Astronomy Prints 🌌: 🤵🏻‍♂️ Dummy payload eyed for Vulcan certification flight

A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Tuesday, May 14, 2024

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The Defense Department is considering allowing United Launch Alliance to launch a dummy payload on the second Vulcan Centaur mission if its planned payload is delayed. A Pentagon official said it would consider the switch to speed up the launch of the rocket, clearing the way for it to be certified for national security missions. The current payload for that launch is Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spaceplane, and ULA says it still expects to launch Dream Chaser by Oct. 1, but has unspecified "backup plans" if that spacecraft is not ready in time. Meanwhile, Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition, sent a letter to ULA's corporate parents, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, asking them to evaluate ULA's ability to carry out a backlog of 25 national security missions currently on its manifest through 2027. [SpaceNews]

Lockheed Martin has awarded Terran Orbital a contract for 18 more satellite buses. The contract, announced Monday, is for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 2 Tracking Layer satellites. Lockheed announced its intent in January, when it won the $890 million SDA contract, to use Terran Orbital buses, but had not finalized the contract at that time. Terran Orbital announced the contract just before it releases its first quarter financial results today, and the timing of the announcement is seen as a way to reassure investors after Lockheed dropped its proposed acquisition of Terran Orbital earlier this month. [SpaceNews]

European space company OHB says it expects to complete a deal to go private in the coming weeks. In an earnings call last week, executive said the final milestones to the deal are regulatory approvals in Belgium and Germany, which OHB expects to secure by late June. OHB announced a deal with investment company KKR last August where KKR would buy publicly traded shares not owned by the Fuchs family, which owns a controlling stake in OHB, effectively taking the company private. OHB executives are also optimistic that both Ariane 6 and Rocket Factory Augsburg's RFA ONE rocket will make their debut launches this summer, and downplayed concerns about delays in the European Commission's award of a contract for the IRIS² constellation to an industry consortium that includes OHB. [SpaceNews]

NASA has selected for Earth science mission proposals for further study while awarding a contract for a smaller tech demo mission. NASA announced last week it selected four proposals for its Earth System Explorer program of competed Earth science missions. The proposals will each receive $5 million for one-year mission concept studies, after which NASA plans to select two for development to launch in 2030 and 2032. The Earth science decadal survey recommended NASA pursue a line of competed missions that would be less expensive than larger directed missions. NASA separately selected an Earth science smallsat mission called GRATTIS for development. The $12 million mission will test new sensors for mapping the Earth's gravitational field. [SpaceNews]

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Other News

While SpaceX is rapidly building out its Starbase site in South Texas, the company is slow to pay contractors. Construction companies hired by SpaceX to build facilities at Starbase say that the company is slow to pay its bills, requiring them in some cases to place liens against SpaceX properties to force the company to pay. Some contractors say they will no longer do business with SpaceX because of those payment issues, but others are willing to put up with the delays in the hopes of securing more work. [Reuters]

One of the people flying on the next Virgin Galactic suborbital flight will be a Turkish astronaut. Axiom Space said that Tuva Atasever will be the research astronaut previously announced by Virgin as one of the four customers on the Galactic 07 mission, scheduled for June 8. Atasever was the backup to Alper Gezeravcı, who flew to orbit on Axiom's Ax-3 mission to the International Space Station earlier this year. Atasever will perform seven experiments during the suborbital flight. [Axiom Space]

India's space agency is seeking proposals for commercial development of its largest current rocket. NewSpace India Ltd., the commercial arm of the space agency ISRO, announced it is seeking proposals for "large scale" development of the LVM3 rocket, also known as GSLV Mark 3. India is hoping to attract private partners to scale up development of LVM3 and offer it commercially for launches of geostationary satellites and low Earth orbit constellations. [ThePrint]

NASA has named its first chief AI officer. The agency said Monday that it has designated David Salvagnini, the current chief data officer of the agency, as its first chief AI officer. He will be responsible for planning use of AI tools and technologies across the agency. NASA created the position in response to an executive order last October that required federal agencies to designate a chief AI officer. [NASA]

That Might Bust Santa's Budget

"If there's really a Santa, we could go on SpaceX and do a three- to five-day orbit around the planet."

– Sharon Hagle, who flew with her husband Marc on a Blue Origin New Shepard flight in 2022. The two are planning to fly again on that vehicle while also holding tickets with Virgin Galactic. [Orlando Sentinel]