Plus: LeoLabs wins a military radar contract
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: smallsats face growing threats, LeoLabs wins a military radar contract, a new Chinese rocket reaches the launch pad and more.
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Top Stories
Small satellites face growing threats because potential adversaries recognize their expanding roles. During a panel discussion at the Small Satellite Conference this week, industry officials said that the growing use of smallsat systems for national security applications creates risks for satellite operators. That includes cyber threats as well as supply chain risks. Satellite operators and government agencies are trying to confront the issue through information sharing. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is expanding its use of SpaceX's Starshield constellation by military aircraft. The Space Force's Commercial Space Office posted an award notice this week for "Starshield Custom Fleet Aviation Services" that includes antennas and subscriptions. The value of the award was redacted. An acquisition document showed that U.S. government organizations have already funded development and qualification of ruggedized Starshield terminals for a range of military aircraft, including cargo planes and tactical fighter jets, and that additional installations are planned. While other companies are part of the Space Force's Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Satellite-Based Services contract, SpaceX has dominated task-order awards and the Space Force concluded that SpaceX was the only provider currently able to meet its needs for this latest award. [SpaceNews]
Spire Global won a $28 million NOAA contract for a satellite and weather sensor system. The contract covers work to build and flight qualify a satellite and hyperspectral microwave sounder for operational weather forecasting. In January, Spire launched a Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder (HyMS) demonstrator, developed with NOAA funding, to validate the technology in a 16U cubesat. NOAA then awarded Spire a $3 million contract to evaluate how data provided by the demonstrator could improve numerical weather prediction. [SpaceNews]
LeoLabs won a Space Force contract worth more than $20 million for a version of its Scout radar. The $20.68 million award, in the form of a prototype Other Transaction Agreement, calls for LeoLabs to provide a Scout system for a new defense mission. LeoLabs developed Scout as a transportable radar for tracking satellites and debris in orbit. The company said it could not disclose the specific program or test activity the radar would support under the new award. LeoLabs, founded a decade ago to provide space tracking services, is now moving further into defense hardware, looking to sell radar systems and related sensing technology directly to U.S. and allied government customers. [SpaceNews]
Katalyst Space is continuing to operate its Link spacecraft even after calling off an effort to reboost NASA's Swift spacecraft. NASA and Katalyst said last week that attitude-control problems with the company's Link spacecraft meant that it could no longer carry out its original mission to grapple Swift and raise its orbit. In an interview Wednesday, Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee said the company is continuing to operate Link and maneuvering it to the vicinity of Swift, with the goal of getting close enough to image it. The attitude-control problems with Link were caused by heating issues that burned out electronics used to operate two reaction wheels. He said the lessons from Link will inform its future satellite servicing missions. [SpaceNews]
Geospatial data and analytics provider SkyFi unveiled a new AI tool for imagery. With the AI navigator, called Rowan, users can search among the datasets of SkyFi partners, using natural language queries to find images from more than 300 sources. In July, SkyFi announced the release of a model context protocol to enable customers to use Claude, ChatGPT and other AI agents to search its geospatial imagery archives, task satellites, place recurring orders and run analytics. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Chinese launch company Galactic Energy has scheduled the first launch of its Pallas-1 rocket. The company is expected to attempt a launch Sept. 1, from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone at Jiuquan spaceport, based on airspace closure notices. Pallas-1 is Galactic Energy's two-stage liquid launch vehicle, with an optional Eros upper stage for extended missions. It is designed to place up to 7,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit and its booster is designed to be reusable, although no recovery attempt of the first stage is expected for the first flight. The company has not announced any payloads for the upcoming launch. [SpaceNews]
The Long March 5 that was to launch China's Chang'e-7 lunar mission has rolled back to its assembly building. The mission was scheduled to launch last Sunday but was abruptly postponed less than 24 hours before liftoff. The mission is expected to be delayed into 2027, and potentially to a similar window this time next year. A likely explanation is that the tropical depression Narra threatened Hainan island during the short, usually once-a-month lunar launch window. The knock-on effect for Chang'e-7 is that there are no later launch windows due to the mission's landing site selection and solar illumination constraints. [SpaceNews]
A Japanese radar-imaging company plans to launch its first demonstration satellite on a Kairos rocket. Sarmony announced this week it signed an agreement with Space One for the launch of its first SAR DiskSat satellite on a Kairos rocket in 2028. Sarmony plans a second demonstration mission in 2030 before deploying an initial constellation of 48 satellites, which will operate in very low Earth orbit. Kairos has launched three times to date, and in all three cases failed to reach orbit. Space One said it is completing the investigation into the most recent failure in March but has not set a date for the rocket's next flight. [SpaceNews]
NASA has scheduled another International Space Station spacewalk for next week. The agency said Wednesday that NASA's Jessica Meir and ESA's Sophie Adenot will carry out a spacewalk next Tuesday to replace a retroreflector on a docking port and other maintenance work. Those tasks were originally scheduled for a spacewalk carried out Tuesday by Adenot and NASA's Anil Menon, but that spacewalk was instead used to install a new antenna. This will be the fourth ISS spacewalk in the last month. [NASA]
A French startup is raising money to provide services to assist optical communications companies. Miratlas is seeking investors to expand atmospheric-monitoring technology that helps operators find the best sites for their weather-sensitive optical ground stations. The company is aiming to raise 20 million euros ($23 million) to grow its network of Sky Monitor sensors from roughly 60 sites worldwide to more than 150. Each site hosts a mix of imaging, weather and astronomy-based instruments to measure cloud cover and atmospheric turbulence, two key obstacles for laser links between satellites and the ground. U.S. satellite broadband operator Viasat and French telecoms giant Orange are among the venture's largest customers that can be disclosed. [SpaceNews]
NASA was among the targets of an alleged Chinese hacker group. The Justice Department said it has disrupted the group, which reportedly compromised computer systems at NASA and other agencies as well as at the U.S. Senate, power companies and hospitals. The attacks started in 2018 and were only recently halted, officials said. It was unclear what information the hackers had access to and what other impacts their activities had. [CNN]
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Passion Project
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"The team has worked immensely over time to get here because this is the type of passion project that you go to aerospace engineering school for, right? To be able to launch a space robot to rescue a telescope. How cool is that?"
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– Ghonhee Lee, CEO of Katalyst Space, discussing his company's work to attempt to reboost NASA's Swift spacecraft in an interview during the Small Satellite Conference on Wednesday.
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