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Orbion Space Technology has revealed a strategic manufacturing deal with Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) to provide the propulsion system for the first production run of their satellites designated for DARPA’s Blackjack satellite constellation program.

DARPA awarded Blue Canyon a $14.1 million contract in June of 2020 to begin manufacturing the first 4 of the planned satellites for the Blackjack program, which will be based on Blue Canyon’s X-SAT microsatellite bus. Orbion will provide onboard electric propulsion for the spacecraft with the Orbion Aurora Hall-effect thruster system for small satellites built and manufactured in the United States.

DARPA’s contract with Blue Canyon has options for DARPA to buy up to 20 Blue Canyon satellites for a total of $99.4 million. The spacecraft will support DARPA’s program objectives for military relevant payloads.

The goal of the Blackjack Program is to demonstrate that a constellation of LEO satellites meets Department of Defense (DoD) performance and payload requirements, at a significantly lower cost, with shorter design cycles and with easier and more frequent technology upgrades. The spacecraft will be delivered on a rapid timeline to support the critical DARPA demonstration schedule with the first spacecraft to be delivered in mid-2021.

Executive Comments

“DARPA’s goal with Blackjack is to capitalize on commercial-sector space advances and use them for military utility,” said Brad King, CEO, Orbion Space Technologies. “Orbion’s philosophy is to offer propulsion systems that are priced for commercial customers, but that retain the high-reliability required by government users, and this is a perfect fit for Blackjack. We’re excited to play a vital role in this program. Our mass manufacturing technique will offer economies of scale previously unavailable.”

“We are very excited to have Orbion as a partner for this effort,” said BCT’s Program Manager, Bill Schum. “Orbion has fully embraced the challenge we have in front of us to produce and integrate a highly capable propulsion system, in a small form-factor, with affordable reliability.”

Another launch for SpaceX is planned for Thursday, September 17, at 2:19 p.m. EDT, 18:19 UTC, for launch of its thirteenth Starlink mission. The company will launch 60 Starlink satellites to orbit.

Falcon 9 will lift off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A backup opportunity is available on Friday, September 18 at 1:57 p.m. EDT, 17:57 UTC.

Falcon 9’s first stage previously supported launch of Crew Dragon’s first flight to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts onboard and the ANASIS-II mission. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. One of Falcon 9’s fairing halves supported two previous Starlink launches.

The Starlink satellites will deploy approximately 1 hour and 1 minute after liftoff.  You can watch the launch webcast here, starting about 10 minutes before liftoff. If you would like to receive updates on Starlink news and service availability in your area, please visit starlink.com.

Momentus Inc. (“Momentus” or the “Company”) has announced the appointment of Dr. Fred Kennedy as President of the Company, effective September 14, 2020.

Momentus has gained significant traction since its founding in 2017, attracting dozens of customers ranging from private commercial space companies to the likes of Lockheed Martin and NASA, and penning important industry partnerships, most notably with SpaceX. Dr. Kennedy’s significant experience within the industry will help accelerate Momentus’ goal of becoming the leading transportation and infrastructure services company of the new space economy.

Dr. Kennedy most recently served as the inaugural Director of the Space Development Agency (SDA), a U.S. Department of Defense agency responsible for developing threat-driven space architectures to sustain the U.S.’s technological advantage in space. Prior to that, he led the Tactical Technology Office (TTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Before joining DARPA, Dr. Kennedy served as the senior policy advisor for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), advising the President of the United States on space and aviation policy. Dr. Kennedy retired as a colonel from the U.S. Air Force after 23 years of service, filling multiple senior roles related to spacecraft technology demonstration and satellite system production.

Executive Comments

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Fred Kennedy to the Momentus team,” said Mikhail Kokorich, Founder and CEO of the Company. “Dr. Kennedy has a proven track record of leadership and innovation throughout his career in the Department of Defense and brings a wealth of expertise in satellite systems and space technology to our team. We are confident that Dr. Kennedy’s extensive technical experience and relationships across the aerospace and defense industry will support Momentus’ efforts to advance and deploy our leading-edge technology for low-cost satellite transportation.”

Dr. Kennedy commented, “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining Momentus and am eager to start working with its very talented team of engineers and experts. Given the increasing demand for satellite transportation and services across the space industry, Momentus’ water-based propulsion technology is well-positioned to capitalize on this sector’s rapid growth.”

The University of Colorado Boulder and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) will soon lead a new space mission to capture the first-ever closeup look at a mysterious class of solar system objects: binary asteroids.

These bodies are pairs of asteroids that orbit around each other in space, much like the Earth and Moon. In a project review on September 3, NASA gave the official go-ahead to the Janus mission, named after the two-faced Roman god.

The mission will study these asteroid couplets in never-before-seen detail. Known as Key Decision Point-C (KDP-C), this review and approval from NASA allows for the project to begin implementation, and baselines +the project’s official schedule and budget.

It will be a moment for twos: In 2022, the Janus team will launch two identical spacecraft that will travel millions of miles to individually fly close to two pairs of binary asteroids. Their observations could open up a new window into how these diverse bodies evolve and even burst apart over time, said Daniel Scheeres, the principle investigator for Janus.

The mission, which will cost less than $55 million under NASA’s SIMPLEx program, may also help to usher in a new era of space exploration, said Lockheed Martin’s Janus Project Manager Josh Wood. He explained that Janus’ twin spacecraft are designed to be small and nimble, each one about the size of a carry-on suitcase. After blasting off in 2022, the smallsats will first complete an orbit around the sun before heading back toward Earth and sling-shotting their way far into space and beyond the orbit of Mars.

Janus is led by the University of Colorado Boulder, where Scheeres is based, which will also undertake the scientific analysis of images and data for the mission. Lockheed Martin will manage, build and operate the spacecraft.

The mission will rendezvous with two binary pairs—named 1996 FG3 and 1991 VH—each showcasing a different kind of orbital pattern. The pair called 1991 VH, for example, has a “moon” that whips around a much bigger “primary” asteroid following a hard-to-predict pattern.

The team will use a suite of cameras to track the dynamical motion in unprecedented detail. Among other goals, Scheeres and his colleagues hope to learn more about how binary asteroids move—both around each other and through space.

Executive Comments

“Binary asteroids are one class of objects for which we don’t have high-resolution scientific data,” said Daniel Scheeres, distinguished professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU Boulder. “Everything we have on them is based on ground observations, which don’t give you as much detail as being up close. Once we see them close up, there will be a lot of questions we can answer, but these will raise new questions as well. We think Janus will motivate additional missions to binary asteroids.”

“We see an advantage to be able to shrink our spacecraft,” said Josh Wood. “With technology advancements, we can now explore our solar system and address important science questions with smaller spacecraft.” Wood added that the mission’s twin spacecraft, each of which weigh just about 80 pounds, will travel farther than any smallsat to date. He added, “I think it’s a great test for what is achievable from the aerospace community,” Wood said. “And the Colorado-centric development for this mission, combining the space talent of both CU Boulder and Lockheed Martin, is a testament to the skills available in the state.”

The Technische Universität Berlin and Exolaunch have signed a launch agreement for the SALSAT smallsat — under this agreement, Exolaunch is providing launch, mission management, and integration services for the Technische Universität Berlin on a Soyuz-2 rideshare mission later this month (September 2020).

SALSAT (Spectrum AnaLysis SATellite), aims to analyze the global spectrum use of S-band and VHF, UHF amateur radio bands. This analysis is required due to the increasing number of users and the intensification of radio communication, which is leading to an escalating probability of interference between radio signals. The satellite will analyze the global spectrum usage with SALSA, a spectrum analyzer payload based on a Software Defined Radio (SDR).

SALSAT also features a variety of unique secondary payloads, such as a Linux based, intelligent onboard processing system to analyze the spectrum on-board. The smallsat also features novel, three-axis Fluid-Dynamic Actuator (FDA). SALSAT will be the first satellite in space to demonstrate three-axis attitude control with its FDAs.

The mission’s collected spectrum data will be made available to the public through a web portal which international researchers, study groups, and amateur radio enthusiasts can access. SALSAT will be a valuable contribution to the future of satellite communications. The mission is funded by the German Bundestag through the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR).

SALSAT is a part of the September Soyuz rideshare mission – Exolaunch’s seventh mission with Soyuz-2 that is manifested by the company. The mission is set to launch numerous commercial payloads carrying cutting edge technologies from Exolaunch’s international small satellite customers. Named Wanderlust, Desire to Travel, this rideshare symbolizes both the ever-increasing importance of sustainable access to space for smallsats and the longing for travel that is currently restricted.

On the Wanderlust mission, Exolaunch is set to provide its market-leading separation systems – EXOpod for cubesats and CarboNIX for microsats – as well as the company’s EXObox sequencers, to ensure timely deployment of small satellites into their target orbit. The company has launched more than 85 smallsats on Soyuz missions to date. On this mission, Exolaunch will deploy a cluster of 15 smallsats into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) for customers from Europe, the UAE, Canada, and the USA.

Executive Comments

“The ultimate goal of SALSAT is to achieve the safe and sustainable utilization of the available frequency spectrum for space communications,” said Jens Großhans, SALSAT Project Lead. “We value our cooperation with Exolaunch and the support that we are receiving during the launch campaign – despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic. We look forward to seeing a successful launch of SALSAT.”

Michael Tolstoj, Program Manager at Exolaunch, added, “The restrictions imposed during the first months of the global pandemic had an especially severe impact on universities. I have a deep respect for the SALSAT team for making this mission possible despite the significant challenges they had to overcome. The Technische Universität Berlin has a formidable track record of successful smallsat missions and Exolaunch is proud to continue supporting the university’s teams and working with them on this ambitious scientific project.”

Made In Space Europe, a Redwire subsidiary, now has an agreement with Momentus to jointly develop a robotic spaceflight mission that is scheduled to launch in 2022.

Under the MoU, the companies will mount a Made In Space robotic arm on a Momentus Vigoride transfer vehicle. With the robotic arm, Vigoride could grab onto a satellite in space to move it to a new orbit.

Executive Comments

Harrison Pitman, the Product Development Specialist for Made In Space Europe, stated, “To provide transportation services to these assets, a robotic arm is used to capture the external satellites before initiating transportation operations. Robotic arms are preferred to traditional docking methods as this enables a wider array of spacecraft to be serviced by Vigoride.”

Jaroslaw Jaworski, the Made In Space Europe GM, noted that the 2022 demonstration mission will show “how robotic arms can improve in-space transportation. We are looking to critically evaluate the viability of these two highly advanced, commercial technologies working within a fully integrated system.”

Additionally, Momentus has signed an agreement to integrate two PocketPod deployers containing nine PocketQube spacecraft from Spain’s Fossa Systems with the second Vigoride demonstration mission, scheduled to launch in February 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

PocketQubes are miniature spacecraft measuring five centimeters on a side. Similar to cubesats, multiple PocketQubes can be combined to create satellites of various sizes.

The PocketQubes Fossa plans to launch carry communications and Earth Observation (EO) payloads, weather sensors and an experimental propulsion system. Three Fossa PocketQubes are designed to provide Long-Range (LoRa) internet-of-things communications. LoRa is a low power wide area network protocol.

Executive Comments

“FOSSA is very pleased to be partnering with Momentus in these initial steps, we are looking forward to working with Momentus to establish a stable low-cost orbital access service for the long-run,” Julian Fernandez, Fossa CEO, said in a statement.

Mikhail Kokorich, Momentus CEO, said in a statement the new partnership “demonstrates the versatility of the Vigoride shuttle service.”

Momentus previously signed a launch service agreement with British PocketQube manufacturer Alba Orbital. Vigoride missions carrying picosatellites “will pave the way for affordable constellations of picosatellites in the near future,” Momentus said in a recent news release.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida the Kennedy Space Center at 8:46 a.m. this morning, deploying a set of approximately 60 Starlink broadband satellites 15 minutes later.

Earlier this week SpaceX confirmed that employees have been testing Starlink’s latency and download speeds, key measures for an internet service provider.

According to SpaceX engineer Kate Tice, “They show super low latency and download speeds greater than 100 [megabits] per second. That means our latency is low enough to play the fastest online video games and our download speeds are fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once.”

The goal of SpaceX is to build an interconnected network of about 12,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit. To date, SpaceX has launched about 650 of its version 1.0 satellites and is currently building a system of ground stations and user terminals to connect consumers directly to its network.

September 1 has been established as the ‘go’ date for the lightweight Vega launcher’s flight from French Guiana to demonstrate Arianespace’s rideshare response to the growing small satellite market.

This upcoming Proof of Concept mission – which carries a total of 53 small satellites on a new dispenser system – was authorized for Tuesday which confirmed the preparedness of Vega, along with the payloads, the Spaceport’s launch site infrastructure, and the network of tracking stations.

Designated Flight VV16 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system, it will validate the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) – using a modular dispenser whose components can be assembled as needed in a building-block style. For tomorrow’s flight, seven microsatellites are installed on the dispenser’s upper portion, while 46 smaller CubeSats have been positioned on the lower portion’s hexagon-shaped module.

During Vega’s flight sequence, the seven microsatellites are to be deployed in Sun-synchronous orbit from 40 minutes into the mission through 52 minutes; followed by the CubeSats’ phased release from 1 hour, 42 minutes to just under 1 hour, 45 minutes.

SSMS provides Arianespace with flight opportunities for nano- and micro-satellites, offering solutions perfectly suited to this growing sub-segment of the launch marketplace. The service enables multiple small satellites from 1 kg. to 500 kg. to be flown together on Vega with the objective of sharing the launch cost.

Arianespace and SSMS provide the same services to the small satellite operatore as the largest customers – while new operators such as laboratories, universities and start-ups are guaranteed optimum conditions for the launch of their space projects.

The SSMS dispenser system is a European Space Agency (ESA) product developed by Italy’s Avio under ESA leadership, and was produced by the Czech company SAB Aerospace s.r.o. (CZ). The European Union contributed to the financing of tomorrow’s Proof of Concept flight.

New Zealand is celebrating the successful Rocket Lab launch of its 14^th Electron mission that deployed a single microsatellite for Capella Space. The mission was Rocket Lab’s fourth this year and brings the company’s total number of satellites deployed to 54. 

The ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical’ mission launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula at 03:05 UTC, 31 August 2020. Electron successfully deployed a single microsatellite to a circular orbit at approximately 500 km for Capella Space.

Capella’s 100kg class Sequoia payload is the first synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite to deliver publicly available data from a mid-inclination orbit over the U.S., Middle East, Korea, Japan, Europe, South East Asia, and Africa, and is powered by technology that can detect sub-0.5 meter changes to the Earth’s surface from space.

As the first publicly available satellite in orbit as part of Capella Space’s constellation, Sequoia will provide insights and data that can be used for security, agricultural and infrastructure monitoring, as well as disaster response and recovery. Today’s dedicated mission for Capella Space also marks the successful return to flight for the Electron launch vehicle fewer than 9 weeks since the company experienced an anomaly on July 4th during its 13^th launch.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said, “Congratulations to the Capella Space team in this first step to building out a new constellation to provide important Earth observation data on-demand. Electron is the ideal launch vehicle for missions like this one, where the success of a foundational deployment relies heavily on a high level of control over orbit and schedule. I’m also immensely proud of the team, their hard work, and dedication in returning Electron to the pad safely and quickly as we get back to frequent launches with an even more reliable launch vehicle for our small satellite customers.”

Rocket Lab has monthly launches scheduled for the remainder of 2020, including Rocket Lab’s first attempt to recover an Electron first stage after launch. The first recovery mission is slated for Rocket Lab’s 17^th launch, scheduled for lift-off in Q4. Details about the customer and launch window for Rocket Lab’s next Electron launch will be released shortly.

Final preparations are underway for Arianespace’s historic Vega rideshare flight with Europe’s Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) dispenser system, which has been rescheduled within a launch window from September 1 to September 4, following multiple weather-related postponements.

SSMS provides a new dedicated European rideshare solution with Vega that is modular and capable of accommodating a full range of payload combinations. Vega’s upcoming Proof of Concept mission – designated Flight VV16 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system – was conceived in the context of ESA’s LLL (Light satellite, Low-cost, Launch opportunity) initiative.

VV16’s mission – with 21 customers from 13 countries on board – will serve different types of applications: Earth Observation (EO), telecommunications, science, technology/education, and more.

Hardware development was funded by the European Space Agency (ESA); while the European Union contributed to financing of the flight. The combined European efforts will enhance Arianespace’s response to the rideshare demand with solutions that are perfectly suited to the flourishing smallsat market.

Italy’s Avio is the production prime contractor for Vega, delivering the integrated launcher to Arianespace. Avio also developed the small satellite delivery system and the specific mission preparation process for Flight VV16, performing these tasks under ESA leadership. Design authority for the multi-payload dispenser system is SAB Aerospace s.r.o. (CZ) of the Czech Republic.