Lifeboat Foundation

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) is preparing for the second flight of its Vulcan Centaur rocket this week. The mission will see Vulcan carry an inert payload to orbit alongside some experiments and demonstrations and will complete its certification process with the U.S. Space Force (USSF).

SpaceX has delayed missions this week following an off-nominal deorbit burn of a Falcon 9 second stage following the Crew-9 mission. The stage landed in the South Pacific Ocean but outside of the defined reentry corridor. While the team investigates, the company has rescheduled Monday’s planned launch of its OneWeb mission out of Vandenberg to next week, while a Starlink mission will now fly from the Cape this week on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Continue reading “Launch Roundup: Vulcan ready for second flight; Hera mission set to study asteroid” »

Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and is shaping up to be the rocket that will finally realize the company’s dream, sourced from Elon Musk, of making humans a multi-planetary species. With a few Starship launches under its belt SpaceX is full steam ahead to achieving its goal, but it appears its being blocked by US regulators more than necessary, at least according to SpaceX.

Despite its goals, we have now learned an approximate figure SpaceX has spent on Starship’s development, with the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Gwynne Shotwell, saying in front of the Texas Appropriations Committee for Texas Space Commission that SpaceX has invested $3 billion into developing Starship and its surrounding facilities. Shotwell also pointed out SpaceX is about to break through the four million mark for Starlink customers and that as the network grows, it plans to expand its facilities and put more Starlink satellites in orbit.

The current Galileo system consists of 28 satellites in all, and now, two more are expected to join the constellation. All of these satellites are in medium-Earth orbit besides two, which were incorrectly placed, the ESA says.

The first-stage booster supporting this mission is on its 22nd flight, SpaceX says, and Tuesday’s potential launch is expected to be a test of its recovery capabilities.

During a Galileo mission earlier this year, SpaceX was not able to recover the booster that supported the mission because it needed to go deep into space to deliver the payload. However, SpaceX says that the expended booster gave officials valuable data that helped them make design and operational changes.

A new, cheap, easily manufactured device could lead to improved satellite communication, high speed data transmission, and remote sensing, scientists say.

A team of engineers led by researchers from the University of Glasgow have developed an ultrathin 2D surface that harnesses the unique properties of metamaterials to manipulate and convert radio waves across the frequencies most commonly used by satellites.

Metamaterials are structures that have been carefully engineered to imbue them with properties that don’t exist in naturally occurring materials.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Two SpaceX-built satellites successfully exchanged data using optical communications terminals in a milestone for the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA), the agency’s director Derek Tournear said Sept. 4.

The satellites, part of SDA’s Tranche 0 experimental spacecraft in low Earth orbit, used laser terminals manufactured by Tesat-Spacecom to communicate. This marks the first time the agency has demonstrated laser communications in space using optical terminals compliant with military standards required for SDA satellites.

“We had not previously demonstrated laser communications,” Tournear said at a DefenseNews conference. He reported that the data exchange occurred on September 3, with the satellites establishing a connection in under 100 seconds and maintaining it for several hours.

Today, SpaceX took a short break from Starlink flights and launched a national security mission.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with an undisclosed number of satellites on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The spacecraft, which are believed to be Starshield satellites, make up the third batch of what the NRO calls its “proliferated architecture.”

Continue reading “SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket on national security mission for the NRO” »

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have signed an interagency agreement to collaborate on a satellite servicing demonstration in geosynchronous Earth orbit, where hundreds of satellites provide communications, meteorological, national security, and other vital functions.

Under this agreement, NASA will provide subject matter expertise to DARPA’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program to help complete the technology development, integration, testing, and demonstration. The RSGS servicing spacecraft will advance in-orbit satellite inspection, repair, and upgrade capabilities.

TAMPA, Fla. — European small satellite maker Aerospacelab announced the opening of its first manufacturing facility in the United States Sept. 5 amid efforts to break into the lucrative U.S. government market.

The company sees the potential for contracts that would enable the 3,300 square-meter facility in Torrance, California, to reach a capacity to produce an average of two satellites a week in a single shift.

“With Space Force recently announcing its plans for not only a commercialization strategy, but [also the Space Development Agency] signaling their desire to diversify their supply base, we see potential not only for U.S. commercial customers,” said Tina Ghataore, group chief strategy and revenue officer at Aerospacelab and its CEO for North America.

This team is on a roll.

Launching aboard Firefly’s Alpha vehicle in 2024, this mission will demonstrate the responsive on-orbit capabilities of our Elytra vehicle. As the first of many missions utilizing multiple Firefly vehicles, the demonstration will lay the groundwork for Firefly’s end-to-end mission solutions, proving our capabilities to rapidly launch, maneuver, and deploy satellites at a time and place of our customers’ choosing.

In support of Xtenti’s follow-on study contract with the NRO, the mission will demonstrate a rapid payload reconfiguration utilizing Xtenti’s FANTM-RiDE payload dispenser prior to launching on Firefly’s Alpha vehicle. Upon launching on Alpha, Firefly’s Elytra vehicle will utilize the FANTM-RiDE dispenser to first deploy commercial rideshare payloads in Sun-Synchronous Orbit, and then perform an on-orbit maneuver and stand ready to deploy U.S. government payloads on-demand.

Continue reading “Elytra Mission 1” »