August 28, 2023

ESA’s Space Rider Likely to Launch Third Quarter of 2025 (Source: NSF)
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Rider program has officially begun its validation and testing phase, as it prepares for a maiden flight in the third quarter of 2025. Space Rider is Europe’s reusable uncrewed robotic laboratory that will provide an “end-to-end integrated space transportation system” for commercial customers. After launching into space, Space Rider will spend two months in orbit while customers complete experiments and technology demonstrations onboard, before returning to Earth. (8/26)

ISS Gets New Crew (Source: Space News)
A new crew arrived on the International Space Station this weekend on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. A Falcon 9 lifted off Saturday at 3:27 a.m. Eastern and placed the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance into orbit. That spacecraft docked with the station Sunday morning, nearly 30 hours after liftoff. The Crew-7 mission delivered to the station astronauts from NASA, ESA and JAXA and a Roscosmos cosmonaut for a six-month stay. Another Crew Dragon spacecraft is set to depart the station as soon as Friday to return the four members of Crew-6 to Earth. (8/28)

Hera and LeoStella Team on SDA Tranche 2 Bid (Source: Space News)
Small satellite manufacturers Hera Systems and LeoStella are teaming up to compete on a Space Development Agency (SDA) contract. The two companies announced Monday that they are partnering with an undisclosed prime contractor to bid on the SDA's Tranche 2 Transport Layer Alpha, a procurement of 100 satellites to be split between two teams. The companies are offering the Leoness bus from Hera, which was previously selected for the U.S. Space Force's Tetra 5 in-orbit refueling experiment planned for 2025. The partnership will leverage excess capacity at LeoStella's factory. (8/28)

DIU Invites Bids on Responsive Space Mission (Source: Space News)
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is seeking industry bids for a tactically responsive space mission that will requite a launch on 24 hours' notice. DIU asked companies in a solicitation posted last week to submit proposals by Sep. 7 for a responsive space mission named Victus Haze. Companies selected for this mission would be responsible to deploy an imaging satellite to orbit to inspect a potential threat. DIU expects to award contracts this fall, giving companies 12-18 months to build the spacecraft and place it, and the launch vehicle, into "hot standby" where they would then be called up for launch within 24 hours. (8/28)

SPACECOM Seeks Private Sector Buy-In (Source: DefenseScoop)
US Space Command officials are encouraging the commercial space industry to collaborate with the government on emerging technologies, despite bureaucratic challenges. Col. Edward Ferguson, chief of the command's advanced warfighter capabilities division, emphasized the importance of industry engagement for innovation, especially as adversaries like China advance their own space technologies. (8/25)

Sedaro Wins Space Force Contract for Satellite Digital Twinning (Source: Space News)
Sedaro won a Space Force contract to demonstrate the use of digital twins to design spacecraft. The software company won a $1.5 million SBIR Phase 2 award under the Orbital Prime program run by the U.S. Space Force and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Sedaro will use its cloud-based digital engineering software to design prototype spacecraft for missions known as ISAM, short for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing. (8/28)

Winds Scrub Japanese Lunar Lander Launch (Source: Kyodo)
Upper-level winds forced a scrub of a Japanese launch of an astronomy spacecraft and lunar lander Sunday night. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which operates the H-2A rocket, said it called off the launch less than 30 minutes before the scheduled liftoff time because of strong upper-level winds. Neither the company nor the Japanese space agency JAXA have announced a new launch date other than saying that launch opportunities are available through mid-September. The rocket is carry XRISM, an X-ray astronomy satellite developed by JAXA with contributions from NASA, and SLIM, a lunar lander intended to demonstrate precision landing capabilities. (8/28)

Failed Inmarsat Satellite Was a Spare (Source: Space News)
The potential failure of an Inmarsat satellite could have a greater impact on the space insurance field than on Viasat. The company announced Thursday that the Inmarsat-6 F2 suffered a problem with a power subsystem while moving to geostationary orbit after its launch earlier this year. That problem comes after a separate problem with the antenna on the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite.

Viasat noted that if Inmarsat-6 F2 is written off, it would have no near-term effect on the company's finances since it does not yet serve customers and would largely provide spare capacity. The company would also benefit from an insurance claim, although an analyst noted Friday that claims from both satellites would mean Viasat and other satellite operators could face "significant challenges" getting insurance for future spacecraft. (8/28)

NASA, Partners Study Ancient Life in Australia to Inform Mars Search (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is working with its international partners to study the ancient Earth as it relates to Mars. In June 2023, NASA's Mars Exploration Program leaders joined their counterparts from the Australian Space Agency, ESA (European Space Agency), and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) on a field expedition to visit some of the oldest convincing evidence of life on Earth. (8/25)

NASA Scientific Balloons Take to the Sky in New Mexico (Source: NASA)
NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program will take flight with eight planned launches from the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, flying scientific experiments to a near-space environment via a football-stadium-sized NASA balloon. The 2023 fall balloon campaign window opens August 10 and features 24 payloads led by teams of scientists, engineers, and students. The GRAPE mission successfully launched on Aug. 27. Next the teams are getting ready for the EXCITE and FIREBall-2 missions. (8/27)

MyRadar Secures NOAA Funding for Cubesats (Source: Space News)
MyRadar secured funding from NOAA to develop cubesats that will test technology for a future constellation. The company said it won a $650,000 NOAA Phase 2 SBIR grant for a pair of Orbital Wildfire Resilience cubesats. The cubesats will be equipped with high-resolution optical cameras, thermal infrared imagers and near infrared hyperspectral imagers. The satellites will develop technology for a future constellation of up to 250 satellites to collect weather and environmental data. (8/28)

Musk Hits Back at DOJ Over Lawsuit Alleging Hiring Discrimination by SpaceX (Source; FOX News)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is hitting back at the Justice Department over a lawsuit alleging that the company engaged in employment discrimination against asylum recipients and refugees. The Dept. of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced a lawsuit against SpaceX alleging that the company "routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)."

According to the suit, SpaceX wrongly claimed that federal laws and regulations restricted the company to only hiring U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders. Musk took to X, the social media platform he acquired that was formerly known as Twitter, and posted in response to a picture of a job posting at the federal Bureau of Prisons showing that U.S. citizenship is required as a condition of employment that the "DOJ needs to sue themselves!" (8/27)

SpaceX Hiring Case Shows Export Control, Immigration Law Clash (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX’s recent legal troubles with the Justice Department make it the latest employer to allegedly run afoul of federal immigration law by prioritizing compliance with export control rules to the detriment of antidiscrimination provisions. The DOJ Aug. 24 filed an administrative lawsuit alleging that Elon Musk’s private rocket manufacturer engaged in “routine, widespread, and longstanding” discrimination by refusing to hire asylees and refugees.

The company wrongly stated that it could only hire US citizens and lawful permanent residents because of export control laws limiting access to defense and national security-related technologies, the DOJ said. That’s not an uncommon mistake, attorneys say. Employers can misinterpret export control laws and regulations—including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and Export Administration Regulations—to apply more broadly than stated, said Lisa Mays.

More companies are dealing with export-controlled items, she said, while the pace of hiring has picked up as job applications moved mostly online. For instance, General Motors in April reached a $365,000 settlement with the Justice Department over allegations it discriminated against immigrant workers in its efforts to comply with ITAR. (8/28)