NOAA has awarded the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Ground Sustainment Services (LGSS) contract to Peraton, Inc. based in Herndon, Virginia.

The value of the contract, which includes a base period of five years, with three 12-month option periods is $399,288,456. The period of performance begins on March 1st, 2023.

The purpose of the LGSS contract is for sustainment of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Common Ground Services (CGS), while accommodating enhancements and additions to NOAA’s existing LEO satellite constellations and partner missions.

Work will occur at the contractors’ facilities in Greenbelt, Maryland; Clarksville, Virginia; and Bellevue, Nebraska; and at NOAA facilities located in Suitland, Maryland; Fairmont, West Virginia; and Fairbanks, Alaska.

JPSS is NOAA’s current operational LEO program that acquires and distributes global environmental data from multiple polar-orbiting satellites.

The agency’s LEO program includes the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) mission, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 and the JPSS-3/4 missions, as well other leveraged missions and partnerships.

The JPSS Ground System is responsible for implementing JPSS Program command, control, and communications and data processing requirements for JPSS CGS-serviced missions.

Future NOAA and partner LEO missions will be supported by the CGS throughout the life of the JPSS Program. The JPSS Program plays a critical role in NOAA’s mission to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, coasts, and space environments. It also supports the Nation’s economy and protects lives and property.

The following is a congratulatory letter to ISRO from SIA-India, an association for space industry, regarding the completion of their JANUS-1 satellite.

Congratulations to ISRO on the successful completion of the SSLV-D2/EOS-07 mission! The mission is a testament to ISRO’s hard work and dedication. Placing EOS-07, Janus-1, and AzaadiSAT-2 into their intended orbits flawlessly showcases ISRO’s commitment to advancing the space industry and driving innovation. 

SIA-India extends felicitations to Ananth Technologies and Antaris on the successful launch of the JANUS-1 satellite aboard ISRO’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D2) on February 10, 2023. The satellite, which is a software-defined 6U technology demonstration model, was designed and constructed using the Antaris cloud software platform, SatOS software, and XDLinx’s modular Spacecraft Bus, with Ananth Technologies serving as its Master Systems Integrator. The complete Assembly, Integration, and Test process was carried out successfully at Ananth Technologies’ new facility in Bangalore’s Aerospace Park, where the high-efficiency Solar Panels of JANUS-1 were also fully indigenized.

Additionally, the Thiruvananthapuram unit of Ananth Technologies made significant contributions to the country’s space vehicle launch, SSLV, and also to the ISRO Satellite EOS. The Bangalore spacecraft team of Ananth made contributions to the EOS-7 satellite, the primary payload of the SSLV-D2 launch, by developing various avionics subsystems including IRU, BMU, LEMA, and DC-DC converter packages. The unit also provided test support for Azad Sat at its Bangalore facility.

International collaboration and partnerships have played a crucial role in the success of both the SSLV-D2/EOS-07 mission and the launch of Janus 1. These collaborations have allowed for the pooling of resources, expertise, and knowledge, leading to innovative and successful missions. The success of these collaborations showcases the importance of international cooperation in advancing the space industry and driving innovation.

Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU) has been awarded a multi-million dollar agreement with The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) to deploy and test TNO’s laser communications technology aboard a Sidus’ LizzieSat satellite.

As part of the $2.5 million agreement, TNO will design and deliver HemiCAT, a high-efficiency, miniature, communications laser terminal, which Sidus will integrate into the firm’s hybrid, 3D printed satellite, LizzieSat. Sidus will manage all aspects of integration, deployment, and operations, including procuring a launch and operating HemiCAT in orbit. The on-orbit demo mission for laser satellite communication is part of a study of Dutch defense technology.

“We are honored to be selected by TNO as its mission partner for the HemiCAT technology,” said Carol Craig, Sidus Space Founder and CEO. “This partnership will allow us to demonstrate further versatility of our LizzieSat platform and advance our mission of ‘Bringing Space Down to Earth’ while continuing to expand our reach into the international satellite market.”

“This HemiCAT is an important new technology and we look forward to working with Sidus to launch and test HemiCAT as a pathfinder for future laser satellite communication systems,” Michiel Ringers, TNO Business Development Manager, stated. “The Sidus team offered the best turnkey solution, designing, building, and deploying flight heritage hardware for demanding applications — the perfect combination of expertise and capabilities we look for in a partner.”

Sidus Space (NASDAQ: SIDU), located in Cape Canaveral, Florida, operates from a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing facility focused on commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection. The company’s rich heritage includes the design and manufacture of many flight and ground component parts and systems for various space-related customers and programs. Sidus Space has a broad range of Space-As-a-Service offerings including space-rated hardware manufacturing, design engineering, satellite manufacturing and platform development, launch and support services, data analytics services and satellite constellation management.

The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) is an independent research and innovation organisation. We connect people and knowledge to create innovations and evidence-based insights hat boost the sustainable competitive strength of industry and well-being of society. Now and in the future. Together with our partners, we focus in particular on the societal challenges of a safe, a healthy, a sustainable and a digital society. This is our mission and it is what drives us, the over 4,000 professionals at TNO, in our work every day. TNO Space stimulates economic growth in the Netherlands and Europe by enabling companies to realise new products, generate new business and improve their competitive position.

South Australian artificial intelligence (AI) company AICRAFT has successfully launched its edge computing module to set a record for Big Data processing on orbit.

The device was launched on Friday 10 February 2023 on board the JANUS-1 satellite of Antaris Space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of India under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). As a key sub-system of the JANUS-1 satellite, AICRAFT’s edge computing module, named Pulsar, will perform ultra-fast processing of space data using artificial intelligence at lowest power consumption. In its preliminary tests on the ground, the company has demonstrated the ability to classify 1,250 images of Earth Observation data in about 10 seconds! This was achieved using the device in low-power mode which the company expects to enable 24/7 computation, even on ‘shoe- box-size’ nanosatellites compared to the 10 minutes a day with current market solutions.

Pulsar can seamlessly toggle between low-power and high-performance modes which can give a further four times speedup of its low-power processing. Its power/performance ratio is currently unmatched in this size of devices – Pulsar is 95mm x 90mm x 25mm.

The module offers the advantage of being highly customizable depending on the host satellite, mission duration and orbit, making it resilient but also affordable for a variety of customers and New Space entrants. From a software perspective, the module supports over 20 of the most popular machine learning frameworks with users able to develop algorithms for Pulsar in the same way they are developing on desktops and leveraging from open-source software.

The CEO of AICRAFT Dr Tony Scoleri said, “Getting to this point was a phenomenal journey for us. The JANUS-1 mission gave us the focus to build an advanced and space-grade AI technology in a very short time (9 months) and provided a springboard for AICRAFT to enter the space ecosystem. The collaboration with the US-based Antaris Space commenced through their Australian subsidiary company which is also a member of the Aurora Space Cluster, an initiative of SmartSat CRC for startups, and enabled to combine forces.”

Antaris, the software platform provider for space, fully conceived, designed and manufactured a satellite using the company’s own software end-to-end in a world’s first cloud-based environment. Creation of the satellite JANUS-1 involved eight organisations spanning seven countries collaborating virtually through Antaris’ cloud-based platform, which features open APIs and core open-source elements.

AICRAFT and Antaris signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the Australian Space Forum in Adelaide, South Australia in March 2022. The satellite JANUS-1 was completed in just 10 months from concept to launch readiness, with a cost saving of 75% over comparable satellite missions. It features AICRAFT’s edge computing module Pulsar that was designed and manufactured in Australia and the only Australian payload in this mission.

Commenting on how the future looks for AICRAFT after the landmark JANUS-1 mission, Dr Scoleri said, “This is an exciting flight for us, and we are already in conversations with potential customers for our next mission.”

On Sunday, February 12 at 12:10 a.m. ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 55 Starlink satellites to LEO from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the company’s 209th overall mission and the 10th mission of this year.

This was the 12th launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, and now seven Starlink missions.

The 1st stage booster returned to Earth and successfully landed on the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” droneship, the 160th such landing for SpaceX.

MENUT – the first Earth Observation (EO) satellite built and launched by Open Cosmos – has returned its first images.

MENUT is a 6U EO smallsat that launched during SpaceX’s Transporter-6 mission in early January. The successful launch saw the satellite deployed from the Exolaunch deployer and the first signal was received a few hours later.

Over the past few weeks, the Open Cosmos team has been at work in the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) to ensure there was good communication and the satellite was stable in orbit before moving onto the commissioning phase, where each subsystem is tested to ensure standard functionality is operational. For the MENUT satellite, the subsystems need to integrate to perform complex actions, such as image acquisition, satellite pointing and data download.

MENUT is part of the OpenConstellation, a global shared satellite infrastructure built and managed by Open Cosmos. Countries, institutions and companies are able to contribute their own satellites and create the world’s biggest mutualised constellation. Subsequent Open Cosmos-built small satellites, contributed by leading space organisations in the UK, Spain and Portugal for OpenConstellation, are already being built and will be launched throughout 2023 and 2024.

The OpenConstellation satellites will make it easier for organizations to access satellite data to address challenges around the climate crisis, energy, natural resources and more without having to launch and manage their own satellite with Open Cosmos taking care of the whole end-to-end process.

Jordi Castellvi Esturi, Senior Mission Manager at Open Cosmos, said, “Although it is still early days for the MENUT satellite, the fact that we have received the first clear image from the onboard camera is fantastic validation, not only of this mission but also the ability of Open Cosmos to be able to provide Earth Observation imagery. The whole team has worked incredibly hard over the past months to ensure this project is successful and it’s a very exciting moment for us to see these images. We will now continue to work closely with the customer on the rest of the commissioning phase and will provide a full update on mission success in March.”

ISRO‘s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) successfully launched three satellites into their intended orbits.

This was the rocket’s second developmental flight and the SSLV-D2 vehicle placed EOS-07, Janus-1 and AzaadiSAT-2 satellites into their intended 450 km circular orbit with an inclination of 37 degrees. SSLV-D2 took-off from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, and required about 15 minutes to inject the satellites.

SSLV is the new smallsat launch vehicle developed by ISRO to cater the launch of small satellites up to 500 kg to LEO on ‘launch-on-demand’ basis. The rocket is configured with three solid stages 87 t, 7.7 t and 4.5 t, respectively.

SSLV is a 34 m tall, 2 m diameter vehicle, having a lift-off mass of 120 t. A liquid propulsion-based Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) achieves desired velocity for the insertion of the satellites into the intended orbit.

SSLV is capable of launching Mini, Micro, or Nanosatellites (10 to 500 kg mass) to a 500 km orbit. It provides low-cost access to Space, offers low turn-around time, facilitates flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites and demands minimal launch infrastructure.

In its first developmental flight on August 7, 2022, SSLV-D1 marginally missed placing its satellites payload. SSLV-D2 implemented the recommendations made by the expert committee that analyzed the shortcomings of that SSLV-D1 flight.

SSLV-D2 carried EOS-07, a 153.6 kg EO satellite realised by ISRO; Janus-1, a technology demo satellite weighing 10.2 kg belonging to ANTARIS, USA; and AzaadiSAT-2, a 8.8 kg satellite realized by Space Kidz India by integrating various scientific payloads that were developed by 750 female students across India.

With this successful launch, India now has a launch vehicle that will support smallsat launches.