December 6, 2024

SpaceX Launches SiriusXM Satellite at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bolted off the pad amid sunny skies Thursday morning, lifting SiriusXM's latest geostationary communications satellite into transfer orbit from  the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (12/5)

Northrop Activates Arctic Satellites for US, Norway (Source: DefenseScoop)
Northrop Grumman has activated the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission constellation, handing over mission operations to Space Norway and expanding satellite communications in the Arctic for the US Space Force and Norway. The constellation, launched by SpaceX in August, includes Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization payloads and other systems to boost connectivity and radiation monitoring. (12/3)

Kratos Secures $116.7M Space Force Contract (Source: San Diego Business Journal)
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announced a significant contract with the U.S. Space Force, valued at up to $116.7 million over five years. This contract involves ground segment development for advanced fire control missions and will be executed in multiple locations including Colorado Springs and Huntsville. Kratos will lead the project as the prime contractor with partners like Peraton and Stellar Solutions. (12/3)

China Cuts Off US Access to Rare Minerals (Source: New York Times)
China has abruptly cut off sales of rare minerals gallium, germanium and antimony to the US, the latest escalation in trade tensions as the US cuts off China's access to US technology. China is the world's top exporter of critical minerals used in semiconductor production. (12/3)

Muon Space Wins $2.9 Million Space Force Contract (Source: Space News)
Muon Space has won a Space Force contract to evaluate its satellite technology for military applications. The company said Thursday it won a $2.9 million contract to study how Muon's instruments can provide high-resolution imagery of cloud cover and weather conditions critical for military and intelligence operations. Muon is currently working with the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance to deploy a constellation of "FireSat" satellites in low Earth orbit to monitor wildfires and related environmental phenomena. The company said it is exploring dual-use applications of those satellites. (12/6)

Iran Launches Orbital Space Tug (Source: Reuters)
Iran launched what it claims is its heaviest payload yet. A Simorgh rocket launched Friday from the Imam Khomeini Spaceport east of Tehran, although government officials did not report a specific launch time. The rocket placed into low Earth orbit what officials called the Saman-1 "Orbital Transfer Block," a tug with a propulsion system for taking payloads to higher orbits, along with a cubesat and an unspecified research payload. The combined mass of the payloads, 300 kilograms, is the most an Iranian launch has placed into orbit. (12/6)

Dragon Departs ISS, Will Loiter Until Weather Improves (Source: NASA)
A cargo Dragon spacecraft will spend some more time in orbit. The Dragon spacecraft for the CRS-31 resupply mission to the International Space Station was scheduled to undock and return to Earth this week, but NASA announced Thursday that Dragon will remain at the ISS until at least Dec. 12, citing unfavorable weather conditions at splashdown locations off the Florida coast. Dragon will return to Earth science experiments and other ISS hardware. (12/6)

ESA to Support India's Human Spaceflight Efforts (Source: India Today)
ESA and the Indian space agency ISRO will cooperate on India's Gaganyaan human spaceflight program. The agencies announced Thursday the signing of an agreement under which ESA will provide communications services through its ground stations for Gaganyaan missions. India is expected to launch uncrewed test flights of the Gaganyaan spacecraft in 2025, although the first crewed mission, originally scheduled for 2022, is now expected no earlier than late 2026. (12/6)

China's Megaconstellation to Support Brazil (Source: Space News)
A Chinese megaconstellation is making progress in space and on the ground. A launch Wednesday night placed a third set of 18 Qianfan, or Thousand Sails, satellites into orbit, following launches in August and October. The satellites were developed by the Shanghai Microsatellite Engineering Center for Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology and are the first generation of Thousand Sails satellites. The company plans to have 600 satellites in orbit by the end of 2025 for a constellation that will ultimately each 14,000 spacecraft. It recently reached a deal to provide services in Brazil starting in 2026. (12/6)

Ukraine-American Group Raises Concerns About Musk-Russia Ties (Source: CNBC)
A Ukrainian-American group is asking the FCC to halt expansion of SpaceX's Starlink constellation because of Elon Musk's alleged contacts with Russia. In a petition filed with the FCC this week, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America objected to SpaceX's proposal to add nearly 22,500 satellites to its next-generation Starlink constellation. It cited reports that Musk had regular conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that Russian forces have been using Starlink during their invasion of Ukraine. The group also said Musk's role as co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency committee also raises potential regulatory conflicts of interest. (12/6)

Europe's Vega Rocket Launches Earth Observation Satellite (Source: Space News)
Europe's Vega C rocket successfully returned to flight Thursday, nearly two years after a launch failure. The Vega C lifted off from French Guiana and deployed the Sentinel-1C Earth observation satellite about an hour and 45 minutes later. The launch was the first for the Vega C since a December 2022 failure blamed on the nozzle of the second-stage solid-fuel motor. That motor was redesigned and tested on the ground twice before this launch. The launch helps bring to an end the "launcher crisis" in Europe that had forced ESA and the European Commission to go overseas to launch science and navigation satellites. Sentinel-1C, a radar mapping satellite that is part of the Copernicus program, replaces the Sentinel-1B satellite that failed nearly three years ago. (12/6)

Space Machines Expands Global Partnerships with UK Collaboration to Address Space Debris (Source: Space Daily)
Space Machines Company, a leading Australian-Indian in-space servicing firm, has announced a strategic collaboration with UK-based ISAM technology developer Lunasa. This partnership aims to tackle the pressing global challenge of space debris and represents a significant step forward under the UK-Australia Space Bridge Arrangement, which promotes innovation and international collaboration within the space industry. (12/5)

Veteran Ventures Capital Invests in Turion Space to Drive Advanced Space Technology (Source: Space Daily)
Veteran Ventures Capital (VVC), a venture capital firm dedicated to supporting dual-use national security technology led by veteran entrepreneurs, has announced a strategic investment in Turion Space. Turion Space specializes in addressing critical space challenges, including space domain awareness and non-earth imaging, through their innovative Droid micro-satellite technology. (12/3)

Maxar Secures $290M From NGA for Luno A (Source: Space Daily)
Maxar Intelligence has been chosen by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to support its Luno A program, a $290 million, five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. This initiative aims to deliver advanced geospatial insights and automated object detections using Maxar's cutting-edge capabilities. Through the Luno A contract, Maxar will deploy its sophisticated computer vision models to provide precise object detections and actionable analytics. (12/3)

NASA Once Again Delays Astronaut Moon Landing, Pushing to 2027 (Source: CNN)
NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade amid a renewed international push for lunar exploration, is facing more delays. The agency said Thursday that a planned mission to land on the moon in 2026 will now take place no earlier than mid-2027. Additionally, a pathfinder mission that was slated to fly astronauts around the moon in September 2025 will now take place no earlier than April 2026.

That delay is linked in part to issues with the Orion crew capsule that will be home to the astronauts during both lunar missions. NASA previously disclosed that the spacecraft’s heat shield, which keeps Orion from burning up as the vehicle reenters the Earth’s atmosphere, became charred and eroded in an unexpected way during the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022. NASA plans to address the issue by flying Artemis II with a “modified trajectory.” (12/5)

Ram-Rotor Detonation Engine Proposed by Chinese Researchers (Source: Space Daily)
Chinese researchers introduced a novel propulsion concept called the Ram-Rotor Detonation Engine (RRDE). This innovative design addresses the limitations of previous detonation engines. The RRDE features a rotating rotor with helical symmetric blades within a stationary casing. Within these variable cross-sectional channels, the combustible mixture undergoes compression, detonation, and expansion, driving propulsion.

The RRDE offers several potential advantages, including a compact structure, high efficiency, and adaptability to a wide range of flight Mach numbers. However, challenges such as stabilizing detonation waves, managing supersonic boundary layer interference, developing high-speed rotors, and ensuring thermal protection must be addressed. (12/4)

MeerKAT Confirms the Gravitational Wave Background of the Universe in Record Time (Source: Universe Today)
The MeerKat radio array is a collection of 64 antennas located in South Africa and run by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). This week, SARAO released a series of papers on their results after just four and a half years. Where NANOGrav looked at 67 millisecond pulsars, MeerKAT gathered data on 83. It observed these pulsars with a similar resolution as NANOGrav, but did so in a third of the time. These results again confirm the existence of cosmic gravitational waves, but like the NANOGrav don’t confirm the origin. (12/4)

Boeing to Lay Off 141 in Florida Including at Space Coast Operations (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Boeing is laying off 141 workers at its Florida-based operations, including 26 at Kennedy Space Center, the Florida Department of Commerce has confirmed. Boeing in October announced it would adjust its workforce as it struggled with financial difficulties, including problems with the Starliner spacecraft and a machinists strike that lasted several weeks. In addition to workers at Kennedy Space Center, Boeing is laying off workers at its facilities in Cocoa Beach, Orlando, Titusville and Melbourne. (12/5)