May 27, 2024

How Can We Protect Satellites in Earth-Moon Space? This New UCF Software Could Help (Source: Space.com)
As the space around Earth becomes increasingly cluttered with human-made junk, scientists are ramping up their efforts to safeguard satellites in real time. The latest in that effort are new algorithms being developed at the University of Central Florida (UCF) to automatically monitor and protect spacecraft from bumping into satellites and asteroids in cislunar space — the realm between Earth and the moon, which is under the gravitational influence of both celestial bodies. Click here. (5/24)

America’s Military Has the Edge in Space. China and Russia are in a Counterspace Race to Disrupt It (Source: CNN)
As countries and companies build out satellite constellations, a growing number of governments are vying for technology that could disrupt or even destroy adversaries’ assets – not just on land, like Russia’s alleged cyberattack – but in space too. Enter signal jamming and spoofing, high-powered lasers to dazzle imaging sensors, anti-satellite missiles and spacecraft with the capacity to interfere with others in orbit – counterspace technologies that analysts say leading powers like the United States, Russia and China could use to target each other’s satellites.

Tracking countries’ development of counterspace capabilities is difficult, given their closely guarded nature and the dual use ambiguity of many space technologies. Both Russia and China have advanced their development of tech that could be used for such purposes in recent years, while the US builds on related space research and capabilities. Click here. (5/27)

NASA Launches PREFIRE Mission From New Zealand (Source: The News)
In a bid to determine the heat escaping the Earth, the US space agency NASA has lifted off a satellite to study the Arctic and Antarctica. The satellites were launched with the help of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand. According to NASA, the information will inform climate models and hopefully lead to better predictions of how the climate crisis will affect sea levels, weather, snow and ice cover.

The mission called Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) is focused on better understanding the atmosphere of Earth and how elements are involved in trapping heat in our planet. (5/26)

TESS finds Intriguing World Sized Between Earth and Venus (Source: Phys.org)
Using observations by NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and many other facilities, two international teams of astronomers have discovered a planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus only 40 light-years away. Multiple factors make it a candidate well-suited for further study using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

TESS stares at a large swath of the sky for about a month at a time, tracking the brightness changes of tens of thousands of stars at intervals ranging from 20 seconds to 30 minutes. Capturing transits—brief, regular dimmings of stars caused by the passage of orbiting worlds—is one of the mission's primary goals. (5/26)

GMV Will Supply the New Space Domain Awareness System for Spanish Ministry of Defense (Source: GMV)
Spanish Ministry of Defense, through its Directorate General of Weapons and Material, has awarded a €2.7 million contract to GMV, for the development, deployment, support and maintenance of the Space Situational Awareness and Control System (CCSE) that will be used at the Spanish military Space Surveillance Operations Center (COVE). (5/22)

GMV’s New Robotic Technologies are Making Essential Contributions to Space Sustainability (Source: GMV)
More than 17,000 satellites have been launched into space, and about 11,500 of them are still there, with more than 9,000 still in operation. In the near future, this number will continue to increase with the launching of mega-constellations, which are made up of hundreds or even thousands of new satellites. The multinational technology firm GMV is now performing work and testing at its exclusive platform‑art test bench.

This work involves a range of important technologies for removing space debris, and for performing in‑orbit maintenance, refueling, and assembly of complex infrastructure and elements. (5/24)

XL-Calibur Telescope Set for Balloon Flight From Arctic Circle (Source: WU)
Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis are preparing to launch a balloon-borne telescope to unlock the secrets of astrophysical black holes and neutron stars. The telescope known as XL-Calibur could be launched from Esrange Space Center in Sweden as early as Wednesday, May 29, according to principal investigator Henric Krawczynski of WashU, who is leading a team of collaborators from the United States, Japan and Sweden. (5/23)

South Korea Launches Space Agency to Compete in Global Space Race (Source: Yonhap)
With the opening of the nation's full-fledged space agency, South Korea is set to make its mark on the global space stage, aiming to transform into a powerhouse and join the elite space race led by the private industry. The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) will open its doors Monday, focusing on fostering local companies that can play key roles in space development projects, and helping the country develop a global-level space industry and space economy. (5/26)

Large Number of Russian Experts Enter North Korea to Help Spy Satellite Launch Efforts (Source: Yonhap)
A large number of Russian experts have entered North Korea to support its spy satellite launch efforts, and Pyongyang has staged more engine tests than expected to likely meet their "high" standards, a senior South Korean defense official said Sunday. Speculation has persisted over the timing of the North's highly anticipated launch as it vowed last December to place three more military spy satellites in orbit this year, a month after successfully launching its first one. (5/26)

North Korea Notifies Japan of Plan to Launch Satellite Before June 4 (Source: Yonhap)
North Korea has notified Japan of a plan to launch a space rocket carrying a satellite between Monday and midnight of June 3, Kyodo News reported, citing Japan's coast guard. The notice on the eight-day window came as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are set to hold a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Monday, where evolving North Korean threats are likely to figure prominently. (5/27)

Yoon, Kishida Urge North Korea to Cease Satellite Launch Plan (Source: Yonhap)
President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called on North Korea to cease its plan to launch a spy satellite during their trilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Seoul on Monday. The three-way summit, the first such session since 2019, came just hours after the North notified Japan that it will launch a space rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite sometime before June 4. (5/27)

NASA Should Let a Commercial Mission Save Hubble (Source: The Hill)
Since the space shuttle program was discontinued, the orbiters are no longer available to service the Hubble Space Telescope. That’s where Jared Isaacman’s proposal comes in. Isaacman proposes that he and a crew of private astronauts take a SpaceX Crew Dragon to the Hubble Space Telescope. The Crew Dragon would be used to boost Hubble’s orbit to extend its life by several years. Also, the astronauts would perform a spacewalk to repair/enhance some of the components of the space telescope.

The Crew Dragon does not have a robot arm or even an airlock. Astronauts on the SpaceX spacecraft would have to vent the atmosphere from the crew cabin entirely before opening the hatch. They would have to work tethered to Hubble before returning to the Crew Dragon. Emails obtained by NPR suggest that some NASA managers can foresee scenarios in which spacewalking astronauts are killed, people servicing Hubble accidentally break the space telescope, or both.

No reason exists to prevent NASA and Isaacman from sitting down, airing the space agency’s concerns and developing a plan for a Hubble servicing mission. With the end of the space shuttle era, it is not as if the space agency has a lot of options if it wants to extend Hubble’s useful lifespan. (5/26)

Double the James Webb Space Telescope Mirror With SpaceX Starship Telescope (Source: Next Big Future)
A 9 meter telescope mirror built into the structure of a Starship could be very affordable. The SpaceX Starship upper stage will likely soon cost $20 million or less and could drop to about $2m to $3 million. The 36 mirror segments of the 10 meter Keck telescope cost $170 million. The cost of a SpaceX Starship space telescope with a 9 meter mirror might only be about $250-500 million each. (2/1)

ispace and University of Leicester Collaborate on Lunar Night Survival Technology (Source: ispace)
ispace and the University of Leicester, have agreed to collaborate on approaches to lunar night survivability for future ispace lunar lander and rover missions. The University and ispace through ispace EUROPE S.A., have entered into a strategic consulting agreement to explore lunar night survivability utilizing Radioisotope Heater Units on the Series 3 lunar lander and rovers. The University was awarded funding under Phase I and Phase II of the UK International Bilateral Fund to create mission concepts leveraging the technology on future missions. (5/23)

STARCOM and Space Systems Command (SSC) Award ASTRO-E to Six Companies (Source: USSF)
Six companies -  NouSystems, ExoAnalytic Solutions, TMC Design, HII Mission Technologies Corp, Parsons Government Services Inc, and Lockheed Martin – have been awarded Advanced Space Technology for Range Operations – Electromagnetic Range study contracts. The ASTRO-E study contracts will initiate planning for enhancements to STARCOM’s National Space Test and Training Complex. These enhancements will provide ground infrastructure and on-orbit subjects for Electronic Warfare (EW) test and training.

By providing space warfighters with interconnected, scalable, and distributed physical and digital ranges for full-spectrum testing and training, this project will enable joint warfighting solutions to prevail in conflict. ASTRO-E provides risk reduction for the OTTI vision of establishing a realistic, integrated system-of-systems architecture focused on providing threat-informed test and training environments. (5/22)

Why the European Space Agency Should Join the US Mission to Uranus (Source: Nature)
Still on the drawing board, the project would entail sending a spacecraft to orbit Uranus and drop a probe into the planet’s atmosphere. The spacecraft, which could be built and launched within a decade, would investigate the nature of Uranus, including its unusual tilt and magnetic field. It would also search the planet’s moons for signs of hidden oceans and other potentially habitable environments.

Ice giants are the most common type of exoplanet in the Milky Way. With characteristics that lie between those of gas giants and of Earth and other terrestrial planets, it’s crucial to learn how such systems formed and evolved. The mission has been under discussion for some time, and it will be exciting to see it begin to take shape. But, to make sure it is successful and happens as quickly and cost-effectively as possible, we would like to see others involved in its design, too. As a first step, we call for the European Space Agency (ESA) to join the project by, for example, building the entry probe — a possibility that was foreseen in the decadal report and has been assessed by ESA but has not yet been agreed. (5/20)

Sidus Space Reports First Quarter 2024 Financial Results (Source: Sidus Space)
Total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2024, totaled approximately $1.1 million, a decrease of $1.2 million compared to total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2024, was $3.8 million as compared to a net loss of $3.4 million for the same period the prior year. At March 31, 2024, the Company had cash of $6.2 million as compared to $1.2 million at December 31, 2023. During the quarter, the Company received gross proceeds of $15.2 million through the exercise of warrants and two offerings. (5/20)

Airbus Awarded Space Weather Spacecraft Mission Vigil (Source: Airbus)
Airbus has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to design and build the space weather forecasting satellite Vigil, the first operational mission in ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Space Safety Programme (S2P). The spacecraft will give vital extra warning to Earth about incoming solar storms and coronal mass ejections which can potentially disrupt satellites in orbit and electronic and power distribution systems on Earth. (5/22)

Vaya Space Awarded SBIR Phase I Hybrid Rocket Ejector-Ramjet Airbreathing Hypersonic Missile Study (Source: Vaya Space)
Vaya Space, a space and defense company, announces it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase I contract focused on strengthening A2/AD penetration with hybrid rocket ejector-ramjet (HRER) hypersonic propulsion to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). (5/22)

Satellite-Based Sensors Provide Valuable Data for Pipeline Monitoring, Crop Production, and More (Source: CASIS)
Using satellite-based hyperspectral sensors that can capture images of Earth beyond the visible light we can see with our eyes, startup Orbital Sidekick provides valuable global monitoring services to customers around the world. So far, the company has launched five commercial satellites, two of which went up in March, and has plans to launch a sixth later this year. Co-founder and CEO Dan Katz attributes much of the company’s success to leveraging the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory to test its new sensor technology. (5/22)