On Wednesday, May 18, at 6:59 a.m. ET, SpaceX launched 53 Starlink satellites to compliment their continually growing smallsat constellation from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This was the fifth flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2, and now two Starlink missions.
Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) (“Spire” or “the Company”) launched five satellites this month on the SpaceX Transporter-5 Mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Spire Space Services, the company’s Space-as-a-Service (SPaaS) business, has satellites and hardware onboard the launch for:
Spire Space Services offers fast and scalable access to space through a subscription model that eliminates the high upfront cost of building and maintaining infrastructure in space. Commercial and government organizations can deploy and operate a constellation of satellites, a hosted payload, or a software application in space with Spire’s infrastructure.
Spire also launched two replenishment satellites to support the firm’s data solutions business, which encompasses the tracking of maritime, aviation, and weather activity from space. These satellites are equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensors to collect radio occultation and other weather product data.
Spire satellites are manifested on the mission through a multi-launch agreement between Spire and Exolaunch, which includes access to the Transporter missions through Exolaunch’s long-term launch arrangements with SpaceX. Exolaunch, a global provider of launch, in-space logistics and deployment services, will also provide Spire with deployment and integration services. Spire will launch additional satellites on SpaceX Transporter missions later this year.
“This launch is an exciting moment, with the most Space Services customers on board a single launch to date,” said Joel Spark, co-founder and general manager of Space Services, Spire. “We’re excited to see more organizations deploying and scaling their constellations using our established space, ground, and web infrastructure, leveraging the experience we’ve built across 150+ spacecraft, 30+ launch campaigns, and 350 years of space heritage to get their business launched quickly and with low risk.”
“Working with Spire Space Services is allowing us to rapidly scale the Myriota Network to meet the high demand for IoT services,” said Dr. David Haley, CTO and co-founder, Myriota. “Since commencing work In 2021, the highly collaborative Spire and Myriota partnership has been opening up greater message size and reduced latency for our customers across agriculture, oil and gas, construction, environmental monitoring and defense industries. With three additional satellites the program is well and truly in full swing. We’ll be continuing the rapid acceleration of our service and its features to enable better outcomes for our customers through simple, affordable access to data, anywhere.”
“We at DASA, working with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Space Program, are excited to work with Spire to deploy a low-cost, rapid concept-to-technology demonstrator for global monitoring and geolocating signals,” said Fiona Hutchinson, Project Manager, DASA. “These capabilities not only enable military and security operations, but also underpin countless activities essential to our safety and way of life.”
Spire (NYSE: SPIR) is a global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, offering access to unique datasets and powerful insights about Earth from the ultimate vantage point so that organizations can make decisions with confidence, accuracy, and speed. Spire uses one of the world’s largest, multi-purpose, satellite constellations to source hard to acquire, valuable data and enriches it with predictive solutions. Spire then provides this data as a subscription to organizations around the world so they can improve business operations, decrease their environmental footprint, deploy resources for growth and competitive advantage, and mitigate risk. Spire gives commercial and government organizations the competitive advantage they seek to innovate and solve some of the world’s toughest problems with insights from space. Spire has offices in San Francisco, Boulder, Washington DC, Ontario, Glasgow, Oxfordshire, Luxembourg, and Singapore.
The company is reporting that, during their final vehicle check-outs, Blue Origin observed one of New Shepard’s back-up systems was not meeting their performance expectations.
In an abundance of caution, we will be delaying the NS-21 launch originally scheduled for Friday, May20th. Further updates will be announced when available…
Blue Origin’s fifth human flight — NS21 — will lift off from the firm’s Launch Site One in West Texas on Friday, May 20th.
The launch window opens at 8:30 a.m. CDT / 13:30 UTC. The company will be providing a webcast of this flight at T-60 minutes at their BlueOrigin.com website.
Blue Origin has announced the crew that will be flying on the company’s NS-21 mission: investor and NS-19 Astronaut Evan Dick; electrical engineer and former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta; business jet pilot and Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding; civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha; adventurer and Dream Variation Ventures co-founder Jaison Robinson; and explorer and co-founder of private equity firm Insight Equity Victor Vescovo, Commander, USN (Ret.). Katya will become the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly to space, and she will be flying as part of Space for Humanity’s sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program. Victor Correa Hespanha will be the second Brazilian to fly to space.
Each astronaut on board NS-21 will carry a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose Postcards to Space program gives students access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets. The Club’s mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM for the benefit of Earth.
This mission will be the fifth human flight for the New Shepard program and the 21st in its history. The flight date will be announced soon.
Meet the crew
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) has developed an on-orbit, additive-manufacturing technology that uses photosensitive resin and solar ultraviolet light for the 3D printing of satellite antennas in the vacuum of outer space.
The novel technology makes use of a newly developed liquid resin that was custom formulated for stability in vacuum. The resin enables structures to be fabricated in space using a low-power process that uses the sun’s ultraviolet rays for photopolymerization.
The technology specifically addresses the challenge of equipping small, inexpensive spacecraft buses with large structures, such as high-gain antenna reflectors, and enables on- orbit fabrication of structures that greatly exceed the dimensions of launch vehicle fairings. Resin-based, on-orbit manufacturing is expected to enable spacecraft structures to be made thinner and lighter than conventional designs, which must survive the stresses of launch and orbital insertion, thereby reducing both total satellite weight and launch costs.
Spacecraft antenna designs are challenging, due to their conflicting requirements for high gain, wide bandwidth and low weight. High gain and wide bandwidth necessarily require a large aperture, but economical orbital deployment conventionally dictates that designs be lightweight and small enough to fit or fold inside a launch vehicle or satellite deployment mechanism. Mitsubishi Electric’s innovative approach—resin-based on-orbit manufacturing—efficiently realizes high-gain, wide-bandwidth, large-aperture antennas deployed from a lightweight, vibration-resistant launch package. By developing a 3D printer that extrudes a custom ultraviolet-curable resin formulated for vacuum, resin-based low-power freeform (without requiring auxiliary support structures) additive-manufacturing in space has now become possible.
Features
1) 3D printer for the freeform fabrication of antennas in vacuum
— The 3D printer shares the antenna’s struts and angle-adjustment motors.
— Antenna size is not limited by the size of the fairing of the launch vehicle or the size of the satellite bus.
— On-orbit manufacturing eliminates the need for an antenna structure that can withstand vibrations and shocks during launch, which is required for conventional antenn areflectors, making it possible to reduce the weight and thickness of antenna reflectors, thereby contributing to the reduction of satellite weight and launch costs.
— Assuming the use of a 3U cubessat (100 x 100 x 300 mm) specification, an antenna reflector with a diameter of 165 mm, which is larger than the size of the cubesat bus, was fabricated in air and a gain of 23.5 dB was confirmed in the Ku-band (13.5 GHz).
2) World’s first** (as of May 17, 2022, according to the company’s research) photosensitive resin with stability suitable for extruding and curing in vacuum
— Commercial photosensitive resins have low molecular weight, high vapor pressure, and are not suitable for vacuum applications, where they boil and prematurely polymerize. The newly developed ultraviolet-curing resin uses a high-molecular-weight, low-vapor-pressure oligomer base blended with a vacuum stable plasticizer based on a non-volatile, polyphenyl ether to achieve a viscosity suitable for extrusion in vacuum.
— As most polymerization inhibitors require atmospheric oxygen as a co-factor to prevent premature polymerization and do not function in vacuum, the new resin formulation uses inhibitors that do not depend on the presence of oxygen and have near-zero volatility.
— When exposed to ultraviolet light, the resin polymerizes by crosslinking into a solid that is heat-resistant to at least 400°C, which is beyond the maximum temperature experienced on-orbit.
— The use of sunlight for polymerization and curing eliminates the need for a separate ultraviolet light source, enabling manufacturing with low power consumption.
Future Developments
Mitsubishi Electric’s resin-based, on-orbit manufacturing enables smallsats to achieve large-satellite capabilities, which reduces launch costs and allows for satellite technology to be used more than ever in applications such as communication and Earth Observation (EO). These extended capabilities are expected to enable more timely provision of satellite imagery and observation data that meet the varied needs of individuals and organizations.
Hellas Sat has awarded SpaceBridge an end-to-end VSAT project that will consist of two VSAT platforms to provide a fully encrypted, SATCOM hybrid platform that will simultaneously support Star & Mesh network topologies. SpaceBridge will provide two, fully redundant Teleports and User Terminals to serve important and critical locations for Hellas Sat end customers.
“We selected SpaceBridge to expand an existing network we have deployed since 2018, making efficient use of the advanced capabilities of our satellites, Hellas Sat 3 and Hellas Sat 4,” said Mr. Christodoulos Protopapas, President and CEO of Hellas Sat. ”The platform that we selected perfectly fits our customer requirements: the Star & Mesh capability and the support of advanced modulation techniques provided us with the best efficiency we were looking for the network deployment. At Hellas Sat, we believe that leveraging our deep knowledge and expertise to provide fast, reliable and cost-effective solutions to our customers is at the core of everything we do.”
“We are very pleased with this continued expression of trust shown by Hellas Sat, demonstrating the market’s confidence in SpaceBridge’s integration expertise to deliver the end-to-end systems,” said Mr. David Gelerman, President and CEO of SpaceBridge. “We provide our partners and customers with a comprehensive, systemic solutions that always exceed their expectations in overall platform efficiency, security and availability, especially when it comes to high-end fully secured multi-redundancy systems, including MESH functionality for Real Time mission critical tasks requiring fast and reliable communication then people lives depend in it.”
HELLAS SAT is a premium satellite communications solutions provider founded in 2001. Hellas Sat satellites are located at 39°E orbital slot offering excellent coverage over Europe, Middle East and Southern Africa. From 39°E, Hellas Sat serves leading DTH operators by delivering content to more than 3 million households, provides cost-effective solutions to enterprises telcos, maritime and governments that want to expand connectivity to every location of their network in Hellas Sat’s coverage areas and beyond.
SpaceBridge Inc. is an established supplier and global market pioneer in broadband satellite communications systems technologies and infrastructures. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, the company develops and provides satellite network solutions and managed services. This includes VSAT HUBs and Terminals for Point-to-Point, Point-to-Multi-Point, Star In Star and Mesh topologies, as well as SCPC modems for GEO and NGSO satellite constellations and broadcast modulators/multiplexers and demodulators/TS extraction from programming bouquet SpaceBridge Inc. also provides autonomous managed services for its customers, through implementation of creative and collaborative business models to reduce CapEx investments and save on network management OPEX, while speeding time-to-market. For more information, please visit: www.spacebridge.com
Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) has revealed that the CAPSTONE spacecraft has arrived at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, in preparation for launch to lunar orbit.
With the spacecraft now at the launch site, Rocket Lab will begin payload integration with the Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft bus ahead of the launch window opening on May 31st.
Designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation, and owned and operated by Advanced Space, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) cubesat will be the first spacecraft to test the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. Researchers expect this orbit to be a gravitational sweet spot in space – where the pull of gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow for a nearly-stable orbit – allowing physics to do most of the work of keeping a spacecraft in orbit around the Moon.
NASA has big plans for this unique type of orbit. The agency hopes to park bigger spacecraft – including the lunar-orbiting space station Gateway – in an NRHO around the Moon, providing astronauts with a base from which to descend to the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program.
CAPSTONE will be launched to an initial LEO by Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle and then placed on a ballistic lunar transfer by Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft bus. Unlike the Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 70s, which took a free return trajectory to the Moon, this fuel efficient, ballistic, lunar transfer makes it possible to deploy CAPSTONE to such a distant orbit using a small launch vehicle. Standing at just 59 feet tall, Electron is the smallest rocket to attempt a launch to the Moon.
Approximately ten minutes after lift-off on Electron, Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft bus, with CAPSTONE attached, will separate from the rocket and carry out a series of orbit raising maneuvers, stretching its orbit into a prominent ellipse around Earth. About six days after launch, a final burn from Photon’s 3D printed HyperCurie engine will accelerate Photon to 24,500 miles per hour, enabling it to escape low-Earth orbit and set CAPSTONE on a course for the Moon. Within 20 minutes of the final burn, Photon will release CAPSTONE into space for the first leg of the cubesat’s solo flight.
CAPSTONE’s journey to NRHO is expected to take around four months from this point. Once successfully inserted into the orbit, CAPSTONE is expected to remain there for at least six months, allowing NASA to study the orbit dynamics.
Rocket Lab has carried out 26 Electron launches since 2017, but the CAPSTONE mission will be Rocket Lab’s first launch beyond low Earth orbit. Rocket Lab also operates two Photon spacecraft in LEO, but the CAPSTONE mission is the first to employ the high energy variant of the Photon spacecraft bus, powered by the HyperCurie engine, designed to support lunar and interplanetary missions. CAPSTONE is the first in a series of interplanetary missions for Photon, including the ESCAPADE mission to Mars in 2024 and Rocket Lab’s private mission to Venus in 2023.
“CAPSTONE’s arrival at Launch Complex 1 marks a major milestone in this historic mission. We’re excited to move into the final integration and test phase ahead of launch day,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck. “This is our most ambitious Photon mission yet and a significant step toward providing scientific missions with dedicated and affordable access to interplanetary orbits. Less than four years after our first Electron mission for NASA, it’s fantastic to be working with the agency and its partners again to go beyond low Earth orbit and pave the way for humanity’s return to the Moon.”
NASA and Boeing are proceeding with plans for the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) to the International Space Station following a full day of briefings and discussions during a Flight Readiness Review that took place at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Launch of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for 6:54 p.m. EDT, Thursday, May 19, from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
OFT-2 will test the end-to-end capabilities of Starliner from launch to docking, atmospheric re-entry and a desert landing in the western United States. OFT-2 will provide valuable data that will help NASA certify Boeing’s crew transportation system to carry astronauts to and from the space station.
Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR) and SaxaVord UK Spaceport are partnering to increase access to space by providing dedicated orbital launch services to a growing satellite market. Subject to the entry of definitive agreements and regulatory approvals, rocket launches are expected to start in 2023.
With a flexible, mobile approach, Astra can transport and connect a fully functional launch system to a simple concrete pad for launches. SaxaVord UK Spaceport would expand Astra’s capacity at key inclinations. Together, they are expected to accelerate access to space for customers launching in the UK.
“This agreement between SaxaVord Spaceport and Astra is great news for Shetland and represents another step towards our shared ambition of bringing vertical launch satellite capability to Scotland,” said Ivan McKee, Scottish Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise. “Companies like this are vital to achieving the aims of our National Strategy for Economic Transformation that will support a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators in areas like small satellite technology and Scotland’s growing space industry.”
“Astra is an agile, fast-moving company on pace to establish a successful track record,” said Robin Huber, Director of Business Development at SaxaVord UK Spaceport. “We look forward to working with their team to build new launch capabilities in the UK. Their mission to improve life on Earth from space is closely aligned with our own values, and we believe that this exciting new relationship will develop into a strong, lasting partnership.”
“The additional inclinations, flexibility and launch capacity that this partnership enables will allow us to meet the needs of Astra’s customers and align directly with SaxaVord UK Spaceport’s economic investment and environmental goals,” said Matt Ganser, Vice President of Business Operations at Astra. “We are excited to work with this partner to open another spaceport from which we would hope to meet the growing demand for dedicated launch out of the UK.”
“This new partnership between Astra and SaxaVord UK Spaceport is another great example of the strong interest from the international space community in operating from UK spaceports,” said Matt Archer, Director of Commercial Space at the UK Space Agency. “By attracting global partners and developing a home-grown launch industry, we can cater for the diverse needs of small satellite manufacturers and operators, while benefiting people and businesses across the UK. It is fantastic to welcome Astra into the UK’s thriving launch community.”
Astra’s mission is to improve life on Earth from space by creating a healthier and more connected planet. Astra offers one of the lowest cost-per-launch dedicated orbital launch services of any operational launch provider in the world. Astra delivered its first commercial payload into Earth orbit in 2021, making it the fastest company in history to reach this milestone, just five years after it was founded in 2016. Astra (NASDAQ: ASTR) was the first space launch company to be publicly traded on Nasdaq.
UK Spaceport SaxVord Spaceport (SaxaVord) is the UK’s first vertical satellite launch facility and ground station located at Lamba Ness in Unst, Shetland. Given Unst is the UK’s highest point of latitude, SaxaVord offers customers a geographic competitive advantage enabling unrivaled payloads per satellite, launch site operations, a network of ground stations and in-orbit data collection and analysis. SaxaVord has received endorsement from the UK Space Agency’s (UKSA) Spectre Report, formed industry-leading partnerships and has been chosen to host the UKSA’s UK Pathfinder launch, which will be delivered by Lockheed Martin and ABL Systems, in 2022. SaxaVord has secured planning permission for the launch site, which will be designed for small rockets delivering payloads into LEO. Integral to the UK’s space economy ambitions, SaxaVord is building a highly skilled workforce, championing STEM education and supporting the economic regeneration of the Shetlands.
On Friday, May 13th, at 3:07 p.m. PT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 53 Starlink satellites to LEO from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
The Vandenberg AFB launch marks the fourth Starlink deployment from Vandenberg, and the 23rd Falcon-9 launch from SLC-4E.
This Falcon 9 first stage booster previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART and two Starlink missions.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on May 14th from will send 53 Starlink satellites to LEO from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
On May 12th, Maxar collected new satellite imagery of several key locations in southern Ukraine that include Snake Island, Odesa and Mariupol.
Snake Island
This current imagery of the island (located in the Black Sea approximately 45 kilometers from the coast of Romania) and the surrounding area shows the aftermath of probable missile attacks on a Russian Serna-class landing craft near the island. Smoke contrails can be seen in the area, likely from missiles/munitions that had recently been fired toward the ship and the landing craft is seen making evasive maneuvers.
On the northern part of the island, a barge with a heavy-lift crane is positioned close to a sunken Serna-class landing craft that had recently been struck reportedly by Ukrainian drones. Nearby, an additional Serna-class landing craft is positioned at a landing ramp.
On the island itself, the imagery provides a closer view of the damaged buildings from recent attacks as well as several Russian air defense vehicles (Pantsir surface to air system) deployed nearby.
Odesa, Ukraine
Maxar’s May 12th satellite imagery shows the aftermath of recent Russian attacks that damaged the Grande Pettine hotel, located on the beach by the Black Sea (location: 46.379, 30.749).
Additional damage is seen at several buildings at the Odesa airport (location: 46.417, 30.707) reportedly caused by Russian missile strikes.
Mariupol, Ukraine
These images focus on the Azovstal steel plant in eastern Mariupol and shows the aftermath of continued aerial and artillery attacks on the compound (location: 47.106, 37.607).
Additionally, the imagery shows activity by the Mariupol Theater (location: 47.096, 37.548), people gathered at the Metro grocery store on the western side of the city (location: 47.118, 37.503) and a continued expansion of the Starokrymske Cemetery on the western edge of the city (location: 47.139, 37.483)
All satellite imagery is ©Maxar Technologies.
