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Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR) has announced a launch window that starts on August 27, 2021, for the company’s first commercial orbital launch with the United States Space Force. Following this launch, Astra is under contract to perform a second launch later this year.

The STP-27AD1 mission will be conducted from Astra’s Kodiak Spaceport, located at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. The launch window will begin at 1:00 p.m., PT, on Friday, August 27, 2021, and will be open through Saturday, September 11, 2021.

The U.S. Space Force contracted the launch through the Defense Innovation Unit’s Other Transaction Agreement with Astra. Space Force will be launching a test payload for the Space Test Program (STP-27AD1).

“We are thrilled to partner with Astra on this mission and believe this showcases critical low-cost, mobile and responsive launch capability,” said Colonel Carlos Quinones, Director, Department of Defense Space Test Program.

“We’re excited to kick off a multi-launch campaign with the Space Force” said Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Astra. “This orbital demonstration launch allows our team to verify numerous upgrades to our launch system.”

Broadband satellite operator Viasat has already a solid client list for its connectivity, including private customers, businesses and airlines. In reporting its Q1/2022 numbers to (June 30), the company said that the gradual and fitful re-opening of the global economy is accelerating the momentum the company achieved in the later stages of FY/2021. “We anticipate that momentum to extend throughout FY/2022.”

Viasat reported record revenues for the quarter-year of $665 million (up 25 percent), which translated into a net income increase to $17 million from a $12 million loss in the same period a year earlier. the prior year. The company’s all-important contracted backlog is $2.2 billion, up $109 million on the previous year.

“At the segment level, Government Systems revenue increased 4 per cent YoY as growth broadened in several areas of our diverse portfolio – even in what is typically a softer quarter. Satellite Services revenue increased to $274 million, a 36 per cent increase YoY. Gains were driven by improving in-flight connectivity (IFC) service revenues as passengers return to air travel and continued top-line growth in our fixed broadband business,” stated the company. “In Commercial Networks we saw the top line expand sharply by 77 per cent YoY, totaling $119 million for the quarter. The main growth drivers were accelerating mobile terminal deliveries primarily in support of Delta Air Lines and their updated Wi-Fi service launch this year, as well as continued growth in our ground antenna systems business.”

Viasat says the number of aircraft in service and carrying its In-Flight Connectivity equipment is about 1,400 (out of 1,550 with its equipment installed) up 80 per cent YoY.

Importantly, Viasat delivered its new ViaSat-3 (Americas) payload to Boeing for final integration and testing. Viasat is continuing work on the second and third satellites in the new ViaSat-3 fleet.

“We believe ViaSat-3 will be transformational not just for Viasat but for the global broadband services market. In the intervening quarters we are focused on executing on our substantial backlog, and growing revenue and Adjusted EBITDA, while continuing to invest in unique and differentiated technologies, service offerings and new vertical and geographic markets. A vast opportunity for space-based connectivity is unfolding and we’re excited about what we can bring to a unique and diverse portfolio of applications, partners and customers,” stated the firm.

Viasat is guiding average annual growth of about 20 percent through FY2023.

The EchoStar team managed to avoid a humiliating forced ending of their plans for a global S-band service when a smallsat successfully “brought into use” a set of International Telecom Union (ITU) frequencies ahead of an August 10th ITU deadline.

This was the ‘third time lucky’ for EchoStar, given that two previous attempts to launch satellites into the S-band slot had failed on, or soon after, their launch. EchoStar, because of the smallsat, can now expand its S-band plans for voice and data services.

EchoStar in its financial results stated, “The nano-satellite was successfully commissioned and placed at the altitude prescribed in our license for the S-band frequency.”

The relief must be tangible, given that the ITU had already extended its previous April deadline to ‘bring into use’ services from the S-band orbital slot.

EchoStar’s Satellite Services president Anders Johnson is on record as having high-hopes for S-band activity and said that a successful launch of the smallsat would give EchoStar the “raw materials” needed for the development of a global service.

Back in 2013, EchoStar bought Solaris Mobile, initially owned by SES and Eutelsat, which was the springboard for this S-band activity. EchoStar now has worldwide S-band spectrum rights for use by LEO satellites.

A French high court has ruled against Eutelsat in its action against Inmarsat and Inmarsat’s hybrid satellite and terrestrial-based European Aviation Network (EAN). Eutelsat has had the action running since 2018 and objected to the use of terrestrial ground segment repeaters which it argued did not conform with Inmarsat’s S-band license from the European Commission.

The ruling, from France’s Conseil d’Etat follows on from a similar verdict from the European Court of Justice which also rejected Eutelsat’s action.

“Inmarsat welcomes the ruling in the Conseil d’Etat upholding the legality of the authorization granted in France to operate the European Aviation Network,” an Inmarsat spokesperson stated. “EAN is an asset for Europe as a whole and it is proving very popular with passengers and airlines.”

However, the suite of objections to Inmarsat’s EAN plans is not quite over yet — Viasat also has an action running in Italy, Belgium, Spain and Germany.

Malaysia’s damaged Measat-3 satellite, which suffered an anomaly back on June 21^st, is to be retired and de-orbited.

The incident resulted in a complete outage of service and is still under investigation in partnership with Measat’s satellite provider, Boeing Satellite Systems. Despite maintaining continuous telemetry and command control of Measat-3, further testing and recovery efforts found that the satellite could not re-enter service. The satellite will be de-orbited in the following weeks.

Measat is currently finalizing the launch date of Measat-3d for early 2022, which is expected to restore its on-orbit satellite redundancy at the company’s key orbital hot-slot at 91.5°E, providing DTH, Broadcasting and Telecommunications services for the region, in addition to significantly enhancing broadband speed of up to 100 Mbps in areas with limited or without any terrestrial connectivity throughout Malaysia.

Measat-3 drifted from its designated orbital slot at 91.5 degrees East in a westerly direction. By July 10th, it had drifted to 86.4 degrees East and a couple of days later to 84.7 degrees East. Data on August 6th (at 0942 GMT) suggested it had drifted to 76 degrees East and moving at 0.677 degrees per day.

Telesat and the Government of Ontario have partnered to bridge the digital divide in Ontario by leveraging Telesat’s advanced, state-of-the-art, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network, Telesat Lightspeed.

This $109 million agreement will futureproof and diversify Ontario’s connectivity infrastructure, lay the groundwork for continued development and commercialization of Canadian satellite technologies and pave the way for future economic growth and jobs. Through this five year partnership, a dedicated Telesat Lightspeed capacity pool will be made available at substantially reduced rates to Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs), including Indigenous owned and operated ISPs, as well as mobile network operators to expand high-speed Internet and LTE/5G networks to Ontario’s unserved and underserved communities.

Telesat Lightspeed is the only LEO network capable of delivering multiple Gbps of broadband capacity into a community, giving telecom operators the ability to offer a wide range of affordable, high-speed broadband plans and unlimited data to consumers and businesses as well as next-generation 5G wireless services. Furthermore, with multiple satellites always in view overhead, and the ability to dynamically route traffic to avoid weather events, the Telesat Lightspeed network provides unparalleled resiliency with always-on, high-quality connectivity.

As part of this partnership, Telesat will increase its Ontario-based staff by approximately 35%, growing to approximately 400 highly-skilled jobs, and invest $20 million in capital expenditures for expansion of the company’s Ontario facilities. Investments include a new gateway landing station at Telesat’s Allan Park teleport near Hanover, Ontario, as well as the expansion of the company’s corporate headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, where the majority of its staff will be located.

Telesat will also continue to develop and inspire Ontario’s future workforce through collaborative research and development projects with Ontario-based universities and colleges. These projects provide unique opportunities for students to research and develop innovative space-based solutions to improve life on Earth.

“Access to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet connectivity is essential in today’s digital economy,” said Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. “This partnership with the Government of Ontario will not only achieve the province’s goal of connecting everyone, regardless of where they live, to affordable high-speed Internet, but also positions Ontario at the forefront of the highly strategic New Space Economy through Telesat’s local investments in jobs and technology innovations.”

“Supporting Telesat is an investment in economic growth and good jobs, now and on the horizon,” said Vic Fedeli, Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “This is an investment in continued research and development, and the commercialization of satellite technologies in Ontario with economic benefits that will resonate in communities across the province.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how important high-speed internet and reliable cellular services are to participate in today’s digital world,” said Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure. “Our investment in satellite today, will help ensure our future demands for connectivity are met in communities across the province, and for generations to come.”

All dollar values represented in this release are Canadian dollars. The transaction is subject to the entering into of a further, definitive agreement which Telesat expects to execute in the coming weeks.

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has selected Simera Sense to deliver a hyperspectral instrument with advanced onboard processing for their 6U Cubesat mission that is to be launched toward the end of 2022.

Simera Sense combines the +30 band HyperScape50 instrument with Unibap‘s (Sweden) SpaceCloud Services to create a payload with powerful artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. This combination of onboard processing and a hyperspectral sensor provides KAUST with the capacity for enhanced monitoring of the Earth system via a never before seen smallsat configuration.

Professor Matthew McCabe, Director of the Climate and Livability Initiative at KAUST, said, “This unique instrument will provide enhanced monitoring of Earth’s ecosystems, delivering improved metrics of vegetation health, precision agricultural insights, and detailed observations of our coastal environments in a compact and efficient platform.”

“At Simera Sense, we are incredibly excited about working with KAUST. Not only to push technology limits but also to assist in creating a deeper understanding of our planet,” said Simera Sense CEO, Johann du Toit.

Ursa Space Systems (Ursa Space) customers can now access BlackSky’s high quality 1-meter resolution electro-optical (EO) imagery, thanks to a new agreement between the two companies.

Ursa Space will make the EO imagery available on its Image Services platform, offering an additional outlet for acquiring BlackSky products.

The addition of BlackSky strengthens Ursa Space’s Virtual Constellation, which comprises top performing SAR, EO and RF satellite data partners. Ursa Space offers customers robust and diverse imagery tasking services along with an extensive catalog of archive imagery, complementing its advanced analytic products and earth observation insights based on data obtained from the Virtual Constellation. The multiple daily revisits offered by BlackSky and on-demand tasking service will further enhance these offerings.

BlackSky’s constellation of imaging smallsats enables persistent monitoring of the global supply chain. In the example below, BlackSky’s satellites captured the Port of Los Angeles during the ongoing, historic level of congestion. Additionally, BlackSky’s satellites took images of ships waiting at anchorage outside the port.

BlackSky is rapidly expanding its satellite constellation for improved coverage and revisit times. With seven satellites currently in operation, BlackSky expects this number to increase to 14 by the end of 2021, to 23 by the end of 2023, and to the full constellation size of 30 by 2024, enabling a target revisit rate of taking an image anywhere on Earth every 60 minutes. This expansion of capabilities will be made available to Ursa Space customers.

Today’s Gen-2 satellites are roughly the size of a mini fridge and weigh 50 kilograms. The data collected support applications that include change detection products, pattern-of-life anomalies, situational awareness, and insights across economic, maritime, humanitarian, national security and various other market verticals.

“BlackSky is a valued partner with whom we’ve worked together on a number of projects. We’re very pleased to offer access to their high quality capabilities while continuing to build strong partnership and business together,” said Adam Maher, Founder & CEO, at Ursa Space.

“Having Ursa Space as our partner expands customer access to our imagery products as well as the insights that can be drawn from them,” said Brian O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky.

Advanced Space LLC is overseeing the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, a NASA-supported mission to orbit the Moon.

CAPSTONE is a smallsat that will be the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit that will support NASA’s Moon missions under Artemis.

Advanced Space is preparing for CAPSTONE’s launch by performing several Operations Readiness Tests (ORTs) that function as real-time mission simulations. The second ORT was successfully completed last week and demonstrated the unique capabilities of Advance Space to operate the mission as it targets its Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO), an important and innovative lunar orbit planned for NASA’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.

These ORTs simulate critical launch and flight maneuvers as well as allow for practice of various operational scenarios in the weeks leading up to launch. The navigation and maneuver design for the spacecraft after it separates from the launch vehicle will demonstrate the capabilities of the team at Advanced Space.

Advanced Space has prior experience with trajectory analysis and mission design which positions them for the collaborative effort of this mission. In partnership with NASA and other commercial partners, CAPSTONE is expected to be the first cubesat to fly in cislunar space as well as the first spacecraft to operate in an NRHO at the Moon, where it will follow a path around the Earth that closely matches the Moon’s orbit and provide an unobstructed view of the Earth.

The constant view of Earth from the NRHO makes it an ideal orbit for NASA’s lunar Gateway – an outpost that is part of the Artemis missions that will establish a long-term presence at the Moon. Operations in this challenging orbit have not been previously executed. The benefits of a rapid demonstration that acts as a pathfinder for Gateway and other Artemis missions led to this collaborative effort between NASA and commercial partners led by Advanced Space.

In September 2019, NASA issued a press release describing the benefits of the CAPSTONE mission approach. There are several key milestones planned to continue the preparation work of the mission. Among them are a full operations systems evaluation through another round of tests and a trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) real-time simulation of initial acquisition.

Advanced Space of Colorado owns the satellite and is responsible for mission operations. CAPSTONE’s development is supported by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate via the Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Advanced Exploration Systems within NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate supports the launch and mission operations. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch management.

The mission will launch on a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle.

“This comprehensive readiness test illustrates the capabilities of our team to focus on mission execution in challenging environments and reinforces that our launch date is quickly approaching for this groundbreaking mission,” said Advanced Space CEO, Bradley Cheetham. “We are proud of this mission and grateful to NASA for its support. This mission really showcases the benefits of collaboration between NASA and industry.”

Advanced Space supports the exploration, development, and settlement of space through software and services that leverage unique subject matter expertise to improve the fundamentals of spaceflight. Advanced Space is dedicated to improving flight dynamics technology development and expedited turn-key missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Aitech has developed the S-A1760 Venus, a powerful and the smallest radiation-characterized space AI GPGPU. The new, small form factor (SFF) system is rated for space flight and smallsat constellations used in Near Earth Orbit (NEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) applications.

The COTS-based system is validated for use in these short duration and NEO/LEO environments through the Series 300 level qualification standard that identifies the rad-tolerant needs of space components and systems not used in deep space or long-haul applications.

Based on Aitech’s popular A176 Cyclone GPGPU system, the S-A1760 Venus also uses the NVIDIA Jetson TX2i system-on-module (SoM) that features the Pascal architecture with 256 CUDA cores and reaches 1 TFLOPS of processing. This compact, rugged, space-rated system is ideal for high performance, small footprint environments and is, according to the company, the most advanced solution for on-board edge computing such as AI, deep learning and video and signal processing for the next generation of short duration spaceflight, NEO and LEO satellites applications.

The new AI supercomputer includes a robust set of I/O interfaces including Gigabit Ethernet, UART Serial, USB 2.0, CANbus and discretes as well as DVI/HDMI output. Video capture includes an HD-SDI input with a dedicated H.264 encoder and eight RS-170A (NTSC)/PAL composite channels available simultaneously.

The S-A1760 Venus is a truly SFF SWaP (Size, Weight and Power) optimized system and meets MIL-STD-810H requirements for bench handling and conforms to VITA 47 for shock and vibration.

Dan Mor, Director, Video and GPGPU Product Line at Aitech, noted, “With the growing need for advanced imaging and data processing throughout space-rated applications, transitioning our powerful GPGPU-based AI supercomputers to this industry was a logical choice. By validating these space-rated, COTS-based systems with a clearly defined and recognized qualification level, we’re helping lead the charge in the development of commercial space applications and small sat cluster innovations.”