November 8, 2023

Virgin Galactic Layoffs Aim to Cut Expenses (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic announced late Tuesday it was laying off staff and cutting expenses to conserve cash. The company said the reductions were needed to maximize the resources available for the development of its next-generation "Delta class" suborbital spaceplane, projected to enter service in 2026. Virgin said "uncertainty" in the markets would make it difficult to raise more money, hence the need to conserve cash reserves that were nearly $1 billion as of the end of the second quarter. The company did not disclose how many people it was laying off or the scope of other cost reductions, but said it would provide more details in an earnings call late today. (11/8)

Europe Finalizing Deal for SpaceX to Launch Galileo Satellites (Source: Space News)
The European Commission is finalizing a deal to launch four Galileo navigation satellites on a pair of Falcon 9 rockets next year. At briefings during the European Space Summit Tuesday, the EU commissioner responsible for space said the upcoming completion of a security agreement was the final milestone to a deal that would see the satellites launched in April and July of 2024 by SpaceX. The EU will pay 180 million euros ($192 million) for the launches. Europe was forced to turn to SpaceX because of continued delays in the development of the Ariane 6. (11/8)

Contractors Fine with Space Force Procurement Reforms (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force's top procurement official says he has seen less resistance than expected to acquisition reforms. Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, said he would "double down" on a set of tenets he issued a year ago intended to speed up space acquisition. He said he was initially concerned that some companies might choose not to bid on projects, but there has instead been "an overabundance of proposals." Calvelli said he sees the Space Force shifting to a procurement model used by the Space Development Agency, buying constellations of satellites from multiple vendors that are interoperable, although some more traditional procurements of larger satellites will continue. (11/8)

Lynk Mobile Providing Direct-to-Device in Solomon Islands (Source: Space News)
Lynk Mobile's direct-to-device satellites are now providing service for the Solomon Islands. Regional mobile operator bmobile is using the Lynk satellites to extend the reach of messaging services in part of the country not in the range of terrestrial services. Lynk said bmobile expects to expand across the entire Pacific Ocean island nation next year as Lynk adds more satellites to improve coverage and reduce latency. Lynk also plans to launch an initial service this year with bmobile's parent company, Telikom, in nearby Papua New Guinea. (11/8)

Air Travel Demand Boosts Satellite In-Flight Connectivity Demand (Source: Space News)
The post-pandemic rebound in air travel is helping increase demand for satellite-based in-flight connectivity. One company, Panasonic Avionics, announced plans in August to lease 50% more capacity from GEO to boost its capabilities by the end of this year and expects to offer services from OneWeb's LEO constellation next year. The company says improvements in technology are now enabling higher bandwidth services that begin to approach what is available on the ground. (11/8)

NASA Sees Risks in Venus Mission Delays (Source: Space News)
The head of a delayed NASA mission to Venus warns of risks if the mission continues to be delayed. The principal investigator for the VERITAS mission argued that the workforce issues at JPL that prompted NASA a year ago to delay its launch by three years have largely been resolved. In the meantime, people who have been working on VERITAS have been forced to move to other projects because of a lack of funding. Of particular concern is the availability of personnel to work on the radar instrument on the spacecraft. VERITAS, currently scheduled for launch no earlier than 2031, is hoping to move up to a late 2029 launch. (11/8)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Mission at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites after midnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 12:05 a.m. Eastern Wednesday and deployed 23 Starlink satellites. The launch was SpaceX's 80th mission this year, and the company said it has now placed more than 1,000 metric tons into orbit. (11/8)

ESA Unveils Euclid Telescope Images (Source: BBC)
ESA unveiled the first images from the Euclid space telescope Tuesday. The images, of several galaxies and nebulae, confirm that the spacecraft and its instruments are working well, project officials said. Euclid launched in July to the Earth-sun L-2 point to map a third of the sky, providing data astronomers hope will help them better understand the nature of dark energy and dark matter. (11/8)

Mars Helicopter Logs More Flights (Source: Space.com)
The Ingenuity Mars helicopter completed flights on back-to-back days. The helicopter made two brief flights on Nov. 2 and 3, going seven meters on the first flight and less than a meter on the second. The short flights were deliberate, JPL said, as the mission prepares for a two-week radio communications blackout during solar conjunction, when the sun is between the Earth and Mars. (11/8)

ESA Employees Complain of Harassment (Source: Ars Technica)
Some ESA employees say the agency has a harassment problem. Junior employees, including those who work for contractors, say they were bullied by supervisors, causing them to quit or be fired. They said they have limited labor protections because of ESA's status as an international organization. ESA denied there are harassment problems at the agency, citing internal policies and procedures for reporting problems. (11/8)

Dinkinesh's Odd Binary 'Moon' is Binary (Source: NASA)
The moon that NASA's Lucy mission found around a small asteroid turns out to be two bodies. Additional images returned by Lucy after its flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh last week showed that the moon it detected is a "contact binary," or two bodies that are touching each other. Planetary scientists said they are delighted but also puzzled by the discovery, trying to understand how the system formed and why the two objects that make up the contact binary are similar in size to each other. (11/8)

DART and Whitson Recognized with Awards (Source: National Air and Space Museum)
Another NASA asteroid mission is being honored by the National Air and Space Museum along with a former NASA astronaut. The museum announced Tuesday that the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) won the 2024 Michael Collins Trophy for current achievement. The DART spacecraft collided with a moon orbiting the asteroid Didymos last year, demonstrating one approach to deflecting potentially hazardous asteroids. The Michael Collins Trophy for lifetime achievement goes to Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who holds the U.S. record for most time spent in space. She now works for Axiom Space and commanded the Ax-2 private astronaut mission earlier this year. (11/8)

Rocket Lab Awards Scholarships to Aspiring Māori Health Professional, Aerospace Engineer (Source: Gisborne Herald)
Rocket Lab has awarded scholarships worth a total of $30,000 to a student aspiring to become a Māori health professional and a young woman determined to become an aerospace engineer. Matangirau Whaanga, who has ancestral ties to Māhia where Rocket Lab operates and launches its Electron rockets in New Zealand, has been awarded the Rocket Lab Scholarship to support his goal of becoming a Māori health professional through a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree at Auckland University. (11/8)

What Does the U.S. Space Force Actually Do? (Source: New York Times)
What’s most concerning isn’t the swarm of satellites but the types. “We know that there are kinetic kill vehicles,” Lerch said — for example, a Russian “nesting doll” satellite, in which a big satellite releases a tiny one and the tiny one releases a mechanism that can strike and damage another satellite. There are machines with the ability to cast nets and extend grappling hooks, too.

An intelligence report, Lerch said, predicted the advent, within the next decade, of satellites with radio-frequency jammers, chemical sprayers and lasers that blind and disable the competition. All this would be in addition to the cyberwarfare tools, electromagnetic instruments and “ASAT” antisatellite missiles that already exist on the ground. Click here. (11/8)

Kazakhstan Introduces SpaceX Starlink Internet (Source: Astana Times)
The Kazakh government approved the Accessible Internet national project on Nov. 7, which aims to provide the population with broadband access to the worldwide network at a speed of at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps). October marked the first results as Kazakhstan introduced broadband internet in 10 rural schools using SpaceX Starlink technology in a test mode. It is now planned to provide 2,000 rural schools with high-speed Starlink internet. (11/8)

Leidos Deploys Potable Water System to International Space Station (Source: Leidos)
Leidos, a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, announced the successful deployment of its Exploration Potable Water Dispenser (xPWD) for the International Space Station (ISS). The xPWD is the culmination of nearly three years of design, development, testing and certification work performed by Leidos as part of NASA's Cargo Mission Contract (CMC). (11/7)

FCC to SpaceX: Can You Shut Off Cellular Starlink Service if Interference Occurs? (Source: PC Magazine)
SpaceX is aiming to launch a Starlink cellular service next year, with the goal of supplying satellite-based messaging and internet to smartphones. But the company still needs to convince the FCC that the technology won’t interfere with other satellite and ground-based services. On Tuesday, the FCC sent a list of additional questions to SpaceX as the US regulator considers whether to approve or reject the company’s application to operate the Starlink cellular service over the 1910 to 1995MHz radio bands. (11/7)

Saudi Arabia Creates "Science Fiction Space City" to Propel Space Exploration (Source: MenaFN)
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans to create an innovative city dedicated to space exploration, known as the "Science Fiction Space City" or "Mars War." The initial phase of this project is expected to cost 5 billion Saudi riyals, which is approximately equivalent to 1.3 billion dollars. However, the total cost could potentially surpass 20 billion riyals in its final phase. These plans signify the nation's commitment to advancing space exploration and innovation. (11/8)

Their Final Wish? A Burial in Space (Source: New York Times)
There are two ways to contemplate the question Where do we go when we die? One is philosophical, ultimately unanswerable; the other is logistical. Humans, being human, have tended to see them as being intertwined: The many traditions we’ve devised for handling our remains are meant to honor the selves that left those bodies behind.

The seven people pictured here have chosen to send their ashes, or in some cases a sample of their DNA, into outer space. They have contracted with Celestis, one of a handful of companies offering such services. Celestis has launched 17 of these so-called memorial spaceflights since 1994. Some will rocket straight up and descend, some will orbit Earth, some will be sent to the surface of the moon and some will simply hurtle into space and keep on going. (Celestis sends its cargo on spacecraft undertaking unrelated scientific and commercial missions. Packages start at around $2,500.) Click here. (11/8)

Florida Lt. Gov: Expect a Record 80 Launches This Year From Cape (Source: Florida Today)
Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez predicts the Space Coast will rack up a record-shattering 80 orbital launches by year's end — with more than 100 launches on tap for 2024. “We are the launch capital of the world. We anticipate this year 80 launches. And next year, we have over 101 launches scheduled,” Nuñez, who chairs the Space Florida board, said during a Monday press conference at the agency's Merritt Island headquarters. (11/6)

Venus Has Oxygen All Over (Source: Cosmos)
Venus’s atmosphere is almost entirely made up of carbon dioxide – but German astronomers have detected oxygen in the planet’s atmosphere on both its day and night sides. The discovery could shed light on why the Venusian atmosphere is so different to our own. It may also help support future space missions to Venus. (11/8)

BlackSky Ekes Out First Quarterly Profit (Source: CNBC)
Satellite imagery venture BlackSky delivered its first quarterly profit on Wednesday, as the company works to keep up momentum into the end of the year. BlackSky reported net income of $675,000 for the third quarter, improving from a net loss of $13.1 million reported for the same period a year ago. The company brought in $21.3 million in third-quarter revenue, up 26% from a year prior. (11/8)

Kratos Upgrades Military Satellite Control Systems (Source: Air Force Technology)
Kratos Technology & Training Solutions has been awarded a $579 million contract by Space Systems Command to sustain and enhance the consolidated command-and-control system, which is crucial for controlling military communication satellites. The contract is part of a broader effort to improve the longevity and efficiency of satellite operations, with the global military satellite market expected to grow significantly, dominated by North America. (11/7)

Battle for Space Superiority Extends to Korean Peninsula (Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is set to visit the Indo-Pacific region, with the trip coinciding with South Korea's plans to launch its first reconnaissance satellite as part of a $900 million defense program aimed at countering North Korean missile threats. Meanwhile, North Korea is escalating its own satellite intelligence efforts, with suspected Russian technical support. (11/7)

After the Sting of Ariane 6, Europe Finally Embraces Commercial Rockets (Source: Ars Technica)
Representatives from 22 European countries reached an agreement Monday to change the way the continent's rockets are developed, moving from a government-driven approach to a commercial paradigm that appears to be modeled after how NASA and the US military do business. This is a big moment for the European Space Agency and its member states, which have traditionally funded the lion's share of rocket development costs since the start of Europe's launcher programs more than half a century ago.

The agreement means the new Ariane 6 rocket, which is running four years late and still hasn't flown, should be the last launch vehicle developed by ESA. Europe's old way of developing rockets just isn't working anymore. The current model, Aschbacher said, has been in place for decades, producing new generations of Ariane rockets since 1979. Now, rather than being a rocket developer, ESA will move to a "competition model, where we buy a service as an anchor customer," Aschbacher said. (11/7)

France Says Ariane 6 Accord Calls for Public Aid, 11% Cost Cuts (Source: Reuters)
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday hailed a new agreement on space launches between France, Germany and Italy, saying it secured funding for 42 launches of the delayed Ariane 6 and a return to service for Italy's grounded Vega-C. The agreement covers the second batch of Ariane 6 launches after previous commitments covered an inaugural test flight, recently delayed to 2024, and 14 commercial launches. The agreement provides for up to 340 million euros ($365 million) of public support for Ariane 6 from 2026 to address soaring costs and calls on industry to reduce its own costs by 11%. (11/6)

Astra Deal Waives Previously Announced Defaults (Source: Astra)
Pursuant to the Initial Financing Agreement, the Investors have agreed to waive certain existing and prospective defaults and events of default under the Existing Notes, including the events of default under the Existing Notes described in the Astra’s Form 8-K filed with the SEC on November 3, 2023, and the requirement for Astra to comply with the minimum liquidity financial covenant in the Existing Notes until November 17, 2023 to provide Astra with time to raise additional liquidity through various capital raising and cost cutting initiatives and strategic transactions. (11/6)

World-First Zero Debris Charter Goes Live (Source: ESA)
Building on a decade of work carried out across the Agency, ESA has introduced its own bold internal standard to significantly limit the production of debris in Earth and Lunar orbits by 2030 for all the Agency's future missions, programmes and activities: ESA’s ‘Zero Debris approach’. But space exploration is a global endeavour for the shared benefit of humankind, and the long-term sustainability of space will require action and change from all. ESA is facilitating the Zero Debris Charter: a global initiative for all space entities to sign and follow toward the shared goal of a Zero Debris future. (11/6)

Ireland’s First Satellite on its Way to Launch (Source: ESA)
After years of development with the support of the ESA Education programme, the Educational Irish Research Satellite 1 (EIRSAT-1) is set to launch in November, marking Ireland’s first steps into space.  (11/7)

SpaceX Pushes for 100 Flights in the Year (Source: NSF)
SpaceX is actively working to reach its goal of 100 launches by the end of this year with four launches carrying many different types of payloads coming this week. The only rocket launching this week that is not a Falcon 9 will be the Chang Zheng 3B/E from LC-2 at Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China. (11/6)