Astronomy Prints 🌌: ESA’s Zero Debris Charter gains momentum with initial signatories 🛰️

A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Friday, May 31, 2024

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The U.S. Space Force will choose between Boeing and Northrop Grumman for a next generation of communication satellites. The Protected Tactical Satellite-Resilient (PTS-R) program aims to develop a constellation of satellites resistant to cyber attacks and jamming, ensuring U.S. forces can maintain secure communications in contested environments. Both companies won contracts in 2020 to develop PTS-R prototype payloads for on-orbit demonstrations planned for fiscal year 2025, and Space Systems Command, in a notice last week, said new market research concluded that the two companies are the only ones capable of meeting the program's stringent requirements. The companies are now competing for a follow-on cost-reimbursement contract expected to be awarded in December for technology maturation and risk reduction work. [SpaceNews]

A Chinese launch vehicle developer will partner with another company to develop a constellation of medium Earth orbit (MEO) communications satellites. Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd., also known as Space Epoch, signed an agreement last week with satellite company Shifang Xinglian to work on MEO satellites. Space Epoch is developing medium and large fully reusable rockets akin to SpaceX's Starship but on a smaller scale. Both companies are in early stages of development, but the agreement further illustrates the growth of companies engaged in launch services and constellation plans in China with strong backing from the government. [SpaceNews]

Peru and Slovakia are the latest countries to sign the Artemis Accords. Officials from the two countries signed the Accords in separate ceremonies Thursday at NASA Headquarters, bringing the total number of nations that have signed the document to 42. U.S. officials said they are seeing growing interest in the Accords, which outline best practices in space exploration. The signings come a week after two dozen Artemis Accords countries met in Canada for a workshop to discuss issues related to the Accords, such as non-interference and interoperability. [SpaceNews]

ESA has lined up an initial set of countries and companies to sign a non-binding agreement to limit growth of orbital debris. Twelve European countries signed the Zero Debris Charter last week, and a ceremony next week at the ILA Berlin Air Show will feature companies signing the charter. The document outlines processes signatories will follow to limit creation of debris, including prompt deorbiting of satellites and reducing risks of collisions and explosions in orbit. [SpaceNews]

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Other News

China carried out two launches Thursday. A Long March 3B lifted off at 8:12 a.m. Eastern from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and placed the Paksat MM1 satellite into geosynchonous transfer orbit. Paksat MM1, built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, will provide multiband communications services for Pakistan's government. A Ceres-1 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:39 p.m. Eastern. It placed into sun-synchronous orbit a pair of Jiguang Xingzuo laser communications test satellites and three Yunyao-1 meteorology satellites with radio occultation and infrared imager payloads. [SpaceNews]

The European Defense Fund is supporting development of a counterspace satellite program. The fund announced earlier this month is it allocating about $7 million towards development of an "Autonomous SSA Bodyguard Onboard Satellite," also known as Bodyguard. The system would be able to track threats to a satellite and even disable any approaching spacecraft. The program follows previous interest by France in particular on counterspace systems like lasers to defend satellites from attack, although experts note that this Bodyguard system could also be used offensively to attack other satellites. [Breaking Defense]

Controllers have lost contact with an aging Japanese Venus orbiter. The Japanese space agency JAXA said Wednesday that it has not been able to communicate with its Akatsuki orbiter since late April "due to an extended period of low attitude stability control mode." JAXA said it is continuing efforts to try to restore communications with the spacecraft. Akatsuki launched in 2010 but suffered an engine malfunction that prevented it from going into orbit as planned. Engineers developed an alternative approach and got the spacecraft into orbit in 2015 to study the planet's climate. [Space.com]

NASA astronauts are using Arizona as a stand-in for the moon as they train for Artemis missions. In an exercise earlier this month, astronauts Andre Douglas and Kate Rubins explored volcanic terrain in northern Arizona at night in spacesuits, simulating a spacewalk at the south polar region of the moon. The exercise was training for the astronauts as well as scientists who followed the EVA from a control room at the Johnson Space Center. While the terrain used for the exercise had many similarities to the moon, it also included some things not found there: ant hills and cow manure. [Nature]

Dreams (Sorta) Come True

"I must say that when I was a child, I was dreaming to work for NASA. It was my dream and today I'm here as a representative of the Slovak Republic."

– Slovak Republic Minister of Education, Research, Development, and Youth Tomáš Drucker, speaking at a NASA Headquarters ceremony Thursday where Slovakia signed the Artemis Accords.

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