August 20, 2024

Cancer Research in Space for Life on Earth: Five Projects Selected Through ISS National Lab Solicitation in Partnership With NASA (Source: CASIS)
The ISS National Laboratory, in partnership with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division, jointly announced the selection of five projects through the inaugural Igniting Innovation solicitation for cancer and other disease-related research and technology development on the ISS. The projects will harness the unique microgravity environment to advance cancer research to benefit patients on Earth. (8/19)

Sidus Space Reports Quarterly Financial Results (Source: Sidus Space)
Selling, general and administrative expenses totaled approximately $3.1 million, a $500,000 decrease from $3.6 million in Q2 2023, largely due to a reduction in payroll related expenses directly related to building our satellites which were reclassed to fixed asset as well as a reduction in professional fees and insurance expense.

Total revenue for the three months ended June 30 was approximately $930,000, a decrease of $440,000. Adjusted EBITDA loss, a non-GAAP measure for the three months ended June 30, 2024 was $3.2 million, compared to $2.8 million for the same period the prior year. (8/19)

Sidus Space Awarded $2 Million Contract for U.S. Navy Propulsion Program (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announces its selection by Craig Technologies for the manufacturing of two (2) Fleet Interactive Display Equipment (FIDE) Pre-production Unit Main panels for Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. (BPMI) in support of a critical U.S. Navy program. This significant subcontract, valued at $2 million, marks the third time Sidus Space has been chosen as a subcontractor for this customer.

Under the new agreement, Sidus Space will leverage its state–of–the–art facilities and experienced team to manufacture, assemble, test, and deliver the FIDE panel trainers for Craig Technologies who is leading the design phase of the two panels. (8/20)

Astroscale Shares Rise 19% on $81 Million Space Debris Removal Contract (Source: Reuters)
Shares of Japanese space startup Astroscale (186A.T), opens new tab rose 19% on Monday, after the company said it would sign a 12 billion yen ($81 million) contract with Japan's space agency to remove debris from the earth's orbit. Astroscale said its Japan unit would sign the five-year contract with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Tuesday. The agreement will see the startup remove the upper stage of JAXA's H-IIA rocket, which was launched in 2009 and has been in orbit about 600 km (373 miles) above the earth's surface. (8/19)

Oneweb CEO Resigns Amid Growing French Influence After Merger with Eutelsat (Source: Business Matters)
Stephen Beynon, the British CEO of satellite internet provider OneWeb, is set to resign just under a year after the company merged with France’s Eutelsat. His departure comes amid reports of increasing French dominance within the newly combined group, with key decisions shifting away from the UK. (8/18)

South Korea Hires SpaceX to Launch GEO Satellite in 2027 (Source: Space News)
South Korea has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch the GEO-KOMPSAT-3 multipurpose communications satellite to geostationary orbit in the second half of 2027, the nation’s newly established Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) this month. The agreement is the latest in a series of launch contracts South Korea has clinched with the Elon Musk-owned space company for its key space missions. (8/19)

Missile Defense Agency Eyes Discriminating Space Sensor Launch by 2029 (Source: Defense News)
The Missile Defense Agency expects to launch a new sensor designed to discriminate between complex ballistic missile targets by the end of the decade, according to agency director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins. The discriminating space sensor, or DSS, is a key part of MDA’s vision for a space-based missile-tracking layer. (8/19)

Starliner Spacesuits Not Compatible with SpaceX Dragon (Source: Boing Boing)
Two months into what was scheduled to be an eight-day mission, we learn that spacesuit compatibility problems are also keeping NASA's astronauts stuck in space. I missed something in the recent discussion about the possibility of Starliner's stranded crew returning to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon. The two crews wear different spacesuits, and they are not compatible with one another. If NASA determines that Starliner is not safe, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams must have spacesuits delivered to them on the ISS. Alternatively, they could return without suits. (8/19)

RFA's First Rocket Explodes on Test Stand, Weeks Before Planned UK Launch (Source: Space News)
The first stage of Rocket Factory Augsburg's first rocket exploded on a test stand Monday, just weeks before its anticipated launch. The Germany company said the stage for its RFA ONE rocket was destroyed in a static-fire test late Monday at SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands. Video of the test showed an explosion at the base of the stage at engine ignition, starting a fire that consumed the stage. The test was one of the last planned for the rocket before a launch that was expected for this fall from the spaceport. That launch was to have been the first for RFA and the first vertical orbital launch from the United Kingdom. (8/20)

Globalstar's Next-Gen Constellation Gets FCC Approval (Source: Space News)
Globalstar has received conditional approval from the FCC for its next-generation constellation. The FCC authorized the proposed 17 satellites last week and extended the company's operating license by 15 years to 2039. However, the FCC deferred deciding on plans to deploy another nine satellites, which Globalstar intends to use as in-orbit spares, until the operator updates its orbital debris mitigation plan. The FCC rejected a request from SpaceX to force Globalstar to assess whether its upcoming satellites could interfere with other mobile satellite services systems, including SpaceX's own constellation. (8/20)

Polaris Dawn Crew Arrives in Florida Ahead of Launch (Source: Space News)
The crew of the Polaris Dawn private astronaut mission arrived in Florida on Monday for their upcoming launch. The four-person crew is scheduled to launch early next week on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on a five-day mission. The mission will fly to altitudes as high as 1,400 kilometers, the highest for a crewed mission since Apollo 17, and test Starlink intersatellite communications. The highlight of the mission will be a spacewalk using SpaceX-developed spacesuits, the first time those suits will be used in space and the first spacewalk on a private mission. (8/20)

NATO Taps Planet for Imagery (Source: Space News)
Planet will supply satellite imagery to NATO under a new contract. Planet announced Monday it signed a contract with NATO's Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) to provide the alliance with high-resolution data from Planet's SkySat fleet as part of the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) program. Planet did not disclose the value of the contract. APSS is a NATO initiative started in 2023 to create a "virtual constellation" by pooling together national and commercial satellite networks, and involves $1 billion in commitments from 17 countries over five years. (8/20)

Two Chinese Satellites Finally Arrive in Lunar Orbit (Source: Space News)
Two Chinese spacecraft appear to have made it to their planned lunar orbit despite a problem with their launch earlier this year. A presentation by a center that is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences stated that the DRO-A and -B satellites had successfully entered distant retrograde orbits around the moon. The satellites launched on March on a Long March 2C, but a problem with the rocket's upper stage meant the satellites were not placed in their desired orbits. China has yet to provide any formal update on the mission since that launch. The two spacecraft, while not critical to China's lunar exploration efforts, could play a role in China's wider lunar ambitions by testing lunar communications and navigation technologies. (8/20)

UK Space Agency Searches for Successor to SpaceX (Source: CNN)
A host of space startups are looking to compete with superpowers and the super-rich, as Clare Sebastian reports. Click here. (8/19)

Demand for (Finite) Helium to Double by 2035 (Source: IDTechEx)
Helium plays a significant role in many aspects of the aerospace industry. It is used as an inert gas to purge hydrogen systems, pressurize ground and flight fluid systems, leak-test components, and acts as a shielding gas during precision welding. It is also used as a cryogen to cool components. Over the last five years, the frequency of orbital launches has surged, with commercial entities becoming increasingly pivotal to the industry's expansion.

This growth underscores the critical role of helium, further cementing its status as an indispensable resource within the sector. IDTechEx’s report provides a 10-year forecast detailing the anticipated demand for helium within the aerospace sector. Although helium production capacity is expected to increase if Qatar and Russia ramp up production, this does not necessarily guarantee a disruption-free helium supply moving forward, considering geopolitical tensions in regions where helium is largely produced.

A growing number of small independent players are exploring primary/green helium from geological reserves where it is present in non-hydrocarbon gases.  Nonetheless, elucidating the prospects for production capacity in the medium and long term requires extensive data and validation. These projects are leveraging low-capex separation systems, e.g., membrane and PSA technologies, to upgrade and purify helium at well sites or local processing facilities. Informed by insights gleaned from providers of helium separation technologies, e.g., UGS and Generon, IDTechEx’s report comprehensively compares the merits and challenges of helium separation and purification technologies. (8/20)

SpaceX Tests Starship Flight 5’s Biggest & Riskiest Maneuver Ahead Of Launch (Source: Wccftech)
As it waits for the FAA to clear its flight profile for the fifth Starship test, SpaceX is busy testing its launch pad and tower arms to try to catch the 232 feet tall Super Heavy rocket booster after Flight 5. The upcoming Starship test will be the first to attempt the risky tower catch, and SpaceX's latest Starship update provided earlier this month shared that it would continue to fine tune this procedure during the time that it takes for the FAA to evaluate its Starship Flight 5 test application. (8/17)

Satellite Internet Has Disrupted the Market in Alaska (Source: Anchorage Daily News)
Since launching in the state in late 2022, Starlink has given Alaskans another option for web access in places that are harder to reach with physical infrastructure. Early adopters of the technology say they used to drive around their villages looking for other homes with Starlink’s tell-tale flat white antennas, or terminals, positioned on roofs or lawns. These days, in some communities, it’s become more challenging to find homes without it. (8/19)

Canada Uses Rocket Competition to Grow Industry (Source: Timmins Daily Press)
Hundreds of students from Canadian university rocket clubs, along with an all-girl high school team, are participating in the 2024 Launch Canada rocketry competition. The event, supported by a grant from the Timmins Economic Development Corporation, features rockets launching up to 40,000 feet and includes the first authorized experimental liquid rocket launch in Canada. (8/18)

UK 1st ISR Satellite Reaches Orbit (Source: Breaking Defense)
The UK has launched its first military spy satellite, Tyche, as part of the $1.2 billion ISTARI program to create a surveillance constellation by 2031. Tyche, which will operate in low Earth orbit until 2029, was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and will support natural disaster surveillance, environmental monitoring, and climate change tracking. (8/19)

German Cubesat to Test Quantum Comms Tech (Source: Space News)
A German cubesat launched last week will attempt to test quantum communications technologies. The Qube satellite launched on the Transporter-11 rideshare mission Friday. The spacecraft, designed and built at the University of Wurzburg Center for Telematics, carries a payload developed by several German universities and organizations to test quantum key generation and distribution via optical link for secure communications. (8/20)

NASA Awards Food Production Tech Prizes (Source: NASA)
NASA awarded $1.25 million in prizes to three teams developing food production technologies for deep space missions. At the Deep Space Food Challenge last week in Columbus, Ohio, Interstellar Lab won the $750,000 top prize for its design of "self-sustaining food production mechanism" for vegetables, microgreens and insects. Two other teams, Nolux and SATED, each received $250,000. NASA supported the competition to identify technologies that could be used on later long-duration Artemis missions and eventual human missions to Mars. (8/20)

Cosmic Object Speeding At 1 Million Miles Per Hour Discovered By Amateur Astronomers (Source: IFL Science)
Citizen scientists working on the hunt for the hypothetical Planet 9 that should lurk at the edge of the Solar System have instead found a cosmic object moving so fast that it will one day leave the Milky Way. It's the first object with the mass of a small star found moving at this speed. First spotted by Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 contributors Martin Kabatnik, Thomas P. Bickle, and Dan Caselden a few years ago using data from NASA's WISE mission that mapped the sky in infrared, it's thought the object may be a brown dwarf. (8/19)

The New Moon race: Assessing Chinese and US Strategies (Source: Space Review)
There are growing perceptions of a new race to the Moon between China and the United States. James Clay Moltz assesses the approaches the two countries are taking to lunar exploration and sees an advantage in the international partnerships of Artemis. Click here. (8/20)
 
Outgrowing Smallsats (Source: Space Review)
The biggest news from this month’s Smallsat conference in Utah was that the conference was moving to a larger venue in a larger city. Jeff Foust reports this parallels the growth in the smallsat industry, and of smallsats themselves. Click here. (8/20)
 
An Alternative Mars Sample Return Program (Source: Space Review)
NASA is weighing different approaches to its Mars Sample Return program to lower its costs and speed up the return of samples. Dale Skran advocates for an approach that ties the effort more closely to future human exploration of the Red Planet. Click here. (8/20)
 
Galactic Governance: From the Outer Space Treaty to Modern Regulations (Source: Space Review)
Modern space law is built om foundations established more than 50 years ago. Roger Quinland provides an overview of those treaties and rules and some of the challenges they face today. Click here. (8/20) 

Mental Well-Being in Space (Source: Space Daily)
Life on the ISS is quite different from life on the ground. Crew members experience multiple sunrises and sunsets each day, spend their time in a confined space, have packed schedules, and deal with microgravity. These and other conditions during spaceflight can negatively affect the performance and well-being of crew members. Many studies on the space station work to characterize and understand those effects and others try out new technologies and practices to help counter them. Click here. (8/16)

Astronomers Disprove Long-Held Belief About Galaxy Density (Source: Space Daily)
An international team of astronomers has overturned a longstanding belief that stars and dark matter interact in a mysterious way to create uniform density structures across different galaxies. This finding, published in 'Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)', challenges a theory that had perplexed scientists for 25 years.

The research team, which includes scientists from Australia, the UK, Austria, and Germany, utilized the Very Large Telescope in Chile to observe and analyze 22 galaxies that are approximately four billion years old. The results revealed that the perceived uniformity in galaxy density may not be a real phenomenon but rather a consequence of oversimplified models used by astronomers. (8/20)

AI-Powered Satellite PiSat-2 Embarks on Earth Observation Mission (Source: Space Daily)
PiSat-2, the European Space Agency's innovative cubesat designed to transform Earth observation through artificial intelligence, has successfully launched into orbit. The satellite began its journey on August 16 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. Integrated by Exolaunch, PiSat-2 was part of the Transporter-11 rideshare mission, which also carried ESA's Arctic Weather Satellite. (8/17)

NASA Calls for Industry Input on Lunar Logistics and Mobility Systems (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is set to launch a new solicitation under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) initiative, inviting industry to propose studies that will enhance logistics and mobility systems on the lunar surface. This call for proposals is part of NASA's ongoing efforts to develop the necessary infrastructure for long-term human and robotic exploration of the Moon and eventually Mars.

The solicitation focuses on filling critical gaps identified in NASA's Moon to Mars Architecture, which outlines the elements required to sustain human-led scientific missions in deep space. Specifically, NASA is looking for studies that address two key areas: an integrated surface logistics architecture and uncrewed surface mobility systems. These studies are expected to build on NASA's 2024 Architecture Concept Review White Papers, which detail the needs and capabilities necessary for successful lunar missions. (8/20)