April 18, 2023

SpaceX: The Company’s Future IPO Prospects (Source: Yahoo! Finance)
SpaceX is one of the largest private companies in the world. Last valued at around $140 billion I think thereabouts. They don't need to IPO-- they don't necessarily need the money right away. They've raised a ton of cash. But another option, actually, is spinning off Starlink, its satellite system, instead. There's about 3,500 satellites in the Starlink system. They have over 1 million subscribers. So that's a way to kind of unlock some value for Elon Musk and SpaceX if they need to. I think [a successful Starship launch] would be very good for the company's potential IPO prospects in the future. (4/17)

Chinese Satellite Goes on Inexplicable Sightseeing Tour After Researchers Put AI in Control (Source: Gizmodo)
There’s been plenty of conversation around using AI in writing and art, but researchers in China have evidently brought machine intelligence to spaceflight. An AI was allowed to control a satellite’s camera for a full day, during which time it took photos of different locations on Earth—and it chose targets for reasons that eluded the researchers.

According to a report from the South China Morning Post, researchers controlled the Qimingxing 1 satellite with a ground-based AI system, as detailed in a paper published in the journal Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University. The research team is a part of the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, and the goal of the experiment was to determine how artificial intelligence might help streamline Qimingxing 1's Earth observation workflow through enhanced selectivity of different locations on the planet. (4/17)

Mapping Dark Matter Like Never Before (Source: Space Daily)
A new groundbreaking image from one of the world's most powerful telescopes that reveals the most detailed map of dark matter distributed across one quarter of the sky, and deep into the cosmos, offers scientists a perspective that may lead to new methods to demystify dark matter. The research that led to the image, completed by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration, also provides further support to Einstein's theory of general relativity, which has been the foundation of the standard model of cosmology for more than a century. Details explaining the scientific method behind the new image are articulated in a set of three papers. (4/18)

EU Turns to US Launchers as Ariane Alternatives for Galileo Deployment (Source: Politico)
The European Commission wants to cut deals with private American space companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch cutting-edge European navigation satellites due to continued delays to Europe's next generation Ariane rocket system. In a draft request to EU countries seen by POLITICO, the Commission is planning to ask for a green light to negotiate "an ad-hoc security agreement" with the U.S. for its rocket companies to "exceptionally launch Galileo satellites.”

The Commission reckons only SpaceX's Falcon 9 heavy launcher and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan system are up to the job of sending the EU's new geo-navigation Galileo satellites — which weigh around 700 kilograms each — into orbit. Seeking U.S. help to keep its flagship space program running puts a dent in the EU’s idea of strategic autonomy. Galileo is a point of pride for the EU, as it seeks to become less dependent on other regions for critical infrastructure, services and technology — a quest strongly backed by Paris. (4/18)

Next-Generation Satellite Network Could Connect Earth with Bases on Moon's Far Side (Source: Space.com)
As NASA's cargo and crew programs for the International Space Station increasingly look to commercial providers for launch services, other sectors of the space agency are increasingly looking to private companies to add critical infrastructure to support NASA missions. To that end, Lockheed Martin has created Crescent Space Services LLC, a subsidiary aimed at operating a service-based network of communication and navigation satellites to support future missions to the moon, the company announced. (4/17)

Axiom Announces New Government Human Spaceflight Program (Source: Space News)
Axiom Space has introduced a new program to allow countries to create human spaceflight programs without needing to develop their own infrastructure or other capabilities. The Axiom Space Access Program, announced April 17, offers countries a tiered approach to conducting research on the International Space Station or Axiom’s future commercial space station, as well as flying their own astronauts. The program is effectively a “space program in a box,” said Tejpaul Bhatia, chief revenue officer at Axiom, in an interview during the 38th Space Symposium. “The real key is that turnkey access at affordable, sustainable and predictable rates.” (4/18)

UK Startup Space DOTS Wants to Test Space Materials (Source: NextWeb)
The burgeoning industry around space technology is based heavily on hardware, but the materials that hardware is built from need to undergo rigorous testing on Earth before they’re sent out into orbit and beyond. Space DOTS is a startup that wants to transform material testing in the space industry by skipping the tests down here, and sending the materials straight up into space.

“What we do is a smartphone-sized version of a testing lab that anyone would use on ground to test materials’ properties before actually going into space. We have shrunk everything down so that it can be launched very quickly and easily at a lower cost, directly into orbit,” explains co-founder and CEO Bianca Cefalo. “Instead of going through the entire process of iteration, failure, and iteration on the ground, you can just ‘fail fast, iterate’ faster, directly in space at a cost that is not going to break the bank of anybody doing so.” (4/17)

A 'ChatGPT' For Satellite Photos Already Exists (Source: Defense One)
Scene: A U.S. adversary is at work on a new type of drone, ship, or aircraft and it’s your job to find it, wherever it is. Not long ago, that task would take a massive effort of human, signals, and open-source intelligence collection. But a researcher from AI company Synthetaic has created a tool that will allow users to find virtually any large object that exists in any satellite photo of the Earth within just one day.

It’s also the sort of capability the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is also looking to develop, and it could radically shift strategic advantage on the battlefield. Synthetaic's satellite image scanning tool is called Rapid Automatic Image Categorization, or RAIC. “Our goal is to be able to ingest the entire Planet daily take [of Earth images] and be able to process that all in less than 24 hours. (4/17)

Stuck Valve Scrubs Starship Launch Attempt in Texas (Source: Space News)
SpaceX scrubbed its first attempt to launch its combined Starship/Super Heavy vehicle Monday, delaying the launch to Thursday. SpaceX said a pressurization issue in the booster linked to a frozen valve forced them to scrub the launch about 10 minutes before the scheduled 9:20 a.m. Eastern launch from Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX has rescheduled the launch for Thursday. The launch is intended to send Starship on a "nearly orbital" trajectory, splashing down near Hawaii 90 minutes after liftoff. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk lowered expectations before the first launch attempt, calling it "not something that is a sure thing at all." (4/18)

Space Force Wants Better Tracking of 'Agressor Satellites' (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is investing in new systems to track "aggressor satellites" that stalk U.S. assets. Military leaders have sounded the alarm about actions by Chinese and Russian satellites than maneuver close to American ones. To counter this, the Space Force is increasing funding for ground- and space-based sensors to gain a better understanding of the situation in orbit. A proposed $100 million increase in space tracking programs for 2024 would fund ground-based radar, optical telescopes and surveillance satellites in orbit, as well as space-tracking data from private companies. That effort includes a particular focus on activities in the GEO belt. (4/18)

Lockheed Martin GEO Cubesat Passes Rendezvous Test (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin says it has conducted a successful rendezvous and proximity operations demonstration in GEO. Lockheed Martin's In-space Upgrade Satellite System (LINUSS) experiment, launched as part of the USSF-44 mission last fall, used two cubesats that started 750 kilometers apart and maneuvered to within 300 meters of each other. One of the cubesats performed the role of a servicing vehicle and the other was the resident space object. Lockheed plans to continue the experiment and bring the two satellites closer together. The experiment will support long-term plans to develop servicing vehicles for the commercial and government markets by Lockheed. (4/18)

Space Force, Millennium, and Firefly Prepare for Tactical Responsiveness Test (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is preparing for a demonstration of tactically responsive space. In that test, Millennium Space Systems and the Space Systems Command's Space Safari program office will have 60 hours to transport the Victus Nox small satellite to Vandenberg Space Force Base and integrate it with a Firefly Aerospace rocket. Space Force leaders will later give orders for Victus Nox to be prepared to launch within 24 hours. Victus Nox is the space segment of the Tactically Responsive Space-3 mission, which also includes a goal of commissioning the new satellite within 48 hours of launch.

That mission is just one option being studied for rapidly deploying space systems. The Space Force is also studying buying commercial assets or data to meet needs for timely services. Rather than embracing one approach, the Space Force is likely to adopt them all to meet its goals for tactically responsive space, one official said. (4/18)

ESA Making Case for Human Spaceflight Program (Source: Space News)
ESA is working to make the case for a European human spaceflight program at a summit later this year. A report by an independent advisory group in March called on Europe to develop its own ability to fly astronauts to low Earth orbit and even the moon. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said the agency is working on scenarios for such capabilities, including high-level architectures and cost estimates, to present to ESA and European Union member states at a second European space summit in November. That would allow ESA to then refine plans for specific programs to be funded at its next ministerial meeting in 2025. (4/18)

US Export Control Rules Being Updated for Space (Source: Space News)
Updated U.S. export control rules for space are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The State and Commerce Departments announced plans to update the U.S. Munitions List (USML) in 2019, and that update, including updated rules for launch vehicles, spacecraft and related articles, is expected before the end of the year. One important topic that is likely to be addressed by the new rules is in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing, which today includes technologies that fall under the USML and thus are subject to the more stringent ITAR export control regime. That makes it more difficult for companies in the field to work with foreign customers. (4/18)

Streamlined Licensing Seeks to Keep Up with Space Innovation (Source: Space News)
Efforts to streamline and accelerate space licensing procedures to keep up with rapid innovation are bearing fruit. A panel of regulators said at Space Symposium Monday that they are seeing progress in reducing times to review license applications, among other activities. NOAA now takes just 15 days to issue a commercial remote sensing license, down from 50-100 days three years ago. The head of the FCC's new Space Bureau said the regulator hopes to introduce streamlined rules for satellite applications "really soon" after closing a comment period. (4/18)

Amazon's AWS Picks 14 Companies for Accelerator Program (Source: Space News)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has picked a new class of companies for its space accelerator. The four-week program provides technical and business support for early-stage space companies looking to develop their businesses using the cloud. AWS selected 14 companies from the U.S. and Europe for this third round of the accelerator program. The program will culminate July 19 in a demonstration day in San Francisco. (4/18)

NASA's RHESSI Satellite to Re-Enter (Source: NASA)
A defunct NASA space science satellite is scheduled to reenter on Wednesday. The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), launched in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018, is forecast to reenter at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, plus or minus 16 hours. Parts of the 300-kilogram satellite may survive reentry and reach the ground but NASA said the risk anyone would be harmed is approximately 1 in 2,467. (4/18)

Europe's Iris2 Solicitation Still a Work in Progress (Source: Space Intel Report)
The European Commission has given itself plenty of room to change contract rules for its Iris2 secure connectivity constellation based on how industry responds to the initial request, including what budget to allocate to its initial phase. In a series of responses to industry questions about the procurement, the Commission suggested that the request for expressions of interest issued March 23, with responses due April 26, is only its opening position. The Commission will spend four weeks reviewing the responses and refining its requirements. (4/17)

Satellites Threaten Astronomy, But a Few Scientists See an Opportunity (Source: New York Times)
Many astronomers have lodged strong criticisms of the current and future effects of satellite constellations on their studies. But Dr. Burns and other scientists are thinking about making cosmic lemonade out of orbital lemons. What if, they ask, all those interfering satellites could help advance the field of astronomy as they expand access on the ground to satellite signals?

What these astronomers see is the potential for a new type of telescope that mega-constellations could provide. In a forthcoming proposal that Dr. Burns and his colleagues intend to share with private companies building satellite constellations, they hope that thousands of tiny gamma-ray detectors can hitch a ride into space with the satellites. Taken alone, each individual detector would be weak. But operating together inside a mega-constellation of many thousands of satellites, the power of such a system would rival Swift and Fermi, two gamma-ray observatories in space that are managed by NASA. (4/17)

The Truth is Up There: American Spy Balloons During the Cold War (Source: Space Review)
A Chinese spy balloon that floated over the United States earlier this year brought renewed attention to the use of high-altitude balloons for reconnaissance. Dwayne Day examines American efforts to develop such balloons during the Cold War and their links to satellite reconnaissance. Click here. (4/17)
 
Go Big or Go Home? (Source: Space Review)
Earlier this month Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy when it failed to raise more money, while Relativity Space has shifted away from its own small launch vehicle after a single launch. Jeff Foust reports in the changing fortunes for the small launch vehicle industry. Click here. (4/17)
 
Internet of Things: the China Perspective (Source: Space Review)
China is seeking to become a dominant player in many technologies, including Internet of Things. Henk H.F. Smid describes those efforts and the role space plays in those plans. Click here. (4/17)

How to Rapidly Produce High-Volume Satellite Structures (Source: Space News)
Beyond Gravity manufactured the satellite panels for OneWeb at its site in Titusville, Florida and delivered them to OneWeb’s manufacturing factory, Airbus OneWeb Satellites in Merritt Island, Florida. The satellite structures were produced using the patented Automated Potting Machine (APM) Process for the installation of inserts. The APM process—developed by Beyond Gravity—is a revolutionary production method that uses a tailored CNC machine to rapidly position special inserts filled with adhesive into the satellite structure’s sandwich panels—significantly reducing time and costs. (4/17)

Gravity Can Transform Into Light, Mind-Bending Physics Paper Suggests (Source: Live Science)
Gravity can turn itself into light, but only if space-time behaves in just the right way, a research team has found. Under normal circumstances, you cannot get something from nothing. Specifically, the Standard Model of particle physics, the reigning theory that explains the subatomic zoo of particles, usually forbids the transformation of massless particles into massive ones. While particles in the Standard Model constantly change into each other through various reactions and processes, the photon — the massless carrier of light — cannot normally change into other particles.

But if the conditions are just right, it is possible — for example, when a photon interacts with a heavy atom, it can spontaneously split off to become an electron and a positron, both of which are massive particles. With this well-known example in hand, a team of theoretical physicists asked if gravity itself could transform into other particles. We can view gravity through a quantum lens, picturing the gravitational force as carried by countless invisible particles called gravitons. While our picture of quantum gravity is far from complete, we do know that these gravitons would behave like any other fundamental particle, including potentially transforming. (4/17)

Rocket Startups Face Adapt-or-Die Moment Amid Investment Drought (Source: Reuters)
Demand for sending satellites into space remains strong, but U.S. rocket startups are taking drastic measures to survive a tight funding environment where fears have been exacerbated by the bankruptcy of Virgin Orbit. The industry faces an interesting dichotomy. Demand has surged from launching a few satellites on small rockets to launching swarms of satellites at once using bigger rockets, even as investors shy away from the sector in search of safer bets.

Venture investment in space startups has dropped 50% year-over-year in 2022 to $21.9 billion, according to VC firm Space Capital. As the cost of capital rises with the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, investors are less incentivized to fund capital intensive projects that do not have a clear revenue stream or path to profitability, leaving many space startups scrambling for funds. Click here. (4/17)

Space Launch: An Oversupply or a Shortfall? (Source: McKinsey)
As the space economy expands, satellite constellations are proliferating. But launch providers must make tricky decisions on how to ramp up capacity. Governments are also expanding their satellite fleets for multiple missions. In the future, greater space exploration, the launch of commercial space stations, and even tourism could further increase launch needs.

In tandem with this rise in activity, the space industry is transitioning to a new generation of launch vehicles, leading to a range of possibilities in terms of availability and capacity. In light of these dynamics, both customers (commercial and government satellite owners) and suppliers must make tricky calculations to balance short-term opportunities against the imperative to control costs and flex to longer-term demand. Launch demand is highly dependent on which constellations materialize and to what degree.

If the high-demand scenario plays out, demand would rise quickly and then gradually fall as constellations reach a steady state—assuming there are no more new entrants. The trajectory in the base-case scenario would be slightly different, with demand peaking by 2028 and then remaining steady. In the low-case scenario, demand would remain around current levels up to 2027 and then dip briefly, since fewer of the concepts deployed require continuous replenishment. Starlink’s evolution is a prominent factor in all scenarios. (4/17)

New Report Examines SpaceX Starship's Revolutionary Potential (Source: Parabolic Arc)
While Mars may be Elon Musk’s obsession, a fleet of Starships could open the floodgates to exploration and development throughout cislunar space, the asteroid belt, and beyond. The words paradigm shift and game changer are used so often that they have become cliches. In this case, they could be justified. Starship could render every other launch vehicle in the world obsolete. It could make SpaceX dominant in space and give the United States a significant lead in a growing rivalry with China for dominance on the final frontier. (4/13)

Lamborn Urges Military Leaders to be Less Secretive on Space Issues (Source: Space News)
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) said it might be time for DoD to start more open discussions about the national security challenges the US faces in the space domain. “There are things having to do with threats from near-peer adversaries that the public needs to know about,” Lamborn said. Lamborn chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee which oversees missile defense, national security space and nuclear weapons programs.

The “overclassification” of military space programs and policy discussions has been a concern on Capitol Hill for some time, Lamborn noted. It’s a priority for HASC chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) because classification restricts the committee’s ability to share information with colleagues across the House and Senate, Lamborn said. (4/17)

Billionaire Space Flight Isn’t About Colonization. It’s Stoking a New Cold War (Source: Truthout)
The world has thoroughly entered the second space race, and the military applications of emerging spaceflight technologies may be central to global conflicts in the near future. Exiting a lull in recent decades in global space investment, China has recently completed the world’s second operational space station — prompting an alarmist US response. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson warned on July 5, 2022, of a Chinese “takeover” of the moon, claiming, “We must be very concerned that China is landing on the Moon and saying: It’s ours now and you stay out. … China’s space program is a military program. … “What do you think is happening on the Chinese space station? They learn there how to destroy other people’s satellites.” Click here. (4/16) https://truthout.org/articles/billionaire-space-flight-isnt-about-colonization-its-stoking-a-new-cold-war/

Customers Showing Interest in Programs on New Russian Orbital Station (Source: TASS)
Certain customers have expressed interest in implementing their research programs on the platform of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROS), Director of the Institute of Medical-Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences told TASS.

"Discussions are now underway that there are tasks that can be solved in interests of the national economy owing to ROS," Oleg Orlov said. "A meeting of the reviewing and technical council of Roscosmos that is considering and approving research programs for their implementation has been held just recently. It was discussed at the meeting that specific customers are already present in certain programs for a number of areas that are considering implementation of their interests on the ROS platform. It seems to be this program should be sufficiently integrated and interesting, and will make a step forward," he noted. (4/17)

Rare Red Asteroids Around Neptune Could Reveal the Secrets of the Early Solar System (Source: Space.com)
Neptune is famously a vivid blue, but the asteroids orbiting near it are decidedly not. An international team of astronomers recently took a peek at Neptune's Trojan asteroids and found that they all seem to be some shade of red — far redder than most asteroids in the solar system. The Neptunian Trojans are a cloud of asteroids whose orbit around the sun parallels Neptune's. They hang out in the gravitationally stable points between Neptune and the sun, or between Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto. First discovered in 2001, fewer than 50 of these rocky bodies have been described to date. (4/16)