October 8, 2024

Seraphim Picks 11 Startups for Accelerator Program (Source: Space News)
Seraphim Space selected 11 startups for the 14th round of its networking and mentoring accelerator program. The cohort comprises a diverse mix of early-stage space businesses spanning from satellite broadband to orbital robotics and includes the first participating companies from Chile, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. A total of 109 companies across 30 countries have participated in Seraphim's biannual accelerator to date, and Seraphim says the program has helped those companies raise more than $540 million. (10/8)

Spain's PLD Plans More and Bigger Rockets (Source: Space News)
Spanish launch vehicle startup PLD Space outlined ambitious plans Monday for larger rockets and a crewed spacecraft. The company, which launched its first suborbital rocket one year ago, is working currently on Miura 5, a small launch vehicle whose first flight is projected for early 2026. At an event Monday, though, the company said it has plans to develop a much larger vehicle, Miura Next, with Heavy and Super Heavy versions that can place heavy payloads into orbit or send them to the moon and Mars. The company also unveiled Lince, a capsule that can carry 4-5 people, with a first uncrewed orbital test flight scheduled for as soon as 2030. The company acknowledged it will need to raise far more money than it has so far to implement those projects. (10/8)

NASA Learning Lessons From Smallsats (Source: Space News)
NASA is looking to apply lessons learned from smallsat science missions to bigger ones. A study completed this summer looked at lessons from "Class D" missions with higher levels of risk that could be used on more expensive, and less risk-tolerant, missions at the agency. The study recommends establishing small, cross-disciplinary teams as well as limiting requirements and making more use of commercial off-the-shelf technologies. (10/8)

Dominican Republic Joins Artemis Accords (Source: Space News)
The Dominican Republic is the latest nation to sign the Artemis Accords. The country's ambassador to the United States signed the Accords on Friday, NASA announced Monday, making the Dominican Republic the 44th nation to do so. The Accords outline best practices for safe and sustainable space exploration. Signatory nations are scheduled to meet next week at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan. (10/8)

Blue Origin Scrubs New Shepard Launch From Texas (Source: Space.com)
Blue Origin scrubbed the launch of a new New Shepard suborbital vehicle Monday. The vehicle was scheduled to lift off at 9 a.m. Eastern from the company's West Texas test site, but unspecified technical problems delayed the launch by four hours, including a hold with a little more than a minute left in the countdown, before the company called off the launch for the day. Blue Origin has not announced a new launch date for the NS-27 mission, which will be the first flight for a second human-rated New Shepard vehicle the company says is needed to meet growing demand. (10/8)

Crew-8 Launch From Florida Moved to NET Oct. 13 (Source: NASA)
Weather has further delayed the return of the Crew-8 mission from the International Space Station. NASA said Monday the departure of the Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying three NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut has been pushed back to no earlier than Oct. 13, citing the effects of Hurricane Milton, which is heading towards Florida. Crew-8 was scheduled to return this week before weather, including the hurricane, at splashdown locations off the Florida coast delayed those plans. (10/8)

SpaceX Hopes for Weekend Starship Launch (Source: KVEO)
SpaceX says it will be ready to launch its Starship vehicle on the next test flight as soon as this weekend if the FAA approves. SpaceX said late Monday it was gearing up for the fifth integrated test flight of Starship as soon as Oct. 13. That launch will include an attempt to bring the Super Heavy booster back to the launch site and have the launch tower "catch" the booster. The FAA did not immediately comment on those plans after previously stating it would not be able to approve a revised launch license for the flight until late November. (10/8)

House Committee to Investigate FCC Treatment of Starlink (Source: Reuters)
A House committee says it will investigate the FCC's decision to revoke rural broadband subsidies for Starlink. The House Oversight Committee said it has asked the FCC to provide details about a decision it made in 2022, and reaffirmed last December, to revoke $885 million in subsidies awarded to SpaceX in 2020 to provide rural broadband services using Starlink. The announcement of the investigation came after Elon Musk claimed last week that had the FCC retained the subsidies Starlink would "probably have saved lives" in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. The FCC, in its earlier decisions to revoke the subsidies, noted that Starlink had not met standards set by the program for upload and download speeds. (10/8)

India Considers Spaceport Expansion (Source: India Today)
The Indian space agency ISRO is proposing to build a third launch pad at its existing spaceport. The agency said the additional pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre would be used for the planned New Generation Launch Vehicle, a rocket larger than the existing PSLV and GSLV rockets. The pad would also provide redundancy for existing facilities. (10/8)

Space-Based Earth Observation Research Could Help Mitigate Effects of Climate Change (Source: CASIS)
With its unparalleled view of Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) is about to take its environmental monitoring to new heights. An ISS National Laboratory-sponsored payload, engineered by Airbus U.S. Space and Defense, Inc. for the external hosting Airbus-developed platform Bartolomeo, is set to expand access to the space station’s unprecedented vantage point for research and technology demonstrations. (10/8)

Blue Origin Develops Crew-Capable Capsule (Source: Seattle Times)
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket booster, which has been the sole working booster since a 2022 explosion, is set to be replaced by a new booster and crew-capable capsule for the NS-27 mission. While no humans will fly on this debut flight, the mission will carry 12 payloads, including navigation systems for future Blue Origin rockets, sensors for lunar landings, and tens of thousands of student-designed postcards for the company's STEM nonprofit, Club for the Future. (10/7)

Space Economy Reaches Middle East (Source: Times Aerospace)
The Middle East is increasing investment in its space sector, with countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia playing pivotal roles, according to Fred Liebler of FTI Delta. The UAE currently has an astronaut aboard the International Space Station and is planning the Emirates Mars Mission, while Saudi Arabia is partnering with Halo Space to offer luxury stratospheric flights starting in 2026. (10/7)

Space May Be Filled with More Antimatter Than We Can Explain (Source: New Scientist)
The neighborhood of space where the International Space Station (ISS) resides seems to be littered with unexpected quantities of antimatter – and the culprit may be mysterious dark matter particles. “We were very surprised. This is weird, and the mechanism that is producing this amount of antimatter should be something exotic,” says Pedro De La Torre Luque. He and his colleagues found hints of this antimatter by analyzing 15 years of data from the Alpha Magnetic Spectronomer on the ISS. (10/4)

Hera Asteroid Mission Aims to Save Humans From the Fate of the Dinosaurs (Source: Politico)
Hera will fly for over a year to reach the Dimorphos asteroid, which was the target for NASA's 2022 Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission that smashed a satellite into it at speeds of over 20,000 kilometers per hour. The NASA spacecraft hit the roughly 160 meters in diameter Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid — the 780 meter Didymos. The aim of the mission was to find out how much that impact changed the asteroid's trajectory with a view of fending off future space-rock threats using the same technique to avoid a fiery collision with Earth.

The dinosaurs had no such ability to deflect the Chicxulub impactor which wiped them out 66 million years ago. Once it arrives in late 2026, Hera will carry out a crash-scene investigation in deep space to determine exactly what happened after DART's explosive impact on Dimorphos. It will use its own micro satellites to get close to the asteroid, as well as a range of onboard sensors to determine everything from cracks in the central asteroid structure to assessing the composition of any dust floating around it. It's all part of plans to have mankind ready to counter asteroid oblivion by 2030. (10/7)

ICEYE Unveils Dwell Precise Mode with Enhanced 25 cm Resolution (Source: Space Daily)
ICEYE, a global leader in SAR satellite operations for Earth Observation, has launched Dwell Precise, a new imaging mode that delivers an impressive 25-centimeter resolution. This new capability builds on the earlier release of Dwell Fine in March 2024 and is based on ICEYE's 1200 MHz radar bandwidth, currently the maximum permitted for commercial satellites.

The Dwell Precise mode combines high-resolution imaging with exceptional data quality, offering the ability to identify smaller objects, such as specific vehicle types or military equipment, without requiring additional intelligence sources. Using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, ICEYE's satellites can capture detailed images by focusing radar signals on specific areas of the Earth's surface, even penetrating tree cover and foliage.

With the world's largest constellation of SAR satellites, ICEYE first introduced Dwell mode in May 2023. The new Dwell Precise mode, along with Dwell Fine, demonstrates ICEYE's commitment to continually advancing its Earth Observation capabilities for both private and public sector clients. (10/3)

LEO Satellites Hold the Key to Resilient, Interference-Free Navigation (Source: Space Daily)
In Finland, frequent disruptions caused by GPS jamming have impacted daily civilian life, creating significant challenges for navigation. A new approach, utilizing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites combined with massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas, offers a solution for these challenges. This method, which ensures accurate navigation even when traditional global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are compromised, has been validated in a recent doctoral dissertation by Mahmoud Elsanhoury from the University of Vaasa. (10/4)

CubeSats are Changing the Way We Explore the Solar System (Source: Space Daily)
Most CubeSats weigh less than a bowling ball, and some are small enough to hold in your hand. But the impact these instruments are having on space exploration is gigantic. CubeSats - miniature, agile and cheap satellites - are revolutionizing how scientists study the cosmos.
A standard-size CubeSat is tiny, about 4 pounds (roughly 2 kilograms). Some are larger, maybe four times the standard size, but others are no more than a pound.

As a professor of electrical and computer engineering who works with new space technologies, I can tell you that CubeSats are a simpler and far less costly way to reach other worlds. Rather than carry many instruments with a vast array of purposes, these Lilliputian-size satellites typically focus on a single, specific scientific goal - whether discovering exoplanets or measuring the size of an asteroid. They are affordable throughout the space community, even to small startup, private companies and university laboratories. (10/6)

ULA’s Vulcan Rocket Makes Second Launch in Quest to Qualify for Space Force Missions (Source: Breaking Defense)
While the final approval for Vulcan awaits a Space Force review of the technical data from the launch — including what appeared to be a mid-launch anomaly — a successful launch was the critical hurdle for ULA as two “certification” launches are required for any rocket to be given a thumbs up to fly NSSL missions. The first Vulcan launch was in January, nearly four years later than originally scheduled, and Pentagon officials have been anxiously awaiting today’s success, concerned about military payloads backing up on the ground. (10/3)

Critical Stress Testing Completed for Gateway Module (Source: NASA)
NASA's Gateway space station has achieved a key milestone in its development. The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module successfully completed static load testing in Turin, Italy, moving it closer to its final preparation for launch into lunar orbit. This major hardware test marks an important step in Gateway's journey to the Moon, where it will serve both scientific missions and astronaut accommodations in lunar orbit.

The HALO module underwent static load testing to evaluate its structural integrity under the intense forces it will encounter in deep space. Thales Alenia Space, a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman, carried out the testing. Once all environmental tests are completed, the module will be shipped to Arizona for its final outfitting by Northrop Grumman. As one of four pressurized modules for Gateway, HALO will support astronauts living and conducting research in lunar orbit. It will also play a key role in preparing for missions to the lunar South Pole. (10/4)

Sand on Mars and the Moon Can Be Turned into Building Blocks for Space Settlements (Source: TechSpot)
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have found a way to convert Martian and lunar sand into solid bricks, which should aid in building future settlements on other planets. The team developed a method to bind regolith - the loose rocks, sand, and dust found on the surface of Mars and the Moon - using carbon nanotubes. This process requires low temperatures and minimal energy, making it highly efficient for space applications. (10/6)

Gaining Confidence in New Launch Vehicles (Source: Space Review)
ULA conducted a second launch of its Vulcan Centaur rocket last week, which the company declared a success despite an issue with one of its solid rocket boosters. Jeff Foust reports on that launch as well as efforts to get it, and two other new rockets, flying more frequently. Click here. (10/7)
 
Cosmonaut Exploitation: the CIA and Gherman Titov’s 1962 Visit to the United States (Source: Space Review)
Gherman Titov paid an extended visit to the United States in 1962, a year after becoming the second Soviet cosmonaut to go to space. Dwayne Day discusses the visit and the questions raised about it from a newly declassified memo. Click here. (10/7)
 
Sixty-Five Years Since the First Lunar Farside Images (Source: Space Review)
Launched 65 years ago this month, the Soviet Union’s Luna 3 provided humanity with its first look at the far side of the Moon. Trevor Williams examines the mission and the role it played in advancing orbital mechanics as well. Click here. (10/7)