Archives for November 2022

Advanced Space has announced that the big day has come and CAPSTONE is at the Moon — CAPSTONE just completed its initial insertion into the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO).

Two smaller correction maneuvers will occur this week to ensure the spacecraft is confirmed into the complex lunar orbit. CAPSTONE is the first smallsat to fly to and operate at the Moon. The lead-up to the NRHO insertion maneuver (NIM) was quite busy behind the scenes. Here is the play-by-play action of some of the what the CAPSTONE Mission Team (as designed/planned) in the hours leading up to the insertion looked like…

• 4:23 p.m., MT: The radio ceased transmissions and oriented the solar panels at the Sun to top the batteries off.

• 5:08 p.m., MT: The spacecraft slewed to the burn attitude and let the fuel settle in the tank.

• 5:22:27 p.m., MT: The spacecraft began execution of the NRHO Insertion Maneuver (NIM). It thrusted at about 0.44 Newtons (equivalent of the weight of about 9 pieces of 8.5x11in paper in your hand).

• 5:34:22 p.m., MT: NIM as designed was complete. It lasts just under 16 minutes 5:34:28 MT: Spacecraft slews to Sun-Point to recharge batteries.

• 5:39:09 p.m., MT: NIM burn officially ends. 6:00 MT: Initial data received and insertion into the orbit was executed as planned.

Advanced Space stated they are all thankful to the CAPSTONE Mission Team, NASA’s DSN, Terran Orbital, Stellar Exploration and the team at Advanced Space. The 24/7 shifts have begun and are ready to get through this week’s Insertion Maneuvers to make certain the smallsat is stable in the orbit. So far, so good.

CAPSTONE is owned and operated by Advanced Space. It will be one of the first smallsats to fly in cislunar space – the orbital area near and around the Moon – and demonstrate an innovative spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation technology. The mission launched on June 28, 2022. 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 supported the launch and mission operations. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida was 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 for 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 for the 1-way ranging experiment.
• Tethers Unlimited, Inc.: Cross Link radio provider.
• Morehead State University (MSU): Provides telemetry, tracking and control services via NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN ).

ArgoMoon, the smallsat developed by Argotec for the Italian Space Agency, is ready on the upper stage of NASA‘s Space Launch System (SLS).

In less than a week, ArgoMoon will be among the first satellites deployed in the Artemis 1 mission, the historic test flight of the Orion spacecraft built to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.

Designed, developed and operated by Argotec, ArgoMoon is equipped with two cameras. One camera will take high-resolution photos of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, the Earth and the Moon to validate the stage’s progress. Images from a second camera will power ArgoMoon’s autonomous onboard navigation system.

ArgoMoon is a 6U satellite, built on Argotec’s highly reliable Hawk 6 platform. Its advanced technology and AI programming enable it to navigate and stabilize itself without human control.

ArgoMoon is similar to LICIACube, the smallsat that captured the impact of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe that successfully changed an asteroid’s trajectory. The more than 600 images captured by LICIACube of the impact have proven to be invaluable to the scientific community’s study of asteroids and planetary defence. However, while LICIACube had 15 days advance deployment before its fly-by, ArgoMoon will be deployed from the SLS four hours after take-off and its mission will start immediately.

Artemis I is the first integrated flight test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft, and the ground systems at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is scheduled for launch on Monday, November 14th.

“ArgoMoon comes with high expectations, and it is one of the most difficult missions we have ever performed,” said David Avino, CEO and founder of Argotec. “With the remarkable performance of LICIACube capturing the DART mission, we are excited to again support NASA. We are proud to be the only European satellite on this extraordinary mission, which paves the way for humanity’s return to the Moon.”

Don Richardson, Director at Cassiopeia Space Systems Inc. (CSS), has built a joint venture with Israel’s Over-SAT and developed the RIGEL Satcom Terminal (<= PDF brochure download).

This JV was funded with $1 million by the Israel US Bi-national R&D fund — BIRD Foundation

“A private Israeli space venture recently propelled our nation into the club of four countries that have landed on the moon,” said Uri Oran, Director General of the Israel Space Agency at an US Israel Space Tech event, which took place at the Virginia Tech Briefing Center in Arlington in October. A second $100-million privately funded and managed mission, called Beresheet 2 (Beresheet is the Hebrew name for the first book in the Bible, Genesis), is slated to launch in 2024.

“As we trend toward a $1-trillion space market,” added Oran, ”one of the Israel Space Agency’s priorities is to develop a national infrastructure to be a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs to build private space ventures.”

Attended by representatives of space related start-ups and established technology firms, as well as government and other stakeholders, the event followed by just three weeks the first meeting of the U.S.-Israel Strategic High-Level Dialogue on Technology held in the White House.

NASA’s Dr. Eliad Peretz, Lead Researcher for New Space Missions at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, noted NASA’s openness to private sector participation when he briefed the group on access points for companies to receive NASA funding to support its core research tasks, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.

Starburst Aerospace, an innovation catalyst and the only aerospace accelerator in Israel, is exploring establishing a startup accelerator program in Virginia to facilitate co-development between industry leaders to solve the aerospace industry’s most pressing technological challenges, according to Noemie Alliel, Managing Director of Starburst Israel who presented at the event.

“The program will support pre-seed and seed-stage startups and focus on accelerating the product-market fit with key design partners from Starburst’s global ecosystem that will provide beta site and funding,” said Alliel.

The Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB), a state agency developing economic, cultural and educational connections between Israel and Virginia, hosted Space Tech along with the Arlington County Economic Development Agency and TYPE5, a space tech investment group. Virginia Israel Advisory Board’s Executive Director Dov Hoch said he is working with Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera to develop a STEM education program involving Virginia students with the Israel lunar lander Beresheet 2.

“We envision a learning program that will lead to launching a student digital payload to the moon, then a yearlong engagement with the lunar orbiter involving Virginia students communicating with and monitoring activities in space,” said Hoch.

“We were thrilled to partner with VIAB to host the US-Israel Space Tech Event in Arlington,” said Marian Marquez, Acting Deputy Director of Arlington Economic Development. “Earlier this year, I met with Israeli tech companies in Tel Aviv that are driving space innovation with important commercial and defense applications, and we have many great companies here in Northern Virginia doing the same. Space Tech brought them together.”

The Arlington gathering built on momentum in space tech collaboration between Virginia and Israeli companies that started in 2021 when Wakefield, Virginia, based Mil-SAT partnered with Israel’s Over-SAT in a joint venture to create Cassiopeia Space Systems Inc. (CSS). CSS presented their RIGEL Satcom Terminal at Space Tech. “I am very proud and excited to be working with Over-Sat on this game-changing technology for the new LEO networks,” said Don Richardson, CSS Director.

The venture’s initial $1-million funding came from the US-Israel Bi-National R&D fund (BIRD) whose Deputy Executive Director, Limor Nakar-Vincent, presented at Space Tech, encouraging attendees to explore R&D partnerships with Israeli companies who can receive up to $1.5-million in non-dilutive funding.

Other presenters included Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel’s largest defense company whose US headquarters is in Herndon, Virginia; Kevin Pomfret, partner at Williams Mullen Law Firm and member of the Space Law Committee of the International Bar Association; and Professor Vassilios Kovanis, Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Founding Faculty Member and Bradley Department ECE Director of the ECE Meng, who presented the relevance of Virginia Tech’s work in quantum computing as an enabling technology for space related concerns and provided a briefing on the Innovation Campus.

“To me, Space Tech was the ‘first step’ in space-related partnerships between Virginia and Israeli companies,” said VIAB’s Hoch. “It was a marvelous follow-up to an event in 2021 when then Governor Northam invited an Israeli Ministry of Defense unmanned systems delegation to Virginia. Earlier this month, UVision, an unmanned Israeli defense contractor, opened a facility in Stafford.”

For more information, contact: Dov Hoch, Virginia Israel Advisory Board

Article by Keith Cowing, Space Ref

Don Richardson, Director at Cassiopeia Space Systems Inc. (CSS), has built a joint venture with Israel’s Over-SAT and developed the RIGEL Satcom Terminal (<= PDF brochure download).

This JV was funded with $1 million by the Israel US Bi-national R&D fund — BIRD Foundation

“A private Israeli space venture recently propelled our nation into the club of four countries that have landed on the moon,” said Uri Oran, Director General of the Israel Space Agency at an US Israel Space Tech event, which took place at the Virginia Tech Briefing Center in Arlington in October. A second $100-million privately funded and managed mission, called Beresheet 2 (Beresheet is the Hebrew name for the first book in the Bible, Genesis), is slated to launch in 2024.

“As we trend toward a $1-trillion space market,” added Oran, ”one of the Israel Space Agency’s priorities is to develop a national infrastructure to be a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs to build private space ventures.”

Attended by representatives of space related start-ups and established technology firms, as well as government and other stakeholders, the event followed by just three weeks the first meeting of the U.S.-Israel Strategic High-Level Dialogue on Technology held in the White House.

NASA’s Dr. Eliad Peretz, Lead Researcher for New Space Missions at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, noted NASA’s openness to private sector participation when he briefed the group on access points for companies to receive NASA funding to support its core research tasks, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.

Starburst Aerospace, an innovation catalyst and the only aerospace accelerator in Israel, is exploring establishing a startup accelerator program in Virginia to facilitate co-development between industry leaders to solve the aerospace industry’s most pressing technological challenges, according to Noemie Alliel, Managing Director of Starburst Israel who presented at the event.

“The program will support pre-seed and seed-stage startups and focus on accelerating the product-market fit with key design partners from Starburst’s global ecosystem that will provide beta site and funding,” said Alliel.

The Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB), a state agency developing economic, cultural and educational connections between Israel and Virginia, hosted Space Tech along with the Arlington County Economic Development Agency and TYPE5, a space tech investment group. Virginia Israel Advisory Board’s Executive Director Dov Hoch said he is working with Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera to develop a STEM education program involving Virginia students with the Israel lunar lander Beresheet 2.

“We envision a learning program that will lead to launching a student digital payload to the moon, then a yearlong engagement with the lunar orbiter involving Virginia students communicating with and monitoring activities in space,” said Hoch.

“We were thrilled to partner with VIAB to host the US-Israel Space Tech Event in Arlington,” said Marian Marquez, Acting Deputy Director of Arlington Economic Development. “Earlier this year, I met with Israeli tech companies in Tel Aviv that are driving space innovation with important commercial and defense applications, and we have many great companies here in Northern Virginia doing the same. Space Tech brought them together.”

The Arlington gathering built on momentum in space tech collaboration between Virginia and Israeli companies that started in 2021 when Wakefield, Virginia, based Mil-SAT partnered with Israel’s Over-SAT in a joint venture to create Cassiopeia Space Systems Inc. (CSS). CSS presented their RIGEL Satcom Terminal at Space Tech. “I am very proud and excited to be working with Over-Sat on this game-changing technology for the new LEO networks,” said Don Richardson, CSS Director.

The venture’s initial $1-million funding came from the US-Israel Bi-National R&D fund (BIRD) whose Deputy Executive Director, Limor Nakar-Vincent, presented at Space Tech, encouraging attendees to explore R&D partnerships with Israeli companies who can receive up to $1.5-million in non-dilutive funding.

Other presenters included Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel’s largest defense company whose US headquarters is in Herndon, Virginia; Kevin Pomfret, partner at Williams Mullen Law Firm and member of the Space Law Committee of the International Bar Association; and Professor Vassilios Kovanis, Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Founding Faculty Member and Bradley Department ECE Director of the ECE Meng, who presented the relevance of Virginia Tech’s work in quantum computing as an enabling technology for space related concerns and provided a briefing on the Innovation Campus.

“To me, Space Tech was the ‘first step’ in space-related partnerships between Virginia and Israeli companies,” said VIAB’s Hoch. “It was a marvelous follow-up to an event in 2021 when then Governor Northam invited an Israeli Ministry of Defense unmanned systems delegation to Virginia. Earlier this month, UVision, an unmanned Israeli defense contractor, opened a facility in Stafford.”

For more information, contact: Dov Hoch, Virginia Israel Advisory Board

Article by Keith Cowing, Space Ref

It’s the multi-million-dollar satellite that will collect invaluable data from space once it takes off into the cosmos. But the pieces of the puzzle that make up the $6.5 million CubeSat mission, dubbed Kanyini, have been scattered across labs and workshops across South Australia — until now. Leading South Australian space companies have procured their components and brought them together for the first time.

It’s a major milestone for the Kanyini satellite, which has secured a spot onboard the SpaceX Transporter next year. Once it blasts off into Low Earth Orbit, it will be Australia’s first state-based satellite.

Aerospace company Inovor Technologies, Internet of Things provider Myriota and research co-op SmartSat CRC have worked on the space project from their offices in Lot Fourteen, an innovation and space industry precinct in the heart of Adelaide.

Working with the South Australian government, the data collected from the satellite’s three-year sun-synchronous orbital mission will inform future space missions and help improve state services such as emergency services and environmental monitoring.

SmartSat CRC is leading the mission. The company’s satellite systems manager, Nick Manser, says pulling together all the components into an integrated flatsat, or test satellite, is a “big milestone” for the project.

“Up until this point, everyone’s been working on their components independently, but we’ve now reached an important milestone where we’ve started to connect everything up together in a lab for the first time,” Manser says.

“We’re kicking off a testing campaign to make sure that all that equipment plays nicely together and it’s going to work when we send it into space.”

The project is a six-unit CubeSat, roughly the size of a shoebox and weighing about 12kg.

The satellite has two payloads onboard, one for Earth observation and the other an Internet of Things (IoT) payload. The IoT payload will allow the Myriota network to talk to sensors and devices back on Earth.

Inovor Technologies has also created a custom satellite bus, dubbed “Apogee”, after years of development. The satellite platform comprises power, telemetry, pointing and mission control systems all packaged in a lightweight structure.

SmartSat CRC has procured a small hyperspectral camera fitted to the satellite and power the earth observation payload.

Built in the Netherlands, the HyperScout 2 Flight Model instrument has sensors that allow it to capture imagery of the planet’s changing surface.

Once it’s launched next year, the satellite will orbit 500km above Earth and allow those back home to monitor water quality, crop health and bushfire resilience.

Manser says SmartSat CRC was drawn to the hyperspectral camera because of its onboard processing capability, which is a key part of modern space missions.

Satellites would usually downlink collected data to Earth before it could be analyzed. However, he says this piece of technology can do the computation on board.

“We have researchers already looking into how they can use this sort of information for things like smoke detection for bushfires, monitoring fuel conditions in our eucalypt forests to improve our response and preparation for bushfires and inland coastal water quality monitoring,” Manser says.

“We’ve got a number of research projects that data from this satellite is going to help power and we can provide that communication back to the South Australian Government so they can improve how they service the South Australian community.”

South Australia has become the hub of Australia’s space industry, with more than 100 space related organizations, the headquarters of the Australian Space Agency, the Australian Mission Control Center and Australian Space Discovery Centre all calling Adelaide home.

The Kanyini satellite is a South Australian Government initiative that strengthens the competitiveness of local businesses in the small-satellite supply chain and builds capability to support the National Space Mission for Earth Observation.

“The mission is providing an opportunity for partner organizations to develop new technologies so they can then test them in space and it will also give us experience in operating these instruments in space and that will help us inform future space missions,” Manser says.

Kanyini is a Pitjantjatjara word that describes the “principle of responsibility and unconditional love for all creation. The name was suggested by students at Findon High School in Adelaide’s western suburbs as part of a competition to provide the satellite with a name.

Manser says it was essential to keep children interested in space development and advancement in this type of technology.

“It’s really important to emphasize that the Kanyini project isn’t just about building industry,” he says.

“It’s about getting the next generation involved and inspiring them about future opportunities in space and demonstrating the impact of space data on everyday life.”

From: The Lead

It’s the multi-million-dollar satellite that will collect invaluable data from space once it takes off into the cosmos. But the pieces of the puzzle that make up the $6.5 million CubeSat mission, dubbed Kanyini, have been scattered across labs and workshops across South Australia — until now. Leading South Australian space companies have procured their components and brought them together for the first time.

It’s a major milestone for the Kanyini satellite, which has secured a spot onboard the SpaceX Transporter next year. Once it blasts off into Low Earth Orbit, it will be Australia’s first state-based satellite.

Aerospace company Inovor Technologies, Internet of Things provider Myriota and research co-op SmartSat CRC have worked on the space project from their offices in Lot Fourteen, an innovation and space industry precinct in the heart of Adelaide.

Working with the South Australian government, the data collected from the satellite’s three-year sun-synchronous orbital mission will inform future space missions and help improve state services such as emergency services and environmental monitoring.

SmartSat CRC is leading the mission. The company’s satellite systems manager, Nick Manser, says pulling together all the components into an integrated flatsat, or test satellite, is a “big milestone” for the project.

“Up until this point, everyone’s been working on their components independently, but we’ve now reached an important milestone where we’ve started to connect everything up together in a lab for the first time,” Manser says.

“We’re kicking off a testing campaign to make sure that all that equipment plays nicely together and it’s going to work when we send it into space.”

The project is a six-unit CubeSat, roughly the size of a shoebox and weighing about 12kg.

The satellite has two payloads onboard, one for Earth observation and the other an Internet of Things (IoT) payload. The IoT payload will allow the Myriota network to talk to sensors and devices back on Earth.

Inovor Technologies has also created a custom satellite bus, dubbed “Apogee”, after years of development. The satellite platform comprises power, telemetry, pointing and mission control systems all packaged in a lightweight structure.

SmartSat CRC has procured a small hyperspectral camera fitted to the satellite and power the earth observation payload.

Built in the Netherlands, the HyperScout 2 Flight Model instrument has sensors that allow it to capture imagery of the planet’s changing surface.

Once it’s launched next year, the satellite will orbit 500km above Earth and allow those back home to monitor water quality, crop health and bushfire resilience.

Manser says SmartSat CRC was drawn to the hyperspectral camera because of its onboard processing capability, which is a key part of modern space missions.

Satellites would usually downlink collected data to Earth before it could be analyzed. However, he says this piece of technology can do the computation on board.

“We have researchers already looking into how they can use this sort of information for things like smoke detection for bushfires, monitoring fuel conditions in our eucalypt forests to improve our response and preparation for bushfires and inland coastal water quality monitoring,” Manser says.

“We’ve got a number of research projects that data from this satellite is going to help power and we can provide that communication back to the South Australian Government so they can improve how they service the South Australian community.”

South Australia has become the hub of Australia’s space industry, with more than 100 space related organizations, the headquarters of the Australian Space Agency, the Australian Mission Control Center and Australian Space Discovery Centre all calling Adelaide home.

The Kanyini satellite is a South Australian Government initiative that strengthens the competitiveness of local businesses in the small-satellite supply chain and builds capability to support the National Space Mission for Earth Observation.

“The mission is providing an opportunity for partner organizations to develop new technologies so they can then test them in space and it will also give us experience in operating these instruments in space and that will help us inform future space missions,” Manser says.

Kanyini is a Pitjantjatjara word that describes the “principle of responsibility and unconditional love for all creation. The name was suggested by students at Findon High School in Adelaide’s western suburbs as part of a competition to provide the satellite with a name.

Manser says it was essential to keep children interested in space development and advancement in this type of technology.

“It’s really important to emphasize that the Kanyini project isn’t just about building industry,” he says.

“It’s about getting the next generation involved and inspiring them about future opportunities in space and demonstrating the impact of space data on everyday life.”

From: The Lead

AAC Clyde Space has won a contract to continue to operate the Seahawk satellite for one more year, a contract that may be extended up to two years further provided that the spacecraft continues to deliver data. Launched in 2018 with an expected lifetime of four years, the Seahawk is exceeding life expectancy for cube satellites, continuing to deliver data.

The 3U cube satellite, launched in 2018, is part of a partnership between the University of North Carolina Wilmington and NASA funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. It features a compact, multispectral imager (HawkEye) that captures approximately 100 images weekly which are used to analyze the color of the ocean. The data enables a greater understanding of the marine food chain, oceanic climate, fisheries and pollution phenomena, factors used to support the health and sustainability of the oceans.

The satellite is operated from AAC Clyde Space’s Glasgow Operations Centre, with instrument data downloaded to the NASA’s Alaska station, through the satellite’s X-band downlink. The data is integrated into NASA’s SeaWiFS Data Analysis System (SeaDAS) and is distributed free of charge to scientists worldwide.

“AAC Clyde Space are delighted to continue to support the SeaHawk mission to improve environmental surveillance and generate reliable data to support the health and sustainability of our oceans. The SeaHawk is a cube satellite with a great mission for our planet,” said AAC Clyde Space CEO, Luis Gomes.

Don Richardson, Director at Cassiopeia Space Systems Inc. (CSS), has built a joint venture with Israel’s Over-SAT and developed the RIGEL Satcom Terminal (<= PDF brochure download).

This JV was funded with $1 million by the Israel US Bi-national R&D fund — BIRD Foundation

“A private Israeli space venture recently propelled our nation into the club of four countries that have landed on the moon,” said Uri Oran, Director General of the Israel Space Agency at an US Israel Space Tech event, which took place at the Virginia Tech Briefing Center in Arlington in October. A second $100-million privately funded and managed mission, called Beresheet 2 (Beresheet is the Hebrew name for the first book in the Bible, Genesis), is slated to launch in 2024.

“As we trend toward a $1-trillion space market,” added Oran, ”one of the Israel Space Agency’s priorities is to develop a national infrastructure to be a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs to build private space ventures.”

Attended by representatives of space related start-ups and established technology firms, as well as government and other stakeholders, the event followed by just three weeks the first meeting of the U.S.-Israel Strategic High-Level Dialogue on Technology held in the White House.

NASA’s Dr. Eliad Peretz, Lead Researcher for New Space Missions at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, noted NASA’s openness to private sector participation when he briefed the group on access points for companies to receive NASA funding to support its core research tasks, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.

Starburst Aerospace, an innovation catalyst and the only aerospace accelerator in Israel, is exploring establishing a startup accelerator program in Virginia to facilitate co-development between industry leaders to solve the aerospace industry’s most pressing technological challenges, according to Noemie Alliel, Managing Director of Starburst Israel who presented at the event.

“The program will support pre-seed and seed-stage startups and focus on accelerating the product-market fit with key design partners from Starburst’s global ecosystem that will provide beta site and funding,” said Alliel.

The Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB), a state agency developing economic, cultural and educational connections between Israel and Virginia, hosted Space Tech along with the Arlington County Economic Development Agency and TYPE5, a space tech investment group. Virginia Israel Advisory Board’s Executive Director Dov Hoch said he is working with Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera to develop a STEM education program involving Virginia students with the Israel lunar lander Beresheet 2.

“We envision a learning program that will lead to launching a student digital payload to the moon, then a yearlong engagement with the lunar orbiter involving Virginia students communicating with and monitoring activities in space,” said Hoch.

“We were thrilled to partner with VIAB to host the US-Israel Space Tech Event in Arlington,” said Marian Marquez, Acting Deputy Director of Arlington Economic Development. “Earlier this year, I met with Israeli tech companies in Tel Aviv that are driving space innovation with important commercial and defense applications, and we have many great companies here in Northern Virginia doing the same. Space Tech brought them together.”

The Arlington gathering built on momentum in space tech collaboration between Virginia and Israeli companies that started in 2021 when Wakefield, Virginia, based Mil-SAT partnered with Israel’s Over-SAT in a joint venture to create Cassiopeia Space Systems Inc. (CSS). CSS presented their RIGEL Satcom Terminal at Space Tech. “I am very proud and excited to be working with Over-Sat on this game-changing technology for the new LEO networks,” said Don Richardson, CSS Director.

The venture’s initial $1-million funding came from the US-Israel Bi-National R&D fund (BIRD) whose Deputy Executive Director, Limor Nakar-Vincent, presented at Space Tech, encouraging attendees to explore R&D partnerships with Israeli companies who can receive up to $1.5-million in non-dilutive funding.

Other presenters included Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel’s largest defense company whose US headquarters is in Herndon, Virginia; Kevin Pomfret, partner at Williams Mullen Law Firm and member of the Space Law Committee of the International Bar Association; and Professor Vassilios Kovanis, Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Founding Faculty Member and Bradley Department ECE Director of the ECE Meng, who presented the relevance of Virginia Tech’s work in quantum computing as an enabling technology for space related concerns and provided a briefing on the Innovation Campus.

“To me, Space Tech was the ‘first step’ in space-related partnerships between Virginia and Israeli companies,” said VIAB’s Hoch. “It was a marvelous follow-up to an event in 2021 when then Governor Northam invited an Israeli Ministry of Defense unmanned systems delegation to Virginia. Earlier this month, UVision, an unmanned Israeli defense contractor, opened a facility in Stafford.”

For more information, contact: Dov Hoch, Virginia Israel Advisory Board

Article by Keith Cowing