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The U.S. Air Force and Space Force are changing priorities to focus on strategic competition with China. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said at AFA Warfare Symposium Monday priorities have to change for the era of great power competition. Kendall said the Air Force and Space Force will streamline operations and prioritize critical areas like technology integration, cyber expertise and software development. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said at the conference that the Space Force will establish a Space Futures Command as a new field command to develop concepts and conduct experimentation and war games. The service will also introduce training and education programs tailored for an era when space is a contested, not a benign, environment. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is separately being praised for its willingness to adopt new commercial capabilities. Steven "Bucky" Butow, director of the space portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), said at the SmallSat Symposium last week that the Space Force is "leading the charge when it comes to embracing commercial innovation." One initiative that appears to be gaining momentum relates to the procurement of satellite imagery from commercial companies, he said, with the Space Force becoming an "executive agent" for buying commercial imagery for the other services. Industry officials hope to see more details on the Space Force's plans in a commercial strategy blueprint currently being drafted by the office of Gen. Saltzman. [SpaceNews]
Intuitive Machines says its first lunar lander is ready for launch late tonight. The IM-1 mission is scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 at 12:57 a.m. Eastern Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center. The company said Monday it had completed a final set of reviews that included assessing data from two fueling tests of the lander last week on the launch pad. The lander's propulsion system, which uses liquid oxygen and methane, needs to be fueled just a few hours before launch. If IM-1 does launch this week, the lander will attempt to touch down in the south polar region of the moon Feb. 22, carrying 12 NASA and commercial payloads. [SpaceNews]
Iridium is among the organizations backing the federal government's bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Ligado. Iridium, along with the Air Line Pilots Association, Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association, submitted an amicus brief with the Court of Federal Claims last week that endorsed the government's motion to dismiss the $40 billion lawsuit filed by Ligado. In that suit, the company argues the government derailed its efforts to use assigned L-band spectrum for 5G services through misinformation over the potential for GPS interference. Iridium and the other organizations said those concerns about GPS interference "are real and ongoing." [SpaceNews]
Starlink has caused satellite data service prices to drop sharply in recent years. A report by Euroconsult released Monday concluded that bandwidth prices for data services have fallen by 77% over the last five years because Starlink flooded the market with capacity. Pricing for video services fell by 16% over the same period as capacity remained stable but traffic fell amid a shift from conventional television to streaming services. [SpaceNews]
| |  There's a new MILSATCOM operator in town: Astranis.
In 2023, Astranis launched the world's first MicroGEO communications satellite — and used it to demonstrate end-to-end connectivity for a national security customer. Astranis has also successfully demonstrated passing the Space Force's Protected Tactical Waveform through our proprietary Software-Defined Radio.
This makes Astranis one of just a few operators capable of supporting government waveforms on commercial satellites. And it makes MicroGEO the smallest, most agile satellite to do so by a wide margin.
Learn more here. | | | Other News
SpaceX says it plans to deorbit about 100 older Starlink satellites over concerns they could fail in orbit. The company said Monday that while those satellites are working normally today, an unspecified "common issue" with them could cause those satellites to fail. SpaceX plans to gradually deorbit the satellites over the next six months. The move comes amid broader worries about the growth of space debris and the need for more proactive measures to deorbit satellites quickly at the end of their lives. [SpaceNews]
Blue Canyon Technologies is nearing completion of a spacecraft for an Air Force cislunar mission. The company expects to deliver the Oracle-M spacecraft for the Air Force Research Laboratory this summer, although launch plans for the spacecraft have not been announced yet. The $14.6 million spacecraft will first go to geostationary orbit and then travel into cislunar space to test navigation and propulsion technologies. [SpaceNews]
A Progress cargo spacecraft has left the International Space Station. The Progress MS-24 undocked from the station Monday night and was planned to quickly deorbit over the South Pacific. The departure of the spacecraft, which launched to the station last August, clears a docking port for Progress MS-26, which is scheduled to launch Wednesday night and dock with the station two days later. [TASS]
Weather will delay the second test flight of Japan's H3 rocket. The Japanese space agency JAXA said it was postponing the launch, which had been scheduled for Wednesday, because of poor weather conditions expected at the Tanegashima Space Center. JAXA has not set a new launch date for the mission. The launch comes nearly a year after the first H3 launch failed because of a malfunction in its second stage. [Reuters]
The two stages of the first Ariane 6 are on their way to the launch site. The core and upper stages of the rocket were recently loaded on a transport ship that is now on its way to French Guiana. The stages will join other components for the inaugural launch already at the Kourou spaceport. That launch remains scheduled for between mid-June and the end of July. [ESA]
| | Webinar: Automating for SmallSat Success - Register Today
Tuesday, Feb. 20
1 p.m. Eastern
The purpose of this webinar is to explore how today's smallsat leaders are employing automation in satellite operations and manufacturing.
Panelists - Chris Winslett, Blue Canyon Technologies
- Chuck Beames, York Space
- Marc Bell, Terran Orbital
- Chester Gillmore, Planet
Moderator - Jeff Foust, SpaceNews senior staff writer
| | Killer Moon
"Every single aspect of the moon wants to try to destroy whatever you're trying to land on it."
– Daniel Posada, a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University during a briefing Monday about EagleCam, a payload on the IM-1 lunar lander developed by students at the university that will attempt to separate from the lander and take images of the landing.
| | | |
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