July 16, 2021

Facebook Remains Committed to Satellite-Based Internet Access (Source: Space News)
Despite transferring a satellite team to Amazon, Facebook says it's still committed to using satellites for internet access.More than a dozen Facebook employees who have been involved with satellite projects moved to Amazon earlier this year to work on that company's Project Kuiper broadband constellation. In a statement, Facebook says it's still committed to using satellite technology for internet access, including development of both optical and radio-frequency systems. Facebook is currently partnering with several satellite operators, including Eutelsat, Hughes and Viasat. (7/16)

Momentus Co-Founder Denies Misleading Investors About Immigration Status and Tech Achievements (Source: Quartz)
The co-founder of Momentus denies allegations he misled investors about his immigration status and the state of his company's technology. Mikhail Kokorich said in an interview that both his company and Stable Road, the SPAC Momentus is merging with, had "complete information" about his efforts to obtain asylum in the country and obtain export licenses. He also claimed that the experimental cubesat did successfully test a water plasma thruster, despite not producing any thrust, and that the satellite instead suffered an avionics problem. Kokorich is now in Switzerland and says he's starting a company for point-to-point suborbital cargo transportation. (7/14)

House Appropriators Advance $706 Billion Defense Spending Bill (Source: Defense News)
The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved a $706 billion defense spending bill for fiscal 2022 over the objections of panel Republicans. The 33-23 party-line vote to approve the bill followed objections from Republicans that the budget’s $10 billion, or 1.4 percent, increase was not enough to counter global threats, particularly from China.

“Now is the time to prioritize our national security funding, not shortchange it,” said the panel’s top Republican, Rep. Kay Granger of Texas. Though progressive Democrats voted to advance the bill, they said they were only doing so to allow for a debate and amendments on the House floor. They continued to decry what they saw as too much spending with too little oversight. (7/14)

Thales Introduces New Satellite Communications Systems (Source: Military Aerospace & Avionics)
Thales Defense and Security is touting the capabilities of its new MissionLINK 200 and VesseLINK 200 L-band communications systems for Iridium Certus 200 services. The Thales systems function on Iridium's 66-satellite network that provides always-on connectivity anywhere in the world for those looking for increased-mobility Iridium satellite communications (SATCOM) services. (7/14)

New UK Space Fund Aims to Make Space Safer (Source: Space Daily)
One of the biggest challenges facing the space sector is orbital congestion and space debris. A new joint initiative announced Wednesday from UK Space Agency's National Space Technology Programme (NSTP) and Space, Surveillance and Tracking Program (SST) will enable UK companies to mature technologies and early phase concepts to help tackle the issue. Projects should reduce the risks of dangerous collisions in space by monitoring, tracking or supporting the removal of potentially hazardous objects.

Proposals could include ideas to: a) advance our capabilities to detect, track or identify objects in orbit; b) improve current approaches to compiling, cleaning or analysing data created by SST sensors; improve algorithms used to determine objects' orbits, allowing us to predict conjunctions, fragmenting or re-entering; and develop new technologies needed to conduct the removal of debris from orbit. The deadline for applications is midday on 25 August 2021 and organisations can bid for up to 200,000 pounds. (7/15)

James Webb Space Telescope Testing Progress Continues (Source: NASA)
Engineers have made considerable progress in checking off NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s final series of tests. Three big milestones have recently been completed, bringing the world’s most complex and powerful space science telescope ever built much closer to being fully prepared for its million-mile journey to orbit. The testing was conducted in a clean room at Northrop Grumman in California. The James Webb Space Telescope will be the world's premier space science observatory when it launches in 2021. (7/15)

Axiom Signs Deal for Manufacture of Space Station Modules (Source: Thales Group)
Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), and Axiom Space of Houston, Texas (USA), have signed the final contract for the development of  two key pressurized elements of Axiom Space Station - the world’s first commercial space station. Scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025 respectively, the two elements will originally be docked to the International Space Station (ISS), marking the birth of the new Axiom Station segment. The value of the contract is 110 Million Euro. (7/15)

Ad Astra's Tech Works, Its Facilities are a Challenge (Source: Politico)
Right now it’s not whether the engine will work; “it’s almost boring to watch,” he said. It’s whether the company’s facility can survive the test. “The vacuum requirements are extreme. It’s putting a lot of exhaust into a chamber. You have to remove it,” he said. “The electricity we have to feed into the facility is very expensive. The facility is the challenge, at least now. Maybe a year ago I would have said the rocket was the challenge. Now the facility is the challenge.” (7/16)

Why Aren't Russia's Oligarchs Investing in Space? (Source: Ars Technica)
After Sir Richard Branson's spaceflight this weekend, the leader of Russia's main space corporation, Roscosmos, offered some kind words about the achievement. Dmitry Rogozin called the flight a "landmark" in terms of technology development and expanding the number of humans able to see Earth from space. Then Rogozin went a step further, lamenting the fact that Russia's "billionaire oligarchs" spend their money on yachts and vanity projects rather than the development of space technology and increasing humanity's knowledge of space.

This is a notable comment from Rogozin, who in the past has been critical of one particular billionaire spending his money developing space technology: SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Among other remarks, Rogozin has said that NASA should not get too cocky about its newfound access to space in case SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle "breaks." Now, however, Rogozin appears to see value in private investment in space—and the value a commercial space industry holds for a country's overall spaceflight enterprise. (7/13)

Investor Estimate: Starlink to Generate Over $20B Cash Flow Per Year (Source: Teslarati)
One of Tesla’s most ardent bulls believes that Elon Musk’s Starlink has a lot of innate potential, so much so that the satellite internet service may churn over $20 billion of cash flow annually. To get to this point, however, Starlink would first have to survive its early years, which would likely be extremely challenging.

In a recent note, ARK Invest, a firm that was closest in predicting TSLA stock’s wild rise last year, stated that it believes Starlink’s cash flows would be negative for the first eight years. This, according to the firm, would be due to the high cost of launching the satellites into space. Elon Musk’s SpaceX manages these expenses to some degree by launching batches of Starlink satellites in reused rockets, but the costs remain substantial. (7/15)

How the US Space Force Plans to Improve Arctic Communication (Source: Defense News)
Few things are easy in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Sandbag barriers hold back the tide of the rising Arctic Ocean, milk costs $10 a gallon, and during the winter months, 24 hours of darkness cloak this northernmost city in the USA. The 4,000 residents of this remote town struggle with many things most Americans take for granted, including affordable communications access. In fact, for many rural Alaska residents — some 30 percent of the state’s population — the ability to access modern services like telemedicine and remote education has never been a possibility.

The Air Force, through the U.S. Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory, is embarking on two ventures with sweeping implications for the Arctic region and for how the department does business there. Both projects have the potential to dramatically improve the lives of the region’s residents, and both rely on collaborating outside the U.S. government to adapt and move quickly. Timing is critical as the mineral-rich Arctic becomes a new frontier in national security and economic pursuits.

Space plays a fundamental role in national defense, and there are few places where that is truer than the Arctic, where the environment’s immense challenges and sparse infrastructure are tailor-made for space applications. This year, the Air Force will invest $50 million toward testing polar satellites in low Earth orbit. These satellites will be closer to Earth, resulting in reduced launch costs and faster data transmission. Throughout 2021, we will sponsor launches of dozens of satellites, test laser links for communications between the satellites and install cold-hardened ground terminals across the Arctic region. (7/14)

AstroAccess Aims to Fly Disabled on Zero-G Flights (Source: AstroAccess)
AstroAccess will launch a group of disabled scientists, veterans, students, athletes, and artists on a historic parabolic flight with the Zero Gravity Corp., as the first step in a progression toward flying a diverse range of people to space. These "AstroAccess Ambassadors" will experience weightlessness and carry out lunar gravity, Martian gravity, and zero gravity observations and experiments investigating how the physical environment aboard space vessels should be modified so that all astronauts and explorers, regardless of disability on Earth, can live, work, and thrive in space. AstroAccess Ambassadors will not only serve as the crew for a parabolic flight but will use their platform to act as public advocates for global disability access in STEM. (7/15)

L3Harris Gets New CEO (Source: L3Harris)
Christopher E. Kubasik today succeeded William M. Brown as Chief Executive Officer of L3Harris Technologies – becoming the second CEO in its history as a combined company. The planned transition was first announced in October 2018 as part of L3Harris’ merger of equals and has been unanimously re-affirmed by the Board of Directors. Brown now serves as Executive Chair of the Board. (7/15)

L3Harris Added to Disability Equality Index (Source: L3Harris)
L3Harris has been included in the 2021 Disability Equality Index® (DEI) and is recognized as one of the Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion! Disability:IN is the leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion worldwide. Our network of over 270 corporations expands opportunities for people with disabilities across enterprises. (7/15)

Canada's Space Alpha Insights Wins CSA Contract (Source: Alpha)
Space Alpha Insights Corp. won a 1.7 million Canadian dollar ($1.36 million) contract from the Canadian Space Agency to develop high-speed onboard data processing for its constellation of large synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, called SAR-XL. Toronto-based Alpha, formed in 2020 to acquire the SAR assets of Urthecast, has raised seed funding and won a contract worth over $4 million from an undisclosed customer. (7/15)

Lockheed Martin Building Moon Spacecraft at Former Astronaut Museum (Source: Florida Today)
The spacecraft slated to take the first woman to the moon will be partially built in the former Astronaut Hall of Fame building in Titusville. After sitting vacant for five years, Lockheed Martin spent $20 million to renovate the “fixer upper” in Titusville into a state-of-the-art spacecraft manufacturing facility called the STAR Center. Lockheed currently assembles the Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon at KSC’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building but needed more space.

The Astronaut Hall of Fame turned out to be a good match. It’s a short commute from KSC, has plenty of square footage and has a high bay for crane operations. Now the 55,000 square foot building will provide much needed space for the new production phase of Orion starting with the spacecraft that will be used for NASA’s Artemis III launch to return humans to the surface of the moon. Elements of the spacecraft that take large amounts of floor space will be moved to the STAR Center which will give teams at the O&C more room to assemble and test more Orion spacecraft simultaneously and quicker.

Production activities that will take place at the STAR Center include assembly and testing of heat shields, crew module adapter wire harness fabrication and life support systems assembly and testing. The company will slowly ramp up production but only plans to hire about 75 people to work at the STAR Center. That number may seem low but Lynda Weatherman, president & CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, says this facility is a good thing for Brevard. (7/15)