All articles tagged with #small satellites
NASA successfully launched a cost-effective set of four small spacecraft called DiskSats from Wallops Island, demonstrating their maneuverability and potential for flexible, low-cost space missions, with support from the U.S. Space Force and Department of Defense.
Lockheed Martin is seeing a surge in demand for small satellites, with a backlog of 100 orders from Department of Defense and intelligence customers. The company has shifted focus to small satellites, particularly in pursuit of Space Development Agency contracts, and has opened a new smallsat assembly facility near Denver, Colorado. Lockheed Martin is funding its own space missions to demonstrate technologies for potential government purchase, with upcoming tech demos including a satellite-servicing mission and an antenna experiment. The next experiment, Pony Express 2, will launch on SpaceX's Transporter 10 smallsat rideshare and demonstrate new technologies such as open standards mesh networking and autonomous tasking of satellites.
British researchers have successfully tested a prototype self-eating rocket engine, named Ouroborous-3, which burns its own structure as fuel, potentially enabling cheaper launches of small satellites with no debris left behind. The rocket, developed by the University of Glasgow, demonstrated the ability to be throttled, reignited, and pulsed, producing 100 newtons of thrust. The technology could lead to the creation of very small rockets tailored for the smallest satellites and received funding from the UK Space Agency and the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council.
The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE), a NASA-funded small satellite equipped with a telescope and spectrograph, has exceeded its expected lifetime and continues to gather data on the atmospheric loss of "hot jupiters." Its success has led to the development of two additional NASA-funded missions, Sprite and Mantis, which will study various aspects of galaxies and the habitability of planets. Lessons learned from CUTE are helping researchers understand how to build small spacecraft and instruments. The extended lifespan of CUTE has been attributed to ingenuity and luck, and its success has demonstrated the potential for small satellites to play a significant role in observing distant galaxies and other astronomical phenomena.
Rocket Lab, a leading player in the small launch market, suffered a setback when its 41st Electron mission failed to reach orbit. The failure has highlighted the lack of launch options for small satellite developers, leaving Rocket Lab as the dominant player in the Western small launch market. This has raised concerns about the emergence of a monopoly, with SpaceX already being seen as the monopolist in the launch market. Some argue that SpaceX has acted anti-competitively by offering low-cost Transporter missions, pricing out other launch providers. However, SpaceX customers are satisfied with the company's pricing and availability. To restore competition, other launch companies are ramping up production and planning to offer alternatives to SpaceX's Falcon rockets.
A Vega rocket successfully launched a dozen small satellites, including THEOS-2 and FORMOSAT-7R/TRITON, from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana. The launch marked the first for the Vega family since the failure of the more powerful Vega C in December 2022. The Vega C remains grounded due to an anomaly during a static-fire test, and its return to flight has been delayed to the fourth quarter of 2024. A final launch of the original version of Vega is planned for the second quarter of 2024.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is seeking innovative ideas for small lunar missions as part of its Terrae Novae exploration program. The missions should focus on exploration and scientific activities, with a total cost not exceeding €50 million and a development timeline of less than 4.5 years. Proposals can come from individual companies or consortia, and opportunities may be provided to use established resources such as the Ariane 6 launcher or the Moonlight program for lunar communications and navigation services. The call for proposals is open until December 14, 2023.
Researchers from Imperial College London have developed a nano rocket engine called the ICE-Cube Thruster that runs on water and could be used to maneuver small satellites in space. The engine utilizes electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which are then fed into a combustion chamber and nozzle less than 1mm in length to produce thrust. This eliminates the need for bulky storage tanks, making it easier to miniaturize propulsion systems.
Lockheed Martin has opened a new factory at its Waterton campus near Denver, Colorado, dedicated to assembling small satellites. The facility has the capacity to manufacture 180 small satellites per year and features six parallel assembly lines. The first satellites to be produced at the factory are for the U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency, with plans to build a mesh network of data transport and missile-detection sensor satellites in low Earth orbit. The move towards small satellites reflects the industry's shift towards proliferated architectures, with government customers expressing a preference for smaller, more proliferated systems. The facility can also be configured to assemble classified satellites for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.
Astro Digital, a small satellite builder, has partnered with Astroscale to integrate Astroscale's docking plate into its upcoming spacecraft. The docking plate will facilitate the use of in-orbit services provided by Astroscale and other companies. The first docking plate will be attached to an undisclosed satellite for launch in the fourth quarter of 2024. Astroscale's circular docking plate is compatible with magnetic and mechanical capture methods and weighs less than 500 grams. Astroscale aims to make in-orbit servicing routine by the end of the decade and has raised over $376 million in funding for its business. Other companies involved in in-orbit servicing include SpaceLogistics and ClearSpace.
NASA has canceled the Janus mission, which aimed to send a pair of small satellites to binary asteroids. The completed spacecraft will be put into long-term storage for potential use in future missions. The cancellation was prompted by delays in the Psyche asteroid mission, which Janus was a rideshare payload on. Alternative missions were considered, including a visit to the near-Earth asteroid Apophis, but NASA's planetary science division decided not to pursue them due to budget constraints. The Janus spacecraft will be stored at a Lockheed Martin facility, effectively concluding the project.
SpaceX is set to launch its Transporter-8 mission, carrying 72 small satellites, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This will be the company's second launch of the day, following the deployment of 52 Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station earlier. The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage is expected to return to Earth for a vertical touchdown at Vandenberg, while the upper stage will continue to deploy the payloads over a 24-minute span. This is SpaceX's eighth small-satellite "rideshare" mission and its third such flight of 2023.
SpaceX is set to launch its Transporter-8 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base carrying 72 payloads, including CubeSats, MicroSats, a re-entry capsule, and orbital transfer vehicles. Liftoff is scheduled for Monday afternoon, with a backup launch opportunity on Tuesday. The first-stage booster will return to the base to land less than eight minutes after liftoff, potentially causing sonic booms. This will be the eighth dedicated smallsat rideshare mission for SpaceX and the second from the West Coast. A live broadcast of the mission can be found on the SpaceX website or its YouTube channel.
Virgin Orbit CEO, Dan Hart, has stated that the company is pressing towards another launch attempt in the coming months as it seeks suitors to rescue it from bankruptcy. The company has been in discussions with potential buyers and bids are due on May 14. Despite laying off 85% of its staff, the company still plans to launch its next rocket in the third quarter, carrying a commercial satellite for a paying customer. The Pentagon's interest in the company for hypersonics testing and missile defense could be attractive to potential buyers.
Terran Orbital, a manufacturer of small satellites, reported annual revenue of $94.2 million for 2022, more than double its 2021 total. The company's Q4 revenue grew to $31.9 million, but its adjusted EBITDA loss doubled to $26.1 million due to increased expenses. Terran Orbital's order backlog fell to $170.8 million in Q4, but its year-end backlog was for about 60 satellites, with the Rivada contract adding around 300 to that total. The company delivered 19 satellites during the fourth quarter and is expanding its manufacturing facilities to be able to make up to 250 satellites a year.