April 9, 2024

Sierra Space Unveils Eclipse Satellite Buses: Velocity, Horizon, and Titan (Source: Space Daily)
Sierra Space has launched its innovative Eclipse satellite bus line, marking a significant advancement in space systems technology. The new series, named Eclipse Velocity, Eclipse Horizon, and Eclipse Titan, are tailored to meet the diverse needs of modern space missions, setting a new benchmark in earth observation, satellite servicing, mobility, logistics, and communications. (4/8)

The Role of the Media in the Space Economy (Source: Space Daily)
Media has transformed the way that we see space. Space is no longer beyond what we can see - it can be consumed with a few clicks in a browser or opening a video player. The media landscape itself has transformed - with qualifications like journalism master's programs online being much more accessible than ever before. As the role of media has changed, how has it impacted the space industry? While it's clear that major space events don't have as much sway as they used to, let's explore the media's role in the modern space economy. Click here. (4/9)

NESC Identifies Critical Improvements for Aerospace Pressure Vessel Standards (Source: Space Daily)
The Structures Technical Discipline Team (TDT) at NASA's Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) has recently focused on composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), uncovering a crucial vulnerability in current specifications and testing standards that may underestimate their structural life. This finding is poised to enhance the safety and efficacy of aerospace missions by refining COPV evaluation processes.

NESC's study, titled "Unconservatism of Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics Analysis Post Autofrettage" (NASA/TM-20230013348), presents experimental and analytical research that highlights the accelerated crack growth in COPVs subjected to autofrettage. By comparing tests on specimens with and without autofrettage cycles, researchers found a significant discrepancy in crack progression rates, suggesting that the existing standard's approach might be too optimistic. (4/9)

GAMBIT vs KENNEN: The Persistence of Film Reconnaissance in the Digital Age (Source: Space Review)
While the US started operating electro-optical reconnaissance satellites in the mid-1970s, it continued to launch film-return satellites for another decade. Dwayne Day examines why those systems overlapped based on newly declassified documents. Click here. (4/8)
 
A North Korean Satellite Starts Showing Signs of Life (Source: Space Review)
Recent observations showed a North Korean satellite launched last year has changed its orbit, demonstrating it is operational. Marco Langbroek shows how those observations indicate that the maneuvers are being commanded by a specific facility in North Korea. Click here. (4/8)
 
Strategic Implications of China Winning the space Rescue Race (Source: Space Review)
In the concluding part of their examination of space rescue capabilities, Benjamin Johnis and Peter Garretson offer some space rescue scenarios and policy recommendations to ensure US leadership in this emerging area. Click here. (4/8)

With Bandwagon SpaceX Offers New Rideshare Option (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX's noteworthy Bandwagon-1 mission soared skyward Sunday night from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, lifting a South Korean national-security satellite and 10 other spacecraft into orbit. Described as "a new line of rideshare missions that will deliver spacecraft to mid-inclination orbits," the launch also carried payloads for HawkEye 360, Tyvak International, iQPS, Capella Space, and Tata Advanced Systems Limited. (4/8)

Musk Just Gave Another Mars Speech—This Time the Vision Seems Tangible (Source: Ars Technica)
Musk spoke about the booster for Starship, the upper stage, and the company's plans to ultimately deliver millions of tons of cargo to Mars for a self-sustaining civilization. If thousands of launches seem impossible, Musk noted that SpaceX has now completed 327 successful Falcon launches and that 80 percent of those have involved used boosters.

Musk outlined the company's plans for a "Starship 2," capable of launching 100 tons to low-Earth orbit in fully reusable mode, and "Starship 3," with a capacity of 200 or more tons. If this seems unrealistic, consider that SpaceX performed four major block upgrades to the Falcon 9 rocket from 2010 to 2018, more than doubling its performance. Click here. (4/8)

UK Funding Boost for international Space Projects (Source: UKSA)
The UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund is focused on supporting the UK space sector to work directly with international partners on exciting and innovative projects. It is funding, amongst others, the University of Strathclyde to work with organizations including MIT and the Alan Turing Institute to use Artificial Intelligence to improve space operations, safety and sustainability.

From developing new technology for high-resolution photos of the Moon and Mars, to X-ray imaging that will help scientists study the Earth’s Aurora in unprecedented detail, the 11 projects showcase valuable missions and capabilities, and highlight the breadth of expertise found across the UK’s vibrant space sector which employs around 49,000 people. The £13 million funding boost was announced on the opening day of the 39th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. (4/8)

Budget Woes Just a Blip for Unstoppable Space Industry Growth (Source: Space News)
Recent layoffs and budget problems should not threaten the long-term growth of the space industry, say experts. Investors and other industry observers said government investment in space has grown by 10% annually over the last five years, and that recent budget pressures, including those at NASA that led to layoffs at JPL in February, are only a "short-term blip" in those longer trends. The Space Foundation said the space economy is currently valued at $546 billion and is on course to rise to $772 billion by 2027. (4/9)

Commerce Dept. Hopes to Work with Other Countries on Space Traffic Coordination (Source: Space News)
The Office of Space Commerce wants to work with other countries on space traffic coordination. Speaking at Space Symposium Monday, Richard DalBello, director of the office charged with creating a civil space traffic coordination system, said he envisions a "global, coordinated system" with regional hubs providing space situational awareness data and services to spacecraft operators. Coordination among those regional systems is essential, he said, to reduce the risk that operators would get conflicting data about potential collisions from different providers. (4/9)

Rocket Lab to Launch Disk-Shaped Satellite for VLEO Tests (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab has won a Space Force contract to launch an experimental disk-shaped satellite. The Space Force announced Monday it awarded a $14.4 million contract to Rocket Lab for a Space Test Program mission called STP-S30, scheduled to launch on an Electron rocket from Virginia in 2026. The payload for STP-S30 is a new smallsat design, called DiskSat, a plate-shaped satellite about a meter in diameter. The spacecraft, developed by NASA and The Aerospace Corporation, will test operations in very low Earth orbit as well as the suitability of the design as an alternative to the cubesat. (4/9)

Max Space Plans Expandable Modules for Future Space Habitats (Source: Space News)
A startup is announcing plans this week for a new approach to expandable modules. Max Space is developing a line of modules that it argues will be less expensive to develop and easier to scale up to larger sizes than previous approaches. The company has raised a seed round of funding to build a prototype called Max Space 20 that will launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission next year and expand to 20 cubic meters to demonstrate the technology. It has plans for modules of up to 1,000 cubic meters, the same volume as the International Space Station, and is looking to work with commercial space station developers as well as those interested in other applications of such modules, such as in-space propellant depots. (4/9)

Space Industrial Base Report Recommends Improvements in US Supply Chain, Workforce Efforts (Source: Space News)
The latest version of a space industrial base report says the U.S. needs to adapt and innovate to stay ahead in the space tech race. The fifth annual State of the Space Industrial Base report, released Monday by the U.S. Space Force, the Defense Innovation Unit, NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, says the commercial space industry is rapidly evolving. However, it argues that China is making major investments and rapid strides, and the U.S. must further leverage the commercial space sector as a critical partner for government space efforts. It recommends improvements in supply chain management and workforce recruitment and retention. (4/9)

DoD Supports New Solid Rocket Motor Vendors (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department is supporting new entrants into the solid rocket motor market. Companies such as Ursa Major and X-Bow Systems have won recent contracts to produce solid motors for defense applications. These bets on new suppliers come amid concerns about over-reliance on a shrinking pool of domestic suppliers and a surge in demand for these solid rocket motors, a key component in hypersonic weapons, conventional and nuclear missiles. U.S. defense programs are now entirely dependent on Northrop Grumman and L3Harris, which acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne last year, for solid rocket motors. (4/9)

Russia Scrubs Angara-5 Launch (Source: TASS)
Russia scrubbed a test flight of the Angara-A5 rocket this morning. The countdown for the 5 a.m. Eastern launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East was stopped about two minutes before liftoff, and Roscosmos later announced the launch was postponed to at least Wednesday. The agency said a problem with an oxidizer tank triggered the scrub. The launch will be the first from Vostochny for the Angara-A5, a long-delayed rocket intended to ultimately replace the Proton. (4/9)

SAIC and GomSpace to Develop DoD Smallsat with AI Tech (Source: Space News)
SAIC and GomSpace have won a contract to build a smallsat for the Pentagon to test AI technologies. The companies announced they won a contract of undisclosed value from the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Manufacturing Science and Technology Program for the cubesat-class spacecraft, slated for launch in 2025. The spacecraft will demonstrate cutting-edge technologies in space, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, edge computing and software-defined radio communications with a "zero-trust" cybersecurity architecture. SAIC and GomSpace announced a partnership last year to work together on smallsats that will be assembled at an SAIC facility in South Carolina. (4/9)

Neuraspace to Provide Space Traffic Management for Spire Constellation (Source: Space News)
Space traffic management company Neuraspace has won a deal to provide services to Spire Global. The companies said Monday that Spire will use Neuraspace's premium service, which includes satellite management analysis and collision avoidance maneuver suggestions, to help manage much of its constellation of more than 100 satellites. The rest of the constellation will use a free service Neuraspace recently rolled out to give operators a common view of conjunction alerts. Spire is the first new customer Neuraspace has announced for its premium tier since the venture split its offering into a paid and free service in March. (4/9)

Spacebilt and Phison Developing Data Server for ISS (Source: Space News)
Two companies are collaborating on a large data server for the International Space Station. Spacebilt and Phison said they will work together to qualify the Large in Space Server (LiSS), scheduled to launch to the station in 2025 and offer more than 100 terabytes of storage. Phison is providing the solid state drives used for LiSS while Spacebilt plans to use the technology for future projects, including a multi-orbit logistics vehicle it is developing. (4/9)

JWST Model Donated to Space Foundation (Source: Northrop Grumman)
The James Webb Space Telescope is coming to Colorado Springs. Northrop Grumman announced Monday it was donating a full-scale model of JWST to the Space Foundation, which will exhibit it as its Discovery Center museum in the city. The model was used for more than a decade at conferences and events to showcase the mission while it was in development. (4/9)

U.S. Needs New Tactics for Space Competition (Source: Space News)
China’a digital communications technology conglomerate Huawei grew faster in 2023 than during any of the past four years. This follows Huawei’s introduction of a new smartphone in August 2023 powered by a sophisticated processor which U.S. experts did not think could be made in China. Another Chinese telecommunication firm, ZTE, also reported significant growth last year. We should be prepared for the same story to unfold in China’s space industry.

China will be able to make ever more sophisticated space systems, with more advanced payloads, using domestically produced components. Chinese space companies, subsidized by investments from Beijing, will find customers around the world eager to buy their affordable products and services. Given these trends, how can the United States maintain its commercial competitive edge in space? The U.S. government will have to use all tools at its disposal. This means going toe to toe with China to set international space standards, working with U.S. companies to close foreign deals, and reassessing export controls. (4/8)