March 21, 2022

E-Space to Launch Demonstration Satellites in Q2 with Rocket Lab (Source: Parabolic Arc)
E-Space today announced it will launch its first demonstration satellites in the second quarter of 2022 to validate the systems and technology for its sustainable satellite system. The announcement marks an unprecedented timeline for taking a new space innovation from idea to reality as E-Space moves to swiftly build the most sustainable, secure and cost-effective satellite network in history. Three demonstration satellites, designed and built in-house by E-Space, will launch aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula. (3/21)

Telesat Considers Shrinking Constellation (Source: Space News)
Telesat is considering reducing the size of its Lightspeed LEO constellation because of rising costs. Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said in an earnings call Friday that the company needed to either raise more money or else "descope the constellation" to keep it within its $5 billion budget. He said supply chain problems and inflation were driving up the system's cost and delaying its completion by a year to 2026. Goldberg said Lightspeed could reach global coverage with just 188 of the envisioned 298 satellites. (3/21)

US Warns Satellite Operators to Beef Up Security After Russian Hackers Attack Viasat (Source: Space News)
The U.S. government is warning satellite operators to put their guard up in the wake of a cyberattack that disrupted services by Viasat's KA-SAT. An advisory last Thursday by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommended satellite operators "significantly lower their threshold for reporting and sharing indications of malicious cyber activity." The advisory came after a cyberattack last month, linked to Russian hackers, disabled modems of customers of KA-SAT in Europe. (3/21)

ESA Pessimistic About Recovery of Sentinel-1B Radar Satellite (Source: Space News)
ESA officials said the situation with the malfunctioning Sentinel-1B radar imaging satellite "doesn't look very good." The SAR satellite has been out of service for nearly three months because of a problem with the power system for its radar imaging payload. At a briefing last week, ESA officials said they would keep working for at least a few more weeks to recover the spacecraft, but they sounded pessimistic it could be returned to service. ESA is looking to move up the launch of a replacement, Sentinel-1C, but that could be hampered by the reshuffling of other payloads caused by the end of Soyuz launches from French Guiana. (3/21)

OneWeb Reaches Launch Deal with SpaceX (Source: Space News)
OneWeb said March 21 that it reached a deal with SpaceX that will allow OneWeb to resume launching its LEO broadband constellation this year. “The first launch with SpaceX is anticipated in 2022 and will add to OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation that currently stands at 428 satellites, or 66 percent of the fleet,” OneWeb said. OneWeb entered 2022 expecting to reach global coverage by August. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put the kibosh on the six Soyuz launches the London-based LEO broadband constellation operator was counting on to complete its 648-satellite constellation this year. (3/21)

Congress Worries Tesla's China Links Could Affect SpaceX (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Some in Congress are worried about how Tesla's business in China could affect SpaceX. Tesla does extensive business in China, and a Chinese company, Tencent, once bought a 5% stake in the automaker. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, says he's seeking briefings with government officials about whether there are any "financial entanglements with China" that could affect SpaceX, including giving China access to SpaceX technologies. Past efforts at legislation that would restrict the ability of NASA to do business with companies with Chinese ties have failed. (3/21)

China's Space Station to Support Large-Scale Scientific Research (Source: Space Daily)
China plans to conduct a number of frontier scientific experiments on its Tiangong space station, with the two laboratory modules, Wentian and Mengtian, scheduled to be launched this year, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The experiments include raising fish, growing vegetables, setting up the most precise clocks in space, developing new materials, studying physical laws and exploring how humans can survive in space for long periods.

The scientific experiment facilities to be installed in the two lab modules are currently under development and will be launched into orbit on schedule to support large-scale and multidisciplinary scientific research, said the CSU. The scientific work will make use of experiment racks that can hold a variety of technical hardware and materials, allowing astronauts to upgrade and replace the facilities over time. Testing work has begun on the experiment racks that are already installed in the Tianhe core module, which was launched last year, and these will be used for container-free material science and high microgravity experiments.

Additional experiment racks will be included in the two lab modules, which will support a large number of research projects in fields such as space life, fluids, space materials, fundamental physics and combustion, together with the extravehicular experiment platform, Zhang said. More than 10 life-science experiments on plants, animals and microbial cells will be carried out in the Wentian lab module, including a small closed ecosystem composed of small fish, microorganisms and algae, according to Zhang. Scientists are also planning to establish the world's first space-based cold atomic clock system in the Mengtian lab module, consisting of a hydrogen clock, a rubidium clock and an optical clock. (3/19)

SES Agrees with Verizon for Earlier C-Band Access (Source: SES)
SES announced Monday an agreement with Verizon to speed up access to C-band spectrum. SES said it would provide Verizon access to spectrum in the band of 3,700-3,800 megahertz earlier than the schedule laid out in the FCC spectrum clearing agreement. Verizon will pay SES up to $170 million for the earlier access to the spectrum for terrestrial 5G services, while SES will incur $20 million in additional costs to clear the spectrum. (3/21)

Scientists Want More GEDI Time on ISS (Source: The Guardian)
Earth scientists are asking NASA to keep an instrument operating on the ISS longer than planned. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) is currently slated to be removed from the station next year to free up space for another payload. Scientists say GEDI, which has been on the station since late 2018, has provided invaluable information about how much carbon trees store. An extension would allow scientists to calibrate the results with other satellites to be launched later this decade. (3/21)

GDIT Nabs Contract Worth Up To $4.5B to Advance Geospatial Intelligence Capabilities (Source: Breaking Defense)
General Dynamics Information Technology has been awarded a contract worth up to $4.5 billion by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for delivery of hybrid cloud services and advanced geospatial intelligence capabilities. Under the User Facing and Data Center Services indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, GDIT “will provide hybrid cloud services, including commercial clouds and data center, and innovative IT design, engineering, implementation and operations and sustainment to NGA and its mission partners,” according to GDIT. (3/18)

International Talks on Space Norms to Continue But U.S. Will Not Engage Directly with Russia (Source: Space News)
International talks aimed at preventing an arms race in space are expected to continue this year, a senior U.S. State Department official said. However, bilateral US-Russia space talks that had begun before the invasion of Ukraine are off the table for now. Eric Desautels, acting deputy assistant secretary of state, said an “open ended working group” established by the UN General Assembly in December to address space security issues will hold its first session May 9-13 in Switzerland. The goal is to make “recommendations on possible norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviors relating to threats by states to space systems.” (3/17)

Orlando Exec Books Spot on Startup’s Upcoming Space Balloon Flights (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Growing up in Central Florida, Aly Benitez always was enthralled with space exploration. She went to space camp as a kid, but never realized her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. However, Benitez will get to peer down at Earth like an astronaut anyway. The Orlando-based vice president at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in February announced via LinkedIn that she booked a seat on a future luxury space balloon flight offered by Cape Canaveral-based Space Perspective Inc.

Benitez will be one of Space Perspective’s earliest passengers, taking a six-hour balloon trip to the edge of space sometime after the company’s first flight in fourth-quarter 2024. Space Perspective offers trips in a balloon capsule that holds up to eight passengers 20 miles above Earth’s surface, providing 360-degree views of the planet. The slow nature of the trip is what Benitez is most excited about. Benitez learned about Space Perspective, founded in 2019, through Jim Thomas, a partner at Orlando-based private equity firm Kirenaga Partners. Kirenaga is an investor in Space Perspective.

Other companies such as Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, and Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson, offer non-astronauts seats on commercial space flights. However, those seats have been sold or auctioned for prices ranging from $450,000-$28 million. Space Perspective’s lower price tag, which the company says starts at $125,000 per seat, was also attractive, Benitez said. “I’ve been following private spaceflight for a while, but I never thought it would happen.” (3/15)