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Rocket Lab launched the first satellites for French startup Kinรฉis on the 50th flight of its Electron rocket Thursday. The Electron lifted off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 2:13 p.m. Eastern and placed five smallsats for Kinรฉis into low Earth orbit. The satellites are the first of a constellation of 25 spacecraft that will provide Internet of Things services. Kinรฉis signed a contract with Rocket Lab in 2021 for five Electron launches to deploy the constellation. The launch was the 50th for the Electron, which made its debut in May 2017. Rocket Lab says Electron made it to 50 launches faster than any other commercially developed rocket. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched a new broadcast satellite for SES Thursday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 5:35 p.m. Eastern, after two days of weather delays, and placed the Astra 1P satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit 35 minutes later. Built by Thales Alenia Space, Astra 1P will use electric propulsion to reach its orbital slot at 19.2 degrees East, where it is slated to complete health checks in time for services to start in January. SES currently provides TV services to around 119 million households from four satellites at this orbital slot, mostly in Germany, Spain and France, and Astra 1P has enough Ku-band capacity to replace all four. [SpaceNews]
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee criticized the White House for not providing more information about a Russian space nuclear weapon. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) revealed the existence of the proposed system in February, which the White House later confirmed while stating that the weapon was not operational. Speaking Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Turner insisted that disclosing more information would not jeopardize sources and methods, arguing it could help deter Russia and inform how the U.S. works with allies on the issue. He also accused the Biden administration of "sleepwalking into an irreversible 'day zero'" where Russia used a nuclear weapon in space and brought an end to the Space Age. [SpaceNews]
Honeywell is buying defense electronics company CAES for $1.9 billion, a deal that could help Honeywell in space applications. Honeywell announced Thursday it had agreed to an all-cash deal to buy CAES, or Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions, from private equity firm Advent International. Advent bought CAES for $5 billion in 2020 and sold its space-related assets to a separate private equity firm two years later. Honeywell said that it expects to use radio-frequency technology from CAES in a variety of defense applications, including space. [SpaceNews]
Ursa Space is partnering with NEC Corporation to provide data services in Japan using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Under the agreement, NEC will combine an existing monitoring service with Ursa's "virtual constellation" of satellite data partners. Ursa Space operates a platform that ingests data from a vast network of SAR and non-SAR satellite data providers for geospatial analytics. [SpaceNews]
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Starlab Space will work with Palantir Technologies on software capabilities for its commercial space station. Starlab Space announced a strategic partnership with Palantir, using Palantir's AI capabilities for creating a "digital twin" of the Starlab space station. That digital twin will be used to optimize operations of the station, detect potential issues and identify preventative maintenance. [SpaceNews]
The Japanese space agency JAXA has been hit by multiple cyberattacks that extracted thousands of files. The attacks started last June and continued into this year, JAXA said, with hackers able to access more than 10,000 files. JAXA said no sensitive information about national security or launch vehicle technology was accessed, but data from both JAXA and partners like NASA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries may have been obtained. An investigation concluded that a Chinese hacker group was likely involved in the cyberattacks. [Asahi Shimbun]
SpaceX has released a portable Starlink terminal. The Starlink Mini terminal is designed to fit in a backpack and uses less power than a standard terminal but can provide downlink speeds of more than 100 megabits per second. SpaceX is selling Starlink Mini for $599 to existing Starlink customers, who would also need to buy a separate $30/month "Mini Roam" service plan. [CNBC]
Virgin Galactic has signed a contract for a future suborbital research flight. The company said Thursday that it will fly three researchers from the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) on its future Delta suborbital spaceplane. The mission will take place in the first year of operations of the Delta vehicles, scheduled to enter service in 2026. IIAS sponsored the flight of one researcher, Kellie Gerardi, on the Galactic 05 flight of VSS Unity last November. She will be one of the three on the future flight, along with Shawna Pandya and Norah Patten. [Virgin Galactic]
| |  | The Best Kind
"This is some nerdy fun. Some sweet, nerdy fun."
– Latif Nasser, co-host of the podcast Radiolab, which is running a competition with the International Astronomical Union to select a name for an asteroid designated 2004 GU9 that is a "quasi-moon" of the Earth. [Sky & Telescope]
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