October 26, 2021

Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Verizon Join Forces on Satellite and Cellular Connectivity (Source: GeekWire)
Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Verizon Communications say they’ll collaborate on connectivity solutions that capitalize on Kuiper’s future broadband satellite constellation as well as Verizon’s terrestrial 4G/LTE and 5G data networks. The Amazon-Verizon partnership will focus on rural communities and other regions that are currently underserved when it comes to broadband data services, the two companies said.

Last year, Amazon received the Federal Communications Commission’s conditional go-ahead to deploy 3,236 satellites that would provide broadband internet access across the globe from low Earth orbit, or LEO. Amazon says it plans to invest more than $10 billion in Project Kuiper — and the company currently has more than 700 employees working on the project. Antennas for the ground terminals are being tested in Redmond and elsewhere, but the satellite design hasn’t yet been unveiled.

So far, nine satellite launches using United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rockets have been reserved, and although Amazon hasn’t yet announced a schedule for satellite deployment or the start of service, at least half of the 3,236 satellites must be in orbit by mid-2026 to satisfy FCC licensing requirements. (10/26)

A World Without Access to Space (Source: Space Daily)
Just over the past 18 months the population of low-orbiting active satellites has grown from 1,918 to several thousand. And, this is only the beginning of population growth, as more than 50,000 new satellites are in production and will be added to near-Earth space over the next few years. So, what's the big deal? There are two problems. First the shear number of satellites to be added to already close orbits creates a nightmare traffic situation. Second, the 60+ years of accumulated junk and debris is filling all of near-Earth space and we cannot not see it, let alone do anything about it.

But, we have simply ignored it. Sometime in the near future, the mass and distribution of junk and active satellites will exceed the capacity of space to safely contain the debris generated by the addition of the 50,000+ new satellites into orbits that are already approaching gridlock. When this limit is reached our ability to travel in space may be greatly diminished.

When will this happen? No one knows the answer, but It could be soon. As more and more satellites are launched, the frequency of collision events will dramatically increase. After that, low-Earth orbits will begin to experience exponential collisions among the many old and new satellite constellations. After that, all space-related services may end. Can remedial action wait until this gridlocking event starts? (10/25)

NASA Awards $15M for Asteroid Hunting Telescopes on Maui (Source: Space Daily)
The University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA) received a $15 million NASA grant to continue its world-leading efforts to discover Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). IfA's Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) atop Haleakala currently finds nearly as many NEOs and PHAs as the rest of the world's observatories combined, and nearly 60% of the largest and most dangerous ones with sizes greater than 140 meters across. (10/26)

L3Harris Awarded $121 Million to Upgrade Space Force Weapons (Source: C4ISRnet)
The U.S. Space Force has awarded L3Harris Technologies $121 million to upgrade 16 secretive weapons that can jam enemy communications. Under the contract, L3Harris will upgrade fielded Block 10.2 Counter Communications Systems, which can “reversibly deny satellite communications, early warning and propaganda,” according to the Oct. 22 announcement. The systems are spread out over Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and classified locations. (10/25)

Japan Launches NavSat on H-2A Rocket (Source: Spaceflight Now)
Japan launched a navigation satellite Monday night. An H-2A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 10:19 p.m. Eastern, deploying the QZS 1R satellite into an inclined geostationary transfer orbit. The spacecraft will replace the existing QZS 1 satellite launched in 2010 that provides augmentation signals to improve the accuracy of GPS services in the Asia Pacific region. (10/26)

SES Satellite to Support Aircraft Connectivity (Source: Space News)
The newest SES communications satellite will support the company's growing aviation connectivity business. The SES-17 satellite launched on an Ariane 5 Saturday night and is on track to enter service at 67.1 degrees west in GEO in mid-2022. SES-17 will be "the anchor for our growth for the next several years," company CEO Steve Collar said before the launch. SES has signed up in-flight connectivity provider Thales InFlyt Experience as anchor customer to serve growing demand for in-flight broadband. (10/26)

Firefly Lunar Lander Design Passes Review (Source: Ars Technica)
Firefly Aerospace's first lunar lander has passed its critical design review. The company said Monday its Blue Ghost lander passed that milestone recently, allowing it to move into full-scale development and assembly. The company is building Blue Ghost for a 2023 mission as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program. The lander will be able to carry 155 kilograms of payload to the lunar surface and will transmit high-definition video. (10/26)

Analytical Space (Now Hedron) Raises $17.8 Million for Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
Space communications company Analytical Space has raised $17.8 million and changed its name. The newly renamed Hedron raised the Series A round from a group of investors led by Fine Structure Venture. Hedron intends to use the funding to roll out the first orbital plane of a constellation of optical and radio-frequency communication satellites to provide data relay services for other spacecraft. (10/26)

Voyager, Nanoracks, Lockheed Martin Team Up to Launch Space Station (Source: Cheddar)
Voyager, Nanoracks, and Lockheed Martin are all teaming up to develop the first-ever free-flying commercial space station with room for a crew of four astronauts. The private companies are joining forces as part of NASA’s greater mission to retire the International Space Station by the year 2030. The low-earth orbit space station will be called "Starlab," and is planned to achieve operational capability by 2027. Lisa Callahan, Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin, and Matthew J. Kuta, President and Chief Operating Officer of Voyager Space, joined Cheddar’s Opening Bell for this video segment. Click here. (10/25)

Steve Wozniak's Stealthy Space Startup Privateer Hires chief Scientific Adviser (Source: Space.com)
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's new space company is really starting to take shape. Hawaii-based Privateer remains in stealth mode a month after Wozniak and co-founder Alex Fielding announced its existence, but we know the company aims to tackle humanity's growing problem with space junk, which threatens to hinder our exploration of the final frontier. And Privateer will focus, at least initially, on improving our knowledge of the teeming orbital population.

"We really got started with the goal of building … the Google Maps of space," Fielding told TechCrunch recently. The company has just hired one of the people who will lead this ambitious effort, tapping aerodynamicist and "space environmentalist" Moriba Jah as its chief scientific adviser. "We are so proud to have a scientist and human of Moriba's caliber joining the Privateer team. His knowledge of this issue is only exceeded by his passion for building solutions to address it," Wozniak said in an emailed statement. (10/25)

Airbus Ventures Invests in Tokyo-Based ispace (Source: Space News)
Airbus Ventures announced an investment Oct. 25 in ispace, the Toyko-based company preparing to send its first lander to the moon next year. Airbus Ventures brought ispace into its portfolio because “it’s an extraordinary team that has positioned the right technologies at the right time,” Lewis Pinault, the Airbus Ventures partner who leads the firm’s investments in Asia, told SpaceNews. “They have every chance of being the first private company on the moon.” (10/25)

DOD Says Lockheed Once Again Largest Contractor In 2020 (Source: Law360)
Lockheed Martin Corp. was the largest recipient of defense contracts in fiscal year 2020, raking in $72.9 billion from the U.S. Department of Defense, the DOD said in a report Friday detailing its annual defense contract and payroll spending. (10/25)

Space Juggling and Dance Could Make Suborbital Flights More Fun (Source: Space.com)
A "space juggler" plans to release a film the week of Nov. 7 about the joys and challenges of doing performance art in zero gravity. Adam Dipert is a nuclear physicist, professional circus performer and dancer who first stumbled upon microgravity movements after helping to purchase a parabolic flight for a friend's 40th birthday. Dipert became fascinated with how the human body moves during such flights, which switch quickly between microgravity, Earth gravity and multiple "Gs" (multiples of Earth gravity) across 15 or 30 parabolas.

His film, "Dreaming of Space Juggling", will be released on the Space Juggler website sometime in early November – watch that site and associated social feeds for the exact date. Dipert also plans a series of educational videos around the week of Nov. 21, focusing on matters such as how a parabolic flight works, and making demonstrations with physical objects. (10/25)

UK Space Startups Reveal Plans for Cleaner Rocket Launches (Source: Space.com)
Rocket launches can inject huge amounts of soot into higher layers of Earth's atmosphere, depending on their fuel, possibly contributing to climate change. A pair of British rocket startups now claim their rocket technology can reduce spaceflight's environmental footprint by switching to renewable fuel.

Both of these startups plan to launch their rockets from different spaceports located in Scottish wilderness, and being green has been part of their pitch from the start. While Edinburgh-based Skyrora plans to fly their rockets using rocket fuel made from non-recyclable plastics. Their counterpart, the Inverness-based Orbex, is betting on biopropane, a natural gas made as a byproduct during biodiesel production. (10/25)

Signs of First Planet Found Outside Our Galaxy (Source: BBC)
Astronomers have found hints of what could be the first planet ever to be discovered outside our galaxy. Nearly 5,000 "exoplanets" - worlds orbiting stars beyond our Sun - have been found so far, but all of these have been located within the Milky Way galaxy. The possible planet signal discovered by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Telescope is in the Messier 51 galaxy. This is located some 28 million light-years away from the Milky Way.

This new result is based on transits, where the passage of a planet in front of a star blocks some of the star's light and yields a characteristic dip in brightness that can be detected by telescopes. This general technique has already been used to find thousands of exoplanets. (10/25)

Russia to Create Krylo-SV Reusable Rocket Prototype by Late 2022 (Source: TASS)
A prototype of a Krylo-SV reusable wing-deployable space rocket will be created by late 2022, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin told a press conference at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress in Dubai on Monday. "This project is called Krylo-SV. We are planning to create this rocket’s prototype at the end of next year," Rogozin said.

As the Roscosmos chief said, the technology used by US-based SpaceX is not suitable for Russia. "Based on ballistic calculations, if we lift off from the Vostochny spaceport [in the Russian Far East], the boundary of the Sea of Okhotsk and our Far Eastern coast in the Khabarovsk Region will be a landing site for rocket stages. This is a completely undeveloped area and a place where we can recover our rocket module seems to be very complex," Rogozin explained. (10/25)