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A Chinese company developing a broadband megaconstellation has raised more than $900 million. Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST) raised 6.7 billion yuan ($933 million), one of its investors, CAS Star, said in a statement Thursday. SSST is developing a 12,000-satellite constellation called G60 Starlink, with the first spacecraft expected to launch later this year. The funding will support work on the constellation as well as technology development and operations, according to CAS Star. [Reuters]
The Starlab Space joint venture has selected SpaceX's Starship to launch its commercial space station. Starlab Space, a joint venture of Voyager Space and Airbus Defence and Space, announced Wednesday an agreement with SpaceX to launch its Starlab station on a single Starship launch. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal or a projected launch date. Starlab features a large habitation and lab module that likely could only be accommodated on Starship. [SpaceNews]
Lockheed Martin says the technology demonstration satellite placed in the wrong orbit in December will reenter later this month. The satellite was released into an orbit lower than planned because of a malfunction with the upper stage of the Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket that launched it shortly before Christmas. Although the satellite will be in orbit for far less time than planned, Lockheed says they successfully accomplished many of the objectives of the mission, demonstrating a new electronically steerable antenna. [SpaceNews]
The first Intuitive Machines lunar lander is scheduled to launch this month, although the exact timing remains unclear. NASA and Intuitive Machines said Wednesday they are working towards a mid-February launch of the IM-1 mission on a Falcon 9. The company declined to give a specific launch date other than that the launch will be during a three-day period, setting up a landing attempt on Feb. 22. NASA separately said Wednesday that the Crew-8 commercial crew mission, using the same pad as IM-1, would launch as soon as Feb. 22, a date the agency said they would pursue if IM-1 did not attempt a launch in February. IM-1 is carrying six NASA payloads through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program along with several payloads for commercial customers. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force says Northrop Grumman will not be the sole provider of satellite refueling services. The Space Force announced earlier this week that it selected Northrop's Passive Refueling Module (PRM) refueling port for use on future satellites and was supporting work by the company on a tanker spacecraft. Col. Joyce Bulson, director of servicing, mobility and logistics at Space Systems Command, said that even with the selection of Northrop the command continues to evaluate other refueling solutions for potential use. Bulson noted that many of the details about how the Space Force will procure refueling systems and services remain to be determined. [SpaceNews]
A Chinese spaceplane has raised its orbit. The spaceplane, launched in December into an orbit of 333 by 348 kilometers, has maneuvered to raise its orbit to 602 by 609 kilometers. That is similar to the maneuvers by the spaceplane on its previous mission. Contrary to previous reports, there is no evidence as yet of the spaceplane releasing objects into orbit, but that could happen now that the spacecraft is in a higher orbit. [SpaceNews]
| | Other News A Cygnus cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station this morning. The station's robotic arm grappled the NG-20 Cygnus at 4:59 a.m. Eastern and berthed it to the station's Unity module a little more than two hours later. The capture was delayed briefly by an issue with a backup communications system on the spacecraft, which was soon resolved. Cygnus, which launched Tuesday on a Falcon 9, is carrying more than 3,700 kilograms of cargo for the station. [NASA]
The Office of Space Commerce will work with SpaceX to better understand its collision avoidance technologies. The office will perform an astrodynamics evaluation of the tools SpaceX uses to manage more than 5,000 Starlink broadband satellites as part of the no-exchange-of-funds agreement. SpaceX uses an automated system to perform maneuvers to avoid potential close approaches with other space objects. [SpaceNews]
Exotrail plans to develop a space tug focused on GEO missions. The company, which launched its first SpaceVan orbital transfer vehicle to low Earth orbit in November, says it is working on a different vehicle that will transport smallsats from geostationary transfer orbit to GEO. The company, based in France with U.S. subsidiaries, says it sees a need for such a vehicle to support national security missions, enabling smallsats to get to GEO without using their own propellant. The first mission for this new tug is planned for 2026. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force organization responsible for delivering weather information to Defense Department customers will take a hard look at weather data requirements. The Space Systems Command's Environmental and Tactical Surveillance Delta announced at the American Meteorological Society conference this week that it will talk to its users over the next few months to see if their priorities for weather data have changed. If the upcoming review identifies new priorities, the service will look at ways to meet them, but cautioned that funding is limited. [SpaceNews]
A NASA workshop next week will examine low-cost options for a mission to a near Earth asteroid. The "listening workshop," scheduled for Feb. 7, will seek input on ways to conduct missions to Apophis, an asteroid that will safely pass very close to Earth in April 2029. An extended mission for the OSIRIS-REx sample return spacecraft, renamed OSIRIS-APEX, will visit Apophis after the flyby, but scientists would like to send spacecraft to the asteroid before the flyby as well. One possibility is to repurpose the twin Janus smallsats that were built for a different asteroid flyby mission that was canceled when its launch as a rideshare on the Psyche mission was delayed. NASA cautions, though, that funding for any Apophis mission will be "really challenging." [SpaceNews]
NASA has named the crew for a commercial crew mission to the International Space Station later this year. The Crew-9 mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than August on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, will be commanded by NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, with NASA's Nick Hague as pilot and Stephanie Wilson as mission specialist. Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also be a mission specialist on Crew-9. The launch will be the first for Cardman and Gorbunov. Wilson flew on three shuttle missions to the ISS between 2004 and 2009, while Hague spent more than six months on the ISS in 2019 after being on an aborted Soyuz launch to the station in 2018. [NASA]
| | Call of Space Duty
"We figure that if anybody can play an Xbox, within 30 minutes we can teach them how to assemble a satellite or how to use a robot to manufacture components."
– Marc Bell, CEO of Terran Orbital, discussing how the company uses gaming and augmented reality technologies for its satellite manufacturing business. He spoke Wednesday at the SpaceCom conference in Orlando, appearing on stage with Space Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy where the two talked while playing "Super Mario Kart" (Purdy won.)
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