#WASHINGTON — The #Pentagon’s commercial technology arm, the Defense Innovation Unit, announced March 20 it is funding three projects to explore ways to create a more robust space infrastructure that can support military operations beyond low #Earth orbit.

The projects were awarded to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and #Spacebilt. “Each of the companies selected for an award showed strong research and development investments into their particular solutions for use in the commercial market,” said DIU.

#DIU is partnering with Blue Origin on a space mission called Dark-Sky 1 that will send to orbit a heavy multi-orbit space tug based on the company’s Blue Ring platform. The vehicle will be launched as a rideshare payload on a U.S. Space Force national security mission.

#Capella #Space sets sights on international market for radar #satellites. CEO Frank Backes: ‘We’re seeing a real surge of interest from countries that want to build their own sovereign SAR capabilities’.

#WASHINGTON — The launch industry is negotiating a transition into new families of launch vehicles, working to bring additional capacity into the market while seeking out competitive advantages against a growing number of competitors.

A panel at the #Satellite 2024 conference March 18 features two companies that recently completed the first successful launches of new vehicles and four others working on new launch vehicles, in some cases while operating existing ones.

“Right now we’re in transition,” said Mark Peller, vice president of Vulcan development at United Launch Alliance, citing the successful inaugural launch of Vulcan Centaur Jan. 8. “We’ve wrung out the Vulcan system and now our focus is getting up to a steady launch cadence.”

#Lockheed Martin eyes growth in #satellite business through partnerships. President of Lockheed Martin Space Robert Lightfoot: ‘We’re looking for strategic partners’

#HELSINKI — #China launched its Queqiao-2 relay satellite Tuesday to support upcoming lunar far side and south polar missions.

A Long March 8 rocket lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 8:31 p.m. Eastern, March 19 (0031 UTC March 20). The China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed the Queqiao-2 satellite was on a trajectory towards the moon around 40 minutes after launch.

CNSA stated Queqiao-2 had deployed its solar arrays and was in its predetermined orbit with a perigee of 200 kilometers and an apogee of 420,000 kilometers.

The 1,200-kilogram satellite carries a 4.2-meter parabolic antenna and is part of China’s plans for future lunar exploration and a stepping stone towards building a lunar base in the 2030s.

The spacecraft will enter a highly elliptical lunar orbit inclined by 55 degrees once it reaches the moon. The orbit is specially designed to support China’s Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample.

#WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has awarded three contracts worth a quarter of a billion dollars to develop a pair of navigation missions, including one to test the feasibility of a low Earth orbit #satellite constellation.

ESA announced the award of the contracts for its FutureNAV program March 19, with a combined value of 233.4 million euros ($253 million). The contracts cover two missions, called Genesis and LEO-PNT.

“With Genesis and LEO-PNT we are responding to rapidly growing needs for more resilient and precise navigation and ensuring Europe leads global satellite navigation,” Javier Benedicto, ESA’s director of navigation, said in a statement about the contracts

#SANFRANCISCO — #German startup #Blackwave raised $6.6 million in a seed extension round to expand production of carbon fiber structures.

The Munich-based startup announced the investment round March 19 as well as plans to offer carbon fiber high-pressure tanks for launch vehicles, satellites and other space-related applications.

“We are more than happy to finally unveil what has been in the making for the last 18 months and what nobody has addressed so far: commercial-off-the-shelf pressure vessels for launchers and satellites that are lightweight, affordable and available within days,” Blackwaves CEO Bastian Behrens said in a statement.

#WASHINGTON — Loft Orbital is partnering with #SkyServe to leverage Earth observation and edge computing capabilities on a newly launched #satellite.

The two companies announced March 19 that SkyServe will use Loft Orbital’s YAM-6 spacecraft, launched on the Transporter-10 rideshare mission March 4, to demonstrate artificial intelligence capabilities by analyzing optical and hyperspectral imagery the satellite collects.

For what the companies call Mission Denali, SkyServe, an Indian startup, will install its SkyServe STORM platform on the spacecraft. Customers can then deploy AI models on the platform to perform analysis of imagery the satellite collects in real time

#WASHINGTON — Spanish defense contractor Indra has teamed up with local air navigation services provider Enaire to order two #satellites next year to test their proposed air traffic surveillance and communications constellation.

Their joint venture, Startical, said March 18 it has ordered a 20-kilogram satellite from GomSpace and a 110-kilogram satellite from Kongsberg NanoAvionics — the first of more than 270 spacecraft planned for low Earth orbit.

Startical said the #GomSpace satellite would be deployed in early 2025, followed by NanoAvionics around the middle of the year, but did not disclose launch details.

#WASHINGTON — Manufacturers of traditional geostationary communications satellites insist demand for their products is not going away thanks to technological advances and interest in multi-orbit solutions.

During a panel at the #Satellite 2024 conference here March 18, executives with several manufacturers acknowledged demand for their satellites had dropped significantly from historical levels of 20 to 25 orders a year but that the market itself was not dying.

“GEO’s not dead,” said Chris Johnson, chief executive of Maxar Space Systems. “By no means is it dead, but it has evolved.”