Archives for January 2024

Ovzon’s CFO Noora Jayasekara has decided to leave the company — a process to recruit a new CFO has been initiated.

Noora Jayasekara has been Ovzon’s CFO since November 2022 and will continue in her current role until June 2024 or until a new CFO is in place.

“Noora has been instrumental in a very hectic and critical period for Ovzon, including securing the additional financing for Ovzon 3 among other things. We wish Noora all the best in her next assignment and thank her for her invaluable contribution to our company”, said Per Norén, CEO of Ovzon.

“It has been an eventful time at Ovzon, and I am grateful for having been part of this fantastic company. Now that Ovzon 3 has been successfully launched I know that the full potential of Ovzon’s unique SATCOM-as-a-Service will be unleashed. I wish Ovzon and the team all the best going forward”, said Noora Jayasekara.

Filtronic has recently acquired a new contract win with global provider of LEO satellite communications equipment — this contract is for the volume supply of the company’s newly developed, second-generation, Cerus 32 SSPA module.

The contract is worth $6.0 million and is for the delivery of the second generation of the Cerus 32 solid-state power amplifier module. These SSPA modules will be installed in selected ground station locations as part of the customer’s Earth station antenna deployment, which provides complete E-band connectivity to the growing number of E-band enabled LEO satellites.

The Cerus 32 offers up to +43dBm of transmit power. Each Cerus 32 module benefits from Filtronic’s in-house, MMIC (Monolithic microwave integrated circuit) chip design and power-combining techniques, delivering maximum linear power. The high-power SSPA can be applied in a range of applications and is specifically suitable for commercial, military and SATCOM applications.

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with a leading global provider of LEO satellites and pleased with the opportunity to provide them with production volumes of the Cerus32 SSPA module for the deployment of their E-band ground station antenna network,” said Richard Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer.

Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk) and Telikom Limited (Telikom) have commenced initial Sat2Phone services for subscribers using Lynk’s “cell-towers-in-space.” This collaboration is anticipated to significantly enhance mobile coverage in Papua New Guinea, benefiting both the local population and visitors.

Telikom Limited, a leading telecommunication company in the South Pacific, is nationally owned and provides a range of telecommunication services in Papua New Guinea, including local, national, and international fixed-line and mobile services. Telikom engages in both retail and wholesale business, offering voice and data broadband services.

The initial Sat2Phone service will begin with SMS and is expected to expand in the future to include voice and mobile broadband, ultimately delivering an urban-like mobile experience anywhere, no matter how remote. When achieved, ubiquitous connectivity will have the potential to offer life-saving emergency alerts and SMS warnings in areas vulnerable to natural disasters.

Amos Tepi, CEO of Telikom, said, “Today’s announcement will, over time, be instrumental in improving the lives of Papuans right across our nation. Lynk’s network deployment will enable continuous mobile coverage, surpassing the limitations of traditional terrestrial mobile towers. The initial service, starting in Hela Province, will extend in 2024 and beyond, allowing Telikom to better serve new and existing subscribers.”

James Alderdice, Lynk’s VP, Asia-Pacific, highlighted Lynk’s commitment to expanding services across Oceania, stating, “Our partnership with Telikom will enable mobile connectivity to be extended to the people of Papua New Guinea. Offering initial commercial service reflects Telikom’s innovative approach to bringing disparate communities together.”

Scout Space Inc. has announced that long-time aerospace and defense executive, Philip Hover-Smoot, has been named the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), as of January 12, 2024.

Hover-Smoot succeeds Co-founder and CEO, Eric Ingram, who will now be taking on the roles of Chairman of the Board and Chief Strategy Officer. As the Chief Executive Officer, Hover-Smoot will uphold Scout’s mission of ensuring security in space operations with cost-effective plug-and-play vision systems that enhance customer missions and enable satellite autonomy. He plans to continue to cultivate collaboration between government and commercial customers and expedite both technical progress and technical hiring in the near term.

Previous to Scout, Hover-Smoot served as the General Counsel at Spaceflight Inc., a group company of Mitsui & Co. Ltd., best known for pioneering orbital transfer vehicles and commercial rideshare missions. Prior to that, he held the roles of Deputy General Counsel and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS), an in-space services provider.

Hover-Smoot has also held a series of roles at Raytheon Technologies, primarily in the Office of General Counsel at Raytheon Technologies’ Intelligence & Space business, where he held key advisory roles in compliance and contracting with a focus on remote sensing and electronic warfare systems. Earlier in his legal career, he specialized in the implementation of technology security and foreign disclosure controls and counseled both aerospace and technology organizations.

Mr. Hover-Smoot holds a JD/MBA from Drake University and has completed postdoctoral work at Stanford’s Spogli Institute for International Security Studies, with an emphasis on national security and intelligence.

CEO Eric Ingram said, “We’re pleased to have someone of Philip’s caliber at Scout as our CEO. We’ve experienced unprecedented growth over the last year, assembled an incredible team, and demonstrated our ability to capture meaningful business within our core national security customer base. We’re now well-positioned with Philip’s leadership to accelerate growth and transition Scout from an R&D business into a business with real deliverables for both government and commercial customers.”

Hover-Smoot said, “I am thrilled to be joining Scout at such a dynamic time. For all the right reasons, we need to refocus on developing the business and refining our execution plans. With Scout’s proven flight heritage, secure sensor solutions, and advanced autonomy capabilities, we have the potential to revolutionize the SDA segment.” Hover-Smoot added, “Not only has the team managed extraordinary growth over the last few years, but Scout also built an amazing corporate culture, which has been key to its ongoing success. I’m looking forward to supporting that culture and collaborating with the team at this critical juncture to lead the company through a much anticipated and accelerated growth period.”

Early last month, the Space Development Agency (SDA) sought industry feedback for the final of three types of Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) space vehicles—T2TL Gamma.

This draft solicitation expanded upon the foundation for Tranche 2 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) that was previously described in the T2TL Alpha and Beta solicitations.

SDA expects to procure approximately 20, T2TL Gamma space vehicles with a payload specifically designed to close future kill chains via the PWSA. The Gamma variant will share certain baseline characteristics with the other T2TL variants (Alpha and Beta) outlined in the solicitation.

T2TL features multiple space vehicle and mission configuration variants procured through a multi-solicitation and multi-vendor acquisition approach. The initial launch capability is scheduled for September of 2026.

The T2 Gamma draft solicitation is comprised of unclassified solicitation documents as well as classified material on technical details of payload development.

For information on how to request the classified solicitation documents and for proposal submission instructions, please visit this URL… Responses are due by 5:00 pm ET on January 19, 2024.

The Space Development Agency will deliver a Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) – level industry presentation ahead of the anticipated Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) Gamma solicitation. The engagement will occur on Wednesday, February 7, and Thursday, February 8, starting at 9:00 a.m. ET at SDA’s Tech Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The presentations will focus on the anticipated T2TL Gamma Other Transaction (OT) solicitation for payload development for space systems to provide fire control solutions. Those interested in attending can get more information and registration instructions at this direct infolink… Registration closes on January 30, 2024.

SpaceX is targeting Sunday, January 21 for a Falcon 9 launch of 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff is targeted for 6:00 p.m. PT, with backup opportunities available until 9:58 p.m. PT. If needed, additional opportunities are available starting Monday, January 22 at 6:01 p.m. PT.

A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about five minutes prior to liftoff. Watch live.

This is the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, and 10 Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

UPDATE 1: The mission is now scheduled to launch no earlier than January 27 between 19:15-20:00 NZT (January 27 between 06:15-07:00 UTC) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

‘Four Of A Kind’ will deploy four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites for Spire Global, Inc’s (Spire) customer NorthStar Earth & Space (NorthStar).

NorthStar´s satellites, built and operated by Spire, will be the first to simultaneously monitor all near-Earth orbits from space, delivering a radically enhanced level of SSA services to the global satellite community, with timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alerts.

Original posting

The ‘Four of a Kind’ mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than January 18 between 19:15-20:00 NZT (January 18 between 06:15-07:00 UTC) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The mission will deploy four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites for Spire Global, Inc’s customer NorthStar Earth & Space. 

NorthStar´s satellites, built and operated by Spire, will be the first to simultaneously monitor all near-Earth orbits from space, delivering an enhanced level of SSA services to the global satellite community, with timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alerts.

As a secondary mission, Rocket Lab will be attempting to splash down and retrieve Electron’s first stage as part of the Company’s plan to evolve Electron into a reusable rocket. After launch and stage separation, Electron’s first stage will return to Earth under a parachute and splash down in the Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers down range from Launch Complex 1. Rocket Lab’s recovery vessel will extract the stage from the water for transportation back to Rocket Lab’s production complex where it will undergo detailed analysis. Rocket Lab is not launching any pre-flown engines as part of this mission.

‘Four of a Kind’ will be Rocket Lab’s first launch as part of a sold-out launch manifest for 2024 and will be the Company’s 43^rd Electron mission overall.

“With each recovery mission we iterate toward Electron reusability and with recent launches we’ve made significant leaps forward with more successful splashdowns, recoveries and the first launch of a pre-flown Rutherford engine,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck. “We’re looking forward to putting advanced heat-shielding and waterproofing systems to the test on this mission as one of the final steps before re-flying an entire first stage. To launch an advanced mission like this with Spire as a mission partner is a real privilege, as they were on our very first orbital mission in 2018. To be partnered up again and both still pushing boundaries with new technology and capabilities all these years later is a great full circle moment.”

Spire Global co-founder and CEO, Peter Platzer, said, “As we approach the launch of NorthStar’s SSA satellites, this moment not only signifies a technological milestone but also underscores the meticulous collaboration that has shaped this mission. Through our joint efforts with Rocket Lab, we’ve been able to offer the flexibility of a dedicated launch tailored precisely to NorthStar’s mission requirements. In tandem, Spire’s Space Services team, working closely with Rocket Lab, has played a pivotal role in constructing and customizing all mission components, ensuring seamless alignment with NorthStar’s unique needs. This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to removing barriers in space business and contributing to a more sustainable future in space.”