Japan's SLIM slides into lunar orbit • Firefly Alpha misfires • Rocket Lab's 18-satellite contract win

Here's your final Friday rundown for 2023 of the top stories from SpaceNews this week.

Your weekly news rundown from SpaceNews.

Top Stories

Japan's SLIM successfully enters lunar orbit, gears up for precision moon landing

Japan's SLIM spacecraft entered lunar orbit Dec. 25, setting up a moon landing attempt scheduled for Jan. 19.

Firefly Alpha upper stage malfunction puts payload into wrong orbit

A problem with the upper stage of a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket placed a Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite into the wrong orbit on a Dec. 22 launch.

Rocket Lab wins $515 million contract to build 18 satellites for U.S. government agency

Space launch provider and satellite manufacturer Rocket Lab has secured a deal worth over half a billion dollars to build 18 satellites for a U.S. government agency.

Latest Headlines

First satellite for Chinese G60 megaconstellation rolls off assembly line

SpaceX launches U.S. military spaceplane on Falcon Heavy rocket

Slam Corp returns $176 million ahead of proposed Lynk Global merger

Launch

Second H3 launch planned for February

The Japanese space agency JAXA has set a mid-February date for the return to flight of the H3 rocket, nearly a year after the vehicle's first launch failed.

China launches new Beidou satellites, rocket booster lands near house

China added a new pair of satellites to its Beidou positioning and navigation system late Monday, but spent stages from the launch landed within inhabited areas.

Chinese launch startup Galactic Energy raises $154 million for Pallas-1 reusable rocket

Leading Chinese launch startup Galactic Energy has secured $154 million in funding for the development of its reusable Pallas-1 rocket.

Ariane 6 schedule not affected by aborted upper stage test

The European Space Agency says the first launch of the Ariane 6 remains on track for the middle of 2024 despite an aborted test of the rocket's upper stage.

Civil

Spaceports need social scientists. Here's why.

Engaging social scientists when planning and development spaceports could ensure that they're made in an ethical, community-engaging way.

NASA report studies options for a future national laboratory in orbit after ISS

A NASA study examined several options for continuing a national laboratory in low Earth orbit after the International Space Station but stopped short of recommending a specific option.

Shenzhou-17 astronauts conduct first spacewalk to repair solar array

China's Shenzhou-17 astronauts embarked on their first extravehicular activity Thursday to address minor damage to a Tiangong space station solar array.

France to establish NewSpace hubs in Denver and Houston

A delegation from the French Space Agency CNES visited Colorado and Texas last week in a campaign to expand ties between French and American aerospace companies.

Military

Pentagon agencies team up in upcoming launch of hypersonic tracking satellites

A national security space mission that had been projected to launch in December 2023 is being delayed until the second quarter of 2024 due to technical issues with one of the spacecraft.

To win the new space race, NASA and the DoD need to shift their collaboration into high gear

Military leaders argue that the Department of Defense must be more involved if the US is to win the new space race for a lunar outpost.

L3Harris gets green light to produce 16 space-based hypersonic missile trackers

Defense contractor L3Harris announced Dec. 20 it has received approval from the Space Development Agency to move into production on 16 satellites designed to detect and monitor hypersonic missiles aimed at the U.S. or its allies.

Senate confirms senior military leaders, including two four-star Space Force generals

The U.S. Senate on Dec. 19 voted to confirm eleven senior officers to become four-star generals and admirals, including two Space Force leaders, Gen. Michael Guetlein and Gen. Stephen Whiting.

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US military spaceplane launches on Falcon Heavy • SPAC returns $176 million ahead of proposed Lynk Global merger

Navajo Nation asks NASA to delay Astrobotic mission • India outlines 50-satellite geoint system

View this email in your browser A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Friday, December 29, 2023 Top Stories A Falcon Heavy launched the U.S. military's X-37B spaceplane Thursday night. The rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 8:07 p.m. Eastern carrying the X-37B on a mission designated OTV-7. The target orbit for this mission is classified, but observers believe that, based on navigational warnings and the fact that it's launching on a larger rocket than past missions, the vehicle is headed to a highly elliptical, high-inclination orbit, higher than previous missions. The vehicle will conduct a wide range of tests and deploy a smallsat developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Space Force has not disclosed the length of the mission, but X-37B flights have been getting progressively longer, with the sixth mission lasting 908 days. [SpaceNews] Technical issues with one spacecraft have delayed the launch of a set of missile-tracking satellites. The launch of six satellites, four for the Space Development Agency's Tracking Layer constellation and two for the Missile Defense Agency's Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program, were scheduled to launch this month but have been delayed to the second quarter of 2024. MDA said the vendor for one satellite reported problems with final integration testing that caused the delay. L3Harris and Northrop Grumman are each building one satellite for MDA, while L3Harris is building the four SDA satellites. Both sets of satellites are pieces of a planned multi-layered missile-defense architecture. [SpaceNews] The SPAC that has proposed merging with Lynk Global has returned nearly two-thirds of its funds to shareholders. Slam Corp. announced this week that shareholders approved a proposal to extend the deadline by which it needs to complete a deal by a year. However, shareholders elected to redeem $176 million in funds, leaving Slam with less than $99 million. Slam, founded in 2021 by former baseball player Alex Rodriguez, announced earlier this month it signed a non-binding letter of intent to merge with Lynk Global, which is developing a satellite constellation to provide direct-to-device communications. The high redemption rate is a blow to Lynk's hopes to use the funds to grow its constellation, although extra financing could come from other sources as merger talks continue. [SpaceNews] A Chinese communications satellite has malfunctioned in geostationary orbit. China Satcom said that its Zhongxing 6C, or Chinasat 6C, satellite lost attitude control recently when thrusters malfunctioned. Engineers used "emergency response measures" to bring the spacecraft under control, but it is using more propellant than planned, reducing its lifetime. The company is projecting a loss of $36.4 million from the malfunction and is preparing to file an insurance claim. The Chinese-built spacecraft was launched in 2019 to provide communications services for China and surrounding regions. [South China Morning Post]   Other News Less than three hours after the X-37B launch, SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 11:01 p.m. Eastern and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The gap between the X-37B and Starlink launches is the shortest between two launches at the Cape since 1966, when two launches took place 101 minutes apart. [Spaceflight Now] Russia has agreed to continue exchanging seats on International Space Station missions through 2025. Roscosmos said Thursday that it and NASA have agreed to extend a cross-flight agreement for transporting crews to the station. That agreement allows American astronauts to fly on Soyuz spacecraft and Russian cosmonauts to fly on commercial crew vehicles. Such seat barters ensure there will be both Americans and Russians on the ISS should either Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles become unavailable for any reason. [Interfax] India is planning to launch 50 satellites for "geo-intelligence gathering" applications. The head of the Indian space agency ISRO, S Somanath, said Thursday those satellites would be launched over the next five years and operate in both low Earth orbit and geostationary orbit. He didn't elaborate on the details of those satellites but noted that the number of satellites India has today for monitoring the Earth is far too small for the country. [PTI] The president of the Navajo Nation is asking NASA to delay the launch of a commercial lunar lander. Buu Nygren said he recently learned the Peregrine lunar lander from Astrobotic will be carrying payloads from companies that provide memorial services by sending cremated remains to space. Landing human remains on the moon is "tantamount to desecration" for many Native Americans, he said, noting that NASA had promised to coordinate any such activities in the future after the remains of lunar scientist Gene Shoemaker were included on the Lunar Prospector mission in 1998. Peregrine is carrying several NASA payloads in addition to commercial ones. [KNAU-FM Flagstaff, Ariz.] Note: FIRST UP will not publish on Monday. Happy New Year!   Glorious Life "If we see ozone, chances are pretty high that it's connected to carbon dioxide being consumed by life. And if it's life, it's glorious life. It would not be just a few bacteria. It would be a planetary-scale biomass that's able to process a huge amount of carbon, and interact with it." – Amaury Triaud of the University of Birmingham in a press release discussing a new approach to detecting life on exoplanets. [MIT]   Forward First Up to a friend or Subscribe for yourself Copyright © 2023 Multiverse Media Inc., All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Filmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.