 | Top Stories
The U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX launch deals valued at $733.5 million Friday. The awards cover nine Falcon 9 launches, seven for the Space Development Agency and two for the National Reconnaissance Office, scheduled for late 2025 and 2026. These are the first awards of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 procurement of launch services for U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, using the Lane 1 portion of the NSSL contract for commercial-like missions where more risk is acceptable. Blue Origin and ULA also have NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 contracts. [SpaceNews]
An Intelsat satellite has lost power and may have broken apart in geostationary orbit. Intelsat said Saturday that Intelsat 33e lost power and is unlikely to be recovered. The U.S. Space Force reported late Saturday that it is tracking 20 pieces of debris associated with the spacecraft. Boeing-built Intelsat 33e launched in August 2016 and entered service in January 2017 at 60 degrees east, about three months later than planned following an issue with its primary thruster. The spacecraft is the second in Intelsat's EpicNG (next-generation) series of high-throughput satellites; the first, Intelsat 29e, was declared a total loss in 2019 after just three years in orbit. [SpaceNews]
Ground systems for SLS and Orion could delay the Artemis 2 mission. A report last week by the GAO found that, even with a nearly year-long delay in the launch of the mission from late 2024 to September 2025, the Exploration Ground Systems program has run out of schedule margin as it dealt with issues with the mobile launcher and other infrastructure needed for the mission, such as repairs to damage from the Artemis 1 launch. NASA is sticking to that September 2025 launch date for now, but any delays in Artemis 2 would also delay Artemis 3, scheduled for September 2026. [SpaceNews]
The big news at a major space conference last week was an event that took place thousands of kilometers away. At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan, much of the talk was about SpaceX's latest Starship test flight that took place the day before the conference opened. For NASA, the successful test bolstered their argument that plans to return humans to the moon in 2026 remained on track. Launch competitors, though, worried about the effect that an operational Starship, with much higher launch rates and lower launch costs, might have on them. [SpaceNews]
A European Union space law likely will be further delayed. The European Commission had planned to release a draft space law early this year, but delayed it until after elections this summer. With a new slate of commissioners only recently named, legal experts said at IAC Friday that it is unlikely that the draft law will be published before the end of the year. The contents of the law also remain uncertain: it could include regulations or directives or instead be a set of "policy principles" for the EU internal market. [SpaceNews]
| | | 
| Other News
A Falcon 9 launched the final set of first-generation OneWeb satellites Sunday. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 1:13 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base and deployed 20 OneWeb satellites into low Earth orbit about an hour later. Eutelsat now has 654 OneWeb satellites in orbit for the constellation, which already had enough in LEO to provide global coverage but has been held up by ground infrastructure delays. The company expects to start global services by next spring. Eutelsat has not said when it plans to introduce LEO spacecraft with improved technology after opting for a phased next-generation constellation deployment strategy, but noted it will start deorbiting the oldest first-generation OneWeb satellites in the next couple of years as they reach the end of their design life. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX also launched 20 of its own Starlink satellites Friday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:31 p.m. Eastern carrying 20 Starlink satellites, 13 of which have direct-to-cell payloads. Weather delayed the launch from Thursday. [Spaceflight Now]
A Cape Canaveral launch record will likely be broken by the end of the month. A Falcon 9 launch scheduled for later today will be the 72nd orbital launch so far this year from the Cape, tying a record set just last year. That record will likely be broken with more than two months to go this year. This would be the fifth year in a row that the Cape has set a new record for orbital launches, dating back to 2020 when 30 launches broke a record of 29 that had held since 1966. [Florida Today]
Scottish launch startup Skyrora hopes to win U.K. government approvals next year for a suborbital launch from the country. Skyrora had hoped to conduct the Skylark L launch this year from SaxaVord Spaceport, but the company has been waiting more than two years for a license from the Civil Aviation Authority after initially being told it would take 18 months. The company currently expects its application to be processed by mid-December for a suborbital launch in spring 2025. Skyrora L, which failed in a first launch in 2022 from Iceland, is intended to demonstrate technologies for the company's Skyrora XL orbital launch vehicle. [SpaceNews]
A key milestone in NASA's transition to commercial communications services for its satellites is planned for next month. As of Nov. 8, the agency's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) fleet will support only existing missions, with new missions instead required to use new commercial services for communications. The transition is part of the gradual phaseout of the TDRS fleet, although those communications satellites will support the International Space Station, Hubble and other legacy spacecraft into the 2030s. [NASA]
| |  | The Week Ahead
Monday: - Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 6:58 p.m. Eastern.
- Taiyuan, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 6 carrying an unidentified payload at 8:10 p.m. Eastern.
Monday-Tuesday: - Irvine, Calif./Online: The Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences of the Space Studies Board will hold its fall meeting for updates on NASA planetary sciences programs.
Monday-Thursday: - Mountain View, Calif./Online: Silicon Valley Space Week features the Satellite Innovation and 2024 Milsat Symposium conferences.
Monday-Friday: Tuesday: Tuesday-Thursday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday: - Tanegashima, Japan: Rescheduled launch of a H3 rocket carrying the DSN-3 military communication satellite at 2:44 a.m. Eastern.
| | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment