Updated 8/12/2022 at 12:02 p.m. EDT with information about launch credit with SpaceX.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

MOJAVE, Calif. — Astrobotic Technology has made an initial bid of $4.5 million to acquire the assets of Masten Space Systems, which sought protection from creditors last month by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bid will serve as a minimum during the subsequent auction of Masten’s assets.

Astrobotic has also agreed to provide Masten with a $1.4 million debtor in possession (DIP) loan to allow the company to function as it works through bankruptcy.

Founder and CEO of Kepler Communications, Mina Mitry joins former SpaceX Vice President, Jeff Thornburg, as the newest member on SpaceRyde’s Board of Advisors.

TORONTO, Aug. 9, 2022 (SpaceRyder PR) — SpaceRyde, the world’s first rocket network providing on-demand cargo transportation from the Earth to the Moon and everywhere in between, announced today the addition of fellow Canadian space innovator and CEO of Kepler Communications, Mina Mitry, to the company’s Board of Advisors. Mitry will join SpaceRyde’s inaugural member; career space engineer leader and former Vice President of Propulsion Engineering at SpaceX, Jeff Thornburg on the board.

Updated on 8/12/2022 at 1:40 p.m. with information about Astrobotic Technology’s loan to Masten and initial bid for the bankrupt company’s assets.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

MOJAVE, Calif. — A new court document reveals that an unidentified company nearly purchased now-bankrupt Masten Space Systems earlier this year, but it ultimately backed away due to financial concerns about Masten Mission 1 (MM1), the company’s program to deliver a small rover and a suite of instruments to the south pole of the moon under a NASA contract.

“On April 29, Company A informed Masten that it did not plan to proceed with a deal because of the substantial liabilities recognized to date and additional future projected losses associated with MM1,” an Aug. 10 filing in Delaware Bankruptcy Court said.

J-Space has contracted Virgin Orbit to develop a South Korean launch site plan, paving the path for expanded space markets and new investor opportunities in South Korea and the surrounding region.

LONG BEACH, Calif. and SEOUL, South Korea, August 09, 2022 (Virgin Orbit PR) — Virgin Orbit (Nasdaq: VORB), a leading launch provider, announced today that it has signed an agreement with South Korean investment group J-Space. The agreement will allow the companies to assess candidate spaceport launch sites in South Korea, with the goal of providing satellite launch services from there using Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne System. The cooperative effort is designed to act as a catalyst to the burgeoning Korean small satellite and space solutions market, stimulate local economic growth, and provide the South Korean government with a flexible and responsive launch capability in support of a wide range of mission applications.

Some updates from the Small Satellite conference in Logan, Utah.

LeoLabs

LeoLabs is in the midst of rapidly expanding its space radar systems to more locations around the world while tracking ever smaller objects in orbit as concern about space debris increases.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

NASA engineers have devised a plan to adapt technologies in order to increase the amount of samples the space agency can return from the moon and the lunar Gateway during its Artemis program.

ARLINGTON, Va. (DARPA PR) — DARPA has selected 11 teams for Phase 1 of the Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node program, known as Space-BACN. Space-BACN aims to create a low-cost, reconfigurable optical communications terminal that adapts to most optical intersatellite link standards, translating between diverse satellite constellations. Space-BACN would create an “internet” of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, enabling seamless communication between military/government and commercial/civil satellite constellations that currently are unable to talk with each other.

The agency selected teams from academia and large and small commercial companies, including multiple performers awarded first-time contracts with the Department of Defense.

Applicants Failed to Meet Program Requirements and Convince FCC to Fund Risky Proposals

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2022 (FCC PR) —The Federal Communications Commission today announced that it is rejecting the long-form applications of LTD Broadband and Starlink to receive support through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program.  The Commission determined that these applications failed to demonstrate that the providers could deliver the promised service.  Funding these vast proposed networks would not be the best use of limited Universal Service Fund dollars to bring broadband to unserved areas across the United States, the Commission concluded.

“After careful legal, technical, and policy review, we are rejecting these applications.  Consumers deserve reliable and affordable high-speed broadband,” said Chairwoman [Jessica] Rosenworcel.  “We must put scarce universal service dollars to their best possible use as we move into a digital future that demands ever more powerful and faster networks.  We cannot afford to subsidize ventures that are not delivering the promised speeds or are not likely to meet program requirements.”

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA is calling on middle and high school students to join the second NASA TechRise Student Challenge, which invites student teams to develop, build, and launch science and technology experiments on high-altitude balloons.  

Students in grades six to 12 attending U.S. public, private, or charter schools – including those in U.S. territories – are challenged to team up with their schoolmates to design an experiment under the guidance of an educator. Administered by Future Engineers, the NASA TechRise Student Challenge offers hands-on insight into the design and test process used by NASA-supported researchers. It aims to inspire a deeper understanding of Earth’s atmosphere, surface features, and climate, as well as space exploration, coding, electronics, and the value of test data. Teams should submit their experiment ideas by Oct. 24, 2022.  

“We are thrilled to offer the second annual NASA TechRise Student Challenge,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The quality of the experiments and the creativity we saw from students in the last challenge are exactly the kinds of problem-solving and hands-on learning NASA hopes to inspire. We’re eager to see what innovative ideas pour in from students around the nation this year.” 

Phase 1 Goal to Develop Benchtop Model of Next-Generation Optical Communications Terminal for Proliferated Space Domain  LOS ANGELES, August 10, 2022 (Mynaric PR) –  Mynaric has been selected as a key development partner to create a benchtop model of a next-generation optical communications terminal as part of Phase 1 of the Space-based adaptive communications node (Space-BACN) program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA’s Space-BACN program envisions a […]

Capella‘s third-generation synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites offer highest quality imagery, best resolution, and fastest order-to-delivery speeds

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10, 2022 (Capella Space PR) –– Capella Space, a leading Earth observation company, today unveiled several new capabilities planned for its next generation satellites, further expanding the company’s cutting-edge, premium data offerings. This new generation of Capella satellites, referred to as “Acadia” technology, will expand the existing Capella constellation to provide highest quality imagery, best ground-range resolution, and the fastest order-to-delivery speeds available from any commercial SAR provider.

Adding two microsatellite buses to its flagship MP42, NanoAvionics has now one of the widest ranges of commercially available modular microsatellite buses in the industry

LOGAN, Utah, USA, 10 August 2022 – Global mission integrator NanoAvionics has added two microsatellite buses, the MP42H and the MP42D, to its product line based on its flagship MP42 bus. Capable to host customer payloads of up to 145 kg and a total satellite mass of up to 220 kg, the company has now one of the widest ranges of commercially available modular microsatellite buses in the industry.

Designed to significantly reduce mechanical constraints for payload integration, the satellites across the new bus range are variously ideal for more sophisticated missions in the fields of remote sensing, high data throughput and complex communications missions, emergency communications, fundamental research and as orbital transfer vehicles (OTV).