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The U.S. government says a Russian satellite launched last week is a counterspace weapon. During a U.N. Security Council session Monday, Amb. Robert Wood said that the satellite, launched last Thursday, "is likely a counterspace weapon, presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit," adding that the satellite is in an orbit similar to an American satellite. Independent satellite trackers had noted that Cosmos 2576 was in an orbit that shared parameters with USA 314, a reconnaissance satellite. The statement came in a debate by the Security Council on a Russian resolution seeking to ban the placement of all weapons in space, after Russia vetoed a resolution last month about banning placement of weapons of mass destruction, like nuclear weapons, in orbit. The resolution failed to pass after seven members of the council voted for it and seven against, with one nation abstaining. [SpaceNews]
BAE Systems has won a $450 million contract to build an instrument for a new generation of NOAA weather satellites. BAE Systems will build the Ocean Color Instrument for the GeoXO line of geostationary weather satellites under a contract announced Monday. The contract includes two flight models and options for additional instruments. The work will be done by the division of BAE Systems that was the former Ball Aerospace, which BAE acquired in a deal that closed earlier this year. [SpaceNews]
ViaSat will buy capacity on OneWeb satellites to provide multi-orbit maritime broadband services. Viasat said Monday its Inmarsat Maritime subsidiary would manage the new NexusWave network, integrating its satellites in Ka- and L-band with low-latency OneWeb services in Ku-band. Viasat declined to provide financial details about the arrangement with OneWeb, a broadband constellation now owned by Eutelsat, or when the service would begin. The agreement is part of efforts by satellite operators to counter the growing presence of SpaceX's Starlink broadband network. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is still studying the utility of in-space refueling after the service's commanding general expressed skepticism about it. At a hearing last month, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, suggested that refueling made less sense to the military given the shift to proliferated constellations of cheaper satellites in low Earth orbit. Those comments raised concerns among companies developing refueling technologies. Col. Rich Kniseley, head of the Space Systems Command's Commercial Space Office, said Friday that the military remains very interested in satellite refueling, particularly for high-value geostationary satellites that could gain strategic advantages through increased mobility and longevity, but that more analysis about its benefits and drawbacks is still required. [SpaceNews]
Startup Starfish Space has won a Space Force contract to demonstrate its satellite servicing capabilities. The $37.5 million contract, announced Monday, is a Strategic Funding Increase, or STRATFI, agreement by Space Systems Command's Assured Access to Space program office, and it tied to $30 million in venture capital funding raised by the company. Under the contract, the company will test its Otter servicing spacecraft in geostationary orbit in 2026, including the ability to dock with satellites and move them to a different orbit. [SpaceNews]
China is planning to expand a new commercial spaceport. Construction of the second of two launch pads at Hainan Commercial Launch Site could be completed by the end of May. The first, completed in December and dedicated to the Long March 8 rocket, could host its first launch before the end of June. Officials are planning further growth of the spaceport, expanding it to as many as 10 pads serving both solid- and liquid-fuel rockets. The reason for the dramatic expansion appears to be increasing access to space and allowing China to achieve a launch rate needed to build a pair of low Earth orbit megaconstellations that each will have more than 10,000 satellites. [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
A Chinese small launch vehicles placed four satellites into orbit overnight. A Kuaizhou-11 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:15 a.m. Eastern and placed four spacecraft into orbit. Among the four spacecraft is what Chinese media described as an "ultra-low orbit technology test satellite." [Xinhua]
ESA and partners on the Ariane 6 are targeting the first two weeks of July for the rocket's inaugural flight. In an update Tuesday, the Ariane 6 joint team that includes ESA, ArianeGroup, Arianespace and French space agency CNES said that preparations for the rocket's long-delayed debut are going well, with a qualification review successfully completed at the end of April. The final major test for the vehicle will be a fueling test and countdown rehearsal called a wet dress rehearsal, scheduled for June 18. A specific, albeit tentative, date for the launch will be announced at the ILA air show in Berlin in early June. [SpaceNews]
Privateer says its acquisition of Earth data analytics company Orbital Insight will allow it to become the "Uber for space data." Privateer, which had been known mostly for its work on space situational awareness, acquired Orbital Insight earlier in the month at the same time it raised $56.5 million. The acquisition and the funding is intended to allow Privateer to pursue plans to sharply reduce the cost of imagery through an approach analogous to ridesharing, although company executives did not go into specifics about how that will work. [SpaceNews]
Weather will delay the launch of a NASA Earth science cubesat. Rocket Lab said the Electron launch of the first PREFIRE cubesat, which had been scheduled for early Wednesday, will be delayed to no earlier than Saturday because of poor weather expected at the company's New Zealand launch site. The launch is the first of two Electron missions that will each carry an identical cubesat designed to measure heat radiated at the Earth's poles. [X @RocketLab]
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has conducted the first hotfire test of the first stage of its small launch vehicle. The test took place late last week at SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands, with four Helix engines fired in sequence in the 20-second test. The company is planning to conduct the first flight of its RFA ONE rocket later this summer after completing additional hotfire tests. [Shetland Times]
Plans by the Air Force to install more space surveillance telescopes on a Hawaiian mountaintop are facing community opposition. The proposal by the Air Force and Space Force calls for installing up to seven more telescopes atop Haleakala, the tallest mountain on the island of Maui and home to several other tracking and research telescopes. At public meetings that are part of the environmental review process for the telescopes, some native Hawaiians said they opposed the proposal, calling it a desecration of the mountain. The military is also still working to clean up a diesel fuel spill at the site last year that raised concerns about groundwater contamination. [Honolulu Civil Beat]
| | Erupting Interest
"Io is literally a hot topic."
– Amanda Hendrix, chair of the Outer Planets Assessment Group, discussing studies of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io and proposals to send missions there during a meeting Monday of a National Academies committee.
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