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The U.S. Space Force recently conducted an exercise to examine the implications of satellite refueling. The tabletop exercise, called "Parallax Rising 2.2" and held at the Space Systems Command in El Segundo, California, tackled the potential impact of in-orbit refueling on the management of critical assets in geosynchronous Earth orbit. The exercise went beyond the technical aspects of refueling, delving into the policies and procedures necessary to ensure satellites receive timely logistical support, particularly in a contested space environment. That included looking at the implications of integrating commercial refueling systems with military ones, and lessons from the Air Force's and Navy's experience with refueling. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is seeking proposals for modernizing parts of the nation's launch infrastructure. The "digital spaceport of the future" project is run by the Space Force's technology arm, SpaceWERX, and the Assured Access to Space office that oversees the nation's space launch ranges. The focus of the project is on modernizing outdated information systems at the nation's space launch facilities. Officials compare the current situation to running a modern business with a rotary phone. The project seeks concepts for updating IT infrastructure, data management and applications. [SpaceNews]
The Government Accountability Office has rejected a protest from L3Harris of a weather satellite instrument contract awarded to Ball Aerospace. NASA, acting on behalf of NOAA, selected Ball in September for the GeoXO Sounder instrument for next-generation weather satellites, awarding a contract valued at $486.9 million. L3Harris protested the award on several grounds, including that it had a higher technical score than Ball. The GAO sided with NASA, which concluded Ball's much lower price outweighed L3Harris's slightly higher technical rating. The GAO also rejected claims by L3Harris that Ball's impending acquisition by BAE Systems would result in higher costs and that there was an "unmitigable appearance of impropriety" because a former Ball executive was now director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. [SpaceNews]
NASA is ready to send several science payloads to the moon on a commercial lander. Five NASA payloads are on Astrobotic's Peregrine lander, scheduled to launch on the first flight of ULA's Vulcan Centaur at 2:18 a.m. Eastern Monday from Cape Canaveral. Scientists said at a briefing Thursday that they expected the instruments to provide insights on how volatiles like water ice behave on the moon, among other topics. However, NASA noted that early commercial lander missions like this one lack the "specific science strategies" that will be incorporated on later missions once NASA is confident commercial spacecraft can land safely on the moon. NASA officials also said they were aware of concerns raised by the Navajo Nation about the presence of cremated remains on the lander from two of Astrobotic's non-NASA customers, and that it planned a consultation with tribal leaders about it. [SpaceNews]
China has completed a commercial launch pad that could be vital to plans to deploy a satellite constellation. The first of two launch pads at Hainan Commercial Launch Site was completed last week. The first launch from the pad is expected in the first half of 2024, with a Long March 8 rocket carrying the Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite needed for China's Chang'e-6 lunar farside sample-return mission. The development will ease a bottleneck of access to launch facilities for both national and commercial launch service providers and allow Chinese entities to speed up plans to launch a range of constellations. [SpaceNews]
| | Other News
SpaceX has responded to a complaint by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by suing the agency. SpaceX filed suit in federal district court in Texas Thursday claiming that the agency's internal courts are unconstitutional and "the very definition of tyranny." The suit came a day after the NLRB issued a formal complaint against SpaceX for firing eight employees for circulating an open letter critical of company founder Elon Musk, an activity the agency says is protected under federal law. SpaceX took a similar approach last year when the Justice Department sued the company for practices that the department said violated laws for hiring asylees and refugees. A Texas court, siding with SpaceX, blocked the Justice Department's suit, at least temporarily. [Politico]
Maxar won a contract from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for 3D maps and models. Maxar said Thursday it will provide NGA with a 3D data bundle covering 160,000 square kilometers within the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. Those models are based on satellite imagery and other data. NGA also awarded Maxar a contract worth about $1.8 million last month for 3D data analytics tools. [SpaceNews]
A Japanese Mars mission is facing a two-year delay. The Japanese space agency JAXA had planned to launch the Martian Moons eXploration, or MMX, mission in September to go to the Martian moon Phobos and collect samples for return to Earth. However, project officials say the launch has now slipped to the next launch window in 2026. The announcement did not give a reason for the delay but the spacecraft is launching on the H3 rocket, which failed on its first flight last March and is scheduled to make a second flight in February. [Space.com]
NASA has selected a new round of advanced projects for early-stage studies. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program picked 13 proposals for grants worth up to $175,000 each for phase 1 studies of advanced technologies. The proposals range from a Venus sample return mission to a fleet of tiny spacecraft to travel to Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the sun. The studies will flesh out the concepts and develop long-term technology roadmaps for them. [NASA]
| | Azure Thing
"For the public, I hope that this paper can help undo the decades of misinformation about Neptune's color. Strike the word 'azure' from your vocabulary when discussing Neptune!"
– Heidi Hammel, vice president for science at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and a planetary scientist who has studied Neptune for decades, on new research that shows that Neptune is a much lighter shade of blue than depicted in Voyager 2 and subsequent images. [New York Times]
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