January 5, 2023

NorthStar Earth and Space Raises $35 Million for SSA Constellation (Source: Space News)
NorthStar Earth and Space has raised $35 million to support development of a space situational awareness (SSA) constellation. U.S.-based private equity firm Cartesian Capital led the Series C funding round announced Thursday, which NorthStar says brings the total raised by the company to nearly $100 million. NorthStar will use proceeds to accelerate plans for a constellation of 24 SSA satellites, which would scan out from low Earth orbit to track other satellites and debris. Spire is building the first three satellites that are slated for launch in the middle of the year by Virgin Orbit. NorthStar has options for up to 30 satellites in its contract with Spire. (1/5)

Impulse Space to Fly Orbital Transfer Vehicle on Transporter-9 Rideshare Mission (Source: Space News)
Impulse Space will fly its first orbital transfer vehicle late this year. The company announced Wednesday its Mira vehicle will be on SpaceX's Transporter-9 dedicated rideshare mission, currently scheduled for the fourth quarter. The vehicle will carry a primary payload for an undisclosed customer but will be able to accommodate additional cubesat-class satellites. Impulse Space says it plans to stand out from other companies developing similar orbital transfer vehicles through higher performance. (1/5)

New Solar Cell Material Could Be Used in Space (Source: Space Daily)
Research led by the University of Warwick will investigate a new type of solar cell material, which could be used in space, in a bid to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The European Research Council (ERC) has approved a five-year study which will delve into the atomic-level structure of a new type of solar cell material. This will address issues including stability and lifespan of metal halide perovskite compounds, which decrease in high humidity, strong sunlight and at elevated temperatures.

Interestingly, while the properties of perovskite solar cells change in a range of atmospheric conditions, they remain remarkably stable outside the Earth's atmosphere. This points to the potential for harvesting energy in space - a topical area of research, after the European Space Agency revealed it would be investigating whether satellites could beam electricity back to Earth earlier this year. (1/3)

Airbus Joins Voyager's Starlab Space Station Team (Source: Space News)
Airbus Defence and Space is partnering with Voyager Space on its Starlab commercial space station. The companies announced Wednesday they would partner on Starlab, with Airbus providing "technical design support and expertise" for the Voyager-led project. Voyager is one of three companies that won NASA awards in late 2021 to advance designs for commercial space stations that could ultimately replace the International Space Station. Having Airbus involved could make it easier for European governments and the European Space Agency to use Starlab. (1/5)

Top European Launch Companies of 2022—The European Spaceflight Power Ranking (Source: European Spaceflight)
Ten years ago the European launch market consisted of Arianespace and Avio (which has been around since 1908) with the former managing launch operations for both Vega and Ariane 5. PLD Space was founded in 2011, which is always surprising to rediscover, but the Spanish launch startup was a blip in a market dominated by giants. Today, however, there are more than a dozen launch startups in Europe alone hoping to hobble the giants and claim a piece of the market for themselves. Click here. (1/5)

Two Uncomfortable Truths: Europe’s Launch Sector is in Crisis, and No One Knows How to End It (Source: Space Intel Report)
The French aerospace industries association, GIFAS, said Europe’s launch sector was in an “unprecedented crisis situation” with the delayed availability of Ariane 6 and the recent failure of the medium-lift Vega-C rocket. But the organization, whose members include all major French launcher contractors, had no answer to the question: Now what? (1/5)

SpaceX Gears Up for Busy Year of Falcon Heavy Launches (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX is targeting no earlier than January 12 for the fifth launch of Falcon Heavy, the largest and most powerful commercial rocket in the world. Now, for the second time, there are five Falcon Heavy rockets tentatively scheduled to launch this year (2023). But the situation is not identical. Numerous long-delayed payloads like the first ViaSat-3 and Jupiter-3 satellites and the US military’s mysterious USSF-67 and USSF-52 spacecraft are finally on the cusp of crossing their respective finish lines.

Additionally, four of those five Falcon Heavy launches are tentatively scheduled in the first half of 2023, leaving plenty of margin for major delays in the second half of the year. But until ViaSat-3, Jupiter-3, and USSF-52 actually arrive in Florida and until NASA explicitly confirms that Psyche’s technical issues are resolved, any launch targets should be treated with extreme skepticism. (1/4)

Virgin Orbit Could Fly UK Mission on Jan. 9 (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit could conduct its first LauncherOne mission from England as soon as next week. Maritime hazard notices published Wednesday said that Virgin Orbit was planning for a launch as soon as Jan. 9, with several backup dates extending through Jan. 20. Virgin Orbit confirmed that the hazard notices are for its "Start Me Up" mission flying out of Spaceport Cornwall, but said the company was not yet ready to announce an official launch date. Virgin Orbit had planned to launch the mission in the fall, but was delayed by technical work as it awaited a launch license it received late last month. (1/5)

Space Contractors Release China's Launch Plans for 2023 (Source: Space Daily)
China plans to carry out around 60 launch missions this year, according to the country's major space contractors. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor, has more than 50 launch missions planned in 2023, said its annual work report. The report said the planned spaceflights include manned and robotic missions to the newly assembled Tiangong space station and the maiden flight of the Long March 6C carrier rocket.

Most of the launches will be made by the company's Long March carrier rocket family, and the rest will be conducted by the Smart Dragon series. In addition to the rocket launches, the company will also continue with the research and development of the Tianwen 2 asteroid probe and the Chang'e 7 lunar probe, according to the report. The Tianwen 2 mission is scheduled for launch around 2025 to deploy a probe on an asteroid to collect and bring back soil samples.

The Chang'e 7 mission will land a sophisticated multipart spacecraft on the moon's South Pole around 2026 to find traces of water, investigate the environment and the weather there, and survey its landform. Another State-owned space enterprise, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, plans 10 spaceflights using its Kuaizhou 1A and Kuaizhou 11 solid-propellant rockets. If the plan becomes a reality, 2023 will become the busiest year for the Kuaizhou family, company sources said. (1/5)

India to Launch Small Launcher in February (Source: Mint)
India will conduct the second launch of a small launch vehicle in February. S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian space agency ISRO, said at a conference Wednesday that the agency was preparing for a February launch of its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), but had not set a specific date for the launch yet. The SSLV first launched in August but suffered a problem that placed its payload into a very low orbit that reentered almost immediately. (1/5)

India and Microsoft to Support Space Startups (Source: PTI)
ISRO will work with Microsoft to support Indian space startups. Under a memorandum of understanding announced Thursday, space startups identified by ISRO will be added to a Microsoft program that will give those companies access to Microsoft software tools and and cloud services. Microsoft will also offer technical and business mentoring to those companies. (1/5)

Space Force Missile Tracking Demo Moves to Next Phase (Source: Breaking Defense)
Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Boeing's Millennium Space Systems will each develop flight test prototypes under the US Space Force's Missile Track Custody Demonstration. Digital models created by each company passed a critical design review in November. (1/4)

Raytheon Picks Lockheed Martin to Provide Missile Tracking Satellite Bus (Source: Space News)
Raytheon has selected Lockheed Martin to provide the bus for a missile-tracking satellite. Raytheon won a contract from the Space Force to develop a prototype satellite that would be able to track missiles from medium Earth orbit as a precursor to a proposed constellation. Raytheon's infrared sensing payload will be integrated on a Lockheed Martin LM400, a new medium-size satellite bus introduced in 2021 with security features aimed at the military market. The companies said the satellite is scheduled to be delivered for launch in 2026. (1/5)

Airbus to Provide Poland with a Very High Resolution Optical Satellite System (Source: Space Daily)
Airbus Defence and Space has signed a contract with Poland to provide a geospatial intelligence system including the development, manufacture, launch and delivery in orbit of two high-performance optical Earth observation satellites. The contract also covers the associated ground segment, including Direct Receiving Station in Poland, launch services, training for the Polish team, maintenance and technical support for the space and ground systems. Furthermore, the agreement encompasses the delivery of Very High Resolution (VHR) imagery from the Airbus Pleiades Neo constellation as early as 2023. (1/4)

Kleos KSF1 Geospatial Intelligence Released to Customers (Source: Space Daily)
Kleos Space has confirms it is successfully processing RF data collected by the Vigilance Mission (KSF1) satellites through its signal processing technology platform to create its geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) product, LOCATE, which has been released to initial customers alongside other intelligence collected by the Vigilance Mission. Kleos CEO Andy Bowyer said, "Our geospatial intelligence is now available to initial customers, with additional data volumes being made available as we bring more of our satellite constellation online. Our technology delivers actionable intelligence from sensor collections, helping solve some of the world's greatest societal, economic, and environmental challenges." (1/1)

Planet Scales Education and Research Program (Source: Space Daily)
Planet Labs has announced a new, scaled structure for their Education and Research (E&R) Program, aiming to increase global accessibility to their satellite data and services. Starting today, the program offers a new packaging model with a tiered global pricing system and high-resolution SkySat data, a first for a university program in the satellite data industry. Launched in 2017, Planet's E&R Program is nearing its sixth year of operation. The program was designed to provide opportunities to students, researchers, and professors from accredited universities to access the company's satellite data and services for their unique research needs.

As of this December, researchers from more than 1,000 universities across more than 100 countries are accessing Planet's data through the E&R program, including Rutgers University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, Utrecht University in the Netherlands, University of Toronto in Canada, and Yamaguchi University in Japan.

To continue this global momentum, Planet has upgraded this program to operate with a three tiered pricing system. A university campus will now be offered a package price based on the economic context of their country. This change aims to create opportunities for universities around the globe to obtain affordable satellite data, thereby further increasing the diversity of research generated by Planet's unique satellite data and lending insights to the world's most pressing questions. (1/5)

New Mexico Seeks Business Development Chief for Spaceport America (Source: State of New Mexico)
This position is a key member of the Spaceport America management team. The incumbent sets Spaceport America's Business Development strategies and manages all sales, marketing and public relations activities. As Spaceport America's place in commercial and military aerospace and aeronautical industries grows, the incumbent will manage the transition of aerospace capture plans, proposals and contracts into operational concepts and programs.

As well, the Director of Business Development will develop clear set requirements for non-aerospace events into executable contracts and assignments, and will prepare, implement and control the business development and marketing budgets. The incumbent attends and presents Spaceport America briefings at local, national, and international industry meetings, conferences and conventions. The position reports directly to the Executive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Click here. (1/4)

A Space News Website Was Locked Out of Twitter While Covering a SpaceX Launch (Source: Business Insider)
Twitter's image recognition mistook video of a SpaceX rocket flight for revenge porn, locking news accounts covering the launch. One of those news sites, Spaceflight Now, was abruptly locked out of its Twitter account after posting a video of the rocket booster landing. Twitter had flagged the tweet as "violating our rules against posting or sharing privately produced/distributed intimate media of someone without their express consent." (1/4)

SpaceX Eyes West Coast for First Starlink Launch of 2023 (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX is reportedly planning to launch its first Starlink mission of 2023 from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. Next Spaceflight reports that SpaceX is preparing to launch Starlink 2-4 no earlier than (NET) 6:54 pm PST on January 8th, almost eight weeks after unspecified issues with a Falcon 9 rocket indefinitely delayed the mission. While it’s impossible to confirm if the entire two-stage rocket and fairing were transferred, the Falcon 9 booster originally assigned to launch Starlink 2-4 on November 18th, 2022 instead launched an Israeli Earth observation satellite six weeks later. (1/4)

Houston, Short Wave Is On The Line (Source: NPR)
Speaking to NPR's 'Short Wave' podcast from about 250 miles above the Earth, Josh Cassada outlined his typical day at work: "Today, I actually started out by taking my own blood. You know, we tend to be the subject of a lot of different experiments," said Cassada. Click here. (1/4)

Chinese Moon Mission's Sample Haul Includes Exotic Volcanic Rocks (Source: Space.com)
Samples returned from the moon by a Chinese mission have been found to contain exotic igneous rock types associated with material ejected by tremendous impacts. The rocks could provide vital information about the geological diversity of the moon's surface and the processes that create its dust and dirt. (1/3)

After Doubling Launch Record in 2022, Can SpaceX Take Another Step Up in 2023? (Source: Ars Technica)
In 2022 SpaceX was able to dramatically increase its launch cadence by both ramping up Starlink satellite production as well as maturing its operations to reuse Falcon 9 first stages and payload fairings. Previously, from 2017 to 2021, SpaceX averaged 22 launches a year, with an annual record of 31 flights in 2021. Last year the company very nearly doubled its previous record.

The question for the new year, therefore, is whether SpaceX can take another leap in cadence. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in August 2022 that the company aimed to launch 100 rockets in 2023. That seems like the upper bound of what is possible; however, given that the company was able to launch seven rockets in December, it is perhaps not unreachable in terms of raw production.

Of course, nothing in launch is straightforward, and another important factor will be payload readiness. Of its missions in 2022, 27 were for governments or commercial customers, whereas 34 were the company's Starlink Internet satellite payloads. Assuming about 30 flights for government and commercial customers, approaching 100 launches in 2023 would require SpaceX to nearly double production of its Starlink satellites. That, too, is a big ask for the disruptive California launch company. But after seeing its remarkable performance in 2022, one can perhaps not rule out big asks. (1/3)

Once Again, Shelby Stands Alone When it Comes to Earmarks (Source: Roll Call)
Call him the billion-dollar man. Make that $1.2 billion, to be precise, which is the total earmark haul that departing Senate Appropriations ranking member Richard C. Shelby could bring home during the 117th Congress — the last of the Alabama Republican's congressional career dating back to 1979. Shelby is clearly going out at the top of the charts for the second year in a row after lawmakers restored the once-reviled practice of parking federal funds in their own constituents' backyards.

He procured a devilishly large $666 million in the fiscal 2023 omnibus package, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis, after roughly $550 million the previous fiscal year. Editor's Note: Shelby ensured billions in federal appropriations were provided to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, and he fiercely protected Marshall's interests, including by blocking projects and spending that might threaten Marshall's role. (12/22)

So Long, Richard Shelby, and Thanks For All the Pork (Source: Ars Technica)
For the leaders of the largest and most powerful aerospace companies in the world, there is also an opportunity to kiss the ring. This would come on the one evening of the Paris Air Show, during which the Alabama legislative delegation rented out the top floor of the Eiffel Tower for a reception to host aerospace dignitaries. The star attraction atop the historic tower was a US senator, Richard Shelby. The chief executives of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Dynetics, and other industry firms would come to meet with Shelby, to see and be seen, and to show the state of Alabama the love. As chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee in the US Senate, Shelby's voice was that of God when it came to funding US defense and civil space contracts.

Now that era has come to an end. His departure will shake up space policy in ways that are difficult to predict. Shelby was a senator from Alabama for nearly four decades, starting out as a Democrat and then switching parties to become a Republican in 1994. But his jam was never partisan politics. Shelby preferred dealmaking and working with lawmakers in both parties to fund the government in general and his priorities in particular. And over the years, Shelby brought home the bacon to Alabama, delivering large contracts to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the Army's Redstone Arsenal, and large companies that agreed to do business in Alabama.

For the last decade, Shelby was arguably the most influential US government official when it came to space policy, dictating NASA's continued development of the Space Launch System and focusing on an Apollo-like plan to return to the Moon. He did so over the last decade by lavishing more funding on the SLS rocket program, which was based at Marshall, than NASA asked for every year. He also held the line in 2019 when NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine suggested that due to delays with the rocket's development, it might be better to launch the Orion spacecraft on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. Shelby did not believe private companies—especially those that did not do much business in Alabama—should receive government funding. (1/4)

Post-Shelby Space Power Shifts on Senate Appropriations Committee (Source: Ars Technica)
The new chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee will be Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA. Murray's position and the experience held by Washington's other senator—Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee—suggest that some of the political power on US space policy will shift from Alabama to the state of Washington. This may benefit the aerospace industry there, including Boeing and Blue Origin. (1/4)

Bootcamp to Help Space Startups Clear Regulatory Hurdles (Source: Space News)
A bootcamp aimed at helping startups navigate the space sector’s complex regulatory landscape is coming to New Mexico. The Space Regulatory Bootcamp, backed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and SpaceWERX, is scheduled for Feb. 21-23 at Q Station, a collaboration center for New Mexico’s space industry in Albuquerque. In addition to export control, topics to be covered in the Space Regulatory Bootcamp, being organized by Washington-based Aegis Trade Law, include cybersecurity, foreign investment, crowdfunding, government licensing and federal contracting regulations. (1/4)

NASA's X-59 Plane Will Try to Quietly Break the Speed of Sound in 2023 (Source: New Scientist)
NASA’s experimental X-59 plane is scheduled to take to the skies early in 2023 to see if it can break the sound barrier without creating a huge sonic boom. If it works, it could lead to the return of commercial airliners that can travel faster than the speed of sound, as Concorde used to do. (1/3)