🚀 ISS-bound Cygnus suffers post-launch glitches

Plus, Indian astronauts to train in U.S., Umbra enters satellite manufacturing, and Capella Space's Air Force contract

A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Monday, August 5, 2024 Top Stories NASA says a Cygnus cargo spacecraft is still headed to the International Space Station despite problems after its launch Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:02 a.m. Eastern and placed the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Several hours later, though, NASA said that the spacecraft failed to perform two maneuvers to raise its orbit and send it towards the station. The first maneuver did not take place because of "a late entry to burn sequencing" while the second was aborted because of low pressure in the engine. Despite the issues, NASA said late Sunday that Cygnus should still arrive at the ISS early Tuesday as originally planned. The spacecraft is carrying more than 3,850 kilograms of cargo for the station, ranging from science experiments to supplies for the crew. [SpaceNews] Indian astronauts will start training in the U.S. this week for a private astronaut mission to the ISS. The Indian space agency ISRO said Friday it selected Shubhanshu Shukla to go on the Ax-4 mission to the station, with Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair to train as his backup. The two are half of India's current astronaut corps that have been training to fly on India's Gaganyaan spacecraft. ISRO and NASA agreed to fly an Indian astronaut to the ISS as part of broader cooperation between the countries in space. Axiom Space announced early Monday that Poland's Sławosz Uznański and Hungary's Tibor Kapu will also fly on Ax-4, which will be commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. Ax-4 is scheduled to launch no earlier than November, but may slip to early 2025. [SpaceNews] Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging company Umbra is expanding into custom satellite manufacturing. The company announced last week a new business segment called Mission Solutions aimed at the U.S. and other governments to provide capabilities up to full SAR constellations. Umbra currently operates eight SAR satellites it has built, with plans to expand its constellation to 32. Umbra's new business reflects a broader trend in the space industry, with remote sensing companies increasingly offering end-to-end solutions to attract a wider customer base.  [SpaceNews] Capella Space, another SAR company, won an Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) contract. The $14.9 million contract covers work to integrate Capella's SAR data into AFRL's Global Unification Environment, an experimental cloud-based platform designed to test automated satellite tasking and imaging collection strategies using commercial systems. The type of contract awarded to Capella is typically aimed at supporting small businesses in their research and development efforts with potential for commercialization. [SpaceNews] Maritime connectivity provider KVH Industries is relying on SpaceX's Starlink to help turn around its business. The company noted in an earnings call last week that it has seen a slight increase in the number of ships subscribed to its services after declines in the previous three quarters. This came after the company bought a large block of Starlink capacity, providing customers more specialized customer and technical services than if they directly purchased from SpaceX. KVH, though, still reported a 15% decline in revenues year-over-year and recently laid off 20% of its workforce to cut costs. [SpaceNews]   Other News Rocket Lab launched another SAR satellite for Japanese company Synspective Friday. An Electron rocket lifted off from New Zealand at 9:39 a.m. Eastern and deployed the StriX satellite about an hour later. The satellite is the fifth for Synspective, but the first of a new generation of spacecraft with improved performance as well as the first to go into a mid-inclination orbit for improved revisit times of low- and mid-latitude regions. Synspective has launched all five of its satellites on Electron and has contracts for 11 more launches. [SpaceNews] SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites from California early Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 3:24 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. With this mission and the Cygnus launch, SpaceX has conducted six Falcon 9 launches in a little over a week after a 15-day hiatus caused by an upper stage anomaly in mid-July. [Space.com] Ascending Node Technologies unveiled new mission-visualization software for satellite projects. The software, called Spaceline, is a web-based suite of data analysis and visualization tools designed to improve collaboration from mission design through operations and post-mission review. Aspera, a NASA smallsat astrophysics mission, is the first to use the software. The company's founders decided to pursue development of Spaceline after their experience working on the OSIRIS-REx mission. [SpaceNews] NASA is sticking to plans to fund only a single Artemis lunar rover despite the experience from another services contract. NASA picked three companies in April to conduct feasibility studies for the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) Services contract, but the agency said then it would fund only one through development and demonstration of the rover, which NASA and others would then use as a service. At the AIAA ASCEND conference last week, NASA said it was sticking to that plan even after one of two companies on a separate spacesuit services contract dropped out. NASA had argued that having two companies working on spacesuits provided redundancy, but for the LTV program it said budget limitations prevented a similar approach. [SpaceNews] The Canadian government says it has wrapped up negotiations on an agreement that would allow American rockets to launch from Canada. Canada's foreign affairs ministry said Friday it had completed negotiations with the United States on a technology safeguards agreement (TSA) for launch vehicle systems. The TSA, which still needs formal approval by the two governments, would allow American companies to export rockets to Canada for launch there. The agreement is key for one Canadian company, Maritime Launch Services, which is developing a spaceport in Nova Scotia. [CBC]   The Week Ahead Monday-Thursday: Logan, Utah: The 38th Annual Small Satellite Conference continues, featuring plenary talks Monday by Steve Isakowitz of the Aerospace Corporation and Tuesday by NRO Director Chris Scolese. Tuesday: Taiyuan, China: Projected launch of a Long March 6A with an undisclosed payload at 3 a.m. Eastern. Online: The Brazilian Air Force University hosts a webinar on "International Webinar on Space Security: Building a Sustainable Future" at 7 a.m. Eastern. Tuesday-Thursday: Huntsville, Ala.: The Space & Missile Defense Symposium discussions various aspects of missile defense and related space systems. Wednesday: Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 8:59 a.m. Eastern. Online: The Beyond Earth Institute hosts "The ISS Fell On My House-Addressing the Ever-Present Challenge of Space Debris" at 12 p.m.  Eastern. Online: Virgin Galactic releases its second quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern. Thursday: Online: BlackSky releases its second quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Online: MDA Space releases its second quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Online: Redwire holds an earnings call about its second quarter financial results, released Wednesday, at 9 a.m. Eastern. Online: Rocket Lab releases its second quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern. Thursday-Friday: Online: The NASA Space Weather Council meets to discuss coordination with other groups and international collaboration. Thursday-Sunday: Seattle: The 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention will discuss aspects of Mars exploration. Saturday: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 7:20 a.m. Eastern. Sunday: Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission satellites at 10 p.m. Eastern. Forward First Up to a friend or Subscribe for yourself Copyright © 2024 Multiverse Media Inc., All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Chinas Cislunar Playbook - SpaceNews This Week

Top stories of the week from SpaceNews

Welcome to our weekly roundup of the top SpaceNews stories of the week, brought to you every Friday! This week, China announces plans for cislunar infrastructure, Vast announces space for in-orbit experiments on its space station, new Mars Sample Return proposals, and more. Our Top Story Chinese scientists outline major cislunar space infrastructure project By Andrew Jones, July 30, 2024 Chinese scientists are proposing cislunar space infrastructure to support lunar exploration, enhance the nation's space industry and promote international collaboration.   The proposed infrastructure includes a comprehensive system providing data communication, positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), as well as space situational monitoring services for ground-based, near-Earth, cislunar, lunar surface, and deep space users.   The article, titled Orbit Design Method of Near-Lunar Space Constellation, was published in the journal Chinese Space Science and Technology in June, lays out conceptual framework and development plans for a phased constellation to support various human activities in cislunar space. Other News From the Week CIVIL GHGSat gains NASA approval for methane-emissions data Montreal-based GHGSat announced July 31 that the company's data completed NASA's evaluation process. Now that the quality has been verified, GHGSat data will soon be available for scientific and other noncommercial applications through NASA's Earthdata portal. Companies describe studies to revise Mars Sample Return NASA selected seven companies in June for 90-day studies, valued at up to $1.5 million each, to examine different concepts that could reduce the cost or improve the schedule for MSR. The studies, which got underway earlier in July, are scheduled to be delivered to NASA in October. Space industry considers implications of Harris as presidential candidate Those in industry have mixed perceptions of Harris and her work on the space council. Some note the efforts she led to push for a "mission authorization" regime to end uncertainty about how emerging space applications will be regulated, although those efforts have stalled in Congress. NASA to soon resume awards of lunar lander missions During a panel discussion at the AIAA ASCEND conference Aug. 1, Chris Culbert, manager of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, said the agency was "very close" to awarding a task order known as CP-22 for a lander to the south pole of the moon. COMMERCIAL Vast offers microgravity lab space on Haven-1 station Vast announced Aug. 1 plans for its Haven-1 Lab, a research facility that will be part of its Haven-1 commercial station. The Haven-1 Lab will host 10 middeck locker equivalents, a standard payload accommodation used on the International Space Station. Each of those 10 slots can host payloads weighing up to 30 kilograms and using up to 100 watts of power.  Boeing takes additional $125 million loss on Starliner In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission July 31 about the company's second quarter financial results, Boeing cited delays in completing the ongoing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission. Boeing has taken about $1.6 billion in charges on Starliner throughout the program, mostly since a flawed initial uncrewed test flight in late 2019. Dawn unveils docking and refueling port Dawn Aerospace unveiled a Docking and Fluid Transfer port for the company's SatDrive propulsion systems. The port will help Dawn customers gain access to future in-space refueling services. The port replaces standard manual fill and drain valves used for propellant loading on the ground. LAUNCH China's Space Pioneer pushes towards launch despite static-fire debacle Space Pioneer suffered a serious setback in its plans to debut the Tianlong-3 kerosene-liquid oxygen rocket later this year following a static-fire test anomaly June 30. That test saw the first stage escape its test bench and climb into the sky before falling to the ground and exploding. China launches second secretive high orbit internet satellite China launched the second of a new series of geostationary communications satellites Thursday, though its purposes remain unclear. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 9:14 a.m. Eastern Aug. 1 (1314 UTC) from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) declared the launch was a complete success. United Launch Alliance and SpaceX get $1.8 billion boost in Space Force contracts The U.S. Space Force has increased the value of its launch contracts with ULA and SpaceX by nearly $1.8 billion, citing a significant growth in projected missions under the five-year agreements awarded in 2020. This boost comes as a result of a surge in demand for launches under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 program. ULA's Atlas 5 launches its final national security mission A classified U.S. Space Force mission flew to geostationary Earth orbit July 30 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The rocket lifted off at 6:45 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. AI ASCEND panel cites AI challenges and promise Speakers at the AIAA ASCEND described how space organizations are finding new AI use cases, such as NASA's work aggregating datasets from various Earth-observation sensors, and called for better workforce training with AI. Booz Allen deploys advanced language model in space The generative AI large language model (LLM) has been in operation on the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Spaceborne Computer-2 since mid-July as part of an experiment, Booz Allen announced Aug. 1. The LLM at the space station is intended to help astronauts address queries and resolve issues.  OPINION A new kind of space politics By Donald F. Robertson, July 29, 2024 On July 16 2024, Elon Musk shouted from the proverbial rooftops that he will move SpaceX out of California to Boca Chica, Texas. By his own admission, he is not moving only for corporate advantage, value, or profitability, but also for politics. (He is also moving X, aka Twitter, from San Francisco to Austin, likewise for political reasons; he originally bought Twitter for ideological reasons.)  Ironically, Musk's announcement came the day after another Musk company, Tesla, reversed a large number of recent California layoffs in Fremont, CA. Likewise, only two years after moving Tesla's management to Texas with great fanfare, he brought the global engineering team back to Palo Alto, CA.  While Elon Musk's resources may permit him to do whatever he wants, I suspect the SpaceX story will end up looking a lot like Tesla's. If so, in a few years, SpaceX management might in a few years be right back where they started. SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community's diverse perspectives. Whether you're an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion@spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. Copyright (C) 2024 Multiverse Media Inc.. All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. At times you may receive marketing material. Our mailing address is: Multiverse Media Inc. 100 Fillmore St. 5th Floor Denver, CO 80206 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? 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