October 31, 2024

Sidus Space Announces Iridium-Powered Communication Upgrade for LizzieSat Platform (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced a strategic communication upgrade for its LizzieSat platform, integrating Iridium-enabled technology into future satellites to deliver low-latency data capabilities from space. This upgrade leverages the Iridium satellite constellation to provide real-time, direct-to-satellite phone messaging for a range of time-sensitive applications, including environmental monitoring, disaster response and maritime security. (10/31)

North Korea's Solid-Fuel ICBMs (Source: Space Daily)
North Korea said Thursday it had test-fired one of its newest and most powerful weapons to boost its nuclear deterrent, with Seoul warning it could be a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile. Solid-fuel missiles are powered by a chemical mixture which is cast into the missile's airframe when it is built -- like a firecracker rocket, ready to go. In contrast, liquid-fueled missiles typically require that the fuel and an oxidizer be inserted before they can be fired -- a slower and more cumbersome process.

For leader Kim Jong Un's purposes, this creates "a time period for South Korea to detect and target preemptively before the launch," said Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Association of Defence Industry Studies. This is the whole premise of South Korea's so-called "Kill Chain" defence system, Han said. That is why Kim wants solid fuel missiles. "It allows for rapid launches with minimal preparation," Han said, adding that they can be deployed "almost instantly". (10/31)

NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Will Map and Analyze Moon Water (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission is poised to answer longstanding questions about the distribution and composition of water on the Moon. While scientists have long suspected the presence of lunar water, the details of where it resides, its forms, and its movement across the Moon's surface remain unknown. Launching next year, Lunar Trailblazer will circle the Moon to create a high-resolution map of its surface water, determining water's exact abundance, location, forms, and changes over time. Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and led by Caltech, this small satellite mission will provide critical insights to help advance lunar science and support future lunar exploration efforts. (10/30)

Axient Secures Contract for Resilient GPS Constellation Under USSF Initiative (Source: Space Daily)
Axient, now operating under Astrion following its recent acquisition, has received a Performer Agreement through an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) established between the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) and Space Systems Command. This contract supports the U.S. Space Force's mission by advancing a next-generation Resilient GPS (R-GPS) satellite constellation, designed to enhance space infrastructure security. The initial contract includes a six-month preliminary design phase, with potential expansions leading to a capability demonstration and the delivery of eight R-GPS satellites by 2028. (10/30)

AXIS Mission Selected as NASA Astrophysics Probe Competition Finalist (Source: Space Daily)
The MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI) is a project lead for one of two finalist missions recently selected for NASA's new Probe Explorers program. Working with collaborators at the University of Maryland and Goddard Space Flight Research Center, the team will produce a one-year concept study to launch the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) in 2032. (10/30)

Gateway HALO Unit to Support Vital Space Science on Lunar Missions (Source: Space Daily)
Set to serve as humanity's first space station orbiting the Moon, Gateway will offer a platform for astronauts to live, perform experiments, and prepare for extended missions, particularly targeting the lunar South Pole region. Gateway's HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module will be equipped to host essential experiments, including NASA's Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite and ESA's and JAXA's Internal Dosimeter Array.

The heliophysics experiment will be mounted on HALO's exterior to analyze solar activity, while the dosimeter will be stationed inside, providing critical insights into radiation levels within Gateway. These studies are expected to inform long-term strategies for astronaut protection during deep-space missions, particularly for future journeys to Mars. (10/30)

Water Extraction From Moon Rocks Advances for Astronaut Support (Source: Space Daily)
Water extraction in space is critical for expanding human exploration of the Solar System. Led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), a new technique is being validated to harvest water from the Moon. Through the LUWEX research project, dedicated to testing lunar water extraction and purification for in-situ resource use, researchers at the Technical University (TU) Braunschweig have conducted large-scale experiments over several months. The trials aim to produce at least half a liter of water per run.

The LUWEX project's primary objective is to develop and test a method for extracting and purifying water from lunar regolith containing ice. This process could supply both drinking water and rocket fuel for future Moon missions. Recently, the technique has shown promising results in experimental conditions. (10/30)

Space Force Reopens On-Ramp for New Launchers (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is reopening a launch contract for new providers. The service announced Wednesday the first "on-ramp" for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program to allow new entrants to offer their vehicles. Lane 1 currently includes Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA, with the first awards made earlier this month to SpaceX. For the current on-ramp, prospective providers must demonstrate readiness for a first launch by December 2025. Among the potential new entrants, Rocket Lab stands out with its Neutron launch vehicle, anticipated to be ready for its first flight by mid-2025. (10/31)

NRO Picks Three Companies for In-Space Servicing and Logistics (Source: Space News)
The NRO has selected three companies for technology agreements regarding new in-space capabilities. As part of the Agile Launch Innovation and Strategic Technology Advancement program, the NRO signed agreements with Cognitive Space, Impulse Space and Starfish Space to assess the companies' capabilities. Cognitive Space is developing AI-driven satellite operations while Impulse Space is working on orbital transfer vehicles and Starfish Space on satellite servicing and logistics technologies. (10/31)

Startup Matter Intelligence Developing Earth Observation Sensors (Source: Space News)
Matter Intelligence has emerged from stealth with $12 million to develop a unique Earth observation sensor suite. The company says it has developed a combination of a high-resolution camera, thermal sensor and spectrometer that can be used on satellites as well as aircraft and drones. The company says the seed round will allow it to demonstrate that sensor system and line up customers, although it has provided few details about the sensor suite's capabilities or when it will be first flown in space. Lowercarbon Capital led Matter's seed round with participation from several other funds as well as billionaire Mark Cuban. (10/31)

Lockheed Martin Completes Terran Orbital Acquisition (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin has completed its acquisition of smallsat manufacturer Terran Orbital. Lockheed said Wednesday it closed the deal, announced in mid-August and valued at about $450 million. Terran Orbital, now formally known as "Terran Orbital, a Lockheed Martin Company," will continue to serve as a merchant supplier of smallsats for customers beyond Lockheed, which had been a key customer and partner. Terran Orbital was among the space companies that went public through SPAC mergers but which then struggled in the public market. (10/31)

Tamarack Global Seeks Space Startups for New Investment (Source: Space News)
Early-stage investor Tamarack Global is hunting for more space opportunities after announcing the close of a $72 million fund. About a third of that fund has been allocated so far, including an investment in Impulse Space's $150 million Series B round. The fund is looking for investments from seed to Series B rounds. Support for the fund came from a broad mix of investors, including high-profile venture capitalists such as Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz. (10/31)

NASA Refines Artemis 3 Landing Sites (Source: Space News)
NASA has refined the list of potential lunar landing sites for Artemis 3. The agency released this week a new list of nine areas near the south pole of the moon it is considering for that mission, the first crewed landing of the Artemis effort. Officials said they took into account a wide range of factors, from the capabilities of the Starship lander that will be used on Artemis 3 to lighting conditions and the ability to communicate directly with Earth. NASA will consider other sites for future Artemis missions, but expects to stay in the vicinity of the south pole of the moon. (10/31)

SpaceX Launches Wednesday Starlink Mission From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites Wednesday afternoon. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 5:10 p.m. Eastern and deployed 23 Starlink satellites. The launch took place about nine hours after another Falcon 9 launched 20 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (10/31)

ULA Investigating Payload Fairing Issue (Source: Ars Technica)
United Launch Alliance is investigating potential issues with payload fairings. On an Atlas 5 launch last year, debris came off the fairings as they separated from the upper stage. That debris may be insulation from the interior of the fairings. That loss of debris apparently did not affect the satellites inside but is being investigated by ULA and the Space Force. That could impact plans to certify ULA's Vulcan rocket for national security missions because the Vulcan fairing is made by the same company, Beyond Gravity, using similar processes. (10/31)

Viridian Developing Propulsion for VLEO Smallsats (Source: Space News)
A startup is developing an electric propulsion system for spacecraft in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) that scoops up air for plasma thrusters. The thrusters, being developed by Viridian Space Corp., would use the tenuous atmosphere in very low orbits as propellant for electric thrusters. That could significantly increase the lifetime of spacecraft in VLEO, which require propulsion to maintain their orbits against atmospheric drag. Viridian plans to test its technology in space in the next three years. (10/31)

Aldrin Endorses Trump (Source: Politico)
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin has endorsed Donald Trump for president. In a statement Wednesday, Aldrin said he was "impressed" by the support Trump gave space during his first term, but didn't cite any specific space policy plans he would expect Trump to pursue in a second term. Aldrin has previously supported Republican candidates for office and served on the National Space Council's Users' Advisory Group in the Trump administration. (10/31)

Voyager 1 Activates Backup Transmitter (Source: Space.com)
The distant Voyager 1 spacecraft has switched to a backup radio transmitter. NASA said this week that the spacecraft is back in contact with Earth after a brief outage apparently triggered by the spacecraft's fault protection system. Voyager 1 resumed communications using a backup S-band transmitter that had not been used since 1981. NASA said it is investigating the issue and studying ways to resume normal operations. (10/31)

The New Glenn Rocket’s First Stage is Real, and it’s Spectacular (Source: Ars Technica)
Blue Origin took another significant step toward the launch of its large New Glenn rocket on Tuesday night by rolling the first stage of the vehicle to a launch site at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Although the company's rocket factory in Florida is only a few miles from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, because of the rocket and transporter's size, the procession had to follow a more circuitous route. In a post on LinkedIn, Blue Origin's chief executive, Dave Limp, said the route taken by the rocket to the pad is 23 miles long.

Moving the rocket to the launch site is a key sign that the first stage is almost ready for its much-anticipated debut. Development of the New Glenn rocket would bring a third commercial heavy-lift rocket into the US market, after SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and Starship vehicles. It would send another clear signal that the future of rocketry in the United States is commercially driven rather than government-led. Critically, New Glenn is also designed to have a fully reusable first stage, which will attempt a droneship landing on its first flight.

The rocket must still undergo two key milestones, completing a wet dress rehearsal in which the vehicle will be fully fueled and its ground systems tested. This will be followed by a hot-fire test during which the first stage's seven BE-4 rocket engines will be ignited for several seconds. (10/30)

Firefly’s New CEO is Working ‘Maniacally’ to Scale Launches, Spacecraft and Moon Missions (Source: CNBC)
Jason Kim just nabbed one of the most coveted yet high-pressure C-suite gigs in the space industry. As the new CEO of rocket and spacecraft builder Firefly Aerospace, he’s no longer under the Boeing umbrella after leaving his previous role leading their satellite-making subsidiary Millennium. And he’s joined an operation that’s in rarefied air — as one of only four companies in the U.S. with an operational orbital rocket — with growing spacecraft and lunar lander product lines.

But now he’s taking on a launch market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Legacy player ULA and rising challenger Rocket Lab are also ramping up their efforts in the market — with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin hot on their heels. But Kim is unfazed. He sees gaps in the launch market for Firefly’s Alpha and coming MLV rockets, which slot into the middle of the small-to-heavy class of vehicles.

“In the history of the world, we started with the sea and then we went to rail, roads and then airplanes. I think space is the next big transportation play. It’s a new category that Firefly is going to help create,” Kim told CNBC, speaking in his first interview since joining the company at the start of this month. (10/29)

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck Is Most Excited About a ‘Completely Unfunded’ Mission (Source: Observer)
What excites its founder and CEO Peter Beck the most is a “completely unfunded,” “nights and weekends” project aimed at finding life on Venus, the entrepreneur revealed. The New Zealand-born space founder has long been fascinated by Venus, our nearest neighbor planet in the solar system, because of how similar it is to Earth.

Rocket Lab is working to send a life-hunting probe into the clouds of Venus. “There’s a very interesting, sweet zone about 50 kilometers off the surface of Venus. The conditions are just good enough that there could be life there,” Beck said. Because the destination is essentially air above a planet, the mission will be a lot trickier than landing a rover on a hard surface. Beck said, if the probe gets to Venus successfully, it will have only about 250 seconds to interfere with the planet’s atmosphere and deploy a nephelometer instrument there to look for life. (10/29)

How to Free Elon Musk’s SpaceX From Federal Red Tape: a "Space Coast Compact" (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Tensions between SpaceX and its federal regulators have spilled into public view. The FAA is seeking $633,009 in civil fines, alleging that the company neglected necessary paperwork for two 2023 launches. CEO Elon Musk has vowed to sue the FAA for “regulatory overreach.” The issue underscores a larger problem: The FAA’s issuing a launch license to SpaceX constitutes a “major federal action” under the National Environmental Policy Act, requiring a full environmental review and often subsequent mitigation measures.

The earliest the Space Force anticipates finishing its environmental review for Florida-based Starship Super Heavy operations is next autumn. A growing bipartisan "Abundance Agenda" has seen recent successes in creating new categories of NEPA exemptions. And there's a powerful alternative rooted in America's tradition of federalism: the interstate compact. The Constitution's Compact Clause permits states to create legally binding agreements among themselves. Its only limitation is that Congress must authorize any compact that encroaches on federal power or implicates federal concerns.

Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida might consider banding together to create a Space Coast Compact. The terms could establish the authorities, structure, and governance of a Space Coast Launch Authority with the right to review plans and issue launch [and landing] permits for operating in the signatory states. The new authority, an alternate to the FAA, would be accountable to the states' governments. The authority could still retain a relationship with the FAA, but the compact would break the chokehold of federal bureaucracy. (10/29)

UCF Fuels America’s Space Program with Innovative Education, Medicine and Tech (Source: UCF)
As America’s Space University, the University of Central Florida continues to drive advancements in space technology, medicine and workforce development, preparing students to lead in the evolving space industry. This commitment to the space sector will be celebrated at UCF football’s annual Space Game on Saturday, Nov. 2, as the Knights take on the University of Arizona Wildcats, honoring UCF’s roots in supporting the U.S. space program.

Founded in 1963 with the mission to provide talent for Central Florida and the growing U.S. space program, the university’s extensive involvement in space research and education not only drives innovations in space technology but also prepares the next generation of leaders in the field. With more than 40 active NASA projects totaling more than $67 million in funding, UCF continues to push the frontiers of space research, and its contributions promise to help shape the future of humanity’s presence in the cosmos. (10/29)

Insuring the Rise of Space Tourism (Source: Insurance Times)
Despite the high prospects for growth in this niche area, many challenges remain – including for the insurance industry. The main challenge is that space tourism is very different to the more established space risks that insurers are used to dealing with. Whereas traditional space insurance focuses almost exclusively on satellites – valuable but fundamentally non-human assets – insuring space tourists brings the human element much more to the fore.

“When you see [NASA] sending people to the ISS, or people launching on SpaceX, it’s normally government or company funded,” explained Ben Spain, a senior partner at broker Gallagher. “So, they’re either government employees or private company employees, not paying commercial customers. And that’s the biggest difference from a risk management point of view.

“[With space tourism], it’s an individual with families and commitments and a very different way of viewing a claim situation – from a piece of hardware that’s worth X amount to an individual with kids and a legacy behind them. So, it is a bit of a step change for us because we really haven’t seen that type of cover in the market.” Spain explained that with the typical actuarial driven insurance process, industry professionals would use a dataset with hundreds of thousands of records to base policies on. But when it comes to space tourism, insurers might only have three launches of one type of spacecraft on which to base their risk analysis. (10/30)

Spaceport is the Prize for Scotland (Source: John O'Groat Journal)
Sutherland Spaceport is set to be “a real prize” for the far north when satellite launches get under way next year, the chief executive of Highlands and Enterprise has said. He also reported that Orbex, the company behind the development and operation of the project on the A’Mhoine peninsula on the north coast, has a “very, very positive” order book.

Mr. Black was speaking after visiting the spaceport site as part of a two-day tour of businesses and community ventures along with other senior figures from the region’s economic and community development agency. Orbex will use the site to launch up to 12 orbital rockets a year. It is hoped the spaceport will eventually support around 250 jobs, including 40 jobs in Sutherland and Caithness. (10/30)

October 30, 2024

How Digital Twins Went From NASA to Manufacturing Plants (Source: Forbes)
Digital twins' roots go back to engineers simulating spacecraft systems in NASA's Apollo program, but have since found a home on factory floors worldwide, improving efficiency, reducing energy usage and streamlining operations along the way. Raghunandan Gurumurthy explores this journey, including the role of digital twins in optimizing maintenance and repairs. Click here. (10/23)

Plans to Trash the Space Station Preview a Bigger Problem (Source: Scientific American)
At the beginning of the operation, the USDV will dock to the ISS while the final crew is still there, so they can verify its working order. After that, NASA will let the station’s orbit naturally decay, and the crew will depart when the station drops 70 kilometers lower than it is now. The spacecraft, as a ghost ship, will continue to downdraft for six months, naturally lowering to 220 kilometers above Earth. When the ISS is at the right point in its orbit, around two dozen of the special Dragon’s thrusters will fire at once, sending it careening toward Point Nemo.

That fiery push may sound simple, but it’s not, McDowell says. As the station dips lower into the atmosphere, the air gets thicker. “The winds are too much,” he says, which “will make it hard to keep the station oriented.” If the rocket scientists don’t keep the station pointed in the right direction, they can’t effectively use the thrusters to control its motion. “So you have to make the final engine burn from a high enough height that you’ve still got control over it,” McDowell says.

And you have to boost its speed high enough and quick enough that it actually does deorbit and come down in the right place. It will be essential to achieve that oomph on the first try—likely why the USDV will have more engines than it necessarily needs. (10/28)

Saturn's Moon Titan May Have Thick Insulating Methane Ice Crust Up To Six Miles (Source: Space Daily)
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, stands out as the only celestial body besides Earth with a dense atmosphere and surface liquids, such as rivers, lakes, and seas. Due to its frigid environment, these liquids comprise hydrocarbons like methane and ethane, while Titan's surface primarily consists of solid water ice. Recent findings led by planetary scientists at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa suggest that methane gas could also be embedded within Titan's ice crust, creating an insulating layer up to six miles thick that warms the ice shell beneath and possibly accounts for the moon's methane-rich atmosphere. (10/28)

Students Aid NASA's Plant Growth Research in Space (Source: Space Daily)
Since 2015, students from across the United States have been collaborating with NASA scientists to push forward essential research into growing plants in space as part of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's Growing Beyond Earth project. This unique initiative, now in its ninth year, is designed to support NASA's long-term goal of cultivating crops that can sustain astronauts on deep-space missions, such as those planned for Mars. Growing Beyond Earth leverages the enthusiasm and energy of 6th-12th grade students, turning their classrooms into science labs where they engage in real-world plant growth experiments that simulate the challenges and conditions of space agriculture. (10/29)

NASA to Restart Mentor-Protege Program to Help Improve Contractor Diversity (Source: Space Daily)
NASA said on Tuesday that it will restart its Mentor-Protégé Program for contractors on Friday to expand commercial markets with eligible small businesses. The program seeks to expand inclusivity including AbilityOne, historically Black colleges and universities, and minority serving institutions to foster a more-diverse environment to collaborate with NASA. NASA said the program was originally started to grow new commercial markets that support future space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research. (10/29)

Astronomers Identify New Organic Molecule in Interstellar Space (Source: Space Daily)
The element carbon, foundational to life on Earth and potentially elsewhere, is known to exist in vast quantities across space. However, locating substantial amounts of carbon in interstellar regions has proven unexpectedly challenging. A recent discovery, involving the detection of a complex molecule known as 1-cyanopyrene, offers new insight into how carbon-rich compounds form and persist in space. This finding redefines expectations of where and how these molecular building blocks of carbon can exist and evolve. (10/28)

How Does Elon Musk Still Have a Security Clearance? (Source: The Atlantic)
Once you have a clearance, you’ll be subjected to refresher courses on how to keep it, and you’ll have to submit to regular reinvestigations. You must also sit through “insider threat” training, during which you are taught how to recognize who among your co-workers might be a security risk—and how to report them. Red flags include not only signs of money issues, emotional problems, or substance abuse but also extreme political views or foreign loyalties.

Which brings me to Elon Musk, who runs SpaceX, America’s private space contractor and an organization presumably full of people with clearances. Trump is surrounded by people who shouldn’t be given a clearance to open a checking account, much less set foot in a highly classified environment. But Musk has held a clearance for years, despite his reported use or abuse of marijuana, ketamine, LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. But fine, maybe all this means is that Musk is a patriotic, if somewhat reckless, pharmaceutical cowboy. It’s not like he’s canoodling with the Russians or anything, is it?

Bad news: Musk (according to another bombshell story from The Wall Street Journal) has reportedly been in touch multiple times with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions. Now, it’s not inherently a problem to have friends in Russia, but if you’re the guy at the desk next to me with access to highly classified technical information, and you’re chewing the fat now and then with the president of Russia, I’m pretty certain I’m required to at least raise an alert about a possible insider threat. (10/28)

Satellites Making Up China's 'Thousand Sails' Found to be Exceeding Brightness Limits (Source: Phys.org)
A team of space researchers with the IAU Center for the Protection of Dark and Quiet Skies from Satellite Constellation Interference, working with a colleague from Belgian Working Group Satellites, has found that the satellites making up China's "Thousand Sails" project exceed brightness limits that have been proposed by astronomical groups wanting to prevent satellites from blocking the view to space. Future plans call for deploying some satellites at lower altitudes, which could dramatically increase their brightness. They assert that measures could be taken by Chinese engineers to mitigate reflection, but thus far, it appears such efforts are not being made. (10/29)

Space Force’s Effort to Bring in New Launch Providers Hasn’t Worked Yet. Officials Aren’t Surprised (Source: Defense One)
The Space Force gave the first contract in a program intended to bring new companies into the launch industry to SpaceX—the world’s dominant space launch provider. But officials say that’s what they expected. Last year, in an effort to diversify the list of companies launching military satellites into space, the service launched a competition called National Space Security Launch Phase 3.

The program splits launches into two groups: “Lane 1,” for less risky missions, and “Lane 2,” for more challenging missions. The idea was that new entrants to the space launch market could get a foot in the door with a Lane 1 mission. But nothing bars established giants like SpaceX from competing in Lane 1, and on Oct. 18, the Space Force announced that SpaceX won $733.5 million for the first set of launches in that category.

The service didn’t want to wait for other companies to be ready before it launched the new acquisition approach, Panzenhagen told reporters last week during Space Systems Command’s annual Space Industry Days conference. “We never expected that it was going to be immediate in the first year because this is rocket science, right? Developing rockets, designing them, producing them, buying them is hard. (10/28)

How the US Can Counter Russian and Chinese Nuclear Threats in Space (Source: Atlantic Council)
The reliability of the US nuclear arsenal is based on the “never-always rule.” This means that the nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) system must never permit nuclear weapons use unless authorized by the president, while always enabling their use in the specific ways the president authorizes. There must never be doubt about the United States’ ability to command and control its nuclear forces under any circumstances.

Space systems provide three essential NC3 capabilities: missile warning, assured communications, and nuclear detonation detection. Infrared sensors on space-based missile warning can detect missile launches worldwide and indicate an attack first. Today, the Advanced Extremely High-Frequency system provides communication links for nuclear command and control; this system is to be augmented and then replaced by the Evolved Strategic Satellite system during the 2030s. The US Nuclear Detonation Detection System supports adaptive planning in the event of a nuclear conflict using sensors across several satellites to locate nuclear detonations in the atmosphere and space.

But much more needs to be done, as Chinese and Russian counterspace capabilities increasingly challenge the ability of space-based NC3 to deliver nuclear surety. For instance, if Russia wanted to disable satellites currently supporting Ukraine, it would only need to detonate one nuclear weapon in low-Earth orbit (LEO). With Russia apparently on the verge of violating its Outer Space Treaty obligations by orbiting a nuclear weapon, this scenario is no longer hypothetical. Meanwhile, China’s new Aerospace Force now fields a range of significant and comprehensive counterspace capabilities, including satellites with rendezvous-and-proximity and robotic arm capabilities in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). (10/28)

Kodiak Island's Spaceport Part of New Global Collaboration with U.K., Stargate Peru and Others (Source: KMXT)
Kodiak’s spaceport, the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, is one of eight spaceports across the world that signed an agreement this month on Oct. 13 to commit to international collaboration. According to a press release from the Virginia Spaceport Authority, one of the signatories, the agreement calls for representatives of the spaceports to begin meeting to create international spaceport recommendations.

John Oberst is the head of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, which oversees the spaceport on Kodiak Island. He told KMXT prior to signing this agreement that these facilities are trying to standardize their equipment and procedures; kind of like airports. This group, with member spaceports located in the U.S., U.K., Peru and other countries, will share information, expertise and likely technology as part of this new agreement. Click here. (10/28)

India's Gaganyaan Mission Will Not Launch in 2025 (Source: India Today)
India's ambitious Gaganyaan mission, the country's first crewed spaceflight program, will not launch in 2025 as previously planned. Indian Space Research Organization Chairman S. Somanath announced a revised timeline, pushing the launch to 2026. This delay reflects ISRO's commitment to ensuring the safety and success of the mission, with the space agency taking a cautious approach to human spaceflight. (10/28)

India-Russia Space Cooperation: Deepening Ties for a Peaceful Outer Space (Source: Financial Express)
India and Russia are expanding their longstanding partnership in space, with Russia emerging as a pivotal supporter of India’s ambitious Gaganyaan mission. As one of India’s key allies in space exploration, Russia has been instrumental in astronaut training, assisting in developing a manned spacecraft, and providing essential life-support and crew-escape systems. Russian expertise also extends to flight suits, couches, rate sensors, and space-capable materials, enhancing India’s capacity in human spaceflight. (10/29)

Space Force Scrambling to Get GPS Ground System Upgrades Done by 2025 (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force is pushing hard to wrap up its long lagging programs to upgrade the ground systems and receivers for Global Position System (GPS) satellites — including ditching the Air Force B-2 bomber as a first test platform for airborne receivers capable of using the jam-resistant M-Code signal in order to speed them to cross-service aircraft operators, according to a senior service acquisition official. (10/28)

US SAR Satellite Imagery Firms Say Draft ITAR Changes Still Too Restrictive (Source: Breaking Defense)
As the State Department awaits industry comment on proposed space export rules, they’re likely going to get a bit of an earful from at least two major American synthetic aperture radar (SAR) firms — who each told Breaking Defense the new regulations would not go nearly far enough to even the playing field with foreign competitors. “[W]e won’t be able to sell the premium technology, which means we’ll be out-competed by [Finnish firm] ICEYE and other competitors in the global market,” said Jason Mallare, vice president and general manager at Umbra Space’s Mission Solutions group. (10/28)

NASA’s Oldest Active Astronaut is Also One of the Most Curious Humans (Source: Ars Technica)
For his most recent trip to the International Space Station, in lieu of bringing coffee or some other beverage in his "personal drink bag" allotment for the stay, NASA astronaut Don Pettit asked instead for a couple of bags of unflavored gelatin. This was not for cooking purposes but rather to perform scientific experiments. How many of us would give up coffee for science? Well, Donald Roy Pettit is not like most of us.

At the age of 69, Pettit is NASA's oldest active astronaut and began his third long-duration stay on the space station last month. A lifelong tinkerer and gifted science communicator, he already is performing wonders up there, and we'll get to his current activities in a moment. But just so you understand who we're dealing with, the thing to know about Pettit is that he is insatiably curious and wants to share the wonder of science and the natural world with others. (10/28)

SpaceX Has Caught a Massive Rocket. So What’s Next? (Source: Ars Technica)
To date, the Starship upper stage of the Super Heavy rocket has yet to fly an orbital trajectory. Instead, the second stage was lost during the first three flights before making a controlled reentry into the Indian Ocean on the fourth and fifth test flights of the vehicle. To make a controlled reentry, SpaceX must demonstrate the ability to relight the rocket’s Raptor engines in space for a precise deorbit burn.

SpaceX may attempt to vertically land Starship elsewhere first. There have been rumors about a partnership with Australia, and one source told Ars that SpaceX was scouting the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year. Such locations would allow for a safer return of Starship to land. However, such an approach would also necessitate landing legs. The question is whether SpaceX will undertake this leg-development project now to enable landing tests or push it back and navigate the regulatory thicket to enable Starship catches in South Texas.

Publicly, the space agency is holding to a September 2026 date to land its first Artemis crew on the lunar surface. To reach that date, NASA officials have previously told Ars that SpaceX needs to fly a propellant-transfer test during the first quarter of 2025. We don’t expect that to happen, as a lot of preparatory work needs to be completed before this test can occur. For the propellant transfer demonstration, SpaceX will launch a Starship “target” into low-Earth orbit to be followed closely by a Starship “chaser.” The vehicles will then rendezvous in space, dock, and in an unprecedented space ballet, the chaser vehicle will transfer a significant amount of cryogenic propellant into the target vehicle. (10/28)

New Metal 3D Printing Technology for Ultra-Strong Materials Used in Space! (Source: Korea Institute of Materials Science)
The 3D printing technology for designing structural materials having outstanding cryogenic performance developed by the research team for space exploration applications. It boasts superior combination of strength-ductility in cryogenic temperature, and can be tailored by controlling microstructure and process parameters for desired application. The team has successfully developed a new high-performance metal 3D-printed alloy tailored for space environments. (10/29)

Artemis 2 Astronauts Train for Emergencies with Orion Spacecraft Ahead of 2025 Moon Launch (Source: Space.com)
The four Artemis 2 astronauts recently practiced a key contingency operation as they continue to prepare for their moon mission: opening the side hatch of their Orion spacecraft. NASA and the CSA announced the four astronauts in April 2023 for what was then supposed to be a December 2024 liftoff. The mission was delayed in January 2024 due to several critical engineering issues, particularly longstanding examinations of irregularities in the heat shield.

But the mission is a developmental one, the crew continues to emphasize, meaning that getting the hardware and crew safely ready must override any expectation of a firm schedule. The side hatch mockup — which crew members trained on with Orion spacecraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado — normally swings open using manual gearboxes. But in an emergency, the release mechanism has pyrotechnic (explosive) devices that "release the latch pins on the hatch instantaneously. (10/28)

China Fully Advances Manned Lunar Landing Program (Source: Xinhua)
China is pressing ahead with its mission to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030, moving quickly with development and construction to turn this goal into reality, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced at a press conference on Tuesday. The production and ground tests of prototypes of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, the manned spacecraft Mengzhou, the lunar lander Lanyue, the space suit and the manned lunar rover are underway as planned, said Lin Xiqiang, spokesperson for the CMSA. (10/29)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites at California Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites this morning. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:07 a.m. Eastern after a one-day delay carrying 20 Starlink satellites. Deployment of the satellites was scheduled for about an hour after liftoff. (10/30)

Italy's Avio Looking for US Site for Solid Rocket Motor Production (Source: Space News)
Avio plans to start producing solid rocket motors in the United States. The Italian company, which makes the Vega rocket and solid motors for missiles, said Tuesday it has contracted with real estate development firm ACMI Properties to pick a location for the factory in the first half of 2025. That factory, slated to open in 2028, would focus primarily on missiles for U.S. government tactical needs, but could also provide motors for commercial rockets. (10/30)

South Korea's Lumir Goes Public (Source: Space News)
A South Korean developer of synthetic aperture radar satellites went public last week. Shares in Lumir rose when the company started trading on the KOSDAQ exchange Oct. 21, but have since fallen 24% from its IPO price. Lumir started in 2009 as a supplier of satellite components but is now building its first SAR satellite, LumirX-1, scheduled for launch in early 2026. That satellite will provide imagery with a resolution of 0.3 meters, and Lumir plans to operate up to 18 satellites by 2030. Analysts said the decline in Lumir's stock price reflected broader concerns about the country's space sector more than it did specific issues with the company. (10/30)

Solstar Plans Spaceflight Testing (Source: Space News)
Solstar Space plans to conduct the first spaceflight testing next year of its narrowband satellite data-relay transceiver. The company plans to fly its Deke Space Communicator to demonstrate how it can provide a continuous internet link when integrated with a satellite's telemetry, tracking and commanding system. Solstar developed the Deke Space Communicator with private funding and SBIR contracts, including $1.25 million from AFWERX in 2023. (10/30)

UK Startup Astron Systems Developing Reusable Launcher (Source: Space News)
A startup in the United Kingdom says it is working on a small reusable launch vehicle. Astron Systems is working on a vehicle whose two stages would both be reusable and would be able to place up to 360 kilograms into low Earth orbit. The company is aiming for a first launch as soon as late 2027, but its work so far has focused on development of key components. The company is one of 12 startups in the Fall 2024 class of the TechStars Space Accelerator and previously had backing from the European Space Agency Business Incubator Centre United Kingdom. (10/30)

Thailand to Sign Artemis Accords (Source: The Nation)
Thailand is planning to sign the Artemis Accords. The Thai government cabinet on Tuesday approved plans for the country's space agency, GISTDA, to sign the Accords at an unspecified date. Government ministers said signing the Accords would allow the company to improve its space industry and cooperate with other nations in space exploration. Thailand had previously joined the China-led International Lunar Research station (ILRS) effort and would become the first country to be a part of both ILRS and the Artemis Accords. (10/30)

Pentagon Increases by 10X Funding for Commercial Satellite Internet (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon has increased the value of a commercial satellite internet services contract by more than ten-fold. The military's Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) Satellite-Based Services program, launched just last year with a $900 million ceiling over five years, has been expanded to $13 billion by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the Space Systems Command.

The contract is used to buy broadband services from systems like SpaceX's Starlink. Before this increase, the PLEO contract had already spent about $660 million of its original $900 million ceiling. Most of the orders have been for Starshield, the militarized version of the Starlink service. The dramatic jump in funding underscores how vital high-speed satellite internet has become for military operations. (10/30)

China Launches New Crew to TSS (Source: Space News)
A new Chinese crew has arrived at the Tiangong space station. A Long March 2F rocket lifted off at 4:27 p.m. Eastern Tuesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and placed the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft into orbit. Shenzhou-19 docked with Tiangong about six and a half hours later. The launch kicked off a six-month mission for Shenzhou-19 commander Cai Xuzhe and crewmates Song Lingdong, an air force pilot, and Wang Haoze, the country's first woman space engineer. They will relieve the Shenzhou-18 crew of Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu, who are scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday. (10/30)

China Picks Two Proposals for TSS Resupply Missions (Source: Space News)
China's human spaceflight agency has selected two proposals to develop spacecraft for low-cost space station resupply missions. The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) announced Tuesday it selected the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft from the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS) and the Haolong cargo space shuttle proposal from the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute under the Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) for development. The program, analogous to NASA's commercial cargo program, will support development of vehicles intended to resupply the Tiangong space station at a lower cost that existing spacecraft. (10/30)

DoD Seeks Space Supply Chain Resilience (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department is looking for ways to improve the defense industrial supply chain, including for space. Officials said Tuesday they want to address critical vulnerabilities in that supply chain, like key components available from only a single supplier. The unclassified version of the plan highlights measures to strengthen domestic manufacturing for defense purposes and increase supply chain resilience against adversarial threats, but specific vulnerabilities were included only in the classified version.

Those broader supply chain concerns extend to the space industry, where the military has become increasingly dependent on a small number of specialized suppliers even as demand for those capabilities has increased with the development of satellite constellations. (10/30)

NRO Explores OTVs and Multimanifesting (Source: Space News)
The NRO is continuing to explore the use of orbital transfer vehicles and improved satellite multimanifesting to carry out its missions. The director of the NRO's Office of Space Launch said such capabilities, which would allow satellites to change orbits or enable more flexible launch manifesting of satellites, remain topics of interest. Both were included in a broad area announcement (BAA) the NRO issued in March, and the agency plans to continue the use of BAAs on space launch technologies. The NRO is embarking on a dramatic increase in the number of satellites through a proliferated constellation that the NRO says will provide data "in seconds" to warfighters. (10/30)

October 29, 2024

NASA Says Bent Solar Sail Should Not Affect Experimental Spacecraft (Source: Extreme Tech)
For most spacecraft, traveling through the vacuum of space requires fuel. NASA's experimental Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) is different, though. This vehicle could help NASA learn how to harness the Sun's limitless energy to sail through the vacuum of space—if it works. NASA has provided an update on the spacecraft, which appears to have broken itself just a little during deployment. NASA is still taking it slow as it aims to understand the dynamics of controlling an advanced solar sail craft.

NASA confirms ACS3 is still tumbling through space, which is not usually what you want with a solar sail. When deploying the sails on ACS3, NASA deactivated the vehicle's attitude control system, which applies force to stabilize the craft and keep it pointed in the right direction. However, the team wanted to accommodate the changing dynamics of the craft as the sails were locked into place. The attitude control has not been reactivated in part because NASA is investigating what appears to be a bend in one of the vehicle's booms.

The four booms reach outward from the Cubesat chassis to support the sails, which form a square 33 feet (10 meters) across—about half the size of a tennis court. The team believes this bend occurred when the booms and sails were pulled taut after being extended. Images from the four ACS3 cameras (below) show that the bent boom may have straightened somewhat while the spacecraft has been tumbling. (10/28)

Space-Based 3D Cell Culture Research Paves the Way for New Cancer Therapies (Source: CASIS)
In October, we think pink, and for a good reason—one out of every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, and each year, 2 million women are given this frightening diagnosis. Biotechnology startup MicroQuin leveraged the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory to grow 3D breast and prostate cancer cell cultures to learn more about how these cancers develop and grow. However, the research team found something incredible that could lead to a way to treat not just breast and prostate cancers but all cancers. (10/28)

A Giant Structure in Space Challenges Our Understanding of The Universe (Source: Science Alert)
A colossal structure in the distant Universe is defying our understanding of how the Universe evolved. In light that has traveled for 6.9 billion years to reach us, astronomers have found a giant, almost perfect ring of galaxies, some 1.3 billion light-years in diameter. It doesn't match any known structure or formation mechanism. The Big Ring, as the structure has been named, could mean that we need to amend the standard model of cosmology. (10/28)

Vandenberg and the Space Shuttle (Source: Space Review)
In the 1970s the Air Force decided to convert Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base into a shuttle launch pad. Dwayne Day discusses that effort as described in some recently discovered concept art from that era. Click here. (10/29)
 
Mysterious MOL Concepts (Source: Space Review)
In the early 1960s, the US Air Force examined a range of options for a military space station before settling on what would become the Manned Orbital Laboratory. Hans Dolfing discusses what some of those other concepts were based on archived reports. Click here. (10/29)
 
Planning for the Future of Continuous Human Presence in LEO (Source: Space Review)
At the International Astronautical Congress earlier this month, one company outlined its plans for a future commercial space station to support NASA and other customers. Jeff Foust report that NASA also used the conference to describe what it is thinking about in terms of how it will use those stations. Click here. (10/29)

Weighing Overall Societal Benefit: Case Studies on Deciding When to Deorbit Satellites (Source: Space Review)
In the conclusion of her examination of the tradeoffs of extending satellite lifetimes versus mitigating orbital debris, Marissa Herron looks at the processes by which NASA decides to continue some science missions and the role that adherence to debris mitigation guidelines plays there. Click here. (10/29)

Intelsat Breakup Created ~500 Debris Pieces (Source: Space News)
About 500 pieces of debris have been tracked from an Intelsat communications satellite that broke up earlier this month. ExoAnalytic Solutions says it has spotted fragments of the satellite ranging in size from a softball to a car door from Intelsat-33e after it broke apart Oct. 19. Intelsat is still investigating what caused the in-orbit breakup of Intelsat-33e, the second in a series of four EpicNG high throughput satellites Boeing built for the operator. ExoAnalytic says it is working with the U.S. Space Force and others to monitor the debris and the threat it poses to other satellites in geostationary orbit. (10/29)

NASA Cracks Orion Heat Shield Mystery (Source: Space News)
NASA says it now understands why the heat shield on the Orion spacecraft eroded more than expected on the Artemis 1 mission, but won't disclose that reason for now. At meetings Monday, NASA officials said they had identified the root cause of the unexpected "char loss" on the heat shield during Orion's reentry at the end of the Artemis 1 mission in December 2022.

However, those officials declined to discuss that root cause while additional testing is in progress on ways to mitigate the problem for the upcoming Artemis 2 mission, the first crewed Orion flight. Those tests are scheduled to wrap up by the end of November with more details on the root cause and mitigation steps to be released by the end of the year. Artemis 2 is still officially scheduled for launch no earlier than September 2025. (10/29)

China Narrows Plans for Lunar Rover (Source: Space News)
China has selected two designs for a lunar rover for future crewed missions. Teams from the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), both groups under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), have been selected to work on prototype designs, the Chinese government announced Tuesday. The rover will have a mass of 200 kilograms and have a range of 10 kilometers, and is intended to be ready in time for China's first crewed landing on the moon by 2030. (10/29)

Austria's iSEE Global Creates US Subsidiary (Source: Space News)
Austrian space domain awareness startup iSEE Global has set up an American subsidiary. The U.S. subsidiary of Impact Space Expedition & Exploration Global Corp. will be led by Andy Bowyer, former CEO of Kleos Space. The company is proposing to develop a "radar fence constellation" of satellites to improve tracking of space objects, and the U.S. office will allow it to market its services to U.S. government customers. (10/29)

NASA Installs Key Instrument on Roman Telescope (Source: NASA)
NASA has installed a key instrument on its next large space telescope. NASA announced Monday it installed the Roman Coronagraph Instrument into a part of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope spacecraft called the instrument carrier. The space telescope is being assembled at the Goddard Space Flight Center for a launch by May 2027 to study dark energy and exoplanets, among other astronomical phenomena. The coronagraph is a technology demonstration of ways to block starlight to directly image exoplanets orbiting those stars. (10/29)

NASA Loses Kinkaid and MacDonald (Source: NASA)
The head of NASA's educational efforts and its chief economist are both leaving the agency. NASA announced Monday the retirement of Mike Kincaid, associate administrator of the Office of STEM Engagement, effective at the end of November, and of Alex MacDonald, chief economist, at the end of the year. Kincaid will be replaced on an acting basis by Kris Brown, deputy associate administrator for strategy and integration in the Office of STEM Engagement, while Akhil Rao from NASA's Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy will serve as acting chief economist. (10/29)

China's Only Woman Spaceflight Engineer in Crew for 'Dream' Mission (Source: Space Daily)
China's only woman spaceflight engineer will be among a crew of three astronauts blasting off on a "dream" mission to the Tiangong space station this week, Beijing announced Tuesday. The new Tiangong team will carry out experiments with an eye to the space programme's ambitious goal of placing astronauts on the Moon by 2030 and eventually constructing a lunar base. (10/29)

Impact Craters on Venus Revealed by New Research (Source: Space Daily)
Researchers have discovered what may be a long-hidden record of ancient impact craters on Venus, shedding light on a planetary history distinct from Earth's. Unlike Earth, where wind, water, and tectonic shifts obscure impact sites, Venus shows fewer such processes, leaving some of the Solar System's most pristine craters. However, the planet still lacks the giant impact basins seen on the Moon or Mars. (10/29)

NASA Outlines New Potential Landing Regions for Artemis III Mission (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has refined its list of potential landing sites for the upcoming Artemis III mission, aiming to be the first crewed Moon landing in over 50 years. Nine candidate landing regions have been identified near the Moon's South Pole, with each area selected based on its scientific value, engineering feasibility, and potential to support sustainable lunar exploration. These regions will undergo further investigation to ensure mission readiness, with additional sites considered for subsequent Artemis missions. (10/29)

LeoStella and BlackSky Join SDA's Proliferated Low-Earth Orbit Initiative (Source: Space Daily)
contribute to the Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low-Earth Orbit (HALO) program. This initiative opens doors for nontraditional defense contractors to collaborate directly with SDA on rapid on-orbit mission feasibility prototypes. LeoStella, a small satellite manufacturer, will partner with BlackSky as a subcontractor to develop these mission prototypes. This selection pre-qualifies LeoStella to work closely with SDA in this capacity. (10/25)

Samsonite's Proxis Suitcase Reaches New Heights with Space Launch (Source: Space Daily)
Samsonite, a global leader in premium travel gear, has collaborated with aerospace pioneers Sent Into Space to send its Proxis suitcase to the edge of space, showcasing an impressive leap in travel innovation. The launch, which occurred near Las Vegas, Nevada, demonstrated the exceptional durability and design of the Proxis, the brand's lightest suitcase to date, which returned from its space mission without a scratch. The Proxis suitcase, weighing just 4.6 lbs, features Samsonite's Roxkin outer shell, known for its strength and lightweight qualities. This material was key to the suitcase's selection for this unique experiment, aimed at pushing the boundaries of travel technology. (10/25)

October 28, 2024

Winning Hearts and Minds to Further the Global Space Economy (Source: Space News)
A major component of securing governmental and public support for ambitious projects is a strong public relations campaign that can clearly and compellingly tell a story that can lead to financial and regulatory support while shaping public perception. To be sure, there are challenges to this. In this field, technology alone is not enough. One of the biggest challenges communicators in the space industry face is how to stand out when everyone is operating at incredibly high technological levels. Often, the key, somewhat counter-intuitively, is not to lead with the tech, but rather with the human impact. Understandably space industry players want to lead with the tech, but reporters — and their readers — often want something more. Click here. (10/23)

Europe's Bold 'Explore 2040' Campaign Aims to Get Astronauts to the Moon and Mars (Source: Space.com)
The European Space Agency (ESA) is charting a bold course for the future, aiming to solidify Europe's position in space exploration through the "Explore 2040" initiative. Josef Aschbacher, director-general of ESA, emphasized the need for Europe to increase its space activities during an Oct. 16 talk at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2024 in Milan. The agency is now building a strategy to define its future. One key pillar of this is exploration.

"We have a process with our Member States called Explore 2040, which is a perspective at the horizon of 2040 and where Europe can go," Daniel Neuenschwander, director of human and robotic exploration at ESA, said in Milan. "What we want, above all, is to increase the pace and how we conduct programs," Neuenschwander said. That includes speeding up innovation and developing transportation and infrastructure for exploration, he added. (10/28)

New Space Force Effort Focused on ‘Closing C2 Kill Chains’ (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force’s primary acquisition command has established a new effort to build integrated command and control (C2) networks — that is, machine-to-machine capabilities to seamlessly feed data from multiple sensors through battle management systems that process data to “shooters” — focused on four high priority, classified weapon systems, according to senior officials.

Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Systems Command, said today that his primary focus over the next five years “is on the C2 and closure of the kill chains to actually use the effectors,” based on priorities set by the head of US Space Command Gen. Stephen Whiting. The new initiative is aimed to overcome current stovepipes and ensure that in a crisis or conflict, “we can actually employ these effectors and have a kill chain that that closes and actually employ the kit that we’re building.” (10/23)

Space Force Sees Surge in Foreign Military Sales Demand (Source: Defense News)
The U.S. Space Force saw a sixfold increase in demand for foreign military sales over the last year – growth that the service attributes to the increasingly important role space systems play in economic and national security worldwide. Space Systems Command’s FMS division saw a 500% increase in requests between 2023 and 2024. The service last week finalized its largest FMS agreement to date — a $126 million deal with the Canadian Armed Forces that will give the country access to the U.S. Space Force’s Mobile User Objective System, a satellite fleet capable of providing ultra-high frequency satellite communications.

With that demand in mind, the service is working closely with the Air Force’s international affairs office to improve the FMS process. Earlier this year, the Air Force unveiled a Space Technology and Resources baseline, which provides a list of capabilities within each mission area that are approved for export. The list includes everything from satellites and ground radars to sensors to component technologies like cameras or mirrors. (10/28)

Commercial Industry Gears Up for ISS Replacement Around 2030 Amid Concerns (Source: NSF)
NASA and the commercial space industry are planning for the eventual replacement of the International Space Station (ISS), which is currently set for 2030. Companies like Axiom and VAST have already started construction on the first modules of their planned commercial stations, while others are also planning to offer commercial station capability in the future. However, questions have arisen about the viability of the market for low-Earth orbit human space stations.

Recent announcements by VAST regarding its initial space station — which is scheduled to be launched next year — as well as its follow-on space station are the latest developments in the commercial space station space. Meanwhile, Axiom reworked its space station design, which is also being built. Other companies like Blue Origin and Voyager Space are also working on station concepts, though it is unclear how many of these projects will make it to low-Earth orbit. Click here. (10/23)

JWST Spots Extremely Bright Objects. They Shouldn't Be There (Source: Mashable)
Using the Webb telescope to peer back into the earliest periods of the universe, researchers spotted a handful of some of the brightest objects in the cosmos — quasars — adrift in the empty voids of space, isolated from other galaxies. This is strange. Quasars are black holes at galactic centers, millions to billions times more massive than the sun, that shoot potent bursts of energy into space (from material falling toward or rapidly spinning around black holes). The prevailing, and logical, theory was that such massive, hungry objects could only form in regions of dense matter. (10/22)

China Wants to Make its Tiangong Space Station Bigger and Better (Source: Space.com)
China has been operating its completed Tiangong orbital outpost for almost two years now — and is looking to expand its capabilities with new modules and spacecraft. The three-module, T-shaped Tiangong space station was fully assembled in November 2022, with the arrival of the Mengtian science module. The station seems set to grow again, however.

The upgrades to Tiangong will come in a number of steps, according to Li. The first would be to update the Chinese space station's Tianhe core module to be able to accept further modules. "With this purpose, we try to upgrade the space station from the T shape. Presently it is the T shape, to the future cross shape, or you may also call it the Double-T shape," Li said. He added that this would allow China to send more space science experiment racks and large extravehicular experiments, and overall extend the scale of operations aboard Tiangong.

"Another upgrade is developing the renewable spaceship," said Li. The versatile spacecraft, named Mengzhou, will come in two variants: one for sending crew to the moon and another for Tiangong. (10/28)

Boeing Space Exit Would Be a Win-Win-Win Situation (Source: Bloomberg)
A true win-win-win situation doesn’t come along often. One could be brewing with a Boeing Co. decision to look at a potential sale — or perhaps more realistically a spinoff — of its space business. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Boeing is considering a sale of the business, though a deal is not guaranteed. Bloomberg News reported that the company is weighing options for its Starliner space capsule program.

Boeing should exit the entire business. The company would win because it would cleave off an operation that has become a drag during a critical time when the planemaker must concentrate on healing its commercial aircraft business; it can’t afford more headwinds or distractions. NASA would be a winner after it has lost some confidence in Boeing after several stumbles with the Starliner. Investors would win if Boeing were to raise cash by selling the unit or from ownership in the spinoff of an established space operation in an era when the commercial space market is in its infancy. (10/28)

Spaceports and Their Role in Industry (Source: FAA)
Collaboration is key to ensuring the safety and success of Spaceports, a vital component of the Commercial Space Industry. Click here. (10/17)

AST SpaceMobile Unfurls Huge Antennas in Orbit (Source: Space News)
AST SpaceMobile says its first five production satellites have unfolded their large antennas in orbit a month after launch. Each unfolded Block 1 BlueBird spans about 64 square meters, featuring the largest array commercially deployed to LEO. The company is continuing to conduct in-orbit health checks for the spacecraft to prepare them for operations in the United States, although it needs regulatory approval to test services using wireless frequencies from partners AT&T and Verizon. (10/28)

SpaceX Super Heavy Booster Catch Came Close to Abort (Source: Space News)
The Super Heavy booster on the latest Starship test flight came within a second of aborting its "catch" landing back at the launch site. Company officials, in audio apparently inadvertently posted on X by Elon Musk Friday, said a misconfigured parameter affected the rate at which engines were started up in the booster for the landing, coming within a second of triggering an abort "and telling the rocket to abort and try to crash into the ground next to the tower."

In the audio, those officials also discussed a cover that came off a vertical structure called a chine on the side of the booster, exposing critical valves needed for the landing burn. The company is balancing those fixes and other risk-reduction work with getting the next Starship vehicle ready for launch as soon as possible under the same FAA license used for the previous flight. (10/28)

Space Industry Growth and Japan's Role in Satellite Development (Source: Space Daily)
The space industry has seen unprecedented growth with a surge in rocket launches and satellite demands, bringing it into the global spotlight. Professor Shinichi Nakasuka from the University of Tokyo's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics explains the university's historical contributions to Japan's space development, trends in satellite technology, and future expectations for the space sector. Click here. (10/25)

Radiation Belt Exploration Boosted by Smallsat Constellation Mission CORBES (Source: Space Daily)
In line with the COSPAR Scientific Roadmap on Small Satellites for Space Science, the CORBES mission, proposed by the Small Geostationary Radiation Belt (SGRB) division of TGCSS, is advancing Earth's radiation belt research through a constellation of multi-CubeSats. This constellation has been under development for two years and aims to conduct a fast-paced survey of Earth's radiation belts.

The CORBES mission is designed to use a multi-satellite configuration to explore variations in the radiation belts by maintaining a near-equatorial orbit, with an apogee at approximately seven Earth radii, akin to Geostationary Transfer Orbits (GTO). By placing multiple satellites in this orbit, CORBES will discern spatial from temporal radiation belt changes, significantly enhancing our understanding of these dynamic regions. Each satellite is expected to operate for a minimum of one year, ensuring cost-effectiveness and mission continuity. (10/27)

ESA Selects Four Companies to Develop Reusable Rocket Technology (Source: European Spaceflight)
The European Space Agency has selected Rocket Factory Augsburg, The Exploration Company, ArianeGroup, and Isar Aerospace to develop reusable rocket technology. On 9 October, ESA held its Future Space Transportation Award Ceremony in Paris. During the event, the agency announced the four awardees under two initiatives focused on the development of reusable rocket technology: the Technologies for High-thrust Reusable Space Transportation (THRUST!) project and the Boosters for European Space Transportation (BEST!) project.

Rocket Factory Augsburg and The Exploration were selected to develop projects under the THRUST! initiative. ArianeGroup and Isar Aerospace were selected to develop projects under the BEST! initiative. (10/28)

Satellite Servicing Industry Faces Uncertain Military Demand (Source: Space News)
The burgeoning in-space satellite servicing industry is positioning itself to transform orbital operations, from refueling to potential in-space repairs. Companies are eager to demonstrate their capabilities to a crucial customer: the U.S. military. But convincing the Pentagon to trust commercial providers with delicate, high-value national security satellites remains a significant challenge.

The ability to refuel satellites in orbit is particularly appealing to the U.S. military, which operates some of the most expensive spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit. Keeping these critical assets functional for as long as possible is a top priority. However, beyond basic refueling, the military remains uncertain about adopting other ISAM (in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing) services. (10/28)

Thales and Airbus Space Deal Would Create European Monopoly, Warns Rival (Source: Financial Times)
An alliance combining the space activities of Thales and Airbus would be anti-competitive and threaten to create a monopoly in Europe that would be detrimental to customers and industry, the head of the continent’s third-biggest satellite manufacturer has warned. Marco Fuchs, head of the family-controlled and Bremen-based OHB, said he planned to raise concerns with EU competition authorities about a potential tie-up between Europe’s two biggest satellite manufacturers, should talks between them result in concrete proposals.

He said: “That would be a very strong, market-dominating player. We are concerned. I think competition will be diminished.” The companies, along with Italy’s Leonardo, are in exploratory discussions about an alliance to create a European space company spanning satellite manufacturing, space systems and services. “The discussion aims to see how Europe can be more competitive and have more critical mass,” said a person involved in the exploratory discussions.

Combining the two companies’ space activities would “certainly shake up Europe’s space landscape”, reducing the number of prime contractors capable of handling large space programs to the new alliance and OHB, said Caleb Henry, analyst at Quilty Space. “This would make intra-continental competition harder for Europe.” (10/27)

European Agency Offers Support for Struggling Space Sector (Source: Reuters)
The European Space Agency unveiled plans on Thursday to speed up payments to the space industry in the face of mounting job cuts, while imposing more scrutiny following cost overruns and delays. Director General Josef Aschbacher announced the measure after a council meeting of the 22-nation agency, a week after Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab announced 2,500 job cuts mainly in its loss-making satellites business.

"Profitability has been raised as a major issue," Aschbacher said, citing recent announcements at Airbus Defence and Space and Franco-Italian rival Thales Alenia Space. The proposed support will include increasing the level of downpayments on new contracts and releasing progress payments more quickly without waiting for all development milestones to be completed, "which of course takes much longer," he added. (10/24)

October 27, 2024

Rocket Launch Threatened by Sliced Cheese Stuck on Leg (Source: Futurism)
During an important rocket test, some students decided to strap some cheese onto one of the craft's landing legs — and got a crucial lesson in physics. The student-built Gruyère Space Program in Lausanne, Switzerland beat ESA when achieving the region's first-ever "rocket hop" test earlier in October. During the test, the group's CALIBRI rocket prototype climbed vertically before dropping back down to terra firma.

During the test, the team decided to strap a slice of gruyère — yes, just like their name — onto the rocket's leg. But what was intended as a joke about one of their country's premier cheeses became no laughing matter when the slice nearly caused a rocket failure. As video of the historic incident shows, CALIBRI does indeed start to spin upon its descent, which took place after the rocket reached its peak altitude of 32 yards. Luckily, the rocket landed safely with its dairy stowaway intact. It does seem that the additional weight of the cheese on one of the rocket's three legs undermined the craft's stability. (10/26)

NASA Goes After the Mysterious Dark Matter: Will Look for it Inside a Black Hole (Source: El Diario)
In its quest to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the universe dark matter NASA is about to make historic progress. Dark matter, which is thought to comprise around 85% of all matter in the universe, is still elusive and unseen. Its gravitational pull on visible matter is the sole way to determine its existence. NASA’s most recent project uses state-of-the-art technology to explore dark matter within black holes, which could uncover secrets about the structure of the universe. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a potent instrument that will be crucial for detecting events surrounding black holes, is at the center of this project. (10/26)

Space Tourist Alarmed When Vision Starts to Deteriorate (Source: Futurism)
Scientists are still trying to understand the toll that spaceflight takes on the human body. With SpaceX's civilian Polar Dawn mission, which lasted five days and wrapped up last month, we're getting an opportunity to observe the effects on more or less average humans — rather than the elite, highly trained government astronauts who are normally the ones that spend so much time in orbit. Some of what they're reporting sounds a little worrying. At the top of the list: inexplicably malfunctioning eyeballs.

"My vision acuity started to deteriorate those first few days," Scott "Kidd" Poteet, a former US Air Force pilot who served as pilot of the mission, told CNN of the journey. What caused Poteet's vision to deteriorate is likely a condition known as spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome, or SANS. This is believed to be the result of a microgravity environment, which causes the optic nerve to swell, and fluids in the eye and brain to shift.

SANS is still poorly understood. All four crew members wore high-tech, cyberpunk-looking contact lenses to measure intraocular pressure throughout the mission, in the hopes of teasing out its causes. Poteet said his vision quickly returned to normal once he was back on Earth. But as SpaceX engineer and the mission's medical officer Anna Menon told CNN, the effects — if unaddressed — could be disastrous in the long term. (10/26)

SpaceX Launches From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
It's a record-breaking launch day — with the Space Coast's unparalleled 73rd orbital rocket of 2024 launched from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport! SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on a Starlink satellite mission from Launch Complex 40. This mission surpassed Florida's annual record of 72 orbital rocket launches, which was set last year and tied this week — with November and December still remaining on the calendar. (10/26)

October 26, 2024

Edgar Mitchell's Apollo 14-Flown Rolex GMT-Master' Pepsi' Sells for Over $2 Million at Auction (Source: CollectSpace)
A Rolex GMT-Master 'Pepsi' worn by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell sold for $2,163,199 at auction, announced Boston-based RR Auction. This rare timepiece from Mitchell's personal collection is one of only two Apollo-flown Rolex watches ever sold publicly. The watch accompanied Mitchell on his Apollo 14 mission in 1971, where he became the sixth man to walk on the moon. The watch was documented in both pre-flight footage of Mitchell suiting up and onboard video from within the Command Module. Engraved on the caseback are the words, "Worn by Cdr. E. Mitchell on Apollo 14, 1971, To Karlin—My Daughter." (10/25)

ISS Crewmember Hospitalized in Pensacola After Dragon Capsule Splashdown in Gulf of Mexico (Source: CNN)
Three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut were unexpectedly transferred to a medical facility in Florida rather than returning to their home base in Houston after their splashdown early Friday morning aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. One of those astronauts remained in the hospital Friday afternoon with a “medical issue,” while the three others flew to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston after a health evaluation at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, a hospital near the crew’s splashdown site in the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA did not provide any further details about the crew member who remained at the medical facility. “To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared,” according to a Friday afternoon statement from NASA news chief Cheryl Warner. “The one astronaut who remains at Ascension is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure,” the statement said.

The four-person crew, which spent nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station before landing in the Gulf of Mexico at 3:29 a.m. ET Friday, had a “safe splashdown and recovery,” NASA said Friday morning. (10/25)

AST SpaceMobile Wins DoD HALO Contract (Source: Mobile World)
AST SpaceMobile inked an initial US government agreement under the Department of Defence (DoD) to compete for prototype demonstration projects for national security space needs. The Space Development Agency (SDA) selected AST SpaceMobile for an other transaction agreement to take part under in the Hybrid Acquisition for proliferated Low-earth Orbit (HALO) programme, an initiative to accelerate development and deployment of advanced space technologies. (10/25)

Boeing Explores Sale of Space Business (Sources: Wall Street Journal, Michael Sheetz)
Boeing helped put the first men on the moon. Now it wants to get out of the space race. The beleaguered company's new CEO Kelly Ortberg is exploring options for its Starliner and NASA space station business in a quest to rescue the manufacturer, according to people familiar with the matter. Unfortunately, Boeing's space portfolio still has a lot going on right now. It's the portfolio with the dysfunctional capsule, disintegrating satellites, retiring space station, “wasteful” moon rocket, and the small satellite subsidiary that just had its leader poached. At least its twin top secret X-37B spaceplanes keep cooking.

Ortberg, who earlier this week visited Boeing’s space facilities on Florida's Space Coast, stressed that the Starliner team needs “to improve our systems engineering and our design capability so that never happens again.” (10/25)

Starlink Service Available in NSF Radio Quiet Zone Near US Observatories (Source: NSF)
The vast majority of people within the areas of Virginia and West Virginia collectively known as the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) can now receive high speed satellite internet service. The newly available service is the result of a nearly three-year collaborative engineering effort between the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), SpaceX and the NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) which operates the NSF Green Bank Observatory (NSF GBO) in West Virginia within the NRQZ.

“Working closely with SpaceX over the past three years has enabled NRAO and SpaceX to better understand each other’s systems and how to actively coexist in this part of the spectrum,” said Chris De Pree, the NSF NRAO Deputy Spectrum Manager. As residents receive the internet service during the assessment period, scientists and engineers will monitor for interference issues and work to resolve them without interrupting internet service. (10/25)

NASA Concerned About Putin-Musk Contacts (Source: CNN)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Friday called for an investigation into a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX founder and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been in “regular contact” since late 2022. The report, which said the SpaceX founder has discussed “personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions” with the Russian leader, raises national security concerns as SpaceX’s relationships with NASA and the US military may have granted Musk access to sensitive government information and US intelligence.

“I don’t know that that story is true. I think it should be investigated,” Nelson told Semafor’s Burgess Everett. “If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies.” (10/25)

CSA Provides Additional $1M Funding to Canadensys Aerospace and MDA Space for Lunar Initiative (Source: SpaceQ)
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is providing additional funding in the amount of $500,000 each to Canadensys Aerospace and MDA Space for the Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative. Specifically the CSA said the additional funding is for “advancing rover operations,” with the CSA adding that “these activities could prove key to the development of the future Canadian utility rover.” The new funding follows an announcement last December when the CSA awarded $2.9M to four companies for six projects for sustainable lunar exploration. (10/24)

Made on Florida's Space Coast (Source: EDC of FSC)
October was Manufacturing Month, and here on Florida’s Space Coast, we have plenty to celebrate. While the region is well known for its ample contributions to the space industry, its manufacturing prowess extends well beyond rockets, satellites, and spacecraft. From advanced technologies to everyday products, the Space Coast has emerged as a hub of innovation, with locally made goods reaching far beyond the community. Manufacturers plays a vital role in the local economy, employing around 13.4% of the metro area’s workforce—significantly higher than the state of Florida’s 4.4% average for nonfarm workers.

While space exploration is a key part of the Space Coast’s identity, the region is home to a diverse and thriving manufacturing economy. In fact, Florida Gulf Coast University ranks Florida's Space Coast (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville MSA) as the top region in Florida for industrial diversification. Economic diversification strengthens the local economy by making it more resilient to business cycle fluctuations, offering a wider range of job opportunities, and improving the likelihood of retaining talent, including workers and their families. (10/21)

Permit Considered for SpaceX to Dump Wastewater at Starbase (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Texas regulators are considering allowing SpaceX to routinely dump more than 30,000 gallons of industrial wastewater into South Texas wetlands – a practice the company has already been doing and that locals and environmental activists say could harm the sensitive ecosystem. SpaceX sprays roughly 180,000 gallons of potable water onto its launch pad each time its Starship rocket takes off to protect the pad and suppress dust and debris. Most of the water, which is heated as it mixes with the rocket’s flames, is captured in retention basins or vaporized. But between 34,200 gallons and 37,000 gallons spill into the wetlands during launches and engine tests, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. (10/24)

Amended UK Spaceport Plans to Go Before Council (Source: BBC)
Amended plans for a spaceport in the Highlands have been submitted to councilors for approval. The project proposed for a site on the Moine Peninsula has had planning permission for about three years, and some initial construction work started last year. The amended plans for Sutherland Spaceport include a smaller launch pad and launch services facility, and realigning an access road to avoid an area of deep peat. Highland Council planners said the changes would mean reducing the amount of peat that would have to be excavated by more than half. The soil is seen as important because it absorbs CO2. (10/24)

Branson Invests in Space Perspective (Source: Luxury Travel Advisor)
Branson has made an investment in the company. The investment will accelerate Space Perspective’s development and test flight program and "confirms its leadership position in affordable, hydrogen-powered, stratospheric ballooning." Branson said Space Perspective has the potential to revolutionize balloon flying. Space Perspective has raised $100 million to date.

Space Perspective’s patent portfolio includes 14 granted patents and covers all major systems. This includes the hydrogen-powered balloon, reserve descent system, the capsule structure and its large, vertical windows, the heat-rejecting radiator technology, and the Splashcone at the base of the capsule used to provide a gentle ocean landing and stabilization. These features, along with the distinction of being the first stratospheric balloon experience company developed without significant government funding, showcase Space Perspective’s technological advancements. (10/24)

Beck Elaborates on Ambitious Schedule for Neutron Rocket (Source: New Zealand Herald)
Rocket Lab’s initial Neutron rocket launch target of 2024 was ambitious, but the engineering team is set to meet its renewed launch target of mid-2025, according to the space company’s chief executive Sir Peter Beck. “The program is on track for that launch date,” Beck said. “But it only takes one small element to reset those sorts of things,” he warned. “Rocket programs you typically measure in decades, not in years.” Despite the schedule slipping by about six months, Beck said it was still within its initial cost range of US$250 million to US$300m.

Since announcing its bold plan to build a medium-lift launch vehicle to compete with SpaceX in March 2021, Rocket Lab has built and tested a new engine called Archimedes, set up new facilities to make the rocket’s carbon composite components, and designed and started constructing a new launchpad in the United States. “All of the really big, high risk items, we’ve kind of brought down.” If launched in mid-2025, Neutron would be the fastest-ever commercially developed medium-lift rocket. (10/24)

Work Starts on New Ship for ULA Rocket Transport (Source: Marine Link)
Bollinger Shipyards officially laid the keel for the R/S SpaceShip on October 24, 2024. The event, held at Bollinger Marine Fabricators, was attended by key executives, including Tory Bruno, President and CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), and Ben Bordelon, President and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards. The R/S SpaceShip is set to be the second vessel in ULA’s maritime fleet, designed specifically to transport Vulcan rockets from their manufacturing facility in Decatur, Alabama, to launch sites at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (10/24)

October 25, 2024

Starfighters Space Hopes to Launch Small Satellites From Wings of F-104 Supersonic Jets (Source: Florida Today)
A Space Coast company wants to accelerate its rare supersonic aircraft to twice the speed of sound, climb up to 45,000 feet, and fire wing-mounted rockets up into low-Earth orbit, deploying small payloads of pint-sized satellites. Straight out of science fiction? Starfighters Space, a small company that flies seven vintage Lockheed F-104 Starfighter jet interceptors at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, is testing the cost-saving concept now.

"We could actually launch these nanosats in orbit. The aircraft's capable of speeds in excess of Mach 2 — twice the speed of sound," said pilot Rick "Comrade" Svetkoff, founder and CEO. "Right now, the military doesn't have any aircraft to expend because they're all tied up. The military's using every piece of hardware that it has, not to mention the cost factor in trying to get these fighters for any length of time. Whereas, we have aircraft to do this on a regular basis," Svetkoff said. Click here. (10/25)

Blue Origin New Glenn Closer to Debut Launch with Booster Engines Now Installed (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
With a November debut launch target from Cape Canaveral still in play, Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin has installed the seven engines that will power the massive New Glenn rocket's first-stage booster. Blue Origin has not announced a target launch date beyond November, though. When it does launch, the 322-foot-tall rocket aims to lift off from Launch Complex 36. (10/24)

3D Printing ‘World’s Largest’ Carbon Composite Rocket on Rocket Lab’s 90-ton 3D Printer (Source: 3D Printing Industry)
Californian space launch company Rocket Lab is using a 90-ton 3D printer to build what are said to be the ‘largest carbon composite rocket structures in history.’ The company’s 3D printer, a custom-built automated fiber placement (AFP) machine, is reportedly the biggest system of its kind in the world. Made in the United States by Electroimpact, the robotic 3D printer is 39 ft tall, and can lay down 328 ft of continuous carbon fiber composite per minute.

Rocket Lab has implemented the large-scale AFP machine at its Space Structures Complex in Middle River, Maryland. It is designed to automate the production of all major composite structures for the company’s reusable Neutron launch vehicle. These include panels for the 91-foot (28-meter) interstage and fairing, the 22.9-foot diameter first stage, and the 16.4-foot diameter second stage tanks. According to Rocket Lab, while it takes several weeks to build a stage 2 dome using conventional, manual methods, the AFP machine can produce one in just 24 hours. (10/21)

Scientists Demand FCC Test Environmental Impacts of Satellites (Source: The Register)
One hundred and twenty astronomy researchers on Thursday sent a letter asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to end the "absurd" environmental review exemption given to SpaceX's Starlink and other firms launching large constellations of satellites. The letter [PDF] notes that the FCC was advised in November 2022 by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to rethink its environmental review process for satellite swarms. The comms watchdog has been approving applications to launch satellite mega-constellations without considering requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act, the GAO found. (10/24)

Proteus Space and SAIC Partner to Accelerate AI-Designed Satellites (Source: Space News)
Proteus Space is gearing up to launch its first AI-designed satellite in 2025, thanks to a new partnership with government contractor SAIC. This partnership, backed by an investment from SAIC, will accelerate the development of Proteus’ Mercury platform, which autonomously designs custom satellite buses tailored to specific payloads. The collaboration aims to reduce the time from satellite design to launch, providing increased precision and flexibility for both government and commercial space operators. (10/24)

Blue Origin Is Being Suspiciously Vague About Its Rocket Launch (Source: Futurism)
After some minor setbacks, Blue Origin finally launched its latest model of a New Shepard spacecraft on Wednesday. The mission, NS-27, lifted off around 11:30 AM in West Texas, marking the debut flight of the second New Shepard vehicle designed to carry human passengers high off the Earth but not into orbit, though for this test it was uncrewed.

Blue Origin, however, has been uncharacteristically stingy with some of the details surrounding the launch. The Jeff Bezos-owned company didn't release flight statistics to the public as it normally does. Furthermore, the vehicle appeared to have reached an altitude nearly two miles short of what it typically achieves, based on the launch's livestream. Blue Origin confirmed that the spacecraft's capsule hit an altitudinal peak of 63.6 miles — whereas a previous flight reached 65.4 miles. (10/24)

SpaceX Launches Next-Gen US Spy Satellites on 100th Falcon 9 Flight of 2024 (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket just hit the century mark for the year. A Falcon 9 launched a batch of next-gen spy satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Oct. 24 from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base. The clandestine mission, known as NROL-167, was the 100th Falcon 9 liftoff of 2024. (10/24)

Firefly Aerospace Onboarded as Vendor for Space Development Agency HALO Program (Source: Firefly)
Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, today announced it was selected as a vendor for the Space Development Agency (SDA) Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) program. Firefly is now eligible to support rapid, end-to-end demonstration missions for SDA’s military satellites utilizing Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicles. (10/23)

Apex Selected for SDA HALO Program (Source: Apex)
Apex, a provider of productized satellite bus platforms, has been selected to participate in the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) program, SDA Director Derek Tournear announced today. HALO creates a pathway for SDA to solicit and award rapid feasibility demonstrations. As a HALO participant, Apex will be eligible to compete for future SDA prototype orders. (10/23)

Crew Dragon Splashes Down Off Pensacola (Source: Space News)
A Crew Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth this morning after a record-setting mission. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 a.m. Eastern to end the Crew-8 mission, bringing back three NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut from the International Space Station. The mission spent 235 days in space, the longest for a crewed American spacecraft thanks to delays in both the launch of the Crew-9 mission and nearly three weeks of weather-related delays for splashdown.

The Crew Dragon performed well despite that extended stay in orbit. NASA, in a statement several hours after splashdown, said the four-person crew was taken to a local medical facility for additional evaluation but did not explain why; the four appeared to be in good health when exiting the capsule after splashdown. (10/25)

Guetlein Lays Out Space Force Obstacles (Source: Space News)
The vice chief of the U.S. Space Force offered a blunt assessment of the obstacles his service is facing. Speaking by video at the MilSat Symposium this week, Gen. Michael Guetlein laid out the Space Force's top concerns, from rival powers developing anti-satellite weapons to the difficulties of working with private companies in an increasingly militarized space environment. He addressed industry frustrations over conflicting messages from different parts of the U.S. government and the assumption that the Pentagon has limitless funding. "There are no big buckets of money that sit behind my desk, contrary to popular belief," he said. (10/25)

NRO Changes Contracting to Allow Continuous Remote Sensing Capabilities (Source: Space News)
The NRO will invite companies to propose remote sensing capabilities on an ongoing basis. The agency had previously used Broad Area Announcements with defined timelines for commercial imagery services, but starting next year the NRO will use a contracting mechanism called Commercial Solutions Opportunity. The NRO will invite companies to submit proposals for electro-optical, radar, hyperspectral and other remote sensing modalities the agency has previously investigated, allowing companies to submit proposals when they meet requirements laid out in the solicitation. (10/25)

DIU Backs Astra with $44 Million for Rocket 4 (Source: Space News)
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) awarded Astra a contract to support work on its Rocket 4 launch vehicle. The contract, announced Wednesday, is valued at up to $44 million, although only about $2 million is currently funded. Astra said that the contract will provide the company with additional financial support to develop Rocket 4, which offers a mobile launch capability of interest to DIU. Astra hopes to have Rocket 4, with an initial payload capacity of up to 600 kilograms, ready for a first launch by the end of 2025. The company is also looking to raise about $50 million in funding after completing a deal in July to take the company private. (10/25)

NASA to Decide in 2025 on Telescope Cuts (Source: Space News)
NASA is deferring a decision on any cutbacks to operations of two major space telescopes. At a town hall meeting this week, the agency said it will wait until after Congress passes a final spending bill for fiscal year 2025 before deciding what changes, if any, it will make to operations of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope. NASA had proposed a 10% cut in Hubble funding for 2025 and a 40% cut for Chandra, although a review panel this summer concluded that Chandra could not be operated at that proposed lower level. (10/25)

UNH Wins NOAA Contract for Solar Wind Sensors (Source: Space News)
The University of New Hampshire won a NOAA contract to develop a set of sensors to study solar winds. The $24.3 million contract announced Thursday covers work on Solar Wind Plasma Sensors for the Lagrange 1 Series project, part of NOAA's Space Weather Next Program. The sensors will be on spacecraft projected to launch in 2029 and 2032. (10/25)

NISAR Antenna Returns to India (Source: NASA)
An antenna for a joint NASA-ISRO Earth science mission is back in India. The antenna for the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) spacecraft arrived in India earlier this week after several months of work in the United States to mitigate the effects of higher-than-anticipated temperatures while stowed. The antenna, when deployed, is 12 meters in diameter and will be used for radar mapping of land and ice surfaces. NISAR is planned for launch in early 2025 from India. (10/25)

NASA's Economic Impact Released (Source: NASA)
A new report shows the economic impact of NASA on the U.S. economy. The report released Thursday found that NASA activities in fiscal year 2023 resulted in more than $75.6 billion in economic input across the country and supported nearly 305,000 jobs through both direct and indirect spending. That included eight states where NASA's economic impact was more than $1 billion. (10/25)

Scientists Discover Molecules That Store Much of the Carbon in Space (Source: Space Daily)
A team led by researchers at MIT has discovered that a distant interstellar cloud contains an abundance of pyrene, a type of large, carbon-containing molecule known as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The discovery of pyrene in this far-off cloud, which is similar to the collection of dust and gas that eventually became our own solar system, suggests that pyrene may have been the source of much of the carbon in our solar system. That hypothesis is also supported by a recent finding that samples returned from the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu contain large quantities of pyrene. (10/25)

Human Space Travel Could Pose More Severe Health Risks (Source: Space Daily)
Human space travelers may face more severe health hazards than previously recognized, according to a new report from The Guy Foundation, an independent UK research organization. The report highlights concerns that extended space travel could exacerbate conditions like accelerated aging, insulin resistance, early diabetes, and reproductive issues. These effects could become increasingly difficult to reverse as humans travel farther from Earth, raising doubts about the feasibility of deep space exploration. (10/23)

Capella Space Selected for Space Development Agency's Proliferated LEO Hybrid Acquisition (Source: Space Daily)
Capella Space Corp. has been chosen to participate in the Space Development Agency's (SDA) Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) procurement program. This procurement method allows Capella to compete for contracts related to building satellite systems for SDA through a prototype order bidding process. (10/24)

China Delivers Scientific Payloads from Reusable Satellite Shijian-19 to Users (Source: Space Daily)
The scientific payloads for space breeding and other technological experiments carried aboard China's first reusable and returnable satellite, Shijian-19, were delivered to both Chinese and international users on Thursday. During a ceremony held in Beijing by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the CNSA and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation formalized the transfer of the payloads, signing delivery certificates with domestic and international users from countries including Thailand and Pakistan.

Eutelsat America and OneWeb to Provide Enhanced Satellite Services for US Govt (Source: Space Daily)
Eutelsat America Corp. and OneWeb Technologies have partnered with Iridium Communications to deliver Iridium Certus and Iridium Satellite Time and Location (STL) services to U.S. government clients. The collaboration will allow EACOWT to offer a GNSS-resilient Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Ku-Band/L-band solution, enhancing its range of government services. This development ensures robust connectivity and out-of-band management for remote terminals. (10/24)

NASA Stennis Expands Range Operations with New Skydweller Aero Agreement (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's Stennis Space Center, located near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has entered into a Reimbursable Space Act agreement with Skydweller Aero Inc., allowing the company to operate its solar-powered autonomous aircraft within the center's restricted airspace. This partnership marks a significant step in expanding the center's uncrewed systems testing and operational capabilities. (10/25)

NASA Reveals Prototype Telescope for Gravitational Wave Observatory (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has revealed the first look at a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves - ripples in space-time caused by merging black holes and other cosmic sources. The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission is led by ESA (European Space Agency) in partnership with NASA to detect gravitational waves by using lasers to measure precise distances - down to picometers, or trillionths of a meter - between a trio of spacecraft distributed in a vast configuration larger than the Sun. Each side of the triangular array will measure nearly 1.6 million miles, or 2.5 million kilometers. (10/23)

Space Force Effort Targets Integrated C2 Networks (Source: Breaking Defense)
The US Space Force's Space Systems Command has launched the Joint Enterprise Integrated Federated C2 for Space effort to create integrated command and control networks for four classified weapon systems. "It's really all about being ready for contested space by 2026 and having the people, the processes, the tools, the doctrine, everything in place so that we can operate effectively," said Claire Leon of the Space System Integration Office. (10/23)

NASA Testing Deployable Solar Array on Pathfinder Mission (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has begun analyzing initial flight data and images from the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4 (PTD-4), which recently completed system checks, including evaluations of onboard electronics and payload support systems. One of the first images captured by the small payload camera shows Earth, marking the start of the mission's technology demonstration.

The PTD-4 mission is focused on testing a new power and communication technology called the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna (LISA-T). The LISA-T experiment has successfully begun deploying its central boom, which will support four solar and communication arrays known as petals. These petals will eventually extend from the spacecraft bus to generate power and enable communication. Currently, the mission team is addressing a challenge with the full extension of the central boom before the petals can be fully deployed for operation. (10/24)

NASA's Quiet Space Fan Technology Could Enhance Future Commercial Space Stations (Source: Space Daily)
NASA researchers have developed a Quiet Space Fan aimed at reducing noise in crewed spacecraft, with plans to share the advancements with industry for possible use in future commercial space stations. Reducing noise in spacecraft is crucial for effective communication, clear alarms, restful sleep, and reducing the risk of hearing loss. Most noise comes from ventilation systems and equipment cooling fans, making it essential to reduce it at the source. (10/24)

Human Adaptation to Spaceflight Explored in Latest NASA Nutrition Book (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has released its third comprehensive review of the role of nutrition in astronaut health, building on previous works published in 2009 and 2014. The latest book, *Human Adaptation to Spaceflight: The Role of Food and Nutrition - 2nd Edition*, updates and expands on the physiological and nutritional challenges that astronauts face during space exploration. (10/24)

Chinese Private Rocket Company Completes Static Fire Test of ZQ-2E Rocket (Source: Space Daily)
LandSpace, one of China's leading private aerospace companies, has successfully completed a static fire test for the second stage of its Zhuque-2E (ZQ-2E) carrier rocket. The test, conducted on Monday, marks a significant milestone in the development of the ZQ-2E rocket, positioning LandSpace closer to future launch missions.

The static fire test was designed to simulate typical flight conditions and verify both the overall and subsystem design of the ZQ-2E's second stage. The company reported that the test also ensured the compatibility of the interfaces and operations between different systems, which is crucial for ensuring reliable flight performance. (10/24)

GITAI Inchworm Robotic Arm Passes Key Lunar Simulation Test, Achieves TRL6 (Source: Space Daily)
GITAI USA announced that its Inchworm-type Robotic Arm has successfully completed testing and achieved Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL6). The tests were conducted in a thermal vacuum chamber designed to replicate the harsh environment of the lunar South Pole. GITAI is working to significantly reduce space operation costs by developing advanced robotic technologies such as robotic satellites for on-orbit services, lunar rovers for infrastructure projects, and versatile inchworm-type robotic arms. These innovations are developed internally at the company. (10/24)

Physicists Discover First Black Hole Triple (Source: Space Daily)
In a study appearing in Nature, physicists at MIT and Caltech report that they have observed a "black hole triple" for the first time. The new system holds a central black hole in the act of consuming a small star that's spiraling in very close to the black hole, every 6.5 days - a configuration similar to most binary systems. But surprisingly, a second star appears to also be circling the black hole, though at a much greater distance. The physicists estimate this far-off companion is orbiting the black hole every 70,000 years. (10/24)

Amanda Hendrix Selected to Lead Planetary Science Institute (Source: Planetary Science Institute)
The Planetary Science Institute is pleased to announce that Amanda Hendrix, a PSI Senior Scientist for 12 years, will become the Institute’s Deputy CEO effective January 1, 2025, and will become CEO on January 1, 2026. Hendrix will succeed Mark V. Sykes, who has led PSI since 2004. (10/23)