by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Well, this was a rather frightening thing to wake up to this morning. GPS World reports:

The Kremlin warned it could blow up 32 GPS satellites with its new anti-satellite technology, ASAT, which it tested Nov. 15 on a retired Soviet Tselina-D satellite, according to numerous news reports.

On the state-run Channel One, host Dmitry Kiselyov warned that Russia’s anti-satellite missiles would leave the United States and NATO blind if the multi-national defense alliance “crosses our red line.”

LONG BEACH, Calif., 30 November, 2021 (OneWeb PR) — OneWeb, the global communications company powered by space, has signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with GDC Advanced Technology. The agreement with the world-class aircraft modification and technology company sees the two industry leaders collaborate on the development of a new In-Flight Connectivity terminal that will enable airlines to connect their aircraft, passengers, and crew over OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication network. 

The relationship builds upon 18-months of research completed in partnership with satellite operators and one of the industry’s leading airlines. The new terminal based on the electronically steered antenna technology developed by Ball Aerospace, has already undergone early lab and ground testing at the GDC facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, and will deliver the much-anticipated benefits of OneWeb’s LEO constellation including high throughput and low latency to airlines and their passengers from 2023. 

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA is taking a step toward the next era of space communications with the launch of its Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) on Sunday, Dec. 5. Live coverage of the launch is scheduled to air on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA App beginning at 3:30 a.m. EST.

• Fundraising led by all existing shareholders and new Singapore government-affiliated institutional investor
• Adding SpaceX Falcon 9 to expanded launch method offerings and strengthening recruitment & organizational capability

TOKYO — Space BD, a leading Japanese space startup, announces that it has raised a total of 1.04 billion JPY [US $9.1 million] through a third-party allotment of new shares to the existing shareholders Incubate Fund, ANNIVERSAIRE HOLDINGS, SMBC Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital, and the new shareholder Pavilion Capital, wholly owned by Temasek Holdings, a Singapore government-affiliated investment company.

MUNICH and FREIBURG, Germany (ConstellR/cloudeo PR) — The agreement between the two geospatial data companies brings both commercial and technical advantages. ConstellR’s high-resolution thermal infrared data will be made available to cloudeo’s broad network of geospatial partners through the cloudeo marketplace, allowing customers in agriculture, oil & gas and maritime markets to exploit new, value-adding data layers which offer higher accuracy and better spatial resolution.

The partnership also allows cloudeo to enhance its Geo-Insurance product, an automated service delivering insights on crop health to insurance companies. ConstellR’s global temperature monitoring products and strong data science capabilities will help enhance the quality and accuracy of cloudeo’s crop damage monitoring and day-to-day farm management services, covering drought monitoring, heatwave- or frost-damage identification and cost-effective irrigation insights. The performance of cloudeo’s crop type classification deep learning pipeline is also expected to be enhanced.

KOUROU, French Guiana (Arianespace PR) — Due to adverse weather conditions at the Guiana Space Center (CSG), the flight VS26 –initially scheduled for December 1– is being postponed. The Soyuz launch vehicle and spacecraft are in stable and safe conditions. The new earliest targeted launch date is December 2, 2021 at exactly: > 07:27 p.m. Washington, D.C. time,> 09:27 p.m. Kourou time,> 00:27 a.m. Universal time (UTC), on December 3,> […]

Satellite and data provider ADA Space (a.k.a., Guoxing Aerospace) announced that it recently completed a 355 million yuan (US $55.79 million) Series B round of financing. “This round of financing will be mainly used for the company’s satellite network capacity building and innovative product research and development,” the company said in an announcement. ADA Space is developing an Earth observation constellation of 192 satellites. The constellation will consist of CubeSats […]

TOKYO (Space BD PR) — Space BD, a leading Japanese space startup, announces that in the launch service business, one of its core businesses, Space BD starts handling global launch methods in addition to the traditional Japanese launch methods. As the first launch, Space BD has reserved space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission scheduled for October 2022. The company aims to respond to the rapidly increasing demands which are also diversifying and provide optimum solutions to access to space for every user by expanding the variety of launch methods.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

In an internal email to employees, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that development of the Raptor rocket engine that will power the Super Heavy/Starship launch system is in “crisis,” adding the company risks bankruptcy if the company can’t turn the situation around, according to media reports.

The problems pose a risk not only to SpaceX and its multi-billion dollar Starlink satellite broadband program, but to Musk’s plans to colonize Mars and NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon. The U.S. space agency has awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to develop a lunar lander based on the Starship vehicle.

PARIS (ESA PR) — A small European telecommunications satellite intended for launch into geostationary orbit some 36 000 kilometres above the Earth – which can be used as a basis for future satellites – has won support from ESA.

DARPA’s B-SURE program aims to develop fundamental understanding of microbial capabilities for bioproduction in space.

ARLINGTON, Va. (DARPA PR) — The DoD has a role in orbital and lunar missions as defined by the US Space Force (USSF) Space Capstone Publication¹. In this document, USSF notes the “inherent value of the space domain and the tremendous influence space has on U.S. prosperity and security.” There is a critical DoD need for the continued development and future expansion of orbital manufacturing to enable and ensure supply chain resiliency, sustained technological superiority, and asset security and repair for current and future operations. To meet this unique challenge, DARPA announced today that it was taking an initial step to explore and de-risk manufacturing capabilities that leverage biological processes in resource limited environments with its Biomanufacturing: Survival, Utility, and Reliability beyond Earth (B-SURE) program.

PARIS (ESA PR) — Sea-level rise is one of the most immediate consequences of climate change, as highlighted recently through urgent pleas from leaders of island nations at the COP26 summit. Global measures of sea-level rise are imperative to underpinning global policy and for strategies to protect coastlines and low-lying lands. Measuring tiny differences in the height of the sea surface from space is no easy task – but that’s exactly what the Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is doing. And, after a year of exhaustive testing, this new mission is now delivering the world’s most accurate data on sea-level rise.