February 14, 2024

Intuitive Machines Lander Launch Delayed for Methane Propellant Issue (Source: Space News)
SpaceX postponed the launch of a lunar lander overnight because of a fueling issue with the spacecraft. SpaceX announced about 90 minutes before the scheduled 12:57 a.m. Eastern launch of the IM-1 mission for Intuitive Machines that it was delaying the launch a day because of "off-nominal methane temperatures." The lander is designed to be loaded with liquid oxygen and methane propellants a few hours before launch, a process that required modifications to both the Falcon 9 and equipment at Launch Complex 39A. The launch is rescheduled for 1:05 a.m. Eastern Thursday, and could be the third Falcon 9 launch in the next 24 hours after launches this evening for the Space Force from Florida and of Starlink satellites from California. (2/14)

Six NASA Instruments Will Fly to Moon on Intuitive Machines Lander (Source: NASA)
NASA is gearing up for a commercial robotic flight to the Moon under the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign. Intuitive Machines will launch its Nova-C lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 14, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission will carry six NASA payloads targeted for the South Polar region. Click here. (2/13)

VIPER’s Final Science Instrument Installed (Source: NASA)
A team of engineers prepares to integrate TRIDENT – short for The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain – into the belly of NASA’s first robotic Moon rover, VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover). TRIDENT, designed and developed by engineers at Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California, is the fourth and final science instrument to be installed into VIPER. NASA engineers have already successfully integrated VIPER’s three other science instruments into the rover. These include: the MSOLO (Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations), NIRVSS (Near-Infrared Volatiles Spectrometer System), and NSS (Neutron Spectrometer System). (2/13)

Meet NASA's Twin Spacecraft Headed to the Ends of the Earth (Source: NASA)
Launching in spring 2024, two small satellites of the agency’s PREFIRE mission will fill in missing data from Earth’s polar regions. Two new miniature NASA satellites will start crisscrossing Earth’s atmosphere in a few months, detecting heat lost to space. Their observations from the planet’s most bone-chilling regions will help predict how our ice, seas, and weather will change in the face of global warming. (2/12)

Water Found On The Surface Of Two Asteroids For First Time Ever (Source: IFL Science)
Water is common across our planet and it’s crucial to life but it is always a rare commodity elsewhere in the inner Solar System. The discovery of ice in the craters of the Moon or buried in deposits on Mars is extremely intriguing. Researchers have looked further now, at the asteroid belt, and investigated if objects that should not have any water might instead be hiding some. And in two cases, they have found it right on the surface.

Researchers from various institutions across the States have employed the data from the retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to look at four dry silicate asteroids. They formed close to the Sun so should be quite devoid of water. The objects in question are Iris, Parthenope, Melpomene, and Massalia, all in the main Asteroid Belt. (2/13)

NASA Solar Sail Technology Passes Crucial Deployment Test (Source: NASA)
NASA continues to unfurl plans for solar sail technology as a promising method of deep space transportation. The agency cleared a key technology milestone in January with the successful deployment of one of four identical solar sail quadrants. The deployment was showcased Jan. 30 at Redwire Corp.’s new facility in Longmont, Colorado. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center leads the solar sail team, comprised of prime contractor Redwire, which developed the deployment mechanisms and the nearly 100-foot-long booms, and subcontractor NeXolve, of Huntsville, which provided the sail membrane. (2/12)

Optical Glass Fabrication on ISS Moves the Future of In-Space Manufacturing (Source: CASIS)
New fiber optics experiments sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory launched on Northrop Grumman’s 20th Commercial Resupply Services (NG-20) mission. These experiments will test Flawless Photonics' unique approach to solving the issue of gravity-induced defects in optical glass products manufactured on Earth. (2/14)

NASA Engineers Trying to Fix Stuck Dust Cover on Perseverance Mars Rover Camera (Source: Space Daily)
NASA engineers are working to close one of two dust covers, stuck open on a camera aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, to help scientists resume collecting crucial data on the Red Planet. The cover prevents dust from accumulating on the optics of the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals, or SHERLOC instrument, which is mounted on rover's robotic arm. With the cover stuck in the open position, the camera cannot use its laser on rock targets and cannot collect spectroscopy data. (2/13)

NASA, SpaceX Target Late February for Crew-8 Launch to Station – Commercial Crew Program (Source: NASA)
NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 12:49 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 28, for the launch of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station. The launch of Crew-8 was adjusted to deconflict operations with Intuitive Machines’ IM-1, the company’s first lunar lander mission to the Moon as part NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. (2/13)

AFRL Helps NASA Wrap Up Equipment Testing for Artemis Mission (Source: Space Daily)
In October, the NASA team revisited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to collaborate with Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, engineers, to further evaluate the latest version of astronaut crew seats and flight suits intended for the Orion spacecraft. Testing was conducted with U.S. Air Force volunteers, who met various height and weight requirements. The testing progressed into November, incorporating human subjects in seat evaluations. (2/13)

Intelsat to Produce Multi-Orbit Satellite Terminals for U.S. Military Aircraft (Source: Space News)
Satellite operator Intelsat will produce satellite terminals for the U.S. Air Force that can connect to multiple networks in space, providing more consistent broadband communications for military aircraft. The company’s terminal, called ROAM (resilient multi-orbit airborne module) can seamlessly switch connections between Intelsat’s and Viasat’s fleet of satellites in geosynchronous orbit, and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit, said David Broadbent, Intelsat’s president of government solutions. (2/13)

Space Force Finalizing Commercial Strategy (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is in the final stages of completing a commercial space strategy. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said at the Air & Space Forces Association's Warfare Conference this week that the strategy is very close to being completed but is still being coordinated with the Pentagon's space policy office, which has also been drafting a commercial space strategy. Saltzman previously said he was not happy with early drafts of the strategy because it didn't have specific enough guidance on what services the Space Force would outsource to the private sector. The commercial strategy has been highly anticipated by companies across the space industry that seek more clarity around how they can compete for future contracts. (2/14)

Russia's Starlink Scheme via NATO Proxy Exposed in Sting Report (Source: Newsweek)
Russian forces are buying Elon Musk's Starlink satellite communications network from private sellers and are using them in occupied Ukraine by connecting them to networks in NATO-member Poland, according to the independent investigative journalism site Important Stories (IStories). Journalists with IStories said they spoke with the representatives of three Russian websites who have advertised selling the Starlink devices, which are operated by Musk's aerospace company SpaceX. (2/12)

Space Force GMTI Will Provide Near-Real-Time Target Monitoring (Source: Space News)
The Space Force will be responsible for flying a new fleet of satellites that will monitor ground targets in near-real time virtually anywhere in the world. This network of satellites, known as Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI), is being developed by the National Reconnaissance Office in partnership with the Space Force. Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt of the Space Force said at the AFA Warfare Conference that the service will be the lead operator of the system and will directly task and control where the satellites point their sensors based on requests from regional combatant commanders. The GMTI satellites will offer persistent video-like surveillance capabilities that in the past were provided by aircraft such as the U.S. Air Force's Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS. (2/14)

Skylo Raises $37 Million for Direct-to-Smartphone Services (Source: Space News)
Skylo has raised $37 million to advance its direct-to-smartphone services. Using standards widely adopted by the cellular industry, Silicon Valley-based Skylo has developed the ground infrastructure that satellites already in geostationary orbit need to connect to mass market devices. The funding will allow the company to strengthen its marketing efforts and expand its geographical footprint to support more partnerships and refine services in a variety of industry sectors. Skylo currently enables texting and other low-bandwidth services but expects to announce later this year its plans for enabling voice and data services on the network. (2/14)

K2 Space Raises $50 Million for Large Satellite Production (Source: CNBC)
A startup developing large but inexpensive satellites has raised $50 million. K2 Space said Tuesday it raised the funding in a round led by Altimeter Capital. The company is working on large satellite buses that it argues can be more cost-effective and faster to build than traditional buses. K2 Space has not revealed any customers for its Mega bus, which can accommodate one ton of payload, but has won small contracts from the Defense Department and plans to launch a demonstration satellite later this year. (2/14)

BAE Gains Approval for Ball Aerospace Acquisition (Source: Space News)
BAE Systems has secured the regulatory approvals needed to complete its $5.5 billion acquisition of Ball Aerospace. The companies announced this morning that they had secured those approvals after the Justice Department ended its antitrust review early. The companies expect the deal to close in the "coming days" after completing a customary series of final steps. Ball Aerospace will become the Space & Mission Systems operating sector of BAE Systems. Executives with the two companies said they believe the combined company will be able to go after larger business in the space sector. (2/14)

LIGO Comes to India (Source: Symmetry)
In 2011, three physicists embarked upon a journey across India. They were looking for the best place in the country to listen for the faintest sounds in the universe. According to Tarun Souradeep, Bala Iyer and Rana Adhikari, they have found that place, in a southwestern plateau region called Aundha in the Maharashtra state. India is set to house the next detector of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, or LIGO. In April 2023, the Indian government approved construction, and by the end of the decade, they expect to see the observatory’s first detections of gravitational waves. (2/13)

10 Strange Facts About the Planet Mercury (Source: ListVerse)
Mercury is an interesting planet. The first planet orbiting our star, the Sun, Mercury has been largely ignored in the public eye over planets like Mars. However, recent information gathered from the MESSENGER space probe indicates that Mercury may be just as fascinating as Mars, if not more so. If NASA or other space agencies are ever to return to our first planet, the public must know why such a space trip might be worthwhile. Could humans live on Mercury? Maybe not, but there is evidence for that idea not being as far-fetched as it initially seems. Click here. (2/13)

Governments Worldwide Use Satellite Communication to Close a Critical Gap (Source: Space News)
Satellites serve as a reliable safeguard for our crucial communication infrastructure, providing protection in the event of major disruptions that could affect essential aspects of our lives such as financial transactions, trade, communication, the media, security and power distribution. To governments all over the world, the lesson is quite clear: Every nation needs to strengthen its ability to adapt, deploy and control its critical communication infrastructure under all thinkable circumstances — be they international conflicts, impacts of the climate catastrophe, earthquakes or whatever else the future holds in store for us. (2/14)

Apollo to Artemis: Why America is Betting Big on Private Space (Source: Space Daily)
So why entrust such tasks to the commercial sector, especially after an attempt by another company with similar goals, Astrobotic, failed just last month? The answer lies in the way NASA has fundamentally reorganized itself for Artemis, the agency's flagship Moon-to-Mars program. The focus on fledgling companies under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative builds on the example set by the meteoric rise of SpaceX, which was derided in its startup phase as reckless, but is now arguably the agency's favorite contractor. (2/13)

The Importance of Preserving Lunar Farside (Source: Space Daily)
As the space community gathers to chart a course for the sustainable use of the Moon, the world watches, hopeful for a consensus that will ensure the Moon's farside remains a pristine sanctuary for future generations and scientific inquiry. This discussion opens up novel considerations for our approach to lunar colonization and its wider implications for space exploration. The upcoming 1st International Symposium on Moon Farside Protection is scheduled for March 21-22, 2024, in Turin, Italy. (2/13)

Voyager Space and Palantir Forge Alliance to Boost National Security in Space (Source: Space Daily)
Voyager Space and Palantir USG have announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and teaming agreement. This partnership is set to explore and enhance national security capabilities within the commercial space domain, marking a significant advancement in the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies in space exploration and security.

The collaboration aims to leverage the unique strengths of both companies to address the evolving challenges and opportunities in space. Palantir, known for its robust software architectures that enhance the resilience and effectiveness of U.S. defense and space capabilities, will work alongside Voyager to push the boundaries of space technology. Together, they will embark on technology demonstration missions on the ISS and the forthcoming Starlab commercial space station. (2/9)

SETI Institute Utilizes Advanced Ellipsoid Technique in Quest for Extraterrestrial Signals (Source: Space Daily)
In a groundbreaking development for the field of astrophysics and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), researchers from the SETI Institute, Berkeley SETI Research Center, and the University of Washington have introduced an innovative approach employing the SETI Ellipsoid technique. Utilizing data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, this method enhances the search for potential signals from advanced civilizations across the cosmos. (2/13)

Starlab Space Unveils Leadership Team to Propel Space Exploration Ventures (Source: Space Daily)
Starlab Space LLC, the transatlantic joint venture formed between aerospace giants Voyager Space and Airbus, has officially announced its leadership lineup. The CEO of Starlab Space is retired NASA astronaut and seasoned Voyager executive, Tim Kopra. Joining Kopra in navigating the financial cosmos of Starlab is Mohit Sharma, with 15 years of experience from Airbus. Sharma's expertise in finance and fundraising is expected to play a pivotal role in expanding and developing Starlab's financial strategy to support its growth trajectory.

The leadership team is further bolstered by notable figures such as Voyager Space's CTO Marshall Smith, former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Airbus U.S. Space and Defense's SVP and Head of Space Systems Debra Facktor, and CFO Mohamed Denden, all joining the Starlab Board of Directors. Dr. Marc Steckling will serve as a permanent guest on the board. Thomas Ayres will be General Counsel, Paul Schauer will be Chief Procurement Officer, and other members will be nominated in the coming weeks, including the Managing Director of Starlab's European entity, once established. (2/13)

Saltzman Announces Fourth Space Force Field Command: Space Futures Command (Source: Air and Space Forces)
While the Air Force is undergoing sweeping changes as part of its re-optimization for Great Power Competition, the Space Force’s to-do list is shorter—but still with some major changes driven by the need to adjust to a changing domain, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said at the AFA Warfare Symposium.

“That shift to an operational phase where we have to now build and then maintain space superiority in order to continue to provide the services that the force has come to count on is what the real transformation is,” Saltzman said. Saltzman compared the transformation to that of converting a Merchant Marine to a Navy—preparing the Space Force to operate in a contested domain. (2/12)

New Commands, Ranks, and More: Big Changes for Air Force & Space Force (Source: Air and Space Forces)
Air Force and Space Force leaders rolled out sweeping changes to the services’ organization, manning, readiness, and weapons development Feb. 12 at the AFA Warfare Symposium. The changes aim to ratchet up readiness and gain a warfighting edge in the face of intensifying great power competition with China. Secretary Frank Kendall, acting undersecretary Kristyn Jones, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin, and Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman detailed 24 action items and an aggressive schedule for implementation. Click here. (2/12)