September 14, 2023

Exos (Formerly Armadillo) Tests Rocket Engine in North Texas (Source: NBCDFW)
As space exploration grows in the private sector, a North Texas company continues to expand its abilities as a player in the field of space travel. On Wednesday at the Caddo Mills Municipal Airport, Exos Aerospace, a Greenville-based company, tested an engine for a rocket as they prepare for a launch in 2024. "Exos Aerospace is one of three companies in the United States that is currently licensed by the FAA to fly reusable rockets," said John Quinn, co-founder and CEO of Exos Aerospace. The company, formerly known as Armadillo Aerospace, focuses on reusable rockets. (9/14)

SpaceX-Backed Bill Renewing Tax Break Goes to California Governor (Source: Bloomberg)
A California property tax exemption benefitting SpaceX and other companies that make components for space flight would be renewed through 2028 under a bill lawmakers approved Wednesday. The bill (S.B. 419) from state Sen. Richard Roth (D) would also subject the nine-year-old exemption to the same performance measures that state law requires for income and sales tax breaks. The bill, which was supported by SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, won a final vote of 39-0 from the Senate on Sep. 13 to agree to amendments made by the Assembly. It passed the Assembly 80-0. (9/13)

U.S. Air Force Clears Hurdle To WGS-12 Funding (Sources: Aviation Week, C4ISRnet)
The U.S. Space Force has removed a potential hurdle to funding for a 12th Boeing military communication satellite. In fiscal 2023, Congress added $442 million for the Space Force to buy a Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite. Then the House Armed Services Committee put restrictions on the Space Force’s plan to buy it until the service certifies whether its needs could be met by commercial providers. The provision, included in the committee’s draft fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act barred the service from buying the spacecraft until the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisitions and integration provided such confirmation. (9/13)

SpaceX No Longer Taking Losses to Produce Starlink Satellite Antennas, a Key Step to Improving Profitability (Source: CNBC)
SpaceX is no longer absorbing the cost of the Starlink antennas it sells with its satellite internet service, a company executive said Wednesday. “We were subsidizing terminals, but we’ve been iterating on our terminal production so much that we’re no longer subsidizing terminals, which is a good place to be,” said Jonathan Hofeller. SpaceX sells consumer Starlink antennas, also known as user terminals, for $599 each. (9/13)

Why U.K. Spaceports Are Attracting VC Capital (Source: Forbes)
The space industry contributed around £7 billion in added value to the U.K. economy in 2022 and currently employs 48,000 people. But while Britain has a well-established satellite manufacturing sector, it hasn’t had any operational launch facilities. That looks set to change. The Department of Transport lists seven spaceports around the country. Three of them are designed to facilitate ground-launched rockets and the remainder are created to host launch-from-the-air systems. For its part, the British government has introduced a new regulatory framework designed to support innovation in the launch sector.

All well and good, but space is a tricky entrepreneurial play. In January this year, the first launch from British soil - conducted by Virgin Orbit from Spaceport Cornwall - ended in failure. As a result, the company continued for just a few months before ceasing operations. The fact that Orbex has raised £100 million to date, suggests there is an appetite on the part of VCs, but there are some caveats. As Coates acknowledges, the company probably wouldn’t have been able to fulfill its mission without grant funding, particularly from the U.K. and European Space Agencies. Click here. (9/14)

Amazon Web Services Links with ISRO (Source: The Hindu)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) India Private Limited has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) to support space-tech innovations through cloud computing. (9/13)

23 Companies Interested in ISRO’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle Technology (Source: The Print)
Seeing the success of ISRO’s numerous missions, as many as 23 companies have evinced interest in acquiring the Indian space agency’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle technology, a top official said. Chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe) Pawan K Goenka said that they are keen to see how the private sector uses the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) technology. “There has been a tremendous response, 23 companies have (so far) shown interest in applying for this technology. Of course only one of them will get it,” he said. (9/14)

What Would it Take to Build a Self-Sustaining Astronaut Ecosystem on Mars? (Source: Ars Technica)
In 1829, Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a doctor living near Wellclose Square in London, dropped a few seeds of fern and grass into a bottle partially filled with soil. Soon, he witnessed tiny blades of grass and one little fern sprouting from the soil, despite the bottle having been sealed. It turned out that plants, cycling through whatever water, minerals, nutrients, and atmosphere they had in their bottle, could live and grow almost completely isolated from the outside world, using sunlight as their only energy source.

Today, after over six decades of researching bioregenerative life-support systems, we’re edging closer to pulling off the same trick in habitats designed to support astronauts on alien worlds. Click here. (9/13)

Second Launch Canada Competition Draws 18 Student Rocket Teams (Source: SpaceQ)
The Launch Canada Competition (LCC)  recently took place, from August 25th to September 1st in Timmins, Ontario and the nearby Mattagami First Nation. The event brought together student rocketry teams from across Canada. Many traveled long distances in order to get the opportunity to interact with other rocketry teams, check out each other’s projects, and launch their very own rockets. It was also connected to the space and indigenous culture focused Stardust Festival. (9/13)

Mini Space Thruster That Runs on Water (Source: ESA)
A tiny fingernail-length space thruster chip runs on the greenest propellant of all: water. Designed to manoeuvre the smallest classes of satellite, the operation of this Iridium Catalysed Electrolysis CubeSat Thruster (ICE-Cube Thruster) developed with Imperial College in the UK is based on electrolysis. Avoiding any need for bulky gaseous propellant storage, an associated electrolyser runs a 20-watt current through water to produce hydrogen and oxygen to propel the thruster. (9/13)

Scientists Say You’re Looking for Alien Civilizations All Wrong (Source: WIRED)
A team of 22 scientists released a report contending that the search for alien intelligence needs to make better use of new and underutilized tools, namely gigantic catalogs from telescope surveys and computer algorithms that can mine those catalogs to spot astrophysical oddities that might have gone unnoticed. Maybe an anomaly will point to an object or phenomenon that is artificial—that is, alien—in origin. For example, chlorofluorocarbons and nitrogen oxide in a world’s atmosphere could be signs of industrial pollution, like smog. Or perhaps scientists could one day detect a sign of waste heat emitted by a Dyson sphere—a hypothetical massive shell that an alien civilization might build around a star to harness its solar power. (9/13)

ULA Fine with More Launchers on Space Force Contract (Source: Space News)
United Launch Alliance says it no longer has issues with the Space Force's plans to select a third company to provide launch services. ULA previously raised concerns with plans to add a third company to "Lane 2" of the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 program, giving that third company seven launches. A ULA official said Wednesday that the increase in overall launches in the contract had alleviated those concerns. Blue Origin, the company most likely to benefit from adding a third Lane 2 provider, said it is still studying the draft solicitation and had not decided whether to bid. (9/14)

Starlink Rapid Iteration Creates Headaches for Resellers (Source: Space News)
SpaceX's rapid iteration on its Starlink broadband service creates headaches for the resellers it works with, an executive acknowledged. SpaceX's Jonathan Hofeller said the company has tried to be nimble to adapt to changing customer needs and plans, but doing so can affect how it works with companies that resell Starlink services in specific markets. After initially solely focusing on selling directly to consumers, Starlink opened up to reseller channels about a year ago to help expand into markets including maritime, energy and aviation. Hofeller said the company is taking steps to address that channel conflict. (9/14)

Starlink Surges But Is Still Far Short of SpaceX’s Goals, Documents Show (Source: Wall Street Journal)
SpaceX generated $1.4 billion in revenue from Starlink in 2022, according to company documents. That revenue is a sharp increase from 2021, when the company generated $222 million, as it signs up more customers and enters new markets. SpaceX has more than 1.5 million Starlink subscribers today. However, that revenue is far short of projections the company made in 2015 when it was planning Starlink, predicting then $12 billion in revenue and $7 billion in operating profit in 2022. (9/14)

Space Force Finalizing Blueprint for Commercial Satellite Integration (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is finalizing a blueprint for how it will integrate commercial satellite services into military activities. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the chief of space operations, said at a conference Wednesday that it will soon release a commercial space strategy that will provide "unifying guidance" to the service for using commercial capabilities. Saltzman said the new guidance will help clarify the role of commercial providers and how their capabilities might be integrated into military operations. With regard to the protection of satellites during conflicts, Saltzman noted that the Space Force intends to work with military allies and private companies to ensure collective security, enabled by data sharing. (9/14)

HawkEye 360 on Profitability Path, Considers IPO (Source: Space News)
HawkEye 360, which provides radio-frequency geolocation services, is on a path to profitability. In an interview, CEO John Serafini said the $58 million the company raised in July is likely the last private financing round it will need and that profitability is "on the horizon for us." The company is considering going public in a few years, which he said will depend on market conditions as well as the company's financial performance. HawkEye 360 operates 21 satellites now with a goal of 60 in orbit by 2025 or 2026. (9/14)

Honeywell Partners with Aegiq to Develop Quantum Key Distribution Solution for Smallsats (Source: Via Satellite)
Honeywell is teaming up with Aegiq, a quantum networking and computing company, to bring better technology solutions for small satellites. Honeywell announced the collaboration, Sept. 13. The two companies are going to look to create a comprehensive solution to enable more precise and cost-effective design and deployment of space payloads and related ground assets. The collaboration intends to combine Honeywell’s atmospheric sensing technology and Aegiq’s emulation toolkit for link performance of optical communication technologies used by small satellites. (9/13)

FAA Could Approve October Starship Launch From Texas (Source: Reuters)
The acting administrator of the FAA says a new Starship launch license could be ready next month. Polly Trottenberg said Wednesday that the agency is "working well" with SpaceX on a modified license the company needs to resume Starship launches. She said she was optimistic that updated license could be completed as soon as October. The FAA said last Friday it had closed the investigation into the mishap during the first Starship launch in April, saying that SpaceX needed to complete 63 corrective actions before an updated license could be issued. (9/14)

New SES CEO Keeps Company On Track (Source: Space News)
The new CEO of SES says he is not making any major changes in the company's strategy. In an interview, Ruy Pinto, who took over as CEO this summer, said the main tenets of that strategy include building out the O3b mPower constellation and protecting the company's video business, while looking at options for consolidation. SES had been in talks with Intelsat about a merger, but those talks ended earlier this year without a deal. Steve Collar, who had been CEO, soon announced his departure, but Pinto said it was not directly linked to the breakdown in Intelsat discussions. Pinto also said that SES expected to soon resume mPower satellite launches after working with Boeing to address technical glitches seen on the first few satellites after launch. (9/14)

China Working on Missile Warning System, Space Domain Awareness (Source: Space News)
China has set up new facilities to improve its space domain awareness capabilities. A report this week by the China Aerospace Studies Institute said the facility, called Base 37, is charged with boosting missile early warning capabilities and identifying, tracking and analyzing foreign space objects. Base 37 combines new and existing facilities and likely has tracking stations and other installations in several provinces. It could also use data from space-based sensors. That base is run by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force, established in 2015 as the 5th branch of the PLA. (9/14)

Intelsat Teams with Aalyria to Speed Satellite Communications (Source: Space News)
Intelsat announced an agreement this week with Aalyria Technologies to dramatically speed up satellite communications. Intelsat and Aalyria plan to establish a bi-directional optical ground and space network in 2024 to transfer data at speeds of hundreds of gigabits per second using Aalyria's optical communications and network orchestration technology. Aalyria likened the increased capacity to putting submarine cables in space. Aalyria is also demonstrating its technology through the Defense Innovation Unit's Hybrid Space Architecture, which is designed to link commercial and government satellites with global, high-speed, secure data connections. (9/14)

Esri Migrates to Microsoft Azure (Source: Space News)
Esri is closely integrating its ArcGIS geographic mapping platform with Microsoft Azure Space to speed up access to imagery. Esri said it is putting its "entire technology stack" into Microsoft Azure data centers to help give meaningful, processed data to customers as quickly as possible after being received at ground stations. Synthetaic, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to analyze geospatial data, also announced a strategic partnership recently with Microsoft. As part of the five-year deal, Synthetaic will have access to extensive cloud compute resources. (9/14)

Astra Completes Reverse Stock Split (Source: Astra)
Astra has completed its reverse stock split. The company announced Wednesday that the 1-for-15 split, which turns 15 old shares of the company's stock into one new share, will take effect today. The company did the reverse split to comply with Nasdaq listing requirements that its share price remain above $1. The shares closed Wednesday at 16.6 cents. (9/14)

Rocket Lab's Stock Declines After Founder Files to Sell $22M in Shares (Source: Seeking Alpha)
Rocket Lab stock fell as much as 13% to a two-and-a-half-month low after Peter Beck filed to sell shares valued at $22.3 million. The filing shows a proposed sale of 3.6 million shares. (9/13)

SpaceX Seeks Further Expansion at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Talk of Titusville)
As SpaceX sets its sights on expanding its operations at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), NASA is inviting public feedback. According to a Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA) recently released, the company plans to lease an additional 100 acres for its Roberts Road Operations Area at KSC. Currently, SpaceX leases 67 acres at KSC for rocket processing and refurbishment.

The new proposal aims to consolidate SpaceX’s operations in Brevard County and construct additional infrastructure. The expansion requires the execution of a real property agreement between NASA and SpaceX, subject to environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Both NASA and SpaceX stand to benefit strategically from the expansion. NASA aims to fulfill its mandate to encourage the fullest commercial use of space and to foster a commercial space launch industry, aligning with national directives such as the Commercial Space Launch Act and the National Space Policy.

SpaceX’s operations in Brevard County have seen an uptick in activity, with nearly two launches per week and over 100 missions planned for 2023. The proposed expansion would enhance the company’s efficiency, aligning with NASA’s objectives and potentially boosting the local economy. If approved, SpaceX will develop additional office spaces, industrial facilities, and utility upgrades. Construction is estimated to take between two to three years, with the site being occupied for the foreseeable future upon completion. (9/13)

Astronomers Spot the First "Bounce" in Our Universe (Source: Big Think)
All throughout the Universe, regions that start off with more matter than average gravitationally grow into stars, galaxies, and even larger structures, while underdense regions give up their matter to become cosmic voids. But imprinted in this structure are "bouncing" signals from early on: where gravitating normal matter was pushed out by the pressure from energetic radiation. This should lead to a series of spherical shells of structure in the Universe: baryon acoustic oscillations. Thought to be largely a statistical phenomenon, astronomers now appear to have robustly spotted an individual one. (9/13)

Astronomers Spot a Rare Galaxy Wrapped in a Secret Cosmic Ribbon (Source: Science Alert)
What we thought was a pretty normal spiral galaxy not far from the Milky Way has revealed a hidden surprise. NGC 4632, some 56 million light-years away, is circled by a huge ring of gas that wraps around the galaxy at a highly inclined angle to its galactic plane. Why didn't we see it until now? It's invisible in most of the electromagnetic spectrum, appearing only when we stare at the sky with radio telescopes. (9/13)

Space Force ‘Actively’ Reviewing Programs to Potentially Reduce Secrecy (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force is in the process of reviewing the classification level for each of its programs, in the hopes of clearing away at least some the secrecy that commanders long have complained make it more difficult for the service to do its job, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said. “The problem is that sometimes we classified things so early in the life cycle. … We’ve protected very conservatively early on. Procedurally, then, we kind of carry that classification through to operational systems. That’s a problem that we can fix,” he said. (9/13)

China Sends Record-Setting Tianzhou 5 Cargo Spacecraft to Fiery Death (Source: Space.com)
China's Tianzhou 5 cargo vessel has completed its tasks and met its fiery fate. The 35-foot-long cargo spacecraft launched on Nov. 12, 2022, and docked with China's Tiangong space station just 2 hours and 7 minutes later, marking a new world record for rendezvous and docking with a space station. Tianzhou 5 was undocked from Tiangong early on Monday for a  controlled deorbiting over the South Pacific. (9/13)

Colorado Space Contractor Opens New Headquarters (Source: KOAA)
The Colorado Springs job market is reaping the benefits of the Biden administration's decision to keep US Space Command here. Delta Solutions and Strategies held a grand opening celebration today for their new 10,000-square-foot headquarters. Delta is a defense contractor that provides modeling and simulation training for customers like US Space Command, Northern Command, and the Space Force. (9/13)

NASA-Inspired Airless Bicycle Tires are Now Available (Source: New Atlas)
Two years ago, we heard how the Ohio-based Smart Tire Company was developing shape memory airless bicycle tires. Well, the resulting Metl tires can now be purchased via – you guessed it – a Kickstarter campaign. The never-go-flat tires were created in partnership with NASA, which had already applied the same technology to tires for its planetary rover vehicles. (9/13)

Mystery Lights in Sky Heralded Coming Morocco Earthquake (Source: Business Insider)
Videos appeared to show mysterious lights in the sky before Morocco's devastating earthquake. Scientists say so-called "earthquake lights" have long been reported when tremors hit. They still aren't sure what causes them because they're difficult to study. Reports had ranged from bright second-long flashes to minute-long fireballs, either high or low in the sky, of different colors, the New York Times said. (3/12)

BlueCrest and BlackRock Increase Stake in AST SpaceMobile (Source: MarketBeat)
BlueCrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 425,822 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,163,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd owned 0.21% of AST SpaceMobile at the end of the most recent reporting period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 24.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,074,106 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,456,000. (9/12)

Aerojet Ends Engine Testing Partnership with NASA Stennis (Source: NASA)
A landmark partnership between NASA’s Stennis Space Center and Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, has concluded after more than two decades of dedicated and coordinated effort in testing the world’s most powerful hydrogen-fueled rocket engine. (9/12)

Mexican Congress Holds Hearing on UFOs Featuring Purported 'Alien' Bodies (Source: Reuters)
Mexican lawmakers heard testimony that "we are not alone" in the universe and saw the alleged remains of non-human beings in an extraordinary hearing marking the Latin American country's first congressional event on UFOs. In the hearing on Tuesday on FANI, the Spanish acronym for what are usually now termed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), politicians were shown two artifacts that Mexican journalist and long-time UFO enthusiast Jaime Maussan claimed were the corpses of extraterrestrials.

The two tiny "bodies," displayed in cases, have three fingers on each hand and elongated heads. Maussan said they were recovered in Peru near the ancient Nazca Lines in 2017. He said that they were about 1,000 years old, analyzed through a carbon dating process by Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM). Similar such finds in the past have turned out to be the remains of mummified children. Maussan said it was the first time such evidence had been presented.

Lawmakers also heard from former U.S. Navy pilot Ryan Graves, who has participated in U.S. Congressional hearings about his personal experience with UAP and the stigma around reporting such sightings. Congressman Sergio Gutierrez, from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's ruling Morena party, said he hoped the hearing would be the first of other similar events in Mexico. (9/13)

Crews Dismantle Saturn 1B Rocket Along Highway Near Huntsville (Source: WHNT)
Work is moving ahead to remove the beloved but decaying Saturn 1B rocket from its longtime home at the Alabama-Tennessee state line. Last month, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center confirmed that work had begun to remove the iconic rocket. Specifically, work had started to remove the rocket’s engines at that time. (9/13)