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A software glitch caused a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket to strand its payload in a low orbit on a December launch. The company said Tuesday that its investigation concluded that the Alpha's second stage failed to properly complete a second burn on a Dec. 22 launch because of an error in the vehicle's guidance, navigation and control software. That left the payload, a Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite, in an orbit with a perigee of only about 215 kilometers. The spacecraft was able to complete most of its planned mission before reentering earlier this month. Firefly said it expects to resume Alpha launches in the "coming months" but did not offer a more specific timeframe. [SpaceNews]
Unseenlabs says it will launch its next two maritime surveillance satellites next month. The French company said Tuesday its BRO-12 and BRO-13 satellites will be on the Transporter-10 rideshare mission by SpaceX, scheduled to launch in early March. The company's current network of 11 satellites can currently monitor and track signals from ships across the world's oceans every four to six hours. Unseenlabs plans to launch six satellites in 2024 as it works towards ultimately operating 25 satellites. [SpaceNews]
Chinese launch firm Space Circling has raised about $14 million in funding for engine development. The startup raised the Series A round in December and announced it this week. The funding will mainly go towards construction of an industrial base for the company's rocket engines and mass production of them. Space Circling is developing engines fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene that it plans to offer to other companies as well as for its own planned reusable launch vehicle. [SpaceNews]
A defunct European satellite will reenter today, highlighting challenges of space sustainability. The ERS-2 satellite is projected to reenter at 10:49 a.m. Eastern, plus or minus 1.76 hours, ESA predicted earlier today. The 2.3-ton spacecraft launched in 1995 to conduct Earth science research and was decommissioned in 2011. While the spacecraft was able to lower its orbit somewhat with its remaining propellant, it was not able to conduct a controlled reentry because of limited fuel and design restrictions. ESA enacted new orbital debris mitigation regulations for its missions last year, including requiring satellites to be deorbited within five years of the end of their missions, but the rules do not fully apply to older missions. A twin of ERS-2, ERS-1, malfunctioned in orbit in 2000 and is expected to remain in orbit for at least a century. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX is making greater inroads into the intelligence community. The company received a $1.8 billion classified contract from an unidentified U.S. government customer in 2021, according to company documents. The company has not released any details about the work covered under that contract or its Starshield business line, where it offers satellites for national security applications. SpaceX hired a retired Air Force general, Terrence O'Shaughnessy, as a company vice president with a key role in Starshield. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said last year that while she could not discuss publicly the company's classified work, there was "very good collaboration" between SpaceX and the intelligence community. [Wall Street Journal]
| | Other News
A Falcon 9 launched an Indonesian communications satellite Tuesday. The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 3:11 p.m. Eastern and placed the Merah Putih 2 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space and previously known as Telkomsat HTS 113BT, will provide C- and Ku-band services from 113 degrees east in GEO for Indonesian operator Telkomsat. [CBS]
The launch is part of Indonesia's turn to SpaceX after a Chinese launch failure. The Indonesia government switched to SpaceX after the 2020 loss of the Nusantara-2 satellite. Indonesia selected SpaceX for more recent launches based on the Falcon 9's higher reliability and lower cost, as well as a personal relationship between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Indonesia President Joko Widodo. SpaceX has also sought permission to provide Starlink services in Indonesia, although so far the government has only approved Starlink to provide backhaul services and not to sell directly to consumers. [Reuters]
Rocket Lab's next launch will deploy another Japanese radar imaging satellite. Rocket Lab said Tuesday an Electron will launch a StriX-3 radar imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective no earlier than March 9 from New Zealand. The launch will be Rocket Lab's fourth mission for Synspective after launches in 2020 and 2022. Rocket Lab also announced Wednesday a launch for the NRO from Wallops Island, Virginia, on the NROL-123 mission. That launch is scheduled for no earlier than March 20. [Rocket Lab]
The Indian space agency ISRO has completed human-rating testing of a rocket engine as part of its Gaganyaan program. ISRO said it had human-rated the CE20 engine used in the upper stage of the LVM3 rocket after the last in a series of seven tests of the engine earlier this month. The testing comes ahead of uncrewed test flights of the LMV3 and Gaganyaan capsule this year, with a first crewed flight planned for no earlier than 2025. [PTI]
Russian lawmakers are advancing a bill that could make it easier for Roscosmos to evade Western sanctions. The legislation, approved earlier this month by the lower house of the Duma, would require Roscosmos to use a closed bidding process for future procurements. That is seen as a way to make it easier for Roscosmos to obtain components currently banned from import because of sanctions by working with shell companies in countries like Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. A closed bidding process could also increase corruption. [Ars Technica]
| | Solar Science Accelerates
"I've been doing this for more than 20 years, and suddenly it feels like everything is interesting and exciting, and it's all happening at once. It's really exciting to come to the office every day, and it wasn't like that."
– Dan Seaton, a solar physicist at the Southwest Research Institute, describing recent advances in studies of the sun. [Scientific American]
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