Space @ interstellar news

  SAR Renaissance: Pandemic slows but doesn’t stop constellation progress Unlike optical satellites that capture reflected sunlight to produce detailed photos of Earth, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites bounce radar signals off the ground and record the reflections to create images. This allows radar satellites to collect imagery day or night, regardless of cloud cover. “We’re heading into a SAR renaissance,” said Mark Matossian, CEO of Iceye U.S., an Iceye subsidiary. Credit: SpaceNews/Robin McDowall Startups around the world continue building synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites even as the COVID-19 pandemic delays some launches. Since Finland’s Iceye proved in early 2018 that a small satellite can gather radar data and imagery, SAR startups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for constellations. San-Francisco-based Capella Space, Iceye, Japan’s iQPS, PredaSAR of Boca Raton, Florida, Japan’s Synspective and Umbra Lab of Santa Barbara, California, have different b

  U.S. Space Command announces improvements in space debris tracking A cloud of orbital debris. Credit: AGI The 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base is now providing “more meaningful” data on approximately 25,000 space objects. WASHINGTON — U.S. Space Command starting Sept. 24 is  providing more precise data  about the location and potential interaction between objects in space, which could help predict collisions involving space junk, officials told  SpaceNews.  The 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, is now providing “more meaningful” data on approximately 25,000 space objects tracked by the U.S. military, the squadron commander Lt. Col. Justin Sorice, said Sept. 24. The 18 SPCS is responsible for the space domain awareness mission for the U.S. Space Force. Most of the objects now orbiting the Earth are pieces of debris. Only about 3,200 of the 25,000 objects tracked by U.S. Space Command are active satellites, Sorice said. All us

  NASA working with cosmetics company on space station commercialization Among the cargo on a Cygnus spacecraft launching to the International Space Station next week are 10 bottles of an face creme from Estée Lauder that will be the subject of a commercial photo shoot in the station's cupola. Credit: NASA WASHINGTON — NASA is taking the next small step in its efforts to promote commercialization of low Earth orbit by flying a cosmetics company’s product to the International Space Station, a project that has prompted questions from one senator. Among the payloads on a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft launching to the ISS Sept. 29 are 10 bottles of a face cream by Estée Lauder. The bottles will be photographed in the cupola of the station, with the Earth as a backdrop, and the company will use the images in social media campaigns. “You may be asking why a beauty company is interesting in sending our product to the International Space Station,” said Stéphane de la Faverie, gr

  NASA affirms partnership with Space Force, Bridenstine stresses value of ‘soft power’ Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond (top left) and NASA Administration Jim Bridenstine (bottom) participate in a virtual forum Sept. 22, 2020, hosted by retired Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Credit: Mitchell Institute Bridenstine: "I really hope people take away from this discussion that we are an instrument of national power." WASHINGTON — NASA and the U.S. Space Force have formally agreed to work together in areas like space policy, research, technology and the protection of the planet from hazardous objects such as asteroids. Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay” Raymond discussed the new  memorandum of understanding  Sept. 22 in a live virtual event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The memorandum replaces an agreement signed 14 years ago between NASA and the U.S. Air Force Spa

  Space Force, DoD agencies, NRO try to get on the same page on future acquisitions DoD space buyers are trying to coordinate an architecture for missile warning satellites, known as overhead persistent infrared, or OPIR. Credit: U.S. Air Force A "program integration council" run by the Space and Missile Systems Center will include representatives from DoD space-buying agencies and the National Reconnaissance Office. WASHINGTON — The Space Force announced in June that one of its  major field organizations  will be an acquisition command that will unify the current mishmash of agencies that handle space programs. The new organization, the Space Systems Command, has not yet been stood up. In the meantime, representatives from several space buying agencies will be meeting regularly in an informal “program integration council” led by the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center. “We want to make sure that there’s alignment across programs,” Col. Dennis Bythewood, the Space

  Blue Origin considers entering commercial space station business WASHINGTON — Commercial spaceflight company Blue Origin is considering development of commercial space stations, with NASA as a potential early customer. Blue Origin posted a job opening Sept. 18 for am  “Orbital Habitat Formulation Lead”  at its headquarters in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington. That individual will be charged with leading the company’s development of commercial space stations in low Earth orbit as a new product line. “To develop Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space, humanity will require places for them to live and work: space destination systems in which value-creating economic activity can occur,” the company states in the job description. “LEO (low Earth orbit) habitable stations, learning from but going beyond the ISS (International Space Station), are a first step.” The job entails leading technical and business aspects of commercial space station developmen

  Exotrail wins ESA contracts • SmartSky suing ATG equipment contractor • Eutelsat executive steps down To receive FIRST UP Satcom, a weekly SpaceNews newsletter for satellite and telecom professionals, sign up  here . TOP STORIES French propulsion startup Exotrail has signed two contracts with the European Space Agency  for its smallsat electric propulsion technology. Under the first contract, Exotrail said it will “accelerate the qualification and flight demonstration” of its 150-Watt ExoMG-Micro thruster. The second contract calls for the 2021 delivery of a propulsion system, followed by testing at the agency’s European Space Research and Technology Centre in The Netherlands. Exotrail Chief Executive David Henri said by email that both  contracts are in the six-figure range. [Exotrail] SmartSky Networks, a company deploying an air-to-ground network across the United States for in-flight Wi-Fi, is suing a company  it had hired to provide radio equipment. SmartSky said it believes Wir

  Reality show latest sign of growing commercial interest in ISS WASHINGTON — As a new venture proposes to send the winner of a reality show to the International Space Station, some investors see a stronger business case for a future commercial space station. A television production company, Space Hero LLC, announced Sept. 17 that it was planning a “global, unscripted casting show” called “Space Hero” that would send the winner to the ISS in 2023. The company released few details about how the show would operate, other than “the first globally-elected space explorer” would get to go to the station. “Space Hero is the new frontier for the entertainment sector, offering the first-ever truly off-planet experience,” Marty Pompadur, chairman of the company and a former head of News Corp. Europe, said in a statement. “We aim to reinvent the reality TV category by creating a multichannel experience that offers the biggest prize ever, to the biggest audience possible.” That “biggest prize” com

  Mars smallsat mission bumped from launch WASHINGTON — A smallsat mission to study the atmosphere of Mars is looking for a new ride after being removed as a secondary payload on the launch of a NASA asteroid mission. The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or EscaPADE, mission, was one of three smallsat missions selected by NASA in 2019 for initial studies as part of the agency’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program. EscaPADE features twin spacecraft that would orbit Mars to study how the planet’s atmosphere interacts with the solar wind, and how those processes lead to the escape of gases from the atmosphere. NASA announced in February that EscaPADE and Janus, an asteroid mission also selected under the SIMPLEx program,  would launch as secondary payloads on the Falcon Heavy launch of the Psyche mission in July 2022 . EscaPADE would be dropped off when Psyche flew past Mars in 2023 on its way to the asteroid Psyche in the main aster

  PLD Space raises €7 million as it aims for sounding rocket’s 2021 debut VALLETTA, Malta — Launch startup PLD Space of Spain raised 7 million euros ($8.2 million) this week from Madrid-based investment bankers Arcano Partners to continue development of its Miura family of partially reusable rockets. PLD Space spokeswoman Lorena Santos said Sept. 17 the new investment will allow the Elche, Spain-based company to add at least 10 people to its roughly 40-person staff as it works toward a late 2021 or early 2022 debut of its Miura 1 suborbital rocket.  The investment is part of an ongoing Series B funding round being managed by ArcanoBlueBull, a four-year-old technology M&A firm that merged with Arcano Partners earlier this year. Santos declined to say when PLD Space expects to close its Series B round or how much it seeks to raise. The company’s  nearly 17-million-euro Series A  round — raised with BlueBull’s help — took more than two years to close, wrapping up in 2019 with a 9-mill