October 12, 2022

NASA Confirms DART Mission Impact Changed Asteroid’s Motion in Space (Source: NASA)
Analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) investigation team shows the spacecraft's kinetic impact with its target asteroid, Dimorphos, successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit. This marks humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.

Prior to DART’s impact, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its larger parent asteroid, Didymos. Since DART’s intentional collision with Dimorphos on Sept. 26, astronomers have been using telescopes on Earth to measure how much that time has changed. Now, the investigation team has confirmed the spacecraft’s impact altered Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes, shortening the 11 hour and 55-minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes. This measurement has a margin of uncertainty of approximately plus or minus 2 minutes.

Before its encounter, NASA had defined a minimum successful orbit period change of Dimorphos as change of 73 seconds or more. This early data show DART surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times.  (10/11)

Japan's Epsilon Rocket Fails After Second Stage Anomaly (Source: Kyodo)
A Japanese Epsilon small launch vehicle failed to reach orbit during a launch Tuesday night. The rocket lifted off on schedule at 8:50 p.m. Eastern from the Uchinoura Space Center carrying the RAISE-3 technology demonstration smallsat and several secondary payloads. However, the rocket appeared to malfunction after the second stage of the rocket shut down, and the Japanese space agency JAXA later said it sent a command to destroy the rocket. The cause of the failure was not immediately disclosed. The failure was the first for the Epsilon rocket in six launches dating back to 2013. (10/12)

Inmarsat Wins $980 Million Contract for Navy Broadband Satellite Services (Source: Space News)
Inmarsat won a 10-year contract worth $980 million to provide broadband satellite and terrestrial communications services to the U.S. Navy. The contract, announced Tuesday, is the second iteration of the U.S. Navy Commercial Broadband Satellite Program Satellite Services Contract. Inmarsat won the first such contract in 2015 but protested the draft solicitation for the second last year when the Defense Information Systems Agency inadvertently released Inmarsat pricing information. This contract follows another 10-year deal worth $578 million won by Inmarsat Government in August to provide communications services for the U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command. (10/12)

Yahsat Investing in eSAT Global for Direct-to-Cell Comm (Source: Space News)
Yahsat is investing in eSAT Global, a company developing direct-to-cell communications technologies. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, includes a long-term commercial agreement for Thuraya, Yahsat's L-band mobile satellite services business, to use eSAT's technology to connect directly to phones and low-power internet of things (IoT) devices. eSAT was founded in 2017 to create communications modules enabling tracking, monitoring, and other low-cost IoT devices to connect directly to GEO satellites where terrestrial networks are unavailable. The deal is the latest in a series of announcements about direct-to-cell satellite communications as several companies, ranging from startups to SpaceX and Iridium, develop systems to allow unmodified cell phones to communicate directly with satellites. (10/12)

NASA Contracts with KSAT and SpaceLink for Space Comm Services (Source: Space News)
NASA awarded contracts to two companies for studies on space communications services. NASA awarded KSAT a $162,000 contract and SpaceLink a $190,000 contract to conduct studies related to direct-to-Earth and lunar space-relay communications. The studies are part of NASA's efforts to work with commercial firms to demonstrate their ability to fulfill NASA communications requirements. The studies will include examining how to integrate optical communications systems into NASA's Near Space Network. (10/12)

Astronauts to Splash Down Off Florida Coast Thursday (Source: NASA)
Four astronauts are preparing to return from the International Space Station. NASA said late Tuesday it's planning for the Crew-4 astronauts to leave the station on their Crew Dragon spacecraft at 7:05 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, setting up for a splashdown off the Florida coast at 5:41 p.m. Eastern Thursday. That schedule is dependent on the weather as NASA watches a cold front passing over Florida. The four Crew-4 NASA and ESA astronauts have been on the station since late April. (10/12)

ExoTrail to Demonstrate Orbital Transfer Vehicle for France (Source: Space News)
ExoTrail won a contract from the French government to demonstrate an orbital transfer vehicle. The startup said Tuesday it won a contract worth several million euros to demonstrate that its spacevan orbital transfer vehicle can change a satellite's altitude. That will be followed by an in-orbit delivery, moving a microsatellite from the point where a launch vehicle drops it off to its final orbital destination. Funding for the effort stems from the France 2030 investment plan unveiled in 2021 that included 1 billion euros for emerging French space companies. (10/12)

Solestial Raises $10 Million for Space Solar Panels (Source: Space News)
A startup developing low-cost solar panels for space applications raised $10 million. Airbus Ventures led the funding round for Solestial, with several other investors participating. Solestial intends to offer solar panels that are much less expensive than current panels and can be mass-produced. The company has yet to fly any of its panels but has delivered three sets of panels to unnamed customers. The funding round will support the testing of the panels and preparations to move into full-scale production. (10/12)

Maxar Contracts with Astra for More Electric Satellite Thrusters (Source: Astra)
Astra announced a contract to provide electric thrusters for Maxar satellites. Astra said Tuesday it would provide its Astra Spacecraft Engine thrusters to Maxar for use on that company's proliferated LEO spacecraft. The companies did not disclose how many thrusters are included in the contract or the overall value. Astra, which acquired the thruster technology last year when it purchased Apollo Fusion, is increasingly relying on revenue from sales of thrusters as it shifts from the Rocket 3.3 vehicle to the larger Rocket 4 under development. (10/12)

SpaceX Dragon Trunk Fragments Fell on Australia (Source: ABC.aus)
The Australian government is collecting debris from a SpaceX Dragon reentry for return to the U.S. The Australian Space Agency is securing four large fragments of the trunk of a Dragon spacecraft that landed in New South Wales in July. At least some of the debris will be returned to the United States for investigation, in compliance with international treaty obligations, but it's possible some of the debris may be kept in Australia and displayed in a museum. Some said the Australian government moved too slowly to collect the debris. (10/12)

Sidus Space Awarded Contract to Deploy Edge Computing Technology for Exo-Space (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space signed a Satellite Deployment contract with Exo-Space for integration and launch of its artificial intelligence software technology on Earth Observation satellites. Sidus Space will integrate Exo-Space’s payload into its hybrid 3D printed satellite, LizzieSat , with expected deployment in 2023. (10/12)

Eutelsat Strategy Update on the Proposed Combination with OneWeb (Source: Eutelsat)
Both Eutelsat and OneWeb are convinced that the time is right to take their partnership to the next level via the proposed combination, which will: a) accelerate the commercialisation of OneWeb’s fleet as it enters the final stages of its global deployment; b) jointly address customer needs, initially through bundled services for some customers, from day one, while working together on the optimal combined solutions to address and expand future use-cases; c) capture opex savings upstream and maximise operating efficiencies at an early stage, and; d) maximise capex savings through the early, joint design of OneWeb Gen 2 as part of a combined GEO/LEO infrastructure, delivering significant savings compared to any potential LEO new entrant. (10/11)

Rocket Lab Creates Women's Scholarship to Boost Diversity and Inclusion in STEM (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab has established a new $10,000 scholarship to support women and gender minorities to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The Rocket Lab Women’s Scholarship is open to all students who identify as female or non-binary who will be pursuing a tertiary qualification in STEM subject areas relevant to aerospace. The Rocket Lab Women’s Scholarship offers one candidate $10,000 across up to four years of study. (10/11)

SpaceX Fully Stacks Starship Rocket for the First Time in Six Months (Source: Teslarati)
For the first time in more than six months, SpaceX has stacked both stages of its next-generation Starship rocket, creating the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever fully assembled. SpaceX has conducted three other ‘full-stack’ Starship demonstrations: once in August 2021 and again in February and March 2022. But earlier this year, SpaceX decided to give up on the Starship upper stage and Super Heavy booster prototypes that had supported all three of those prior tests and, at one point, been considered a candidate for the rocket’s first orbital launch attempt. (10/11)

The Past, Present, and Future of Space Tourism (Source: AFAR)
When Austrian journalist Gerhard Pistor requested to book a trip to the moon in 1964, his travel agency forwarded his query to Pan American World Airways—Pan Am. The now-defunct airline accepted the reservation and noted that the first flights to the moon would take off in the year 2000. So began a years-long space-tourism marketing stunt in which some 93,000 people joined Pan Am’s First Moon Flights Club, a waiting list for the first civilian trips to the moon. Click here. (10/11)

Colorado Startup Wins $13.3 Million US Contract for Satellite Refueling (Source: Bloomberg)
Orbit Fab Inc., a Denver-area startup backed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, won a $13.3 million government contract to provide fuel for US Space Force satellites — another step toward what the company hopes will become a network of gas stations in outer space.

The four-year contract calls for Orbit Fab to deliver hydrazine, the most common satellite propellant, to a Space Force satellite in 2025, the company said Tuesday. A typical satellite uses 10 kilograms of hydrazine per year to stay in a geosynchronous orbit but requires more of the fuel to move in space. The ability to refuel will allow military satellites to maneuver around the growing field of debris in orbit. (10/11)

These Sci-Fi Visions for Interstellar Travel Just Might Work (Source: WIRED)
If you have a light enough sail, you can get a really big acceleration. If you get well inside the orbit of Mercury and you have a sail that only weighs 1 or 2 grams per square meter—which is about 20 times better than we can do today—and you have a sail that’s like a square kilometer, if you add a laser to boost it, you can get enough thrust to go out of the solar system at a significant fraction of the speed of light, like 10 percent. It’s unbelievable. That’s where you can get a trip that will get you to Alpha Centauri in hundreds of years, as opposed to thousands or tens of thousands with chemical rockets. Click here. (10/11)

Space Companies Face Difficult Investment Environment (Source: Space News)
In its latest quarterly report in July, Space Capital warned that the “macro environment” of higher interest rates and potential recession were having an impact on space investment. The number of deals and overall investment in the industry dropped by more than a third over the previous quarter, according to its assessment. “While we believe the macro environment will continue to cause headwinds for some space companies, we do not believe that the space economy is at existential risk,” the report noted. However, “we expect the macro environment will disproportionately affect funding for capital-intensive Launch and Emerging Industries companies for the foreseeable future (1-3 years).” (10/11)

Trailer Lands for 'Good Night Oppy,' Amblin, Amazon Mars Rover Film (Source: CollectSpace)
Your opportunity has arrived to take a first look at a new film about a groundbreaking journey on Mars. Amblin Entertainment and Amazon Studios have debuted the trailer for "Good Night Oppy," director Ryan White's upcoming documentary about Opportunity, a six-wheeled NASA rover that was built to survive three months on the Red Planet but exceeded all expectations by its longevity. Narrated by Angela Bassett, the feature-length film opens in select theaters Nov. 4 and streams on Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 23. Click here. (10/11)

Space Force Telescope Will Hunt Foreign Spacecraft, Asteroids and Comets Too (Source: Space.com)
A relocated military telescope is ready to scan the skies. The U.S. Space Force says its Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is operational in Australia, providing a new perspective on the sky to look for foreign spacecraft, space debris and astronomical objects of interest. The telescope — which saw first light in 2011 and underwent years of testing — is now ready for work in the southern hemisphere, where it will join the global Space Surveillance Network for the United States and its allies, Space Force officials said. (10/11)

UCF Football Releases Special Uniforms for Annual Space Game (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
For the sixth year in a row, UCF is honoring the university’s ties to NASA’s space program with space-themed uniforms. The Knights, who unofficially go by the “Citronauts” for their annual space game, will wear special jerseys that feature “SpaceU” across the chest with Canaveral blue numbers presented in a unique font. UCF’s newest helmet, which takes on the color anodized black, is the darkest shade of black ever worn in program history, according to the school. This year’s patch on the jerseys features a large telescope pointing toward deep space. (10/11)

ULA Prepares First Vulcan Rocket for Shipment to Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: ULA)
The first Vulcan launch vehicle is nearing completion in ULA’s factory in Decatur, Alabama and is awaiting installation of its BE-4 engines. We expect to ship the completed vehicle to the launch site in November. Once at the Cape, Vulcan will undergo a final series of tests to verify it readiness for flight consisting of multiple tanking tests and a wet dress rehearsal, culminating in flight readiness firing in December, which will be the final step prior to launch. Following the successful final testing, Astrobotic and the other payloads will be installed on the launch vehicle. (10/12)

Orbital Assembly and Dream Big World Announce First Retail Experience on the Pioneer Artificial Gravity Space Station (Source: Orbital Assembly)
Orbital Assembly (OA) announced a strategic collaboration with Dream Big World to develop the first terrestrial retail experience in space at the GITEX X-VERSE experience in Dubai. Plans call for a virtual reality and immersive 3-D experience, simulating gravity in space on OA space stations, for tourists at Dream Big World's retail stores in Dubai, Cancun, and other locations to be announced in the future. (10/11)

Orbital Sidekick Selected as Partner for Intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program (iPIPE) (Source: Space Daily)
Orbital Sidekick (OSK), the first U.S. commercial company to deploy hyperspectral sensors in space, has been selected once again by the intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program (iPIPE) to serve as the company's technology partner. OSK will have an opportunity to advance its Global Hyperspectral Observation Satellite constellation known as GHOSt, which is set to launch in 2023. The hyperspectral imaging (HSI) constellation consists of six 100-kg ESPA class satellites for the launches on SpaceX's Transporter program. (10/10)

Wanted: Firms to Connect and Guide Moon Missions (Source: Space Daily)
Are you ready to join ESA's initiative to support European space companies to create a constellation of lunar satellites that connect and guide missions to the Moon?

Creating lasting telecommunications and navigation links with the Moon will enable sustainable space exploration for the hundreds of lunar missions that are due to launch within the next few decades. As part of its efforts to promote European leadership, autonomy and responsibility, ESA is inviting space companies in Europe and Canada to provide telecommunications and navigation services to these lunar missions, under its Moonlight initiative.

ESA is completing two studies with two consortia of space companies based in Europe that assess the business case and the technical solutions for building and operating a constellation of lunar satellites. ESA is now asking any space firms to indicate whether they would like to become involved in the ambitious project - or simply to develop lunar telecommunication and navigation technologies and products. The deadline is 28 October. (10/10)

NASA to Practice Artemis Moonwalking, Roving Operations in Arizona Desert (Source: Space Daily)
To prepare for the Artemis era of research on the Moon, NASA will conduct two, multi-week field tests near Flagstaff, Arizona with astronauts, engineers, and scientists to practice mission scenarios for Artemis astronauts in a simulated lunar surface environment. The Arizona desert possesses many characteristics that are analogous to a lunar environment including challenging terrain, interesting geology, and minimal communications infrastructure, all of which astronauts will experience near the lunar South Pole during Artemis missions.

The two analog missions scheduled for Oct. 2022 - the Joint Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program Test Team (JETT) Field Test #3 and Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) - will provide crucial data and lessons learned as teams conduct operations in a simulated lunar environment to practice for the real event. (10/10)

JPL's Venus Aerial Robotic Balloon Prototype Aces Test Flights (Source: Space Daily)
A scaled-down version of the aerobot that could one day take to the Venusian skies successfully completed two Nevada test flights, marking a milestone for the project. The intense pressure, heat, and corrosive gases of Venus' surface are enough to disable even the most robust spacecraft in a matter of hours. But a few dozen miles overhead, the thick atmosphere is far more hospitable to robotic exploration.

One concept envisions pairing a balloon with a Venus orbiter, the two working in tandem to study Earth's sister planet. While the orbiter would remain far above the atmosphere, taking science measurements and serving as a communication relay, an aerial robotic balloon, or aerobot, about 40 feet in diameter would travel into it. To test this concept, a team of scientists and engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the Near Space Corporation in Tillamook, Oregon, recently carried out two successful flights of a prototype balloon that's about a third of that size. (10/11)

Earth Observation Inspires Global Inventiveness as Patent Applications Increase (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Today our home planet Earth is being more closely monitored than at any time in its history. Some 1 460 Earth-observing satellites have been launched during the last two decades, with Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel fleet in the forefront of environmental data gathering. A new report led by the European Patent Office examining associated patent filings reveals a 1 800% increase in the same period – with European activity comparatively stagnant compared to international competitors.

ESA has collaborated with the European Union on the Copernicus Sentinels series of satellites, comprising 10 Sentinels so far plus additional ‘Third-Party’ missions. Copernicus, possessing an open data policy, has grown to become Earth’s single largest producer of environmental data. ESA has also been flying the science-driven Earth Explorer satellites, while Eumetsat’s Meteosat geostationary weather satellites have been joined by the new polar-orbiting MetOp series.

Filings of patent families in green applications of space-borne sensing increased in 2020 by 1 800% compared to the number of filings in 2001 – very high compared to the overall growth of global patent filings in all technology fields, which amounted to 400% in the same period. Chinese patent filing activity prevails overall, though driven largely by domestic patent filing, while US applicants lead in international patent families. (10/11)

Astronaut’s Photo Shows Florida Draining After Hurricane Ian (Source: PetaPixel)
An astronaut has photographed the deluge from Hurricane Ian making its way back into the Gulf of Mexico. The photo taken by astronaut Bob “Farmer” Hines on board the International Space Station (ISS) showed massive amounts of dirt and silt being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico after Ian had devastated parts of Florida. Click here. (10/10)

USAF and USSF Award Space Micro Contract for V-Band SSPA Technology (Source: Parabolic Arc)
he U.S. Air Force (USAF) and Space Force (USSF) have awarded Space Micro, powered by Voyager Space, a contract to further develop higher frequency V-Band SATCOM for Software Defined Radios (SDRs) to include Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs). This technology is of import for defense-focused, space-based, orbital platforms, especially those operating in the increasingly congested radio frequencies of S-, X- and Ka-Bands. Space Micro and its university partner, Arizona State University, will develop V-Band SSPAs for SDRs that provide higher bandwidth while operating in a less-crowded frequency range and with fewer frequency allocation issues. (10/11)