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AT&T is willing to invest more money into AST SpaceMobile to support its direct-to-device satellite constellation. AST SpaceMobile raised $155 million from AT&T and other investors in January, but the satellite operator needs more capital to develop its constellation. Chris Sambar, head of network at AT&T, said at Satellite 2024 last week that its investment in AST SpaceMobile is unlikely to be its last. AT&T has also spent a "significant amount of lobbying capital" to help get the regulatory permission AST SpaceMobile would also need to provide commercial services in the United States. AST SpaceMobile has one prototype satellite in orbit and plans to launch its first five commercial satellites in the coming months. [SpaceNews]
The launch of a joint U.S.-Indian radar imaging mission will slip to later this year because of modifications needed to its antenna. NASA said Friday that engineers concluded that the NISAR spacecraft's deployable antenna needs a reflective coating because of temperatures higher than anticipated while in its stowed configuration. That requires shipping the antenna, currently with the rest of the spacecraft in India, to the United States to apply the coating. NASA said it expects to be able to announce a new launch date for NISAR, which had been slated to launch this spring, by the end of April. NISAR carries L- and S-band radars to conduct synthetic aperture radar imaging for many Earth science applications. [SpaceNews]
Companies operating imaging spacecraft may be able to support the military's needs to track the movement of troops and vehicles on the ground. The U.S. Air Force and the Space Force are working with the National Reconnaissance Office to develop a dedicated constellation of sensor satellites specifically designed for Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI). Companies, though, note that their spacecraft can also provide information to support GMTI, such as general monitoring of areas of interest and tracking of slower-moving targets and patterns of life. They argued that a hybrid approach leveraging commercial and dedicated military systems could provide a "best of both worlds" solution at a lower cost to taxpayers. [SpaceNews]
China's Queqiao-2 communications relay satellite entered lunar orbit on Sunday. Queqiao-2 began a 19-minute-long braking burn at 12:46 p.m. Eastern , allowing the spacecraft to be captured by the moon's gravity, the China National Space Administration announced early Monday. The spacecraft will maneuver into an elliptical orbit of 200 by 16,000 kilometers to provide relay services for missions like the Chang'e-6 farside lunar sample return mission, expected to launch in May. [SpaceNews]
China is developing technologies and methodologies for in-space refueling of spacecraft. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is already integrating lessons learned into military doctrine and training tools, while a defense contractor has already demonstrated what it calls a space fuel tanker in GEO, according to a recent report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute. The report underlines that the PLA has a strategic focus on enhancing its on-orbit logistics capabilities and is integrating commercial enterprises into the space sector. Several companies in China are working on satellite servicing technologies, with China's Ministry of Science and Technology having included on-orbit servicing in its technology development plans since 2016. [SpaceNews]
NASA and Boeing are targeting May 1 for the launch of the first crewed Starliner flight. At briefings Friday, officials said preparations for the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission are going well, with the schedule of other spacecraft visiting the ISS the key factor driving the launch date. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will fly on CFT, spending eight days at the International Space Station. The astronauts called the mission "a test pilot's dream" as they check out the spacecraft's capabilities, such as manual flight modes. A successful flight would allow NASA to certify the spacecraft late this year, in time for the first operational mission to the station in early 2025. [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
A Soyuz spacecraft is on its way to the ISS after launch Saturday. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off at 8:36 a.m. Eastern and placed the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft, carrying a crew from Russia, the U.S. and Belarus, will dock with the station at 11:09 a.m. Eastern this morning. The original launch attempt Thursday was scrubbed by a low-voltage reading in the rocket's first stage. Saturday's launch took place a little more than an hour after a Dragon cargo spacecraft, launched Thursday, docked with the station. [SpaceNews]
A Falcon 9 launched a set of Starlink satellites Saturday night. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:09 p.m. Eastern after a one-day delay caused by poor weather at Cape Canaveral, deploying 23 Starlink satellites. The Falcon 9 booster used for the flight completed its 19th launch, becoming the second active booster, and third overall, to reach that milestone, a record for the company. [Spaceflight Now]
A House hearing last week noted that the problems faced by NASA's Mars Sample Return (MSR) program are not new. During the House Science Committee hearing, witnesses stated that NASA has a long record of cost overruns and schedule delays for flagship missions, which can be blamed in part on a "culture of optimism" that causes the agency to underestimate challenges faced by complex missions. NASA is making progress incorporating lessons learned from past programs but has more work to do, they said. Most of the hearing was devoted to discussing MSR, including criticism by one member, Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), that NASA erred in reducing spending on the program during a continuing resolution because of budget uncertainty. [SpaceNews]
Astronomers and companies developing satellite constellations are making progress in addressing the impacts of those systems. Astronomers raised the alarm nearly five years ago when SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites whose brightness threatened to interfere with astronomical observations. At a conference earlier this year, astronomers said they have made progress collaborating with SpaceX and other companies on ways to mitigate their brightness. They also pointed to international efforts at the ITU and UN's COPUOS to study satellite effects on both radio and optical astronomy. [SpaceNews]
The Aerospace Corporation is moving its headquarters from Southern California to the Washington, D.C. area. Aerospace announced last week it would relocate its headquarters from the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo to Chantilly, Virginia, so that it can "deepen our ties with key decision makers and stakeholders." That shift will not involve any "significant relocation" of government employees, and Aerospace plans to invest $100 million in its El Segundo campus, modernizing facilities that date back in some cases to the 1960s. [Los Angeles Times]
The U.K. Space Agency is opening new offices across the country. The agency said Monday it will open a new headquarters in June at the Harwell Science Campus as well as regional offices in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Leicester. The new offices are intended to help the agency better work with companies across the country. [BBC]
Intuitive Machines has ended efforts to restore contact with its IM-1 lunar lander. The company started efforts last week to contact the lander after the extended lunar night in the hopes that the spacecraft might have survived the cold conditions. On Saturday, the company said it had not made contact with the lander and concluded that the lander was unable to revive itself. The company has stated that it was highly improbable that the lander would be able to handle the cold conditions since it lacked any way to keep critical electronics warm. [X @Int_Machines]
| | The Week Ahead
Monday: - Online: The NASA Advisory Council's science committee meets for a discussion on NASA's science budget and other committee reports.
- International Space Station: Scheduled docking of the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft with the station's Prichal module at 11:09 a.m. Eastern.
- Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 5 p.m. Eastern.
Monday-Wednesday: - Luxembourg/Online: The Space Resources Week 2024 conference includes sessions on various technical, economic and policy issues regarding space resource utilization.
Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: - Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 5 p.m. Eastern.
Saturday: - Baikonur, Kazakhstan: Scheduled launch of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Resurs-P No. 4 remote sensing satellite at 5:36 a.m. Eastern.
- Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying the Eutelsat 36D communications satellite at 6 p.m. Eastern.
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