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The National Space Council will reevaluate national security space roles and responsibilities among various players. Speaking at the GEOINT Symposium Wednesday, Chirag Parikh, the council's executive secretary, said the council will examine the ongoing tug-of-war between military leaders concerned with speedy access to imagery and data and intelligence agency leaders who emphasize the need to verify information and gather insights. The National Space Council will consider solutions ranging from policies, authorities and processes to funding, advocacy and communications. [SpaceNews]
That debate about roles and responsibilities includes questions about who will control a planned satellite constellation for tracking moving targets. The military and intelligence community are working together on the Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) constellation, but are debating who will control and task those satellites. Lt. Gen. David Miller, head of the U.S. Space Force's Space Operations Command, said at the GEOINT Symposium that he was concerned that having data from the GMTI system go through intelligence agencies could delay getting information to frontline forces. An NRO official, though, said the NRO should have control of the GMTI system. [SpaceNews]
The NRO is developing a more flexible contracting approach to acquiring commercial data. Pete Muend, head of the NRO's commercial space office, said at the GEOINT Symposium that the office plans to roll out a new contracting vehicle with an "open-ended rolling environment" that is not restricted to any single type of imagery like electro-optical or synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The NRO is also finalizing plans for a large procurement exclusively for commercial SAR imagery that will be similar to contract vehicle for optical imagery but at a smaller scale. [SpaceNews]
Xona Space Systems has raised $19 million for its satellite-based navigation service. The company announced the Series A round Wednesday led by Future Ventures and Seraphim Space. Xona is developing a commercial positioning, navigation and timing service using a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites intended to be a backup for GPS. The company said the funding will help it accelerate deployment of the constellation. [SpaceNews]
More than 40 House members have signed a letter asking appropriators to increase NASA's science budget. The letter to the leaders of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, signed by 44 House members, seeks $9 billion for NASA science, more than $1.4 billion above the agency's request for fiscal year 2025. The additional funding, the letter argues, is needed to keep missions identified as top priorities in recent decadal surveys on track while also supporting existing missions. Any increase will be a challenge given budget caps that remain in place for 2025, likely meaning cuts elsewhere at NASA or in other agencies. [SpaceNews]
Sierra Space says it is ready to ship its Dream Chaser vehicle to Florida. The company announced Thursday it wrapped up environmental testing of the cargo spaceplane at NASA's Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio, putting it through shock, vibration and thermal vacuum tests. The spacecraft will go to Florida for a final round of tests at the Kennedy Space Center and payload integration work ahead of a launch later this year on a ULA Vulcan. [SpaceNews]
| | | ENABLING A SAFER, MORE WEATHER-READY WORLD Extreme weather events, like hurricanes, flash floods, fires and tornadoes, are becoming more frequent, destructive and widespread than ever before. That's why L3Harris is moving with urgency to deliver next-generation weather solutions that advance upon our proven on-orbit instrumentation and ground heritage to improve short- and long-range forecast accuracy and increase life-saving warning times globally. These innovative solutions include a next-generation GeoXO imager and modernized GOES-R ground system for the U.S. and next-generation imaging and sounding technology for Japan. Our technology is paving the way toward a safer, more weather-ready world. LEARN MORE | | | Other News
China launched a pair of medium Earth orbit broadband satellites late Wednesday. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 9:43 p.m. Eastern from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Only after the launch did China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation disclose the payloads as Smart Skynet-1 (01) satellites A and B. The satellites are the first in a constellation of at least eight satellites in medium Earth orbit to provide broadband services, possibly working with future low Earth orbit megaconstellations. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched one set of Starlink satellites from Florida Wednesday while delaying another launch from California. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A at 2:42 p.m. Eastern and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. SpaceX has now conducted 83 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches from LC-39A, exceeding the number of shuttle launches from that pad over three decades. SpaceX, though, scrubbed another Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California that was scheduled for Wednesday night for undisclosed reasons. The launch, now rescheduled for Thursday night, will carry 20 Starlink satellites, 13 of which have direct-to-cell payloads. [Spaceflight Now]
Virgin Galactic is counting on flying its VMS Eve mothership aircraft much more frequently than previously planned. The company said in an earnings call this week that company engineers concluded the plane can fly three times a week, rather than two as expected earlier, allowing for as many as 125 suborbital launches a year of its future Delta-class spaceplanes when they enter service in 2026. That higher flight rate is one reason the company is deferring development of a new mothership, which it now expects to enter service in 2028. Virgin is also embroiled in a legal dispute with a Boeing subsidiary that earlier was under contract to develop the new mothership, but Virgin executives downplayed any impact that dispute will have on its plans. [SpaceNews]
NATO is looking to industry for help speeding up intelligence exploitation and understanding. Scott Bray, NATO assistant secretary general for intelligence and security, said at the GEOINT Symposium this week that while NATO countries do a good job sharing intelligence, they need help analyzing that intelligence. He encouraged companies with those capabilities to work with NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) program. [SpaceNews]
ULA is getting a SpaceShip, but one that won't go to space. The company said Wednesday it signed contracts with Bollinger Shipyards and Bristol Harbor Group to design and build a new ship that will be used for maritime transport of rockets from ULA's Alabama factory to launch sites. That ship, dubbed SpaceShip, will join the existing RocketShip vessel for transporting rocket stages. ULA is acquiring the second ship as part of efforts to scale up infrastructure needed for a higher launch rate in support of Amazon's Project Kuiper and other customers. [ULA]
Astronomers have detected a rocky planet with an atmosphere, although that world is not exactly Earth-like. Observations of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e by the James Webb Space Telescope show that the planet, about twice the size of Earth, has a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The planet, through, has temperatures as high as 2,300 degrees Celsius, likely making it inhospitable for life. [AP]
| | Committees All the Way Down
"At the risk of making it sound like all we do is sit on boards and commissions, I was on the commission that looked at the Pentagon planning process."
– Eric Fanning, president of the Aerospace Industries Association, talking about the work of one committee during a meeting Wednesday of another committee, the NASA Advisory Council.
| | | ENABLING A SAFER, MORE WEATHER-READY WORLD Extreme weather events, like hurricanes, flash floods, fires and tornadoes, are becoming more frequent, destructive and widespread than ever before. That's why L3Harris is moving with urgency to deliver next-generation weather solutions that advance upon our proven on-orbit instrumentation and ground heritage to improve short- and long-range forecast accuracy and increase life-saving warning times globally. These innovative solutions include a next-generation GeoXO imager and modernized GOES-R ground system for the U.S. and next-generation imaging and sounding technology for Japan. Our technology is paving the way toward a safer, more weather-ready world. LEARN MORE | | | | |
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