Featured

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has signed a contract with Leidos to launch four HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) missions.

The missions, scheduled across 2024 and 2025, will lift off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 at Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. Rocket Lab was selected by Leidos to provide hypersonic test launch capabilities with HASTE under the MACH-TB project. The project was awarded by Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane through the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S2MARTS) Other Transaction Authority (OTA) vehicle on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense Test Resource Management Center (TRMC).

Rocket Lab’s HASTE suborbital launch vehicle is derived from the company’s Electron rocket but has been modified to support hypersonic payload deployment. By leveraging the heritage of Rocket Lab’s low-cost Electron, HASTE offers true commercial testing capability at a fraction of the cost of current full-scale tests.

Rocket Lab launched the first HASTE mission on June 17, 2023, for Leidos under the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program.

HASTE is operated under Rocket Lab National Security (RLNS), the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary created to serve the unique needs of the U.S. defense and intelligence community and its allies.

“Our first HASTE mission in June this year successfully demonstrated HASTE’s ability to accelerate the cadence of hypersonic flight testing for the nation. We’re proud to now follow it up with a series of four additional missions for Leidos to support hypersonic technology innovation and technology maturation.” — Brian Rogers, Senior Director, Global Launch Services

Telesat (NASDAQ and TSX: TSAT) and SpaceX have signed a Multi-Launch Agreement (MLA) to deliver the Telesat Lightspeed constellation to LEO.

Telesat has contracted 14 launches on SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which will carry as many as 18 Telesat Lightspeed satellites to LEO per launch. The launch campaign is scheduled to commence in 2026 and will take advantage of SpaceX’s high launch cadence to rapidly deploy the satellites and enable Telesat to begin providing global service in 2027. Launches for the campaign will lift off from SpaceX’s launch facilities in California and Florida.

Designed from inception to serve the demanding, mission-critical connectivity requirements of enterprise and government users, the optically-linked Telesat Lightspeed network will provide multi-Gbps data links and highly secure, resilient, low-latency broadband connectivity anywhere in the world. With the August signing of MDA as the prime satellite manufacturer and all necessary launch contracts in place for global constellation deployment, Telesat is well-positioned to begin delivering unmatched, enterprise-class connectivity in late 2027.

“SpaceX has been a trusted and effective launch provider to Telesat on our geostationary satellite programs and I am delighted that they will be supporting us with their highly reliable Falcon 9 rocket to deploy the Telesat Lightspeed constellation, the most ambitious program in Telesat’s 54-year history,” stated . “Given the dedication and professionalism of the SpaceX team, and their outstanding track record of reliability and demonstrated high launch cadence, I have the utmost confidence that they will be an outstanding partner in helping us bring Telesat Lightspeed into service in a timely and low risk manner.” — Dan Goldberg, President and CEO, Telesat

“With growing demand for high-speed internet around the world, SpaceX is proud to launch and deploy Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation. Building upon our successful launch partnership to-date, we look forward to flying Telesat once again as they expand connectivity capabilities for their customers across the globe.” — Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer, SpaceX

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has announced that Inmarsat Government, now part of Viasat, was awarded a Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) Satellite-Based Services (SBS) contract by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) on behalf of the U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) — Inmarsat Government is one of 16 companies selected for the $900 million ceiling, 10 year, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.

As the United States and its mission partners become increasingly reliant on space-based capabilities for national security, it is critical to have resilient constellations that include satellites in GEO and NGSO. Proliferated LEO (pLEO) constellations are part of a Department of Defense (DoD) strategy to provide additional resilience for satellite communications (SATCOM), remote sensing and other capabilities by diversifying orbits.

Under this contract, Viasat plans to leverage smallsat technology, reduced costs and increased launch service competition, facilitating the ability for pLEO constellations to provide persistent, global coverage with reduced transmission latency. The company will provide a suite of fully-managed pLEO satellite-based services and capabilities, to include space relay services, supplemented by GEO and NGSO satellites, supporting all domains – space, air, land, maritime and cyber.

Viasat will aim to achieve this with a reliable, resilient low latency global pLEO offering that flexibly supports the needs of combatant commands, defense agencies, other federal government organizations and international coalition partners. It will provide a comprehensive managed end-to-end SATCOM solution via a multi-band, multi-orbit constellation of satellites. Furthermore, its new, hyper-intelligent software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is designed to orchestrate and provide priority routing across mixed networks, enabling an automated primary, alternate, contingency and emergency (PACE) solution to deliver the flexibility and responsiveness required to meet customers’ needs today and in the future.

“Viasat has a proud history of providing integrated SATCOM solutions and service offerings across multiple bands and orbits to support government customers’ unique needs. Our team is committed to developing innovative, mission-focused solutions through our existing partnerships with satellite operators and extending opportunities with new partners. We eagerly look forward to using both our technologies and deep problem solving expertise to deliver resilient, robust and secure SATCOM capabilities to service members around the world.” — Susan Miller, President, Viasat Government

Terran Orbital (NYSE: LLAP) has rolled out a new lineup of seven, standard, satellite bus platforms.

More than a decade ago, Terran Orbital pioneered the creation of CubeSat standards — the firm is now establishing new benchmarks for satellite technology for the coming decade. These standards are built upon Terran Orbital’s manufacturing capabilities, featuring components and modules that can be readily swapped out to accommodate different bus sizes and configurations.

The seven bus platforms span the nano, micro, mini, and small classes. This new lineup of satellite configurations is derived from Terran Orbital’s long history of smallsats innovation and micro satellite bus designed and built for the U.S. Space Development Agency’s (SDA) recently launched Tranche 0 Transport Layer mission and the upcoming Tranche 1 mission. Terran Orbital’s full product line of seven, ITAR-compliant bus classes ranges from the largest, Enterprise, to the smallest, Triumph.

The Enterprise is specifically targeted to those customers who want a flat packing design to allow up to 24 vehicles per launch. It comes standard with Optical Inter Satellite Link and has a large, flat deck optimized for communications and RF payloads.

The Ambassador features the largest deck allowable by the ESPA-Grande standard for rideshare payloads. We expect it to be our top offering for the DoD/Intel community, allowing a large payload and optional
Type 1 encryption.

The Nebula is the commercialized version of the bus placed in orbit in last week’s SDA Transport Layer Tranche O launch in partnership with Lockheed Martin. It has an open deck plan to easily accommodate oddly shaped payloads with optional Type 1 encryption and can be configured for a 15 inch ESPA or 24 inch ESPA-Grande-capable launch vehicle.

The Excelsior is the smallest microsatellite in the product line, having the advantage of delivering higher power to payload than any of the nano models while still having the budget-friendly ability to launch two per ESPA port.

The Voyager is built with component redundancy to reduce risk and extend its lifetime in harsh environments beyond LEO. It has both GEO and Cislunar heritage and the radios are designed for compatibility with NASA’s Deep Space network.

The Renegade is a smallsat that can be configured as 12U or 16U for exceptionally long payloads and can accommodate up to a 19 cm. diameter optical imager. It has the best payload volume-to-bus ratio of the platforms, making it an economical solution for larger, research missions.

The Triumph is the smallest platform in the Terran Orbital standard bus lineup. It has unparalleled spacecraft agility, and with the most flight heritage of all platforms, it exemplifies the smaller, cheaper, faster mentality.

These reference platforms feature flexible architecture using common building blocks, allowing for wet launch masses of 14 to 1000 kg. They are based on designs with extensive flight heritage for various civil, defense, and commercial customers.

“With this announcement we are again setting the bar high with an industry leading product line. While we still offer fully custom platforms to meet unique specifications, we are creating new industry standards, and these standard platforms bring forth our vision to meet mission requirements at scale, drive down the cost of the satellite, and increase their functionality using standard components that roll up into configurations that quickly and effectively satisfy the needs of the DoD and research customer alike.” — Marc Bell, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Terran Orbital

Ten Lockheed Martin-built (NYSE: LMT) satellites were successfully deployed into LEO in support of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 0 Transport Layer (T0TL) mission.

SDA’s T0TL is a proliferated LEO constellation that will demonstrate low-latency communication and provide a resilient network of integrated capabilities.

The smallsats launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and, soon after liftoff, SDA confirmed the separation of all 10 of the Lockheed Martin-built satellites from the launch vehicle.

Each satellite incorporates a Terran Orbital bus and payload processors. Terran Orbital developed the ten satellite buses for Lockheed Martin in support of this mission and were built on the company’s Zuma Platform, a smallsat class spacecraft that leverages the MKII Avionics platform, typical to the Trestles platform.

The smallsats are also equipped with SmartSat, Lockheed Martin’s software platform that makes it easier to dynamically add and quickly change missions in orbit through simple app uploads. The satellites also host Link 16 radios to introduce a terrestrial-proven network in space. Link-16 will enable sensor-to-shooter targeting by connecting systems that include fighter aircraft and Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) networks.

Lockheed Martin is currently building 42 satellites for SDA’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL) and was recently awarded an agreement to build 36 of SDA’s 72 Beta variant satellites for its Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) constellation. The T1TL and T2TL Beta satellites will be assembled, integrated, and tested in Lockheed Martin’s new small satellite (smallsat) processing facility that is designed for the high-volume delivery of complete satellites.

“Lockheed Martin is proud to be part of SDA’s mission to rapidly bring a threat-driven, resilient set of integrated space capabilities to life. We look forward to contributing more of our expertise to this mission to strengthening deterrence and deliver advanced military capabilities in space.” — Joe Rickers, Vice President for Protected Communications, Lockheed Martin

Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) has signed a contract with FOSSA Systems (“FOSSA”), a Spanish company that offers global, low-power, Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and in-space services to provide hosted payload services, starting in 2024 — the contract also includes two options for additional hosted payloads.

The hosted payloads will strategically complement FOSSA’s existing IoT satellite constellation with additional capacity and serve as a technology demonstrator platform independent of the future satellite launches FOSSA has scheduled for 2024 and 2025.

Hosted payload support is a core Momentus offering that enables customers to focus on their payload’s objective while Momentus provides the on-orbit logistics needed to operate the payload. Integrated in Momentus’ hosted payload service offering is the supply of power, data, communications, and flexible configure-to-order options such as intersatellite communications, extended data storage, ultra-high precision pointing, and edge computing capability.

Momentus is currently providing hosted payload services to Caltech for its Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD). The SSPD launched on Vigoride-5 in January of 2023. Caltech reports that its payload recently demonstrated its ability to wirelessly transmit power in space and to beam detectable power to Earth. Momentus will continue to provide hosted payload support to SSPD over the coming months as it continues its operations.

In addition to the Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle, Momentus is now also offering its M-1000 satellite bus which is based on space-proven Vigoride. The M-1000 bus offers significant advantages to commercial and government customers such as its high power – up to 3 kW of peak power – large payload capacity, flexible configuration, speed from requirements to delivery on-orbit, and low cost. Momentus has offered the M-1000 satellite bus to both commercial constellation providers and to the U.S. Government.

“Adding to our satellite platforms, we look to expand our way of hosting communications payloads by leveraging on existing launch opportunities, namely the Vigoride. We look forward to collaborating once again with Momentus.” — Julian Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer, FOSSA

“Momentus provided orbital delivery services to FOSSA on the inaugural mission of Vigoride in 2022 and most recently provided mission management and integration support for the launch of the FOSSASat FEROX satellite in June 2023. We’re pleased that FOSSA has selected Momentus again to support its growing needs and the innovation they are bringing to the market. They are a valued repeat customer and we’re always excited to help bring their ideas to life on orbit.” — John Rood, Chief Executive Officer, Momentus

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has successfully launched their 40th dedicated Electron mission for Capella Space (Capella) — this mission demonstrated several significant milestones for Rocket Lab’s reusability program, including an ocean splashdown of the Electron rocket’s first stage and the successful flight of a previously flown Rutherford engine.

The ‘We Love The Nightlife’ mission lifted off on August 24th at 11:45 a.m., NZST, from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula and deployed Capella’s nexgen Acadia satellite for its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation to a 640 km. circular LEO.

As a recovery mission, Electron’s first stage returned to Earth under a parachute after launch and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers down range from Launch Complex 1. Rocket Lab’s marine recovery vessel extracted the stage from the ocean and transported it back to Rocket Lab’s production complex for analysis and testing to inform future recovery efforts.

In addition to recovering the booster, Rocket Lab launched a pre-flown, 3D printed, Rutherford engine for the first time. The engine previously flew on the first stage of the ‘There and Back Again’ mission, launched in May of 2022. The engine performed on par with new Rutherford engines, completing a successful first stage burn.

The mission follows on from Rocket Lab’s two previous launches for Capella, including the “Stronger Together” mission launched in March of 2023 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, and the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical” mission in August of 2020 from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, which deployed the first satellite in Capella’s SAR constellation. ‘We Love the Nightlife’ was the first of four, new, dedicated launches on Electron for Capella, announced in February of 2023, to deploy Capella’s nexgen Acadia satellites.

Capella’s existing satellite constellation delivers the highest quality and resolution SAR imagery commercially available, with the ability to penetrate all weather conditions and capture clear imagery 24-7, day and night, delivered through a fully automated ordering and delivery platform. The next-generation Acadia satellites include several enhancements, including increased bandwidth and power and faster downlink speeds. When combined with Capella’s existing long-dwell imaging capability and extended duty-cycle – which results in more images collected per orbit than other SAR systems – Acadia will continue to set the benchmark within the SAR industry.

“We’ve been a trusted launch partner to Capella since 2020 and we’re delighted to deliver mission success once again. Electron has played a crucial role in helping constellation operators like Capella deploy their spacecraft on time and on target, and we look forward to continuing building out Capella’s constellation with more dedicated launches this year. Congratulations also to our team on delivering 40 Electron launches, completing another booster recovery, and proving Rutherford engines can be flown multiple times. One mission is an enormous achievement in this industry, but 40 is a rare achievement and testament to the relentless drive, innovation and dedication of the Rocket Lab team.” — Peter Beck, CEO, Rocket Lab

Exolaunch has signed a multi-launch agreement (MLA) to deploy Muon Space’s first three constellation satellites during SpaceX Transporter missions. Muon Space’s first satellite, MuSat-1, was launched in June via Exolaunch on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 mission from Vandenberg SFB in California.

The successful deployment of MuSat-1 was the first step toward the development of Muon Space’s Climate Constellation, which will use a new generation of sensors to monitor Earth’s climate and ecosystems. MuSat-2 and MuSat-3 are close behind – establishing a regular launch cadence to enable a growing constellation for climate intelligence data.

Muon Space selected Exolaunch for that firm’s vast expertise on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and for their rapidly growing flight heritage, which now counts more than 320 launched satellites. Under this MLA, Exolaunch will provide turnkey launch and deployment solutions for Muon Space’s satellites, as well as the CarboNIX smallsat separation system through 2024. With a flight heritage of nearly 70 satellites deployed across 14 missions, and a patented, low-shock design, CarboNIX has become the choice for Exolaunch customers launching smallsats on Falcon 9 and has helped Exolaunch to secure multiple, new, launch agreements.

Transporter-8’s success marked the first milestone in this MLA and represented a significant achievement for the companies, with Muon Space celebrating their first satellite on-orbit and Exolaunch celebrating their 300th satellite deployed on the mission.

“The experience and reliability of the Exolaunch team ensured an issue-free first launch campaign, allowing our team at Muon Space to focus on our core mission objectives instead of launch logistics and separation systems. We look forward to continued collaboration with Exolaunch and SpaceX to launch and deploying our climate data monitoring constellation.” — Reuben Rohrschneider, Chief Mission Architect and Co-Founder, Muon Space

“We are proud and grateful that Muon Space entrusted Exolaunch with separation services for these critical constellation-building launches. It’s a pleasure to work with a team of such distinguished space industry veterans, and we are honored to help them turn their vision into a ‘separation confirmed’. Muon Space can fully rely on regular and on-schedule launches thanks to the SpaceX’s Transporter program when planning their ambitious missions and tackling global challenges from space.” — Jeanne Allarie, VP Launch, Exolaunch

Telesat (NASDAQ and TSX: TSAT) has announced that MDA Ltd. (TSX: MDA) will build 198 advanced satellites for the Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) program.

Telesat also announced that Telesat Lightspeed is now fully funded through global service delivery taking into account the company’s own equity contribution, certain vendor financing, and aggregate funding commitments from its Canadian federal and provincial government partners.

By taking advantage of key technology advances, including MDA’s digital beamforming array antennas and integrated regenerative processor, the re-designed Telesat Lightspeed network will achieve increased network efficiency and enhanced flexibility to focus and dynamically deliver capacity to users. These technology advances allow each satellite to be slightly smaller than the satellites Telesat was previously considering while still maintaining the highest levels of service performance, resiliency and overall usable capacity in the network.

Importantly, these state-of-the art satellites are also highly cost effective, resulting in an anticipated total capital cost savings for the 198-satellite program of approximately $2 billion compared to Telesat’s prior capital estimate. This substantial savings facilitates the funding of the program and meaningfully improves what were already compelling projected financial returns.

Leveraging Telesat’s 54 year history of engineering excellence, the Telesat Lightspeed network was designed from inception to serve the demanding, mission-critical connectivity requirements of enterprise and government users. Service offerings for the optically-linked mesh network in space include multi-Gbps data links, Layer 2 MEF 3.0 standards, and highly secure, resilient, low-latency broadband connectivity anywhere in the world. With the signing of this contract, the Telesat Lightspeed program begins immediately, with satellite launches scheduled to commence in mid-2026 and polar and global services scheduled to begin in late 2027.

“I’m incredibly proud of the Telesat team for their innovative work to further optimize our Telesat Lightspeed design – which was already a highly advanced and high performing LEO network – resulting in dramatically reduced costs with unmatched enterprise-class service offerings,” stated . “MDA is a world class satellite prime contractor with an impressive track record and a number of recent high profile, strategic space programs announced, and it is a privilege to be working side-by-side with them on the flagship, game-changing Telesat Lightspeed constellation. MDA’s deep expertise as a LEO prime contractor, as well our own leading expertise in satellite operations and systems engineering, gives us the highest level of confidence in meeting our objectives.” — Dan Goldberg, President and CEO, Telesat

“True to our values, MDA has been committed to being a trusted Telesat Lightspeed mission partner since the beginning, and our proven performance as a LEO constellation satellite prime contractor will now be leveraged to take the constellation forward,” said . “We believe in Telesat’s mission and vision and are excited that our software-defined digital satellite product will be a key enabler in meeting their goals as we work together to usher in the next generation of space-based satellite communications.” — Mike Greenley, CEO, MDA

Telesat Lightspeed Program Funding

Telesat now has in place aggregate funding commitments from its Canadian federal and provincial government partners in the combined amount of up to approximately $2 billion, demonstrating their strong commitment and confidence in the program and the importance of the New Space Economy for Canada. The finalization of this funding is dependent on a number of conditions, including completion of confirmatory due diligence and the conclusion of definitive agreements.

This funding, combined with Telesat’s own approximately $1.6 billion equity contribution, as well as certain vendor financing, would provide the Telesat Lightspeed program with sufficient funds to launch global service, which will occur once the first 156 satellites are in orbit. Telesat will continue adding satellites that are funded using Telesat Lightspeed cash flow to complete the initial 198 satellite constellation. In addition to the approximately $2 billion in anticipated capital savings, Telesat also expects substantial savings due to significantly reduced financing costs relative to the company’s prior plan.

The capital investment for the Telesat Lightspeed program is approximately $3.5 billion and includes 198 Telesat Lightspeed satellites, satellite launch vehicles, a global ground network of landing stations and operations centers, business and operations support systems, and expenditures to support the further development of a portfolio of user terminals for Telesat’s target markets.

Telesat Lightspeed is the largest space program ever conceived in Canada and will be among the most innovative, cutting-edge broadband satellite networks in the world. MDA will manufacture the Telesat Lightspeed satellites in its state-of-the-art satellite systems design and high-volume manufacturing facilities in Quebec. The program will help bridge the digital divide, create and maintain approximately 2,000 high-quality Canadian jobs, spur Canadian-driven innovation and the development of valuable intellectual property, generate billions of dollars in economic growth, and drive domestic investment and exports.

“As a global leader in the new space economy, Canada is proud to see two domestic champions join forces on this flagship Canadian program to create high-skilled jobs and support cutting-edge innovation in the telecom industry, helping unlock economic and social opportunities in Canada’s rural and remote communities. Canada remains a strong supporter of Telesat Lightspeed and will continue to help solve some of the most pressing challenges we face here on Earth, from bridging the digital divide, to health, climate change, national security, and more.” — The Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

“We are grateful and proud to have the strong support of the Governments of Canada, Quebec and Ontario in the Telesat Lightspeed program.” — Dan Goldberg, President and CEO, Telesat

Redwire has been selected by True Anomaly to provide navigation technology and space situational awareness cameras for its Jackal autonomous orbital vehicle (AOV).

Under the agreement, Redwire is providing SpectraCam cameras and SpectraTRAC star trackers customized for the Jackal autonomous orbital vehicles (AOVs). Redwire’s SpectraTRAC star tracker and SpectraCam camera will enable relative navigation, object detection, and imaging for Jackal AOVs.

The Jackal spacecraft is designed for a wide range of training, test, and Space Domain Awareness (SDA) missions in LEO, GEO and other orbits.

Redwire’s nexgen SpectraTRAC star tracker is a low-cost, high-performance star tracker that supports civil, commercial, and defense missions with navigation capability.

SpectraCAM, a high-resolution Flight Camera engineered for LEO applications including docking, navigation, inspection, and situational awareness, will provide high-resolution imaging of select objects that are of interest for Jackal missions.