Archives for January 2023

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) recently launched GAzelle satellite that is hosting NOAA‘s Argos-4 and RadMon payloads has successfully completed its on-orbit, Post Launch Acceptance Review (PLAR).

All components are confirmed in good health and satellite operations are functioning nominally. The RadMon payload commissioning phase has been completed and can begin mission operations. The Argos-4 Payload has completed its initial on-orbit checkout and has begun its commissioning process which will occur over the next three months.

GA-EMS launched the GAzelle spacecraft as a Hosted Payload Solutions (HoPS) mission delivery order for the Argos Advanced Data Collection System (A-DCS) awarded to the company by the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Argos-4 instrument was provided by France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).

GA-EMS designed and manufactured the GAzelle satellite, performed all payload integration and testing, and coordinated the launch. GA-EMS owns GAzelle and is managing the satellite on orbit operations from its Spacecraft Mission Operations Center in Colorado.

“We are excited to see the GAzelle satellite performing as anticipated and that our mission control team has successfully confirmed a healthy operational bus environment for the Argos-4 and RadMon instruments to begin their on-orbit 5-year mission,” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “With payload checkout completed, the Argos-4 instrument will begin its commissioning phase, and in a few months, it will begin delivering critical real-time data from fixed and mobile sensors to scientists and researchers worldwide as they study changes in the Earth’s environment with the goal of monitoring and protecting our Earth’s oceans and wildlife.”

“We look forward to having the GAzelle satellite join the Argos constellation as part of an international program to collect and distribute environmental data for use in applications such as ocean buoy tracking, wildlife and fishery monitoring, and maritime security,” said Gregg Burgess, vice president of GA-EMS Space Systems. “GAzelle is the first in a series of spacecraft GA-EMS is building as part of an expanding weather and science program to deliver affordable, high performance next generation satellites on-orbit for the collection and relay of global cloud characterization, weather imagery, and environmental data to support research, government, and military customer applications.”

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) Group is a global leader in the research, design, and manufacture of first-of-a-kind electromagnetic and power generation systems. GA-EMS’ history of research, development, and technology innovation has led to an expanding portfolio of specialized products and integrated system solutions supporting aviation, space systems and satellites, missile defense, power and energy, and processing and monitoring applications for critical defense, industrial, and commercial customers worldwide.

SWISSto12 is moving forward with the roll-out of the HummingSat satellite product line, thanks to fresh subscriptions in excess of 30 million euros received at the ESA Ministerial Conference Meeting. Participating states include Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands, with further subscriptions expected to soon be received.

The funding will allow SWISSto12’s HummingSat product line being developed in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) to fully roll-out. Recently, SWISSto12 announced that it will produce the first satellite of this product line, the Intelsat IS-45, making SWISSto12 the first scale-up specialist in the history of the industry to sign a contract of this nature with an established telecommunications operator.

Named after the tiny, agile hummingbird, SWISSto12’s HummingSat product line is a showcase for the disruptive technologies emerging in Europe’s space landscape. Lightweight and small, it is far more cost-effective and sustainable than conventional satellites, paving the way for better connectivity across the globe.

Dr. Emile de Rijk, SWISSto12 founder and CEO, said, “At SWISSto12, we are proud to be at the core of Europe’s new space ecosystem. With our HummingSat product line, we are building a next-generation telecommunications infrastructure with the goal of reliably connecting communities and businesses. ESA has been an invaluable partner in funding and expertise along this journey. The new funding will help us to make the disruptive technology of HummingSat a global success.”

Andreas Mauroschat, ESA Partnership and Opportunity Satellites Program Manager, said, “HummingSat is a showcase for a successful ESA Partnership Project and we are delighted to support European and Canadian industry in this exciting new-space venture. The project has been set up in record time and within only a few months SWISSto12 has sold the first commercial HummingSat to global satellite operator Intelsat. ESA Partnership Projects federate the European and Canadian space industry around large-scale programmes, achieving competitive leaps forward and economic impact. They support end-to-end space systems from start-up to in-orbit validation, after which commercial partners operate the system.”

In-Space Missions Ltd. is partnering with Singapore Space Technologies Ltd. (SSTL) to initiate Faraday Dragon, an Asia-Pacific (APAC) regional satellite rideshare mission that is targeted for launch in 2025. Faraday Dragon will fly multiple payloads for regional space players including government, commercial, financial, research and educational organizations.

In-Space Missions, which is owned by BAE Systems, is collaborating with Singapore Space on a service-orientated model which aims to support and develop satellite assembly and payload integration capabilities in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region. Faraday Dragon will be presented at a workshop facilitated by SSTL at the Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC) being held in Singapore in February. The workshop will bring together key stakeholders and industry to define a future in-orbit demonstration capability. Core technologies and processes for a variety of applications will be discussed at the workshop including optical payloads (both visible and infra-red), RF sensing, radar, processors, machine learning and artificial intelligence, communications, propulsion, formation flying, metrology and timing.

The Faraday Rideshare satellite platform and service capability has been developed by In-Space Missions, with support from the UK Space Agency, to provide a full turnkey system for enabling diverse organisations to get payloads into space at a very competitive price that cannot be achieved using a dedicated satellite solution. The platform design includes innovative on-board processing to deliver sophisticated, flexible and re-configurable data from multiple sensors on board the spacecraft, providing the potential for a rich flow of data from new technologies for the downstream sector.

Value added services from Faraday Dragon could also include on-orbit processing (edge processing), subsequent timely delivery of actionable information to a user community and a full end-to-end service to customers that includes payload operations support, satellite bus operations, payload tasking and download of data via a Customer Data Portal.

In-Space Missions is also seeking partners and collaborators in theAPAC region for the InSpace Digital system, launching in 2024, to trial payload applications that can be run on the ground or uploaded (or both) and make use of a unique combination of data from multiple optical payloads, Synthetic Aperture Radar and an RF multi-band and wide band collect system.

InSpace Digital is a reprogrammable, multi-sensor system of four satellites that can be repurposed for different applications and commercial use. It can be reprogrammed to use multiple optical payloads and the RF multi-band and wide band collect system on three of the spacecraft, along with the SAR payload on the fourth, to generate pre-processed results to deliver value added data or actionable information to users. The system includes inter-satellite links between the spacecraft, precision timing and metrology and inter-satellite links via GEO for low volume data and tasking.

“The Faraday Dragon rideshare mission is designed to contribute to the regional eco-system by bringing multiple payloads together on one satellite platform to provide a more cost-effective and sustainable ride to orbit for pre-cursor missions, early service rollout, technology demonstration, and in-orbit flight qualification of new technologies. Our customers will be able to access the performance of a 150kg class small satellite for a fraction of the cost of traditional flight services as well as access our in-orbit ‘Digital’ system to take advantage of coherent multi-sensing and processing,” said Tony Holt, Chief Sales Officer for In-Space

“We are excited to be working with In-Space Missions to bring a low-cost option to space players in the Asia Pacific region. One of the biggest challenges faced by emerging players developing frontier space technologies is the cost of space heritage. It is through partnerships like this that SSTL is able to support cutting edge innovation by lowering the barriers to entry,” said Jonathan Hung, Executive Chairman at Singapore Space and Technology Limited.

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, January 26th at 4:22 a.m. ET (9:22 UTC) for a Falcon 9 launch of 56 Starlink satellites to LEO from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, mPOWER-a and one Starlink mission.

Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Isar Aerospace and Spaceflight Inc. have signed a multi-launch services agreement — Spaceflight secured one dedicated launch in 2026 to SSO, taking off from Andøya, Norway, and an option to add an additional dedicated launch to occur in 2025.

Spaceflight has more than a decade of launch and in-space transportation services expertise, successfully delivering more than 450 spacecraft across 55 launches, including both rideshare and dedicated launches. The company provides a host of launch and mission management services, from security capacity to providing comprehensive integration and logistics services.

In addition, the company executed the launch of five next-gen Sherpa® orbital transfer vehicles which successfully carried more than 50 customer payloads, including cubesats, microsats and hosted payloads, to their desired orbits.

The agreement underlines the trust and growing global interest in Isar Aerospace’s flexible launch service solutions as the company expands into the U.S. market. Spectrum, Isar Aerospace’s completely in-house developed, two-stage launch vehicle, can deliver as much as 1,000 kilograms to LEO and up to 700 kilograms to SSO.

The vehicle design and testing are progressing well, and the company is working towards the first test flight of Spectrum, which is planned for 2023. Since its founding in 2018, Isar Aerospace has raised private funding of more than $180 million and attracted both international commercial and institutional customers.

“We’ve seen an increased demand for flexible and affordable launch options around the globe, but especially for our European-based customers,” said Curt Blake, CEO and president of Spaceflight. “We’re very much looking forward to working with Isar Aerospace to help us meet that growing need. They have been successful in securing launch infrastructure and have made significant technological developments over recent years, and we welcome them into our launch vehicle portfolio.”

“We thank Spaceflight for the confidence it has placed in Isar Aerospace’s team and are excited to welcome Spaceflight customers on board Spectrum’s flights! Adding the first U.S.-based company to our international client roster, we clearly see the growing market need for flexible space access and international alternatives. Across the globe, a growing number of vital technologies are dependent on easy access to space and private launch services like Isar Aerospace offer the solution,” said Stella Guillen, chief commercial officer at Isar Aerospace.

AstroForge Inc. has signed a contract with Orbital Astronautics Ltd. (OrbAstro) to fly a 100 kg class spacecraft into deep space for an asteroid survey mission.

The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in late 2023 with Intuitive Machines via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission serves as a prospecting activity and stepping-stone toward AstroForge’s ambitions for asteroid mining.

The OrbAstro ORB-50 satellite platform will host an array of AstroForge payloads associated with assessing asteroids. The spacecraft will use a Lunar slingshot and a Dawn Aerospace propulsion system for the 8 month transit to the asteroid that is in a heliocentric orbit approximately 22 million miles from Earth.

Having recently moved into an 18,000 sq. ft. facility in south Oxfordshire, currently undergoing refurbishment for satellite batch production, OrbAstro is well-aligned with delivering a fleet of asteroid mining spacecraft over the coming years.

“With a finite supply of precious metals on Earth, we have no other choice than to look to deep space to source cost-effective and sustainable materials,” said Matt Gialich, CEO and co-founder of AstroForge. “As we embark on our journey to preserve our planet’s future, we’re grateful to our technology partners like OrbAstro for helping us to become the most efficient, cost-effective asteroid mining solution in the world.”

Dr. Ash Dove-Jay, CEO and Founder of OrbAstro, said, “Deep-space has until now only been within the remit of governments. This is the first fully commercial deep-space mission ever, it is a significant milestone for the space industry. The caliber, speed, and ambition at AstroForge is inspiring – and it is fantastic to forge ahead on this journey together. Beyond being a provider of networks of satellites for various use-cases, a central facet of the OrbAstro roadmap is to deploy space assets over the course of this decade that slash down the difficulties associated with deep-space operations required by companies like AstroForge. The challenge of deep-space communications, and simply knowing where you are and what time it is, are major cost-drivers for deep-space missions that we are working on addressing.”

Co-founded in 2022 by Jose Acain and Matt Gailich, AstroForge will be the first commercial company to venture into deep space. AstroForge was in the Y Combinator W22 cohort and is backed by Initialized Capital, Seven Seven Six, EarthRise, Aera VC, Liquid 2 and Soma.

OrbAstro is a United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Germany based space technology company that builds and supports operations of satellites, with a focus on constellations. With a build schedule of 30+ satellites in 2023, the company is refurbishing its 18,000sqft facility in south Oxfordshire for satellite batch production as it scales, and is building out its own satellite constellation to provide low-latency access & autonomous operations services for its customers satellites. OrbAstro has received support and R&D funding to mature the technologies underpinning its products through the UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Innovate UK, and CEOI.

LeoStella has appointed aerospace and technology industry leader Tim Kienberger to succeed Mike Hettich as CEO. Hettich has retired from LeoStella after leading the company since 2019.

LeoStella is a 50-50 joint venture between Thales Alenia Space, a French-Italian aerospace company, and BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY), a leading provider of real-time geospatial intelligence.

Kienberger takes the helm of LeoStella during a time of significant market growth when the demand for small satellites is expected to triple over the next few years. He will continue this growth and lead the company in developing new products and refining its manufacturing techniques to meet the increasing demand for smallsats.

Kienberger joins LeoStella with three decades of aerospace and defense technology experience, leading market strategy, operations management, program execution and business growth in small spacecraft emerging markets at companies including Boeing and L3Harris. Kienberger has led teams through successful rapid development, launch and operations of small spacecraft constellations while meeting cost, schedule and technical performance goals.

“Tim’s leadership will play a critical role as LeoStella capitalizes on the growing market demand for mission-flexible commercial small satellite products and services at scale,” said BlackSky CEO, Brian E. O’Toole. “His proven experience guiding business growth will be important for the next chapter of success, particularly as LeoStella moves into production on BlackSky’s next generation of satellites.”

“We warmly welcome Tim as the new CEO of LeoStella,” said Hervé Derrey, CEO of Thales Alenia Space. “Teaming up with BlackSky to create LeoStella has been instrumental for Thales’ new space strategy, and we are proud of the many successes and achievements we have accomplished together. Tim’s leadership will be important in addressing new market opportunities as LeoStella emerges as a market leader of smallsat manufacturing and constellation development.”

AstroForge Inc. has signed a contract with Orbital Astronautics Ltd. (OrbAstro) to fly a 100 kg class spacecraft into deep space for an asteroid survey mission.

The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in late 2023 with Intuitive Machines via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission serves as a prospecting activity and stepping-stone toward AstroForge’s ambitions for asteroid mining.

The OrbAstro ORB-50 satellite platform will host an array of AstroForge payloads associated with assessing asteroids. The spacecraft will use a Lunar slingshot and a Dawn Aerospace propulsion system for the 8 month transit to the asteroid that is in a heliocentric orbit approximately 22 million miles from Earth.

Having recently moved into an 18,000 sq. ft. facility in south Oxfordshire, currently undergoing refurbishment for satellite batch production, OrbAstro is well-aligned with delivering a fleet of asteroid mining spacecraft over the coming years.

“With a finite supply of precious metals on Earth, we have no other choice than to look to deep space to source cost-effective and sustainable materials,” said Matt Gialich, CEO and co-founder of AstroForge. “As we embark on our journey to preserve our planet’s future, we’re grateful to our technology partners like OrbAstro for helping us to become the most efficient, cost-effective asteroid mining solution in the world.”

Dr. Ash Dove-Jay, CEO and Founder of OrbAstro, said, “Deep-space has until now only been within the remit of governments. This is the first fully commercial deep-space mission ever, it is a significant milestone for the space industry. The caliber, speed, and ambition at AstroForge is inspiring – and it is fantastic to forge ahead on this journey together. Beyond being a provider of networks of satellites for various use-cases, a central facet of the OrbAstro roadmap is to deploy space assets over the course of this decade that slash down the difficulties associated with deep-space operations required by companies like AstroForge. The challenge of deep-space communications, and simply knowing where you are and what time it is, are major cost-drivers for deep-space missions that we are working on addressing.”

Co-founded in 2022 by Jose Acain and Matt Gailich, AstroForge will be the first commercial company to venture into deep space. AstroForge was in the Y Combinator W22 cohort and is backed by Initialized Capital, Seven Seven Six, EarthRise, Aera VC, Liquid 2 and Soma.

OrbAstro is a United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Germany based space technology company that builds and supports operations of satellites, with a focus on constellations. With a build schedule of 30+ satellites in 2023, the company is refurbishing its 18,000sqft facility in south Oxfordshire for satellite batch production as it scales, and is building out its own satellite constellation to provide low-latency access & autonomous operations services for its customers satellites. OrbAstro has received support and R&D funding to mature the technologies underpinning its products through the UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Innovate UK, and CEOI.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has successfully launched the company’s 33rd Electron rocket and first mission from Virginia after an earlier halt in the proceedings due to adverse weather conditions.

The “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” mission lifted off at 18:00 EST on January 24th from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

The mission deployed three satellites to a 550 km orbit for HawkEye 360. Rocket Lab has now successfully deployed a total of 155 satellites to orbit from the Company’s three launch pads across the U.S. and New Zealand.

The successful launch from LC-2 marks the beginning of a new era of responsive launch capability for small satellites from U.S. soil. Built with support from Virginia Space, the Commonwealth of Virginia and NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 is designed to serve the responsive space needs of commercial, civil, defense, and national security customers, supporting up to 12 missions per year.

Combined with Rocket Lab’s private Launch Complex 1 site in New Zealand, the Company’s launch sites can support more than 130 launch opportunities every year, delivering flexibility and rapid launch capability for customers.

The launch of Electron from the NASA-controlled Wallops Flight Facility also marked the introduction of the agency’s autonomous flight termination capability, known as NAFTU (NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit). While Rocket Lab has successfully flown its own autonomous system on Electron missions since 2019, NASA developed NAFTU in conjunction with this launch to provide a common system for flight termination for a wide array of launch vehicles at any launch range. Autonomous flight termination capability now being in operation at Wallops can provide faster and cheaper access to space for small satellites by enabling wider launch windows, smaller launch safety corridors, and reduced reliance on ground-based systems.

The “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” mission was the first of three Electron launches for HawkEye 360 in a contract that will see Rocket Lab deliver 15 satellites to LEO in 2023 and 2024. These missions will grow HawkEye 360’s constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites, enabling the company to better deliver precise geolocation of radio frequency emissions anywhere in the world. Supporting Rocket Lab’s vertical integration strategy, Rocket Lab will also supply HawkEye 360 with separation systems produced by Planetary Systems Corporation, a Maryland-based space hardware company acquired by Rocket Lab in December 2021.

Virginia is the first U.S. launch location of the Electron launch vehicle, but it will also be home to the Company’s new larger launch vehicle Neutron, which will be built, tested, launched, and landed within the Wallops Flight Facility in the future. Construction is underway of the Neutron Production Complex as development of the new rocket progresses, thanks to the continuous support from the Commonwealth and Virginia Space.

“Electron is already the leading small orbital rocket globally, and today’s perfect mission from a new pad is testament to our team’s unrelenting commitment to mission success,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck. “After our busiest launch year yet in 2022 with nine successful missions, what better way to kick off the new year than by launching Virginia-built spacecraft from a Virginia launch site, enabled by our rapidly growing Virginia-based team. This mission has been a real team effort. Thanks to the consistent support of NASA, Virginia Space, the FAA, the Commonwealth and our mission partner HawkEye 360, Rocket Lab is proud to bring a reliable and responsive new launch capability to Virginia’s Eastern Shore.”

“We are grateful to share in the success of today’s launch. Our sixth trio of satellites and our first mid-latitude satellite cluster will broaden the scope of our geospatial insights for our partners around the world,” said HawkEye 360 CEO, John Serafini. “This also marks our first launch in our home state of Virginia, making today’s success even more meaningful. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with Rocket Lab and Virginia Space in the months and years ahead.”

“We are honored to support the launch of this historic mission,” said Ted Mercer, CEO and Executive Director of Virginia Space. “In addition to being Rocket Lab’s first and only U.S. launch location, we will also be building rockets and processing their payload right here in Accomack County – something that has never been done in Virginia. Our partnership with Rocket Lab is a unique opportunity for the Commonwealth of Virginia to create long-term economic development opportunities in the form of high-paying jobs, launch viewing tourism, and construction of new facilities on the Eastern Shore.”

Original Rocket Lab posting…

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) January 24th launch attempt is now a ‘no-go,’ due to uncooperative weather conditions — upper level high winds. A new launch attempt will be conducted on January 25th.

The ‘Virginia Is For Launch Lovers’ mission remains that was scheduled to launch on Tuesday, January 24th, from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility – a U.S. launch pad for Electron missions that serves government and commercial satellite customers — is scrubbed due to high winds.

The mission is Rocket Lab’s 33rd Electron launch and will eventually deploy three satellites for HawkEye 360, an RF geospatial analytics provider. This upcoming launch is the first of three missions for HawkEye 360 scheduled to be carried out by Rocket Lab in 2023 and 2024. The multi-launch contract to deliver 15 satellites to LEO will grow HawkEye 360’s constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites to better provide geolocation of radio emissions anywhere in the world.

Electron has already delivered 152 satellites to space across 32 missions launched from the company’s private launch site, Launch Complex 1, in New Zealand. Previous Electron missions have deployed satellites for NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office, DARPA, the U.S. Space Force and a range of commercial constellation operators.

A live webcast of the launch will stream at this direct link…

Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier and more affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle, the Photon satellite platform and the Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 152 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and communications. Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft platform has been selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second launch site in Virginia.