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True Anomaly and Rocket Lab won contracts to build and launch the Space Force's next responsive space mission. Rocket Lab was awarded a $32 million contract and True Anomaly received a $30 million contract for Victus Haze, a demonstration mission intended to test and refine the military's capabilities for rapidly deploying satellites in response to threats in space. For Victus Haze, an imaging satellite will be launched to inspect a suspicious object in orbit. Rocket Lab will design, build, launch and operate a rendezvous and proximity operation-capable spacecraft, which will conduct maneuvers with True Anomaly's Jackal spacecraft. Victus Haze is part of efforts by the Space Force to deploy satellites on short notice, following on the Victus Nox mission last year. [SpaceNews]
Space investors are questioning the benefits of vertical integration. Companies like SpaceX have benefited from having more control over their supply chains, reducing costs and creating greater capabilities. However, during a panel at Space Symposium this week, executives noted that vertical integration is more difficult to carry out now given reduced access to capital. They said there may instead be greater opportunities for investors to fund companies that fill gaps in the supply chain. [SpaceNews]
Satellite operators are considering banding together to serve the emerging direct-to-smartphone market. Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg said his company is considering investing in mobile satellite services spacecraft with other companies, an approach he said could enable seamless roaming from one operator to another. He compared that approach to terrestrial cell towers that host payloads from multiple carriers. Dankberg is chair of the Mobile Satellite Services Association, an industry group founded in February intended to foster cooperation among mobile satellite services companies. [SpaceNews]
Commercial space station developer Vast will use Starlink for broadband communications. Vast announced this week that Starlink will provide high-speed connectivity for its Haven-1 station through laser intersatellite links. SpaceX announced last month it would sell those laser links it developed to other companies. That will provide users of the station with high-bandwidth, low-latency communications similar to what is available on the ground. Vast says development of Haven-1, a single-module station able to support four people for up to 40 days, remains on schedule for a launch as soon as August 2025. [SpaceNews]
Space tracking company LeoLabs is using AI to help identify anomalous satellite operations. A LeoLabs visualization tool shown at Space Symposium this week tracks maneuvers performed by satellites that change their orbits frequently and highlights maneuvers conducted by satellites that did not typically perform them. An example is a series of sudden maneuvers of three Chinese satellites that raised their orbits together after remaining in the same orbit for months after launch last year. The company has also improved its ability to detect maneuvers in as little as a single orbit. [SpaceNews]
Muon Space is making money with satellites for other companies as it develops its own constellation. The company says it has more than $60 million in contracts to design, build and operate 10 remote-sensing satellites for undisclosed customers. Muon Space launched its first satellite in June to demonstrate Muon Halo, the company's integrated hardware and software platform, and a second satellite, a prototype weather satellite, in March. Muon Space plans to deploy its own climate-monitoring constellation. [SpaceNews]
| | Scientific Discovery Begins with L3Harris
For more than 20 years, every U.S. Martian rover mission and orbiting spacecraft has relied on L3Harris' transceivers and power and propulsion technology, including NASA's Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance vehicles. In fact, we've propelled missions to explore not only Mars – but every planet in the solar system and beyond. Learn more about our space capabilities here. | | Other News
A Falcon 9 launched a Space Force weather satellite Thursday morning. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:25 a.m. Eastern and deployed the first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) satellite. The polar-orbiting satellite, built by BAE Systems, has a microwave imager instrument to collect weather data including the measurement of ocean surface wind speed and direction, ice thickness, snow depth, soil moisture and local space weather. The Space Force has ordered a second WSF-M satellite, projected to be delivered by 2028. [SpaceNews]
A Chinese lunar communications satellite has completed tests that will allow China to proceed with a sample return mission. Queqiao-2 completed on-orbit communication testing in recent days, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced Friday, including communications with the Chang'e-4 lander on the far side of the moon. The completion of the tests is the final step before the launch of Chang'e-6, which will land on the far side of the moon and return samples to Earth. Chang'e-6 now appears set to launch May 3, based on airspace closure notices. [SpaceNews]
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the Project Kuiper broadband constellation is a "very large revenue opportunity" for the company. In an annual letter to shareholders published Thursday, Jassy emphasized the potential of the $10 billion system but did not estimate how much revenue the company expects Kuiper to generate and over what period. Amazon plans to launch its first operational Kuiper satellites this year after two prototypes launched last October. The company must launch half of the planned 3,232 satellites by mid-2026. [GeekWire]
Rocket Lab is moving a step closer to reusing an Electron first stage. The company announced this week that a first stage tank from an Electron launch in January has passed a series of tests that will allow it to go back into the production flow for a future mission. The company has not offered a specific date or mission that would fly a reused stage. [Rocket Lab]
While government agencies talk about embracing commercial innovation in space programs, many see a gap between words and action. National security space agencies are spending only between 2% and 5% of their budgets on commercial capabilities even as they tout phrases like "buy what we can, build what we must." Former government officials call that mismatch "innovation theater" or "buy what we're forced to and build anything we can get away with," and say factors such as unclear procurement regulations and reticence to change are to blame. [SpaceNews]
A NASA astronomy spacecraft has gone into safe mode. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, went into safe mode on Monday because of an unspecified technical issue. NASA says the safe mode was triggered during "scheduled engineering activities" and that the spacecraft overall is in good health. The spacecraft, launched six years ago to search for exoplanets, should return to science operations in the near future. [NASA]
| | Whew
"No rocket scientists were sacrificed in the making of this partnership."
– Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, discussing his company's work with Northrop Grumman on the Antares 330 and MLV rockets during a panel at Space Symposium Thursday.
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