If you've got a vessel [docked at the port], it might be an idle piece of hardware for the space industry and it's frustrating a cargo ship coming in to discharge its cargo, then that creates problems. So, it's a balancing act for us, and the whole reason for the wharf study is that if you take all the launch service providers out there today, and you add up the assets they say they're going to bring to Port Canaveral for recovery operations, we don't have enough space.
There are no more developable parcels in Port Canaveral. We are very tight on space and Blue Origin is expected to start bringing their maritime assets in within the next two months. So, we will have lots of space traffic in the port in addition to our normal crews and cargo activities. Now there are some solutions. They'll involve the federal partners and a lot of money. The wharf study is supposed to be published sometime very soon, and we all can be talking about it. (4/9)
NASA, Receives Extra Funding for IT Modernization (Source: FNN)
NASA won its first award from the Technology Modernization Fund. NASA’s first award is for $5.8 million that will accelerate cybersecurity and operational upgrades to its network. The board said the money will be used for specific initiatives including automating network management, modernizing legacy infrastructure, standardizing network configurations across all NASA locations and collecting additional telemetry data to align with federal cybersecurity mandates. (4/9)
Stoke Space Names Retired US Space Force Leader to Board (Source: Kent Report)
Kent-based Stoke Space announced that the company has appointed retired U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw to its Board of Directors and Paul Croci as its chief financial officer. Shaw has more than 30 years of experience in national security space and aerospace engineering. (4/9)
Space Command Announces New Space Wargaming Lab (Source: Denver Gazette)
A new laboratory focused on simulating conflict in space will help deter and plan for war in orbit. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the leader of Space Command, announced Tuesday that the new Capability Assessment and Validation Environment or CAVE in Colorado Springs has achieved minimum viable capability. (4/9)
The Black Market That Delivers Elon Musk’s Starlink to U.S. Foes (Sources: Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica)
A salesman at Moscow-based online retailer shopozz.ru has supplemented his usual business of peddling vacuum cleaners and dashboard phone mounts by selling dozens of Starlink internet terminals that wound up with Russians on the front lines in Ukraine. Although Russia has banned the use of Starlink, the satellite-internet service developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, middlemen have proliferated in recent months to buy the user terminals and ship them to Russian forces. That has eroded a battlefield advantage once enjoyed by Ukrainian forces, which also rely on the cutting-edge devices.
"We are concerned that you may not have appropriate guardrails and policies in place to ensure your technology is neither acquired directly or indirectly, nor used illegally by Russia," said the letter from US Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Robert Garcia (D-CA). In February, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied what he called "false news reports [that] claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia," saying that, "to the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia."
US adversaries have been able to connect to satellites after dealers who sell Starlink terminals "register the hardware in countries where Starlink is allowed." SpaceX uses geofencing to limit Starlink access, and Musk has said that "Starlink satellites will not close the link in Russia." But blocking Russian use of Starlink in Ukraine without affecting Ukraine troops' use of the service would likely be more complicated. (4/9)
Musk's Undisclosed Starlink Costs Undercut Profitability Claims (Sources: Bloomberg, America Space)
SpaceX’s prized Starlink satellite business is still burning through more cash than it brings in. People familiar with the finances of one of the world’s most valuable private companies say Starlink has — at times — lost hundreds of dollars on each of the millions of ground terminals it ships, casting doubt on claims by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and the company’s top brass that the business is in “profitable territory.”
In January, SpaceX lofted its first six “Direct-to-Cell” Starlinks, which permit mobile network providers to offer “seamless global access to texting, calling and browsing”, whether “on land, lakes or coastal waters”, without the need to change hardware or firmware. Within six days of that first launch, SpaceX engineers sent and received their first text messages via Direct-to-Cell and as of this month Starlink reportedly has about 2.7 million registered subscribers or customers worldwide. (4/10)
Cape Roars to Accelerated Falcon 9 Launch Cadence (Source: America Space)
Last night’s successful flight of Falcon-9 booster B1083 brings to six the total number of launches from the East and West Coasts so far in April, including Tuesday’s liftoff of the final Delta IV Heavy mission. Added to that list, five Falcon 9 boosters that now boast over 50 flights between them have lifted exactly one hundred payloads between them, including 89 Starlinks and the 11-spacecraft Bandwagon-1 rideshare mission to a mid-inclination orbit. (4/10)
Chinese Satellite Deploys Pioneering 3D-Printed Storage Tank (Source: Xinhua)
The cold propulsion system on Tiandu-2, a communication and navigation technology test satellite, is working well, marking the first in-orbit application of a 3D-printed storage tank in China, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The cold propulsion system recently provided high-precision orbital attitude control for the satellite during lunar orbit, marking the first successful application of the liquid ammonia cold air micro-propulsion system in the field of deep-space exploration.
The storage tank is an important component of satellite propulsion systems. As a pressure component, it requires not only high precision of forming and no leakage, but also good anti-fatigue performance, allowing for repeated fuel filling and discharge. (4/9)
Farewell Delta 4 Heavy (Source: Space News)
A Delta 4 Heavy launched Tuesday in the final flight of any Delta rocket. The Delta 4 Heavy lifted off at 12:53 p.m. Eastern from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport on the NROL-70 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. The launch was delayed from late March because of problems with a nitrogen distribution system at the Cape. The launch was the 16th and final mission for the Delta 4 Heavy since its introduction in late 2004, most of which were for classified missions. It was also the final flight of any vehicle in the Delta family going back to 1960. (4/10)
Space Command to Expand International Cooperation (Source: Space News)
U.S. Space Command will expand international collaboration on a space defense initiative. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, said at Space Symposium Tuesday that Germany, France and New Zealand have been invited to join Operation Olympic Defender, a U.S.-led initiative to jointly strengthen defenses and deter hostility that already includes England, Australia and Canada. Preparing for military operations with U.S. allies and partners is one of U.S. Space Command's top priorities, he said, along with training and testing "that convinces us that these capabilities will work in a conflict which has never happened." (4/10)
Startups Face Increased Investor Scrutiny (Source: Space News)
Space startups are finding it harder to close growth-stage funding rounds amid increasing investor scrutiny. A panel of investment bankers at Space Symposium Tuesday said poor trading performance of early-stage space companies listed on the stock exchange in recent years, coupled with the end of cheap capital as interest rates rise, is weighing on businesses' ability to build scale in the market. Although there is still plenty of capital for early-stage rounds, securing greater capital needs in later Series B and C rounds is particularly challenging. (4/10)
ESA Funds Thales Alenia to Restart ExoMars Rover Work (Source: Space News)
ESA is restarting work on its ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission. ESA announced Tuesday that it awarded a contract worth 522 million euros ($567 million) to a team led by Thales Alenia Space to resume work on the mission, which was halted in 2022 when ESA ended cooperation with Russia. The funding will go towards the development of a new landing platform for the Rosalind Franklin rover. NASA is also partnering on the mission, providing components and a launch, now scheduled for late 2028. (4/10)
SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites at Cape Canaveral Spaceport on Wednesday (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellite early Wednesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:40 a.m. Eastern and deployed 23 Starlink satellites. The launch was just the second for the Falcon 9 booster B1083, which made its debut last month launching NASA's Crew-8 mission. (4/10)
Relativity Space Delays NSSL Bid, Focuses on 2026 Terran R Debut (Source: Space News)
Relativity Space will not bid, for now, on a national security launch contract. A company executive said Relativity is putting its initial bid for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 contracts on hold as it works on its Terran R rocket. That vehicle won't fly until 2026 at the earliest, which falls outside the timeframe for this year's NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 awards. Relativity will instead seek to on-ramp to the contract next year, once it is within 12 months of its first launch. (4/10)
New SES CEO an IT Vet (Source: Space News)
The new CEO of satellite operator SES says he plans to draw on his experience from outside the space industry. IT veteran Adel Al-Saleh took over the European satellite operator in February, and in an interview said he wants to use his AI and terrestrial network expertise to position SES to meet future broadband needs. He said the industry needs to adapt to a fast-changing environment: "Doing things the way we did them for decades is not going to work anymore." (4/10)
Planet to Merge EO Data with Sentinel Hub (Source: Space News)
Planet unveiled a platform Tuesday that merges Earth-observation datasets with Sentinel Hub cloud-based analytics and tools. The Planet Insights Platform is designed to help government and commercial customers rapidly analyze, stream and distribute data, and is designed for customers focused on change detection. Planet obtained Sentinel Hub in its acquisition last year of Slovenian startup Sinergise Labs. (4/10)
RS-25 Engines Certified for Future Artemis Missions After Long Testing Program (Source: Space Daily)
L3Harris Technologies and Aerojet Rocketdyne have concluded a comprehensive series of development and certification tests for the RS-25 engine, confirming its readiness for upcoming Artemis missions, starting with Artemis V. These tests were carried out at NASA's Stennis Space Center, involving a total of 45 development tests and 24 certification tests. The RS-25 engines, crucial for the propulsion of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), have undergone significant upgrades to meet the needs of future Artemis missions. (4/8)
Axient Establishes Subsidiary in the Netherlands to Enhance European Aerospace and Defense Presence (Source: Space Daily)
Axient has opened its first international office and the establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary, Axient Systems B.V., in Delft, Netherlands. This expansion strengthens its relationships with several technical organizations, including a collaboration with FSO Instruments and their partners VDL Groep, Demcon, and TNO - the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, to support satellite laser communications development and NATO Air and Missile defense analysis. (4/8)
What Sets Colorado's Front Range Apart from Other Space Hubs? (Source: Denver Gazette)
As America aims to send humans back to the moon and astronauts potentially go to Mars for the first time, Colorado — with its cluster of talent and growing constellation of space companies — is fast becoming an essential hub to making those missions a reality. Consider this: Not only is the spacecraft that will hold deep-space astronauts being developed and tested in the metro Denver area, so is the lunar rover that they’ll use.
Colorado is one of the top beneficiaries of the Artemis Moon to Mars project, which is expected to be a major economic boon to the country’s space industry that’s already getting a big boost from the rise of commercial spaceflight. NASA contracted more than 90 companies in Colorado to work on Artemis. The Moon to Mars missions are expected to support 14,600 jobs in Colorado (second-highest nationwide) and $3 billion in economic output (third-highest), according to a 2022 NASA report. Click here. (4/5)
Virgin Orbit IP Available for Licensing (Source: Dan Hart)
Announcing the Virgin Orbit IP Library, now being made available for licensing. The flight proven LauncherOne IP can accelerate launch and hypersonic system development schedules by years, and enable significant cost savings. In addition to the system design, the IP contains the designs, build instructions, qualification and acceptance test procedures, procurement specs, and test data/test reports for all of the rocket subsystems and componentry, including the FAA-approved Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFSS).
Price for access to all IP is $3M for a nonexclusive license. The IP is controlled for export under U.S. export control regulations and any release to non-U.S. persons would first require export licensing from the U.S. Government. Click here. (4/9)
Aerospace Corp. Rethinks Small Satellites with DiskSat (Source: Douglas's Substack)
Aerospace engineers and scientists have reevaluated whether the standard CubeSat may be the best shape for a mission. The answer may be in the form of a two-dimensional disk aptly called DiskSat, a NASA Small Spacecraft Technology program-funded concept that may expand the SmallSat mission envelope and enable major scientific discovery at lower cost.
DiskSat - a plate-shaped satellite (1 meter in diameter, 2.5 centimeters thick) could provide the required power and aperture while still allowing 20 or more satellites to be containerized in a single small launch vehicle.
“The concept comes from a CubeSat world, so there are a lot of similarities,” said Welle. “DiskSat is an alternate approach to containerization. It gives you the benefits—standardized launch interface, low launch costs and simple mechanical design—but at the same time you get what is not possible with CubeSats: high power and large aperture.” (4/9)
Doubts Grow About the Biosignature Approach to Alien-Hunting (Source: Quanta)
In 2020, scientists detected a gas called phosphine in the atmosphere of an Earth-size rocky planet. Knowing of no way that phosphine could be produced except through biological processes, “the scientists assert that something now alive is the only explanation for the chemical’s source,” the New York Times reported. As “biosignature gases” go, the phosphine seemed like a home run. Until it wasn’t.
The planet was Venus, and the claim about a potential biosignature in the Venusian sky is still mired in controversy, even years later. Scientists can’t agree on whether phosphine is even present there, let alone whether it would be strong evidence of an alien biosphere on our twin planet. What turned out to be hard for Venus will only be harder for exoplanets many light-years away. Click here. (3/19)
Vast’s Haven-1 to be World’s First Commercial Space Station Connected by SpaceX Starlink (Source: Vast)
Vast’s Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station, will be equipped with SpaceX’s Starlink laser terminal providing Gigabit/s speed, low latency connectivity to its crew users, internal payload racks, external cameras and instruments. The Haven-1 crew will be able to connect their personal devices via Wi-Fi to the Starlink network and have unprecedentedly better internet connectivity on orbit to host outreach video calls and perform experiments and science with full, high-speed internet access. Even during crew rest time, they will be able to use high-speed internet. (4/9)
LZH and TU Berlin Partner with Astrobotic to Bring 3D Printing to Moon (Source: Astrobotic)
Astrobotic is partnering on MOONRISE, a project in which researchers are working to bring 3D printing to the Moon. Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) has contracted with Astrobotic for a flight to the Moon, set for 2026. LZH plans to equip Astrobotic’s lander with a compact, sturdy laser as payload. This laser will melt lunar dust, known as regolith, creating 2D structures on the lunar surface. A camera will capture the process, enabling researchers on Earth to analyze it through an intelligent image processing system.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will not only help to find a suitable location on the lunar surface for laser melting, it shall also enable quality control of the printed structures. As the project gears up for its lunar mission in two years, LZH continues its research on Earth in collaboration with project partner TU Berlin, focusing on optimizing the laser melting process. Researchers are experimenting with synthetic regolith produced by TU Berlin and train the AI for lunar deployment. (4/9)
NASA Rolls Out New Space Sustainability Strategy (Source: Space News)
NASA announced a new approach to dealing with an increasingly crowded and dangerous environment in Earth orbit with a space sustainability strategy that puts an initial emphasis on analyzing the problem rather than technologies to solve it. NASA released April 9 the first volume of an integrated Space Sustainability Strategy that sets six goals for NASA, working with the rest of the space community, to better understand the growing risks from debris in Earth orbit and ways to mitigate those risks. (4/9)
Astrobotic and Mission Control to Partner on Lunar Rover Mission (Source: Space News)
Astrobotic is partnering with Canadian space software company Mission Control on a small rover that will go to the Moon on Astrobotic’s next lander mission. The two companies announced April 8 that they will use Mission Control’s Spacefarer software to operate Astrobotic’s first CubeRover, which will go to the moon on Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 lander scheduled for no earlier than late this year. The CubeRover will be one of several secondary payloads on that lander, which will also deliver NASA’s VIPER rover. (4/9)
SpaceWERX Initiative Lends Startups a Crucial Hand in Tech Validation (Source: Space News)
SpaceWERX, the tech innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force, is teaming up with the Aerospace Corporation to establish a “Technology Readiness Level” bootcamp lab in El Segundo, California. It’s an initiative to help nurture promising technologies through the proverbial “valley of death” between early funding and product maturation. (4/9)
Space Force Budget Inches Upward in Tight Fiscal Year (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force’s budget continues to inch upward, but the service’s funding growth has been tempered by broader fiscal pressures facing the Pentagon. The military branch focused on defending American interests in space received $29 billion in funding for fiscal year 2024 as part of a broader multi-agency spending package passed by Congress on March 21. While below the $30 billion the Space Force had requested, the approved funding represents an increase from the $26.3 billion enacted for fiscal 2023. (4/9)
Proliferation of Satellites Gives DOD Options (Breaking Defense)
There is an emerging dispute over whether the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency should continue distributing intelligence from Ground Moving Target Indicator sensors or the policy should shift to direct satellite tasking by customers through the US Space Force. "Satellite tasking has traditionally been contentious due to high demand and low capacity. But recent changes to space-based intelligence architectures have increased the number of satellites and better leveraged commercial remote sensing capabilities -- increasing overall capacity," said Steven Jordan Tomaszewski, senior director of national security space at the Aerospace Industries Association. (4/8)
Sidus Space Agreement with HEO for Non-Earth Imaging Payload and Data Services Aboard Lizzie-Sat-3 (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space has finalized an additional agreement with HEO, a leading provider of non-Earth imaging (“NEI”) and data, for NEI payload and data services. Under the agreement, Sidus Space will host HEO’s NEI imager, HOLMES-006, onboard LizzieSat-3, as part of the Bandwagon-2 launch scheduled for November 2024, along with a monthly data services contract. This marks the second agreement between HEO and Sidus Space, as Sidus Space’s LizzieSat-2 will be hosting HEO’s HOLMES-004 on the same launch. (4/10)
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