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The head of U.S. Space Command warned that U.S. space assets face a "window of vulnerability" from attack in the next few years. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday, Gen. Stephen Whiting singled out China and Russia as the leading threats the U.S. space architecture faces in the near future due to their ongoing development of anti-satellite weapons. China, in particular, is moving "breathtakingly fast in space," which includes a growth in satellites to allow China to track American forces on the ground and in space. He said that while Space Command reached full operational capability last year, it does not yet have sufficient capability across the board to match the pace at which potential adversaries are advancing their space weapons programs. [SpaceNews]
Viasat will collaborate with Northrop Grumman on an Air Force satellite broadband experiment. Under the agreement, Viasat will provide access to its ViaSat-3 satellite network for broadband communications to aircraft and ground vehicles. That will be part of a $95 million, four-year contract awarded by the Air Force Research Lab in June 2023 to Northrop to demonstrate commercial satellite broadband services. Viasat launched its first ViaSat-3 satellite last year, but an antenna deployment problem means it will have only a small fraction of its intended capacity available. [SpaceNews]
Problems with NASA's Mars Sample Return (MSR) program illustrate the challenges NASA faces in managing large science missions, a report concluded. NASA's Office of Inspector General released an audit of the MSR program this week, concluding its cost growth was "of particular concern" and can't be explained solely by supply chain problems or inflation. Those problems, the audit concluded, show that NASA needs to improve how it manages flagship missions in their earliest "pre-formulation" phases to provide more realistic cost and schedule estimates. The audit comes as NASA awaits a final fiscal year 2024 spending bill from Congress, expected to be passed in the next week, that will end uncertainty about how much funding will be available to MSR. A study reassessing the architecture of MSR is also due this month. [SpaceNews]
Canadian satellite manufacturer MDA is finding new growth opportunities with constellations. The company won contracts from Globalstar in 2022 to build a new generation of satellites and from Telesat last year for its Lightspeed broadband constellation. MDA is also working with an unnamed customer looking to use the company's digital satellite design for a constellation project shrouded in secrecy. MDA says it has the ability to provide up to 400 satellites a year, giving it the capacity to take on additional customers. [SpaceNews]
China launched a "high orbit" satellite Thursday to provide internet access across the country. A Long March 3B/G rocket lifted off at 8:03 a.m. Eastern from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The rocket deployed a satellite called Weixing Hulianwan Gaogui-01, or High orbit satellite internet-01. The spacecraft appears to be headed to geostationary orbit to provide internet services for China and other regions as part of China's "Belt and Road" initiative. [SpaceNews]
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SpaceX took advantage of a commercial crew delay to launch another set of Starlink satellites. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:30 a.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral, deploying 23 Starlink satellites. SpaceX squeezed in the launch after NASA delayed the Crew-8 launch from early Friday to Saturday night because of weather conditions in abort zones. NASA requires at least 48 hours between the previous Falcon 9 launch and a Crew Dragon launch to give engineers time to review data from the prior launch. [CBS]
Intuitive Machines shut down its IM-1 lunar lander mission Thursday in the hopes of waking it up later this month. The company said it commanded its Odysseus lander to go into a standby mode Thursday as the sun moves out of view of its solar panels. The company will try to restore communications with the lander in two to three weeks, although the spacecraft was not designed to handle the extreme cold of the two-week lunar night. [AP]
Another short-term FAA reauthorization would extend the "learning period" for commercial human spaceflight regulations. The House passed Thursday a bill extending various FAA authorities, set to expire March 8, through May 10 as it works with the Senate to develop a long-term FAA reauthorization. Among the extensions in the House stopgap bill is one that restricts the FAA's ability to regulate commercial human spaceflight occupant safety. That "learning period," enacted in 2004 initially for eight years, has been extended several times to give industry more time to gain experience upon which regulations could be based. Many in the industry are hoping the final reauthorization bill will extend the learning period as long as eight years. [The Hill]
Firefly Aerospace formally opened an expansion of its manufacturing and test facilities in Texas. The company held a ceremony Wednesday to open the facilities, which double its manufacturing space to more than 200,000 square feet and include a new test stand for the Miranda engine. The facilities will support production of the Antares 330 and MLV rockets that the company is producing in partnership with Northrop Grumman. [Spaceflight Now]
China has announced the names of the spacecraft it is developing for human lunar missions. Mengzhou, or "Dream Vessel," is the new name of a next-generation crew spacecraft that will carry astronauts to lunar orbit. A lander for transporting them down to the surface and back is called Lanyue, or "Embracing the Moon." Chinese officials said they are working towards a human landing on the moon before 2030. [Space.com]
| | Important Distinction
"I'd like to put an amendment to your question. It's not a final goodbye, it's 'see you in six months.'"
– NASA Administrator Bill Nelson at a press conference Wednesday about the upcoming Crew-8 mission after a reporter asked when the crew would get to say their "final goodbyes" to their families before launch.
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