January 12, 2022

L3Harris Reorganization Gives Boost to Company's Space Coast Operations (Source: Florida Today)
A just-implemented corporate reorganization by L3Harris Technologies Inc. will give Brevard County an even-greater presence in the company's overall operations. The Melbourne-based aerospace and defense technology company said it is moving from four to three focused segments — the company's term for its major business units.

Two of the three segments are based at the L3Harris Technology Center in Palm Bay. One is integrated mission systems; the other is space and airborne systems. The third remaining segment — communication systems — is based in Rochester, New York. The segment that was eliminated — aviation system — had been based in Arlington Texas. Its operations now come under the two Palm Bay-based segments as part of the reorganization. (1/10)

Intelsat Orders Two Satellites From Thales Alenia (Source: Space News)
Intelsat has ordered two new GEO satellites from Thales Alenia Space. The Intelsat 41 and Intelsat 44 satellites, scheduled to enter service in 2025, will be based on Thales Alenia Space’s Space Inspire platform. The satellites will provide commercial and government mobility services and cellular backhaul across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Intelsat said Wednesday. The new satellites are part of a post-restructuring growth strategy that could include the operator's own low Earth orbit constellation. Intelsat is expected to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy early this year. (1/12)

Arqit to Lead UK-AU Space Bridge Project (Source: Space Daily)
Arqit Quantum Inc. has contracted with Australia's SmartsatCRC under an agreement between the UK and Australian Governments to deliver the first phase of work to Australia relating to Arqit's Federated Quantum System Project ("FQS"). Arqit's FQS project for allied governments delivers strategic control to that government customer of a private instance of Arqit's end to end QuantumCloud technology stack, which delivers full independence to the customer as well as interoperability with the systems of other allied partners. (1/11)

HawkEye 360 Wins AFRL Contract for Radio Frequency Analytics (Source: Space News)
HawkEye 360 won a $15.5 million contract from the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). Under the contract, the company will provide radio-frequency analytics research and development and help the government test and evaluate its hybrid space intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance architecture. The company operates a constellation of nine satellites to detect, characterize and geolocate radio-frequency signals. Under the new agreement, HawkEye 360 will support AFRL exercises in various ways, including providing personnel to support exercises, collecting data, and offering tools for data ingestion and analytics. (1/12)

Space Force Considers Buying Commercial Weather Satellite Data (Source: C4ISRnet)
The Space Force is considering buying commercial weather data. The service issued a request for information (RFI) this week asking for input on plans to acquire weather data to supplement that from its own satellites, which in some cases are aging. The RFI may be followed by a formal request for proposals late this fiscal year, with acquisition of data to begin by 2025. (1/12)

Calvin Brings Climate Change Focus to NASA Chief Scientist Role (Source: Space News)
Climate change will be the key focus of NASA's new chief scientist. Katherine Calvin, an Earth scientist who worked on climate change models before being named NASA chief scientist this week, said her interest is connecting climate change research with other activities at NASA that could support those efforts. Calvin will also be the senior climate adviser for the agency, a dual role that NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said was intended to elevate that position, created last year. He used a call with reporters Tuesday to emphasize the role NASA plays in climate change research and to advocate for passage of a fiscal year 2022 spending bill that includes a significant increase in NASA Earth science research. (1/12)

NASA EUL Bill Could Carry Voting Rights Reform (Source: Bloomberg)
A NASA bill could be used as a vehicle for voting rights reform. The House is expected to take up as soon as today legislation originally intended to extend NASA's authority for enhanced use leases of agency property with industry. That bill, versions of which have already passed the House and Senate, could also be the way for the Democratic House majority to advance a voting rights bill, since the revised legislation would require only a simply majority for passage in the Senate. (1/12)

NASA's IXPE Satellite Commences Science Operations (Source: NASA)
A NASA X-ray astronomy satellite has started science operations. NASA said Tuesday that the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite had completed commissioning after its launch last month and started science observations by observing a stellar remnant called Cassiopeia A. IXPE is designed to measure the polarization of X-rays to gain new insights on black holes, neutron stars and other X-ray sources. (1/12)

NASA's InSight Mars Lander Enters Safe Mode (Source: NASA)
NASA's InSight Mars lander is in a safe mode because of a dust storm. The solar-powered lander entered safe mode to reduce its power consumption as the dust storm blocked sunlight. The lander is operating on batteries that, while low, are holding steady and should keep the lander alive until the storm passes. NASA hopes the bring the spacecraft out of safe mode next week but said the storm may have deposited another layer of dust on its solar panels, diminishing their output. (1/12)

Virginia a Finalist for Rocket Lab Expansion, Including Neutron Launch and Manufacture (Source: WAVY)
Virginia's governor says the state is a finalist to host a new Rocket Lab factory. Rocket Lab is planning to build a new factory for its Neutron medium-class launch vehicle, with a preference of building the factory near the launch site to ease transportation of the vehicles. Accomack County in Virginia had long been considered a leading contender for the site since it is located near Wallops Flight Facility, a likely site for Neutron launches. The announcement did not disclose what other finalists might be in the running for the factory or when the company will make a final decision. Click here. (1/11) 

Mystery Moon Structure Just a Rock (Source: Space.com)
Sometimes a moon rock is just a moon rock. Images from China's Yutu-2 lunar rover last fall showed an unusual structure in the distance, which some in China dubbed the "mystery hut" because it looked like a house or a building. Recent images taken by the rover closer to the object showed it was nothing more than a small rock sitting on the rim of a crater. (1/12)

Mangata Networks Announces Funding for Satellite Edge Computing Network (Source: Space Daily)
Mangata Networks has closed a $33 million Series A round led by US-based venture capital firm Playground Global to continue its mission to transform the way the world interacts with information. This closing manifests the truly global nature of the organization with other major investors including Temasek which is headquartered in Singapore, ktsat from South Korea, Scottish Enterprise in the UK, Promus Ventures from its Orbital Ventures Fund, and MetaVC Partners, also in the US.

Mangata represents a tremendous leap forward in telecommunications by innovating game-changing architecture, using HEO (highly elliptical orbit) and MEO (medium earth orbit) satellite constellations, combined with the power of a terrestrial system of MangataEdge micro data centers, extending the cloud to the edge of the network close to users. This single core network will provide scalable B2G and B2B connectivity, that is both affordable and accessible to anyone, anywhere on the planet. (1/12)

NASA's Newest Astronaut Class Begins Training in Houston (Source: Space Daily)
NASA swore in 10 new astronaut candidates Monday at Johnson Space Center in Houston -- six men and four women -- who someday may walk on the moon or Mars. The candidates were "sworn in this morning, kicking off their two-year training," NASA said on Twitter, noting it was the 23rd astronaut candidate class since 1959. The 10 candidates will now learn engineering systems of spacecraft such as SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule or the lunar Orion capsule, along with training in orbital mechanics, scientific experimentation and astronomy. They will also train in NASA's neutral buoyancy pool at Johnson, where they will wear spacesuits in a simulated zero-gravity environment. (1/11)

Local Aerospace Projects Generate Space Coast Economic Development (Source: Florida Today)
Morgan Stanley’s Space Team projects the flourishing $350 billion global space industry could triple by 2040, topping the $1 trillion plateau. And Brevard County's expanding space and aerospace sectors may just be warming up their engines, said Brian Baluta, vice president of communications and partner relations for the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast. "What we have happening now will be the envy of any community. But it's to say that we're on the cusp of a whole lot more," he said.

Tuesday morning, Baluta delivered a speech touting Space Coast economic growth to the Melbourne Regional Chamber's Small Business Council. He asked attendees to “think about how our community is positioned to capture a piece of this trillion-dollar pie." Click here. (1/11)

Gilmour Space Fires Up for 2022 with Australia's Largest Rocket Engine Test (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket engineers at Gilmour Space Technologies have greeted the new year with a successful 110-kilonewton test fire of the most powerful rocket engine ever developed in Australia. The 75-second test was a major milestone for Gilmour Space, which is developing Australian Made rockets that will, over the next five years, be capable of launching 300- to 4,000-kilogram satellites and payloads into low earth and other orbits. The engine will power the first and second stages of Gilmour's three-stage Eris rocket. (1/11)

Russian Company Develops Method for Effective Transfer of Solar Energy to Earth (Source: Space Daily)
Despite being one of the easiest and most accessible methods of gathering renewable energy, solar panels are unable to perform well in many spots of the world and in non-ideal weather conditions. In space, however, the effectiveness of solar panels increases significantly, prompting their wide use to power satellites and other spacecraft.

Russian Space Systems, a subsidiary of the Russian state company Roscosmos, has developed a project of an advanced space power plant capable of gathering solar energy and transmitting it to Earth. "The new device can ensure the regular supply of green energy to hard-to-reach areas of the Earth, such as islands, mountains and territories in the north, regardless of weather conditions and time of day. It can also allow transferring energy to other spacecraft - for 'scheduled recharging' and in case of emergency", Russian Space Systems said in a statement. (1/6)

Arianespace Touts Strong 2021 Performance (Source: Space Daily)
Arianespace confirmed its strong performance in 2021, with 15 successful launches - five more than in 2020 - and 305 satellites sent into orbit using its three launchers, Ariane, Soyuz and Vega, from three different launch bases. The company posted revenues exceeding 1.25 billion euros, an increase of 30% over 2020. It has a backlog of 36 launches, with 22 more satellites added in 2021.

Arianespace launched the James Webb Space Telescope on December 25 from the Guiana Space Center, sending into orbit the most ambitious space telescope ever built. Ariane 5 surpassed its expected performance by optimizing the spacecraft's injection, which will increase its original design life. (1/10)

China Says its Lunar Rover Has Found proof of Water on the Moon (Source: Metro)
The presence of water on the moon may have finally been confirmed by Chinese scientists. The country’s rover, the Chang’e-5, first landed on the moon at the end of 2020 and set about studying the lunar soil. It sent back data which, following analysis, appear to show signs of water inside the moon rock. Originally it was thought the moon’s surface was completely dry but in recent decades scientists have found more and more evidence of the presence of H20.

The Chang’e-5 used on-board instruments to fire light at the rocks and measure what’s called the spectral reflectance. The reflected light indicated the presence of molecules of oxygen and hydrogen. It could also detect signs of the chemical hydroxyl. While water is made up of two hydrogen atoms for every oxygen atom, hydroxyl only has one hydrogen atom. (1/11)

Astroscale U.S. and Orbit Fab Sign First On-Orbit Satellite Fuel Sale Agreement (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Orbit Fab, the "Gas Stations in Space" refueling service provider, and Astroscale announced a commercial agreement to refuel Astroscale’s Life Extension In-Orbit (LEXI) Servicer in geostationary orbit; LEXI is the first satellite designed to be refueled. Under the terms of this initial agreement, Orbit Fab’s GEO fuel shuttle will resupply Astroscale’s fleet of LEXI Servicers with up to 1,000 kilograms of Xenon propellant. With this purchase, Astroscale has greatly expanded LEXI’s scope and flexibility to perform on-orbit servicing missions — a benefit for every customer. (1/11)

AAC Clyde Space Wins 4.5 MSEK Follow-on Order For In-orbit Production Spacecraft (Source: Parabolic Arc)
AAC Clyde Space has received a 441,000 euro order from UK-based Space Forge to provide space products for a demonstration spacecraft designed to leverage the space environment for production and experiments, capable of performing multiple trips to space. The order follows an order in December 2020 to contribute to the design of a satellite platform for the same purpose. The reusable spacecraft is intended to deorbit in a controlled maneuver to deliver its products and results back to Earth after six months in-orbit. (1/11)

Undersea Cable Connecting Norway With Arctic Satellite Station Has Been Mysteriously Severed (Source: Daily Mail)
An undersea fiberoptic cable located between mainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean has been put out of action in a still-mysterious incident. The outage on the subsea communications cable — the furthest north of its kind anywhere in the world — follows an incident last year in which different cables linking an undersea surveillance network off the Norwegian coast were severed, a story that we covered in detail at the time.

The latest disruption involves one of two fiberoptic cables that enable communications between the Norwegian mainland and Norwegian-administered Svalbard that lies between the mainland and the North Pole. The outage occurred on the morning of January 7. The extent of the damage is not clear from the official press release from Space Norway, the country's space agency, which maintains the cables primarily in support of the Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat), but it is significant enough that it is expected to require the services of an ocean-going cable-laying vessel.

Being located between mainland Norway and the North Pole means that SvalSat is in much demand with operators of polar-orbiting satellites, being one of only two ground stations from which data can be downloaded from these types of satellites on each of the Earth’s rotations. Space Norway, which operates the undersea cables, confirms that the second is still functioning normally, but the loss of the first means there is now no redundancy available until repairs can be made. (1/10)

Saturn’s Small Moon Mimas May Be Hiding an Impossible Ocean (Source: New Scientist)
Saturn’s moon Mimas may have an unexpected ocean. This small satellite doesn’t look like any of the other ocean worlds that we have seen before, but measurements from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft hinted that it might have water underneath its icy surface, and calculations of its internal heat have now confirmed that this is possible. Unlike most of the other moons that planetary scientists believe to carry oceans, Mimas shows no fracturing or evidence of melting on its surface. (1/11)

Who Gets to Use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope? Astronomers Work to Fight Bias (Source: NPR)
The scientists who eventually get to peer out at the universe with NASA's powerful new James Webb Space Telescope will be the lucky ones whose research proposals made it through a highly competitive selection process. But those that didn't make the cut this time can at least know that they got a fair shot, thanks to lessons learned from another famous NASA observatory. Webb's selection process was carefully designed to reduce the effect of unconscious biases or prejudices by forcing decision-makers to focus on the scientific merit of a proposal rather than who submitted it.

"They assess every one of those proposals. They read them. They don't know who wrote them," explains Heidi Hammel, an interdisciplinary scientist with the James Webb Space Telescope. "These proposals are evaluated in a dual-anonymous way, so that all you can see is the science." This is a recent innovation in doling out observing time on space telescopes. And it's a change that came about only after years of hard work done by astronomers who were concerned that not everyone who wanted to use the Hubble Space Telescope was getting equal consideration.

One of their first clues came when Iain Neill Reid went looking for signs of any possible gender bias in the acceptance rate for Hubble proposals. He's the associate director of science at the Space Telescope Science Institute, the science operations center for both Hubble and now Webb. His results, published in 2014, were startling. Proposals that were led by women had a lower acceptance rate than proposals led by men. This discrepancy remained constant for more than a dozen years, the entire period of time he analyzed. "I was surprised at how consistent it was," says Reid. "There was a systematic effect." (1/11)

SaxaVord Spaceport In Shetland Should Finally Take Off This Year (Source: Orbital Today)
Since 2016, many of the Scottish space companies, including the Shetland Spaceport, have already increased their number of employees by over 65%. By 2030, the newly formed Scottish Space sector is planning to create around 20,000 jobs and secure £4 billion from the world’s entire space market. Aside from hosting Europe’s largest space launch facility, people at the SaxaVord Spaceport also have the intention to lower emissions and support the use of satellites so that environmental monitoring is possible.

This would be an environmental strategy that has not been seen in the world so far. For now, Scotland is one of this planet’s best locations for small satellite manufacturing. However, the companies building satellites in Scotland still need to ship their products to India, Kazakhstan, or the US for launch. Launching from the SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland will make things cheaper and, thus, simpler. It will mean that Scottish corporations and the Shetland Spaceport will have more space to not only construct, but also to launch and even maneuver. (1/7)

Unfinished 2021 Budget Work Will Drag DoD into February (Source: Air Force Times)
February will be a critical month not only for next year’s defense spending plans, but also for the current fiscal year budget as well. Typically, White House officials roll out their budget plans for the next fiscal year in mid-February, giving Congress the bulk of the year to debate funding levels and policy priorities.

But this year, the start of the work on the fiscal 2023 budget is likely to be overshadowed by the still incomplete fiscal 2022 budget. Even though the new fiscal year began Oct. 1, lawmakers still have failed to finalize a full-year spending plan, and likely won’t do so until mid-February, when a temporary budget extension runs out. (1/9)