December 27, 2024

Spacecoin Deploys First Satellite for Decentralized Space Connectivity (Source: Space News)
Spacecoin said it is successfully communicating with its recently launched debut connectivity satellite, designed to test technology for a decentralized space-based network shared by multiple investors. “We have established regular communication with the satellite,” Spacecoin founder Tae Oh said, following SpaceX’s Dec. 21 Falcon 9 rideshare mission to low Earth orbit.

The venture aims to start testing its CTC-0 small satellite early next year, initially demonstrating space-enabled text messaging to a specialized handheld antenna but ultimately directly to standard smartphones. (12/27)

China's CAS Space Fails to Orbit Latest Rocket (Source: Space News)
A Chinese commercial rocket failed to reach orbit during a launch Thursday. The Kinetica-1 (Lijian-1) rocket lifted off at 8:03 p.m. Eastern from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. CAS Space, the launch operator, said several hours later that the rocket's third stage lost attitude control seconds after ignition, triggering its self-destruct system. The rocket's payload was an undisclosed number of satellites that included a French cubesat to study the South Atlantic Anomaly and a 300-kilogram cargo spacecraft from Chinese commercial space firm AZSpace carrying science payloads. The failure was the first in six flights of the solid-fuel Kinetica-1. The launch was China's 68th launch attempt of 2024, surpassing the national record of 67 launches in a calendar year, set in 2023. (12/27)

China's Landspace Raises $100 Million for Reusable Rockets (Source: Space News)
Landspace, another Chinese launch company, has raised more than $100 million to work on reusable rockets. Landspace received 900 million yuan ($123 million) from China's National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, according to Chinese media reports Wednesday. The company stated that the funds will primarily be used for the development, testing and production of its Zhuque reusable methane-liquid oxygen launch vehicles. That includes the Zhuque-3, a Falcon 9-class rocket expected to make its first launch next year followed by recovery and reuse of the first stage in 2026. (12/27)

True Anomaly's Jackal Responds (Source: Space News)
True Anomaly has successfully tested the spacecraft flying its second mission after a failure on the first mission. The company said its Jackal spacecraft, launched on SpaceX's Bandwagon-2 rideshare mission last week, made contact with the ground after deployment and responded to commands from the ground. The first two Jackal spacecraft, launched in March, lost contact with controllers shortly after deployment. True Anomaly said it incorporated lessons learned from the first mission into the second as it tests capabilities needed for future military space operations such as space domain awareness. (12/27)

ULA Wants to Upgrade Vulcan Centaur Rocket Into a 'Space Interceptor' to Defend Satellites (Source: Space.com)
United Launch Alliance (ULA) envisions its new, powerful Vulcan Centaur rocket as playing a key role in defending satellites from potential threats in space. Centaur, the upper stage of the Vulcan Centaur, is designed for orbit. During the recent Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said that Centaur could be upgraded to function in a defensive capacity in orbit.

If an adversary were to endanger U.S. Space Force assets, the Centaur could operate as a "space interceptor" that could act fast to provide defense. "What I've been working on is essentially a rocket that operates in space," Bruno said on Dec. 12. The orbital defense Bruno proposes would move fast in space using powerful thrusters and an ample energy supply to stop a potential satellite killer within hours, before it reaches its target. "I mean a squadron of lightning fast, long range, lethal interceptors," Bruno writes. "To use a naval analogy, we need destroyers in orbit, the Greyhounds of Space." (12/24)

Solar Probe Phones Home (Source: NASA)
NASA's Parker Solar Probe phoned home after making a record-setting approach to the sun. NASA said late Thursday that it received a "beacon" signal confirming that the spacecraft was operating normally after coming within about 6.1 million kilometers of the sun Tuesday morning. That flyby is the closest by any spacecraft to the sun. NASA said the spacecraft will start returning telemetry next week, followed by science data. Project officials noted earlier this month that the spacecraft, including its thermal protection system, was working better than expected since its launch in 2018. (12/27)

Iceye Raises $65 Million for SAR Satellites (Source: Space News)
Iceye has raised an additional $65 million to fund its work on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. The company announced last week it raised the money as an extension of a $93 million Series E round in April. Several investors, including Solidium Oy, the Finnish sovereign wealth fund that led the April round, participated in this extension. The Helsinki-based company has now raised just over $500 million and has launched more than 40 SAR imaging satellites to date, nine of them this year. (12/27)

OneWeb Investment a Bust for UK (Source: The Telegraph)
Taking OneWeb out of bankruptcy has turned out to be a bad financial investment for the United Kingdom. The U.K. government partnered with Bharti Global in 2020 to acquire the satellite operator after it filed for bankruptcy protection, with the government investing $500 million. Eutelsat later acquired OneWeb in an all-stock deal. The value of the U.K. government's stake in Eutelsat OneWeb is now just one-fourth of its original value as shares in Eutelsat have fallen sharply in the last year. The current Labour government in the U.K. noted the OneWeb bailout took place under an earlier Conservative government and that it was working "to ensure this investment provides value to U.K. taxpayers in the long term." (12/27)

Military Satellite Demand Tests US Industrial Capacity (Source: DefenseScoop)
The Defense Department's plan to deploy hundreds of military satellites in the next decade highlights vulnerabilities in US manufacturing capabilities. The Space Development Agency's Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture has faced supply chain delays, but contractors such as York Space Systems, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris are working to mitigate future issues by diversifying suppliers and improving production processes. (12/26)

Starlink and Orange Shake Up Satellite Internet in France (Source: JasonDeegan)
Satellite connectivity is experiencing a surge, and the buzz isn’t just limited to space. The French Electronic Communications, Postal, and Press Distribution Regulatory Authority (Arcep) has recently reviewed new satellite connectivity offerings for two major industry players. Previously, Arcep launched a public consultation for Starlink aimed at gathering feedback from interested stakeholders. Arcep has now published the results, with a strong demand for connectivity in areas either unserved or underserved by existing fiber or mobile networks. After review, Arcep agreed to amend the frequency usage authorization, enabling Starlink to operate the STEAM-1B system in addition to existing infrastructures.

The second decision from Arcep involves Orange, which aims to deploy its own satellite network for its business clients. For this purpose, it has requested authorization to use specific frequencies to operate a publicly accessible fixed satellite service network in Metropolitan France. This public consultation is open until January 30, 2025, at 18:00. The goal of this public consultation is to collect observations on the proposed authorization from interested parties. Contributions should be sent to Arcep, preferably by email or postal mail. (12/26)

Our Sun May Once Have Had a Twin. What Happened to This Stellar Sibling? (Source: BBC)
Many stars in our galaxy exist in pairs, but our Sun is a notable exception. Now scientists are finding clues that it may once have had a companion of its own. The question is, where did it go?

There are some tantalising clues emerging our Sun was once part of a binary system. In 2020, Amir Siraj, an astrophysicist at Harvard University in the US, suggested that a region of icy comets that surrounds our Solar System far beyond Pluto, called the Oort Cloud, might contain an imprint of this companion star. (12/26)

Lunar Glass May Rewrite the Geological History of the Moon (Source: Earth.com)
A recent study published in the journal Science reveals new details about spherical glass beads retrieved by China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission. Initially believed to have formed from volcanic activity around 120 million years ago, these glass beads are now thought to be the result of impacts by space objects. If confirmed, this discovery could reshape our understanding of the Moon’s recent geological history. (12/26)

Hackers Used Christmas Jumpers To Attack European Space Agency Shop (Source: Forbes)
Cybersecurity experts Sansec BV posted to the Bluesky social media platform, Dec. 23, to report that “Foreign espionage campaign launched via Christmas sweaters" in one of the more unusual cybersecurity announcements of 2024. A web application security specialist, Source Defense Research, took to X and confirmed that a live Magecart attack had taken place against the European Space Agency online store. Source Defense found that, while the ESA space shop site follows the latest Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, PCIDSS 4.0, the hackers were able to use the fact that the shop employed Stripe to execute “ a double-entry technique, faking Stripe's page on the ESA site.” (12/27)

Evidence Exists for Hidden Water Reservoirs and Rare Magmas on Ancient Mars (Source: Space Daily)
A new study explores how variations in Mars' crustal thickness during its ancient history may have influenced the planet's magmatic evolution and hydrological systems. The research, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, suggests that the thick crust of Mars' southern highlands formed billions of years ago generated granitic magmas and sustained vast underground aquifers, challenging long-held assumptions about the red planet's geological and hydrological past. (12/20)

NASA Payload to Study Heat Flow Beneath the Moon's Surface (Source: Space Daily)
Earth's closest celestial neighbor, the Moon, has seen only 5% of its surface directly explored by humans. Decades of study, including NASA's Apollo-era missions and the 2011-2012 GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission, culminated in the discovery in 2023 of a liquid outer core surrounding a solid inner core within the Moon.

As NASA's Artemis program intensifies preparations for extended lunar missions and eventual journeys to Mars, advancing our understanding of the Moon's history and structure is critical. The next step involves LISTER (Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity), a cutting-edge scientific payload designed to delve into the Moon's depths and study its thermal characteristics. (12/20)

NASA Payload to Study the Effects of Lunar Dust on Mission Equipment (Source: Space Daily)
The Moon's surface is coated in a gritty layer known as lunar regolith, composed of gravel, pebbles, and fine dust. Astronauts during the Apollo missions discovered that this fine, powdery dust - electromagnetically charged due to solar and cosmic radiation - clings stubbornly to surfaces, including gloves, boots, and spacecraft, and is highly abrasive. This poses a significant challenge for NASA's Artemis missions, which aim to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon.

Addressing this issue is the RAC-1 (Regolith Adherence Characterization) instrument, part of a suite of 10 NASA payloads slated to fly aboard the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander. Developed by Aegis Aerospace in Webster, Texas, RAC-1 is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Its mission is to study the adhesion of lunar dust to various materials under real lunar conditions. (12/23)