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.

RBC Signals has been engaged by Momentus for satellite communication (SATCOM) services — this agreement calls for Momentus to use assets within the RBC Signals global ground station network for SATCOM services in support of a series of upcoming Momentus missions that are scheduled to start in 2021.

Momentus is a Space Transportation and Space Logistics company employing new and proprietary technologies, including water plasma propulsion, to enable “revolutionary” low-cost orbital shuttle and charter services. The core of Momentus’ business is Vigoride, a transfer vehicle delivering smallsats to custom orbits in LEO.

The 2021 missions that RBC Signals will support are important for multiple companies and researchers whose satellites will be delivered to orbit on larger rockets via ridesharing. RBC Signals’ support and technology will help power Momentus’ value proposition of transporting these smallsats to a final intended orbit in an extremely cost-efficient manner.

Momentus will be able to schedule access to RBC Signals’ network ground stations seamlessly through ROSS, which is RBC Signals’ intuitive API-based interface for scheduling antenna time.

Executive Comments

“Momentus is innovating the transportation of satellites in space and our team is thrilled to support several of their future missions,” said Christopher Richins, CEO of RBC Signals. “With nearly 80 antennas in over 50 locations across the globe, the RBC Signals network has the flexibility to serve Momentus missions and the game-changing delivery services they provide.”

“Momentus is excited to be working with RBC Signals as our ground solution provider for our Vigoride services starting in 2021,” added Rob Schwarz, CTO with Momentus. “RBC Signals is a great fit for us because they offer outstanding value and simplicity of integration. Their global infrastructure provides access to an extensive and diverse suite of ground terminal locations and capabilities, supporting Momentus’ mix of transportation and Satellite as a Service offerings. Ultimately this allows us to tailor the mission solution for our customers easily, allowing us to better serve their needs.”

Ball Aerospace has successfully completed on-orbit testing of NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM), which included ASCENT, a non-toxic, high-performance propellant developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), on board a Ball-built smallsat.

GPIM launched on June 25, 2019 at 2:30 a.m. EDT on board a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and was commissioned in early July of the same year. Ball Aerospace is the primary contractor for NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM).

GPIM is part of NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate. Ball Aerospace is the primary contractor for NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM). GPIM is part of NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Ball designed and built the small satellite, which contains NASA’s first opportunity to demonstrate the practical capabilities of a “green” propellant and propulsion system in orbit – an alternative to conventional chemical propulsion systems. The propellant is a Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate fuel and oxidizer monopropellant developed by the AFRL.

GPIM is part of NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), and Christopher McLean of Ball Aerospace serves as the principal investigator. Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and built the thruster payload for GPIM that provides propulsion for the spacecraft.

Ball Aerospace and its partners tested the satellite thruster capabilities by verifying the propulsion subsystem, propellant performance, thruster performance and spacecraft attitude control performance. While in orbit, GPIM is testing the fuel and compatible propulsion system – which includes tanks, valves, and thrusters – by conducting orbital maneuvers to demonstrate the propellant’s performance during attitude control maneuvers and orbit lowering.

With approximately 95 percent of the demonstration completed to date, the flight mission has proven that the ASCENT fuel and compatible propulsion system can be a viable, effective alternative for NASA and the commercial spaceflight industry. GPIM will soon begin a final series of burns that will deplete the remainder of the ASCENT fuel and the spacecraft will reenter the earth’s atmosphere to complete the mission.

As the prime contractor for GPIM, Ball Aerospace is responsible for system engineering; flight thruster performance verification; ground and flight data review; spacecraft bus development; payload assembly integration and test; and launch and flight support. GPIM uses the Ball Configurable Platform (BCP) smallsat, which is about the size of a mini refrigerator.

The BCP smallsat provides standard payload interfaces and streamlined procedures, allowing rapid and affordable access to space with flight-proven performance. There are currently two additional BCP small satellites performing on orbit: STPSat-2, which launched in November 2010, and STPSat-3, which launched in November 2013. The two STP satellites were built for the U.S. Air Force Space Test Program’s Standard Interface Vehicle (STP-SIV) project.

Executive Comments

“The successful completion of this mission advances in-space propulsion for the entire user community, which opens up the possibility for a variety of missions,” said Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, VP and GM, Civil Space, Ball Aerospace. “GPIM has the potential to inspire new ideas and new missions, which could mean smaller spacecraft, faster and easier ground processing, longer design lives and more – enabling science at any scale.”

“Aerojet Rocketdyne’s specially-engineered green propulsion system proved that satellites can operate on orbit utilizing hydrazine-alternative propellant,” said Jim Maser, SVP of space at Aerojet Rocketdyne. “With an extensive offering of flight proven chemical and electric propulsion systems, green propulsion was a natural progression for the company and we’re excited to help usher in a new era of satellite operations.”

OneWeb, currently proceeding slowly through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, is asking the US government to relax its rules on importing satellite components and materials under its Foreign Trade Zone regulations.

The Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) rules permit businesses to lower import duties and easier customs processes.

OneWeb has made its application via its joint-venture (OneWeb Satellites North America LLC) with Airbus, which is based in Merritt Island, Brevard County, Florida, and turns out OneWeb’s satellites.

The US Dept. of Commerce announced the application on the government’s Federal Register on August 19th.

“Airbus OneWeb already has authority to produce satellites for commercial, private, and military applications within FTZ 136. The current request would add foreign status materials/ components to the scope of authority. Production under FTZ procedures could exempt Airbus OneWeb from customs duty payments on the foreign- status materials/components used in export production. On its domestic sales, for the foreign-status materials/ components, Airbus OneWeb would be able to choose the duty rates during customs entry procedures that apply to its already authorized finished products (duty- free). Airbus OneWeb would be able to avoid duty on foreign-status components which become scrap/waste. Customs duties also could possibly be deferred or reduced on foreign-status production equipment,” explained the Department of Commerce.

Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions should be addressed to the Board’s Executive Secretary and sent to: ftz@trade.gov. The closing period for their receipt is September 28, 2020

Also of note — SpaceX has generated some $1.9 billion of fresh funding during August, and according to reports, is still looking to raise more cash. The initial target was to raise $2.066 billion.

The cash-raising exercise follows on from SpaceX raising $346 million in May.

The news comes as Musk achieves 4th position as the world’s richest person and helped by the rocketing value of Tesla shares. Musk is now worth $85 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, behind Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, in that order.

The injection of new money has been helped by solid performances from SpaceX and its delivery and return of astronauts from the International Space Station (the first-ever by a private business) and the now extremely regular launches of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. SpaceX has launched 653 Starlink craft, although it is know that there have been some orbital failures.

The latest Starlink launch occurred on August 18th. SpaceX has launched 14 times this year, with 9 of those efforts carrying its own Starlink satellites. That launch cadence is good; however, the company’s efforts were better in 2018 when there were 20 launches of its Falcon 9 and one Falcon Heavy.

SpaceX, in an SEC regulatory filing, said the cash was raised on August 4th and 75 investors participated. The response now values SpaceX at some $46 billion. The investors will receive shares in SpaceX.

The cash will be used for general purposes and capital intensive projects at SpaceX which likely includes more rockets, more Starlink satellites and more investment on Musk’s giant Starship spaceship.

The firm’s Starship project is coming along nicely. A test ‘flight’ (SN5) on August 4th managed a journey of some 175 meters altitude, but there’s some way to go before Musk’s longer-term ambition bears fruit, which is to take 100 people to Mars and back.

News stories authored by journalist Chris Forrester,
who posts for the Advanced Television infosite
and is a Senior Contributor for Satnews Publishers.

Another record breaking SpaceX Starlink launch has been successfully completed, with 56 additional smallsats joining the already 600 Starlinks already on-orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket used to transport the Starlink and SkySat payloads to space has been auspiciously used five times previously by the firm for other missions.

SpaceX customer Planet also joined in with this launch, with three, Maxar-built, SkySat 19, 20 and 21 smallsats aboard as passengers — this was Planet’s second payload adventure accessing the SpaceX rideshare program.

This trio of smallsats will join Planet’s 18 SkySats already on-orbit. When commissioned, Planet will then possess the largest, high resolution satellite fleet on-orbit to complete their constellation of imaging spacecraft. Planet also operates 100+ Dove smallsats that are on-orbit and they offer wide-angle views that are of a lower resolution.

SpaceX employed a booster (ID’s as B1049 by the company) with the Falcon 9 launch vehicle that had been used five times previously and, as this mission’s first stage was successfully landed aboard the company’s “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, another reuse of this unit on a forthcoming launch is highly likely. This sixth landing is another record breaker for the company.

This was also the first time that SpaceX employed a pair of previously flown fairings. One of the fairings was captured by the “GO Ms. Tree” droneship, while the second fairing managed a soft water landing with recovery by the “GO Ms. Chief” droneship.

For SpaceX, this was their 99th successful launch using all iterations of the Falcon 9 rocket.

Launch imagery screenshot captures are courtesy of SpaceX’s live launch video coverage.

State telecom enterprise TOT has stated the company has clinched a cooperation deal with Mu Space Corp., a Thai satellite and space tech startup, to venture into the LEO satellite business as a potential revenue stream.

The memorandum of understanding between TOT and Mu Space, which was signed last month, starts with a joint study and testing of program coding for server payload in rockets in a trial for signal transmission. this move highlights TOT’s plan to embark on global satellite business, with the initial step of providing a gateway station for the LEO satellite business before striving to own satellites through a consortium model in the future.

TOT also set up a working group to study and conduct a lab test for LEO satellite operations earlier this year, which consists of 60 TOT executives and staff as well as a small group of science-based high school students under the TOT academy.

TOT acting president Morakot Thienmontree said the LEO satellite development is seen as a revolution in mobility connectivity in the new economy, especially in the next 3-5 years, when the technology is expected to mature commercially worldwide. He said, “We do not want to miss this train of innovation” and added that TOT needs to create new revenue streams in the long run. “The LEO satellite business is compatible with 5G tech, but it could be a tech killer for traditional telecom infrastructure providers in the future.”

The cooperation with Mu Space includes trial program coding for server payload in rockets. Mu Space is responsible for booking payload quotas in the rockets for testing.

The test is needed to see the stability and related impact on the communication signal through the servers when rockets are launched and returned to base. This could be a start for TOT venturing into the LEO satellite business.

TOT has one satellite gateway station in Bangkok and another in the Northeast.

News posting authored by journalist Komsan Toprtermvasana for the Bangkok Post

KSAT has signed a contract for ground station support of HYPSO-1, a smallsat mission from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), aiming to detect toxic algae blooms — this is the first time KSAT will provide ground station services to a Norwegian university mission.

At NTNU Small Satellite Lab, a multi-disciplinary team of master students, PhD-students and professors are currently working on a small satellite with a miniaturized hyperspectral camera for detection of toxic algae blooms along the Norwegian coast. KSAT will as part of this contract, provide commercial ground station services from the Svalbard Ground Station for this mission, called HYPSO-1.

The smallsats in the HYPSO-project will be equipped with miniaturized hyperspectral cameras, that are able to “see” more than traditional optical sensors, covering parts of the infrared spectrum. In combination with drones and autonomous vehicles both on surface and subsea, the goal is to be able to detect and alert the fish-farms about toxic algae blooms in the area. In 2019 a sudden upwelling of toxic algae killed close to 8 million salmon in Norwegian fish farms, wiping out more than half of the annual sales growth in just over a week. The hope is that with the contribution of this mission, one can avoid this in the future.

As a significant provider of maritime monitoring services, KSAT had an active role during the algae bloom last year and together with partners in Tromsø they are currently exploring how to discriminate between different types of algae by combining different sensors and applying advanced algorithms.

Executive Comments

“We are very excited to get access to KSATs ground stations both at Svalbard and at other locations,” said Associate Professor Egil Eide at the Department of Electronic Systems. “HYPSO-1 will be part of a multi-agent surveillance system, operating both drones and surface vessels in near-real-time. It is very important to get data from as many satellite passes. This is an important strategic cooperation between NTNU and space industry, that will benefit students and researchers alike.”

Kristian Jenssen is the Director of KSATLITE, a division at KSAT that is dedicated to the development and delivery of scalable, global ground station services for smallsats. The team are currently handling the major portion of the commercial smallsats on-orbit today, including some of the large constellations. Jenssen emphasized that the students through these projects acquire unique hands-on experience, which is very relevant and thus valuable for KSAT as a possible future employer. “It is important for us that students that want to delve into the discipline of spacecraft engineering and space related sciences, can get the chance to do so at Norway’s largest technical university,” stated Jenssen, adding, “It’s exciting with these new and small hyperspectral sensors. We support the project and believe it can provide a valuable contribution to future systems for algae warning and coastal monitoring to increase the understanding and support commercial aquaculture.”