August 9, 2022

Supply Chain Issues Behind Satellite Launch and Manufacture Delays (Source: Space News)
SES now expects the first three satellites for O3b mPower, its next-generation constellation in medium Earth orbit, will be ready for a SpaceX launch in the fourth quarter of this year instead of the third. EchoStar said it is targeting a SpaceX launch in the first half of 2023 for its giant Jupiter-3 satellite in geostationary orbit rather than in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Telesat said delays in finalizing a manufacturing proposal have held back talks with export credit agencies about funding its proposed network of small satellites in low Earth orbit. While the pandemic has been loosening its grip on the world, these delays paint a picture of a satellite industry still struggling with supply chains spluttering toward recovery. (8/9)

Ticket Sales for NASA's First Artemis Moon Launch Crash Website; Some Still Available (Source: Florida Today)
Thousands hoping to secure tickets to see NASA's Artemis I moon rocket launch briefly crashed the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's website this week, but a quick fix helped sell out of the closest viewing packages in just a few hours. Those looking for an up-close view of the first launch of the 322-foot Space Launch System rocket, slated to fly between Aug. 29 and Sept. 5, overwhelmed the site's capacity when tickets went on sale at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Two-and-a-half hours later, the Visitor Complex said the two most expensive packages – of three total – had sold out. (8/8)

Benchmark Unveils Small Satellite Collision-Avoidance Kit (Source: Space News)
Benchmark Space Systems unveiled a collision-avoidance kit designed to help small satellites dodge debris and steer clear of other spacecraft. Benchmark is taking orders its “Cola Kit,” which the company plans to begin shipping to customers in early 2023. The Cola Kit is the size of a two-unit (2U) cubesat. “If you give me 2U in an ESPA class [satellite], I can give you two to 10 collision-avoidance maneuvers for $100,000 to $150,000,” said Benchmark executive Chris Carella. (8/9)

NASA's Moon-Observing CubeSat Ready for Artemis Launch (Source: NASA)
NASA’s water-scouting CubeSat is now poised to hitch a ride to lunar orbit. Not much bigger than a shoe box, Lunar IceCube’s data will have an outsized impact on lunar science. The satellite is integrated into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ready to journey to the Moon as part of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, launching this year. Orbiting the Moon, Lunar IceCube will use a spectrometer to investigate lunar ice. Earlier missions revealed water ice on the Moon, but Lunar IceCube will further NASA’s knowledge about lunar ice dynamics. (8/8)

Lockheed Martin Doubles Venture Capital Fund To $400M (Source: Space Daily)
Lockheed Martin has doubled its venture capital fund from $200 million to $400 million. Lockheed Martin Ventures will use the increased funds to continue to accelerate future defense innovation through investment in start-up technology companies. "The success of our venture capital investments to-date is a testament to our strategy and allows Lockheed Martin to continue to deliver innovative solutions across all domains," said Jay Malave, CFO, Lockheed Martin. "Doubling our ventures fund will allow us to increase the number of start-up companies we can work with to advance 21st Century Security technologies for the benefit of our customers." (8/4)

China's Galactic Energy Launches Ceres-1 Rocket (Source: Space News)
Chinese commercial launch service provider Galactic Energy successfully launched its third Ceres-1 rocket Tuesday. The four-stage rocket lifted off at 12:11 a.m. Eastern from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and placed three satellites into orbit. The solid-fueled Ceres-1 has reached orbit in all three launches as the company works on a larger liquid-fueled rocket, Pallas-1, slated to debut in 2023. The rocket carried Taijing-1 01 and 02, two remote sensing satellites developed by Minospace, as well as Donghai-1, developed by Shanghai-based ASES Space for testing remote sensing and related technologies. (8/9)

US Should End ISS Collaboration with Russia (Source: Space Daily)
In the same week that Russians circulated a horrific video of a Ukrainian soldier being castrated before his murder by Putin's invading troops, and dozens of Ukrainians POWs were slaughtered while in Russian captivity, the Russian space agency Roscosmos declared that Russia would depart the International Space Station program "after 2024", while the US Congress authorized NASA to extend the program to 2030. All of this highlights how truly appalling it is that NASA and the other ISS partner nations have continued to work with Vladimir Putin's terrorist regime, when we should insist on an accelerated end to working with this pariah nation.

Daily, there are stories being added to those accumulated after months of unprovoked war. Civilians are killed; schools, hospitals and homes are targeted; Ukrainians in occupied territories are taken to "filtration camps" to be Russified or disappeared. These are acts that have led the US Congress to issue a bipartisan call for the State Department to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. No less a figure than Terry Virts, a former astronaut and ISS commander, has called on ending cooperation with Russia.

It should be clear what the favored options for an eventual split will be, how they would be executed, and what the future of Western governmental role in human LEO activity would be. With Russia's stepped up war on Ukraine, and his threats against the West, it's time for the democratic ISS partners to stop working with Vladimir Putin and lending his barbaric regime credibility it does not deserve. It's time to set a near- term deadline for ending Western collaboration with Russia on the ISS. (8/9)

Russia Launches Iranian Imaging Satellite (Source: AP)
Russia launched an imaging satellite for Iran early Tuesday. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:52 a.m. Eastern and placed the Khayyam satellite into orbit. The satellite will provide imagery at a resolution of one meter that the Iranian government claims will be used for domestic civil applications. The rocket also carried 16 Russian cubesats. (8/8)

Iran Ways Will Control Russia-Launched Satellite 'From DayOne' (Source: Space Daily)
Iran said Sunday it will control "from day one" a satellite due to be launched by Russia within days, rejecting reports that it will intially serve Moscow in its war in Ukraine. The Iranian remote sensing satellite, named Khayyam, is due to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Russia's State Space Corporation said earlier this week.

"All orders related to the control and operation of this satellite will be carried out and issued from day one and immediately after launch by Iranian experts based in Iran's... space bases," the Iranian Space Agency said in a statement. They added that the satellite will provide Tehran with "unprecedented capabilities, including near-continuous monitoring of sensitive facilities in Israel" and in the Gulf. (8/7)

Earth is Spinning Too Fast — the Consequences for Timekeeping May be Unprecedented (Source: Inverse)
Our home planet is in a hurry. On June 29, 2022, Earth completed the shortest day since scientists started keeping records in the 1960s, pulling off a full rotation 1.59 milliseconds faster than usual. Terrestrial haste is a trend. In 2020, the planet recorded the 28 shortest days on record, and it kept spinning rapidly into 2021 and 2022. Before scientists could even verify that record-setting day time of June 29, our world almost outdid itself: It blazed through July 26, 2022, 1.50 milliseconds ahead of schedule.

We will likely see more record-short days as Earth continues to accelerate, says Judah Levine at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). That Earth’s days are getting shorter is no cause for alarm, he says, because the actual time difference amounts to fractions of a second over the course of a year. But what is weird is that, while scientists know that changes to the Earth’s inner and outer layers, oceans, tides, and climate can affect how fast it spins, they don’t know what’s driving the current haste.

What’s more, a day lasting exactly 24 hours is merely a standard we’ve come to expect right now. Earth’s rotation is slowing down over the long term thanks to the Moon’s pull on our world. Just a few hundred million years ago, for example, an Earth day was only 22 hours long. In millennia to come, an Earth day will last far longer. We face an unprecedented possibility: adding a “negative leap second.” In other words, Levine says, if the planet continues to spin too fast, then by the end of the decade clockmasters may need to delete a full second. (8/8)

NASA Considers Astra Alternatives for Launching TROPICS Satellites (Source: Space News)
NASA is considering options for launching a set of Earth science cubesats after Astra discontinued the rocket that had been under contract to launch them. The six TROPICS cubesats were to launch on three of Astra's Rocket 3.3 vehicles, but Astra announced last week it canceled the vehicle after the failure of the first of the three launches. NASA officials said Monday they are looking for a ride for the remaining four satellites but didn't give a schedule for launching them. The specific orbits required for TROPICS rule out most rideshare launch opportunities. (8/9)

SpaceLink Working with Army on Satellite Imagery Access (Source: Space News)
SpaceLink signed an agreement with the U.S. Army to study how that company's planned satellites could deliver commercial satellite imagery directly to troops on the ground. Under an agreement announced Monday, SpaceLink will share proprietary information about its system and in exchange will get insights into the Army's concepts of operations and specific needs. SpaceLink is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Electro Optic Systems Holdings, an Australian company developing a four-satellite network in medium Earth orbit to relay data from satellites in low Earth orbit. (8/9)

US Space Force Tests Robot Dogs to Patrol Cape Canaveral (Source: Space.com)
Mankind's new best friend is coming to the U.S. Space Force. The Space Force has conducted a demonstration using dog-like quadruped unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGVs) for security patrols and other repetitive tasks. The demonstration used at least two Vision 60 Q-UGVs, or "robot dogs," built by Ghost Robotics and took place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on July 27 and 28.

According to a statement from the Department of Defense, Space Launch Delta 45 will use the robot dogs for "damage assessments and patrol to save significant man hours." The unit supports all space launch operations from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Click here. (8/8)

Canada's SpaceRyde Expands Advisory Board for Balloon-Assisted Small Launcher Program (Source: Space News)
Canadian launch startup SpaceRyde has added the CEO of Kepler Communications to its advisory board. Mina Mitry will join Jeff Thornburg, a former SpaceX executive, on the board advising the startup. SpaceRyde is developing a small three-stage rocket that would fire its engines after a balloon takes it above most of the Earth's atmosphere. SpaceRyde ultimately plans to develop 20-meter-tall rockets that, after launching a customer payload, would leave its third stage in orbit for future missions. (8/9)

TransAstronautica Partners with Slooh for Astronomy Telescope Access (Source: Space News)
Space logistics startup TransAstronautica announced a partnership with online astronomy platform Slooh to access a network of ground- and space-based telescopes. Under the agreement, TransAstra and Slooh will work together to install TransAstra's Sutter telescopes at Slooh and TransAstra observation sites around the world. In addition to the ground-based observations, TransAstra and Slooh plan to launch a small commercial space telescope within two years. The telescopes are optimized to detect moving objects in space. (8/9)

Cosmonaut Filipchenko Passes Away at 94 (Source: CollectSpace)
Former Soviet cosmonaut Anatoly Filipchenko has died at the age of 94. Filipchenko became a cosmonaut in 1963 and flew as commander of the Soyuz 7 mission in 1969 and again on Soyuz 16 in 1974. Both missions tested docking technology, the first for proposed Soviet lunar landing missions and the second for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. (8/9)

Spaceflight Prepares Propulsive Sherpa OTV to Launch on Upcoming Starlink Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Spaceflight Inc., the leading global launch services provider, has announced it shipped the fully integrated Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) and customer payload to Cape Canaveral to launch aboard an upcoming Starlink mission scheduled for next month. The high-thrust propulsive Sherpa will deploy from SpaceX's Falcon 9 targeting a 310-kilometer circular orbit, before igniting and transporting an undisclosed customer payload, booked through Astro Digital, to a 1,000-kilometer circular orbit. (8/9)

Northrop/Firefly Collaboration Also Targets New MLV Rocket Development (Source: CNBC)
Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace will jointly produce an upgraded version of the Antares rocket, which will be known as the Antares 330. Northrop will provide the A330′s upper stage, avionics, software, and launch site operations. Firefly will supply seven engines and build the A330′s largest structure, the first stage booster. The schedule for a mid-2024 A330 launch still leaves a minimum gap of 12 months between the last 230+ launch and the 330′s debut.

Northrop and Firefly’s partnership also has a longer-term goal of building a new rocket, which the companies for now are calling MLV, or medium launch vehicle. The companies hope to debut the MLV by the end of 2025, tapping a part of the rocket marketplace that Eberly said is underserved. Northrop Grumman had been looking to replace the Antares entirely because the current Russian-dependent configuration prohibited the company from bidding on Pentagon launch contracts, Eberly said. It also wasn’t priced competitively in the commercial market, he said. (8/9)