 | Top Stories
The U.S. Ex-Im Bank has seen its backlog of potential space deals more than double in the last year. In a session at the World Space Business Week (WSBW) conference Monday, Ex-Im first vice president and vice chair Judith Pryor said the pipeline of deals under consideration by the bank is now $9.5 billion, compared to $4 billion a year ago. The bank is currently underwriting $800 million in transactions. She said work at Ex-Im, which provides direct loans, debt guarantees and other financial support for U.S. exporters, has started gaining momentum since reopening in 2019 after being shut down for four years as Congress debated the bank's existence. Requests for financial support are coming in from a mix of satellite projects, including Earth observation and broadband constellations in LEO and GEO. [SpaceNews]
York Space Systems is the second company developing satellites for the Space Development Agency (SDA) to demonstrate laser intersatellite links. Derek Tournear, director of SDA, announced the milestone Monday at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference. York satellites, using terminals from Tesat-Spacecom, were able to communicate over the weekend, he said. York is the second satellite provider for SDA to demonstrate in-space communications using Tesat terminals, following a previous demonstration by SpaceX. He said the next step will be integrating communications between York and SpaceX's satellites to form a fully functional mesh network. [SpaceNews]
A software change should fix a problem with the upper stage experienced on the first Ariane 6 flight. The joint government-industry task force for the rocket said Monday that the upper stage was not able to complete a final deorbit burn in its July launch when its auxiliary power unit (APU) was shut down because a temperature measurement exceeded a preset limit. Software changes in how the APU starts up should correct the problem, and will be implemented before the second Ariane 6 launch, planned for late this year. [SpaceNews]
Launch companies introducing new rockets now face the challenge of scaling up flight rates. Company executives said on a WSBW panel Monday that they are working to scale up production and operations of the Ariane 6, H3, New Glenn and Vulcan Centaur rockets. Blue Origin, for example, is projecting as many as 12 launches in 2025 after an inaugural launch this November, doubling to 24 in 2026. Arianespace plans to get to 9-10 Ariane 6 launches by 2027, but does not expect further increases because of limitations in the production of the vehicle's solid rocket boosters. [SpaceNews]
Northrop Grumman won a $54.7 million contract from the Air Force Research Lab to produce satellite terminals for military aircraft. The three-year contract falls under the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program, an effort to create military networks leveraging commercial space internet constellations like Starlink, OneWeb, SES's O3b and others. Northrop Grumman will develop multi-band, high-throughput satellite communications antennas that can be integrated onto various military aircraft. A similar contract was awarded last month to Raytheon. [SpaceNews]
Two universities received Space Force contracts for propulsion research. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Michigan will lead the third Space Strategic Technology Institute, part of the Space Force's University Consortium initiative, to spearhead advanced research in space power and propulsion. The University of Michigan will receive $34.9 million, while RIT will be awarded $9.9 million. Both institutions will lead teams of academic and industry partners to explore innovations in solar cell technology, thruster technology and novel power approaches. [SpaceNews]
Ursa Major won a Defense Department contract for work on solid rocket motors. The $12.5 million award from the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), to be matched by Ursa Major, will support the design, manufacture and testing of a solid rocket motor prototype for the U.S. Navy. The Pentagon's move comes as it seeks to diversify its supplier base amid concerns about overreliance on a shrinking pool of domestic suppliers for solid rocket motors. [SpaceNews]
| | | 
| Other News
The satellite industry is looking for its equivalent of Android to compete with Starlink's iPhone. In a presentation at WSBW Monday, Novaspace drew parallels between Starlink and the iPhone as one key player in the satellite broadband market, both known for closed systems. However, the company believes there is room for competitors that cna harness more open approaches, like Android, using capabilities like software-defined satellites and virtual ground segments. Novaspace expects the satellite services market to grow from $19 billion in 2023 to $53 billion in 2033. [SpaceNews]
Cybersecurity is a top priority for military satellite systems being acquired by SDA. The agency's director, Derek Tournear, said Monday that companies developing satellites for SDA have cybersecurity requirements integrated into their contracts from the beginning, a model other Space Force organizations are adopting. SDA will put the ground systems for Tranche 1 satellites through "white hat" hacking to probe for potential weaknesses. A former general now working for Deloitte said cyberattacks are expected to be the most frequent weapon used to disrupt U.S. space capabilities. [SpaceNews]
Impulse Space has won a contract to transport satellites from a French startup to GEO. Space Network Services plans to launch as many as six small geostationary satellites at a time through the Impulse rideshare service. The satellites, called Kaon, are designed for customers seeking sovereign satellite communications systems or increased capacity for congested areas. The deal is the first agreement announced for the GEO rideshare service Impulse Space unveiled in August. The service pairs Impulse's Helios high-energy kick stage with an upgraded version of its Mira vehicle. [SpaceNews]
Proteus Space says it will launch the first "AI-designed" ESPA-class satellite next year. The satellite will carry four payloads, including from a university and an undisclosed government agency. Proteus Space plans to use Mercury, an intelligent software orchestration system for custom satellite buses, to design the satellite. The company claims that its software "can redesign that bus in the time that it takes you to add a calendar invite to get the engineers all together to discuss the engineering change proposal." [SpaceNews]
Planet's German business unit won a contract from the German space agency. The company did not disclose the value of the three-year contract from DLR to provide Earth observation data and services. Under the agreement, DLR and German researchers will have access to PlanetScope products, including nearly daily imagery of Earth's landmass at approximately three-meter resolution. The contract also covers the PlanetScope archive, which includes data from 2016 on, as well as RapidEye imagery dating back to 2009. [SpaceNews]
The European Union commissioner who has been responsible for space abruptly resigned Monday. Thierry Breton served as commissioner whose portfolio included space in the previous government, and had been nominated by France to serve as commissioner in the new government. However, the French government was reportedly unhappy with the role that had been proposed for Breton and, rather than accept that role, Breton announced Monday he was resigning immediately. In his resignation letter posted online, Breton accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of asking the French government to withdraw his name from consideration "for personal reasons that in no instance you have discussed directly with me." [Politico]
| |  | They Better Be Really Great Ideas
"We have $100 billion and we're ready to lend it if somebody's got a couple of great ideas."
- Judith Pryor, first vice president and vice chair of the U.S. Ex-Im Bank, talking about the bank's capacity to support more deals during a session at World Space Business Week Monday.
| | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment