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The U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Small Launch and Targets Division’s Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, part of the Space Systems Command (SSC) Assured Access to Space organization, awarded a $45.5 million task order to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation on May 24 via an Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4 Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.

The contract will provide orbital launch services for the SSC Space Sensing Directorate’s latest spacecraft innovation, the Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) prototype, known as EWS Operational Demonstration-1, for a U.S. Space Force mission designated as USSF-261S-A.

The EWS prototype will prove out new EO/IR sensor technology to provide operational quality data to the DoD weather community and inform development of a more cost-effective and proliferated operational architecture. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation will accomplish one launch of its Minotaur IV rocket to deliver the prototype satellite to LEO. The launch of EWS Operational Demonstration-1 on USSF-261S-A is planned for May of 2025.

The OSP-4 contract allows for the rapid, competitive acquisition of launch services to meet mission requirements enabling launch within 12-24 months from task order award. OSP-4 also allows for periodic on-ramps to ensure emerging, innovative launch providers can compete for future missions.

“The Space Force is committed to increasing speed in space acquisitions, and launch is an important part of the solution. We are excited to support future weather capabilities with this launch, using our flexible contracting approach to acquire the launch service in just five months. We are relentless about improving and streamlining the way we do business to use the best industry has to offer.”
— Lt. Col. Justin Beltz, SSC’s chief of the Small Launch and Targets Division

Space Systems Command is the U.S. Space Force’s field command responsible for acquiring and delivering resilient war fighting capabilities to protect our nation’s strategic advantage in and from space. SSC manages an $11 billion space acquisition budget for the DoD and works in partnership with joint forces, industry, government agencies, and academic and allied organizations to accelerate innovation and outpace emerging threats. Our actions today are making the world a better space for tomorrow.

A few weeks ago, we launched our first Astranis satellite to GEO onboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The satellite is Arcturus, which is set to provide high-speed bandwidth to Alaska for our customer Pacific Dataport. I am extremely happy to report that our satellite has completed the orbital maneuvers necessary to arrive in its orbital slot in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), and has now completed a key end-to-end test connecting a gateway in Utah with multiple user terminals in Alaska for the very first time, with the payload performing above spec. The test was 100% successful.

Astranis has designed a new kind of satellite — and it works.

This test demonstrated the core functionality of Arcturus, with the payload fully powered on and including a test of Astranis’s proprietary software-defined radio — and it worked perfectly, on the first try. The test also demonstrated that the satellite could maintain tight positioning in its orbital slot, with high pointing accuracy, under total control of our Mission Operations team. That’s thanks to the successful operation of a variety of complex systems — avionics, power electronics, flight software, guidance navigation & control, onboard rocket thrusters, and more.

This means that we have a new way to connect the most remote and underserved parts of the planet. Our MicroGEO satellites will help get millions of people connected to the internet through our commercial customers, and importantly they are a new tool in the toolbox for the U.S. Department of Defense as it increases the resiliency of its fleet of satellites on orbit.

Achieving this milestone took years of work from some of the most talented hardware and software engineers in the world. I founded Astranis in 2015 with my co-founder and CTO, Ryan McLinko, and in the early years we wondered whether building a small comms satellite for geostationary orbit was even possible. We have now proved that it is.

It’s hard to overstate how many things had to go right for this demonstration to be a success:

• Executing the world’s first MicroGEO satellite development program — from initial R&D and design to assembly, test, launch, and on-orbit operations
• Completing a stable and thermally-regulated coast to geostationary orbit mounted to the second stage of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which required us to design a novel battery and thermal system bolted to the spare ESPA slot on our launch
• Successfully separating the spacecraft from the Falcon Heavy upper stage, quickly followed by deploying our solar arrays, boom, and subreflector — all mechanisms designed in house at Astranis
• Rapidly achieving a power-positive and thermally-balanced state in a near-GEO orbit
• Closing our TTC link, and acquiring telemetry and tracking data from the satellite — a milestone that we completed just 94 seconds after separation from the launch vehicle
• Gaining three-axis control of the vehicle, using a suite of sensors (gyros, sun sensors, star trackers) and actuators (reaction wheels, monopropellant thrusters)
• Demonstrating our ability to complete over-the-air (over-the-space!) updates to our flight software on orbit
• Commissioning our ground infrastructure, collecting telemetry from multiple ground stations all around the world, and commanding the satellite using our mission operations center in San Francisco
• Commissioning the satellite’s major systems — including nine separate Astranis-designed electronics assemblies, all of which are working as intended and without issue
• Completing an orbit raise maneuver — altitude raise, circularization, phasing relocation, and more — to traverse the GEO arc and settle precisely in our designated orbital slot above Alaska
• Powering on and doing initial checkout of our payload, including the Astranis-designed Software-Defined Radio, and all high-power amplifiers
• Demonstrating end-to-end communications in a key payload test
• Operating a cohesive team, on 24/7 shifts, flying the satellite and handling any issues that have come up with cool confidence

Achieving this kind success required the coordinated effort of hundreds of engineers. It is no small feat.

Importantly, working with our customer Pacific Dataport this satellite represents a major step forward for the people of Alaska. At full capacity, it will more than triple the amount of satellite bandwidth available in the state, bringing prices down and helping connect the 39% of the state that still lacks affordable access to reliable broadband internet.

It’s also a major step forward for Astranis. We are launching four more MicroGEO satellites later this year for customers around the world, and many more from there. Our orders over the next 24 months alone represent over $1 billion of satellite services, all based on our now-flight-proven design. But we’re just getting started. Stay tuned for more exciting news in the days and weeks to come.

Written by John Gedmark , “Cofounder & CEO of Astranis. Your friendly neighborhood rocket scientist.”

NASA has initiated a new mission to help humanity better understand Earth’s dynamic atmosphere – specifically, ice clouds that form at high altitudes throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions. The PolSIR instrument (Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer) study such ice clouds to determine how and why they change throughout the day. This will provide crucial information about how to accurately simulate these high-altitude clouds in global climate models.

The investigation consists of two identical CubeSats — each smallsat is just a little over a foot tall — flying in orbits separated by three to nine hours. Over time, these two instruments will observe the clouds’ daily cycle of ice content.

The award is for for lifecycle costs no more than $37 million, which does not include launch costs. The radiometer is an Earth Venture instrument — lower-cost instruments with a targeted research goal, which typically catch a ride along with another mission or commercial satellite in order to minimize launch costs.

The Earth Venture class also focuses on providing frequent flight opportunities, so innovative science investigations can be flown relatively quickly, generally within five years or less. Missions like this provide key targeted research opportunities, which help us improve our understanding of what’s driving change in the entire Earth system.

The mission is led by Ralf Bennartz, principal investigator at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and by Dong Wu, deputy principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NASA Goddard will provide the project management team that builds the two instruments, while science operations will be conducted by the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The two spacecraft will be built by Blue Canyon Technologies in Lafayette, Colorado.

“Studying ice clouds is crucial for improving climate forecasts – and this will be the first time we can study ice clouds in this level of detail. Every NASA mission is carefully chosen to better understand our home planet.”
— Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington

“Understanding how these ice clouds respond to a changing climate – and then, in turn, contribute to further changes – remains one of the great challenges to predicting what the atmosphere will do in the future. The radiometers, which measure the radiant energy emitted by clouds, will significantly improve our understanding of how ice clouds change and respond throughout the day.”
— Karen St. Germain, who leads NASA’s Earth Sciences Division

Rivada Space Networks and OKAPI:Orbits have extended their partnership, which will secure the responsible use of space-based technologies.

OKAPI:Orbits is providing satellite mission-analysis tools, including analysis and implementation of Collision Avoidance and De-orbiting strategies. The agreement brings together Rivada Space Networks’ interconnected high-speed, LEO satellite network and OKAPI:Orbits’ Space Traffic Management Software-as-a-Service solution.

Rivada’s LEO constellation will offer access to a secure satellite network with pole-to-pole reach, offering end-to-end latencies similar to, or better than, terrestrial fiber. The RSN satellite architecture combines inter-satellite laser links with advanced onboard data routers to create an optical mesh network in space. It will deliver ultra-secure and highly reliable global connectivity for business operations in the telecom, enterprise, maritime, energy and government services markets. The first satellite launch is set for 2025, with global service starting in 2026.

“With our program already up and running with Terran Orbital and SpaceX to manufacture and launch the satellites and with Aalyria for the management of the software-defined network, we are moving ahead to ensure the sustainability of the constellations. Our partnership with OKAPI:Orbits demonstrates our commitment to the responsible and sustainable use of space.”
— Clemens Kaiser, Chief Program Officer with Rivada Space Networks

“Orbital networks are the future. Space Traffic Management ensures the safety and security of satellite operations and the future of in-orbit infrastructure operations, which is especially important in a time of a growing number of assets in space. RSN sets an industry-leading example in using space responsibly and applying the highest standards in terms of space sustainability and debris mitigation.”
— Kristina Nikolaus, CEO and Co-founder of OKAPI:Orbits

Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has won a €235 million contract from the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to design, develop and qualify a spacecraft for a dedicated In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) demonstration mission. Thales Alenia Space is leading a Temporary Grouping of Companies regrouping Leonardo, Telespazio, Avio and D-Orbit.

The mission will be developed in the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), with support from the Italian Space Agency. The demonstration mission will operate in low Earth orbit (LEO) and is set to be launched by 2026.

A growing number of satellites are now circling the Earth to meet a wide range of requirements, from geolocation and connectivity, to weather forecasts, environmental monitoring and much more. Thales Alenia Space is therefore developing in-orbit servicing solutions to address the evolving needs of satellites in orbit.

“We are delighted that the Italian Space Agency chose the team of Thales Alenia Space, Leonardo, Telespazio, Avio and D-Orbit to carry out this ambitious project that will make space more sustainable,” said Massimo Claudio Comparini, Senior Executive Vice President, Observation, Exploration, and Navigation at Thales Alenia Space. “This mission reflects the skills and experience of established players in complex space projects, coupled with the more agile approach provided by emerging space companies. By working together they will generate synergies that ensure the future viability of the space sector, while also developing all-Italian technologies to support the growth of the country’s space industry.”

The demonstration mission will test enabling technologies for future on-orbit servicing missions by performing a wide range of robotic operations on satellites already in orbit: refueling, component repair or replacement, orbital transfer and atmospheric reentry.

These operations will be executed thanks to a dexterous robotic arm, developed by Leonardo in collaboration with SAB Aerospace, the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT).

Telespazio, together with Altec, will be in charge of the demonstration mission Ground Segment design, development and validation.

Space logistics company D-Orbit will manage all activities related to the target satellite platform, which is based on the company’s proprietary ION (In Orbit Now) platform, as well as the refueling system, with the transfer of a fluid from the servicer satellite to  the target satellite.

Avio will carry out the design and development activities of the Orbital Support and Propulsion Module for the orbital stages.

In Orbit Servicing vehicles represent a real paradigm shift, since they will introduce unrivaled system scalability and flexibility by providing in-orbit maintenance and upgrade possibilities — also changing the whole approach to satellite design. To meet this challenge, industry will call on its unrivaled multidisciplinary expertise spanning from launchers, satellite infrastructure, robotics, sensing, artificial intelligence up to atmospheric reentry systems.

Thales Alenia Space is the European leader in in-orbit servicing, a new approach to space based on smarter, more innovative missions that make space more sustainable, as reflected in Thales Alenia Space’s “Space for Life” vision.

This Italian demonstration mission confirms Thales Alenia Space’s leadership in in-orbit servicing, following the contract signed with the European Commission last year for the EROSS IOD program.
 

Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) has revealed that their Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite enabled a successful 200 gigabits per second space-to-ground optical link.

The NASA satellite hosts the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload, funded by NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) and developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

With a transmission rate of multiple orders of magnitude faster than current state-of-the-art satellite communications, this technology enables spacecraft to downlink several terabytes of data to the ground in a single, ground station pass. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the space-based Earth Observation (EO) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) industries, among others, by offering a space-demonstrated solution to the data throughput bottlenecks that have historically limited their capabilities.

Previously, Terran Orbital aided TBIRD’s data transmission of 1.4 terabytes of test data to a single ground station in a pass that lasted less than five minutes – a record breaker at the time in terms of both speed and data transmission quantity. The 200 gigabits per second space-to-ground optical link broke this record.

“The completion of the 200 gigabits per second link is both monumental and record-breaking. Terran Orbital is honored to have worked alongside NASA on this groundbreaking mission and is grateful to MIT Lincoln Laboratory for creating the payload. We look forward to working with NASA and MIT Lincoln Laboratory on future satellites as we continue to make record-breaking in space commonplace.”
— Marc Bell, Terran Orbital Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, May 10 at 1:09 p.m. PT (20:09 UTC) for a Falcon 9 launch of 51 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. If needed a backup opportunity is available on Thursday, May 11 at 12:55 p.m. PT (19:55 UTC).

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 and one Starlink mission. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.

CesiumAstro was selected by Raytheon Technologies to provide their Vireo active electronically scanned array (AESA) RF communications payload for integration into seven space vehicles that are supporting the Space Development Agency’s (SDA’s) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer.

CesiumAstro’s Vireo payload will be the first Ka-band, multi-beam, communications system operating in SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). Using next-generation AESA technology to create multiple steerable, shapable beams, Vireo is a step change from legacy, single-beam systems optimized for connecting to single, static ground stations. The system’s groundbreaking modular slice-based design and software-defined backend will set a new standard for resilient, low-latency, high-volume data transport to simultaneous users.

Raytheon’s space vehicles are part of Tranche 1 Tracking Layer, SDA’s first operationally capable set of LEO infrared missile warning and missile tracking satellites. When deployed, the constellation will integrate with the Transport Layer’s low-latency meshed communication network, enabling conventional and advanced missile tracking from LEO.

CesiumAstro designed the Vireo system to support a wide range of defense and commercial missions. Vireo’s reconfigurable architecture allows for rapid deployment with maximum flexibility

“With the recent launch of Tranche 0, SDA is setting a new pace of innovation and deployment. We are proud to provide the first AESA for the PWSA, enabling multi-beam RF mission data support for the warfighter.”
— Shey Sabripour, founder and CEO of CesiumAstro

“These types of missions require speed and resilience. By integrating AESA technology as part of our overall solution, we are setting an unprecedented standard, allowing for the swift transfer of critical information and giving our military forces a decisive advantage.”
— David Broadbent, president of Space and C2 at Raytheon Intelligence and Space

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in Broomfield, Colorado; El Segundo, California; and the United Kingdom, CesiumAstro builds high-throughput, software-defined, phased array communications payloads for airborne and space platforms, including satellites, missiles, UASs, and more. CesiumAstro’s full-stack, multi-mission hardware and software solutions enable a range of commercial, civil, and defense objectives. CesiumAstro provides full in-house design, manufacturing, and testing capabilities based on the ISO AS9100 standard.

On Thursday, May 4th., at 3:31 a.m., ET, a Falcon 9 launched 56 Starlink satellites to LEO from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This was the seventh launch and landing for this Falcon 9, first stage booster, which previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, and now three Starlink missions.

This mission’s first stage successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Mynaric (NASDAQ: MYNA) (FRA: M0YN) recently entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of CONDOR Mk3 terminals to Loft Federal, a subsidiary of Loft Orbital.

​Loft Federal was selected to produce, deploy and operate ​NExT — the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Experimental Testbed​ — and will use the terminals to support secure and reliable communications.​ Terminal deliveries​ are​ primarily scheduled for the first half of 2024​. ​The order announced today was received in late 2022 and was already accounted for in the previously disclosed optical communications terminal backlog as of December 31, 2022.​ ​

NExT – SDA’s Experimental Testbed will demonstrate warfighter utility of emerging mission partner satellite payloads prior to potential incorporation in future tranches. The program will leverage the low latency data transfer and Beyond Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) command and control (C&C) infrastructure established by the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture to field and connect additional space vehicles with different mission payload configurations.

Mynaric’s CONDOR Mk3 optical communications terminal is specifically designed as a key communication and data transfer system built for mass deployment as part of government and commercial satellite constellations and offers full compatibility with the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) interoperability standard. It has previously been selected by Northrop Grumman for the SDA’s Tranche 1 Transport and Tracking Layers.

Additionally, Capella Space ordered the terminal for commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, by WARPSPACE for a satellite data relay network and others. It’s predecessor, the CONDOR Mk2, was recently delivered to Telesat Government Solutions as part of the DARPA Blackjack program. In addition, Mynaric was named a key development partner for Phase 1 of DARPA’s Space-BACN program extending the company’s success in the U.S. Government satellite communication market.

“We look forward to working with Loft Federal on this key U.S. Government project and demonstrating the advantages of laser communications for transmitting high volumes of critical data when and where it is needed. Laser communications technology is critical to the network infrastructure in the proliferated low earth orbit environment and beyond and we applaud the U.S. Government for leading the adoption of the technology.”
— Tina Ghataore, Chief Commercial Officer of Mynaric

“​The CONDOR Mk3 terminal enables us to provide reliable performance on Longbow, our turnkey satellite platform. By using technologies like these that are commercial and produced at scale, we can deliver fast and simple operations on orbit for SDA NExT.”
​​— John Eterno, General Manager at Loft Federal