September 10, 2018

Eutelsat Becomes First Ariane 6 Commercial Customer With Five-Satellite Launch Contract (Source: Space News)
Caleb Henry, PARIS — Fleet operator Eutelsat of Paris signed a contract with Arianespace to launch five satellites on the future Ariane 6 rocket by 2027. The Sep. 10 contract is Arianespace’s first with a commercial satellite operator for Ariane 6, and brings to eight the number of Ariane 6 missions on the company’s manifest, assuming none of the Eutelsat satellites are dual-manifested on the same rocket. (9/10)

Cocoa Beach Pier Aims for Space Event Hosting (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
The Cocoa Beach Pier has seen more than $5 million in renovations since Westgate Resorts bought the property. Next up: Converting the Atlantic Ocean Grille into meeting space. The reason: Big companies have more commercial space activity on the Space Coast and Westgate wants in on the action. "We are doing some events for SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, and we want [the pier] to get more of the event category," said General Manager Rick Lohr.

Soviet Rocketry Leapt Forward with Reverse-Engineered German V-2 (Source: Space Daily)
The Soviet rocketry program, which would eventually help Moscow achieve strategic parity with the United States and send human beings into space, had its origins in a design reverse-engineered from a captured German V-2. Russian Space Systems, a subsidiary of Roscosmos, has published a unique and detailed photo album detailing the elements that comprised the R-1, a short-range ballistic missile tested some 70 years ago and introduced into service in 1950.

The 44-page album contains details on everything from rocket wiring schematics to individual components, including commutators, telemetry systems, transformers, the rocket's control compartment, launch equipment and its ground-based control panel. Click here. (9/6)

Marine Corps Embraces High-Throughput Satellites to Complete Military Operations (Source: Space Daily)
Communications have always played a vital role in U.S. Marine Corps operations, but that role has grown increasingly important as technology has evolved. Today's high-throughput satellites (HTS) empower commanders to make informed decisions faster, making satellite communications a strategic asset during missions-and increasing the Marine Corps' reliance on advanced satellite technologies.

"Thirty years ago, communications were very different. A radio was just a radio for voice communication. Now they are used to send data and have a lot more capabilities in a smaller package," Joey Trecartin, a retired Chief Warrant Officer 5, told Cpl. Lukas Kalinauskas for an article on the evolution of communications in the Marine Corps.

That evolution is due at least in part to advances in commercial satellite technology, which can deliver higher data throughputs on a global scale via a wide variety of user-chosen waveforms, modems, and antennas. In October 2016, the Marine Corps and the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command conducted testing to evaluate HTS technologies to support Networking-on-the-Move (NOTM) requirements. (9/10)

Investors Open Up New Frontiers in Space Through Collaboration (Source: Financial Times)
Space has become the final frontier for investors, but expenditure in the market is forecast to expand eightfold by 2045, due to technological advances and falling production costs. Developments in areas such as reusable rockets, affordable in-flight WiFi, weather forecasting and environmental monitoring will help drive the sector’s size to $2.7tn over the period, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Governments and the military still account for much of the investment in the sector, but tech billionaires — such as Elon Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — are gaining a toehold, as are private equity and venture funds. Private investment in space totalled $3.4bn in the year to June 2018, according to Seraphim Capital. Mark Boggett, its chief executive, says: “In the past few years, investor interest in space has gone crazy.”

A big growth area is using satellites to deliver broadband to commercial aircraft and high-speed terrestrial internet to the 4bn people globally who still do not have access. “With a constellation of satellites [as with LEO] you can accept that some components will fail — something you couldn’t do with a mission to Mercury or Jupiter,” Mr Chamussy says. “But we are hoping to get the best of both [worlds] by doing things in a smarter way. For example, using lower-grade devices and designing the architecture of spacecraft differently so that they can cope with failures and recover.” (9/9)

Soil Cavities Dunderneath Soyuz-2 Launch Pad at Vostochny Spaceport (Source: TASS)
Repairs must be carried out at the launch pad for Soyuz-2 carrier rockets at the Vostochy spaceport in Russia’s Far East after cavities were discovered in the soil underneath a servicing tower, a source at the spaceport told TASS. "Cavities appeared underneath the reinforced concrete foundation of a mobile servicing tower at the first launch pad of the Vostochny spaceport," the source said. "We have already concluded a contract to eliminate the cavities."

The source did not specify the origin of the cavities at the launch pad of the spaceport in Russia’s Far East, while the Center for the Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure refrained from making comments on the situation. The first launch site at the Vostochny space center was built in 2012-2016 for Soyuz rockets and the first launch from it was carried out on April 28, 2016. (9/10)

Viasat Books ULA Atlas 5 for a ViaSat-3 Satellite Launch (Source: Space News)
United Launch Alliance beat out SpaceX and Arianespace to win a launch contract for an upcoming Viasat satellite. The deal, announced Sept. 10, is ULA’s first commercial contract since taking full responsibility for sales and marketing of the Atlas 5 from Lockheed Martin in January.

ULA will launch one of the three ViaSat-3 satellites that Carlsbad, California-based Viasat has under development2. Viasat has not decided which of the three satellites will fly on Atlas 5 but said the launch will occur between 2020 and 2022. Dave Ryan, Viasat’s president of space systems, said that the company was won over by ULA’s schedule reliability and the Atlas 5 rocket’s 78 consecutive successful missions. (9/10)

SpaceX Launches and Lands Another Falcon-9 (Source: Space News)
SpaceX successfully launched a communications satellite for Telesat overnight. The Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport at 12:45 a.m. EDT Monday, a launch delayed by more than an hour because of weather. The Falcon 9 deployed the Telstar 18 Vantage satellite. Following stage separation, the first-stage booster landed downrange on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship. The launch was the 16th this year for SpaceX but the first in more than a month. (9/10)

Typhoon Postpones Japanese Launch to ISS (Source: Spaceflight Now)
A typhoon has postponed the launch of a Japanese cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. The Japanese space agency JAXA said Sunday that it postponed the H-2B launch, scheduled for Monday night, because of concerns that Typhoon Mangkhut would strike Guam, where a ground station needed for the launch is located. JAXA has not announced a new launch date. The HTV-7 cargo spacecraft is carrying more than six tons of supplies for the ISS, including a set of batteries that will be installed by astronauts on spacewalks later this month. (9/10)

France's CLS Plans Argos Expansion for Animal Tracking (Source: Space News)
French maritime tracking company CLS announced plans Monday to develop a satellite constellation. CLS is starting a spinoff company called Kineis seeking to raise nearly $140 million for a 20-satellite system for tracking Internet of Things devices at sea. Kineis will, in the near term, take over a network of hosted payloads called Argos that provides such services now as it deploys its network of 16U cubesats by 2021. Kineis expects to complete a study contract with Thales Alenia Space next month, leading to a contract to integrate the satellites. (9/10)

Swarm CEO Acknowledges Launch Mistake (Source: The Atlantic)
The CEO of Swarm Technologies acknowledged that the launch of four smallsats without an FCC license was a mistake by the company. Sara Spangelo said in a recent interview that her company went ahead with the launch of the four SpaceBee satellites, flown on an Indian vehicle in January despite a rejection of its FCC license application, in the believe that it would be able to get an FCC license at the last minute. The FCC rejected the application out of concerns that the satellites would be too small to track, but it turned out that the smallsats could be monitored from the ground. The company is awaiting an FCC decision on any penalties for launching the satellites without a license. (9/10)

Thailand Picks ISP for Small Satellite Launch (Source: Space News)
Thailand's air force will use a European company to help it launch a small satellite. Innovative Solutions In Space won a contract last week from the Royal Thai Air Force for the development of a 6U Earth observation cubesat slated for launch next year on a Vega rocket. Jeroem Rotteveel, CEO and co-founder of the company, said the deal is another step toward offering "cubesats as a service," where the company would handle not just the launch of a cubesat but its development and operations as well. (9/10)