05 Jun 24. US Space Force sorts through industry ideas to boost satellite sensors. The U.S. Space Force is working with industry to understand what capabilities can help expand the service’s portfolio of space domain awareness satellites, amid a growing demand for sensors in geosynchronous orbit.
The service operates a fleet of satellites under its Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program. They are about 22,000 miles above Earth and essentially serve in a neighborhood watch function. They also perform rendezvous and proximity operations, drawing close to other satellites to observe and provide data on them.
In March, Space Systems Command asked companies for ideas on how to augment that constellation with smaller, maneuverable spacecraft equipped with different sensors that can be refueled in orbit.
Col. Bryon McClain, the command’s program executive officer for space domain awareness and combat power, said June 5 his office is sorting through the influx of ideas from companies to determine how they might shape future Space Force requirements.
“The team is looking at that, and we’re fundamentally looking at how does that change our future architecture,” he said during the C4ISRNET Conference, held June 5. “How can we take that information, working with our warfighter and the requirements team, to understand the specifics of what we need?”
It will take time for the service to transition to a new satellite architecture, McClain said, adding that he doesn’t expect the shift to the more advanced capabilities to happen until around 2026 or 2027. That’s due largely to budget constraints as well as the demands of the existing mission.
“We have an ongoing mission set for on-orbit space domain awareness, and we need to make sure that’s covered,” he said.
McClain didn’t share specifics on the types of capabilities the service might adopt, but did say the changes are aligned with a push from senior Space Force leaders to build smaller systems that rely on less “exquisite,” military-unique technology and more on commercially available capabilities.
“Those two ideas, those mentalities, really go hand in hand, and we’ve tried to embody that,” he said.
The Space Force has been leveraging commercial space domain awareness capabilities through several initiatives, including its Joint Commercial Operations cell in Colorado Springs. McClain said the next step for the service is to better understand the dynamics of the private sector markets.
As an example, McClain noted that demand for small satellites has fueled significant growth in the commercial spacecraft bus market. The service needs to understand the capabilities of those buses so that it can tap into that existing pool rather than design military-unique requirements; otherwise, it will miss out.
“Now, the push that I have when I’m working with industry, and the request that I always have, is please make sure that I’m not packing in unique requirement sets in [requests for information] or [requests for proposals] that force you to deviate from that commercially available product to start going toward a military-unique product.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
06 Jun 24. Slingshot Aerospace, Inc., the leader in AI-powered solutions for satellite tracking, space traffic coordination, and space modeling and simulation, today announced it has worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to successfully create a new artificial intelligence (AI) system, called Agatha, that identifies anomalous spacecraft within large satellite constellations.
Several large satellite constellations of over 10,000 spacecraft are slated for deployment by international government and commercial space operators in the coming years, which will dramatically increase the number of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). With so many satellites, it becomes increasingly important to be able to verify that satellites are operating within the constellations’ stated purposes.
“Agatha represents a breakthrough in how AI can deliver unparalleled space domain awareness, as its ability to find these needles in the haystack is something no human, or team of humans, could possibly execute,” said Dr. Dylan Kesler, Director of Data Science and AI, Slingshot Aerospace. “Identifying malfunctioning or potentially nefarious objects and their objectives within large satellite constellations is a complex challenge that required us to reach beyond traditional approaches and develop a novel and scalable AI algorithm. Our Agatha model has also proven its ability to deliver high-quality insights that provide ‘explainability’ or context for why specific objects were flagged.”
Slingshot’s Agatha was trained on over 60 years of simulated constellation data that Slingshot created. Slingshot then closed the so-called “sim-to-real transfer” gap and proved-out the system by finding non-nefarious outliers in operational, real-world commercial constellations. After identifying a number of outlier satellites within those constellations, Slingshot successfully confirmed with the respective satellite operators that the identified satellites did differ from the others in hardware, mission, and/or operational parameters.
Agatha AI incorporates cutting-edge approaches to AI data analysis, including inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) – a technique that uses AI to evaluate behaviors and identify the policies and intentions of the objects it tracks. IRL reaches beyond identifying individual outlier maneuvers (see Slingshot’s reporting on the Russian satellite Luch (Olymp) 2) and focuses on answering the strategic questions of why satellites are exhibiting specific behaviors and what their intentions are. Further, Agatha doesn’t require cues on where to look for outliers – the data-agnostic model ingests massive amounts of space information and identifies anomalies as it finds them.
Given the scale of planned satellite deployments in the coming years – by the beginning of 2023, the International Telecommunication Union had received filings for more than 300 constellations representing more than 1 m satellites – AI technologies like Agatha are needed to monitor satellite constellations and track the growing number of objects in space. Agatha specifically analyzes high-resolution astrometric, contextual, and photometric data from the Slingshot Platform’s vast data lake, which aggregates data from the Slingshot Global Sensor Network, Slingshot Seradata, and other public and proprietary sources. Agatha also evaluates the locations and times of satellites’ communications with Earth and a variety of other data streams.
Slingshot’s PRECOG program, which produced the Agatha system, began in March 2023 and results were delivered to DARPA in January 2024; the program is complete. Slingshot is now focusing on implementing its powerful Agatha AI system and is engaged in ongoing discussions with the U.S. government and commercial space companies about methods for deploying Agatha as part of their advanced space domain awareness services.
“As space activity shifts from satellites owned by a small number of operators to massive constellations operated by an array of owners, the need for transparency increases,” said Kesler. “The ability to quickly identify anomalies – whether a malfunctioning spacecraft or an intentionally nefarious ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ – is an increasingly important aspect of maintaining safety and security in space and on Earth.”
“Having worked previously in the BioTech world and with gene editing technologies like CRISPR, I know that tools like Agatha and approaches like inverse reinforcement learning almost certainly would have helped us find anomalies in the oceans of genomic data we analyzed,” continued Kesler. “Inverse reinforcement learning is an AI technique on the bleeding edge of development and we expect its use to grow exponentially in the years to come to solve a variety of problems, not just in space.”
Given the adaptability and scalability of Agatha, it has a wide range of potential applications in domains beyond space. Its ability to ingest large series of data and effectively find anomalies in massive data streams means Agatha is well-suited to be applied in genomics, biomedicine, agriculture, and utility optimization, among other potential use cases.
About Slingshot Aerospace
Slingshot Aerospace provides government and commercial partners around the world with AI-powered solutions for satellite tracking, space traffic coordination, and space modeling and simulation. The Slingshot Platform transforms disparate space data into a common operating picture of the space domain by leveraging advanced space object tracking, artificial intelligence, astrodynamics, and data fusion. Slingshot’s platform combines data from the Slingshot Global Sensor Network, the Slingshot Seradata satellite and launch database, satellite owner-operators, and other third-party space data providers to create a holistic and dynamic view of space for training, planning, and operations. This unified representation of space activities – past, present, and predicted – enhances operators’ space situational awareness, improves operational efficiency, and reduces risk for space operators. Slingshot is driven by its mission to make space safe, sustainable, and secure. The company was launched in 2017 and has locations in California, Colorado, and the UK.
(Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
06 Jun 24. SpaceX’s Starship survives return to Earth, aces landing test on fourth try. SpaceX’s Starship rocket survived a fiery, hypersonic return from space and achieved a breakthrough landing demonstration in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, completing a full test mission around the globe on the rocket’s fourth try.
Starship’s controlled fall into the Indian Ocean just 65 minutes after launching from Texas capped the latest advance in the company’s test-to-failure rocket development campaign, a multibn-dollar effort by Elon Musk’s space company to build a reusable satellite launcher and moon lander.
The three previous test missions ended with Starship blowing up or disintegrating. Testing has a ways to go. Musk has said SpaceX is planning at least six Starship test flights this year, with more expected in the years ahead as it faces pressure from NASA to demonstrate it can safely put astronaut crews on the lunar surface.
The two-stage, rocket system, which stands nearly 400 feet (120-meter) tall, consists of the Starship vessel mounted atop its towering Super Heavy rocket booster. At 7:50 a.m. CDT (1250 GMT), it blasted off from SpaceX’s Starbase launch site near Boca Chica Village in South Texas, sending powerful shockwaves rippling through the Gulf Coast’s morning fog.
Super Heavy detached from the Starship upper stage at an altitude of 74 km (46 miles), as Starship ignited its own engines to ascend further toward space. Meanwhile, Super Heavy returned to the Gulf of Mexico and executed a soft splashdown, demonstrating a touchdown that would otherwise be on land.
In space, a SpaceX livestream showed Starship, outfitted with onboard cameras, coasting around 16,000 miles (25,750 km)per hour at an altitude of roughly 200 km (125 miles) as it made its way toward the Indian Ocean for a return to Earth, setting up for a key demonstration of its reusable design.
The rocket’s first launch in April 2023 exploded minutes after liftoff some 25 miles (40 km) above ground, while its second attempt in November blew up after reaching space. The rocket’s third test flight in March made it much farther but broke apart during atmospheric reentry some 64 km (40 miles) over the Indian Ocean.
On Thursday, Starship appeared to have overcome those past technical challenges. Beginning at about 45 minutes into flight, onboard cameras showed a field of superhot plasma forming around Starship’s exterior – marking with hues of orange, red, bluish purple, and green the start of the spaceship’s blazing hot plunge through Earth’s atmosphere.
As Starship’s descent was slowed by violent atmospheric friction, bits of metal and its hexagonal heat-shield tiles began flying off and parts of the rocket’s steering flaps were stripped to a skeleton, though they remained functional.
[1/5]SpaceX’s Starship launches its fourth flight test from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad, designed to eventually send astronauts to the moon and beyond, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. , in this handout picture obtained on June 6. SpaceX/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights.
Starship reignited an engine to flip itself upright in mid-descent, as it would for a landing on ground or on the moon, then splashed into the Indian Ocean, as confirmed by waves of water seen through an onboard camera’s broken, debris-covered lens.
‘STARSHIP MADE IT ALL THE WAY’
“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who had said Starship’s reentry was the mission’s biggest goal, posted on social media after the splashdown.
The rocket was partly covered with hundreds of small black tiles designed to protect against the extreme heat encountered while diving through Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
Meant to be cheaper and more powerful than SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, Starship’s totally reusable design represents the future of the company’s dominant satellite launch and astronaut business. It is due to be used by NASA in the next few years to land the first astronauts on the moon since 1972.
Much is riding on SpaceX’s development of Starship, relied upon by NASA as it aims to return astronauts to the moon in 2026 in a rivalry with China, which plans to send its astronauts there by 2030. China has made several recent advances in its lunar program, including a second landing on the moon’s far side in a sample retrieval mission.
Despite Starship’s development appearing quicker than other rocket programs, it has been slower than Musk originally envisioned. A Japanese bnaire who in 2018 paid to fly Starship around the moon, at the time expected to occur last year, canceled his flight last week, citing schedule uncertainties.
Musk’s drive to rapidly build Starship has endangered SpaceX workers in Texas and California, a Reuters investigation found.
Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, has said Starship must launch hundreds of times before it carries humans, suggesting it could be years before the rocket flies crews or lands astronauts on the lunar surface.
SpaceX routinely flies astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit for NASA using its Crew Dragon capsule, which launches atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. No private company has ever sent humans to the moon. (Source: Reuters)
31 May 24. USAF and US Space Force (USSF) officials are looking to mature narrowband satellite communications (NB satcom) capabilities as one of several ongoing efforts within the air service and elsewhere to transition from the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) capability to a new NB satcom-driven architecture.
Proposed industry input in response to the 29 May White Paper solicitation from the USSF will inform efforts to “enable satellites to provide continued support of the NB satcom from a proliferated [medium earth orbit (MEO)] space segment”. Technology development efforts to allow NB satcom capabilities to be accessed via advanced end-user terminals, and not be limited to current MUOS terminals, create “an opportunity to increase space segment resiliency on the path to a more capable and resilient architecture”, USSF officials said in the solicitation.
MUOS is an information technology (IT)-based 3G communications protocol initially designed to replace legacy Ultra-High-Frequency (UHF) Follow-On satcom constellations as a way to close capability gaps in space-based tactical communications stemming from the UHF capability.
The key to the MUOS ability to deliver more than a ten-fold improvement in capacity, compared to the UHF, is that it adapts a wideband multiple access cellular phone network architecture, combining it with geosynchronous (GEO) satellites.
Air force leaders have begun leveraging MUOS to support secure NB satcom requirements at GEO for legacy elements of the USAF’s fixed-wing fleet, such as the B-52 bomber. US Army leaders have also begun to incorporate MUOS capabilities into their mounted and dismounted operations.
(Source: Janes)
05 Jun 24. Lockheed Martin Purchases Up to 25 Rocket Launches from Firefly Aerospace. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) signed an agreement with Firefly Aerospace, Inc., for up to 25 launches on the company’s Alpha rocket through 2029.
Under this agreement, Firefly will routinely launch a variety of future Lockheed Martin spacecraft, including new payload technologies, into low-Earth orbit from Firefly’s facilities on the west and east coasts.
Lockheed Martin benefits from Firefly’s lower-cost launch vehicle, which helps reduce risk for the company’s self-funded technology demonstration missions and paves the way for future efforts. The agreement also creates the benefits of a long-term partnership between the two companies and allows for a steady manifest supporting continued growth and technology investment.
“Our goal is to accelerate the delivery of new technology solutions that are flight proven and ready to carry out our customers’ critical space missions. Diversifying our options for launch services ensures our ability to prove out technologies we’re developing on orbit,” said Bob Behnken, director, Ignite Technology Acceleration at Lockheed Martin Space. “This agreement with Firefly solidifies our strategic partnership and will help us continue to deliver new advanced capabilities that keep our armed forces and allies ahead of ready.”
“Firefly appreciates Lockheed Martin’s confidence in our rapid launch capability and support to drive critical missions for years to come,” said Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “The Firefly team has scaled up Alpha production and testing, and significantly streamlined our launch operations to fly Alpha more frequently and responsively – enabling us to continue delivering the one metric ton rocket the industry demands.”
Lockheed Martin is developing payload technologies through internal investment to support a variety of mission areas, such as earth observation, global ubiquitous communications, climate monitoring and beyond.
04 Jun 24. SpaceX’s next Starship rocket test gets FAA go-ahead. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday said it issued a license for SpaceX’s fourth flight of its Starship rocket system, another test mission along the company’s path to building a reusable satellite launcher and moon lander.
SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, is aiming to launch its nearly 400-foot-tall (122-meter), two-stage Starship as early as Thursday at 7 a.m. CDT (1200 GMT) from its rocket facilities in south Texas, from which past flights in the company’s test-to-failure development campaign have launched.
Starship represents the future of SpaceX’s dominant satellite launch and astronaut business. It is designed to be fully reusable and cheaper – but more powerful – than the company’s workhorse Falcon 9. NASA plans to use Starship later this decade to land the first crew of astronauts on the moon since 1972.
Each Starship rocket has made it farther in its testing objectives than previous tests before blowing up. The first launch in April 2023 exploded minutes after liftoff, and the most recent flight in March broke apart in Earth’s atmosphere as it attempted to return from space halfway around the globe.
On Thursday, the rocket system’s first stage, called Super Heavy, will ignite its 33 Raptor engines to lift off, then separate from the Starship second stage, which will blast further into space.
Meanwhile, Super Heavy will reignite some engines and return toward the Gulf of Mexico for a “soft splash-down” to simulate a landing that would otherwise be on land.
In space, Starship will trek around the globe and head for the Indian Ocean, where it will make a second attempt to survive the intense heat of atmospheric reentry – the crucial point at which it failed during the March test.
00:29Space janitor Astroscale enjoys stellar stock debut
“The main goal of this mission is to get much deeper into the atmosphere during reentry, ideally through max heating,” Musk, CEO of SpaceX, wrote on X on Saturday.
Starship is shielded with hundreds of small black tiles on its exterior that SpaceX hopes will protect it from the extreme heat the spacecraft endures while plunging through Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
Much is riding on SpaceX’s swift development of Starship, a key pillar of NASA’s moon program that rivals China’s moon ambitions. (Source: Reuters)
03 Jun 24. NTT DOCOMO and Space Compass partners with Airbus on HAPS, committing to a USD$100m investment in AALTO.
- Consortium of leading Japanese businesses and banks commit to invest USD$100m in Airbus subsidiary AALTO
- Investment accelerates industrial and commercial roadmap for Zephyr, the world-leading High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS), and establishes strategic alliance for HAPS commercialisation in Asia
- Japan taking leading position in HAPS-based non-terrestrial networks (NTN), with NTT DOCOMO to take the lead in the direct-to-device connectivity sector
- NTT DOCOMO’s terrestrial mobile connectivity expertise, combined with advanced earth observation solutions from Airbus Defence and Space, to create powerful group of AALTO shareholders
A consortium of Japanese businesses (“the Japanese Consortium”) led by NTT DOCOMO, Inc. (“NTT DOCOMO”) and Space Compass Corporation (“Space Compass”), together with Mizuho Bank Limited and the Development Bank of Japan Inc., has committed to invest USD$100m in AALTO HAPS Limited (“AALTO”), which manufactures and operates the stratospheric, solar-powered Zephyr High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS). The investment will be made through the Japanese Consortium’s investment vehicle, HAPS JAPAN Corporation.
This investment marks the beginning of a strategic alliance to commercialise connectivity and earth observation services using HAPS in Japan and across Asia. It will also support the industrial and commercial roadmap for AALTO’s services, targeting launch in Japan and a global entry-into-service in 2026.
Flying for months at a time in the stratosphere, Zephyr offers game-changing capabilities that will be transformative for mobile connectivity and earth observation. As a payload agnostic platform, Zephyr can transform into a multi-functional tower in the sky to provide low latency 5G direct-to-device mobile connectivity services. Leveraging Airbus’s earth observation service, Strat-Observer, Zephyr can also be used to fulfil a range of monitoring, tracking, sensing and detection applications. AALTO is therefore well-positioned for a variety of use cases, such as expanding mobile network operator (MNO) coverage and providing high-capacity connectivity including during Japan’s response to natural disasters.
This investment deepens the long-standing collaboration between AALTO, NTT DOCOMO and Space Compass, a joint venture between NTT and SKY Perfect JSAT focusing on establishing a Space Integrated Computing Network. The roadmap to commercialise HAPS began with an agreement to explore collaboration with AALTO signed in 2022. Alongside this investment, AALTO and Space Compass will also sign commercial agreements that will deepen their engagement in Japan and Asia over the coming years.
Airbus Defence and Space will remain AALTO’s majority shareholder. The investment is subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Takaaki Sato, Chief Technology Officer of NTT DOCOMO, said: “NTT DOCOMO continues to improve network quality and has been focused on establishing new technology frontiers that enhance access to connectivity services. Working with our partners Space Compass, AALTO and Airbus, we are excited by the potential of HAPS-based NTN solutions. This technology brings together unique cutting-edge engineering with economics that are aligned to expand coverage to rural and remote areas, and support our collective response to natural disasters.
“Alongside our partners in the Consortium, we look forward to working strategically with AALTO to utilise Zephyr to transform customer experiences.”
Shigehiro Hori, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Space Compass Corporation, commented: “Non-terrestrial networks have the potential to transform Japan’s communications ecosystem, addressing access to connectivity in hard-to-reach areas while supporting our country’s response to emergencies. Japan has many remote islands and mountainous areas, where there are uneconomic connectivity solutions. Our strategic relationship with AALTO, underpinned by technological innovation and the opportunity of the connectivity market, will help us build a new telecommunications infrastructure in these areas and during an era of population decline.”
Koichiro Matsufuji, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Space Compass Corporation, added: “As the leading HAPS technology of its kind, Zephyr is a unique capability that we will leverage over the coming years. We want to create a successful use case in Japan and expand it to Asia.”
Jean-Brice Dumont, Head of Air Power at Airbus Defence and Space and Chair of the AALTO Board of Directors, commented: “After a decade of stewardship by Airbus Defence and Space, Zephyr has established itself as a leading HAPS platform in the world. Zephyr plays a key role in the space and defence ecosystem, addressing commercial and government sectors from the stratosphere. With the creation of a dedicated HAPS Services Business in 2022, AALTO has been propelled to a global leadership position in the industry.
“Airbus Defence and Space has enhanced its partnership with NTT, NTT DOCOMO and SKY Perfect JSAT, while demonstrating the breath of its portfolio capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. AALTO now has an excellent investor to help drive its ambitious growth plans over the coming years.”
Samer Halawi, Chief Executive Officer of AALTO, said: “This is a landmark investment for AALTO. It is the natural next step in the roadmap of the Company’s targeted entry-into-service in 2026, as we industrialise and commercialise our technology. With world leaders in aviation and connectivity as shareholders, AALTO now has the combination of technological expertise and global reach to capitalise on the growth opportunities in substantial total addressable markets across connectivity and earth observation.
“This investment comes as AALTO moves into its next phase of development. This includes launching several customer missions over the coming year, establishing launch and landing sites for Zephyr, and advancing our certification process. We are excited to forge a new frontier in sustainable connectivity and earth observation from the stratosphere, while generating significant value for all our stakeholders.”
31 May 24. Space Force eyes advanced tech, new orbits for narrowband SATCOM. The Space Force offered a glimpse this week of its vision for the future of narrowband satellite communications, a plan that could include a large number of spacecraft in multiple orbits with advanced capabilities.
Today’s narrowband communication satellites, part of the Mobile User Objective System constellation, provide cellular voice and data capabilities to military forces around the world. Their location in the narrowband frequency range makes them less susceptible to bad weather or tricky terrain and allows for more secure communications.
In a May 29 notice, the Space Force said it wants its future narrowband satellites to be more resilient, cost less to build and maintain, and be fielded on faster timelines. The service hasn’t finalized those plans, but is analyzing its options and plans to complete that work later this year.
“The U.S. military must preserve its asymmetrical advantage given a contested, degraded, and operationally limited space environment,” the service said. “The capabilities provided by narrowband SATCOM are critical to the US military and its allies and they must continue to evolve in order to address expanding needs, benefit from emerging technologies, and to mitigate future threats.”
The service also envisions the proliferated constellation residing in medium Earth orbit, or MEO, below geostationary orbit where the satellites are currently positioned. MEO is located between 1,200 and 22,000 miles above sea level and geostationary orbit is around 22,000 miles.
The Space Force has four MUOS satellites in orbit and one spare, all built by Lockheed Martin. Each spacecraft has two payloads — one that maintains a legacy Ultra High Frequency Network and another that offers a new Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, or WCDMA, capability.
As the service crafts its vision for what capability will follow MUOS, it plans to launch two more satellites to keep the constellation operational through at least 2035. In January, the service awarded Lockheed and Boeing each a $66 m contract to design prototypes of the two spacecraft by July 2025. The Space Force had planned to choose one of the two companies by the end of fiscal 2025 to build the satellites, but that decision has been pushed to FY26.
Those two MUOS satellites, slated to launch in FY31, will provide a bridge to the new narrowband architecture. However, the service said in the notice it may want to take greater steps to transition to the future architecture by launching spacecraft to MEO in the same time frame.
The key, it said, is whether the existing ground terminals designed to link with satellites in GEO can interoperate with MEO spacecraft without the need for major upgrades. The notice seeks feedback from companies on potential modifications.
“Continuation of these services to the current set of user terminals creates an opportunity to increase space segment resiliency on the path to a more capable and resilient architecture,” the service said. “Additionally, if there are software or hardware modifications that user terminals may have to consider in order to be supported from MEO, those should be identified in the response.”
The service also wants to better understand the technical and schedule risks that could impede its plan to launch the transitional system by 2031 and whether companies recommend any demonstrations that could help reduce that risk.
The notice does not discuss the role commercial systems may play in the future narrowband architecture, though Space Force officials have said they are considering how to integrate technology available in the private sector.
In its commercial space strategy released in April, the service highlighted satellite communications more broadly as an area of opportunity for commercial collaboration. The document says the Space Force will prioritize those capabilities that are system-agnostic and can be easily integrated into a diverse architecture.
“The USSF will look to improve resilience through the integration of proliferated commercial networks into hybrid architectures and offset future investments in government owned capabilities,” the service said.
(Source: Defense News)
31 May 24. CGI develops standardized interfaces for European Space Agency to liberalize the satellite communications market. CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the world’s largest independent providers of IT and business consulting services, has been commissioned, as part of a consortium, by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop standardized satellite communications interfaces. In addition to enabling the best possible use of available resources, these will help open up the market to more operators and service providers and encourage long-term cooperation within the European satellite communications industry. The first such open source-based interface is now available in a public repository and being continually refined.
The project’s goal is to strengthen the European satellite communications sector by making the best possible use of existing resources. Opening up the market in this way will encourage long-term collaboration within the European satellite communications industry. The interfaces have been designed to ensure the interoperability of “pooling and sharing” systems for satellite communication services. There are also plans to link these systems to other European Union systems; examples include the GOVSATCOM hub, which is designed to provide communication services in connection with natural disasters, maritime emergency aid, border surveillance, and satellite navigation, and the European IRIS² satellite constellation, which will also be available for use by governmental organizations.
“While closely collaborating with everyone involved on this digitalization project, we’ve succeeded in meeting the prerequisites for efficiently using European space capacities and resources, these interfaces will enable the creation of a digital Satcom marketplace, simplifying the match between the demands and the offers,” says Stephane Pirio, Technical Officer at ESA. “A special aspect of this project is that it’s the first one to use agile methods in this field. This has made it possible to very quickly create a working standard that takes market requirements and direct feedback from partners into account.”
Version 1.0 of the interfaces has already been developed and is available in GitHub, a public repository. It already includes highly detailed functions that take into account feedback received from both members of the commissioned consortium and external observers. This version will be developed further within an open-source community in response to user feedback and industry requirements.
“For CGI, this project sets yet another milestone in providing innovative solutions for the satellite communications industry,” stresses Ulli Leibnitz, Senior Vice President for Consulting Services and in charge of CGI Space Germany. “The biggest challenge in this project was designing standardized interfaces while aligning the competing interests of European satellite operators and service providers. As a result of this extremely collaborative partnership, we’re now able to release the first version, which provides a solid foundation going forward. We will continue to improve on established open-source communication standards such as TM Forum and MEF and make the results of our work available to the general public.”
30 May 24. HawkEye 360 expands their state-of-the-art advanced R&D facility. HawkEye 360 Inc. will be opening the firm’s new Vibration Testing Facility within the company’s 19,000-square-foot advanced R&D, engineering, and manufacturing facility.
This new capability will be essential for vibration testing of satellite clusters, ensuring they meet the highest durability and performance standards.
The Vibe Facility, equipped with cutting-edge technology, can simulate the intense conditions satellites encounter during launch and space operations. This addition includes an electrodynamic shaker system featuring an H-series shaker with an ST series slip-table and magnesium head expander.
This renovation adds 450 square feet of lab space, which houses the shaker table and our existing large thermal chamber from Thermotron. This allows us to perform comprehensive environmental testing at unit and spacecraft levels.
The Cluster 11 satellites will be the first to undergo vibration testing in the new Vibe Facility. This milestone marks a significant step in HawkEye 360’s ongoing efforts to enhance the quality and resilience of our satellite constellations by establishing a turnkey, end-to-end production facility where we can better control costs, production time, scalability, and quality.
“The new Vibration Testing Facility significantly enhances our testing capabilities. It allows us to conduct comprehensive vibration tests to ensure our satellites can withstand the rigors of space launch and operation,” said Tyler Lewandowski, Director of Satellite Assembly, Integration, and Test. “By streamlining the assembly, integration, and testing processes in one location, we can deliver mission-critical data to our customers more efficiently and effectively.” (Source: Satnews)
29 May 24. SKY Perfect JSAT selects Thales Alenia Space to build the JSAT-31 satellite. SKY Perfect JSAT and Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), have signed a contract to build JSAT-31, a new generation of software-defined satellite based on the Space INSPIRE (INstant SPace In-orbit REconfiguration) platform by Thales Alenia Space.
SKY Perfect JSAT’s newest satellite will rely on Space INSPIRE, a highly flexible and fully software-defined solution that offers instant on-orbit adjustment to broadband connectivity demand, while maximizing the effective use of the satellite resources. SKY Perfect JSAT will leverage the satellite’s extreme flexibility to offer enhanced communications services all along JSAT-31’s lifespan on-orbit.
Operating both in Ka- and Ku-bands, JSAT-31 High Throughput Satellite (HTS) will offer high speed broadband services over Japan, South-East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific islands. JSAT-31 will have the largest capacity in the history of SKY Perfect JSAT satellites and is expected to launch in 2027. JSAT-31, which is the 31st satellite procured by SKY Perfect JSAT counting from JCSAT-1, is the first satellite ordered from Thales Alenia Space. Additionally, starting with this JSAT-31, SKY Perfect JSAT will be calling their new satellites “JSAT” instead of “JCSAT” and “Superbird”.
As the prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space is responsible for the design, manufacturing, tests and on-ground delivery of the satellite as well as for the ground segment and associated services.
“SKY Perfect JSAT is aiming to enhance our overall offering by developing innovative, next-generation satellite communications services that embody ‘high speed, high capacity, high reliability, user-friendliness, and competitive pricing.’ The new JSAT-31 will play a key role in our infrastructure with its 50Gbps-class capacity and flexibility as a software-defined satellite,” said SKY Perfect JSAT President and CEO, Eiichi Yonekura. “Amidst significant market shifts, including the entry of new players, JSAT-31 will enable us to meet advanced customer needs and cater to the demands of growing markets, particularly in the expanding global and mobile sectors.“
“Understanding the significance and importance of this project to SKY Perfect JSAT, I wanted to sincerely thank our new customer for putting its trust in our company along with French and European Space agencies, CNES and ESA, for supporting our new Space INSPIRE product line,” said Thales Alenia Space CEO, Hervé Derrey. “SKY Perfect JSAT will benefit from a state-of-the-art telecommunications satellite that provides both a very high performance and a full flexibility in orbit. JSAT-31 is the first telecommunications satellite awarded to Thales Alenia Space in Japan and the first Space INSPIRE satellite in Asia.” (Source: Satnews)
28 May 24. SpaceX completes a bi-coastal ‘two in one’ day launching NASA and JAXA’s EarthCARE satellite after Starlink smallsats. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 completed the ESA JAXA EarthCARE (Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) mission launch today, Tuesday, May 28 at 3:10 p.m. PDT to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Developed as a cooperation between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), EarthCARE will examine the roll that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting solar radiation back into space and also in trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface.
EarthCARE, the most complex of all of ESA’s Earth Explorer missions, will quantify and reduce the uncertainty about the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere – contributing to our better understanding of climate change.
Using a suite of different instruments on one satellite, EarthCARE will be able to take different types of measurements that will complement each other, allowing scientists to build a better understanding of how clouds and atmospheric aerosols interact with solar radiation and how this affects the planet’s radiation balance — the difference between the energy that the Earth gains from the Sun and what it radiates into space.
It was SpaceX’s second launch of the day after sending a group of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida this morning. (Source: Satnews)
27 May 24. Celestia TTi brings GaN based SSPAs in DBS band to broadcast SATCOM. Celestia TTi has developed a line-up of high power SSPAs that rely on the latest solid state Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology to deliver solutions to broadcast SATCOM.
By using advanced GaN technology, Celestia TTi is able to provide powerful, flexible and durable SSPAs that maximise linear power and are capable of operating seamlessly 24/7 in the most demanding environmental conditions. They also have a lifespan that far exceeds that of more traditional solutions on the market.
Simple to operate and maintain, Celestia TTi’s SSPA and BUC DBS product family of 200W, 300W and 550W models can deliver up to 54.8 dBm/57.4dBm/52dBm at P LINEAR from a highly compact footprint.
The company’s 200W SSPA/BUC delivers up to 52dBm at P LINEAR from a robust, ultra-compact unit. Lightweight and with a small footprint, it offers high output power and outstanding performance at an extremely competitive price when the amplifier has to be located really close to the antenna, either at the antenna hub or arm. The 300W and 550W models simply offer exceptional performance combined with extremely high output power.
Celestia TTi’s GaN high power SSPAs offer a number of other benefits, including multi-carrier uplinks, with no limit in the number of carriers and separation of frequency among them, and less back off than older technologies such as TWTs.
The combination in phase of individual SSPA stand-alone modules allows outstanding output to be achieved for the entire product family of 1kW, 2kW and 3.5kW output powers. Soft-fail redundancy allows the system to operate even when an individual SSPA module fails, whilst hot swappable SSPA modules and field removable power supplies guarantee reduced maintenance and repair costs with minimal operational disruption.
The range also offers significant savings in operational costs, for instance by lowering electricity usage by up to 50% from multi-carrier high-power uplinks, and in capital investment by reducing the number of antennas and associated footprint required.
In addition to DBS band products, Celestia TTi also supplies a wide range of cost-effective SSPA solutions from a few watts up to kWs at a variety of frequency bands including C, X, Ku, K, Ka and Q/V bands.
“This new generation of super high power DBS band SSPAs based on GaN technology for broadcast and SATCOM is one of a kind on the market, offering a multitude of benefits for operators,” said Óscar Gago, Business Developer at Celestia TTi. “Exceptional performance, combined with reliability and a keen eye on cost reduction, make our SSPA and BUC range a very attractive and competitive solution for broadcast in DBS band. With superior functionality and robust operation even in the most challenging settings, our products are the ultimate technology choice, giving satellite broadcasters and teleport operators all the power they need.”” (Source: Satnews)
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