November 19, 2022

L3Harris Infrared Weather Forecasting Technology Launches on NOAA Satellite (Source: Space Daily)
L3Harris Technologies reports that its Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), designed to enhance severe weather detection capabilities, was successfully launched aboard NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System-2 weather satellite. As one of the world's most advanced hyperspectral sounders and a key sensor on the JPSS-2 satellite, the CrIS instrument has over 2,000 infrared channels - 100 times more than its predecessor. This technology improves NOAA's prediction of hurricanes, tornadoes and other extreme weather events and the accuracy of weather models three-to-seven days in advance by providing more precise temperature and water vapor information. (11/11)

PickNik Robotics and CisLunar Industries to Collaborate on In-Space Metal Processing (Source: Space Daily)
PickNik Robotics, a leader in robotics software and engineering services, has announced a collaboration with CisLunar Industries, a space technology company working on in-space metal processing. The companies will explore how PickNik's MoveIt Space software for robotic arms can help CisLunar with the precision feeding of metal materials into their in-space metal-processing system, Modular Space Foundry.

Workflows will include the dismantling, manipulation, transport, and transfer of simulated or actual metal debris into pieces of appropriate size and shape to be fed into the in-space metal processing system. The purpose is to support the processing and removal of space debris. (11/16)

AE Industrial Partners Completes Investment in York Space Systems (Source: Space Daily)
AE Industrial Partners, LP ("AEI"), a leader in space investing and a private equity firm specializing in aerospace, defense and government services, space, power and utility services, and specialty industrial markets, has completed its majority stake investment in York Space Systems ("York" or "the Company"), an independent provider of small satellites, satellite components and turnkey mission operations.

Dirk Wallinger, who founded York in 2012, will remain in his current role as CEO and Board Director, and Charles "Chuck" Beames will continue to serve on the Board of Directors. They will also maintain significant ownership positions in York. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. (11/15)

ATLAS Wins Data Analytics SBIR to Deliver Resiliency and Insight (Source: Space Daily)
ATLAS Space Operations, the leading Ground Software as a Service (GSaaS) provider, has announced the award of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to develop a data analytics platform for the United States Space Force. The program will see ATLAS integrate communications infrastructure and multi-domain command and control systems to deliver enhanced insights regarding space communications through network data analytics. (11/11)

Space Technologies Offer Opportunity to Achieve One-Sixth of Emissions Cuts Needed to Reach Net Zero by 2050 (Source: Space Daily)
Satellite technologies are already reducing carbon emissions by 1.5 billion tonnes (or 1.5 gigatons) every year, according to independent research commissioned by Inmarsat from leading consultants at Globant's Sustainable Business Studio. This is equivalent to almost a third of the entire United States' carbon emissions in 2021, or the lifetime emissions of 50 million cars.

Demonstrating the possibilities of space technologies in the race to Net Zero, the report focuses on three industry sectors: 1) transport and logistics, 2) agriculture, forestry and other land use and 3) energy systems. Together these account for approximately 60% of global emissions. If satellite technologies were adopted universally by these industries, the CO2 savings currently being delivered through satellite technologies could almost quadruple to up to 5.5 billion tonnes a year based on current technologies alone, the Globant analysis suggests.

This is equivalent to one-sixth of the total carbon emissions currently estimated as necessary to keep the global temperatures rise below 1.5C by 2030 - or one-third of that necessary to keep temperature rises below 2C - underlining the positive impact space technologies could have on the largest single challenge facing the world. (11/14)

Orion Performing Well After Launch (Source: NASA)
NASA's Orion spacecraft is performing well a day after launch. The agency said late Wednesday that the spacecraft successfully performed a planned course correction maneuver earlier in the day using its main thruster, the first of several as it heads to the moon. Other spacecraft systems are performing as expected, and Orion returned video from both interior and exterior cameras. The uncrewed spacecraft will go into a distant retrograde orbit around the moon on the Artemis 1 mission before returning to Earth on Dec. 11. (11/17)

Apple to Expand Satellite Based SOS (Source: Space News)
Apple plans to expand its satellite-based SOS iPhone service to Europe. The expansion will enable users outside cellular and wifi coverage in France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom to send basic messages to emergency services. That service, currently available to iPhone 14 customers in the U.S. and Canada, uses Globalstar's satellite network. While limited satellite bandwidth currently restricts users to basic SOS text messages, initially facilitated by a short questionnaire, Apple has a $450 million plan to upgrade Globalstar's network. (11/17)

Chinese Astronauts Conduct TSS Spacewalk (Sources: Xinhua, Space.com)
Two Chinese astronauts performed a spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station early Thursday. Chen Dong and Cai Xuzhe spent five and a half hours working outside the station in a spacewalk that ended at 3:50 a.m. Eastern. The two worked to outfit the recently launched Wentian module and test a robotic arm. On the International Space Station, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin are scheduled to begin a spacewalk at 9:20 a.m. Eastern to prepare the installation of an airlock and radiator on the station's Nauka module. (11/17)

Spire Plans Larger Satellites (Source: Space News)
Spire has announced a new line of larger satellites. The 16U platform, announced at Space Tech Expo Europe this week, is focused on meeting demands of Earth observation and space domain awareness customers that require greater performance. Spire will launch its first 16U satellites to orbit, carrying payloads for Canadian companies NorthStar Earth & Space, focusing on space situational awareness, and GHGSat, for its greenhouse gas emissions monitoring constellation, in 2023. (11/17)

NASA Optimizing Micrometeoroid Avoidance for JWST (Source: NASA)
NASA is changing the way it operates the James Webb Space Telescope to reduce the risk of micrometeoroid impacts. NASA said that future observations will be planned around a "micrometeoroid avoidance zone" to limit the risk of head-on impacts with the telescope's mirrors. The review was prompted by an impact in May that was larger than expected, but NASA said that overall the rate of such impacts has been within ranges telescope designers anticipated before launch. (11/17)

Sidus Space Engages GTM for LizzieSat Solar Panels (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced their partnership GTM Advanced Structures (“GTM”) to integrate their space-proven solar panels into LizzieSat. Sidus Space is in advanced stages of developing LizzieSat, a proprietary partially 3-D printed satellite, expected to launch in 2023. The satellite design utilizes a combination of eight deployed and additional body mounted solar panels to generate up to 400 watts of usable power for satellite operations and up to 50 watts continuous for payloads. (11/17)

Mars Was Covered by 300 mMeter Deep Oceans (Source: Space Daily)
Mars is called the red planet. But once, it was actually blue and covered in water, bringing us closer to finding out if Mars had ever harbored life. Most researchers agree that there has been water on Mars, but just how much water is still debated. Now a study from the University of Copenhagen shows that some 4.5 billion years ago, there was enough water for the entire planet to be covered in a 300-metreer-deep ocean. (11/18)

Intellian Awarded Contract to Design and Supply User Terminals for Viasat Maritime (Source: Space Daily)
Viasat has announced a contract award for Intellian to design and supply a bespoke range of Ka-band user terminals exclusively for Viasat's Maritime connectivity solution. In addition to the bespoke new terminals, Intellian will also develop a 100cm upgrade kit for Intellian's popular NX Series. The NX Series is the world's market leading VSAT maritime antenna, and this conversion kit will enable thousands of vessels the opportunity to connect to Viasat services. (11/16)

Hundreds of Renesas Rad-Hard Chips Protecting Artemis 1 on Lunar Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Renesas Electronics has announced that hundreds of its radiation-hardened (rad-hard) integrated circuits (ICs), including over 50 different part numbers, are onboard the Artemis 1 launch. Intersil-brand rad-hard ICs are part of the battery management systems, RS-25 engine control electronics and the launch abort system on the Space Launch System that propelled the mission into space, the most powerful rocket ever built.

On the Orion Capsule that will circle the moon, Renesas provided critical components for controller boards, the main flight computer, the docking camera system, the power distribution system and display and panel electronics. The Intersil-brand ICs perform multiple functions, including power management and precision signal processing. (11/18)

ESA Experiences COP27 Using a Space-Empowered Metaverse (Source: Space Daily)
ESA has created a space-inspired virtual environment to enable its workforce to experience the COP27 climate summit - which is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - without the environmental cost of travelling. This metaverse showcase - connected over the internet and satellite-enabled 5G - provides another demonstration of the potential of next-generation communications, showing how the resilient, ubiquitous, and seamless connectivity delivered by converged networks could transform virtual collaboration. (11/16)

Marines Must Fight for Space (Source: US Naval Institute)
Marines must contribute to the fight for space. No, this is not some far-flung future of Colonial or UN Space Command Marines fighting alien hordes. And despite its ongoing force transformation, the Marine Corps is not going to add a space-shuttle door-gunner military occupational specialty any time soon. The most recent “Force Design 2030 Update” argued that “the enduring function for [Stand-In Forces] is to help the fleet and joint force win the reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance (RXR) battle at every point on the competition continuum.”

General Berger explains RXR as the ability to rapidly sense, decide, and initiate action or subsequently deny those capabilities and kill chains to an adversary. While much of these tactical battles for RXR will be terrestrial, Ukraine’s use of Starlink amid the Russian invasion demonstrates the necessity of space for RXR on the ground. General Berger says as much, stating that “in a conflict with a peer adversary, first moves may be in space and cyber, so we must enable our [SIFs], [Marine expeditionary units], and [Marine expeditionary forces] to integrate with, and have access to, those capabilities now.”

As of this year, Marine units are starting to integrate commercial space contracts into their planning, but the Marine Corps must look further for the coming fight over space in the Indo-Pacific. To conduct RXR, the Marine Corps should integrate with the U.S. Space Force to practice denying adversary space capabilities from expeditionary advanced bases. In addition, as part of ongoing experimentation and wargaming, the Marine Corps should explore organic BeiDou jamming capabilities for littoral combat teams. (11/18)

Fired SpaceX Employees Described Elon Musk's Tweeting as an 'Embarrassment' (Source: Business Insider)
SpaceX fired a total of nine employees who organised an open letter in the summer condemning the online behavior of CEO Elon Musk. Some SpaceX employees circulated the letter on June 15, urging the company to denounce the billionaire's "harmful Twitter behavior," per the New York Times. The letter followed an Insider report in May about SpaceX settling a sexual harassment claim against Musk, which he made jokes about on Twitter.

"Elon's behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks," employees wrote in the letter, obtained by The Times in June. They called on SpaceX to "separate itself from Elon's personal brand" and make clear that Musk's messaging "does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values." (11/17)

‘Critically Important’: New White House Strategy for Cislunar Research Echoes Space Force (Source: Breaking Defense)
A new White House strategy for interagency research on cislunar space activities includes all three of the Space Force’s own development priorities for operating in the vast region between the Earth’s orbit and that of the Moon: spacecraft and space junk monitoring, communications, and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT).

The National Cislunar Science and Technology Strategy, released today, represents a first US effort to build a whole-of-government strategy for “advancing scientific, exploration, and economic development activities” in cislunar space, the document explains, and supports the Biden administration’s 2021 Space Priorities Framework. (11/17)

Follow Orion's Trip to the Moon with NASA Artemis 1 Tracking Website (Source: Space.com)
You can keep following along with the nearly month-long mission in real time on this NASA website. And, if you want, you can download the trajectory data to create your own applications, the agency has said. Click here. (11/17)