#WASHINGTON — Relativity Space, a company that builds launch vehicles using 3D printing technology, has secured an $8.7 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to explore real-time flaw detection in additive manufacturing.

Real-time flaw detection in 3D printing is the ability to identify defects as parts are being printed. This is an important technology as additive manufacturing works by laying down thin layers of material on top of each other so each layer adds to the potential for imperfections.

The two-year research contract is from AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The work for this project will be done at Relativity’s factory in Long Beach, California, using the company’s Stargate 3D printing platform, known for its large-scale metal printing capabilities.

“This effort with Relativity Space is in response to a congressional demand signal,” Adam Hicks, a physicist at AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, said in a statement to #SpaceNews.

Star Trek vs Star Wars Debate at 39th Space Symposium: Who Won?

#COLORADO SPRINGS — #Astroscale is moving into the next phase of an inspection mission as its #spacecraft approaches a derelict upper stage in low Earth orbit.

Astroscale announced April 11 that its Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) spacecraft, launched Feb. 18, had moved to within several hundred kilometers of an upper stage from an H-2A launch in 2009 left in low Earth orbit and was now relying on its own sensors to continue its approach.

The mission milestone was a switch from absolute navigation, where the spacecraft was maneuvered by ground controllers based on knowledge of its position as well as that of the upper stage, to “Angles-Only Navigation,” where ADRAS-J detected the upper stage using onboard cameras and calculated its relative position.

#TAMPA, Fla. — Intelsat is in talks with the U.S. government to help fund 17 medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites to expand the operator’s multi-orbit broadband network.

CEO David Wajsgras said the company, which operates geostationary #satellites but also provides low Earth orbit (LEO) services via leased capacity from OneWeb, is due to pick companies to build its own MEO network before the end of June.

“We’ve been looking at multiple manufacturing partners for the bus, the sensors and for some of the modules,” Wajsgras told SpaceNews in an interview, “and determining the exact construct of the team that would put those satellites on orbit in approximately three-and-a-half to four years from now.”

#HELSINKI — The Queqiao-2 #satellite has completed function and performance tests in lunar orbit, clearing China to launch its upcoming lunar far side sample return mission.

Queqiao-2 completed on-orbit communication testing in recent days, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced April 12.

The spacecraft conducted successful communication tests with Chang’e-4 mission spacecraft on the far side of the moon April 6. This was followed by a test April 8-9 Beijing time with the Chang’e-6 spacecraft back on Earth, which is yet to launch.

SAN FRANCISCO – While constructing its own climate-monitoring #constellation, Silicon startup Muon Space is earning more than $60 million designing, building and operating remote-sensing satellites for customers.

The 10 #satellites under contract, ranging in size from 150 to 500 kilograms, are scheduled to launch in 2025 and 2026 for commercial, government and nonprofit organizations.

Muon Space CEO and co-founder Jonny Dyer declined to identify the customers. “We’ll let them take the lead on sharing that information if and when they would like to,” Dyer told SpaceNews by email

#COLORADO SPRINGS — Commercial space station developer Vast will use SpaceX’s Starlink constellation to provide #broadband connectivity for its Haven-1 station launching next year.

Vast announced April 9 that it will install laser intersatellite link terminals on its Haven-1 station to enable communications with Starlink satellites. The agreement between Vast and SpaceX extends to future space stations Vast plans to develop.

Max Haot, chief executive of Vast, said in an interview during the 39th Space Symposium that his company will use terminals supplied by SpaceX. Gwynne #Shotwell, president of SpaceX, announced at the Satellite 2024 conference March 19 that #SpaceX would sell #laser terminals it developed for Starlink to other customers, a product offering she dubbed “Plug ’n’ Plaser.”

#COLORADO SPRINGS — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 11 launched a U.S. Space Force weather monitoring satellite. The vehicle lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 7:25 a.m. Pacific.

The USSF-62 mission flew to orbit the U.S. military’s first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) satellite.

Made by Ball Aerospace — a company recently acquired by BAE Systems — WSF-M has a microwave imager instrument to collect weather data including the measurement of ocean surface wind speed and direction, ice thickness, snow depth, soil moisture and local space weather

National security space leaders talk the talk on embracing commercial innovation, but are they walking the walk?

In speeches and interviews, U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command leaders frequently cite their mantra, “Exploit what we have, buy what we can and build only what we must.”

National Reconnaissance Office leaders have a similar saying, “Buy what we can, build what we must.”

After years of these pronouncements, current and former government officials are underscoring the gap between words and actions.

Exactly how much of the government’s estimated $70 billion in national security space funding is flowing to the entrepreneurial space sector? It’s hard to say. #spacenews

#TAMPA, Fla. — #Kepler Communications, a Canadian small satellite operator, is teaming up with Europe’s #Airbus Defence and Space and its independent laser terminal subsidiary Tesat-Spacecom to develop an optical relay network in low Earth orbit (LEO).

The Canadian company is leading the group to help bid for a greater role in the European Space Agency’s High Throughput Optical Network ( #HydRON ) program.

First presented to Europe’s Ministerial Council in November 2019, #HydRON envisages a multi-orbit, terabit-per-second transport network for extending the reach of fiber networks on the ground.

Previously, Kepler was a subcontractor within two competing groups that won early ESA study contracts in 2022 for a multi-orbit HydRON demonstration mission: one led by Airbus and another led by Thales Alenia Space.