December 6, 2022

Slingshot Raises $40.8 Million for Product Development and Acquisitions (Source: Space News)
Space data analytics company Slingshot Aerospace has raised $40.8 million. The company announced Tuesday the Series A2 funding round. The new funding will help the company develop new products and also finance recent acquisitions of Numerica, which operates a global network of ground-based telescopes to track space objects, and Seradata, a space data analysis firm. One of the company’s products is a space traffic control software tool used by satellite operators to coordinate satellite maneuvers and communicate with other operators to avert collisions. Slingshot has raised $82.5 million to date. (12/6)

Orion Returning to Earth for Sunday Splashdown (Source: Space News)
NASA's Orion spacecraft is on its way back to Earth after a flyby of the moon on Monday. The spacecraft passed within 130 kilometers of the lunar surface during the flyby while firing its main engine for nearly three and a half minutes. The maneuver puts the spacecraft on course to splash down off the coast from San Diego, California, this Sunday. Artemis 1 mission managers said Monday that the spacecraft continues to perform well other than some minor glitches, like a power system issue over the weekend. (12/6)

E-Space Acquiring CommAgility for Megaconstellation Venture (Source: Space News)
Megaconstellation startup E-Space is buying communications hardware company CommAgility for $14.5 million. The deal, announced Monday, gives E-Space expertise in 5G technologies. E-Space said it plans to integrate CommAgility’s source code into a network of potentially hundreds of thousands of connectivity satellites.  E-Space, established by OneWeb and O3b Networks founder Greg Wyler, has plans for potentially hundreds of thousands of satellites. (12/6)

DoD to Examine Growing Military Demand for Commercial Space Tech (Source: Space News)
The Defense Science Board will examine the military’s growing demand for commercial space technology and its implications. Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, directed the study on "commercial space system access and integrity" in a memo last month. A central question Shyu wants the panel to address is how the Defense Department should acquire commercial space services, such as satellite-based communications and Earth imaging, so they can be part of the larger defense architecture. The study will also examine how to make those services accessible, as well as security threats from China and Russia. (12/6)

Ukrainian Launch Startup On Track for 2023 Flight Test (Source: Space News)
A Ukrainian launch startup says it is pressing ahead with development of a small launch vehicle despite the ongoing war. Promin Aerospace says it expects to be ready to perform a very low altitude test of its launch technology early next year, pending approval from the government. If Promin does not receive approval to conduct the launch in Ukraine, it is likely to occur in Scotland. Promin has a memorandum of understanding to launch from a Scottish spaceport. The company is continuing work in the city of Dnipro despite missile attacks and power outages there. “We can’t really move out of the city because that’s where we hire. That’s where a lot of specialists are,” Misha Rudominski said.

Dnipro is known for aerospace expertise because it is home to Ukraine’s state-run aerospace company Yuzhmash and space technology design office Yuzhnoe. “The worst thing psychologically for a person during wartime is to just sit and do nothing because you worry about the war,” Rudominski said. Instead of expanding its staff as previously planned for 2022, Promin has “doubled down on engineering” with funding raised during earlier rounds and $100,000 in non-dilutive funding provided by Google in August. (12/6)

Russia Finalizing Lunar Station Agreement with China (Source: TASS)
Russia's prime minister says his government is finalizing an agreement with China on the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Mikhail Mishustin said that the agreement between the two countries to cooperate on ILRS is "ready to be inked" but did not disclose details about it. Russia and China announced plans to cooperate on ILRS, a joint base at the south pole of the moon, a year and a half ago, but Chinese officials have not mentioned Russia's participation in the project in more recent statements about it. (12/6)

Flick to Lead NASA Armstrong (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected a new director of the Armstrong Flight Research Center. The agency announced Monday that Bradley Flick, who had been acting head of the California center since July, when former director David McBride retired, will take the job full-time. Flick started at Armstrong, previously known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, as an engineer in 1986. NASA also announced Monday that Dave Mitchell, NASA's chief program management officer, will become acting director of the Goddard Space Flight Center effective Jan. 1, when current director Dennis Andrucyk steps down. (12/6)

Sierra Space to Provide Power Systems for Maxar Satellites (Source: Sierra Space)
Sierra Space won a contract to provide power systems for Maxar satellites. The contract, announced Monday, covers solar arrays and related components for 16 satellites Maxar is building for a proliferated low Earth orbit constellation. Sierra Space says it is the same technology it will use for power systems on its Dream Chaser spaceplane and Orbital Reef space station. (12/6)

Saudi Arabia Developing National Space Strategy (Source: The National)
The government of Saudi Arabia is preparing a new national space strategy. That strategy will be released early next year, a government official said at the Abu Dhabi Space Debate on Monday. One element of that strategy will be a focus on space commercialization, including potential utilization of proposed commercial space stations. The Saudi government has an agreement with Axiom Space to fly two Saudi citizens to the International Space Station as soon as next year. (12/6)

Construction Begins on Square Kilometer Array (Source: Nature)
Construction formally started Monday on the world's largest radio telescope. Ceremonies in South Africa and Australia marked the start of work on two facilities for the Square Kilometer Array. One is an array of low-frequency antennas called SKA-Low in Australia and the other, hundreds of larger dishes for mid-frequency observations in South Africa, is called SKA-Mid. The first phase of the construction of the two facilities, projected to cost $1.4 billion, will be completed by 2028. (12/6)

Orbital Assembly Announces New Equity Offering Advance Hybrid-Gravity Space Station Development (Source: Orbital Assembly)
Orbital Assembly (OA) announced a crowdfunding equity offering for investment to initiate full scale human factors design in conjunction with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, to begin construction of the first orbital flight hardware, and pursue protection of the company's extensive portfolio of intellectual property.

Over the last three years, Orbital Assembly completed schematic design of the Voyager-class station and Pioneer-class space platforms, and the OASIS habitation module. The company has signed agreements with dozens of partners, vendors, and future customers. The company is also pursuing a number of Small Business Administration projects (SBIR) with multiple agencies in the Department of Defense. Orbital Assembly offers consulting services to assist these customers in preparing for use of our orbital assets and fly payload on the first Pioneer-class station, with planned initial operation within 30 months contingent on funding. (12/6)

Economic Forecast for Southern Delmarva (Source: WBOC)
Officials from all across the lower shore spoke at Salisbury University on Friday, December 2nd, about their economic expectations for 2023. The expansion at NASA's Wallops Island location in 2023 posed a lot of growth opportunity. Three officials from the Wallops Flight Facility spoke at the presentation. One of the discussion points was the introduction of NASA's Autonomous Flight Termination Unit, or NAFTU.

"This technology will allow us to launch more rockets more quickly," said David Pierce. "So the cadence will go up, but also lower the cost by as much as 30% per launch." Pierce, the Director of NASA Wallops, says NAFTU could open up doors. "What we see coming forward that’s enabled by that technology is more orbital launches, more small companies coming to Wallops and launching," said Pierce. As these companies make their way to the Eastern Shore, Pierce says it'll spur job growth in Maryland and Virginia. (12/2)

7 Times NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Spotted Something Hubble Missed (Source: Business Insider)
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been delivering mind-blowing views of the cosmos since it began science operations in the summer. Before Webb, astronomers had another workhorse cosmic observatory: the Hubble Space Telescope. Both are space-based telescopes, but they differ in many ways. Hubble sees ultraviolet light, visible light, and a small slice of infrared, while Webb looks at the universe across the infrared spectrum. Click here. (12/4)

India’s First Human Spaceflight Gaganyan in Limbo, Astronauts Partially Trained, ISRO Silent (Source: The Print)
Gaganyaan, India’s first human spaceflight mission, seems to be in a state of limbo, following multiple delays due to the pandemic. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is yet to issue a revised timeline of the project, which aims to launch a crew of three astronauts to an orbit of 400 km for three days.

The project was conceived in 2007 and formally approved in 2018 with a budget of Rs 10,000 crore. The first crewed mission was set to be launched in December 2021. Two uncrewed missions, in December 2020 and July 2021, were to be undertaken before the final launch.

Despite the government claiming that there would be no delays due to Covid, the first uncrewed flight was rescheduled from 2020 to 2021 and then again to 2022. The dates were once again revised to late 2023 or early 2024, announced Union minister of state for science and technology Jitendra Singh in September this year. (12/4)

What Does it Take to be an Astronaut? After Dreaming of the Stars, I Decided to Find Out (Source: The Guardian)
In February 2021, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced it would be recruiting a new astronaut class, the first since 2008. It encouraged applicants from a broader spectrum of gender, physical ability, age and ethnicity, so I fired off an application and joined a WhatsApp group of like-minded hopefuls. There were 23,000 applicants in total, and some obvious criteria.

To get on to the longlist you had to have a couple of degrees in science, preferably in different disciplines, with at least one at master’s level or above. As for the other qualities that might make a good astronaut, we didn’t know precisely what they were looking for, but we could guess: they seem to like people who are outdoorsy, a bit sporty, good in teams and able to put up with quite a lot of discomfort. Click here. (12/4)

BlueWalker 3: Bright, Loud, and Causing Angst Amongst Astronomy Dark Sky Communities (Source: Cosmos)
Concern is growing about the impact on radio astronomy from the massive BlueWalker 3 satellite which unfurled its antenna array last month. The International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS) says the satellite could interfere with astronomy and other scientific research, and that its radio frequencies could interfere with astronomy-related radio telescope observations.

Its 64-square-meter antenna system is adept at reflecting light and is easily visible to the naked eye, becoming one of the brightest objects in the night sky, according to the IAU CPS.

Bluewalker 3’s large size and bright reflective surfaces could interfere with astronomical observations, as its light could be mistaken for stars or interfere with the ability to detect dimmer objects. Additionally, the satellite’s large size could block out a portion of the night sky, making it difficult for astronomers to observe certain objects. (12/5)