March 29, 2024

China May Try to Salvage Lunar Spacecraft Stuck in Transfer Orbits (Source: Space News)
China appears to be trying to salvage a pair of spacecraft intended to go to the moon but were stranded in a transfer orbit. China launched the DRO-A and -B spacecraft March 13, but a malfunction by the rocket's upper stage kept them in low Earth orbit. Tracking data now shows one object from the launch, which may be the two satellites still attached to each other, now in a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of 225,000 kilometers, more than half the distance to the moon, suggesting that spacecraft controllers are trying to salvage the mission. China has not disclosed the mission of the two spacecraft, but they are presumed to be designed to operate in distant retrograde orbit around the moon to test communications technologies. (3/29)

Planet Wins Contract for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring (Source: Space News)
Planet has won a contract to provide hyperspectral data. Planet said Thursday that Carbon Mapper, a nonprofit effort to track greenhouse gases, will pay Planet $20 million from 2026 to 2030 for data to help identify "super-emitter" sources of methane and carbon dioxide. The data will come from Planet's upcoming series of Tanager satellites. Planet reported a 15% percent increase in annual revenues Thursday and, while still not profitable, says it is on a path to show an adjusted EBITDA profit by the fourth quarter of its current fiscal year, which started Feb. 1. (3/29)

Proliferation of Chinese Satellites Threatens US (Source: Air and Space Forces)
Russia and China have showcased their capabilities to disrupt satellites through both kinetic and non-kinetic methods, with China notably advancing its space strategy by significantly increasing its on-orbit assets by 500% since the establishment of the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force in December 2015. This expansion includes deploying over 200 satellites annually, more than half of which are dedicated to surveillance, intensifying the space-based threat to US. (3/28)

Space Force Aims to Bring In Full-Time Reservists This Summer (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force wants to starting bringing in space professionals from Air Force Reserve Command this summer, starting with Reservists in full-time status who volunteer for full-time duty. “I am hopeful that we will open the first transfer window this summer for full-time Guardians since the process to do so largely exists already as part of interservice transfers,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. B Chance Saltzman said. The Air Force Reserve’s main space-focused unit is the 310th Space Wing, with roughly 1,100 military and civilian personnel. The Reserve also has other space units like the 26th Space Aggressor Squadron and the 9th Combat Operations Squadron. (3/28)

Satellite Operators Hopeful for More DoD Business (Source: Space News)
Satellite operators say they are cautiously optimistic that the Defense Department will buy more commercial services. The Pentagon's proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 includes a $134 million line item for "commercial satcom integration," an increase from $71 million in the 2024 budget. Companies that provide commercial satellite connectivity services welcome the increase but noted it was unclear how the Defense Department will use the additional funds. Those companies hope that the funding will go to the Space Force's Commercial Space Office to establish a dedicated working capital fund that could streamline the ability for combatant commands and others to take advantage of commercial services. (3/29)

South Korea Increases Space Spending (Source: Pulse)
South Korea's government is allocating nearly $735 million to space programs in 2024. The budget, announced Thursday by a government ministry, is a 13.6% increase from 2023. The funding will go towards launch vehicle and satellite development as well as work on a space exploration roadmap that includes opportunities to cooperate with NASA on the Artemis program. (3/29)

India's Skyroot Aerospace Tests Solid Fuel Stage for Vikram-1 Rocket (Source: The Hindu)
Indian launch startup has tested the second stage of a small launch vehicle. The company test-fired the solid-fuel stage for its Vikram-1 rocket at a facility operated by the Indian space agency ISRO on Wednesday. The company said the test was a success and keeps the company on track to conduct a first launch of the rocket later this year. (3/29)

X-Bow Systems Lands $18M From Air Force Research Laboratory for Rocket Motor Tech (Source: New Mexico Business Journal)
X-Bow Systems Inc., the Albuquerque-based advanced rocket technology company, announced Tuesday it received an $18 million award from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, a follow-on from an original tech demonstration contract the company landed in March 2021. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) awarded X-Bow the original contract as part of its Rapid Energetics and Advanced Rocket Manufacturing, or RE-ARM, program. (3/28)

Commercial Space Innovator Bernard Schwartz Passes Away at 98 (Source: LinkedIn)
This past week, the United States and the global space industry lost one of the founding fathers and accelerators of Commercial Space, Bernard L. Schwartz, who died at his home on 12 March 2024 at the age of 98.  Super active throughout his life it is no surprise that he was publishing articles on major matters of industry, economy, politic and society as recently as August 2023. (3/20)

Getting Ready for Space Traffic Management (Source: Aerospace World)
Higher airspace operations and space traffic management are the focus of the European Concept of Higher airspace Operations (ECHO2) project, which is running for three years (2023-2026) and includes multiple partners. The aim is to provide an interface between conventional air traffic management (ATM) and higher airspace operations, including space traffic. ECHO2 will include a module for monitoring space launches in Network Manager for increased situational awareness.

There will also be procedural packages covering specific ground and air-ground issues, including the integration of supersonic, hypersonic and suborbital vehicle operations into ATM. Coordination mechanisms between ATM and space traffic management are essential to future operations. ECHO2 will lead to validated solutions that support the further development of this exciting new sector.

Faster Spinning Earth May Cause Timekeepers to Subtract a Second From World Clocks (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a tad faster. Wednesday’s study in a scientific journal says that clocks may have to skip in a second — called a “negative leap second” — around 2029. Ice melting at both of Earth’s poles has been counteracting the planet’s burst of speed and is likely to have delayed the global second of reckoning by about three years. It’s a complicated situation that involves, physics, global power politics, climate change, technology and two types of time. (3/27)

How to Stop Space Exploration Being a Pain in the Back (Source: Cosmos)
Astronauts can sometimes grow up to 8cm after they’ve been in space, and now Australian health specialists are working with NASA to make their work less of a pain in the back. Due to lower gravity in space, astronauts often suffer muscle, bone and back problems. “In the case of astronauts in microgravity, the intervertebral discs can imbibe fluid and the spinal curves flatten, resulting in lengthening of the torso. Astronauts can come back to Earth 5-8 centimetres taller,” Julie Hides says. (3/28)

JAXA Selects Interstellar Technologies as Priority Launch Provider (Source: Space News)
Japan’s space agency has selected startup Interstellar Technologies as a priority launch provider as part of a program to advance the commercialization of space. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Interstellar signed a basic agreement in March. Space One, whose Kairos solid rocket exploded seconds after liftoff earlier this month, was also selected under the JAXA-SMASH (JAXA-Small Satellite Rush Program) initiative. Two further companies also signed basic agreements. These are Space BD and Mitsui Bussan Aerospace, which offer services aimed at the commercial utilization of space. (3/28)

FCC Lets SpaceX Expand Testing of Cellular Starlink for Phones (Source: PC Magazine)
The FCC today issued an experimental license to SpaceX to test cellular Starlink in 10 more US locations; that comes after it granted licenses for two dozen other locations in December. Originally, the FCC only granted SpaceX permission to test the cellular Starlink system in select cities, such as Mountain View, California; Dallas, Texas; and Pie Town, New Mexico. But now the commission is letting the company test the technology “state-wide” in California, Washington, Texas, and Hawaii. (3/28)

Starlink's FCC Request For More Spectrum Denied (Source: Payload)
Starlink’s bid for more spectrum allowance in the US isn’t going as it hoped. Yesterday, the FCC shot down its request to use regions of spectrum in the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands and 2GHz bands that include bands exclusive to Globalstar ($GSAT) and Dish. Starlink would have used these bands for its mobile connectivity service. The FCC’s reasoning was that those bands are unequipped to handle a large LEO constellation’s transmissions. The original application for the bands was filed by SpaceX over a year ago. (3/28)

NASA's New Asteroid Sample Is Already Rewriting Solar System History (Source: Scientific American)
Their analyses are preliminary, but it seems that Bennu’s original form was shockingly familiar across the vast gulf of eons. Billions of years ago Bennu was apparently part of a water-soaked world now long lost and otherwise forgotten, one with a beating geologic heart and an abundance of prebiotic organic material. In many respects, this nameless world could have borne a passing resemblance to the early, lifeless Earth. “Bennu literally carries the building blocks of life within its minerals,” says Louisa Preston. Firmer conclusions are still to come, but already it’s clear that these precious pieces of Bennu harbor immense potential. (3/28)

Astronomers Watch in Real Time as Epic Supernova Potentially Births a Black Hole (Source: Gizmodo)
A team of astronomers recently captured a series of images of a distant star as it went supernova, providing a remarkable play-by-play of stellar death and possibly the birth of a black hole. The timing of supernovae can be difficult to predict, usually leaving astronomers with only the opportunity to image their aftermath, namely starbursts of gas and dust. However, the recent team managed to catch a supernova in the act, just 22 million light-years from Earth. (3/27)

On-Orbit Servicing Mission Planned for Military Satellite in 2025 (Source: Space News)
In a mission targeted for 2025, a robot satellite in geostationary orbit around 22,000 miles above Earth will rendezvous with a military satellite and attempt to affix a new imaging sensor payload on the spacecraft. The servicing vehicle — equipped with a robot arm developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Naval Research Laboratory — will seek to connect the payload to the satellite’s launch adapter ring. This ring, which originally connected the satellite to its rocket during launch, will provide the attach point for an electro-optical imaging sensor payload developed by the startup Katalyst Space Technologies. (3/27)

Japanese Lunar Lander Company ispace Raises $53.5 Million in Stock Sale (Source: Space News)
A Japanese lunar lander developer ispace has raised $53.5 million in a stock sale to help fund development of upcoming missions. The Tokyo-based company, which went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange nearly a year ago, announced March 28 that it completed a sale of 10.25 million shares of stock, raising approximately 8.1 billion yen ($53.5 million). The shares were sold to institutional investors outside of Japan.

The company said 1.8 billion yen will be used to cover part of the cost of two relay satellites being built by Blue Canyon Technologies to handle communications between the farside lander and the Earth. It is spending 2.1 billion yen for part of the cost of the mission’s launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, while 3.2 billion yen will go towards production of the lander itself. The company will use the remaining 1 billion yen for other working capital. (3/28)

We've Glimpsed Something That Behaves Like a Particle of Gravity (Source: New Scientist)
Physicists have been searching for gravitons, the hypothetical particles thought to carry gravity, for decades. These have never been detected in space, but graviton-like particles have now been seen in a semiconductor. Using these to understand gravitons’ behavior could help unite the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, which have long been at odds. (3/28)

ESA's SMOS and Swarm Satellites Uncover the Magnitude of a Solar Storm's Impact on Earth (Source: ESA)
On March 23 a significant celestial event unfolded as the Sun unleashed an extraordinary amount of electromagnetic radiation towards Earth. This solar activity not only produced the awe-inspiring aurora borealis, lighting up the night sky in a dazzling display of colors but also brought to the forefront the capabilities of ESA's two unassuming satellites: SMOS and Swarm. Together, these satellites embarked on a new mission to track and analyze the effects of this substantial solar storm on Earth's magnetic field, marking a pivotal moment in space weather observation. (3/27)

Florida Tech Launches Florida Tech Research Institute (Source: Florida Tech)
Florida Tech is establishing a specialized research institute that will substantially enhance the university’s capacity to conduct applied research for the Department of Defense and the defense industrial base sector. FTRI will be an independent, nonprofit entity, fully owned by the university, which features its own board of directors, its own networks and far more stringent security than the rest of the school. Marco Carvalho, executive director of the L3Harris Institute for Assured Information, will serve as executive director. (3/28)

Titan’s Dark Dunes Could be Made From Comets (Source: Science News)
The dark dunes of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, could have fallen from space. More than enough cometary material may have struck Titan to have formed its vast dune fields, planetary scientist William Bottke reported March 12 at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Computer simulations suggest that the enigmatic drifts formed from objects hailing from the primordial Kuiper Belt, a modern source of comets beyond the orbit of Neptune. The proposed scenario could also explain the presence of similar material observed on other worlds. (3/14)