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The Pentagon's head of space policy will be stepping down next month. The Defense Department said Friday that Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb will leave in May but did not provide further details. Plumb is leaving his post two years after being confirmed as the first assistant secretary of defense for space policy, a position that Congress established in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Plumb has overseen the drafting of a commercial space integration strategy. [SpaceNews]
Japanese satellite operator SKY Perfect JSAT plans to invest in space startups and venture funds. The company said last week it would invest $66 million over the next six years, part of nearly $1 billion of investment through the end of the decade on new technologies and expanding its presence in the space industry. Sky Perfect JSAT previously invested in iQPS, a Japanese venture developing a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation, and announced plans earlier this year to establish a startup to remove space debris using lasers. [SpaceNews]
Boeing hopes to use one long-running military satellite program to help it win two new contracts. The Space Force is expected to seek bids this coming year for highly specialized, jam-resistant satellite systems that the military deems "no fail" assets. One is Protected Tactical Satcom, a future constellation of encrypted communications satellites, while the other is Evolved Strategic Satcom, a critical component of the U.S. military's nuclear command, control, and communications network. Boeing says it will leverage its work on the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) series of satellites, including work on an integrated payload array it developed for the WGS-11 satellite. [SpaceNews]
Two bills recently introduced in the Senate would reform aspects of commercial space regulations. One bill, the Commercial Standards Paramount to Accelerating Cosmic Exploration (SPACE) Leadership Act, would provide a five-year extension to the "learning period" that limits the FAA's ability to regulate occupant safety on commercial spacecraft. The bill would direct industry to develop voluntary standards for occupant safety that would be incorporated into future regulations after the learning period expires. The Licensing Aerospace Units to New Commercial Heights (LAUNCH) Act would direct the FAA to streamline the launch licensing process, and the Office of Space Commerce to do the same for commercial remote sensing licensing, using industry inputs. The FAA announced plans earlier this year to establish a rulemaking committee to study ways to improve existing launch and reentry licensing rules. [SpaceNews]
Parsons will be the system integrator for the Office of Space Commerce's space traffic coordination system. Parsons won a $15.5 million contract in March to provide system integration services for the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), the civil space traffic coordination system being created by the office. An initial version of TraCSS is scheduled to enter service by the end of September. It is part of broader efforts at space sustainability by the Office of Space Commerce and other agencies, with NASA expected to roll out its own space sustainability strategy at Space Symposium next week. [SpaceNews]
| | Integrated Deterrence Begins with L3Harris
As missile threats become faster and more elusive, L3Harris is helping the U.S. military build a proliferated constellation of missile warning and defense satellites to stay ahead. Our technology plays a key role on several U.S. missile warning and defense satellite programs, including those for the U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency and Space Systems Command as well as the Missile Defense Agency. We're answering the call to protect against advanced missiles by rapidly developing and deploying responsive, multilayered solutions that provide near-global and persistent indications, detection, warning, tracking and identification. Learn more. | | Other News
SpaceX launched a Eutelsat communications satellite on the seventh anniversary of its first reused rocket launch. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 5:52 p.m. Eastern Saturday, placing the Eutelsat 36D satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit. The spacecraft, built by Airbus for Eutelsat, will provide Ku-band television and government connectivity services from 36 degrees east in GEO. The launch took place exactly seven years after SpaceX first launched a Falcon 9 wth a previously flown stage, placing an SES communications satellite into orbit. [SpaceNews]
That launch was followed hours later by another Falcon 9 launch from Florida. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, placing 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The company's bid for a tripleheader, though, fell short when it postponed another Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites from California because of weather Saturday night. That launch has been rescheduled for Monday night. [Spaceflight Now]
Russia launched a remote sensing satellite Sunday. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 5:37 a.m. Eastern and placed the Resurs-P No. 4 satellite into orbit. The spacecraft is the latest in a series of satellites capable of high-resolution imaging for civil applications. [TASS]
A toy version of a proposed Japanese lunar rover is more than meets the eye. A Japanese toy company, Takara Tomy, is starting to ship a scale model version of the Lunar Cruiser rover that is a Transformer, turning into Optimus Prime. The Japanese space agency JAXA is working with Toyota on the real Lunar Cruiser, a pressurized rover that could be used on later Artemis missions. Takara Tomy has already flown its own transforming lunar rover: the baseball-sized Sora-Q was included on the SLIM lunar lander, its halves designed to split open to reveal a camera. [collectSPACE]
| | The Week Ahead
Monday: - Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
Tuesday: - Online: SpaceNews hosts the webinar "Direct to Device Satellite Services" at 1 p.m. Eastern.
- Xichang, China: Scheduled launch of a Long March 2C rocket with an unknown payload at 6:55 p.m. Eastern.
Tuesday-Friday: Wednesday: Wednesday-Friday: - Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Space Week includes the SpaceTech conference Wednesday, Beyond the Cradle conference Thursday and New Space Age conference Friday.
Thursday: Friday: Saturday-Sunday: Sunday: - Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 on the Bandwagon-1 rideshare mission at 7:17 p.m. Eastern.
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