Astronomy Prints 🌌: Ball is in BAE's court 🎾

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A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Top Stories

BAE Systems has secured the regulatory approvals needed to complete its $5.5 billion acquisition of Ball Aerospace. The companies announced this morning that they had secured those approvals after the Justice Department ended its antitrust review early. The companies expect the deal to close in the "coming days" after completing a customary series of final steps. Ball Aerospace will become the Space & Mission Systems operating sector of BAE Systems. Executives with the two companies said they believe the combined company will be able to go after larger business in the space sector. [SpaceNews]

SpaceX postponed the launch of a lunar lander overnight because of a fueling issue with the spacecraft. SpaceX announced about 90 minutes before the scheduled 12:57 a.m. Eastern launch of the IM-1 mission for Intuitive Machines that it was delaying the launch a day because of "off-nominal methane temperatures." The lander is designed to be loaded with liquid oxygen and methane propellants a few hours before launch, a process that required modifications to both the Falcon 9 and equipment at Launch Complex 39A. The launch is rescheduled for 1:05 a.m. Eastern Thursday, and could be the third Falcon 9 launch in the next 24 hours after launches this evening for the Space Force from Florida and of Starlink satellites from California. [SpaceNews]

The U.S. Space Force is in the final stages of completing a commercial space strategy. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said at the Air & Space Forces Association's Warfare Conference this week that the strategy is very close to being completed but is still being coordinated with the Pentagon's space policy office, which has also been drafting a commercial space strategy. Saltzman previously said he was not happy with early drafts of the strategy because it didn't have specific enough guidance on what services the Space Force would outsource to the private sector. The commercial strategy has been highly anticipated by companies across the space industry that seek more clarity around how they can compete for future contracts. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force will be responsible for flying a new fleet of satellites that will monitor ground targets in near-real time virtually anywhere in the world. This network of satellites, known as Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI), is being developed by the National Reconnaissance Office in partnership with the Space Force. Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt of the Space Force said at the AFA Warfare Conference that the service will be the lead operator of the system and will directly task and control where the satellites point their sensors based on requests from regional combatant commanders. The GMTI satellites will offer persistent video-like surveillance capabilities that in the past were provided by aircraft such as the U.S. Air Force's Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS. [SpaceNews]

Skylo has raised $37 million to advance its direct-to-smartphone services. Using standards widely adopted by the cellular industry, Silicon Valley-based Skylo has developed the ground infrastructure that satellites already in geostationary orbit need to connect to mass market devices. The funding will allow the company to strengthen its marketing efforts and expand its geographical footprint to support more partnerships and refine services in a variety of industry sectors. Skylo currently enables texting and other low-bandwidth services but expects to announce later this year its plans for enabling voice and data services on the network. [SpaceNews]

Other News

A startup developing large but inexpensive satellites has raised $50 million. K2 Space said Tuesday it raised the funding in a round led by Altimeter Capital. The company is working on large satellite buses that it argues can be more cost-effective and faster to build than traditional buses. K2 Space has not revealed any customers for its Mega bus, which can accommodate one ton of payload, but has won small contracts from the Defense Department and plans to launch a demonstration satellite later this year. [CNBC]

Intelsat has won a U.S. Air Force contract to produce satellite terminals that can work with multiple networks. Intelsat will supply five terminals to the Air Force Research Laboratory under a $9 million contract that is part of the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program. The terminals, called ROAM, can seamlessly switch connections between Intelsat's and Viasat's fleet of satellites in geosynchronous orbit and SpaceX's Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. The Air Force will test the ROAM terminals, to be delivered starting in early 2025, on military aircraft. [SpaceNews]

A delayed Japanese launch has been rescheduled for Friday night. The Japanese space agency JAXA says the second launch of its H3 rocket, which had been scheduled for Wednesday night, was pushed back two days because of weather. The launch will carry a test payload and two smallsat secondary payloads, and will be the first flight of the rocket since a failure on its inaugural launch last March. [AP]

SpaceX has been fined by a Washington state agency after an incident that resulted in a "near amputation" of an employee's foot. The Washington Department of Labor and Industries found safety violations at a SpaceX factory near Seattle during an inspection prompted by worker complaints. That included one incident where a heavy roll of material fell and crushed a worker's foot. The state fined SpaceX $3,600 for that incident, the latest in a series of workplace safety issues at company facilities. [Reuters]

SpaceX has filed plans for another expansion of its Starbase site in South Texas. The company is planning a $100 million office and industrial facility at Starbase that will include one million square feet of factory space, according to documents filed with a Texas agency. Work on the factory is scheduled to begin as soon as this month and be completed by the beginning of next year. [KVEO-TV]

Webinar: Automating for SmallSat Success - Register Today
Tuesday, Feb. 20 • 1 p.m. Eastern

Join us as we explore how today's smallsat leaders are employing automation in satellite operations and manufacturing.

SpaceNews senior staff writer Jeff Foust will lead this timely discussion with senior executives from leading smallsat builders Blue Canyon Technologies, York Space, Terran Orbital, and Planet.

Reality Interference

"The tech mogul frequently posts optimistic predictions for his companies and projects; however, reality often interferes. This time is no different."

– From an article about a post by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that said the next Starship launch would take place in about three weeks; the article noted that the investigation into the second launch remains open with the FAA. [San Antonio Express-News]