 | Top Stories
Problems with a key supplier could delay deployment of Space Development Agency (SDA) satellites. Mynaric is facing significant challenges producing optical communications terminals for intersatellite links that several satellite manufacturers plan to use on satellites they are building for SDA. Mynaric this week dramatically reduced its 2024 revenue forecast to 16-24 million euros from the previous 50-70 million euros, citing slower production ramp-up and higher production costs. The company said it is increasing production of those terminals for SDA satellites but did not provide details. Mynaric's problems have reportedly frustrated SDA, which has been trying to deal with broader supply chain issues. [SpaceNews]
Amazon will expand a facility in Florida it is developing for Project Kuiper satellite integration. Amazon said Thursday it will spend an additional $19.5 million on a satellite processing building at the Kennedy Space Center, adding a secondary support facility. The company is now spending nearly $140 million on the overall facility that will be used to prepare Kuiper satellites for launch. The additional building will allow Amazon to accelerate deployment of the constellation, with the company facing a July 2026 deadline to get at least half of the 3,200-satellite system in orbit. [SpaceNews]
NASA has added three companies to a contract for launches of small satellites. NASA said Thursday it has added Arrow Space and Technology, Impulse Space and Momentus Space to its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract, allowing them to compete for task orders for specific missions. The three companies provide rideshare or orbital transfer vehicle services for satellites. Momentus has struggled financially recently, delaying launches and laying off staff, and the publicly traded company has yet to file quarterly reports with the SEC for the last two quarters. [SpaceNews]
A spaceport in Norway has secured a key license from the government. Norway's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries awarded a site operator license Thursday to Andøya Spaceport, allowing the site north of the Arctic Circle to support up to 30 orbital launches a year. Isar Aerospace plans to launch its Spectrum rocket from the spaceport. Isar said it is preparing to go into final stage testing of the rocket but has not set a launch date for the vehicle's inaugural flight. The company will also need a separate launch license from the Norwegian government. [SpaceNews]
NASA is expected to decide Saturday whether two astronauts will return home on Boeing's Starliner. NASA said Thursday that it will hold an agency test flight readiness review Saturday, followed by a media briefing. That review will likely determine if astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew to the International Space Station in June on Starliner, will return on that spacecraft in the coming days, or remain on the station while Starliner returns uncrewed. In the latter option, Williams and Wilmore would remain on the station until early next year, returning on the Crew-9 SpaceX Crew Dragon mission launching next month. [NASA]
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| Other News
China launched a geostationary orbit communications satellite Thursday. A Long March 7A lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 8:25 a.m. Eastern and deployed the ChinaSat 4A spacecraft within 45 minutes. The payload, not announced until after the launch, is intended to provide voice, data and television services, although Chinese media provided few specifics. That lack of detail suggests the satellite may also have military applications. [SpaceNews]
China is planning to launch a spacecraft in 2028 that will search for Earth-like exoplanets. The Earth 2.0 or ET mission proposed by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences intends to use six wide-field optical telescopes 28 centimeters in aperture to observe about two million stars in the same field observed by NASA's Kepler mission. The spacecraft's telescopes will offer high photometric precision that will allow for the detection of small, rocky planets that Kepler or other missions could not detect. [SpaceNews]
Dawn Aerospace and Scout Space are partnering to use a suborbital spaceplane to study objects in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The plan would use the Aurora spaceplane that Dawn Aerospace is developing, equipped with Scout Space sensors. Aurora is currently performing test flights to altitude of up to 25 kilometers and is designed to eventually go to 100 kilometers, allowing it to study objects in VLEO up close. The companies say that this approach could provide "tactically responsive" space domain awareness capabilities by flying the spaceplane to study a passing satellite. [SpaceNews]
Space made a cameo appearance in Vice President Kamala Harris's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention Thursday. In her speech formally accepting the party's presidential nomination, Harris said that she would ensure "we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence" and that "America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century." Harris, who has chaired the National Space Council as vice president, hasn't elaborated on any differences in space policy her administration would make if elected. The Democratic party platform, formally adopted at the convention, includes one paragraph on space that expressed support for the ISS, human exploration of the moon and Mars and increased Earth science observations to support climate change research. [SpacePolicyOnline.com]
| |  | Nothing Says "Live Life Boldly" Like… Eating Doritos in Space
"With every new Doritos innovation, we hope to encourage snackers to pave new paths. The Cool Ranch Zero Gravity chips embrace what it means to live life boldly by pioneering a creative way to raise awareness for such an important cause."
– Tina Mahal, senior vice president of marketing at PepsiCo Foods North America, on the special version of Doritos chips the company developed that will fly on the Polaris Dawn mission, while also raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. [collectSPACE]
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