L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) is expanding its satellite production site to include advanced production of unclassified satellites, which will deliver experimental capabilities for national defense.

The Central Florida location is home to more than 100,000 square feet of space used for development, manufacturing and testing of full satellites and components which already deliver complex, classified capabilities for national defense.

The increased production capability allows L3Harris to develop and test the experimental Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), which is a priority program for the U.S. Air Force. Facility investments also make it possible to develop and integrate three sizes of small-to-medium responsive satellites in support of urgent U.S. Department of Defense missions addressing evolving threats.

Two of the company’s eight buildings have recently been upgraded to manufacture multiple end-to-end satellites per month. L3Harris has built eight satellites at the expanded Palm Bay facility that are currently on-orbit and another 10 are in various stages of development. The company plans to add more production capacity by the end of the year to produce six satellites per month.

“Our customers face urgent threats that must be addressed in months rather than years,” said Ed Zoiss, President of L3Harris Space and Airborne Systems. “We prioritized facility investments to meet their accelerating timelines.”

During the 36th Space Symposium, Spaceflight Inc. announced the company had achieved 100% mission success for both its primary and secondary missions for SXRS-5, including the commissioning and successful firing of Astra’s Apollo Fusion electric propulsion system to enable orbital transfers.

The mission, which launched on June 30 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-2 mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, featured two of the company’s innovative next-generation Sherpa orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) — Sherpa-LTE1 and Sherpa-FX2.

Spaceflight’s electric propulsion OTV, Sherpa-LTE1, successfully ignited thrusters on its first attempt on-orbit. Credit: Spaceflight Inc.

For the primary mission, the avionics systems on the two OTVs were tasked with separating 35 payloads, including six microsatellites and 29 cubesats, with a hosted payload remaining on board.

Following the successful deployment of all customer spacecraft, Sherpa-LTE1 initiated the mission’s second objective, ensuring all systems were operational and in good health as well as commissioning the propulsion system for additional orbital maneuvers.

All the data collected from these experiments will provide valuable insights before Sherpa-LTC1, Spaceflight’s first chemical propulsion OTV, launches on board SpaceX’s Transporter-3 mission, targeted for no earlier than December 2021.

Spaceflight successfully completed all of its identified mission goals over the past eight weeks. Milestones accomplished include:

• Avionics sequencers (R2A) on board the two Sherpa OTVs executed commands successfully, deploying 100% of customer payloads as planned within 24 hours.

• All Sherpa subsystems were confirmed operational and healthy. System temperatures, voltages, and other data were all within the predicted limits.

• Sherpa-LTE1 de-tumbled and commissioned the Astra/Apollo Fusion electric propulsion system.

• Sherpa-LTE1 successfully performed thruster ignition and operation on its first attempt and is now preparing to enter its tertiary phase of the mission, where it will maneuver to various orbits and conduct automated maneuvers on a weekly basis.

• Successful demonstration of modular subsystems, including Sherpa’s propulsion and command-and-control operations, proving rapid prototyping by going from kickoff to flight in less than six months.

• Spaceflight’s free flyer OTV, Sherpa-FX2, successfully demonstrated payload hosting, similar to Sherpa-FX1 which launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission in January.

• Contact was made with 34 of the 36 payloads within hours of launch, with several customers communicating with their spacecraft before the deployment sequence was complete.

• All spacecraft separation data was shared with the industry’s space object tracking body, 18th Space Control Squadron, as planned within 48 hours for ongoing tracking and monitoring.

As the only company to have successfully flown three OTVs in six months, including the industry’s first electrical propulsion version, Spaceflight has plans to launch two more OTVs later this year, including the firm’s first chemical propulsion vehicle, Sherpa-LTC. Building on the success of these Sherpa missions and the company’s experience managing 41 missions to date, Spaceflight is actively planning Sherpa missions beyond LEO to GEO and cislunar orbital insertions.

“The success of this mission has exceeded our expectations, an indication the technology we designed will be effective in executing a wide variety of missions,” said Phil Bracken, VP of engineering for Spaceflight. “With its versatility and modular architecture, Sherpa will be capable of not only deploying satellites, but hosting them on orbit, supporting infrastructure development, using various kinds of propulsion — all at unmatched development speeds. We are excited to continue building on the success of SXRS-5 and innovating new ways to use Sherpa to support our customers’ missions.”

“The successes of Sherpa-LTE1, and the promise of Sherpa-LTC, demonstrate the capabilities of our groundbreaking innovations to take spacecraft to any orbit — from LEO, medium Earth orbit, geostationary orbit, lunar or beyond, in a way that has never been accomplished before,” said Grant Bonin, SVP of business development at Spaceflight. “We are committed to the overall development of space and our Sherpa program is a significant component of our vision to offer the most comprehensive launch solutions to get our customers’ payloads to space — whenever and wherever they want.”

OneWeb has unveiled their newest and smallest user terminal that offers high-speed internet connectivity to businesses, governments and communities across the globe as well as in remote locations.

Developed in partnership with Intellian Technologies, Inc. and Collins Aerospace, the Compact-Electronically Steered Antenna OW1 user terminal, will play a key role in realizing OneWeb’s vision of bringing high-performance, easily installed, affordable communications services to the world’s least-connected regions and industrial sectors.

The OW1 terminal will bring performance, adaptability and a low profile that will make it ideal for delivering OneWeb-powered satellite broadband in a wide range of settings. The flat-panel antenna at the heart of the unit is easily installed, only requiring basic mounting and wiring skills to install and, coming in at 50x43x10 cm and around 10 kg, is about the size of a briefcase.

The flat-panel antenna will integrate with a OneWeb satellite modem in an environmentally sealed outdoor unit, can be installed using an optional stabilized J-mount and will connect via a single combined power and data cable to an indoor unit that will in turn provide connectivity to the end user devices, such as laptops or routers.

The new device follows the successful completion of OneWeb’s ‘Five to 50’ launch program that has delivered the satellites required to bring OneWeb services to Canada, the UK and Northern Europe later this year. OneWeb is on track to deploy its full fleet of satellites by 2022.

Michele Franci, OneWeb’s Chief of Delivery, said, “We are so excited to bring this user terminal to market, and we thank Intellian and Collins for their invaluable partnership in making it a reality. OneWeb’s vision of connecting the world requires the hardware to do it, and we are pleased to be able to offer an affordable, compact and easy-to-install user terminal. It will connect and empower communities and small to medium-sized businesses, opening up applications for a wide variety of purposes, including community Wi-Fi in remote regions; rural retail point-of-sale systems; agricultural Internet of Things functions; and internet service in hotels, health clinics, research stations and more, located in places that the status quo has left unconnected.”

“This agreement marks another exciting milestone in our great partnership with OneWeb, delivering another unique Intellian user terminal to address new markets and requirements with a high bandwidth and low latency user experience,” said Eric Sung, President and CEO, Intellian Technologies Inc. “The OW1 is our first flat-panel antenna, following years of investment in R&D, expanding our comprehensive OneWeb portfolio. This user terminal is a continuation of our ongoing mission of ‘Empowering Connectivity’, allowing customers in remote and challenging environments to access a cost effective and enhanced user experience otherwise inaccessible to them. The OW1 from Intellian along with OneWeb’s LEO service, can enable business growth, empower education and support the delivery of critical services in communities on a global scale.”

Article by Lesley Conn, senior manager of Research and Analysis at Space Foundation

Introduction

This edition, a special publication for the 36th Annual Space Symposium, examines where we are as a global space industry and considers the steps still to be evaluated and taken to transform into reality what is envisioned for the future of the industry.

The long-anticipated return of Space Foundation‘s Space Symposium comes on the heels of two events that renewed public interest in space flight.

With the July 20, 2021, flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard, Jeff Bezos became the second billionaire that month — after Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson — to fulfill a lifelong dream of going into space. Bezos and Branson represent the growth and growing influence of private commercial space enterprises.

Wally Funk, a passenger on the New Shepard flight, and in 2010 the first person to buy a ticket for Branson’s suborbital spaceplane, represents sheer perseverance and a singular vision to venture beyond Earth. At 82, she became the oldest person to rocket from the planet. She was eager to go 60 years earlier, when, in 1961, she was the youngest volunteer in the First Lady Astronaut Trainees program. Her dreams were repeatedly dashed, but she never lost confidence in her belief that she would one day reach space. And in that, she is not unlike so many other people around the world whose personal hopes and dreams are wrapped into a larger goal of scientific achievement, overcoming every obstacle, and becoming part of a new future in space.

This special edition examines other facets of how the future of space is unfolding:

1 | Space Economy

Commercial spending remained the significant driver of the overall global space economy, representing almost 80% of total revenue. Commercial Infrastructure and Support Industries is the smaller of two sectors — the other being Commercial Space Products and Services — but in 2020, Infrastructure and Support Industries showed the greatest growth, increasing 16.4% from 2019. Ground stations and equipment, valued at $118.45 billion, captured more than 86% of the sector, but developing industries, such as on-orbit satellite servicing and human spaceflight, have captured more public attention and investor interest. In February, Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics docked its Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1) to a geostationary satellite to provide fuel and thruster capability. Two more MEVs have since launched to extend service to other satellites. As for space tourism, Virgin Galactic before Branson’s flight had sold more than 600 tickets, each costing as much as $250,000, to people in 58 countries. After the flight, as demand grew, some industry observers expect new passengers to pay upward of $500,000.

Commercial Space Products and Services, the largest commercial sector, grew only slightly last year, easing up 1.2% to $219.44 billion. Earth observation satellites showed the strongest growth in the sector, increasing 9.1% to $3.7 billion. The Space Economy section also provides a recap of 2020 government spending, detailed more extensively in The Space Report 2021 Q2, released in July. The majority of nations reviewed, largely influenced by the global pandemic, reduced space spending last year, resulting in an overall 1.2% decline in 2020 to US$90.2 billion.

Compiling global space economy data that Space Foundation has tracked since 2005 finds that in the last 15 years, however, government and commercial spending have propelled total revenue to a 176% gain.

2 | Space Workforce

The U.S. space workforce grew more than 5% from 2019 to more than 192,000 workers. The European space workforce included 50,388 employees in 2020, an increase of 3.3% from 2019. In Japan, the space workforce included 8,725 workers in 2019 (the most recent year for which data is available), a 1.9% decrease from the previous year but a 10% increase over five years. India employed approximately the same amount of people within its Department of Space in 2020 as in 2019, totaling 17,099.

3 | Space Infrastructure

In this section, two articles probe what will be needed to move beyond initial exploration of the Moon and space. The United States’ Artemis program has 11 partners, but China, Russia, Israel, and Turkey also have missions planned, as do a growing number of companies that are public partners or working as independent operators.

As they look to establish permanence on the lunar surface, these nations and companies must consider sustainability on three major fronts — economic, environmental, and infrastructure. Ian Christensen, director of private sector programs at Secure World Foundation, leads the examination of lunar sustainability.

Nuclear power and propulsion are parts of that equation. Chris Beauregard, the former director of commercial space policy at the White House National Space Council, offered a primer on the nuclear applications, some already long in use, that offer the most promise for efficient, powerful solutions for sustainable energy.

This section also features two pieces that examine recent shifts in small launch vehicle and smallsat development. More than 1,100 smallsats deployed in 2020, comprising 92% of all spacecraft deployed. This strong majority represents a reversal from a decade ago, when only 27% of spacecraft launched were smallsats.

4 | Space Policy

As space infrastructure and applications develop, so too must international policy related to government and commercial activities on the Moon and in the rest of space. Michael K. Simpson and Elias de Andrade, both affiliated with the Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities (GEGSLA), outline the work of the group, provide examples of how similar initiatives have shaped global policy, and explain how GEGSLA is encouraging participation and input from around the world.

Purchasing Options

The Space Report is widely recognized as the definitive body of information about the global space industry. It contains worldwide space facts and figures and is illustrated with photographs, charts, and graphs detailing the benefits of space exploration and utilization, the challenges facing the space sector, opportunities for future growth, and the major factors shaping the industry. The Space Report serves as a resource for government and business leaders, educators, financial analysts, students, and space-related businesses. For more than a decade, The Space Report has chronicled the growth of the space community from around the world. Space Foundation’s Research & Analysis team produces The Space Report.

To purchase The Space Report, or to subscribe to The Space Report Online, go to thespacereport.org/subscriptions.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has expanded their space systems infrastructure with the addition of a 7,500 ft2 Class 10,000 / ISO 7 cleanroom facility in San Diego, California, that will enable high-volume Optical Communication Terminal (OCT) production — this multi-faceted facility can facilitate fabrication of up to 300 OCTs per year.

Over the last several years, GA-EMS has continued to invest in expanding its space systems capabilities with facilities in San Diego; Centennial and Englewood, Colorado; Huntsville, Alabama, Tupelo, Mississippi; and Herndon, Virgina. In total, GA-EMS has more than 144,000 ft2 dedicated to space systems engineering, manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, and mission operations. In addition to hundreds of OCTs, these facilities can concurrently accommodate large-quantity fabrication of constellation-ready satellites ranging from cubesats to ESPA-Grande class satellites.

“GA-EMS is fully committed to the deployment of optical communication as the backbone of future national security space architectures,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “Leveraging 20 years of experience developing multi-domain optical technologies, GA-EMS’ low SWaP-C OCT is technologically advanced and designed such that it allows for greater production efficiencies to support large scale satellite constellation programs. The combination of a mission focused, manufacturable OCT design and large-capacity development infrastructure, means that we can meet requirements and deliver hundreds of units every year on budget and on time.”

“The GA-EMS OCT is easily integrated onto a variety of satellites providing customers with tremendous flexibility in platform configurations to drive costs down and meet mission objectives,” added Nick Bucci, vice president of Missile Defense and Space Systems. “In addition, the depth and diversity of our infrastructure allows us the agility to simultaneously support multiple programs of scale while maintaining the highest quality standards and deliver on schedule.”

On Sunday, August 22, Paris Time, another 34 OneWeb internet satellites were separated from the Soyuz launch vehicle and placed into orbit with a dispenser from RUAG Space.

With this accomplishment, RUAG Space has now successfully placed 997 satellites into orbit, bringing the Swiss-based space supplier closer to the milestone of 1,000 satellite separations.

Separation systems for all large launch vehicles in the world RUAG Space is the world leader for satellite separation systems for commercial launch vehicles. “Our separation systems ensure that satellite and rocket remain securely attached to one another during the tough journey into space, and then deliver the valuable payloads into orbit with precision,” said Andreas Jonsson, the site manager in Linköping. “All 997 satellite separations have been carried out with a 100 percent success rate. They are the result of a long and trusted collaboration with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and an increasingly advanced position in the commercial space industry in recent years. We are leading the commercial market and we provide all the larger launchers in the world with equipment for launching satellites in all sizes.”

“This is a huge achievement which highlights the outstanding capabilities we have in satellite separation,” said Holger Wentscher, Vice President Product Group Launchers at RUAG Space. “We meet customer expectations in extreme environment” The separation systems from RUAG Space are being produced at its site in Linköping, Sweden. The 34 OneWeb satellites were launched with a separation system on a dispenser manufactured by RUAG Space. The dispenser system makes it possible to separate multiple satellites in a specific order in order to get exactly the right orbit. For us, every separation is an exciting achievement. We can offer a 100% reliability and are able to meet customer expectations in the extreme environment of space.”

“RUAG Space has been developing and producing Payload Adapter Systems for around 40 years. A period during which we have accumulated vast experience, and supplied our products to an ever-growing number of customers,” added Jonsson. “We constantly try go get better and to develop new products. Our latest product ‘Soft Separation System’ makes our separation systems useful for the next generation satellites with better performance and lower shock.

Virgin Orbit, through its parent company Vieco USA, Inc. (“Virgin Orbit” or the “Company”) and NextGen Acquisition Corp. II (“NextGen”) (NASDAQ: NGCA), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), have announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement (the “Merger Agreement”) under which Virgin Orbit will become a publicly-traded company.

Upon closing, the transaction is expected to provide the combined company up to $483 million in cash proceeds, including up to $383 million of cash held in the trust account of NextGen (assuming no redemptions) and a $100 million fully committed PIPE; the combined company will retain the Virgin Orbit name and is expected to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “VORB.” The transaction values Virgin Orbit at an implied pro forma enterprise value of approximately $3.2 billion and is expected to close in Q4 2021, subject to, among other things, approval by NextGen’s shareholders and the satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions.

Virgin Orbit’s existing shareholder base is comprised of Virgin Group, (“Virgin”), Mubadala Investment Company (“Mubadala”), and management and employees. Existing Virgin Orbit shareholders will roll 100% of their equity into the combined company. Assuming no redemptions by NextGen’s shareholders, existing Virgin Orbit shareholders are expected to retain ownership of approximately 85% of the combined company, NextGen’s public shareholders are expected to own approximately 10% of the combined company, with PIPE investors and the SPAC sponsor expected to own approximately 3% and 2%, respectively, in each case, immediately following closing.

Virgin Orbit has developed a proprietary air-launch technology, coupled with world-class manufacturing infrastructure and a proven team to transform space access for a diverse and global customer base. Since its founding in 2017, Virgin Orbit has developed the world’s first air-launched, liquid-fueled launch system.

The Company’s most recent successful launch – conducted on June 30, 2021 – precisely delivered satellites for commercial and national security customers from the US and abroad directly into their target orbits. In January 2021, the Company successfully launched satellites for NASA.

Virgin Orbit uses a customized 747 aircraft as a mobile launch site, a flying mission control, and a fully-reusable first stage vehicle. By beginning each mission at approximately 35,000 feet above sea level and already travelling at a high speed, the simple and reliable LauncherOne rocket achieves a significant performance advantage over grounded launch sites while reducing local carbon emissions and acoustic impacts at the launch site when compared to a traditional ground launch.

The mobility of the system also allows Virgin Orbit to bring launch capabilities to dozens of nations that currently have space agencies and satellite industries but no domestic launch capability. The Company has been selected by the United Kingdom and Brazil to bring launch to those nations’ shores, in addition to Virgin Orbit’s announced launch site in Japan and multiple locations in the United States.

Having already successfully delivered satellites into precisely targeted orbit for the US Department of Defense and other national security customers, Virgin Orbit’s proven technology can also be leveraged to serve a diverse portfolio of defense and national security applications. Virgin Orbit’s ability to launch responsively from any location around the world delivers a valuable deterrent in ensuring the resiliency and replaceability of critical satellite infrastructure assets.

Virgin Orbit is selectively investing with constellation partners to provide end-to-end, value-added services for Earth Observation and the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, using the “Satellites as a Service” model. Virgin Orbit’s IoT offering will focus on connectivity applications for ship management, aircraft, pipeline monitoring, and intelligent agriculture, which has the potential to help improve efficiency across some of the world’s biggest industries.

Sir Richard Branson, the Founder of Virgin Orbit, said, “The Virgin Orbit team has proven its ability to create new ideas, new approaches, and new capabilities. They are building on the incredible foundation of their rapid transition into successful commercial launch operations to find new ways to solve big problems that uplift our customers’ amazing ideas, again and again. I’m very excited we are taking Virgin Orbit public, with the support of our partners at NextGen and our other wonderful investors. It’s another milestone for empowering all of those working today to build space technology that will positively change the world.”

Dan Hart, the CEO of Virgin Orbit, said, “We’ve built Virgin Orbit in order to change the business of satellite launch and to open space for everyone, globally. Whether it’s engaging with world leaders at the G7 Summit or seeing the smiles on the faces of our international community of customers after our most recent launch, our mission gets more exciting with every step we take. Our success in launch has driven the business forward, and now we expect this investment will enable us to build on our R&D efforts and our incredible team. We are driving innovation with world-class design and advanced manufacturing capabilities, our unrivaled mobility of launch, and our exciting space solutions services.”

George Mattson and Greg Summe, the Co-Founders of NextGen, said, “We are delighted that our search for a great company, with strong organic growth in a large and growing market, disruptive technology and a world class management team has led to our partnership with Virgin Orbit. The space economy is developing rapidly and Virgin Orbit is well positioned to benefit through its ability to competitively launch at any time, from any place on Earth, to any orbit and inclination. This is a truly unique and differentiating capability. We have worked with Sir Richard and the Virgin Group on various projects, including Virgin Galactic, over the last few years and admire their vision and commitment as they have built Virgin Orbit from an idea to a commercial reality. We look forward to leveraging our industry and financial experience, along with our public company leadership and governance experience to help Virgin Orbit deliver the next chapter of its exciting journey as a public company.”

Abdulla Shadid, Executive Director, Growth & M&A at Mubadala, said, “Virgin Orbit is a game changer for the small satellite launch and space solutions industry and its listing is expected to be yet another milestone in its continuing success story. Our investment in Virgin Orbit since its inception is a reflection of our confidence in the company’s ability to carve out a leading role in this sector. It also complements the broad objectives of the UAE’s national space strategy, as reflected in the recent successful “Hope” satellite mission to Mars.”

A submission from a landowner who objected to the establishment of a rocket launch site in the Sutherland (Scotland) Highlands & Islands failed and permission has now been given for the site’s spaceport development to go ahead.

Scotland’s Court of Session in Edinburgh, in a judicial review, denied the application by billionaire landowner (and Scotland’s largest landowner) Anders Holch Povlsen to halt the development on environmental grounds and that the relevant local authority had not followed the correct procedures in considering the impact the spaceport could have.

The court said that Povlsen’s action failed with the judge in the case, that being Lord Doherty, who said, “I am not persuaded that the respondent did not apply the correct test. In my opinion there is nothing in the appropriate assessment which suggests the existence of any such error, and there is nothing in the report of handling which causes me to conclude that the report led the respondent into any such error.”

A spokesman for Highlands & Islands Enterprise welcomed the decision, commenting, “Naturally, we are delighted with this outcome, which brings the prospect of small satellites being launched from Scotland in the near future a step closer to reality. Space Hub Sutherland is a significant project that will provide high quality local jobs and create vital infrastructure to support the growth of the UK space sector in Scotland.”

Chris Larmour, CEO of Orbex, the Scottish rocket company that will be launching from the site, said, “This is extremely positive news for a wide variety of communities and businesses and paves the way for the Pathfinder launch of small satellites from Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland. We’re especially pleased for the crofters of the Melness Crofters Estate, who will be able to protect and develop their community with modern jobs. Sutherland is still the only UK spaceport with planning permission and now, with this ruling, the countdown to space launch from the UK can begin.”

In additional news, Steve Collar, SES’s CEO in an interview with Bloomberg on the topic of satellite industry merger activity, admitted that he was sure that “everyone’s talking to everyone.”

Collar added that’s because Space is “essentially a fixed-cost industry, so the scale that’s generated from consolidation can be important, financially. And obviously we’ve also seen some disruptors coming into the industry. That can also be a catalyst.”

Bloomberg also quoted recent comments from Mark Dankberg, Chairman of California-based Viasat which has a fast-growing interest in broadband-by-satellite, agreed that there is discussion in the industry about merger activity. “One of the reasons for consolidation would be to try to divert more capital funding from broadcast into broadband.”

Elon Musk’s Starlink is at an advanced stage of deploying its mega-constellation and is now talking about using its huge Starship to launch as many as 400 satellites at a time.

However, there are plenty of potential players which might like to ‘fast track’ their access to space, and minimizing risk and investment commitments. London-based Inmarsat is but one, but there’s also LEO activity from Telesat in Canada, ViaSat as mentioned, the Bharti/UK/SoftBank-backed OneWeb, and a dozen other smaller, would-be entrants to the orbital space race.

Rocket Lab will initiate final mission design and manufacture to supply two, interplanetary, Photon spacecraft for a science mission to Mars, delivering Decadal-class science at a fraction of the cost of typical planetary missions.

The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission will orbit two, Rocket Lab-built Photon spacecraft around Mars to understand the structure, composition, variability, and dynamics of Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere. The mission will also support crewed exploration programs such as Artemis through improved solar storm prediction.

ESCAPADE is the latest of only three missions proceeding under the current round of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEX) program to conduct compelling planetary space science with smallsats and provide more opportunities for flight experience to the science community.

The ESCAPADE mission, led by principal investigator Robert Lillis at the University of California, Berkeley, is the latest SIMPLEX mission to pass Key Decision Point-C (KDP-C), confirming it for implementation in preparation for launch to Mars in 2024. The ESCAPADE mission is managed by the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Heliophysics Division and will be the first Heliophysics mission to visit another planet.

Following deployment from a NASA-provided commercial launch vehicle, the pair of Photons will conduct an 11-month interplanetary cruise before inserting themselves into elliptical orbits around Mars to begin the science phase. Both Photons incorporate satellite subsystems developed and manufactured by Rocket Lab, including star trackers, reaction wheels, ranging transceivers for deep space navigation, and in-space propulsion systems.

By leveraging vertically-integrated spacecraft manufacturing, the ESCAPADE mission will be delivered at a fraction of the cost of traditional planetary missions. This supports U.S. national strategy for Decadal-class science by increasing the pace of scientific discovery and more sustainable crewed exploration by improving our understanding of the space environment.

ESCAPADE is one of several missions beyond Earth orbit currently under development by Rocket Lab using the Photon spacecraft, including the CAPSTONE mission to the Moon in support of NASA’s Artemis program and Rocket Lab’s own privately-funded science mission to Venus.

Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said, “ESCAPADE is an innovative mission that demonstrates that advanced interplanetary science is now within reach for a fraction of traditional costs, and we’re proud to make it possible with Photon,” he said. “Passing the Key Decision Point is a critical milestone in ESCAPADE’s development and is testament to the world-class science and engineering work of the UC Berkeley and Rocket Lab teams. We are delighted to receive the green light from NASA to proceed to flight.”

HawkEye 360 is the latest company to join the Space Data Association (SDA), an international, non-profit association of satellite operators.

 
Formed in 2009, the SDA works to support the efficient and reliable sharing of crucial data to enhance safety of flight via sharing of operational data and promotion of best practices across the industry. Members include some of the world’s major satellite communications companies.
 
HawkEye 360 is a Radio Frequency (RF) data analytics company that was founded in 2015. They operate a first-of-its-kind, commercial satellite constellation to identify, process and geolocate a broad set of RF signals. HawkEye 360 extracts and analyzes this data using proprietary algorithms to solve challenges and identify critical insight. Their customers include a range of commercial, government and international entities
 
The SDA enables operators to pool their orbital data in a secure and controlled manner through its Space Data Centre (SDC). With HawkEye 360 joining the SDA, the SDC now covers 275 GEO satellites and 506 LEO satellites.

 
Pascal Wauthier, Chairman, Space Data Association, said, “We are pleased to welcome HawkEye 360 as the latest member of the SDA. With the number of objects in space continuing to rise, it is vital that more data is shared amongst operators to preserve flight safety and reduce threats of impact. This can only be achieved by more operators working together to share operational data that contributes to enhanced safety.”
 
Lori Metzger, Director of Space, HawkEye 360, said, “It is the responsibility of all space-based operators to ensure the future of space safety. HawkEye is committed to contributing data and insights which can improve space situational awareness for all operators. We look forward to working with the SDA to achieve its mission.”