May 7, 2022

Telesat to Order 100 Fewer Satellites for LEO Constellation (Source: Space News)
Increasing costs and delays have forced Telesat to downsize plans for 298 low Earth orbit satellites by a third to keep within its $5 billion budget. The Canadian satellite operator plans to order just 188 satellites plus 10 in-orbit spares from Thales Alenia Space, Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said during the company’s May 6 earnings call.

That is still enough for the Telesat Lightspeed network to provide “something like 10 terabits of capacity” globally, according to Goldberg, which is more capacity than all current satellites in geostationary orbit combined. Telesat had previously planned to provide 15 terabits of capacity with 298 operational LEO satellites for the government and enterprise markets it aims to serve. (5/6)

Another Report Warns of China's Pace in Space (Source: Space News)
A report warns the United States is at risk of being outpaced by China in space capabilities, in part due to the slow adoption of commercial innovations such as small satellites. The report by the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, released Thursday, said the national security space community had yet to reap the benefits of the revolution in smallsats, and that others, like China, are embracing commercial innovation faster than the United States. Among the recommendations in the report is that the Defense Department should use commercial systems, including proliferated satellite architectures and responsive space launch capabilities, and buy data from allied and commercial providers. (5/6)

Russia Studies New Space Station (Source: TASS)
Energia has signed a contract with Roscosmos to perform a study of a proposed Russian space station. The $41 million contract covers work on the conceptual design of a space station, including the best orbit for it and how it might incorporate modules from the Russian segment of the ISS. The contract runs through March 2024. (5/6)

Stennis Modifying Flame Deflector at Rocket Engine Test Stand (Source: NASA)
Workers at Stennis Space Center are engaged in a maintenance project to protect the flame deflector on the Fred Haise Test Stand, where RS-25 engines for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are tested. During testing on the stand, an RS-25 engine’s combustion chamber reaches 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Its exhaust plume hits the test stand’s J-shaped flame deflector at temperatures around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

A key part of the work is drilling a new, highly specialized hole pattern to improve water cooling and protect the infrastructure. The hole pattern will be uniquely tailored for the RS-25 testing program. In addition to the spray pattern effort, weld crews also are completing work on the flame deflector manifold structure. Testing RS-25 engines for SLS use has presented a new set of challenges. The engines sit at a lower point in the test stand (closer to the flame deflector) and operate at higher power levels than engines from some previous test programs. (5/6)

Virgin Galactic Pushes Back Commercial Suborbital Flights to 2023 (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic is again postponing the start of commercial service of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane from late 2022 to early 2023, blaming the latest delay on supply chain and labor issues. Virgin Galactic said it expected to start commercial flights of its VSS Unity spaceplane in the first quarter of 2023 after completing upgrades of the vehicle and VMS Eve, its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. The company had previously scheduled those flights to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022, a schedule it affirmed in February with the release of its 2021 financial results.

“Our projections on hiring and our forecast of certain long-lead material deliveries suggests we may need additional schedule contingency,” he said. “For this reason, we are shifting the expected commencement of commercial service from Q4 of ’22 to Q1 of ’23.” Asked later about specific supply chain issues, Colglazier mentioned availability of “high-performance metallics” used on the vehicles, which primarily are made of carbon composites. “It’s metallics where we’re really seeing delivery times that are quite extended,” he said, such an aluminum alloy that once had a lead time of a “couple, three weeks” now far longer. (5/6)