Archives for August 2022

The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, CAPSTONE, led by Advanced Space, was launched seven weeks ago to perform its historic pathfinding mission to the Moon for NASA.

The award was selected by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Small Spacecraft Technical Committee, Some of the criteria for the award were to demonstrate a significant improvement in the capability of small satellites, spacecraft structural design, scientific instrument development, and communications capabilities, all characteristics of the microwave-sized 12U smallsat designed and built by Terran Orbital.

CAPSTONE is 55 pounds and will help inform future operations in cislunar space and for the future lunar space station in the near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), the intended orbit for the Gateway as part of the Artemis program.

The spacecraft also will demonstrate the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) technology that will enable spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation services reducing reliance on Earth-based ground systems.

CAPSTONE’s cubesat creation and operations success stems from the collaboration of many small businesses transforming the future of space exploration.

Chris Baker, Small Spacecraft Technology program executive of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), received the award on stage at the 36th Annual Small Satellite Conference in Utah. He was joined on stage by key members of the CAPSTONE Mission team – principal investigator and CEO of Advanced Space, Bradley Cheetham, chief engineer of Advanced Space and mission program manager, Tom Gardner, NASA Ames STMD Deputy Program Manager, Elwood Agasid, Keith Thompson of Terran Orbital, Tomas Svitek of Stellar Exploration, and Richard French of Rocket Lab. CAPSTONE uses a monopropellant, hydrazine-fueled, propulsion system that was developed and implemented by Stellar Exploration Inc. and was launched on an Electron by Rocket Lab.

“Thank you to NASA Ames for the nomination, to the SmallSat committee for the recognition, and to our resilient Advanced Space team, and to all our mission partners. We have come a long way and still have a way to go but are on a trajectory to arrive at the Moon on November 13th and we continue to make history,” said Bradley Cheetham, Advanced Space’s chief executive officer. “Congratulations to all the nominees for the award, we are honored to be recognized among such competition. It is tremendous to see the breadth of technical prowess in the category.”

CAPSTONE is owned and operated by Advanced Space and is the first cubesat to fly in cislunar space – the orbital area near and around the Moon – and demonstrate an innovative spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation technology. Critical partners in the CAPSTONE mission include:

• NASA: CAPSTONE’s development is supported by the Space Technology Mission Directorate via the Small Spacecraft Technology and Small Business Innovation Research programs at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
• The Artemis Campaign Development Division within NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate supports the launch and mission operations.
• NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch management.
• NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory supported the communication, tracking, and telemetry downlink via NASA’s Deep Space Network, Iris radio design and groundbreaking 1-way navigation algorithms.
• Terran Orbital Corporation: Spacecraft design, development and implementation, hardware manufacturing, assembly, testing and mission operations support.
• Stellar Exploration: Propulsion subsystem provider.
• Rocket Lab USA, Inc.: Launch provider launching CAPSTONE on a three-stage Electron launch vehicle.
• Space Dynamics Lab (SDL): Iris radio and navigation firmware provider.
• Orion Space Solutions (formerly Astra): Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) hardware provider necessary for the 1-way ranging experiment.
• Tethers Unlimited, Inc.: Cross Link radio provider.
• Morehead State University (MSU): Operates the newest “affiliated node” on the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN). Providing telemetry, tracking and control services for NASA and commercial space missions and to engage university students in deep space mission operations.

KSATlite is KSATs easy-to-use, ground network solution that offers optimized support for smallsats and large constellations.

The offered solution has gained popularity in the smallsat marketplace and is currently experiencing record-high demand. KSATlite has supported 628,863 satellite contacts in the last 12 months.

The portfolio of customers now represents the full value chain from launch providers, New Space companies, primes and agencies as well as universities. At the same time, the mission profile altitudes span from LEO to Lunar.

The record high success rate over the past year at 99.7% ensures that the more than 50 different supported customers are satisfied with the KSATLite services. The flexible, software-defined, ground radio system allows customer support on all the major standards in satellite and launch vehicle communications. The team of highly skilled engineers and project managers work around the clock to make sure the customers are happy during launches as well as regular satellite communications.

The standardized network is part of KSATs more than 260 antennas at 26 locations around the world. This gives smallsat owners and traditional operators global coverage with the flexibility to keep an eye on the satellite while data can be accessed whenever needed.

“Both KSAT and, more importantly, the customers are very satisfied with the quality of the KSATlite service over the past year.” Kristian Jenssen, director KSATlite. “The traffic on the KSATlite network has been growing exponentially over the past years, but our continuous focus on automation and machine learning powered error correction algorithms has truly paid off.”

KSAT owns and operates a Ground Station Network of polar and mid-latitude stations. The four polar ground stations are uniquely located in Tromsø at 69°N, Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat) at 78°N Inuvik Station at 68°N and the Antarctic station (TrollSat) at 72°S. The network handles 75 000+ passes per month.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, has announced that the company’s BlueWalker 3 test satellite (BW3) has arrived at Cape Canaveral.

The satellite recently departed an off-site testing facility in California after collecting flight data for the upcoming planned launch to LEO, with a launch window for early to mid-September. The actual BW3 launch date remains subject to change and is contingent on a number of factors including, but not limited to, final testing, final integration, timely readiness of the launch vehicle and other unknowns including, but not limited to, weather conditions or technical problems.

Over the summer, AST SpaceMobile completed the assembly and stowing of BW3, including its 693-square-foot phased array of antennas, at the company’s Midland, Texas, headquarters and manufacturing facility. This large array of antennas is designed to connect directly to existing mobile phones from a much longer distance than traditional cell towers. In total, more than 800 tests were conducted on the satellite before it left Texas.

Members of the public will be able to watch a live broadcast of the launch online or view it in person at several public viewing locations throughout the Cape Canaveral area.

Once in LEO, and following initial in-orbit testing and configuration, AST SpaceMobile plans to conduct BW3 direct-to-cell phone testing on every inhabited continent, in coordination with mobile network operators (MNOs). MNOs in the mission’s test plans include Vodafone, Rakuten Mobile and Orange, among others, using cell phone handsets from major global manufacturers.

Concurrent with the launch of BW3, AST SpaceMobile continues to build out its manufacturing capabilities to reach its goal of building six, nexgen, BlueBird satellites per month. The company intends to launch a LEO constellation of BlueBirds that would provide cellular broadband from space across the globe – on land, at sea and in the air.

“There are more than five billion mobile phones in use today globally, but many of us still experience gaps in coverage as we live, work and travel. Additionally, there are billions of people around the world who still lack access to broadband,” said Scott Wisniewski, Chief Strategy Officer at AST SpaceMobile. “We want our efforts to significantly increase the availability of cellular broadband globally by providing a space-based network to existing, unmodified mobile phones. The delivery of BlueWalker 3 to Cape Canaveral represents another milestone in our efforts to reach this goal.”

TriSept Corporation has completed the integration of two experimental mission payloads running the company’s new TSEL satellite security operating software for a suborbital test flight aboard RocketStar’s launch vehicle that is set to liftoff from the Koehn Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert.

TriSept has teamed with RocketStar and its 40-foot-tall, aerospike-powered Cowbell rocket to further lower barriers to space for commercial, government and experimental missions, such as the payloads the University of Central Florida and Brigham Young University will launch and study in September.

“This is the first in a series of suborbital flights aboard our RocketStar Cowbell launch vehicle, with each mission powered by the Aerospike engine designed to achieve more altitude and flight data as we build toward our first orbital insertion mission on our larger launch vehicle in 2023,” said Chris Craddock, RocketStar CEO. “RocketStar is thrilled to partner with the experienced TriSept launch and integration team, as we roll in our portable launch facility and throw open the door even wider to affordable and reliable smallsat access to space.”

A small team of UCF students will be closely studying their payload mission, which will simulate asteroid particle activity in space during the 13 minute flight. They will examine a collection of colliding particles inside a device they’ve named the entrapulator, after a similar payload the university has flown on the International Space Station and other vehicles.

The UCF mission aims to shed more light on collisions in the protoplanetary nebula and the evolution of loose materials or regolith on the surface of asteroids during such an impact. Brigham Young University’s College of Engineering students have designed a sensor package dubbed Motron II that will measure motion, acceleration and vibration aboard the launch vehicle and help mission operators better understand and design for launches of small payloads.

In addition to the rich scientific and technical data both university teams expect to harvest from their missions, they are also excited to explore the valuable findings from the first suborbital tests of TriSept’s new satellite security operating system.

“This experiment is providing a new batch of students the chance to interface and gain invaluable real-world experience with seasoned engineers in the space industry,” said Dr. David Long, an Engineering Professor with the BYU Center for Remote Sensing. “We are excited to work with TriSept and RocketStar to put our flight motion payload to the test and to work with flight-grade security software on its maiden voyage in space.”

“Our students are always thrilled to launch a mission into space. TriSept opened the door to this great opportunity for our students to participate in the integration and launch of our payload aboard the RocketStar rocket,” said Josh Colwell, a UCF Physics Professor whose students at the Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education have developed the mission studying asteroids. “We are also incredibly excited to be among the first involved in the milestone tests of new satellite security software that could help pave the way to a new level of protected missions in space.”

“TriSept is passionate about opening up safe space access to everyone, including students who often can only dream about getting their experimental missions aboard a rocket and launched into space,” said Jason Armstrong, TriSept’s Director of Launch and Integration Services. “Our focus will be on supporting two experimental missions and the inaugural flight of our new TSEL satellite security operating system running on both university payload missions. It’s another step toward securing small satellite operations with a new protection solution that is now commercially available.”

The TriSept Secure Embedded Layer (TSEL) operating system, capable of detecting, tracking and eliminating known and emerging vulnerabilities on conventional and small satellites, will undergo a series of environmental and operational tests during the thirteen-minute mission to the edge of space.

“This is an exciting collaborative and multi-faceted mission for two innovative companies determined to transform space access, making it simpler and more affordable for small sat missions looking for both shared and dedicated rides into orbit,” said Rob Spicer, TriSept Founder and CEO. “It’s a historic launch of firsts – the inaugural RocketStar launch vehicle carrying a pair of experimental missions and TriSept’s TSEL operating system is on the verge of making satellite missions and the company’s depending on them more secure from this day forward.”

TriSept’s TSEL was developed to meet rising demand across the satellite industry for a managed cybersecurity solution that secures an embedded device much like a terrestrial server is protected. TSEL offers a series of automated mechanisms and updates that deliver far more detailed audit data, near-real-time security analysis and patch updates along with “zero trust” verification layers that protect against hackers and provide an accurate account of what’s happening aboard the satellite at all times.

A rising number of attacks on critical infrastructure across the U.S. and the world have shown just how vulnerable spacecraft can be, especially as the vast majority of small satellites launched into orbit are ill prepared to protect themselves in the event of adversarial threats.

NASA’s water-scouting cubesat is now poised to hitch a ride to lunar orbit. Not much bigger than a shoe box, Lunar IceCube’s data will have an outsized impact on lunar science.

The satellite is integrated into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ready to journey to the Moon as part of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, launching this year.

Orbiting the Moon, Lunar IceCube will use a spectrometer to investigate lunar ice. Earlier missions revealed water ice on the Moon, but Lunar IceCube will further NASA’s knowledge about lunar ice dynamics.

Scientists are interested in the absorption and release of water from the regolith — the Moon’s rocky and dusty surface. With Lunar IceCube investigating this process, NASA can map these changes as they occur on the Moon.

Lunar IceCube will also study the exosphere — the very thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding the Moon. By understanding the dynamics of water and other substances on the Moon, scientists will be able to predict seasonal changes for lunar ice that could impact its use as a resource in the future.

This will all be achieved from an efficient and cost-effective cubesat that only weighs 31 pounds. Lunar IceCube is one of several cubesats catching a ride to the Moon aboard Artemis I. These smallsats, along with future Artemis missions, will increase the knowledge for living and working on the Moon and, eventually, Mars.

Lunar IceCube is funded by NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships program, or NextSTEP, in support of NASA’s Artemis Campaign Development Division within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.

The Lunar IceCube mission is led by Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; NASA’s Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia; and Busek Space Propulsion and Systems in Natick, Massachusetts.

Article is by Katherine Schauer and Danny Baird, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

HyImpulse Technologies GmbH has signed a launch services contract with In Orbit Aerospace Inc. for the launch of their full-scale, Earth return vehicle on SL1, as well as for additional launch options.

The re-entry capsule is scheduled to fly as part of the maiden flight on HyImpulse’s orbital vehicle, Small Launcher SL1, in 2024. In Orbit was founded to enable large-scale manufacturing and research in space.

Recent advancements in technology have led to the production of breakthrough products in microgravity and In Orbit is will build and operate a new, space-based, manufacturing supply chain. The company is developing spacecraft to host customer experiments and manufacturing equipment in space and return those finished products back to Earth. Their uncrewed, reusable vehicles leverage proven technologies and are compatible with many launch vehicles, including Small Launcher, SL1, to enable a high frequency of flights at low cost to the customer.

HyImpulse, is a suborbital and orbital launch services provider based in Baden- Württemberg, Germany. Founded with the goal to revolutionize access to space, HyImpulse’s Small Launcher, SL1, is powered by unique and proprietary hybrid propulsion systems. This disruptive technology enables HyImpulse to offer affordable, frequent, responsive and safe access to space for small satellites and spacecrafts. SL1 has a payload capacity of 500 kg. to a 400 km. SSO / 675 kg. to LEO and it will be the first orbital launch vehicle in the world to reach orbit with a hybrid propulsion system. HyImpulse’s first commercial product and technology demonstrator SR75, is a single stage sounding rocket using a hybrid rocket engine. It is designed to deliver institutional and commercial experiments into a micro gravity environment during a suborbital flight with payload capacity of 350 kg to 200 km. The maiden launch is planned for later this year.

Jinan 1 will conduct key distribution experiments in lower-Earth orbit after a month of testing. More launches planned for near future to support quantum communication for over 100 users around the globe….

China launched a new quantum satellite on Wednesday that could be a first step towards establishing an ultra-secure communications network with global coverage.

It was one of six satellites launched around noon by the Lijian quick response rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, according to Xinhua.

The quantum satellite, developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, would conduct quantum key distribution experiments in lower-Earth orbit, the report said.

A quantum key network uses entangled particles to encrypt a message. Any attempt to steal or decode will alter the message physically and alert the receiver, thanks to the law of quantum physics.

It is the second quantum satellite launched by China after it sent the world’s first such satellite, Mozi, into orbit in August 2016.

Called Jinan 1, it weighs less than 100kg — about a sixth of the weight of Mozi — but can generate quantum keys at speeds two or three magnitude higher, the project team said in a statement posted on WeChat.

It said Jinan 1 would enter service after a month of testing and it was “just the first step”. More such satellites would be launched in the near future to support quantum communication for more than 100 users around the globe.

“It is also an important step. It makes China the first country in the world to achieve real-time, satellite-to-ground quantum key distribution with micro-nano satellite and miniaturized ground stations,” the statement said.

China’s first quantum satellite, Mozi, is equipped with what was the most sensitive device when it went into orbit six years ago — it can produce and detect a single photon, or an extremely weak particle of light. The satellite has conducted record-breaking experiments in quantum physics, including proving the feasibility of quantum communication from one continent to another.

But researchers involved in the project say Mozi has its limits. The first generation of space-based quantum communication devices, for instance, can only establish a stable link with the ground at night because the sun produces so much noise that the light signals are drowned out. Also, the bandwidth for quantum key distribution — which is as small as dial-up — restricts communication to voice or low-resolution videos.

The remainder of the article can be found here.

By Stephen Chen in Beijing + FOLLOW