April 17, 2023

Rocket Lab Introduces Suborbital Testbed Rocket, Selected for Hypersonic Test Flights (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab has formally introduced the HASTE rocket (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron), a suborbital testbed launch vehicle derived from Rocket Lab’s heritage Electron rocket. HASTE provides reliable, high-cadence flight test opportunities needed to advance hypersonic system technology development, with the inaugural launch scheduled to take place in the first half of 2023 for a confidential customer.

"With HASTE, we’ve taken a proven vehicle in Electron and tailored it specifically to deliver highly capable, frequent, and cost-effective hypersonic and suborbital test opportunities from our existing launch site in Virginia. Importantly, HASTE is not the promise of a future capability – it’s a completed launch vehicle ready for flight now, with the first one currently preparing for launch at our Integration and Control Facility in Wallops, Virginia, in the coming months.” (4/17)

Virgin Orbit Was a Promising Company That Could Never Find a Working Business Model (Source: CNBC)
Virgin Orbit started as a program of Virgin Galactic in 2012, before being spun off into a separate company five years later. In the private space race, Virgin Orbit contended its air-launch method of launching its rockets was more flexible than traditional launch pads used by competitors. “By launching from an aircraft, Virgin could take off from almost any airport around the world and turn these airports into space ports,” said Caleb Henry. “They were offering to different countries the ability to, in a sense, have a sovereign launch capability, because the rocket would take off from their home soil,” Henry said.

But Virgin Orbit was dogged by delays. The company originally hoped to launch its debut mission in 2018, but didn’t get off the ground until May of 2020. The demonstration mission failed shortly after the rocket was released. In total, the company launched six missions, four of which were successful and two of which failed, including the last one in January. Virgin Orbit’s biggest deal was a 39-launch contract signed with satellite maker OneWeb in 2015. OneWeb ultimately pulled out of the deal without conducting a single launch.

“A challenge for the company, and for any launch company, is having an anchor customer, somebody who you can depend on to routinely buy a decent number of launches,” Henry said. “Virgin Orbit did not have an anchor customer.” (4/16)

Virgin Orbit Has Left the Building and More Are On Their Way Out (Source: SpaceWorks)
SpaceWorks has long anticipated a reduction in the number of launch vehicle companies in the market – especially at the low end of the payload range. For small satellite launchers, our quantitative analysis predicted the long-term market will support perhaps only five healthy small satellite launchers worldwide and even fewer (two) in the near term.

Last week’s announcement that Virgin Orbit (VORB) has declared bankruptcy is a disappointment to industry watchers, but the news should not come as a a total surprise. Others have written at length about the company’s financial struggles and leadership challenges, but our unique perspective at SpaceWorks comes from expertise at the intersection of aerospace engineering and economics. We understand that developing a new orbital launch vehicle is hard, and we know that air-launch is amongst the hardest options to pursue.

Virgin Orbit’s exit was the first of the recently SPAC’d companies, but we do not expect it to be the last, especially with five other NSI (NewSpace Index) companies currently trading well below $1 per share and at risk of being delisted. Failure is a painful but natural part of growth. As today’s marketplace transforms into the thriving space economy we all wish for, weaker concepts and business models will fail, stronger approaches will succeed, and new entrants will jump into the fray. Click here. (4/13)

That's No Meteor: NASA Satellite's Elusive Green Lasers Spotted in Use (Source: NASA)
The green light streaking across the cloudy sky was something that Daichi Fujii had never seen before. The museum curator's motion-detecting cameras were set up near Japan’s Mount Fuji to capture meteors, allowing him to calculate their position, brightness, and orbit. But the bright green lines that appeared on a video taken Sept. 16, 2022, were a mystery.

Then Fujii looked closer. The beams were synchronized with a tiny green dot that was briefly visible between the clouds. He guessed it was a satellite, so he investigated orbital data and got a match. NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite 2, or ICESat-2, had flown overhead that night. Fujii posted his findings on social media, which eventually got the attention of the NASA team.

It’s the first time the ICESat-2 team has seen footage of the satellite’s green laser beams streaming from orbit to Earth, said Tony Martino. Fired from hundreds of miles up in space, the laser light is not harmful. In fact, it’s tricky to spot. If someone stood directly under the satellite and looked up, the laser would have the strength of a camera flash more than 100 yards away, Martino said. (4/14)

China Claims its Space Station Has Achieved 100% Oxygen Regeneration in Orbit (Source: Interesting Engineering)
China's Space Station has allegedly achieved 100% regeneration of its oxygen supply using its onboard oxygen regeneration system. The Space Station, which is currently operated by the Shenzhou-15 crew, can produce all of its own oxygen, according to an official speaking at a space technology symposium in Harbin City on Friday.

"At present, the six systems are in stable operation, with 100 percent of the oxygen resources regenerated and 95 percent of the water resources recycled," said Bian Qiang, director of the environmental control and life-support engineering office under the Astronaut Center of China. "This reduces the amount of supplies from the ground by six tonnes every year," added Bian. The revelation marks a significant advancement in China's manned spacecraft's environmental control and life-support systems, moving from "replenishment" to "regeneration." (4/15)

China Rocket Launch Sends Debris Into Sea Near Taiwan (Source: Space Daily)
China said Sunday it had launched a satellite into orbit, with authorities in Taiwan saying rocket debris had fallen into the sea where Beijing announced a no-sail zone this week. Maritime authorities in China's eastern Fujian province this week banned ships from an area north of Taiwan on Sunday due to "possible falling rocket wreckage." Taiwan's transport ministry said Beijing had also planned to prohibit aircraft from entering the zone -- criss-crossed by a number of international routes -- for around half an hour from 9:30 am, though Chinese authorities later criticised the claim as inaccurate. (4/16)

Orbit Fab Raises $28.5 Million for Satellite Refueling (Source: Space News)
Orbit Fab has raised $28.5 million to accelerate work on satellite refueling. The Colorado company announced the Series A round Monday, led by 8090 Industries. Orbit Fab says the funding will support work on a series of missions to demonstrate satellite refueling technologies and production of a refueling port called RAFTI to enable satellites to be refueled. The company has contracts for three missions for Defense Department agencies and one with Astroscale to refuel its satellite servicing spacecraft. (4/17)

Reports Illustrate Orbital Competition, Congestion (Source: Space News)
Two new reports illustrate the increasing competition and congestion in orbit. The Secure World Foundation (SWF) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published Friday their annual assessments of global anti-satellite weapons, which are based on open-source information. In the CSIS report, retired Space Force Gen. John Raymond noted there are "significant threats" to U.S. space assets from China and Russia, including both destructive weapons and reversible jammers. The SWF report argued there are "increased incentives for development, and potential use, of offensive counter space capabilities" as well as greater consequences for their use. (4/17)

Several Launch Companies Announce Intent to Compete for NSSL Missions (Source: Space News)
The upcoming military launch competition will see a growing list of competitors. Several companies have announced their intent to bid on the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 competition, which has two lanes for established launch providers and new entrants. They range from ULA and SpaceX to companies like Blue Origin, Relativity Space and Rocket Lab that are developing new vehicles to support NSSL missions. Boeing has also suggested it may offer the SLS for the competition. "The more competition there is, the better for us," the chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said last month. (4/17)

China Launches Weather Satellite (Source: Reuters)
China launched a weather satellite late Saturday. A Long March 4B lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9:36 p.m. Eastern and put into orbit the Fengyun-3 07 weather satellite. The launch raised concerns last week in Taiwan because China issued airspace restrictions near the island linked to the launch but originally planned to last three days, adding to heightened tensions from recent military exercises. (4/17)

Chines Astronauts Conduct Spacewalk Outside TSS (Source: Xinhua)
Two Chinese astronauts have conducted another spacewalk outside China's space station. Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu carried out the spacewalk Saturday, which Chinese officials announced only after it had taken place. The astronauts installed equipment on the station to support future experiments. (4/17)

JUICE In Good Health En Route to Jupiter (Source: Space News)
ESA's JUICE mission to Jupiter is in good health after its launch Friday. The spacecraft contacted controllers shortly after deployment from the Ariane 5 upper stage and extended its solar arrays. JUICE, or the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, will make several flybys of Earth and Venus before arriving at Jupiter in 2031, studying its large icy moons of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. [SpaceNews]

Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Splashes Down Off Florida Coast (Source: NASA)
A Dragon cargo spacecraft returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Saturday. The Dragon undocked from the station at 11:05 a.m. Eastern and splashed down off the coast from Tampa, Florida, at 4:58 p.m. The Dragon, completing the CRS-27 mission, returned nearly 2,000 kilograms of experiments and hardware from the station. (4/17)

A Panel on Allied Partners in Space Mission (Source: FNN)
I have a recording of a panel I hosted last week at the Space Force IT Day hosted by AFCEA NOVA. There were a ton of great discussions that took place and you may hear from some of the other ones in future episodes. My panel however was on the topic of Allied Partners in Space Mission. Joining me, I had the honor of speaking with Col. Shay Warakomski, Deputy Commander for the Combined Force Space Component Command with the U.S. Space Force, as well as Wing Commander Sean Langrish, who is the UK Embassy Space Desk Officer with the British Royal Air Force. Click here. (4/14)