Plus: The Exploration Company seeks unicorn status
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Intel's new space computing processor, the FCC's C-band decision will be a windfall for GEO operators, The Exploration Company seeks unicorn status in next funding round and more.
If someone forwarded you this edition, sign up to receive it in your inbox every weekday. Have thoughts or feedback? You can hit reply to let me know.
|
|
|
|
FROM SPACENEWS |
 |
Let SpaceNews help you close your next deal: With thousands of space professionals gathering in Salt Lake City next month, let us help you build relationships, uncover opportunities and position your company in front of the decision-makers shaping the industry's growth. Advertise in our exclusive print daily editions, sponsor show coverage on SpaceNews.com, partner with us to host an event near the Salt Palace or learn how Stellar Dispatch can amplify your announcements before and during the show. Schedule a meeting or reach out to sales@spacenews.com to start the conversation today. |
|
|
|
|
|
Top Stories
Intel has developed a processor intended for space computing applications. The Starfire processor, still undergoing testing, is designed for resilient, high-power performance in space and should be ready for customers by the end of the year. The company concluded that the United States government's growing emphasis on space as a critical domain of national security, coupled with the expansion of commercial satellite constellations, has created a market large enough to justify adapting commercial semiconductor technology for orbit. Intel sees the growing small satellite sector as an early market for Starfire but is positioning the processor for a broader range of government and commercial spacecraft. [SpaceNews]
Sphinx Defense won a $287 million Space Force contract to develop ground software for the next generation of military satellite communications. The award, announced Monday, covers the mission planning application for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications (ESS) program, a software component that will plan, allocate and manage communications across the future satellite constellation being built by Boeing to replace the current Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) strategic communications system. Sphinx Defense develops software for satellite ground systems, including mission planning, communications scheduling and network optimization. [SpaceNews]
Satellite operators stand to gain more than $6 billion from the FCC's decision to clear some C-band spectrum for terrestrial applications. SES is in line for about $5.6 billion if it can meet clearing deadlines in 2030 and 2031 so companies can use the band for wireless services. Eutelsat would receive $504 million and Telesat would receive $189 million. The operators would need to move services to the remaining 40 megahertz of upper C-band, or other spectrum such as Ku-band. SES said it expects to spend $2.62 billion to build and launch new satellites as part of the C-band clearing process, while Eutelsat and Telesat said they are assessing if they will need new satellites. [SpaceNews]
NASA has selected Advanced Space to fly a successor to its CAPSTONE lunar smallsat mission. The CAPSTONE 02 mission, scheduled for launch in 2027, would fly twin 400-kilogram satellites built by Terran Orbital to test rendezvous and proximity operations in cislunar space. The spacecraft would also perform navigation and communications experiments and measure the radiation environment around the moon. NASA said CAPSTONE 02 will be a risk-reduction activity for future Artemis missions where Orion will dock with landers in lunar orbit. NASA last month concluded its use of CAPSTONE, an Advanced Space cubesat launched in 2022 to test the use of the near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon. [SpaceNews]
Satellite startup Orbes will fly a satellite inspection mission in 2027. The company announced Monday it will launch its Exo-ORB 12U cubesat in late 2027 or early 2028 and approach another spacecraft being developed by Symphony Space. Exo-ORB will move to within 10 to 20 meters of the other spacecraft and collect imagery. The mission is a step toward future satellite servicing missions being developed by Orbes, which is also sending a free-flying robot called ORB to the International Space Station in early 2027. [SpaceNews]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other News
The Exploration Company is seeking a $2 billion valuation in its next funding round. The European spacecraft developer, currently working on the Nyx cargo spacecraft, is reportedly working to raise $300 million in a round that could include investment from a new European Commission fund, Scaleup Europe. In addition to Nyx, The Exploration Company is working on a large rocket engine, called Storm, that could be used on a future launch vehicle the company has hinted it will develop. [Financial Times]
Antares, a company developing nuclear reactors for military and space applications, raised $470 million. The company announced Monday a Series C round co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital. Antares is working on small "microreactors" and recently achieved criticality on its first design. The firm is primarily developing reactors for the military but also has proposed using them for in-space applications. [Antares]
Commercial space station developer Starlab Space will use SES satellites for communications services. SES Space and Defense announced Monday it signed an agreement with Starlab Space to provide connectivity for the Starlab space station. SES will provide data relay services through its O3b mPower satellite network in medium Earth orbit. The agreement comes after what the companies called "a comprehensive engineering collaboration" to study performance requirements and model performance using those satellites. Another commercial space station developer, Vast, previously announced it would use SpaceX's Starlink constellation for broadband communications. [SES]
Budget cuts could force the closure of a major British radio telescope. The agency that funds the Jodrell Bank Observatory, U.K. Research and Innovation (UKRI), said Monday it would no longer fund the observatory when its current agreement ends in March 2028. The observatory is home to the 76-meter Lovell Telescope, one of the largest steerable radio telescopes in the world, and UKRI spends about £2.8 million ($3.7 million) on the telescope annually. UKRI said escalating costs of running research facilities required it to make cuts, which also include reductions to other observatories and physics labs. [BBC]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So That's What's Inside
|
"All three crew members were given personalized Russian matryoshka dolls as welcome home gifts. 'There is vodka inside,' someone said through a translator. 'Well, actually, this is why I flew to space in the first place,' one of the crew members joked."
|
– from a CBS News article about the return of a crew from the International Space Station on a Soyuz spacecraft on Sunday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment