Plus: The FCC moves to streamline satellite licensing
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Pentagon nominee seeks closer ties between the Space Force and the NRO, the FCC moves to streamline satellite licensing, shutdown concerns for Artemis 2 and more.
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Top Stories
The nominee to lead space policy at the Pentagon said closer coordination between the Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) should be considered. At a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, Marc Berkowitz, a veteran space policy strategist nominated to be assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said options to unify elements of the defense and intelligence space communities "should be worth considering." He said that closer integration of the NRO and the Space Force could improve efficiency in acquisition and operations. Berkowitz, who previously served as assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for space policy and later as vice president for strategic planning at Lockheed Martin, has written extensively on the subject, arguing that inefficiencies persist despite the 2019 creation of the Space Force. [SpaceNews]
The FCC has backed a proposal to create an "assembly line" for satellite licensing. Commissioners voted Tuesday to advance the Space Modernization for the 21st Century Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), with a 45-day public comment period once officially published. The NPRM would replace the FCC's long-standing Part 25 satellite regulations with a Part 100 written from the ground up for today's commercial space environment. The intent is to accelerate reviews and cut red tape. In a separate vote, the FCC also advanced a proposal to revise siting rules for Earth stations operating in high-frequency upper microwave bands, aiming to make it easier for companies to build and license new satellite ground infrastructure. [SpaceNews]
The European Space Agency offered more details Tuesday about an initiative to build up space security capabilities in Europe. ESA is seeking 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) for the various elements of the European Resilience from Space (ERS) program focused on Earth observation, navigation and communications. The proposal includes 750 million euros to start work on an Earth observation constellation with optical, radar and potentially other sensors for rapid revisits of key locations. A low Earth orbit navigation satellite system would get 250 million euros, while elements of the IRIS² communications constellation would get 200 million euros. The goal of ERS is to build up European space capabilities given growing security threats and concerns that the continent can no longer primarily rely on the United States for defense. The funding sought at the ministerial is the first step of a long-term program that will involve the European Commission. [SpaceNews]
Industry officials are concerned that preparations for the Artemis 2 mission may soon feel the effects of the government shutdown. NASA exempted work on the mission, scheduled for launch as soon as February, from the furloughs affecting most agency civil servants since the shutdown started nearly a month ago. At a conference Tuesday, though, Lockheed Martin's Orion program manager said work may soon slow down because of suppliers no longer able to work without being paid as well as secondary effects, such as potential air traffic slowdowns. [SpaceNews]
Slingshot Aerospace is working to sell space-tracking systems to other countries. The company announced Tuesday a contract with the U.K. Space Agency covering the deployment of 13 sensors across five global sites, installed in partnership with German astronomical equipment specialist Baader Planetarium. The data from the sensors will be used by the U.K. to support its own space situational awareness capabilities, building on existing systems. Slingshot says it is seeing a "huge increase" in interest from governments to build up their own SSA systems rather than rely on data from other sources, like the U.S. military. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
The era of satellite servicing may finally be arriving. Companies said at the Satellite Innovation conference Tuesday that the success Northrop Grumman demonstrated extending the life of GEO satellites "broke the suspension of disbelief" about the feasibility of servicing. Companies in the satellite servicing sector say they are seeing increased demand for services as costs for those capabilities decline. [SpaceNews]
Two Russian cosmonauts performed the second spacewalk outside the International Space Station in two weeks Tuesday. Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky spent nearly seven hours outside the station in the spacewalk, attaching one experiment to the exterior of the Nauka module and then performing maintenance on another. The two also conducted a spacewalk outside the station Oct. 16, installing and removing equipment. [Space.com]
ESA is opening an office in Tokyo. The agency announced Tuesday it will open its first office in Asia, enabling the agency to better coordinate with the Japanese space agency JAXA and Japanese companies. ESA and JAXA signed an agreement nearly a year ago on closer cooperation between the agencies, such as a role for JAXA on ESA's Ramses mission to the asteroid Apophis. The ESA office in Tokyo will be in an office complex that is home to several Japanese space companies. [ESA]
The United States and South Korea signed an agreement to cooperate on space, among other technology topics. The "Technology Prosperity" deal signed Wednesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting covers cooperation between the countries in topics from space to artificial intelligence and quantum computing. In space, the countries agreed on general civil space cooperation as well as ensuring interoperability between GPS and South Korea's planned regional navigation system. [Yonhap]
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Key Requirement
| "What I think is interesting is, if you want to get anything on HALO or maybe even on Gateway, you have to come up with a really, really cool acronym that comes from Greek mythology."
| – Mark Pond, senior director of space exploration at Northrop Grumman, discussing payloads like HERMES that will be included on the lunar Gateway's HALO module during a panel session at the American Astronautical Society's von Braun Space Exploration Symposium Tuesday.
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