Archives for March 2023

Neumann Space, a leader of in-space electric propulsion has successfully completed integrating its world leading propulsion system, called the Neumann Drive®, onto Skykraft’s Australian designed and manufactured satellite.  

This marks the first time the Neumann Drive®, whose unique propulsion technology uses solid metallic propellant, has been integrated onto a satellite. The satellite is now undergoing final testing before being shipped to the U.S. for a scheduled launch in mid-2023. 

Neumann Space’s CEO, Herve Astier said, “In the rapidly evolving new space economy there is a growing need for better propulsion. Whether it is deorbiting at the end of a mission’s life, navigating into the most effective orbit, or maneuvering away from growing space junk, we are seeing an increasing demand for our products.”  

“We are pleased to be working with Skykraft, a fellow Australian space company working to commercialzse technology for the benefit of global customers. We look forward to demonstrating in space the sovereign capability that Neumann Space has developed, and the benefits of using a propulsion system that is safer, more efficient and easier to operate,” he said. 

Dr. Michael Frater, CEO of Skykraft added, “Skykraft is pleased to be able to carry payloads like the Neumann Drive® to enable them to achieve crucial space heritage. Through this activity, Skykraft supports innovation in the broader Australian space community and has the opportunity to work with our world leading companies.” 

Neumann Space designs and manufactures propulsion systems for CubeSats and SmallSats, and it is its CubeSat Product Class that will be carried on the Skykraft satellite. The propulsion system incorporates a Thruster Unit that contains Molybdenum as the solid metallic propellant and is based on the company’s patented pulsed cathodic arc thruster technology. Neumann Space’s team of engineers based in Adelaide, South Australia, continue to refine the company’s products, and have now finalised the design and commenced manufacturing of its next generation Neumann Drive®.  

Intellian Technologies Inc., a global provider of resilient multi-constellation, feature-rich satellite user terminals and communications solutions, unveils their latest Electronically Scanned Array (ESA) technology at Satellite 2023, in Washington, D.C.

Intellian’s flat panel user terminal portfolio includes solutions designed to operate across fixed enterprise, land mobility, maritime, government and defense sectors. The full-duplex ESA user terminal will operate on the OneWeb satellite network, with production slated to commence in Q3 2023.

Flat panels are ideally suited for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) networks. The OneWeb LEO satellites require satellite hand-overs approximately every two to three minutes depending on the user terminal’s geographical location. As such, Intellian’s flat panel is designed to electronically scan over a wide field of view within hundreds of microseconds for seamless handovers. Intellian’s ESA product design focus has been on optimization of size, weight, power and cost so they can provide seamless connectivity for remote communities and minimal infrastructure, through to cellular backhaul solutions and installations on critical first responder vehicles.

The full-duplex user terminal, OW11FL, features a low profile weatherized antenna designed to deliver high reliability and performance to Enterprise customers. Paired with the CNX-WiFi indoor unit, the OW11FL delivers the ideal solution for enterprise, community broadband, and civil government applications. 

The innovative modular ESA user terminal, designed by Intellian’s industry leading in-house engineers, has enabled parallel development of a half-duplex user terminal, and will facilitate rapid development of other configurations and form factors to address alternative markets and use cases including a military manpack, also on display at Satellite 2023.

Intellian is a vertically integrated product company with their flat panel solutions designed at the Advanced Development Center and manufacturing taking place at Intellian’s state-of-the-art Campus 2, in Korea.

Eric Sung, President and CEO at Intellian Technologies Inc, said, “This milestone is a testament to our position as a leading technological innovator within the satcoms industry. By keeping production in-house at our state-of-the-art facilities, Intellian is able to deliver exceptional quality-assured products with scale and control over our supply chain. We are excited to unveil our new ESA technology at Satellite 2023 to the market and look forward to providing assured connectivity across fixed enterprise, land mobility, maritime, government and defense sectors.”

Based on the weather forecast this week, Rocket Lab has set a new no earlier than launch date for the upcoming mission from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 in Virginia for Capella Space. Here are the details.

Stronger Together

• Launch date: Wednesday March 15

• Launch timing: 6:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern, with lift-off targeted for 6:00 p.m.

Launch location: Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2, Wallops Island, Virginia.

The mission will be Rocket Lab’s second Electron launch from Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia. Stronger Together will carry two 100-kg class satellites for Capella Space, a leading provider of commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery.  

Previous update posting…

Unfavorable weather conditions required Rocket Lab to cancel the March 11th launch of the Capella Space SAR smallsats… a new launch date will be announced shortly and the company has an open window for such activity throughout this coming week.

Original information posting…

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has scheduled their next Electron launch from Virginia during a launch window that opens on March 11, 2023, ET.

The “Stronger Together” mission is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) on Wallops Island, Virginia, for Capella Space, a provider of commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. The mission will be Rocket Lab’s second launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility following on the Company’s successful inaugural mission from LC-2 on January 24, 2023.

“Stronger Together” will deploy two,100 kg class satellites to LEO and expand the existing Capella Space SAR constellation, increasing imaging capacity to meet growing customer demand. Capella Space SAR satellites are able to gather images of Earth any time of the day, in any weather as well as penetrate conditions that include clouds, fog, smog, darkness and smoke.

Supporting Rocket Lab’s vertical integration strategy, Rocket Lab will also supply Capella Space with two of the Company’s own Motorized Lightbands; separation systems designed to separate the Capella satellites from Electron once in orbit. Rocket Lab has launched for Capella previously with the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical” mission in August of 2020, when Electron successfully deployed to orbit Capella’s first satellite in that firm’s SAR constellation.

This upcoming launch is one of five missions for Capella Space scheduled to start launching on Electron this year, following the recently-announced multi-launch deal securing four rapid succession launches for Capella from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. However, there is the option for Capella to move any of these missions to Launch Complex 2 should that be needed to meet Capella’s requirements – the type of responsive and flexible launch solution that Rocket Lab can provide by operating three orbital launch pads across two continents.

Members of the public wanting to watch Electron’s upcoming launch from Virginia can visit nearby viewing locations in Accomack County, Virginia, such as Robert Reed Park and Curtis Merrit Harbor on Chincoteague Island. The Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Atlantic beaches also provide good viewing locations.

A live launch webcast will also be available at this direct link from around T-20 minutes.

Unfavorable weather conditions required Rocket Lab to cancel the March 11th launch of the Capella Space SAR smallsats… a new launch date will be announced shortly and the company has an open window for such activity throughout this coming week.

Original information posting…

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has scheduled their next Electron launch from Virginia during a launch window that opens on March 11, 2023, ET.

The “Stronger Together” mission is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) on Wallops Island, Virginia, for Capella Space, a provider of commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. The mission will be Rocket Lab’s second launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility following on the Company’s successful inaugural mission from LC-2 on January 24, 2023.

“Stronger Together” will deploy two,100 kg class satellites to LEO and expand the existing Capella Space SAR constellation, increasing imaging capacity to meet growing customer demand. Capella Space SAR satellites are able to gather images of Earth any time of the day, in any weather as well as penetrate conditions that include clouds, fog, smog, darkness and smoke.

Supporting Rocket Lab’s vertical integration strategy, Rocket Lab will also supply Capella Space with two of the Company’s own Motorized Lightbands; separation systems designed to separate the Capella satellites from Electron once in orbit. Rocket Lab has launched for Capella previously with the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical” mission in August of 2020, when Electron successfully deployed to orbit Capella’s first satellite in that firm’s SAR constellation.

This upcoming launch is one of five missions for Capella Space scheduled to start launching on Electron this year, following the recently-announced multi-launch deal securing four rapid succession launches for Capella from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. However, there is the option for Capella to move any of these missions to Launch Complex 2 should that be needed to meet Capella’s requirements – the type of responsive and flexible launch solution that Rocket Lab can provide by operating three orbital launch pads across two continents.

Members of the public wanting to watch Electron’s upcoming launch from Virginia can visit nearby viewing locations in Accomack County, Virginia, such as Robert Reed Park and Curtis Merrit Harbor on Chincoteague Island. The Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Atlantic beaches also provide good viewing locations.

A live launch webcast will also be available at this direct link from around T-20 minutes.

Momentus Inc.’s Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle (OSV) arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base for its third demonstration mission targeted to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-7 mission next month. Momentus (NASDAQ: MNTS) , a U.S. commercial space company, offers transportation and other in-space infrastructure services.

The Momentus team completed final flight preparations, and the Vigoride-6 OSV is integrated with the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The priorities of this mission include delivering payloads for NASA, as well as the REVELA payload for ARCA Dynamics, the VIREO CubeSat for C3S LLC., the DISCO-1 CubeSat for Aarhus University, and the IRIS-C payload for an Asian customer booked through ISILAUNCH.

“Vigoride-6 will mark our third OSV mission. Spaceflight heritage is an important competitive discriminator as customers seek reliability and flexibility,” said Momentus Chief Executive Officer John Rood. “We’re honored to serve NASA on this flight as we deliver two payloads for their NASA LLITED mission to a custom orbit and provide orbital transportation services for several commercial customers.”

In addition to customer payload deployments, the Vigoride-6 mission will focus on continued testing of the OSV in space, including the Microwave Electrothermal Thruster (MET) that is designed to use water as a propellant and produce thrust by expelling extremely hot gases through a rocket nozzle.

Vigoride-6 will also carry a Momentus payload called the Tape Spring Solar Array (TASSA) technology. TASSA features large sheets of flexible solar cells bonded to tape springs. To stow, they are tightly coiled around a mandrel. After launch, motors unroll the mandrel, deploying the solar array. TASSA can coil around a 4″ diameter mandrel, compared to the 12″ ones used for other rollout solar arrays.

“Momentus has applied to patent the principles behind TASSA,” said Rood. “Once TASSA development is complete, we anticipate that the technology could reduce the overall recurring production cost of a Vigoride while reducing lead time by several months. These are important improvements as we continue to transition from Vigoride development to production at lower unit costs. We are also seeing commercial and government customers interested in TASSA.”

Momentus launched its inaugural mission in May 2022. That mission deployed eight customer payloads from the Vigoride-3 vehicle and a third-party deployer. Vigoride-5, the Company’s second demonstration mission, launched in January 2023. Read the latest mission update from Vigoride-5 here.

BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has won a $150+ million competitive contract to provide advanced, space-based, tactical GEOINT-as-a-service to an international ministry of defense customer.

This multi-year contract for advanced, subscription-based, GEOINT-as-a-services is aligned with the deployment of Blacksky’s next-generation constellation and contains options to extend services as needed.

“BlackSky is taking real-time, space-based tactical GEOINT to the next level with industry-leading rapid revisit capabilities and fully automated low-latency delivery of AI-derived mission intelligence,” said Brian E. O’Toole, BlackSky CEO. “Our superior software-to-satellite architecture is now trusted by multiple international defense ministries as a premier tool informing critical day-to-day operations. BlackSky is pushing operationally secure, mission-critical GEOINT to the most forward edge of the battle area, directly into the hands of tactical operators. Whereas a conventional static mapping approach to mission critical GEOINT is of limited value, BlackSky’s real-time intelligence service is commercially-available and ready to help governments and commercial partners worldwide accelerate the value of tactical GEOINT derived from space-based assets from hours down to minutes.”

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, March 9 at 2:13 p.m. ET (19:13 UTC) for Falcon 9’s launch of the the OneWeb Launch 17 mission to LEO from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40 — photo below) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

If needed, there is a backup opportunity available on Friday, March 10 at 2:08 p.m. ET (19:08 UTC).

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, and seven Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

A live webcast of this mission will start about 15 minutes prior to liftoff.

Space Launch Delta (SLD) 45 will allocate several launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCSFS) as a part of the new Launch Pad Allocation Strategy (LPAS)

Through the LPAS, the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and SLD 45 have selected four companies for allocation of launch property — Space Launch Completed (SLC) 15 to ABL Space, SLC 14 to Stoke Space and SLC 13 to Phantom Space and Vaya Space.

Offering excess launch property to CLSPs fosters development of new launch space systems and helps to ensure a strong space launch industrial base for the Nation.

The LPAS was developed to account for maximizing opportunities for the number of CLSP that can be hosted at CCSFS, maximizing the launch capacity of the Eastern Range and minimizing the impacts that CLSPs create for other CLSPS during adjacent ops.

This was the first round of launch pad allocations and was focused on smallsat class launch vehicles. Additional rounds of allocation for medium, heavy and super heavy launch vehicles may occur in the future after further operational analysis.

Space Launch Delta 45 is the world’s Premier Gateway to Space. Based at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida, SLD45 operates the Eastern Range and provides safety and mission assurance for all rocket launches from CCSFS and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.