March 3, 2023

Viasat to Enter Direct-to-Device Market with Ligado Networks (Source: Space News)
Viasat said March 2 it is partnering with Ligado Networks to break into the emerging market for providing satellite services directly to consumer smartphones and other devices. While Viasat is best known for satellites that provide broadband in Ka-band spectrum, the operator has used L-band from Ligado’s SkyTerra-1 geostationary satellite since 2014 to deliver less bandwidth-heavy services over North America.

These mobile satellite services include connectivity for monitoring and tracking Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other machines requiring external antennas. By also partnering with San Francisco-based venture Skylo on SkyTerra-1, which has developed technology enabling standard consumer devices to connect with geostationary satellites, the operators plan to expand these services across the “consumer smartphone, automotive, and defense” markets. (3/3)

Space Systems Command’s Hack-A-Sat Competition Begins Registration Phase (Source: Executive Gov)
The U.S. Space Systems Command has kicked off the registration period for Hack-A-Sat, an annual satellite-hacking competition challenging security researchers to address cybersecurity obstacles in space technologies. Hack-A-Sat is in its fourth year and will take place in both on-orbit and digital twin environments for the first time, SSC said Tuesday.

The competition was conceptualized by the U.S. Air Force, Space Force, and the security research community, and was previously held either in a physical laboratory hardware or in a digital twin platform. For Hack-A-Sat 4, participants will experiment on the on-orbit satellite Moonlighter, which is targeted for launch in early summer. Click here. (3/2)

SpaceX Doubles Number of Rocket Launches (Source: Statista)
In 2022, according to Bryce Tech, eleven private providers launched 94 rockets - of which SpaceX alone sent 61 rockets into orbit. This compares with 71 launches by space agencies or government-related companies. The leader in this category is the prime contractor for the Chinese space program, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (35 launches). It is followed by Roscosmos (21 launches), the space agency of the Russian Federation. (3/1)

Rivada Contracts for 12 SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches for its First 300 Satellites (Source: Space Intel Report)
Startup B2B satellite broadband constellation operator Rivada Space Networks of Germany has signed a firm contract with SpaceX to launch 300 500-kilogram satellites into low Earth orbit aboard 12 Falcon 9 rockets between April 2025 and June 2026. Rivada officials had said for months that they had few launch options given that the other developers of heavy-lift rockets — Arianespace, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin — were all behind schedule with their new-generation vehicles. (3/2)

Why Virgin Galactic Stock Crashed This Morning (Source: Motley Fool)
Virgin Galactic -- the original space-related special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) -- reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings last night. Its stock price promptly crashed after hours, and was down a total of 16% as of 10:35 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning. But the news wasn't even all bad. On the bright side, however, management easily beat revenue expectations with a $869,000 quarter.

Virgin Galactic also told investors that it "remains on track" to begin commercial space launches in the second quarter of 2023 -- just a quarter away. Considering the company's track record of promising to do X on Y date, and then delaying, and delaying, and delaying again, management's confirmation that, so far at least, everything is on track must have come as some reassurance. (3/1)

European Firms Line Up Behind Push for Secure SATCOM Standard (Source: Defense News)
European satellite communications industry and academia have kicked off a government-supported effort to develop a new protected waveform for the continent’s militaries. The European Protected Waveform is one of the 61 projects to receive inaugural European Defense Fund (EDF) support, the European Union announced in summer 2022. The goal of the program is to design a new secure and resilient waveform standard that will help EU armed forces tackle increased throughput demand over satellite while supporting dispersed operations, mobility, and novel security threats (3/1)

Industry And Government Still Disagree Over Extending Suborbital Flight Safety Regulations (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The battle over what – if any – government safety regulations will be formulated for people flying on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic suborbital vehicles and the right of those passengers to sue in the event of an accident was on full display at the Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) in Colorado this week.

On one side was the FAA, which would be able to formulate regulations as soon as the current 19-year-old moratorium on them expires on Sept. 30. Kelvin Coleman, associate administrator for FAA’s Office of Commercial Spaceflight (FAA AST), told conference attendees that the agency has sufficient data about the vehicles to begin creating rules to protect passengers and crew members.

On the other side was Karina Drees, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation that represents the industry. Drees and others argued the companies need more time to mature their systems before the FAA steps in with regulations that could be burdensome, costly, and hinder technological progress toward safer vehicles. They want Congress to extend the moratorium, also known as the “learning period,” as it has done twice in the past. (3/1)

Black Holes Destroy Nearby Quantum Superpositions, Thought Experiment Reveals (Source: Physics World)
A new thought experiment suggests that the mere presence of a black hole can destroy a nearby quantum spatial superposition. Developed by physicists in the US, the experiment implies that the long-range gravitational field of the particle in the superposition will interact with the black hole’s event horizon, causing cause the quantum superposition to decohere within finite time. Click here. (3/2)

Raytheon Wins Missile Tracking Satellite Work (Source: Space News)
Raytheon won a $250 million Space Development Agency contract Thursday for missile-tracking satellites. The seven satellites will be part of SDA's Tracking Layer Tranche 1, a constellation of infrared-sensing satellites intended to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles launched by foreign adversaries. SDA originally planned to only have 28 satellites in Tranche 1 but added seven more after Congress increased the agency's 2023 budget by $250 million specifically to pay for missile-tracking satellites. Raytheon originally bid for a Tracking Layer contract in 2020 but lost out to other competitors, and later lost a bid protest. Raytheon said the seven satellites under this new contract will be built on Saturn-class microsatellite buses made by its subsidiary Blue Canyon Technologies. (3/3)

Vega C Launch Failure Investigation Points to Yuzhnoye-Made Nozzle Insert (Source: Space News)
Investigators blamed the failed launch of a Vega C rocket last December on a component in the nozzle of the rocket's second stage. ESA said Friday that the independent investigation into the failure found that a throat insert in the nozzle of the Zefiro-40 motor, made of carbon-carbon material, suffered "thermo-mechanical over-erosion" during the launch. That erosion was linked to higher porosity of the material that was not detected in earlier acceptance testing.

Avio, the prime contractor for Vega C, will replace that component, manufactured by Ukrainian company Yuzhnoye, with one from ArianeGroup. An older Vega rocket, not affected by the problem, will launch several unnamed payloads before the end of the summer, with Vega C scheduled to return to flight by the end of the year, launching the Sentinel-1C radar imaging satellite. (3/3)

Cybersecurity Strategy Highlights Satellite Hacking Threats (Source: Space News)
A new national cybersecurity strategy points at Russian and Chinese hackers as major threats to U.S. terrestrial and space networks. The strategy, released by the White House Thursday, says the Biden administration will continue to implement Space Policy Directive 5, focused on the cybersecurity of space systems, that the Trump administration published in 2020. An Air Force official said Thursday the military over the past decade has boosted the cybersecurity of space networks by relying on a diversity of government and commercial systems. (3/3)

Chinese Astronauts Perform TSS Spacewalk (Source: Space News)
Chinese astronauts performed a second spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station this week that was announced only after it took place. China's human spaceflight agency CMSA announced March 2 that Shenzhou-15 mission astronauts Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu had "recently" carried out a spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station. The report didn't disclose what the astronauts did on the spacewalk or even the day it occurred. Rumors on Chinese social media had suggested an EVA was taking place Tuesday. It was unclear why Chinese officials did not release more information about the spacewalk, but it adds to growing Western concerns about a lack of transparency about Chinese space activities in general. (3/3)

Crew Dragon Docks with ISS After Sensor Fix (Source: CBS)
A Crew Dragon spacecraft docked with the International Space Station overnight after a brief delay. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour docked with the station's Harmony module at 1:40 a.m. Eastern. The spacecraft loitered near the station on its final approach while engineers patched software to address a faulty sensor on one of 12 hooks used to latch the spacecraft to the station. The spacecraft docked normally and hatches opened about two hours later. The Crew-6 mission delivered four American, Russian and Emirati crew members to the station for a six-month stay. (3/3)

Australia Pursuing Satellite EW Capability (Source: Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
The Australian military wants to develop capabilities to "soft-kill" enemy satellites. Air Vice Marshal Catherine Roberts said this week that the military was pursuing an "electronic warfare capability" that would allow it to disable satellites without creating debris. She did not elaborate on those capabilities or the status of their development. Roberts leads the one-year-old Defence Space Command in Australia, tasked with overseeing and improving the country's military space capabilities. (3/3)

Japan Plans Second H3 Launch Attempt Sunday Night (Source: Jiji Press)
Japan's space agency will make a second attempt to launch its new H3 rocket this weekend. JAXA said it rescheduled the inaugural launch of the H3 for 8:37 p.m. Eastern Sunday from the Tanegashima Space Center. The first launch attempt was scrubbed after the main engine ignited when an electrical issue prevented solid-fuel boosters from igniting. (3/3)

Study Finds Constellations' Impacts on Space-Based Astronomy (Source: New York Times)
Starlink and other low Earth orbit constellations affect space-based astronomy. A study examining Hubble Space Telescope images found that the number that had streaks from satellites in them has grown in recent years, from 3.9% of images between 2009 and 2020 to 5.9% in 2021. That increase is linked to Starlink, but other constellations may also contribute in the future. Astronomers say that, for now, the problem is relatively mild, but is likely to grow worse. (3/3)

Lunar Resources and Wood Selected by NASA to Study Building a Pipeline on the Moon (Source: Space Daily)
Lunar Resources, the pioneering space industrial company, and Wood, a global leader in consulting and engineering with market-leading expertise in terrestrial pipeline transportation systems, have been awarded a grant by NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. This award funds a feasibility study for the Lunar South Pole Oxygen Pipeline (LSPoP), a pipeline at the South Pole of the Moon to transport gaseous oxygen from an extraction site to a proposed future Lunar base. (2/26

UK Space Command Shares Lessons From Ukraine (Source: Australian Defense)
The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted western reliance on satellites, the commander of UK Space Command says. Air Vice Marshal Paul Godfrey said Ukraine showed how modern warfare was being conducted, especially by a nation like Russia. “We can learn and awful lot from them and determine where we need to build our capability for the future,” he said. “One is how much we rely on precision systems these days, primarily in the west GPS, for position, navigation and timing,” he said.

“We see an awful lot of disruption to GPS in that area. That is one thing our space operations center does – it liaises with the US Navigation Warfare Center to determine whether GPS is lower in precision in various areas of the planet and why that might be. “We are seeing GPS jamming in all parts of the world." The second aspect is space-based intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). Satellite imagery provided by US company Maxar proved that Russia was really responsible for atrocities which it blamed on the Ukrainians. “There is a deterrent effect on that as well in terms of the Russians trying that again,” he said.

“Earth observation has been incredibly important to Ukraine. It’s not just images. There are companies out there as well that do radio frequency monitoring.” The final aspect was satellite communications. At the outbreak of the conflict, Russia launched volleys of missiles and a cyber attack, taking out much of Ukraine’s communications. “It is has been really interesting to watch the role of Starlink in reconnecting the country, enabling the Ukrainians to be able to tell their story to the outside world and to communicate with each other inside as well as how rapidly that was rolled out,” he said. (3/2)

Stop Space Command Headquarters Move to Alabama Over Abortion Ban, Colorado Lawmakers Say (Source: AL.com)
Alabama’s strict abortion ban is being raised by Colorado again as an argument against moving Space Command headquarters to Huntsville and also “the latest front in the culture war over abortion,” according to a political news website. Colorado lawmakers raised the issue last year, arguing their state laws protect abortion access and improve quality of life for Air Force members.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) made a “last-ditch bid to stop U.S. Space Command from moving to Alabama (that) is anything but typical.” Bennet argues that access to reproductive care, specifically abortions, is a right of female service members now threatened by the possibility of being stationed at a command headquarters in Alabama. Alabama has “some of the strictest laws in the nation surrounding abortion.” (3/2)

Satellite Operators Frustrated By UK Space Regulator (Source: Aviation Week)
Bosses at a Welsh startup whose satellite was lost in the failed Virgin Orbit launch from the UK have spoken out against the country’s approach to satellite licensing. Patrick McCall, nonexecutive director at Space Forge, says there needs to be a “seismic change” in the way that the UK’s satellite programs are regulated. (3/2)

We Need More Rules to Avoid a Space Debris Crisis (Source: ZME Science)
On Feb. 23 in Washington D.C., NASA and other government agencies presented their concerns about the enormous amounts of junk to the National Space Council‘s (NSpC) users’ advisory group, an assembly of representatives from business, academia, and non-profit organizations around the country.

The group advised that to protect against the rapidly expanding problem, new rules will need to be implemented pretty quickly. These rules could help accelerate the ability to create space stations and moon bases. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris chairs the NSpC and met with the users’ advisory group to discuss possible progress. The information gleaned from these meetings could shape future space policy for exploring Earth, the Moon and beyond. (3/3)