August 29, 2023

Hurricane Delays ULA Launch From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight now)
ULA has delayed the launch of an NRO mission because of an approaching hurricane. ULA announced Monday evening it was postponing the Atlas 5 launch of the NROL-107 mission, which had been scheduled for Tuesday morning from Cape Canaveral, so it can roll back the rocket to its assembly building "out of an abundance of caution" from what was then Tropical Storm Idalia. The storm, upgraded to a hurricane early Tuesday, is forecast to land on Florida's Gulf coast Wednesday morning, with tropical storm warnings in effect for portions of the Atlantic coast as well. ULA did not offer a new launch date. The NROL-107 mission, also known as SILENTBARKER, will place into orbit what the NRO calls a "watchdog" to monitor other objects in geosynchronous orbit. (8/29)

Hurricane Delays ISS Crew Splashdown Off Florida Coast (Source: NASA)
The returning Crew-6 astronauts will get an extra day in space. NASA said Monday it was planning to have the Crew Dragon returning the four members of Crew-6 from the International Space Station undock on Saturday, one day later than originally planned. That would set up a splashdown off the Florida coast around 1 a.m. Sunday. NASA did not disclose a reason for the delay, but it may also be linked to Hurricane Idalia. The American, Emirati and Russian members of Crew-6 have been on the station for nearly six months and are being replaced by the Crew-7 astronauts who arrived on Sunday. (8/29)

NASA Delays New Frontiers Mission Selection (Source: Space News)
NASA has confirmed a multi-year delay in selecting the next New Frontiers planetary science mission. In a community announcement last week, NASA said the release of the final announcement of opportunity (AO), a request for proposals, for the next New Frontiers competition would be delayed from November to no earlier than 2026. NASA officials had previously warned that such a delay was possible because of budget uncertainty. NASA also plans to ask the National Academies to review of the list of mission themes for that competition to see if they should be updated based on recommendations of the decadal survey. (8/29)

Benchmark Wins AFRL Contract for Non-Toxic Thrusters (Source: Space News)
Benchmark Space Systems has won an Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) contract to test thrusters that use a non-toxic fuel. The company said it received a $2.81 million award from the AFRL's Space Propulsion Research and Innovation for Neutralizing Satellite Threats, or SPRINT, program to build and test a 22-newton thruster and design a larger 100-newton thruster. Both will use ASCENT, a non-toxic "green" propellant developed by AFRL as a replacement for hydrazine. (8/29)

Space Florida Picks Space Force Colonel as Next CEO (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space Florida has selected a retired Space Force colonel as its next leader. The board of the state-run economic development organization said Monday it named Rob Long as its next president and CEO from a pool of three finalists. Long recently retired from the Space Force after commanding Space Launch Delta 30 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Long succeeds Frank DiBello, who announced plans to retire earlier this year after leading Space Florida since 2009.

Part of his pitch to become the next Space Florida leader was to grow the state’s relationship with the burgeoning Space Force presence, which includes the addition of the military branch’s training headquarters STARCOM and its warfighting and training group known as Delta 10 coming to Patrick Space Force Base. (8/29)

Virgin Galactic Plans September Flight (Source: Virgin Galactic)
Virgin Galactic plans to carry out its next suborbital spaceflight in early September. The company says its VSS Unity spaceplane is slated to launch no earlier than Sept. 8 from Spaceport America in New Mexico on its fourth flight in as many months. Three of Virgin Galactic's "Founder" astronauts, its first group of customers who bought tickets as far back as 2005, will be on the "Galactic 03" flight, but the company did not disclose their identities. Nicola Pecile and Mike Masucci will be commander and pilot, respectively, with Colin Bennett serving as astronaut instructor. (8/29)

SpinLaunch Considers Australia Spaceport (Source: Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
American company SpinLaunch is considering setting up operations in Australia. SpinLaunch, which is working on an alternative launch technology that uses a centrifuge to accelerate a payload to hypersonic speeds, is examining two sites in Western Australia as potential hosts of an orbital-scale centrifuge. The company declined to comment on its plans beyond saying it is considering multiple locations around the world, but a government department said it received an application to use land for feasibility studies. SpinLaunch currently has a subscale accelerator for low-altitude suborbital tests at Spaceport America. (8/29)

NASA to Demonstrate Laser Communications From Space Station (Source: Space Daily)
In 2023, NASA is sending a technology demonstration known as the Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) to the space station. Together, ILLUMA-T and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which launched in December 2021, will complete NASA's first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system.

With ILLUMA-T, NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office will demonstrate the power of laser communications from the space station. Using invisible infrared light, laser communications systems send and receive information at higher data rates. With higher data rates, missions can send more images and videos back to Earth in a single transmission. Once installed on the space station, ILLUMA-T will showcase the benefits higher data rates could have for missions in low Earth orbit. (8/29)

After Moon Landing, India Eyes the Sun (Source: Space Daily)
Days after becoming the first nation to land a craft near the Moon's largely unexplored south pole, India's space agency said on Monday it will launch a satellite to survey the Sun. Aditya, meaning "sun" in Hindi, will be fired into a halo orbit in a region of space about 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth, providing the craft with a continuous clear view of the Sun. (8/28)

Kremlin Vows to Pursue Moon Race After Luna-25 Crash (Source: Space Daily)
The Kremlin said that Russia would not give up its ambitions to land a craft on the Moon after its first lunar mission in nearly 50 years failed this month.
The Luna-25 module crashed on the Moon's surface after an incident during pre-landing maneuvers. An Indian mission days later successfully landed near the Moon's south pole. "We know that the way to the stars is through thorns. The main thing is to continue the Russian program," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "The plans are quite ambitious and they will be realized," he said, adding that the failed mission was not a reason to "tear your hair out". (8/29)

Pulsar Fusion Forms Partnership with University of Michigan for Electric Propulsion (Source: Space Daily)
The UK Space Agency has recently announced a collaboration with the Plasma Dynamics and Electric Propulsion Lab at the University of Michigan, one of the premier Hall thruster research centers worldwide. This international endeavor is further bolstered by the inclusion of renowned Hall thruster entities such as Pulsar Fusion from the UK, Starlight Engines from the US, and the University of Southampton from the UK. (8/29)

Investing in Space: A Guide to Satellites (Source: CNBC)
Last year I wrote about the key terms investors should know about the steps involved in a rocket launch, to give a guide for what phrases mean in context. A number of you found that launch guide helpful, so I'm back with another synthesized glossary – but this time for satellites! We've seen a couple of satellites going awry this summer, and I've gotten questions like: "Dang, I thought the launch was successful?" or "Why didn't they check for that before?" Click here. (8/17)

Voyager Space Awarded $900 Million Ceiling USAF Contract (Source: Voyager)
Voyager Space has been awarded a $900,000,000 ceiling indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Architecture and Integration Directorate (AFLCMC/XA) for yielding cost-effective warfighting capabilities. Voyager's Defense Segment will contribute to a wide range of activities, including modeling, simulation and analysis, capability development/development planning, cost analysis/trades, technical risk reduction/test engineering, standards and architecture development and curation, software development and curation, and advanced synthetic/virtual simulator environments development for operational test and training. (8/28)