May 19, 2023

Spain's PLD Space Prepares for Suborbital Test Launch (Source: Space News)
Spanish launch startup PLD Space plans to conduct a suborbital launch before the end of the month to test technologies for its small orbital launch vehicle. PLD Space said May 18 that it conducted a static-fire test a day earlier of its Miura 1 rocket on the pad at El Arenosillo, a site on the coast in southwestern Spain operated by the government’s National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA). In the test, the rocket fired its engine for five seconds to confirm it was working as intended.

The test clears the way for a suborbital launch of Miura 1 in a window approved by INTA that runs through May 31. The company said it could not disclose a specific launch date, citing security, weather, and the “dynamics involved in the launch operations.” It said that, once it sets a date after completing an INTA flight review, it will announce it up to 48 hours in advance. (5/18)

SSC Delivers Final Space Sensor Payload for Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (Source; Executive Gov)
Space Systems Command has delivered the second and final U.S.-developed space sensor payload scheduled to launch aboard Japan’s geostationary satellites. SSC said Wednesday the payloads were developed in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratories as part of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System-Hosted Payload program. According to the command, the payloads will contribute to the U.S. Space Force’s space domain awareness mission and the Department of Defense’s integrated deterrence strategy in the Indo-Pacific. (5/18)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites From Florida, Recovers Booster (Source: NSF)
SpaceX's Starlink Group 6-3 flew on Friday from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The launch was just over five days after the last flight from the same pad. This broke the pad’s turnaround time between launches. The previous turnaround record time was five days, three hours, and 38 minutes. Fast turnarounds between launches from the same pad are important to keeping up SpaceX’s current launch cadence. The booster landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas positioned 636 km downrange in the Atlantic. This core has previously flown the CRS-26, OneWeb #16, Starlink 6-1, and Intelsat 40e/TEMPO missions. (5/19)

Inmarsat Buys 3 GEO-Orbit L-band Satellites from Startup Builder Swissto12 (Source: Space Intel Report)
Mobile satellite services provider Inmarsat has purchased three satellites from startup prime contractor Swissto12 to provide resilience for Inmarsat’s L-band safety-of-life services in geostationary orbit. In an extraordinary leap of faith in a company that has never built a satellite, Inmarsat has contracted three identical Swissto12 HummingSat platforms, all scheduled to launch in 2026. (5/19)

Space Force Looks at Options for Relieving Cape Canaveral Launch Congestion (Source: Space News)
With increasing activity pushing Florida’s launch sites to their limits, the Space Force is studying ways to move some of that activity elsewhere, including to California. In a presentation to the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) May 15, Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, whose roles include director of the Eastern Range and director of launch and range operations for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, noted the launch facilities at Cape Canaveral are nearing capacity.

“The Eastern Range is almost done doing everything it can do,” he said. That has included allocating three unused launch pads in March to four companies developing small launch vehicles, with a second round planned for larger vehicles. “When that’s done, we’re going to be very, very close to out of pads on the Eastern Range.” When that is complete, there will be limited options, he suggested. Additional launch sites at the neighboring Kennedy Space Center could be built, but that would require working with NASA.

He added he was working with Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island to support additional launches there, “but even they’ll be tapped out eventually.” That could open the door to more creative solutions. Purdy noted the Space Force studied the ability to conduct launches to polar orbits, traditionally flown from the Western Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base, from Florida. “It turns out you can,” he said, with SpaceX launching several Falcon 9 missions to polar orbits in recent years from Florida. Click here. (5/19)

SpiderOak Gains Investors (Source: Space News)
Space cybersecurity company SpiderOak has secured new strategic investors. The company said Thursday that Accenture Ventures, Raytheon Technologies' RTX Ventures, and Stellar Ventures have all agreed to invest in SpiderOak, but did not disclose the size of their investments. The strategic investments are separate from the $16.4 million Series C funding round that SpiderOak announced in January. The company, founded in 2007, has developed a cybersecurity system called OrbitSecure used to protect satellites and ground infrastructure. (5/19)

JWST Astronomers Prepare for "Cycle 2" Observations (Source: Scientific American)
Astronomers are gearing up for a second round of observations by the James Webb Space Telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute informed astronomers last week of its selections for the telescope's Cycle 2 observations that will start next month. The institute received about 1,600 proposals but could select only 249 given available time on the telescope. Studies of the early universe and of exoplanets are among topics that secured time on JWST, along with solar system observations that include observations of plumes on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. (5/19)

Earth Likely Safe From Large Asteroid in Near Term (Source: Space.com)
Earth is safe — probably — from a civilization-destroying asteroid impact for the next millennium. Scientists analyzed the orbits of asteroids at least one kilometer across, big enough to cause worldwide devastation if they hit the Earth. None of the known asteroids in that class pose a significant impact risk to the Earth over the next 1,000 years, with the one that poses the most risk having just a 0.015% chance of coming as close to the Earth as the moon during that time. Astronomers believe they have discovered about 95% of the near Earth asteroids at least one kilometer across, but the study noted it did not consider smaller objects that could still wreak havoc if they hit the Earth. (5/19)

Don’t Blame Tuberville for Losing Space Command (Source: AL.com)
Don’t blame Tommy Tuberville for Alabama losing Space Command to Colorado. Alabama’s senior senator has done some dumb, racist stuff lately, but Tuberville had nothing to do with this. Nothing is what he’s good at. Tuberville is no more capable of affecting this decision than he is to control the weather. Instead, Blame Donald Trump. And then blame Joe Biden.

“Administration officials said the push not to headquarter Spacecom in Huntsville has nothing to do with Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s blocking of at least 234 of Biden’s military nominations in protest against the Pentagon’s abortion policy,” NBC reported. “Still, one official said, ‘He’s not helping.’” But let’s be clear. There’s a much more plausible explanation. Alabama is a bright red Republican state. Colorado is a blue, Democratic state with purplish tendencies. The Biden Administration has every political reason to give Space Command to Colorado. It has nothing to lose by taking it from Alabama. (5/17)

North Korea Shows Kim Jong Un Examining a Military Spy Satellite that May be Launched Soon (Source: AP)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined a finished military spy satellite, which his country is expected to launch soon, during a visit to an aerospace facility where he described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for countering the U.S. and South Korea. Kim during Tuesday’s visit approved an unspecified “future action plan” in preparations for launching the satellite, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday. North Korea hasn't disclosed a target date for the launch, which some analysts say may be in the next few weeks.

That launch would use long-range missile technology banned by past U.N. Security Council resolutions, although previous missile and rockets tests have demonstrated North Korea's ability to deliver a satellite into space. There are more questions, however, about the satellite's capability. Some South Korean analysts say the satellite shown in North Korean state media photos appears too small and crudely designed to support high-resolution imagery. Photos that North Korean media released from past missile launches were low-resolution. (5/16)

Embry-Riddle Student-Built Rocket Flies Higher Than a Commercial Airliner, Breaking Records (Source: Gizmodo)
They call themselves the Cygnus Suborbitals, a team of nine undergraduate students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott Campus. In April, the team sent a rocket on a record-breaking flight, pushing the boundaries for student-led projects. The rocket, called Deneb, took off from the Friends of Amateur Rocketry facility in California’s Mojave Desert on April 16. Deneb, with a total burn time of 26.1 seconds, reached an apogee of 47,732 feet while attaining a top speed of 1,150 miles per hour. The rocket was named after Deneb, the brightest star in the Cygnus constellation. (5/18)

Zeno Power Gets $30 Million to Build Radioisotope-Powered Satellite for U.S. Military (Source: Space NewS)
Zeno Power Systems was awarded a $30 million contract to build a radioisotope-powered satellite for the U.S. Air Force by 2025. The four-year contract is a “strategic funding increase” agreement that provides $15 million in government funds, matched by $15 million from private investors, the company’s co-founder and chief executive Tyler Bernstein told SpaceNews.

Zeno, a startup founded in 2018, develops radioisotope power systems (RPS), a type of nuclear energy technology that converts the heat from decaying nuclear materials directly into electricity. Bernstein said the company designed an RPS concept for small satellites with the goal of making the technology more accessible. NASA for decades has used RPS to power deep-space probes but the technology has not been commercialized due to cost and high regulatory hurdles. (5/18)

Varda Space Raising New Tranche of Funding at $500M Post-Money Valuation (Source: Tech Crunch)
Varda Space Industries, the in-space manufacturing startup that wants to revolutionize the production of pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and more, is in the process of raising $25 million in new capital that would put its valuation at around $500 million after investment. The fundraising comes at a crucial time for Varda, which is preparing to send its first spacecraft to orbit. The startup has ambitions to operate multiple autonomous “space factories” in orbit capable of manufacturing sensitive materials that can only be produced in a zero-G environment. (5/17)

Why China Fears Starlink (Source: The Economist)
Beware of Starlink, says the People’s Liberation Army. The mega-constellation of satellites, designed to provide off-grid high-bandwidth internet access, is run by Spacex, a private American firm. But officials in Washington are surely taking advantage of it, warns the Liberation Army Daily. When Starlink was made available to Ukraine last year, after Russia’s invasion of the country, the army’s newspaper called it an “accomplice” of the “hegemony-obsessed us”. Never mind that it was Ukraine that asked SpaceX for help.

Starlink has been vital to Ukraine’s war effort. The satellite links have allowed soldiers to communicate, identify targets and upload videos for the world to see. The system is hard to jam. From the perspective of China, this not only puts its friend Russia at a disadvantage, it also raises concerns about Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims. If Taiwan were given access to Starlink, it would make a Chinese invasion that much more difficult. (5/18)

FCC Rejects Dish 5G plan That Could Have Made Starlink Broadband “Unusable” (Source: Ars Technica)
The Federal Communications Commission sided with Starlink in a battle against Dish Network, rejecting a Dish proposal that could have degraded Internet service for Starlink satellite users. In a 4-0 vote, the FCC decided not to authorize high-powered terrestrial mobile service in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band that is already used by Starlink customer terminals for downloads. The vote "ensure[s] the present and future of satellite services in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band. We recognize that millions of people rely on services in this band—and we want to see that continue," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said. (5/18)

NASA Harnesses US Navy Spinning Device to Simulate Spaceflight (Source: NASA)
A monster of a machine is now allowing NASA scientists to study on Earth the disorientation that astronauts may encounter in space. This machine is the U.S. Navy’s Kraken, a device that can vigorously spin occupants like laundry churning in a washing machine. A new collaboration with the Navy will allow NASA scientists to use the Kraken to build strategies that aim to ease motion sickness. Such strategies may not only help astronauts but could also offer treatment options for patients with balance issues here on Earth. (5/17)

NASA Begins Feedback Process for Moon to Mars Architecture (Source: NASA)
As NASA builds a blueprint for human exploration throughout the solar system for the benefit of humanity, efforts to advance the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture concept development approach are underway. NASA will host a virtual webinar at 2 p.m. EDT, Monday, May 22, in which leaders from the agency’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate will discuss how U.S. commercial industry, academic communities, and others can contribute to NASA’s evolving Moon to Mars architecture approach.

NASA released the outcomes of its first Architecture Concept Review in April and is beginning the process to seek feedback that will feed forward into future iterations of the agency’s Architecture Definition Document, a deep dive into the Moon to Mars exploration strategy campaign segments, the architecture elements and functional allocations, and crewed and uncrewed reference missions. (5/18)

US Will Use AI to Track Orbiting Objects (Source: Defense One)
The U.S. military is planning to use artificial intelligence to track objects in space—including China’s. The number of orbiting objects U.S. Space Command needs to keep tabs on has almost doubled to “over 46,000” since it was re-established as a unified command in 2019, said its commander, Gen. James Dickinson.

Tracking everything from defunct satellites and active satellites to rocket bodies generates a massive amount of data, Dickinson said. His command is working to “train an AI capability to look at that, and then tell us what we really need to spend our time on.” The general said his command will use AI to “exploit” data generated by space operations “to the maximum extent possible,” freeing his people to tackle the most important tasks. (5/17)

SpinLaunch Hires Leading Aerospace Investment Strategist as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer (Source: SpinLaunch)
SpinLaunch announced that aerospace-industry veteran Matthew Mejía has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. Mejía comes to SpinLaunch with more than 20 years’ experience in aerospace finance, investment banking, consulting, and executive leadership, as well as a successful record of raising and deploying billions of capital in the aerospace industry. (5/17)

ULA Identifies Cause of Centaur Test Anomaly (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
ULA says the “anomaly” was caused by a hydrogen leak, causing the flammable fuel to accumulate inside the test rig before it ignited. The blast damaged the test stand and caved in the forward dome of the Centaur test article, according to Tory Bruno. The leak originated in a “steel pressure vessel” on the Centaur test article, Bruno said Tuesday. (5/18)

Orlando Company Tech Makes Solid Rocket Propellent More Energetic (Source: Helicon, SPACErePORT)
Orlando-based Helicon Chemical produces additives for high-performance fuels, increasing their energy output and reducing the fuel consumption of turbine and rocket engines. Solid rocket fuel contains aluminum powder, which gives more energy as it burns. But aluminum is an inefficient fuel. Getting aluminum to burn cleanly has been the holy grail of solid rocket development for decades. Helicon claims it has solved the problem.

It’s like the difference between burning firewood, with lots of smoke and soot going up the chimney, compared to clean burning propane. They accomplish this by intermixing aluminum with other fuel ingredients at a molecular level. Instead of aluminum burning separately and inefficiently, it burns uniformly. Fuels and propellants containing Helicon’s aluminum nanoparticles exhibit increased burning rates and energy densities, while maintaining or improving fuel inertness, for space launch vehicles, military weapon systems, and hypersonic vehicles. (5/18)