Top Stories
The U.S. Space Force is kicking off a major procurement of next-generation communications satellites. The Evolved Strategic Satcom (ESS) program, with an estimated cost of $8 billion, will supplement and eventually replace the existing Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite constellation to provide critical jam-resistant communication channels for military needs including nuclear command and control. The Space Systems Command issued a pre-solicitation notice earlier this month alerting that a final request for proposals will soon be released for the ESS satellites. The Space Force is aiming to start production in 2025 and field a new constellation of at least four satellites in geostationary and highly elliptical orbits by 2030. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are the top contenders for this contract as both companies have been developing prototypes for ESS since 2020 under government contracts. [SpaceNews]
China is preparing to launch a lunar sample return mission this week. The Long March 5 rocket carrying the Chang'e-6 spacecraft rolled to the launch pad at Wenchang Satellite Launch Center for a launch expected to take place Friday, based on navigational warnings. The Chang'e-6 mission aims to land on the far side of the moon, collect up to two kilograms of lunar material and return it to Earth. It would be the first mission to return samples from the lunar farside and only the second mission, after Chang'e-4, to land there. [SpaceNews]
An advisory committee recommends that the FAA's commercial space office be moved out of the agency. At a meeting last week, the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) unanimously approved a recommendation calling for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation to be transferred from the FAA and made a standalone office under the Secretary of Transportation. Such a move, committee members argued, would give the office more access to resources and attention from senior leadership than it currently gets as a tiny part of the FAA, with less than one percent of the agency's overall budget and workforce. The office was created in 1984 as a standalone entity but moved into the FAA in 1995. The transfer could be done by the Secretary of Transportation unilaterally, or as part of an upcoming commercial space bill. [SpaceNews]
NASA says SpaceX is making good progress on a key technology for its Starship lunar lander. At an advisory committee meeting Friday, NASA said SpaceX successfully tested propellant transfer on its latest Starship flight in March, moving propellant from one tank to another within the vehicle. That sets the company up to perform a refueling demonstration next year, where one Starship will dock with another in low Earth orbit and transfer propellant. On-orbit refueling is critical to SpaceX's plans for its Starship lunar lander, with multiple refueling flights needed to fill the lander's tanks for a lunar landing mission. [SpaceNews]
NASA is looking for public input on space technology priorities. The agency has created a list of 187 technology shortfalls, where current technologies require additional development to meet NASA's needs. NASA has created a website where people can evaluate the importance of those shortfalls or suggest additional ones. NASA is accepting input until May 13, and will use the data as part of its overall effort to prioritize technologies to maximize the value of its budget. [SpaceNews]
Agile Space will provide the propulsion system for a responsive space mission. Agile Space will supply the main engines, attitude control thrusters, propellant tanks and other critical propulsion components for True Anomaly's Jackal spacecraft that will fly on the Victus Haze mission. True Anomaly said it is developing an advanced "highly propulsive" configuration of the Jackal to enable in-orbit maneuvers as well as rendezvous and proximity operations that are required by the Space Force for the mission. The two companies are co-investing in a novel chemical propulsion system for the mission, but did not disclose details about it. [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 Falcon 9 launched a pair of European Galileo navigation satellites Saturday. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:34 p.m. Eastern from the Kennedy Space Center carrying two Galileo satellites. The European Union Agency for the Space Programme, the EU agency that handles Galileo operations, confirmed the satellites were in orbit and operating several hours later. The launch is the first of two that the EU procured from SpaceX because of a lack of available European rockets. European officials, in statements about the launch, studiously avoided mentioning that the satellites were flown on Falcon 9. The launch was the 20th and final flight of this booster, which SpaceX said it expended because of the performance requirements for the mission. [SpaceNews]
Another Falcon 9 launched a set of Starlink satellites Sunday. The rocket launched at 6:08 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral and deployed 23 Starlink satellites. The flight was the 13th for this booster, which landed on a droneship in the Atlantic. [Spaceflight Now]
A Dragon cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station Sunday. The CRS-30 Dragon undocked from the station at 1:10 p.m. Eastern and is slated to splash down off the Florida coast early Tuesday. The spacecraft is returning about 1,860 kilograms of science experiments and hardware from the station. The undocking will allow NASA to proceed with a move of the Crew-8 Dragon spacecraft from one port to another on Thursday, freeing up the preferred docking port for the CST-100 Starliner crewed test flight scheduled for next week. [Space.com]
Yahsat shareholders have approved a merger with geospatial technologies company Bayanat. Shareholders of both companies voted in favor of the merger last week, with the merger expected to be completed by the middle of the year. The merged company, which will be called SPACE42, seeks to combine geospatial and space communications technologies for new space-based services. Meanwhile, Yahsat is continuing to address a problem with the Thuraya 3 satellite, which suffered a payload anomaly earlier this month. The company warned it expected the L-band services provided by it "to remain significantly diminished for a prolonged period." [Yahsat]
The Hubble Space Telescope is once again suffering from a gyro problem. The telescope entered safe mode last week because of what NASA described as an "ongoing" issue with one of its three remaining gyros. The same gyro triggered a safe mode in November when it returned faulty data. NASA said it is looking at options to resolve the problem, including turning off they gyro and moving into an operating mode that requires only a single gyro. [NASA/GSFC]
| | The Week Ahead
Tuesday: Tuesday-Thursday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: - Wenchang, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 5 carrying the Chang'e-6 farside lunar sample return mission.
- Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10:59 p.m. Eastern.
Sunday-Wednesday, May 8: | | | |
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