Resuscitating Voyager 1 - SpaceNews This Week

Top stories of the week from SpaceNews

View this email in your browser A weekly roundup of the top SpaceNews stories from this week, every Friday Good news for struggling spacecraft this week: China is working to save its DRO-A and B spacecraft that got stuck after a rocket stage malfunction, a Soyuz spacecraft launched to the ISS two days after an unprecedented scrub just 20 seconds before liftoff and most intriguingly, NASA seems to think that it can solve a problem that has for months left Voyager 1 transmitting unintelligible data from its journey billions and billions of miles away from Earth. Our Top Story NASA optimistic about resolving Voyager 1 computer problem Jeff Foust, March 27, 2024 WASHINGTON — A NASA official says he is optimistic that a problem with the Voyager 1 spacecraft that has kept it from transmitting intelligible data for months can be resolved. Speaking at a March 20 meeting of the National Academies' Committee on Solar and Space Physics, Joseph Westlake, director of NASA's heliophysics division, said it appeared possible to fix the computer problem on the nearly 50-year-old spacecraft that has disrupted operations since last November. "I feel like we're on a path now to resolution," he said. "They're on the right path and I think we're going to get to a point where Voyager 1 is going to continue, alive and kicking in space." Other News From the Week MILITARY Space Force chief: U.S. intelligence is top-notch, but more insights needed on space domain Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said the U.S. Space Force has robust intelligence about what foreign adversaries are doing in outer space. Still, military leaders always want more comprehensive data and analysis about activities in orbit, he said March 27. Satellite firms cautiously optimistic as DoD boosts funding to integrate commercial satcom Commercial satellite operators for years have urged the Department of Defense to rely less on government-owned satellites and more on their own services. While advocacy efforts haven't resulted in a massive shift yet, a proposed increase in the 2025 budget allocation for commercial satellite communications integration offers a glimmer of hope, said a senior industry executive. On-orbit servicing mission planned for military satellite in 2025 In a mission targeted for 2025, a robot satellite in geostationary orbit around 22,000 miles above Earth will rendezvous with a military satellite and attempt to affix a new imaging sensor payload on the spacecraft. COMMERCIAL Vast Space hires former Voyager Space executive Commercial space station developer Vast Space has hired an executive from another space station company as an adviser. Vast announced March 28 that it hired Clay Mowry as an adviser. In that role, he will provide support for the company as it works on its proposed commercial space stations. Boeing sues Virgin Galactic over mothership project Boeing and a subsidiary have filed suit against Virgin Galactic, alleging that the suborbital spaceflight company has refused to pay more than $25 million and misappropriated trade secrets associated with a project to develop a new aircraft. Planet reveals $20 million Carbon Mapper contract Planet announced a $20 million agreement to provide hyperspectral data for Carbon Mapper's greenhouse gas monitoring campaign. The deal, which extends from 2026 to 2030, "will help Carbon Mapper deliver high resolution methane and CO2 super-emitter data to decision makers around the globe," Carbon Mapper CEO Riley Duren said in a statement. CIVIL ESA and ISRO explore increased cooperation The European Space Agency, impressed with India's growing space capabilities, is exploring opportunities for enhanced cooperation in space activities. China appears to be trying to save stricken spacecraft from lunar limbo Tracking data appears to show China is attempting to salvage spacecraft initially intended for the moon but left stranded by a rocket stage malfunction. The small DRO-A and B spacecraft launched from Xichang spaceport on a Long March 2C rocket March 13. Copyright (C) 2024 Multiverse Media Inc.. All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

Escaping lunar limbo 🌖

China working to salvage stranded lunar orbiters • Lander developer ispace raises $50M

A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Friday, March 29, 2024 Top Stories China appears to be trying to salvage a pair of spacecraft intended to go to the moon but were stranded in a transfer orbit. China launched the DRO-A and -B spacecraft March 13, but a malfunction by the rocket's upper stage kept them in low Earth orbit. Tracking data now shows one object from the launch, which may be the two satellites still attached to each other, now in a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of 225,000 kilometers, more than half the distance to the moon, suggesting that spacecraft controllers are trying to salvage the mission. China has not disclosed the mission of the two spacecraft, but they are presumed to be designed to operate in distant retrograde orbit around the moon to test communications technologies. [SpaceNews] Japanese lunar lander developer ispace has raised more than $50 million in a stock sale. The company announced Thursday it sold $53.5 million in stock to international institutional investors. The company says it will use the proceeds to support development of future lunar lander missions, including Mission 3, which ispace U.S. is building for Draper for a NASA mission. The company, which went public nearly a year ago, lost its first lunar lander last April when it crashed during final descent. A second lander mission is scheduled to launch late this year. [SpaceNews] Planet has won a contract to provide hyperspectral data. Planet said Thursday that Carbon Mapper, a nonprofit effort to track greenhouse gases, will pay Planet $20 million from 2026 to 2030 for data to help identify "super-emitter" sources of methane and carbon dioxide. The data will come from Planet's upcoming series of Tanager satellites. Planet reported a 15% percent increase in annual revenues Thursday and, while still not profitable, says it is on a path to show an adjusted EBITDA profit by the fourth quarter of its current fiscal year, which started Feb. 1. [SpaceNews] Satellite operators say they are cautiously optimistic that the Defense Department will buy more commercial services. The Pentagon's proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 includes a $134 million line item for "commercial satcom integration," an increase from $71 million in the 2024 budget. Companies that provide commercial satellite connectivity services welcome the increase but noted it was unclear how the Defense Department will use the additional funds. Those companies hope that the funding will go to the Space Force's Commercial Space Office to establish a dedicated working capital fund that could streamline the ability for combatant commands and others to take advantage of commercial services. [SpaceNews] South Korean company Hancom InSpace has ordered two remote sensing satellites from Spire Global. Spire said this week it will build and operate Sejong-2 and Sejong-3 on behalf of Hancom InSpace to join Sejong-1, a 6U cubesat launched in May 2022. Sejong-2 would have an optical imager and serve as an extension of Sejong-1 while Sejong-3 would be equipped with a hyperspectral imager. Hancom had ordered another cubesat from Spire, called Hancom-2, shortly after the Sejong-1 launch, but the companies have not disclosed the status of that spacecraft. [SpaceNews] Japanese launch startup Interstellar Technologies has signed an agreement with Japan's space agency JAXA. The agreement announced this week makes Interstellar a "priority launch provider," giving it priority for future contracts to support JAXA smallsat missions and advance the commercialization of space transportation services. Interstellar is developing its Zero rocket, with a first launch planned for 2025. Space One, whose Kairos rocket exploded seconds after liftoff earlier this month, also has such an agreement, as do Space BD and Mitsui Bussan Aerospace, which offer services aimed at the commercial utilization of space. [SpaceNews]   Footprints on the Moon Begin with L3Harris For six decades, L3Harris has teamed with NASA to develop technology that's been critical to the evolution of human spaceflight. In fact, our technology has been part of every crewed NASA mission: from Project Mercury to Apollo to the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station era and now beyond – as part of NASA's Artemis campaign. L3Harris' contributions to NASA's Artemis missions include propulsion, communications and launch avionics for NASA's Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and Gateway lunar space station. Learn more. Other News The final farewell of the Delta 4 Heavy will be delayed. United Launch Alliance scrubbed the launch of the rocket Thursday afternoon, initially halting the countdown because of high winds. After stopping the countdown, ULA called off the launch for the day because a problem with a pump in gaseous nitrogen pipeline. The company had hoped to reschedule the launch for today but said late Thursday that it needed more time to fix the problem and has not announced a new launch date. The launch will be the last not just for the Delta 4 Heavy but also for the entire family of Delta rockets. [Orlando Sentinel] SpaceX also postponed a Falcon 9 launch Thursday. The company had planned to launch a set of Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Thursday evening, but postponed the launch without an explanation. SpaceX has rescheduled the launch for Friday night. [Spaceflight Now] South Korea's government is allocating nearly $735 million to space programs in 2024. The budget, announced Thursday by a government ministry, is a 13.6% increase from 2023. The funding will go towards launch vehicle and satellite development as well as work on a space exploration roadmap that includes opportunities to cooperate with NASA on the Artemis program. [Pulse] The FCC is allowing SpaceX to expand direct-to-device Starlink tests. The FCC, which originally limited SpaceX to testing direct connections between smartphones and Starlink satellites to three locations, has expanded those locations to include all of California, Hawaii, Texas and Washington as well as specific locations in other states. That decision came after the FCC, earlier this week, rejected a request by SpaceX to expand the spectrum available for those direct-to-device services to additional bands where Globalstar and Iridium have priority. SpaceX will instead have to go through a formal rulemaking process to request use of those bands. [PC Mag] Indian launch startup has tested the second stage of a small launch vehicle. The company test-fired the solid-fuel stage for its Vikram-1 rocket at a facility operated by the Indian space agency ISRO on Wednesday. The company said the test was a success and keeps the company on track to conduct a first launch of the rocket later this year. [The Hindu]   Pretty Magical "As you open the hatch to the airlock and you look down and see the Earth glide by, 250 miles below, and you're out there in your own little spacecraft, my own little satellite, it's pretty magical. It's all the things I dreamed of when I was five years old." – NASA astronaut and Space Force Col. Nick Hague, discussing the experience of performing a spacewalk during a call with reporters Thursday about his trip to the International Space Station later this year on the Crew-9 mission.   Forward First Up to a friend or Subscribe for yourself Copyright © 2024 Multiverse Media Inc., All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Above-Average Intelligence 👀

Vast differences • ESA eyes closer cooperation with India • SLIM defies the odds

A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Thursday, March 28, 2024 Top Stories The general in charge of the Space Force says that U.S. intelligence about space activities is good but could be better. Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said at the Mitchell Institute's Space Security Forum Wednesday that he has robust intelligence about what foreign adversaries are doing in outer space. However, he said having additional sensors and analytics tools would further boost the Space Force's visibility into technologies being tested by strategic competitors like China and Russia. "You can never have too much space domain awareness," Saltzman said, including data from international partners and the private sector. [SpaceNews] ESA is studying options for increased cooperation with the Indian space agency ISRO. At a briefing Wednesday after an ESA Council meeting, agency officials said they received a presentation from the chairman of ISRO, S. Somanath, at their meeting to get an update on Indian space activities. ESA said the agency has been exploring options of enhanced cooperation in science, exploration and operations since late 2022, but has not disclosed any specific options under consideration. [SpaceNews] China is signing new partners for a proposed international lunar base but is struggling to find national-level support. China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory signed memoranda of understanding this month with the Asociación de Astronomía de Colombia and Kyrgyzstan's Arabaev Kyrgyz State University regarding potential cooperation on the International Lunar Research Station. The agreements with organizations and universities may reflect difficulties China is having getting support from national governments, perhaps because of Russia's involvement with the initiative. [SpaceNews] One commercial space station company has hired a former executive from another such company. Vast has hired Clay Mowry as an adviser to provide guidance and counsel as it develops its Haven-1 commercial station and future larger stations. Mowry was previously chief revenue officer at Voyager Space, which is working on the Starlab commercial space station, and earlier held positions at Blue Origin and Arianespace. Separately, a former Vast employee filed suit in a California court this week, alleging he was fired from the company last year after raising concerns that the company was violating FCC regulations for spectrum it plans to use for Haven-1. Vast denied the claims and says it will fight the suit in court. [SpaceNews] Sierra Space has hired a new chief operating officer. The company announced Thursday that it hired Amish Patel as COO to oversee company operations, including its supply chain and manufacturing. Patel was previously vice president of global supply chain at Rocket Lab and also worked at SpaceX and L3Harris. [Sierra Space]   Footprints on the Moon Begin with L3Harris For six decades, L3Harris has teamed with NASA to develop technology that's been critical to the evolution of human spaceflight. In fact, our technology has been part of every crewed NASA mission: from Project Mercury to Apollo to the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station era and now beyond – as part of NASA's Artemis campaign. L3Harris' contributions to NASA's Artemis missions include propulsion, communications and launch avionics for NASA's Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and Gateway lunar space station. Learn more. Other News The final launch in the decades-long history of the Delta rocket is scheduled for today, weather permitting. A Delta 4 Heavy is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral at 1:40 p.m. Eastern carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Forecasts, though, predict only a 30% chance of acceptable weather because of strong winds. The launch will be the last not just for the Delta 4 Heavy but the entire Delta family of rockets, dating back more than six decades. [Spaceflight Now] Japan's SLIM lunar lander continues to defy the odds. The lander has survived a second lunar night and is transmitting data again, the Japanese space agency JAXA announced Thursday. SLIM landed in January and the solar-powered spacecraft was not designed to survive the lunar night. However, SLIM revived in late Feburary and sent data for several data before going back into hibernation for a second night. [Japan Times] A mission designed to study the sun has now discovered 5,000 comets. An amateur scientist studying images from the ESA-NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected the milestone comet earlier this week. SOHO launched in 1995 to study the sun, but it has also been able to discover "sungrazer" comets that pass close to the sun that cannot otherwise be seen. Such comets often do not survive their close passages to the sun. [NASA] Astronomers have obtained a new view of the supermassive back hole at the center of our galaxy. The Event Horizon Telescope, a globe-spanning network of observatories, created the image of the black hole called Sagittarius A* in polarized light. That view shows magnetic field lines around the black hole, about 4.3 million times the mass of the sun, and reveals structures similar to the far larger black hole at the core of the galaxy M87. Astronomers said the image of Sagittarius A* suggests it may be ejecting a jet of material not previously seen, based on its similarities to the black hole in M87. [Space.com]   Quadratic Budget Equations "You can't do math with letters. Well, you can't do arithmetic. I guess you can do algebra." – Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, discussing the "TBD" entry for Mars Sample Return in NASA's fiscal year 2025 budget proposal during an Aerospace Industries Association webinar Wednesday.   Forward First Up to a friend or Subscribe for yourself Copyright © 2024 Multiverse Media Inc., All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.