August 25, 2023

Via Satellite: Inmarsat-6 F2 Satellite Suffers 'Unprecedented' Anomaly (Source: Inmarsat)
A new Inmarsat communications satellite has malfunctioned. Viasat, which acquired Inmarsat three months ago, said Thursday that the Inmarsat-6 F2 spacecraft suffered an "unexpected anomaly" while raising its orbit after launch early this year. Viasat it is working with satellite manufacturer Airbus to determine what went wrong and if the spacecraft will be able to carry out its mission. Viasat is already dealing with an antenna deployment problem with its ViaSat-3 Americas satellite launched in April, and a second failure could have repercussions not just for Viasat but also on the space insurance field. (8/25)

Canadian Parabolic Flight Brings Student Science to the Skies! (Source: Space.com)
In August 2023, four Canadian university teams flew their science on parabolic flights with Canada's National Research Council. This video shows what it felt like to float like an astronaut in space. Click here. (8/24)

NASA, Forest Service to Share Moon Tree Seedlings, Promote STEM (Source: NASA)
Education and community organizations can apply to receive a living piece of spaceflight history to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: a seedling grown from a tree seed that flew around the Moon on the NASA’s Artemis I mission in late 2022. NASA and the USDA Forest Service will distribute Artemis Moon Tree seedlings of five different species to create new ways for communities on Earth to connect with humanity’s exploration of space for the benefit of all. Nearly 2,000 seeds were flown to space.

Organizations like schools, libraries, museums, and others engaging with students, or the public, are encouraged to apply for a Moon Tree seedling through NASA’s Artifact Module. The application period closes Friday, Oct. 6. Examples of eligible institutions include formal and informal K-12-serving organizations, universities, community organizations, museums and science centers, and government organizations. (8/24)

NASA Selects Small Businesses for Orbital Debris, Surface Dust Tech (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected six U.S. small businesses to receive nearly $20 million in total to advance technologies to address two challenges in space exploration: orbital debris and surface dust. During their contracts, the companies will produce prototypes to be demonstrated or used in spaceflight. The six awards build on the companies’ prior work with NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. NASA invests nearly $180 million annually in SBIR awards to American companies with less than 500 employees. Click here. (8/23)

ISS Fires Thrusters to Avoid Oncoming Space Junk (Source: Space.com)
Space debris flying towards the International Space Station forced an evasive maneuver Thursday. A Russian module on the International Space Station (ISS) turned on around 11 a.m. EDT to move the orbiting complex away from space junk. NASA confirmed the maneuver via e-mail. The space station moved its orbit down towards our planet by about 1,640 feet (500 meters), added a Russian-language report from Russian state media outlet TASS, translated by Google; the average altitude of the ISS above Earth is roughly 250 miles or 400 km. (8/24)

See the Humanoid Robot That Will do the Jobs You Don't Want To, Including in Space (Source: CNN)
Apptronik's latest humanoid robot is Apollo - it's being built to do the jobs that humans don't want to, and to one day build settlements on the Moon and Mars. Click here. (8/23)

Russian Cargo Craft Docks to ISS (Source: Space.com)
A Progress cargo spacecraft docked with the ISS Thursday night. The Progress MS-24 spacecraft docked with the station's Zvezda module at 11:45 p.m. Eastern, two days after its launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Progress delivered nearly three tons of cargo to the station. The docking was not affected by a maneuver the station performed a little more than 12 hours earlier, when thrusters on Zvezda fired for 21 seconds to adjust the station's orbit to avoid an unnamed piece of debris approaching the station. (8/25)

NASA Shares First Images from US Pollution-Monitoring Instrument (Source: NASA)
NASA released the first data maps from its new instrument launched to space earlier this year, which now is successfully transmitting information about major air pollutants over North America. President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that all people have a right to breathe clean air. Data from the TEMPO mission will help decision makers across the country achieve that goal and support the Biden Administration’s climate agenda — the most robust climate agenda in history.

From its orbit 22,000 miles above the equator, NASA’s TEMPO, or Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, is the first space-based instrument designed to continuously measure air quality above North America with the resolution of a few square miles. Click here. (8/24)

DOJ Sues SpaceX, Alleging Hiring Discrimination Against Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Source: CNBC)
The U.S. Department of Justice sued SpaceX on Thursday, alleging Elon Musk’s space company discriminated against refugees and asylum seekers in its hiring practices. The lawsuit says between 2018 and 2022, SpaceX “wrongly claimed” that export control laws limited its hiring to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. The DOJ has been investigating SpaceX since June 2020, when the department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section received a complaint of employment discrimination from a non-U.S. citizen. (8/24)

The Nascent Market for Tracking and Removing Debris From Orbit (Source: CNBC)
Debris removal is a nascent part of the broader satellite servicing market (also known as In-Space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing, or ISAM). But there are a couple of still-theoretical sticking points, Weeden pointed out, as “no company or government has ever claimed damages to a space satellite as a result of a collision or debris.”

While there are mitigations in place for commercial satellite operators – such as FCC requirements for how long satellites can stay in orbit after finishing service – the “bigger question” to Weeden is around governments, who he says are the biggest culprits: “How do you incentivize governments to clean up their junk?” Followed shortly by: “How do they do it?”

Weeden envisions something like NASA’s Commercial Cargo program, where the government helps fund research and development and then holds a competition to award service contracts to companies. “But someone in the government has to say, ‘We’re going to put up money to do this,’ and we’re talking about hundreds of millions or billions” of dollars, Weeden said. (8/24)

China's Galactic Energy Launches Imaging Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
Chinese company Galactic Energy launched an imaging satellite early Friday. The company's Ceres-1 rocket lifted off at 12:59 a.m. Eastern from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and placed the Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02A imaging satellite into orbit. The launch was the eighth success in as many launches for the solid-fuel Ceres-1 rocket, as Galactic Energy prepares for the the first sea-based launch of the rocket early next month. (8/25)

Indian Companies Considered for Taking Over SSLV Production (Source: Reuters)
Two major Indian companies are among those being considered to take over production of a small launch vehicle. Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Aeronautics are being vetted by the Indian government as part of ISRO's plans to privatize production of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). About 20 companies submitted expressions of interest to handle production of the SSLV, and some subset of them will be invited to formally bid on the effort. The two companies previously won a contract to produce five PSLV rockets. (8/25)

Japan Delays H-2A Launch (Source: JAXA)
The launch of a Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite and lunar lander has slipped to Sunday night. The Japanese space agency JAXA said that poor weather prompted the delay of the H-2A launch from Friday to Sunday at 8:26 p.m. Eastern. The rocket is carrying the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), an X-ray astronomy mission by JAXA with support from NASA, and the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander. (8/25)

Space Force Project Focuses on Rapid Satellite Deployment During Emergencies (Source Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is kicking off a new initiative focused on the rapid deployment of satellites during conflicts or emergencies. The Space Force will be soliciting bids through late September for its "Tactically Responsive Space Challenge" that will be eligible for Small Business Technology Transfer contracts worth up to $1.7 million. The Space Force is hoping to get ideas from a broad range of companies in the launch, satellite, ground systems and space logistics sectors of the industry. The project is run by SpaceWERX, a Space Force technology-focused organization, and the Space Systems Command. (8/25)

European Nations Commit to ASAT Ban (Source: Space News)
The member states of the European Union have all formally committed not to perform destructive direct-ascent ASAT tests. In a document filed with a United Nations working group on reducing space threats, the E.U. said its 27 members would agree not to perform such tests that create large amounts of debris and jeopardize space safety. Five E.U. member nations had agreed not to conduct such tests before this announcement, out of 13 nations worldwide. The document was published in advance of the fourth and final meeting of the U.N. working group next week in Geneva, where participants hope to draft a report recommending measures to enhance space security. (8/25)

HASC Chairman Rogers Seens GAO Investigation of Space Command HQ Decision (Source: Space Policy Online)
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has asked the GAO to investigate the Biden administration's decision to keep Space Command headquarters in Colorado. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-L) said Thursday he formally requested the GAO review the decision not to move the headquarters to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, as the Trump administration announced in early 2021. Earlier this week, Rogers said he had invited top officials, including Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Gen. James Dickinson, head of Space Command, to testify about the decision. (8/24)

Huntsville Remains Strong as Tech Talent Market (Source: AL.com)
Huntsville is ranked No. 1 on a new list of “North America’s Next 25 up-and-coming markets for tech talent.” The list also includes Birmingham at No. 22. Most of the new top 25 are in the South and Midwest, the report by the real estate services and investment company CBRE Group. Huntsville had 23,620 tech professionals in 2022 followed by Colorado Springs with 23,440.

Huntsville has seen double-digit growth in technology jobs with a five-year growth rate of 14 percent and total tech wages rising 13 percent. That’s an average tech salary in Huntsville of $96,000 compared to Colorado Springs’ $90,000 average. (8/24)

Losing Space Command HQ to Colorado Costs Alabama 600 New Boecore Jobs (Source: AL.com)
Losing the U.S. Space Command headquarters cost Huntsville an aerospace company expansion now going to Colorado, but it saved Alabama government more than $7 million in incentives the Rocky Mountain state is handing the Boecore company. Boecore’s expansion in Colorado Springs is also expected to create 620 new jobs, the Denver Post reported.

The company plans to build “a large sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, an ultra-secure building where officials and government contractors can review highly classified information,” the Post said. The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $7.49 million in “performance-based tax credits over eight years, reports said. The company has to meet employment and salary requirements to get the money. (8/24)

New York Rep. Pushes for Establishing 'Space National Guard' (Source: CNY Central)
As the race to the stars intensifies with the landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon, and Russia attempting to step up its lunar missions, some are proposing a new military branch to support operations within the U.S. Space Force. Rep. Claudia Tenney (NY-24), member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, announced her support for establishing a Space National Guard as the reserve component of the Space Force. She said we could use the existing Air National Guard to augment the new reserve unit of the Space Force. (8/23)