| | | | Steely Newsletter Issue #030 |
| Read all about Astroscale's $80 million mission to clean up space junk, Amazon's Project Kuiper preparing to launch it's first test satellites, Dish getting fined by the FCC for failing to properly deorbit a satellite, and so much more! |
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| | Space.com | Mike Wall | 10-04-2023 Astroscale has been awarded a grant of up to $80 million from the Japanese government to develop an on-orbit inspection demonstration mission for inspecting and diagnosing large, defunct satellites in space. The project will run through March 2028, and Astroscale will use the grant to advance its technologies for space junk removal. In addition to the newly announced MEXT-funded project, Astroscale is also working on several other space junk removal missions, including ELSA-M, Cosmic, and ADRAS-J. These missions are all designed to test and demonstrate different technologies for capturing and removing space junk from orbit. |
| Amazon | 10-03-2023 Amazon is launching its first two Project Kuiper satellites to test its end-to-end broadband network and learn from real-world data. The Protoflight mission will test all three elements of the Kuiper System: advanced LEO broadband satellites, affordable customer terminals, and ground-based communications network. Amazon will begin satellite production in parallel to Protoflight and expects to be in beta testing with early commercial customers by the end of 2024. |
| ARS Technica | Jon Brodkin | 10-03-2023 The FCC fined Dish $150,000 for failing to properly deorbit a TV satellite. Dish admitted that it violated the Communications Act and the FCC rules by relocating the satellite to a disposal orbit well below the elevation required by the terms of its license. The satellite ended up below the disposal orbit because it was running low on propellant. Dish will have to improve the accuracy of propellant tracking and do more detailed planning for end-of-mission disposal. |
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🛡️Satellite Cybersecurity News |
| Venture Beat | Louis Columbus | 10-02-2023 In the current global cyber cold war, nation-states are increasingly targeting satellites as a means of disrupting communications, navigation, and other critical services. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has warned of the growing militarization of space and the development of new weapons and counter-space capabilities by China and Russia. A new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a framework for improving the cybersecurity of hybrid satellite networks (HSNs), which are increasingly becoming a target for cyberattacks. The NIST framework includes guidance on performing assessments, following cybersecurity principles, and detecting disturbances or corruption of HSN data and services. It also covers interfaces, including antenna fields, payloads, user terminals, virtual machines, and cloud-hosted software. |
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| | Spaceflight Now | Steven Young | 10-04-2023 SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday night on its 44th Starlink delivery mission of the year. The launch is scheduled for 10:45 p.m. EDT, but there is a 50-50 chance of a weather delay. The Falcon 9 will be carrying 22 second-generation satellites for SpaceX's Starlink internet service. After liftoff, the Falcon 9 will head south-east and the first stage booster will land on a drone ship. Two burns of the Falcon 9's second stage will be required to place the satellites into the required orbit. |
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🏛️US Government Satellite News |
| Via Satellite | Rachel Jewett | 10-03-2023 NASA has selected seven companies to provide commercial data for Earth science research through the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program (CSDA). The $476 million contract, which is effective for five years with an option to extend, allows NASA to flexibly acquire data from commercial providers. Umbra, a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) company, is joining the program for the first time. Capella Space, another SAR company, has been working with NASA through CSDA since April of this year. Planet, which has been working with NASA through CSDA since 2018, recently had its blanket purchase agreement extended, placing multiple orders totaling $18.5 million through 2024. |
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| | | 11111 Sunset Hills Rd, Reston, VA, 20190 |
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