Optical Imaging Satellite (Source: Space News)
China launched a classified optical imaging satellite to geostationary orbit Friday. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 4:33 a.m. Eastern carrying the Gaofen-13 (02) satellite, which was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. provided no details of the satellite's capabilities, stating only that the optical remote sensing satellite is a high-orbit, high-resolution Earth observation technology satellite. That payload was disclosed only after the launch after earlier speculation that the rocket would carry a navigation or communications satellite. (3/16)

NASA's AIM Spacecraft Nearing End of Mission (Source: NASA)
An aging NASA Earth science satellite may be at the end of its mission. NASA said Thursday that its Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft is no longer able to conduct science operations because of a decline in battery capacity. The spacecraft no longer has sufficient power to receive commands or collect data. NASA launched AIM in 2007 to study polar mesospheric or noctilucent clouds from low Earth orbit. NASA said it will monitor the spacecraft for two weeks to see if it is able to recover before declaring the mission over. (3/16)

Maple Leaf to the Moon: Canadian Space Agency Debuts New Logo (Source: Space.com)
When the first Canadian astronaut to launch to the moon lifts off with NASA's next Artemis mission, he or she will do so wearing a new symbol of Canada's efforts in space. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on Thursday (March 16) debuted a new logo(opens in new tab) to represent the growing role of the country's space program. Click here. (3/16)

UK Space Agency Funds Rolls-Royce Nuclear Power Project (Source: Press Association)
The UK Space Agency has awarded new funding to Rolls-Royce to work on space nuclear power systems. The agency said Friday it will provide £2.9 million ($3.5 million) to the company for the next phase of study of a nuclear power system that could be used on the moon. The company received £249,000 from the agency to begin studies of that project last year. The company says it could have a reactor ready to send to the moon by the end of the decade. (3/16)