By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: a Chinese launch startup raises more than $300 million, Italian skepticism about IRIS², Blue Origin plans to ramp up New Shepard launches and more.
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Top Stories
Chinese launch company Galactic Energy has raised 2.4 billion yuan ($336 million). The Series D round, announced Sunday, appears to be the largest yet for a Chinese launch startup. The funding will be used for the Pallas series of reusable liquid propellant launchers and the Ceres-2 solid rocket, both of which appear close to test launches. The investment will also go toward related production, testing and launch facilities. Galactic Energy also announced Sunday a successful static fire of the second stage of the Pallas-1 rocket, as the company gets closer to a first launch of that medium-lift vehicle. [SpaceNews]
An Italian government report questioned whether the country is underrepresented in the IRIS² secure broadband constellation. The report, from Italy's Interministerial Committee for Space and Aerospace Policy, or COMINT, comes as the government faces a decison about whether to pursue a national low-Earth orbit dual-use telecommunications constellation, currently named "MERCURIO," or deepen its reliance on Starlink while waiting for IRIS². The report does not make a recommendation on which option to pursue, but notes Starlink's "clear superiority over IRIS²". The Italian government earlier this year appeared to be leaning toward signing a billion-dollar contract for Starlink services but then commissioned a study on the MERCURIO constellation. [SpaceNews]
The Pentagon awarded three contracts last week to increase production of solid-rocket motors. One award, a four-year, $191.3 million contract, went to X-Bow Launch Systems of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for "advanced integrated motor manufacturing," according to a Pentagon statement. Two other companies, Americarb and General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, received $33.5 million to expand production of components of solid-rocket motors. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. military says the most effective form of missile defense is to prevent the missiles from launching. Officials said last week they are increasingly focused on "left of launch" capabilities given the challenges of defending against the most advanced missile threats, like hypersonic missiles. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, said he supports so-called "space-cyber-SOF" collaboration involving space and cyber assets as well as special operations forces for left-of-launch options. This type of integration ideally shifts missile defense from reactive interception to proactive deterrence and disruption, one general said. [SpaceNews]
Blue Origin is planning a sharp increase in New Shepard launches in the coming years that could mean operating from new spaceports. A company executive said at a Global Spaceport Alliance event on Sunday that the company is introducing three updated New Shepard vehicles starting next year that will allow the company to move towards weekly flights. That would max out the current Launch Site One in West Texas, so the company is starting to consider other launch sites, including outside the United States. Blue Origin has performed seven New Shepard flights so far this year with an eighth expected in the near future. [SpaceNews]
Beyond Gravity has secured a contract to deliver robotic arm thruster pointing mechanisms for Swissto12 small GEO satellites. The Appmax 3 arms allow for greater maneuverability for orbit raising and on-station operations than fixed thrusters. The arms will be used on Swissto12's HummingSat one-ton satellite that will enter service in 2027 with the IS-45 mission for Intelsat, now part of SES. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
China launched a weather satellite and more broadband satellites in recent days. A Long March 4C rocket lifted off at 3:28 p.m. Eastern Friday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It placed into polar orbit the Fenyun-3H weather satellite. A Long March 6A lifted off at 8:40 a.m. Eastern Saturday from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. It carried the 11th set of Guowang satellites, with five such satellites likely on board. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Sunday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:04 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base and put 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The twilight launch was seen across much of the southwestern U.S. as the rocket's contrail was backlit by the sun. [Spaceflight Now]
Chinese astronauts performed another spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station Friday. Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie spent about six hours outside the station, installing debris protection devices and inspecting equipment. The spacewalk was the fourth by members of the Shenzhou-20 crew since their arrival at the station in April. [Xinhua]
ESA and Avio signed a contract to study a reusable upper stage. The two-year contract, worth 40 million euros ($47 million), was signed Monday during the International Astronautical Congress. The contract covers design work on a concept of a reusable upper stage and key technologies, such as propulsion and reentry systems, needed for it. The upper stage could be used on future versions of Avio's Vega or other rockets, although neither ESA nor Avio disclosed a schedule for developing the stage. [SpaceNews]
Eartheye Space will begin offering self-service tasking of satellites to both look at the Earth and into space. The company, based in Singapore and Australia, said Monday it will allow customers to task satellites for both Earth observation and space domain awareness applications. Eartheye Space operates a platform that gives customers access to more than 500 satellites operated by commercial organizations and governments around the world. [SpaceNews]
Solstar Space secured a NASA contract that could lead to production of Wi-Fi access points on the moon. Under the $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research award, Solstar will spend six months creating preliminary designs for Wi-Fi access points for human landing systems, lunar rovers, instruments, payloads, sensors, spacesuits and tablet computers. Those access points could be used on robotic lunar landers that are part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. [SpaceNews]
Purdue University will fly a dedicated suborbital research flight with Virgin Galactic. The "Purdue 1" mission, scheduled for 2027, will include a Purdue professor, graduate student and three alumni. They will perform research and related activities on Virgin's next-generation suborbital spaceplane on the flight. The mission will be the first dedicated crewed suborbital research mission by a university. [SpaceNews]
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The Week Ahead
Monday-Thursday: Monday-Friday: Friday:
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 1:39 a.m. Eastern. Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 9 a.m. Eastern. Saturday-Friday, Oct. 10:
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