September 8, 2021

Lockheed and Northrop Focus on Orbital Satellite Servicing (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are investing in orbital refueling startup OrbitFab. The companies joined a round valued at more than $10 million in the startup, which launched a small tanker spacecraft earlier this year and plans to launch two more next year. Northrop has a line of spacecraft life extension and servicing spacecraft while Lockheed has announced plans to test its own servicing satellites. (9/8)

Russia's Rogozin a Big Fan of Musk (Source: CNN)
Dmitry Rogozin is one of Elon Musk's biggest fans. The head of Roscosmos said in an interview that he wishes Russian oligarchs would invest in space ventures like Musk and Jeff Bezos. He singled out Musk for praise, saying he respects Musk "as an organizer of the space industry and as an inventor, who is not afraid to take risk." Rogozin went so far as to invite Musk to his home to discuss space issues over tea. On Twitter, Musk responded, "Thanks! What is your favorite tea?" (9/8)

Inmarsat Constellation Driven by Government Customers (Source: Space News)
Inmarsat says its new multi-orbit constellation is driven by increasing demands for connectivity for government customers. Inmarsat recently announced Orchestra, which will include satellites in GEO and LEO as well as terrestrial 5G networks. A company executive said that approach is needed given growing bandwidth demands for military and civil applications, and to provide service to smaller terminals. Inmarsat also argues that it can offer more secure communications than rival broadband systems, in part because its gateways are located in NATO or Five Eyes countries only. (9/8)

DoD a Challenging Customer for Broadband Companies (Source: Space News)
Satellite broadband companies say the Defense Department is a key, but challenging, customer. Satellite and terminal manufacturers are producing, testing and deploying hardware in orbit faster than ever, but the government often is not able to take advantage of new technology because of its legacy infrastructure. The Defense Department is experimenting with such services through the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet program, and a Pentagon official said they're closely monitoring space industry investments and innovations. (9/8)

No 'Magic Number' for Price Per Kilogram to Orbit (Source: Space News)
Launch companies say there's no "magic number" for price per kilogram to orbit needed for their businesses to succeed. Executives pushed back against a report that suggested launch companies need to get prices below $2,000 per kilogram to unlock demand. Those companies say that they can in many cases charge a premium by providing capabilities such as delivery to a specific orbit or quick turnaround between contract signing and launch. (9/8)

Satellite Operators Seeking Acquisitions (Source: Space News)
Satellite operators say they're on the lookout for acquisitions but not expecting a broader industry consolidation. A SpaceX executive said the company acquired Swarm Technologies because of its intellectual property and team, and left the door open for similar deals in the future. OneWeb says it is looking for "capability fillers" such as the purchase earlier this year of a managed satellite communications provider to allow it to serve U.S. government customers. Arabsat is considering acquiring regional satellite operators to expand its footprint. (9/8)

New Less-Costly Starlink Terminals Coming Soon (Source: Space News)
SpaceX is ramping up production of its Starlink user terminals as it rolls out a new, less costly version. SpaceX currently produces 5,000 terminals a week but expects to manufacture "multiples" of that in the next few months. The company is also moving to a new version of the antenna that it says will be about half as expensive for it to produce, but does not expect to pass that savings on to customers in the near term. (9/8)

UN Space Office Seeks Consensus on Space Traffic Management (Source: Space News)
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is poised to assist the international community in tackling the challenges posed by an increasingly diverse set of actors launching and operating spacecraft. “There is a huge need to stabilize global space operations through norm generation and multilateral consensus,” said Simonetta di Pippo, director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affair. “We must future-proof activities now to deliver a safe, secure and sustainable space environment for tomorrow.”

The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) has 95 member states. Another five have submitted applications that are expected to be approved later this year by the UN General Assembly, di Pippo said. Although COPUOS still has a long way to go to bring in all 193 UN member states, it can serve as a forum for discussions of space traffic management. (9/7)

DARPA Awards Lockheed Martin $25 Million Contract Modification for Integration of Blackjack Satellites (Source: Space News)
DARPA increased Lockheed Martin’s contract for satellite integration work for the Blackjack program by $25.3 million, the agency announced Sep. 7. Lockheed Martin is the satellite integrator for Blackjack, a project to demonstrate the capabilities of small satellites in low Earth orbit for military communications, missile warning and navigation. The company had previously received contracts for $13.1 million and $27.3 million. The new modification brings the total value of the contract to $65.8 million. (9/7)

Space Force Awards ManTech $476 Million Contract for Launch Systems Engineering Services (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force’s launch enterprise awarded ManTech a $476 million contract to provide systems engineering and integration services for the next 10 years, the company announced Sep. 7. Based in Herndon, Virginia, ManTech since 2010 has been the incumbent contractor for systems engineering and integration in support of the Space Force’s Space Systems Command launch enterprise which manages the national security space launch program.

Services under this contract include engineering, fleet surveillance and certification of space vehicles at Space Force facilities at Los Angeles Air Force Base and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California; and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Space Systems Command re-competed the contract in 2020. (9/7)

Exotrail to Provide Propulsion for York Cislunar Mission (Source: Space Daily)
York Space Systems plans to rely on Exotrail electric propulsion for a mission to provide Earth-to-moon communications services from cislunar orbit. French startup Exotrail plans to deliver its ExoMG – cluster² thruster to York Space Systems in 2022, under a contract signed in August. York plans to integrate the thruster into its S-class satellite to provide communications for Intuitive Machines’ lander scheduled to travel to the lunar south pole in late 2022. (9/7)

Bradford’s Moves Propulsion Tech Production to Luxembourg (Source: Space Daily)
Bradford Space is updating its Comet electrothermal propulsion technology and transferring production of the small satellite thrusters from the US to Luxembourg. “The Luxembourg ecosystem allows more supportive financing of the venture of improving the technology, transferring the technology and building a facility,” said Bradford Space's managing director. Bradford Space gained the Comet propulsion technology when it acquired Deep Space Industries in 2019. (9/7)

Kleos Secures A$12.6 Million to Grow Constellation (Source: Space Daily)
Kleos Space S.A, a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a- service (DaaS) company, has secured $9.3 million from new and existing institutional and sophisticated investors in Australia and the U.S. via a Placement of approximately 14,823,529 new CHESS Depositary Interests over Kleos ordinary shares. The Placement proceeds will be used to fund the launch of future satellite clusters and to scale Kleos' data-as-a-service offering. (9/7)

Starbridge Raises $12M in Fresh Capital for Application-Focused Space Startups (Source: Space News)
Starbridge Venture Capital is set to announce Sept. 8 that it has closed its second investment fund with $12.1 million in new capital. Michael Mealling, Starbridge’s chief operating officer, said Sept. 7 that the firm is looking to invest in early-stage space sector companies “with some proof of product-market fit.” During a space investment roundtable at the Satellite 2021 conference here, Mealling said Spacebridge looks for startups with compelling applications, “very protectable IP” and “the ability to go into the marketplace and say, ‘no one [else] can do this.’” (9/7)

Space Health Institute Launches the First Commercial Spaceflight Medical Research Program (Source: Space Daily)
The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine has announced the first-of-its-kind research platform to study human health and performance in private spaceflight participants. Working with commercial spaceflight providers and their passengers, TRISH's EXPAND (Enhancing eXploration Platforms and Analog Definition) Program will collect in-flight health data from multiple space flights and house it in a centralized research database.

As a partner to the NASA Human Research Program, the Institute helps solve health and performance challenges for human deep space exploration by finding and funding disruptive, breakthrough research and technologies. The goal is to reduce health risks for astronauts and uncover advances for terrestrial healthcare. (9/8)

Small Launch Vehicles Face Their Biggest Test (Source: Space Review)
In less than a week two startups developing small launch vehicles, Astra and Firefly, suffered launch failures. Jeff Foust reports on the setbacks those companies suffered and what it says about the challenges of creating new rockets. Click here. (9/8)
 
How NASA, the Smithsonian, and the Aerospace Industry Helped Create Star Trek (Source: Space Review)
Fifty-five years ago this week, the first episode of Star Trek aired on NBC. Glen Swanson examines the close ties the show had with both NASA and the Smithsonian while the show was on the air and beyond. Click here. (9/8)
 
Wizards Redux: Revisiting the P-11 Signals Intelligence Satellites (Source: Space Review)
This month marks the 60th anniversary of the formation of the National Reconnaissance Office. Dwayne Day describes how he hopes the anniversary will bring with it the declassification of more documents about a signals intelligence satellite program. Click here. (9/8)
 
The Privatized Frontier: the Ethical Implications and Role of Private companies in Space Exploration (Source: Space Review)
A shift to private spaceflight has worried some, who think companies will be more reckless than government agencies. Maanas Sharma discusses how those risks can be mitigated while taking advantage of the capabilities of the private sector. Click here. (9/8)

Buttes on Mars May Serve as Radiation Shelters (Source: Space Daily)
Mars has a "bad reputation" for its high exposure to radiation and it has neither a magnetic field nor a thick atmosphere to shelter its surface from high energy particles from outer space. A study analyzed the data from the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Curiosity rover, and proposed a possible way to mitigate radiation on Mars. In September, 2016, Curiosity parked close to a butte and detected a reduction in radiation dose, and when Curiosity traversed far from the butte, the dose came back to normal.

The researchers attributed this change in radiation dose to topographical variations. They then plotted the panoramic sky visibility map of RAD for further investigation. They found that about 20% of the sky was blocked when Curiosity rover was near the butte, and the number was less than 10% before getting close to the butte, which suggested that surrounded buttes did shield a portion of radiation. (9/8)

China Develops Prototype Mars Helicopter (Source: Sputnik)
The newly developed and recently unveiled prototype miniature helicopter drone, a possible means to support China's Mars missions, is designed to become a navigator for the Mars rover. It will greatly boost the latter's ability to explore valuable targets on the surface of the Red Planet. Carrying a small-sized multispectral detection and imaging system, the "Mars surface cruise drone system" is capable of forming animage of a large area within a radius of a few hundred meters in a single flight, which enables the rover to rapidly grasp the surrounding terrain for a safer and faster drive via precision guiding. (9/8)

Lack of Critical Technology Restricts India's Anti-Satellite Capabilities (Source: Sputnik)
In 2019, India successfully carried out an anti-satellite (ASAT) test in which a ballistic missile defense interceptor destroyed a state-owned Microsat-R satellite in a flight that lasted just over half a minute. Two years after the government dubbed the ASAT test a success, Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), divulged that the country lacks the indigenous technical capability to observe, track and identify non-allied objects in orbit. He acknowledged that there remains a wide gap in capability development for the nation's military satellite applications.

The vice chief said that space has become a playground for the world's best minds to continue evolving and breaking new ground. He has advised the country's defence research unit and space agency to integrate their existing capabilities into the air surveillance feature. The ISRO will launch five more satellites for the armed forces in the coming months, according to reports. Presently, Indian armed forces are said to have eight dedicated military satellites. (9/8)

An 'Internet Apocalypse' Could Ride to Earth with the Next Solar Storm (Source: Live Science)
The sun is always showering Earth with a mist of magnetized particles known as solar wind. For the most part, our planet's magnetic shield blocks this electric wind from doing any real damage to Earth or its inhabitants, instead sending those particles skittering toward the poles and leaving behind a pleasant aurora in their wake.

But sometimes, every century or so, that wind escalates into a full-blown solar storm — and, as new research presented at the SIGCOMM 2021 data communication conference warns, the results of such extreme space weather could be catastrophic to our modern way of life. In short, a severe solar storm could plunge the world into an "internet apocalypse" that keeps large swaths of society offline for weeks or months at a time, Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, wrote in the new research paper. (9/6)

South Korea to Spend $593 Million on Public-to-Private Transfer of Rocket Technologies (Source: Space News)
Starting next year, South Korea’s government will transfer state-owned space launch vehicle technologies to domestic aerospace companies in a move to help them penetrate an expanding global space launch market. To that end, the government will spend 687 billion won ($593 million) from 2022 through 2027. Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) — a state-run space technology developer that has played a central role in developing the nation’s first domestic space launch vehicle, KSLV-2 — will be responsible for the public-to-private transfer. (9/8)