Archives for June 2021

AAC Clyde Space was honored to be visited by Her Majesty The Queen and Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, at the company’s Glasgow, Scotland, facility.

AAC Clyde Space were also joined by the Head of the UK Space Agency, Dr. Graham Turnock and the Lord Provist of Glasgow, Philip Braat. During the visit, Her Majesty The Queen, Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, and AAC Clyde Space CEO, Luis Gomes, toured the building and met with key members of the team for an overview on the company’s latest services, missions, and next generation satellites.

The visit highlighted the UK’s commitment to become a global leader in the Space Industry, STEM promotion and the development of sovereign capabilities such as the quickly approaching vertical launches from Scotland, which will enable the UK to offer full, end-to-end, smallsat supply chain capabilities.

AAC Clyde Space designed and manufactured Scotland’s original satellite, UKube-1, in 2014 in partnership with the UK Space Agency and has since launched 10 Glasgow built satellites, with a further 7 in production at the Glasgow site. The company specializes in smallsat technologies and services that enable businesses, governments and educational organizations to access high-quality, timely data from space. This data has a vast range of applications, from weather forecasting to precision farming to environmental monitoring, and is essential to improving our quality of life on Earth.

“We’re honored to have had our royal guests here at AAC Clyde Space today, to celebrate Scotland’s contribution the thriving UK Space sector. Over the last two decades, Scotland has built a world leading industry in satellite manufacturing, engineering, data, and ground-breaking research. As we look forward to the next chapters in this successful journey, including the UK’s first orbital spaceport, this is a great time to not only celebrate but to promote Scotland’s growing space industry to future generations. ” said AAC Clyde Space CEO, Luis Gomes.

UK Space Agency Chief Executive Dr. Graham Turnock said, “From space-based earth observation and data analysis to world-class satellite design and manufacture, Scotland is pivotal to the UK’s ambitions in space. Thanks to its science and engineering strengths and geographical position, Scotland is at the heart of our plans to launch satellites into orbit from home soil in 2022, and we’re proud that the Scottish space sector is growing fast and creating the high-skilled jobs that will power economic growth. I’m delighted that Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal have chosen to visit space businesses today, and I hope they will be as thrilled as I am about this extraordinary success story for Scotland.”

Following a disappointing ‘No Go’ yesterday, June 29, for the launch of the Transporter-2 mission, today’s launch attempt by SpaceX (June 30, 2021) experienced the exact opposite result… success! This day, the weather was cooperating and the downrange indicators were all clear, unlike yesterday’s (June 29) incursion into this zone by an aircraft that caused a halt to the launch proceedings.

Although the 88 commercial and government payloads within the 70-meter tall, Falcon 9 launch vehicle’s, 17-feet in diameter fairing — it’s third flight — for this Transporter-2 mission is not quite the same number as the 144 smallsats SpaceX launched by the company on January 24, 2021, what makes this a unique, historic launch for the company is that, this time around, SpaceX is pushing more mass to orbit for the firm’s customers than their previous Transporter-1 mission.

Liftoff occurred from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on schedule, with this Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously having supported the launch of GPS III Space Vehicle 03, Turksat 5A and five Starlink missions.

Then quite a feat occurred, as three Merlin engines engaged in burns to reduce speed of the 1st stage for landing… at Cape Canaveral and not out in the Atlantic Ocean aboard one of the firm’s droneships. Quite an amazing site watching the first stage accurately land in the exact, defined spot for its return.

The payloads for the Transporter-2 mission included (not in order of deployment)…

• Capella SAR satellite
• D-Orbit’s ION satellite carrier
• DARPA/Space Development Agency/Air Force Research Laboratory’s Mandrake-2 Able + Mandrake-2 Baker
• ICEYE satellite #1 from EXOPort-5
• ICEYE satellite #2 + #4 from EXOPort-3
• ICEYE satellite #3 from EXOPort-4
• Loft Orbital’s YAM-2 + YAM-3 (EXOPort-5)
• NanoAvionics’ D2/AtlaCom-1 from EXOPort-3
• NASA’s PACE-1
• NASA’s TROPICS Pathfinder deploys
• PlanetiQ’s GNOMES-2
• Satellogic’s NewSat-19, 20, 21, 22
• Space Development Agency/General Atomics/Peraton’s LINCS-1 + LINCS-2
• Spaceflight Inc.’s Sherpa-FX2 + LTE-1
• Spire’s LEMUR #1 + #2 from EXOPort-3
• Starlink Smallsats
• Swarm’s 1st + 2nd SpaceBEE cluster from EXOPort-4
• TU Berlin’s TUBIN from EXOPort-4
• Tyvak-0173
• Tyvak-0211
• UmbraSAR

Kleos Space S.A (ASX:KSS, Frankfurt:KS1, Kleosor Company) successfully launched their second satellite cluster, the Polar Vigilance Mission (KSF1), on June 30, 2021 (UTC), aboard the Spaceflight SXRS-5/SpaceX Transporter-2 Mission.

Deployed into a 525 km Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the Polar Vigilance satellites further enhance Kleos’ global coverage and data collection capability and broaden the coverage range of Kleos’ first cluster of four Kleos Scouting Mission (KSM1) satellites. Satellite developer, Innovative Solutions In Space (ISISPACE), is performing the Launch and Early Operation Phase (LEOP) support that includes the commissioning of all spacecraft systems and maneuvering the four satellites into operational formation.

The KSM1 Scouting Mission satellites were launched into a 37-degree low earth orbit in November of 2020 and were the world’s first, four satellite cluster, flown in a formation for precision geolocation capability. Data from the KSM1 Scouting Mission is being delivered to customers and the satellites are being used to develop many space and ground segments for the Company.

Early adopter revenue has commenced, with repeat subscription-based revenues delayed but anticipated to commence in Q3 and increase further in Q42021, with the addition of the data from the second cluster, Polar Vigilance satellites. The constellation will grow further with the addition of Kleos’ third satellite cluster — the Polar Patrol Mission that is on track for a late 2021 launch aboard another SpaceX Falcon 9.

Kleos satellites collect data that is then processed to detect and geolocate radio frequency activity to improve the detection of hidden and illegal activities, including piracy, drug and people smuggling, border security challenges and illegal fishing as the satellites can detect transmissions, independent of other systems, such as those used in active tracking, or when imagery is unclear, or targets are out of normal aircraft patrol range.

Kleos CTO Miles Ashcroft said, “Despite the schedule for the KSF1 satellites from placing the contract to launch being exceptionally ambitious, Kleos’ second cluster has been launched within the time window allocated and on budget. We must acknowledgeI SISPACEand Spaceflight ,as well as our Kleos’ technical team’s work. I am proud of the entire team who have worked together and it has made a massive difference, with an incredible outcome that cannot be overstated. Kleos is well on track to see its third constellation in orbit by the end of this year. With each cluster launched,coverage and volume of data increases,commensurately increasing our revenue opportunities.”

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) n partnership with the Space Development Agency (SDA) has announced that their Laser Interconnect and Networking Communications System (LINCS) satellites were successfully launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-2 mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The two 12U cubesats that make up the LINCS system were successfully deployed into orbit and have begun satellite commissioning and operations. This launch marks the first successful launch of SDA payloads since the agency was established in 2019.

The LINCS system is comprised of two, 12U cubesats, each hosting a C-band, dual-wavelength, full duplex, Optical Communication Terminal (OCT) and an Infrared (IR) payload, with all elements internally designed and built by GA-EMS at their facilities in San Diego, California, and Huntsville, Alabama. In partnership with SDA, this is among the first Department of Defense contracted efforts to develop and deploy a state-of-the-art 1550 nm OCT to test capabilities to increase the speed, reliability, distance, and variability of communication in space.

“Congratulations to SDA on this historic milestone. We look forward to continue supporting them over the next several months as the GA-EMS LINCS system is used to demonstrate space-based optical communication and validate its efficacy for the future national security space architecture,” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “I am extremely proud of the GA-EMS team, whose tireless work and remarkable efforts over the past few years have led to a successful launch and deployment of this important technology.”

“Optical communication will significantly augment space-based communication, and the launch of the GA-EMS LINCS system is the first step in proving this critical technology in space,” added Nick Bucci, vice president of Missile Defense and Space Systems. “Our next checkpoint is to establish the proper orbit, communication and control of the two spacecraft. From there, we will work with SDA and commence a series of experiments testing optical communication in a variety of operational scenarios.”

Virgin Orbit‘s LauncherOne was certainly ready to fly into space once again — and the company’s Tubular Bells: Part One mission has successfully launched from Cosmic Girl.

At 0950 hours, PST, the company’s Cosmic Girl carrier plane — a Boeing 747 that has been modified — took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California with the 70 foot in length LauncherOne rocket securely affixed to the underside of the jet’s left wing.

The drop point for LauncherOne was 50 miles to the south of the Channel Islands in the Pacific Ocean and this action was auspiciously concluded at an altitude of approximately 300k feet. The rocket can handle payloads of approximately 1,100 pounds and deliver them to their orbits. Planned are three additional test flights.

There are three customer payloads for this seven smallsat delivery mission — the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), SatRevolution and the Royal Netherlands Air Force. All entrusted LauncherOne to uplift their smallsat spacecraft into orbit and demonstrated the unique advantages of air launch to make space more accessible for customers from all corners of the map.

The Royal Netherlands Air Force payload is a defense satellite, the first such spacecraft for that nation. Additionally, two EO smallsats for SatRevolution were included in this mission, with the expectation of certainly more smallsats to be driven to orbit, given that the firm intends to build out a 14 smallsat constellation. The DoD’s Rapid Launch Initiative placed a cubesat with Virgin Orbit for launch as a demo to measure smallsat flexibility and the ability to launch smallsats when a short timeframe is demanded for delivery to orbit of sensitive tech.

Original information…

The company’s readiness review is complete and their LauncherOne launch window is set for June 30 from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m., PDT, and the Tubular Bells: Part One mission is currently GO for launch.

Pre-launch ground operations are well underway at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Earlier this week, Virgin Orbit mated the payload fairing to the rocket (all the while it was attached to Cosmic Girl‘s wing), using one of the firm’s customized trailers, which is a process that will be replicated to support responsive launch campaigns at sites around the world — Cornwall, UK; Guam, US; and Oita, Japan, just to name a few.

Virgin Orbit also announced their agreement with SatRevolution to expand the strategic partnership and launch their “constellation of constellations.” In addition to these future dedicated and rideshare launches, Virgin Orbit and SatRevolution will also seek new opportunities for collaboration, such as the development of integrated mission services and other activities aimed at cultivating Poland’s rapidly growing space industry.

Watch the action in real-time by tuning into this mission’s livestream, available via YouYube. Similar to Launch Demo 2, the company will also share mission milestone updates as they happen on Twitter (@VirginOrbit).

See you tomorrow for Tubular Bells: Part One!

The Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) Cygnus spacecraft has departed from the International Space Station to start the next phase of the NG-15 mission.

Cygnus was released by the station’s robotic arm at 12:32 p.m. ET, carrying more than 8,000 pounds of disposable cargo. Cygnus will remain in orbit for approximately three days to carry out the secondary phase of the mission.

The S.S. Katherine Johnson will now deploy five cubesats via two separate cubesat deployers, Slingshot and Nanoracks. This cubesat deployment includes Dhabisat, the second cubesat developed by Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Dhabisat was developed as part of Khalifa’s Space Systems and Technology Concentration, a joint program developed in collaboration with UAE-based satellite operator Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) and Northrop Grumman.

The NG-15 Cygnus spacecraft was launched on February 20 aboard Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, carrying nearly 8,000 pounds of scientific research, supplies and equipment to the astronauts living on the station. The vehicle has been berthed with the orbiting laboratory since February 22.

“Our Cygnus cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station help enable humans to live and work in space,” said Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, tactical space systems, Northrop Grumman. “With each mission, we grow our capabilities beyond cargo resupply as we operate a high performing science laboratory for both civil and commercial companies during the secondary phase of our flight.”

Gilmour Space Technologies has secured AUD$61 million (approximately $47 million) from global investors in what is the largest private equity investment raised by a space company in Australia.

The Series C round, which includes US-based Fine Structure Ventures, Australian venture capital firms Blackbird and Main Sequence, and Australian superannuation funds HESTA, Hostplus, and NGS Super, brings the company’s total funds raised to date to $87 million.

Since launching its first hybrid rocket in mid 2016, Gilmour Space has achieved a series of significant technology milestones to become a leader in orbital-class hybrid propulsion technologies that use safer and lower cost fuels than traditional chemical propulsion rockets. In recent months, the company has also secured launch contracts with Australian and international customers including US-based Momentus, Sydney-based Space Machines Company and South Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies.

With more than 70 employees in its Gold Coast, Queensland, rocket facility and a growing network of 300 partners and suppliers, Gilmour Space is defining space manufacturing in Australia.

“We are excited to be making our first investment in Australia with Gilmour Space Technologies,” said Brett Rome, lead investor and Managing Partner at Fine Structure Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments. “The team at Gilmour is building the leading sovereign launch company in Australia, and using their innovative hybrid rocket engine to efficiently address the growing global demand for putting satellites into orbit,” he noted.

“It’s fantastic to see the global support for our mission to build and launch lower cost rockets and satellites to orbit,” said Gilmour Space CEO and Co-Founder, Adam Gilmour. “This new investment will give us runway to launch our first orbital rocket in 2022. It will help us develop multiple Eris vehicles, grow our team from 70 to 120 in the next 12 months, build our sovereign space manufacturing capability for rockets and satellites, and facilitate a commercial spaceport in Queensland, where we hope to launch the world’s first hybrid rocket to space. My brother James and I started the rocket program in 2015 with the goal of one day sending humans to space. We always knew it would be a difficult journey, but it makes me proud to think that our ambition and progress have contributed to the tremendous growth of Australia’s new space industry. Today, we are growing an amazing team committed to providing affordable and reliable satellites and rocket launches to our global customers. We’re backed by top investors, and we are proud to be supporting some of the world’s most innovative space companies as they look to create significant and positive outcomes for humanity.”

Said Rick Baker, the Blackbird Ventures partner who led Gilmour Space’s first $5 million Series A round in 2017: “It’s been amazing to see what Gilmour Space has achieved so far in proving that they can build a reliable hybrid rocket engine capable of powering the next generation of launch vehicles.”

Martin Duursma, the partner at Main Sequence (a deep tech investment fund founded by CSIRO) who led the company’s $19 million Series B in 2018, added, “The Australian space industry is attracting significant investment, and Gilmour Space is leading the way. They are hiring, training, and building a new supply chain that is driving capabilities at scale across the whole space sector.”

For HESTA, CIO Sonya Sawtell-Rickso said, “This is a great example of how we’re investing to support visionary businesses take that next step in their growth and development. Gilmour Space is going where no Australian business has gone before, which can open up exciting new opportunities for high-tech industries and jobs in Australia, while helping to grow our members’ retirement savings.”

Hostplus CEO, David Elia, added, “Hostplus’ investment strategy is long-term focused, which is why we invest in Australian companies that develop life-changing technologies and innovations that will provide enduring economic and societal benefits. This unique investment presents potential strategic benefits as we anticipate Gilmour’s valuation increasing, and we are delighted to support the exciting future ahead for Australia’s space industry.”

Virgin Orbit‘s LauncherOne is ready to fly into space once again.

The company’s readiness review is complete and their LauncherOne launch window is set for June 30 from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m., PDT, and the Tubular Bells: Part One mission is currently GO for launch.

Pre-launch ground operations are well underway at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Earlier this week, Virgin Orbit mated the payload fairing to the rocket (all the while it was attached to Cosmic Girl‘s wing), using one of the firm’s customized trailers, which is a process that will be replicated to support responsive launch campaigns at sites around the world — Cornwall, UK; Guam, US; and Oita, Japan, just to name a few.

This launch means a lot to the company in that there are three customers for this mission — the U.S. Department of Defense, SatRevolution and the Royal Netherlands Air Force. All have entrusted LauncherOne to uplift their smallsat adventures and this is a great indication of how Virgin Orbit leverages the unique advantages of air launch to make space more accessible for folks from all corners of the map.

Virgin Orbit also announced their agreement with SatRevolution to expand the strategic partnership and launch their “constellation of constellations.” In addition to these future dedicated and rideshare launches, Virgin Orbit and SatRevolution will also seek new opportunities for collaboration, such as the development of integrated mission services and other activities aimed at cultivating Poland’s rapidly growing space industry.

Watch the action in real-time by tuning into this mission’s livestream, available via YouYube. Similar to Launch Demo 2, the company will also share mission milestone updates as they happen on Twitter (@VirginOrbit).

See you tomorrow for Tubular Bells: Part One!

Infostellar Inc. is collaborating with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) to make AWS Ground Station available within StellarStation. The combination will give satellite operators more opportunities to communicate with their space workloads, downlink geospatial data faster and easier, and decrease the time it takes to get data to decision makers on Earth. Infostellar also plans to leverage AWS for customer integration, testing and other onboarding activities to reduce the time it takes to scale successful operations across a global ground network.

Satellite operators require an increasingly large, global footprint of satellite antennas and expansive ground networks to get decision makers the most recent satellite data and track and manage fast-changing conditions. Larger ground coverage areas also provide satellite operators with more options to downlink their data during each orbit.

The AWS Ground Station network allows customers to cost-effectively control satellite operations, ingest satellite data, integrate the data with applications and other services running in AWS, and scale operations without having to worry about building or managing their own ground infrastructure.

StellarStation gives satellite operators a common interface to leverage ground stations from a variety of providers around the globe so they can schedule satellite passes and monitor and exchange data in a standard manner.

Now, with AWS and Infostellar, is required to scale globally in the cloud because operators do not need to send engineers to each site around the world. Instead, they can reuse their integration and test efforts across multiple global sites simultaneously.

The combination of AWS Ground Station and StellarStation helps satellite operators to provide customers with near real-time data through an expanded ground coverage area, including an automated ground network with virtual data and mission management capabilities.

Through the API integration of AWS Ground Station on StellarStation, customers will be able to schedule contacts across both ground networks from a single scheduling interface and specify data endpoints in their AWS Management Console or in their own data reception facility.

Using AWS Ground Station, Infostellar customers can immediately access AWS storage, compute, and analytics services, such as Amazon Simple Storage Services (Amazon S3), to store the downloaded data; Amazon Kinesis Data Streams, for managing data ingestion from satellites; and Amazon SageMaker for building custom machine learning applications that can be applied to a wide variety of data sets.

Customer onboarding, including spectrum licensing, will be coordinated between the two ground operators. Among initial customers of AWS Ground Station on StellarStation mission control software could be Japan-based space start-up ALE Co, Ltd.

“Leveraging AWS Ground Station allows Infostellar to expand our infrastructure very rapidly with the addition of key locations to our global network of ground stations. AWS also shows the benefits of our cloud-based ground service aggregation platform, StellarStation, to the global community of spacecraft operators,” said Naomi Kurahara, Infostellar CEO. “With Infostellar and AWS, satellite customers can migrate their workloads to AWS in order to benefit from its agility, cost savings, elasticity, and global connectivity.”

“We are excited to provide AWS Ground Station services through Infostellar. AWS Ground Station makes it easy for customers to communicate with their satellites and quickly move data around the globe, process and store it in the AWS cloud. StellarStation customers can schedule satellite contacts at AWS Ground Station locations around the world and take advantage of Amazon’s low-latency, high-bandwidth global network to deliver data.” said Jim Caggy, General Manager, AWS Ground Station.

“The combination of AWS Ground Station and InfoStellar’s StellarStation mission control software will provide satellite operators with more frequent communication with their satellites. This collaboration will allow us to better schedule shooting star events for the ALE man-made shooting star experience and provide more flexible options for our customers. This combination is very important to us here at ALE; we look forward to it helping us delight customers all over the world,” said Lena Okajima, CEO, ALE Co, Ltd.

With a little less than one minute to go before launch, SpaceX has held the launch of their Transporter-2 mission, with downrange indicators holding the takeoff of the Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX does have an open window tomorrow, Wednesday, June 30, with the same, 58 minute opportunity window to resume the Transporter-2 launch.

Onboard for the Transporter-2 push off are 85 commercial and government spacecraft as well as three Starlink satellites, now all awaiting a good turn of events tomorrow.