May 28, 2021

AAC Clyde Q1 Organic Revenue Up 24% — 55% with New Acquisitions (Source: Space Intel Report) Merchant small-satellite builder AAC Clyde Space neared EBITDA-positive territory in Q1 2021 and with the help of new acquisitions increased revenue by 55%. Revenue increased 24% organically. Chief Executive Luis Gomes said the company’s new posture, with operations in Sweden, Scotland, the Netherlands and the United States, puts it on track to meet its goal of profitability by 2022 and a 5X increase in revenue, to 500 million Swedish krona, or $60 million, by 2024. (5/27) Space Force to Solicit Prototype Proposals for Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept (Source: GovCon Wire) The U.S. Space Force intends to release a request for proposals by June 30 to develop prototypes of deep space radar sensors that can monitor satellites and space debris in geostationary orbits. The Space and Missile Systems Center’s Space Enterprise Consortium plans to select one or more vendors to build prototype concepts for the Deep Space Advanced Radar Concept project that the U.S. Air Force launched in 2017. The consortium has over 500 members and awards contracts for prototype development work in the form of other transaction authority agreements to speed up the commercial technology procurement process. The Space Force expects to invest between $140 million and $200 million annually in DARC-related prototyping and testing efforts and plans to build up to three radar sites, according to the report. (5/24) Special Operations Command Issues $373 Million Contract for Geospatial Intelligence Support (Source: C4ISRnet) U.S. Special Operations Command awarded CACI International Inc. a contract worth up to $373 million for geospatial intelligence expertise, the company announced Monday. The single-award contract, issued in April, covers services over the next eight years. CACI’s geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) experts will provide joint analytic support services to USSOCOM, while the company’s system engineers will help maintain and evolve the command’s information infrastructure. According to the original request for proposals, the contract will provide USSOCOM with personnel capable of processing, exploiting and disseminating traditional and nontraditional data intelligence. CACI has provided these services to USSOCOM since 2016, when it secured the Joint Geospatial Analytical Support Services (JGASS) contract worth up to $179.9 million over five years. (5/25) A Turbulent Sixth Flight for Ingenuity on Mars (Sources: SpaceFlight Insider, Orlando Sentinel) After five near-flawless flights, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter ran into trouble during its sixth, testing the margins of the spacecraft’s stability. On May 22, 2021, (Sol 91 of the Perseverance rover mission) Ingenuity completed its sixth flight on the surface of Mars. It was programmed to climb to an altitude of 33 feet, translate 492 feet southwest at about 9 miles per hour. It was to then translate 49 feet to the south while taking images toward the west before flying another 164 feet northeast to land. According to downlink received hours after the flight, the helicopter began making unexpected changes in pitch and speed, suggesting it was experiencing an anomaly. The aircraft then entered into bigger oscillations of changes in pitch and speed. Equipped with numerous redundant systems, as well as hardware designed to handle sudden changes in aerodynamic stress, the craft performed a controlled descent back to the surface, safely coming to rest approximately 16 feet from the targeted landing location. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the "wild, lurching ride" was caused by a navigation timing error. (5/27) Ex-Astronaut Going to Prison for 4 Years in Deadly DUI Crash (Source: Daily Beast) An ex-astronaut who killed two young Alabama girls while driving under the influence will spend at least four years behind bars after pleading guilty to manslaughter. James Halsell, 64, of Huntsville, was a Space Shuttle commander who flew five missions. Ten years after retirement, he crashed into another car in Tuscaloosa, leaving Niomi Deona James, 11, and Jayla Latrick Parler, 13, dead. “There are clearly no winners here. It’s a horrible thing for the family. You have a man who has done very good things, who in this case did a very, very, very bad thing,” Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Hays Webb said. (5/27) Biden’s Top Scientist Quickly Confirmed by Senate (Source: Politico) The Senate on Friday quickly confirmed Biden Cabinet nominee Eric Lander to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. A top geneticist and director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Lander was the last of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees to be confirmed. The voice vote came after a marathon session to consider Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s package to counter China’s influence and before the long Memorial Day recess. (5/28)