U.S. Space Force officials will sit down with industry executives in Los Angeles this week to discuss the fine points of the upcoming national security space launch procurement. Companies expect to hear details about the Space Force’s plan to attract new launch providers to compete for as many as 70 missions projected for the 2025-2034 timeframe. “It’s going to be exciting,” Col. Douglas Pentecost, deputy program executive officer for assured access to space, told reporters Feb. 24. The Space Force on Feb. 16 released two draft requests for proposals for the dual-track National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3. One is for lower-end launch missions, and the other for the most demanding heavy-lift launches. Following this week’s meetings with the industry, a second draft RFP will be issued in May, and a final one this summer. The Space Force then will spend about a year evaluating bids. We’re targeting summer of 2024 contract awards – Col. Douglas Pentecost. United Launch Alliance and SpaceX in 2020 won the NSSL Phase 2 five-year contracts to fly about 35 missions. For Phase 3 the Space Force projects anywhere from 60 to 70 missions. About 30 of those will be less demanding “Lane 1” launches that could be performed by emerging launch providers flying medium-size vehicles. The other 40 in “Lane 2” would be heavy-lift missions to high orbits carrying the most sensitive military and intelligence satellites. Lane 1 will run from 2025 to 2034, with a five-year base period plus a five-year option. Bids will be solicited annually throughout the contract period, so will be opportunities to “on ramp” new companies. These launches could be performed from nontraditional spaceports.
New Glenn's seven-meter fairing undergoes its first jettison test at NASA Glenn Armstrong Test Facility Space Environments Complex in Ohio, in February 2022. Credit: Blue Origin
Lane 2 requires certified national security launch vehicles that fly from the Eastern and Western ranges. The contract period will run from 2025 to 2029. As in NSSL Phase 2, two winners will be selected, with the top scorer getting 60% of the missions.
Based on market research and conversations with launch providers, Pentecost said, there could be at least four new competitors in Phase 3: Rocket Lab, ABL Space, Relativity Space and Blue Origin. These companies would compete in the more “risk tolerant” Lane 1, although Blue Origin could have a shot at Lane 2 if New Glenn completes three flights and gets certified. Incumbents ULA and SpaceX would be eligible to compete in either lane.
Commercial vs military demands
Launch companies in the coming years will be busy deploying commercial mega constellations but the Space Force is not worried about a predicted shortage of supply, Pentecost said.
Much of the available launch supply in the near term was gobbled up by Amazon’s space internet Projet Kuiper which is procuring 83 launches on ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and Arianespace’s Ariane 6.
Although NSSL launch providers are contractually obligated to prioritize national security missions, the Space Force tries to be flexible, Pentecost said.
“We have a really good partnership with our launch service providers,” he said. “They know we actually take priority. And we can bump a commercial payload. But we don’t want to do that because we know we’re leveraging their commercial business. And so we work together with industry and with NASA to make sure that nobody is getting impacted.”
“We have never really had a problem arranging our schedule and the commercial schedule,” he said. There are plans to increase launch capacity at Cape Canaveral on the East Coast and at Vandenberg Space Force Base on the West Coast, which will help speed up cadence.
Taking risks on new providers
Lane 1 will essentially be a wide and open competition. To be eligible, a company does not have to be fully certified as an NSSL provider but has to have a vehicle that’s already flown to orbit, said Col. Chad Melone, senior materiel leader for mission solutions for the Space Force’s space acquisition delta.
“That is to make sure that we’re not awarding contracts to paper rockets,” he said.
Companies that are transitioning from small to medium launchers, for example, are talking about launching tens of metric tons, and presumably could compete to deploy a plane of small satellites to low Earth orbit for the Space Development Agency.
When bids come in for Lane 1, the NSSL program will work with SDA or other customers launching small satellites to low Earth orbit and assess the risk of flying on a newly developed vehicle.
“SDA is probably a great example because they have a proliferated constellation” and the agency plans to launch dozens of satellites every year, said Melone.
Commercial proliferated constellations is what drives the launch demand now, Melone said. “We’ve talked very extensively with the companies and the investors and what we heard is that several companies are chasing after commercial demand for deploying entire planes of those proliferated constellations.”
The government does not know when these companies will be ready and has yet to learn the specifics of their launch systems so the Lane 1 contract allows for “tiered mission assurance,” said Melone, and their risk profile will be based on the maturity of their technology and other factors.
“Lane 1 really stems from a warfighter need as the architecture is transitioning from single high-value assets to more proliferated constellations,” he said. “We think that Lane 1 provides resiliency through diversity of systems.”
China sent the Zhongxing-26 communications satellite into orbit Feb. 23, marking the resumption orbital launches following a pause for Chinese New Year. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 6:49 a.m. Eastern (1149 UTC) from Xichang, southwest China, successfully sending Zhongxing-26 (ChinaSat-26) into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed launch success within the hour. Zhongxing-26 is based on the DFH-4E satellite bus and uses chemical and electric propulsion. It is China’s first satellite providing more than 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) and was developed by CASC’s China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). CAST states the satellite is equipped with 94 Ka-band user beams. This is 3.5 times more than the 26-beam, 20 Gbps, Dongfanghong-3B-based Zhongxing-16 launched in 2017. That satellite has been supplying connectivity to aviation passengers such as Sichuan Airlines’ Airbus A320 flights using Viasat in-flight connectivity equipment. Operator China Satcom describes the satellite as an important piece of national space infrastructure and helping to meet national requirements for connectivity. Zhongxing-26 will mainly provide broadband access for fixed terminals and aviation in shipbourne users in China and surrounding areas from 125 degrees East in the geostationary belt. The overall cost was 2.3 billion yuan ($333 million) according to a feasibility study.
Liftoff of the Long March 3B carrying the Zhongxing-26 (ChinaSat-26) satellite on Feb. 23, 2023. Credit: CAST
The launch was China’s first since Jan. 15, following which activities paused for Chinese New Year. It is the fifth Long March launch this calendar year, with CASC planning more than 60 launches in 2023. Various Chinese commercial companies plan to add 20 or more launches to the overall figure.
The mission is the first launch of the 56-meter-high Long March 3B in 2023. The three-stage rocket has four boosters and uses a hypergolic mix of hydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide with a liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen third stage. The launcher is the workhorse for Chinese launches to GTO. Launching from inland at Xichang, the rocket has been the cause of numerous debris incidents downrange.
The Long March 7A, touted as a greener, new-generation launcher using kerosene-liquid oxygen and launching from the coast at Wenchang, is yet to ramp up its launch rate to replace the aging Long March 3B. It most recently launched a pair of classified satellites Jan. 9.
Scientists at the European Space Agency’s ESTEC and visiting Chinese counterparts conducted a series of spacecraft-rocket integration tests for a joint mission. The Solar wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission is a joint mission of ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Teams conducted docking, satellite separation and impact tests with a prototype of the SMILE satellite developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the CAS (IAMCAS) and the payload adapter for the mission’s Vega-C rocket at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), CAS stated Feb. 13. It is the first time a Chinese team has conducted such tests at ESA facilities. Last year Airbus sent a structural thermal model of the payload module to Shanghai for integration with the IAMCAS platform and qualification of the satellite. SMILE is a Sino-European joint mission expected to be launched in April 2025, according to CAS’s National Space Science Center (NSSC). SMILE was last year slated for launch in November 2024, following a number of delays to the project. The three-year mission will study the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetosphere and knock-on effects in the ionosphere, as well as phenomena such as coronal mass ejections. It will operate in a highly inclined, highly elliptical orbit around Earth which will take it a third of the way to the Moon at apogee. The mission was selected in 2015 from 13 joint Sino-European proposals. SMILE originally targeted launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou in 2021, but has faced a number of delays.
Satellite-payload adapter tests at ESTEC for the SMILE mission in February 2023. Credit: CAS
“SMILE was very early on in 2016 intended for launch in 2021. Following initial studies and programmatic arrangements for the mission, the launch date was revised to be towards end-2023 to mid-2024 on the basis of which it was adopted by the ESA Science Programme Committee (SPC) in 2019,” David Agnolon, SMILE project manager, told SpaceNews via email.
“Following a number of technical difficulties and programmatic evolutions, among which a significant impact due to Covid, the development faced a one-year delay. The mission is on-track for launch in 2025, which will be confirmed at the Critical Design Review foreseen to take place mid-2023.”
CAS provides the propulsion and service modules, satellite bus and takes charge of mission operations for the mission, while also providing Chinese-developed instruments. ESA will provide the payload module, launcher, AIT facilities. SMILE will carrying the SXI (Soft X-ray Imager) featuring Lobster-Eye optics and the SWCX (Solar Wind Charge eXchange) X-ray imager. The spacecraft have a wet mass of around 2,200 kg.
The collaborative project builds on earlier cooperation on the Double Star mission in the early 2000s and ESA participation in CAS’s first round of missions under the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science in the mid 2010s.
Exchanges between China and ESA with a view to sending European astronauts to China’s Tiangong space station later this decade have, however, stalled, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said last month.
SMILE may not be the only project to be realized from the joint ESA-CAS workshops which led to the selection of SMILE.
Chinese teams have gone on to conduct studies on some of the proposals including the Discovering the Sky at the Longest Wavelength (DSL) mission. DSL proposes to send an array of 10 small satellites into lunar orbit, using the moon as a shield from Earth interference to study faint signals from the early universe. It is now one of 13 candidates for acceptance under CAS’s “New Horizons” program.
Japan’s space agency JAXA aborted the long-awaited first launch of H3 rocket Feb. 16, when the rocket’s side boosters failed to ignite after main engine start. It was the latest in a series of setbacks for Japan’s years-long efforts to develop a more capable and cost-effective alternative to the nation’s current workhorse, H-2A. Live footage showed the 63-meter expendable rocket, decorated with Japan’s national flag on the core stage with two strap-on side boosters attached, standing idle at the seafront launch pad of Tanegashima Space Center when the countdown was over. “The main engine was ignited, but side boosters were not,” said the range control center, shortly after the rocket’s pre-announced launch window of 8:37-8:44 p.m. Eastern. “It is expected that it would probably take longer to examine the situation. The status of launch vehicle Test Flight No.1 will be announced to all launch operators as soon as it will be confirmed.” JAXA also left a short notice on its website: “Further information will be updated on the JAXA website.” The agency didn’t elaborate on what happened. It’s also not known yet how the agency will examine the issue — after rolling back the rocket to the hangar or at the launch pad. The planned launch was initially targeted for Feb. 14, but bad weather caused a two-day delay. Aboard the rocket was Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), a 3-ton optical imaging satellite, built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, which will follow in the footsteps of the original Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS). ALOS was launched in 2006 onboard an H2A and declared dead in orbit in April 2011. ALOS-2 is still operating after being launched in May 2014.
Japan’s journey to develop H3 was long and winding. JAXA began developing H3 in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in 2014. It is meant to replace H-2A that has been operational since August 2001 with a new one with “high flexibility, high reliability, and high cost-performance.”
The rocket’s inaugural launch was originally scheduled for March 2021, but was pushed back by around two years due to issues with the newly developed LE-9 first-stage engine.
The problems were first uncovered during qualifications testing in May 2020, which included cracked turbine blades in the LE-9’s turbopump assembly and a hole seared into its combustion chamber wall. To fix these, JAXA and MHI had to redesign the engine’s fuel turbopump and apply those same changes to the engine’s oxygen turbopump.
H3’s four variants
There are four variants of the H3 rocket, each in a unique configuration of LE-9 engines and side-mounted solid rocket boosters. The rocket can fly with zero, two, or four strap-on boosters and either two or three LE-9 first-stage engines in order to carry a wider range of payloads to a wider range of orbits. Depending on the version of the rocket, it can place a payload of at least 4 tons into a sun synchronous orbit (SSO), with a maximum capacity of 6.5 tons into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). It’s a significant improvement from H-2A’s capacity of 3.8 tons to SSO and 4 tons to GTO. Future upgrades could make it possible for the rocket to deliver cargo to the moon, including the planned lunar Gateway that NASA is pursuing in cooperation with JAXA, the European Space Agency and others.
Japan’s new H3 rocket is designed to fly with zero, two, or four strap-on boosters and either two or three LE-9 first-stage engines in order to carry a wider range of payloads to a wider range of orbits. Credit: JAXA
The H3 rocket’s LE-9 is not only a more powerful engine than H-2A’s LE-7. It also employs a novel design, called an expander bleed cycle, that Mitsubishi was the first to introduce with its LE-5A upper stage engine. In addition, the H3 stands to be the first rocket to use an expander bleed cycle engine for its first stage, a design choice meant to yield higher engine thrust at the expense of efficiency.
On the price front, the launch cost of the H3 is reportedly around $50 million, half that of the H-2A.
Meanwhile, Japan has launched one orbital mission so far this year: a H-2A successfully delivered Japan’s IGS Radar 7 surveillance satellite to orbit on Jan. 25.
Commercial launch firm Space Pioneer announced new funding this week and will soon take a shot at becoming China’s first such company to reach orbit with a liquid propellant rocket. Space Pioneer, full name Beijing Tianbing Technology Co., Ltd., announced Feb. 15 that it recently secured “B+ and “Pre-C” strategic funding rounds. The company says it has now raised nearly 3 billion yuan ($438 million) in funding since its founding in 2018. The company is also preparing for the upcoming launch of the Tianlong-2 kerosene-liquid oxygen medium-lift launcher from Jiuquan. A recent Chinese news report stated the launch would take place from Jiuquan spaceport, northwest China, in the first quarter of this year. Space Pioneer conducted a wet dress rehearsal with the rocket at a site near Tianjin last month before transporting it to Jiuquan. The Tianlong-2 is capable of carrying 2,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit (LEO) or 1,500 kg to a 500-kilometer-altitude sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). It features a 3.35-meter-diameter core, as with many Long March series rockets. If successful, the launch would make Space Pioneer China’s first privately-funded company to reach orbit with a liquid propellant rocket, following a failed launch attempt of Landspace’s methane-liquid oxygen Zhuque-2 in December. The company reaching the pad also reflects the progress and growth of a Chinese commercial space sector over the past decade, with a range of companies planning more than 20 launches in 2023.
Space Pioneer's Tianlong-2 rocket. Credit: Space Pioneer
A post on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo suggests the engines powering the Tianlong-2 are YF-102 open cycle kerolox engines developed by China’s state-owned main space contractor CASC. The engines are manufactured utilizing 3D printing techniques. Tianlong-2 uses three engines in a triangular configuration.
Space Pioneer is already looking ahead to its next launch vehicle however. Funds raised in the two recent rounds are to be used for the development of the larger Tianlong-3 launcher and its rocket engines, construction of requisite launch facilities, and attracting talent.
Tianlong-3 will be a two-stage kerolox rocket with a reusable first stage. A Space Pioneer press release says the rocket will be capable of lifting 15 tons of payload to LEO and is targeting launching batches of up to 60 satellites per launch for China’s Guowang LEO communications megaconstellation. The company is targeting a first launch in early 2024, ramping up to a planned cadence of more than 12 launches per year from 2025.
The firm also plans a TL-3H version, which uses three cores in a similar fashion to the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. It would be capable of carrying 68 tons to LEO. The TL-3M features a reusable spaceplane.
Space Pioneer and another recently emerging company, Orienspace, are moving directly towards medium-lift and heavier classes of launchers, whereas numerous earlier-established Chinese commercial firms looked to first develop lighter solid and liquid propellant rockets.
These trends appear to reflect early entrants initially looking to launch small satellites for private customers, being the apparent market, whereas China has more recently indicated that private firms can participate in launching both the national “satellite internet” project and sending cargo to the Tiangong space station.
Space Pioneer initially started out developing engines burning green propellant before changing direction. The firm also apparently scrapped development of the Tianlong-1 rocket.
Polish leading R&D aerospace entity: Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation (Łukasiewicz – ILOT) concludes 2022 with major advances in its strategic area of green space propulsion and sets off with announcing ambitious plans for 2023 and further technology developments. With 25 projects from the European Space Agency (ESA) since Poland’s accession to ESA 10 years ago, Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation became a R&D hot spot in space propulsion in Central-Eastern Europe. Completed and ongoing projects with key spacecraft integrators (i.e. Airbus Defence & Space, OHB and Thales Alenia Space), as well as established players in space transportation systems (i.e. ArianeGroup, Avio, Nammo) and major new space companies – the institute have the ultimate goal of bringing new components, technologies and subsystems to the international market. The major added value provided to the space sector is the introduction of new hydrogen peroxide technology. Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation secured its patents, regarding obtaining new grades of High Test Peroxide (HTP), in 20 countries worldwide. While obtainable concentrations can exceed 99.99%, most ESA and national contracts concern the 98% concentration. Researchers at Lukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation claim that meeting the MIL-PRF-16005 standard is not enough and to ensure real long-term storability and high performance, the purity of HTP shall be beyond the one described in the propellant’s current standard and such an approach is indeed used at Łukasiewicz – ILOT.
ILR-33 AMBER 2K – updated version of the first in the world space vehicle to use 98% HTP grades
The institute’s suborbital in-flight experimentation platform – the ILR-33 AMBER rocket has been the workhorse for propulsion and space transportation technologies development, including HTP. While in 2017, thanks to its green hybrid main stage, it became the first in the world vehicle to use 98% HTP grades as oxidizer (unlike heritage satellite and space transportation systems worldwide). After its three successful low-altitude flights its new version, AMBER 2K, was launched in late 2022 and its payload was successfully recovered from the Baltic Sea.
The 2K version of AMBER shall ultimately allow for launching few-kilogram payloads to the Von Karman Line. The unique configuration of the rocket (parallel staging despite its small size) and use of a hybrid rocket motor ensures versatility and capability of carrying out a plethora of missions. The first external customer and payload provider is the Polish new space company Thorium Space.
Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation is also active in a wider range of in-flight demonstrations. Another “first” in the world was achieved by launching a small rocket using a rotating detonation engine utilizing liquid propellants in late 2021. Moreover, the institute is responsible for the green propulsion system of the FROG-H vertical take-off vertical landing (VTVL) demonstrator under development with i.e. CNES within the European Space Agency’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme. The small hopper will use a monopropellant systems utilizing HTP.
Green engines
Work on bipropellant systems with 98% HTP as oxidizer and involves work on thrust levels up to circa 5-8 kN, with focus on European reignitable upper-stages and exploration with deep-throttleability as one of the major requirements. Valves for throttleable systems are of major interest due to both European and other international lunar missions and Poland becoming a signatory of the Artemis Accords in 2022.
Developed engine reignitability is achieved, apart from using catalyst beds, by utilization of proprietary fuels hypergolic with 98% HTP. In 2022 the national HIPERGOL project was successfully commenced and the first in the world 5 kN green hypergolic regeneratively-cooled engine using 98% HTP as oxidizer was demonstrated.
Testing of a 5 kN green hypergolic regeneratively-cooled rocket engine using 98% HTP as oxidizer. Credit: Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation
Additive technology implementing the 2021 ECSS-Q-ST-70-80C standard is widely utilized thanks to the institute’s laboratory capabilities.
“Recent investments allow for additive manufacturing of regeneratively cooled thrust chambers with use of copper alloy. Extensive in-house non-destructive testing capabilities along high-temperature material testing allow to build-up a wide research service package apart from space propulsion system hot-firings,” explains Ph.D. Eng. Adam Okniński, director of Space Technologies Center at Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation and member of the Space Propulsion Committee of the International Astronautical Federation.
Small satellite green propulsion
Moreover, build-up of know-how regarding HTP grades, storability and material compatibility allowed for the transition from work on propulsion components to full system development. While in 2023 Poland will celebrate the 50th anniversary of launching orbital space flight hardware (developed at the institute), the first green spacecraft propulsion system, fully developed in-house, is to be launched onboard the PIAST satellite constellation in the next years. The system using 98% HTP is to have aluminium alloy tanks to ensure demisability. Development of full propulsion systems, for satellites ranging from nanosatellites to those of up to 200 kg of mass, is accompanied by work on a green liquid apogee engine for large platforms.
Sea level testing of the GRACE Liquid Apogee Engine using green storable propellants – work conducted for the European Space Agency. Credit: Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation
Space debris mitigation
Work on sustainable technologies is not only limited to green propellants and demisable tanks. Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation has been involved in four consecutive contracts from the European Space Agency regarding use of solid rocket motors in autonomous robust deorbiting systems. In 2019 the institute pre-qualified for ESA the world’s possibly first solid propellant meeting ESA Clean Space requirements (i.e. no metal powder content, long-duration storability and proneness to space radiation) as well as system-level performance requirements of large satellite integrators (i.e. high performance while unprecedented low burn rate). In 2023 work is accelerating with ESA projects on the solid rocket motor and its thrust vector control system. An additional recent study was ordered for the Polish Space Agency, proving also the interest regarding potential national missions.
Rocket and satellite propulsion laboratory and testing capabilities
Parallel work in over a dozen ESA projects in 2023 requires focus on facility expansion, which has been ongoing. Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation received inter alia EU funding from the 2014-2020 Regional Operational Programme of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship for the creation of a modern Rocket and Satellite Propulsion Laboratory Center. The investment, exceeding a total of EUR 12 million, will allow testing green spacecraft thrusters and engines in vacuum with focus on HTP and green fuels as propellants.
The investment shall also include a major expansion of chemical propellant laboratories. Director General of Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation, Ph.D. Eng. Paweł Stężycki, chair of EREA (European Research Establishments in Aeronautics), describes the new green rocket and spacecraft propulsion facility: “By the end of 2023 we shall expand our offer regarding providing research services to the international space sector with the ultimate goal of increasing the share of commercial contracts”.
Today most of the revenues of the institute in the domain of aviation come from commercial international cooperation and the ongoing growth in the space domain is expected to also increase its share of industrial contracts. The 4 rocket propulsion hot-firing stands focused on green propulsion at the institute’s premises shall be therefore available by the end of this year. Taking into account other 2 existing external hot-firing facilities used at its domestic partners and another external facility under in-house design, the institute shall have a total of 7 hot-firing facilities available – this it on the European map of major test centers in spacecraft and rocket propulsion. 5 wind tunnels, environmental testing with the region’s largest thermal vacuum chamber and numerous material testing laboratories combined with implementation of ECSS standards, makes the Warsaw based institute attractive for a wider scope of spacetech developments, not limited to propulsion and space transportation.
Human resources for space
The implemented infrastructure and R&D projects allow for human resource development and enhancement of cooperation with technical universities and non-governmental organizations. The modern laboratory base is available for students doing scientific internships. Łukasiewicz – ILOT already supports several of the 10 student associations in Poland working on small experimental rockets and propulsion systems, seeking top talent and building up the Polish ecosystem and potential in space propulsion and space transportation systems. Constantly expanding its engineering team, Łukasiewicz – ILOT has as of the beginning of 2023 over 100 engineers dedicated to this technical domain and over 1500 in total, what allows in-house development of purpose-optimized facilities including not only modern laboratories, but also mobile infrastructure such as: rocket launch pads, propellant loading facilities, mission control etc. Source: Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation.
Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation is one of the most modern research institutions in Europe, with traditions dating back to 1926. Its main focus is delivery of new technologies. Research and development activities are focused on practical issues and anticipating key trends in aerospace propulsion systems, structures and related new technologies – mainly for space and unmanned vehicles.
As for space technologies, Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation main goal is to conduct R&D activities on space propulsion systems (including novel solid, liquid and hybrid rocket motors and engines), green propellants (including development, handling and testing environmentally friendly propellants) and space transportation systems. Work is continuing on the use of concentrated and purified hydrogen-peroxide for rocket propulsion and recent efforts allowed major advances in the fields of: robotics, defense systems, energetics, remote sensing, etc.
By requiring suppliers of laser terminals to comply with a common set of standards, the U.S. Space Development Agency has helped propel the industry forward, executives said Feb. 8 at the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, California. The Space Development Agency (SDA), an arm of the U.S. Space Force, is building a mesh network of satellites in low Earth orbit to serve as a data transport layer for the U.S. military. Each satellite will have anywhere from three to five laser links so they can talk to other satellites, airplanes, ships and ground stations. The agency in 2021 issued a set of technical specifications that optical terminal manufacturers have to comply with in order to compete for SDA contracts. SDA is buying satellites from multiple manufacturers and all their satellites have to be interoperable. SDA’s move to set standards and force suppliers to coalesce around them has been game changing for the industry, said Sven Rettig, chief commercial officer of Tesat Spacecom, a Germany-based manufacturer of optical terminals that is expanding its U.S. operations to support SDA satellite suppliers. Laser terminals use optical technologies to route data traffic. They provide much higher transmission data rates than traditional radio-frequency links and are harder to intercept. A network of laser-link satellites also reduces the dependence on ground stations and extends coverage to remote areas where ground stations are not available.
Tesat-Spacecom artist rendering of optical communications in space. Credit: Tesat-Spacecom
Before SDA entered the picture, the optical communications industry was waiting for commercial constellations to set standards but “that never happened,” said Rettig. “To be very honest, we wouldn’t be where we are if SDA hadn’t had this initiative.”
As soon as the agency started planning its constellation and buying satellites in 2020, it identified laser intersatellite links as one of the most critical technologies to enable the desired proliferated LEO network.
More competitors emerging
Besides Tesat, other manufacturers jumped into the SDA market for optical intersatellite links, including Mynaric, Skyloom, CACI and others. For SDA’s constellations, laser terminals must be able to communicate at speeds of 2.5 gigabits per second, although vendors say their newest terminals can achieve 10 gigabits per second, and some up to 100.
Tina Ghataore, chief commercial officer of Mynaric, agreed that SDA has played a central role shaping the market. The company, headquartered in Germany, has established U.S. operations and signed a strategic supplier agreement with Northorp Grumman.
“SDA went out there and said optical intersatellite links are an essential technology to support our warfighter needs,” she said. “And they went a step further, developing a standard by which all of us have to communicate, so this way you can really get to a scalable product and the government isn’t tied to just one entity.”
Campbell Marshall, chief operating officer of California-based Skyloom, said the commercial industry needs to follow suit with regard to standards. “There’s going to have to be some thought leadership and coming to terms amongst the commercial producers and operators in terms of what our standards are gonna look like.”
The market today is still trying to decide if it’s going to be “VHS or Beta,” he said .
For the SDA terminals, Skyloom partnered with Honeywell.
“If you want to avoid vendor lock, which I think most customers do, there’s going to have to be standards for interoperability,” Marshall said. “SDA is demanding it.”
Dave Pechner, vice president of SA Photonics, a Florida-based company owned by CACI International, said optical communications is not just important for communications but to deliver positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) data.
SDA’s transport satellites will use optical links to be able to calculate position and time across the constellation and pass that down to ground users, Pechner said. “From a government point of view that seems almost as important as the communications link.”
Separately from the SDA program, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with the private sector on an effort to develop a standard, low-cost laser terminal to connect government and commercial constellations in low Earth orbit. The project is called Space-BACN, short for space-based adaptive communications node.
Virgin Orbit’s chief executive said Feb. 7 that a problem with a relatively inexpensive part may be linked to the failure of the company’s latest launch last month. Speaking on a panel at the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, California, Dan Hart said it was still premature to formally declare the root cause of the failed Jan. 9 flight of the company’s LauncherOne rocket on the “Start Me Up” mission from Spaceport Cornwall in England. However, he said while that investigation continues, evidence was pointing to a component in the rocket’s second stage engine. “Everything points to, right now, a filter that was clearly there when we assembled the rocket but was not there as the second stage engine started, meaning it was dislodged and caused mischief downstream,” he said. He didn’t go into details about that component, other than to say that it was not an expensive item. “This is like a $100 part that took us out.” Hart said the company would no longer use that filter and was “looking broadly” at other potential fixes. He did not disclose a timeframe for completing the investigation, which is being overseen jointly by the U.K.’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Virgin Orbit, though, is preparing its next LauncherOne rocket for a flight that will take place from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, which hosted all the previous LauncherOne missions before last month’s U.K. launch. “We’re in integration for our next flight and looking forward to flying from Mojave over the coming weeks.”
Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne at Spaceport Cornwall being prepared for the "Start Me Up" mission. Company CEO Dan Hart said Feb. 7 that a problem with a minor component may have caused the launch to fail. Credit: Spaceport Cornwall
Hart did not discuss the financial status of the company amid concerns about available cash. The company has raised $55 million in debt since November from Virgin Investments Limited, the investment arm of Virgin Group, but its recent cash burn rate suggests it could run out of funds as soon as the second quarter.
Publicly, he was upbeat about the company’s future plans. “For us, it’s about ramping this year. We see a market that continues to develop,” he said. “We will see demand grow and we need to grow with it.”
Vega C investigation update
Virgin Orbit was not the only company on the panel that has suffered a recent launch failure. Avio is the prime contractor for the Vega C rocket, which failed to reach orbit on a Dec. 20 launch, destroying two Pléiades Neo imaging satellites for Airbus Defence and Space.
Giulio Ranzo, chief executive of Avio, said he could not comment on the investigation, led by Arianespace and the European Space Agency, since it is still in progress. “It will be released very soon, though.”
He confirmed, though, that the failure was linked to the rocket’s second stage, which is different from the second stage on the original Vega rocket. That could allow the Vega to return to flight first while modifications are made to the Vega C.
“The former version of the rocket is unaffected by this accident,” he said. “In 2023, we need to come back to flight with Vega C. We do have the luxury of using the previous version of the rocket as well to fulfill the market demand.”
Ovzon said Feb. 3 the launch of its first satellite has been pushed out by at least another five months after manufacturing delays forced it to swap out Arianespace for SpaceX. The Swedish broadband provider had hoped to piggyback Ovzon 3 on one of Arianespace’s last few Ariane 5 rockets between December and February, after missing out on a slot earlier in 2022 because of Maxar Technologies’ supply chain issues. At around 1,500 kilograms, Ovzon 3 is smaller than traditional GEO communications satellites and could have joined an Ariane 5 with one or even two existing passengers. However, Maxar has run into additional delays to finalize the satellite, Ovzon said in a news release, and Arianespace was unable to accommodate the schedule change. Shifting to a SpaceX Falcon 9 means Ovzon 3 is now looking at a launch between July and September this year from Cape Canaveral, Florida. While Ovzon does not expect the delay to impact its current business commitments, the company said it is set to increase the overall cost of the project by about $25 million. “While we are clearly disappointed in the continued delays in production of the satellite, we remain perfectly confident with the market demand of Ovzon 3,” Ovzon CEO Per Norén said in a statement, pointing to “increasing demand from current and new customers” for the geostationary satellite. Ovzon said it has enlarged an existing $60 million loan facility by $5 million to help cover increasing costs. Several major shareholders are also interested in taking part in a 200 million Swedish krona ($19 million) share sale, according to the company.
Ovzon 3 is being built by Maxar using a Legion-class bus. At 1,500 kilograms, Ovzon’s first custom-built satellite is small compared to traditional geostationary communications satellites. Credit: Maxar/Ovzon/Proventus AB Credit: Maxar/Ovzon/Proventus AB
Maxar’s delays in delivering the Jupiter 3 broadband satellite to EchoStar recently led to a multi-million dollar compensation package for the U.S. operator.
Ovzon currently provides broadband services by leasing capacity from other satellite operators.
Alongside the delay announcement, the company published preliminary financial results for the three months to the end of December.
The results show net sales for the fourth quarter of 2022 increased to 101 million Swedish krona, compared with 73 million Swedish krona for the corresponding period in 2021.
The company also recorded an operating loss of nine million Swedish krona for the quarter, an improvement on the 29 million Swedish krona loss posted for the period last year.
“We renewed contracts with our core customers, won contracts with new customers and expanded into new geographical markets,” Norén said.
Sidus Space said Feb. 2 it has raised $5.2 million from the stock market to support LizzieSat, a multipurpose constellation it expects to start deploying in low Earth orbit this year. The company sold shares on NASDAQ for $0.30 each, a steep discount to their $5 initial offering price in December 2021 after declining for much of the year. Proceeds will help expand manufacturing capabilities, sales and marketing efforts, and cover operational costs as production ramps up toward as many as 100 small satellites over the next two years. Sidus has now raised about $24 million from the stock market after being borne out of Craig Technologies, a Florida-based government contractor founded in 1999. Less than a year after getting $15 million from its initial public offering, the company entered into a stock purchase agreement Aug. 10 enabling it to raise up to $30 million of additional equity as needed. About $3.5 million was raised under that agreement in the three months to the end of September, Sidus said during its latest financial results announcement Nov. 14. The company recorded $1.32 million in revenue for the three months to Sept. 30, up from $500,000 for the corresponding period in 2021, and had $4.4 million in cash at the end of September. It said total operating expenses reached $3.7 million for the third quarter of 2022, compared with just over $9,000 for the same period the previous year.
An artist's depiction of a LizzieSat satellite. Credit: Sidus Space Credit: Sidus Space
Ramping up
Sidus said Nov. 14 it is in talks with “numerous potential customers, including domestic and international government agencies,” to host payloads and provide data from its proposed constellation.
These include NASA and Mission Helios, a blockchain company. Sidus expects to deploy its first 100-kilogram LizzieSat satellites this year from the International Space Station and via SpaceX rideshare missions.
The company, which declined to provide a narrower launch window, has a five-launch agreement with SpaceX.
Superyacht surveillance
Sidus has plans to use LizzieSat for a space-based maritime surveillance and tracking system developed in partnership with Capital C, a superyacht designer.
According to Sidus, imagery and radio frequency sensors on LizzieSats could help monitor hazards, including piracy, changes in ocean currents, debris, and oil spills.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies, Sidus will assist in developing, delivering, and maintaining these monitoring capabilities for Capital C’s future fleet of superyachts. Capital C said the maritime surveillance network is part of Project Terra, a fleet of “Sustainable Passenger Expedition Yachts” announced Sept. 29 for small island developing states and in emerging markets.
The project involves yachts in various configurations from 150 meters up to 250 meters in size. By using Sidus’ space-based monitoring solutions, Capital C said these vessels could use fuel more efficiently to reduce emissions.
Capital C did not give a timeframe for Project Terra and said more details will be “announced in due course.” Sidus said LizzieSat aims to take advantage of a shift away from static and low-frequency satellite imaging and geospatial solutions “toward on-demand access of real-time geospatial intelligence.”
European startup The Exploration Company said Feb. 1 it has raised 40.5 million euros ($44 million) to develop reusable orbital vehicles for flying goods and people to space. The Series A funding will help finance a series of tests and demonstrations the startup hopes to kick off late this year on the inaugural launch of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket. Helene Huby, The Exploration Company’s co-founder and CEO, said Ariane 6 is slated to launch a small reentry demonstrator for the startup called Bikini that is around 40 kilograms and 60 centimeters in diameter. The Exploration Company hopes to gather data from this mission to test thermal protections, an onboard computer developed in-house, and validate the shape of larger capsules. The startup has booked a SpaceX Falcon 9 mission next year that Huby said will carry a larger 1.6 kilogram, 2.5-meter demonstration capsule. This capsule would have propulsion and a parachute for a more controlled reentry after taking payloads for clients, including European space agencies, on a brief trip in low Earth orbit. In 2026, Huby said the startup plans to launch a full-sized version of its Nyx orbital vehicle, measuring four meters in diameter with a mass of 8,000 kilograms. The capsule would be designed to spend several months in orbit, she told SpaceNews, to demonstrate the capability to perform precise operations ahead of a plan to dock with the International Space Station in 2027. A full-sized Nyx would be able to send 4,000 kilograms to orbit for up to six months, and bring 2,600 kilograms back down for 20,000 euros per kilogram. The startup also has later plans for missions to the moon, and one day to use its vehicles for crewed missions.
An illustration of The Exploration Company's Nyx capsule for flying cargo into space, resupplying space stations, and ultimately transporting humans. Credit: The Exploration Company
Before co-founding The Exploration Company in July 2021, Huby was vice president at Airbus Defence and Space for the European Service Module serving as the main propulsion system for Orion, the spacecraft NASA is designing to send humans to the moon.
She sees strong near-term demand for a European capability for space station transportation, in addition to facilitating microgravity missions such as those Europe’s Thales Alenia Space is also targeting with its proposed REV1 vehicle.
The ISS and China’s Tiangong are currently the only space stations in orbit.
Huby expects there will be three additional private space stations within the next five years, and by the end of this decade about five to seven space stations orbiting the Earth.
Getting The Exploration Company’s first flight completed in 2023 is an important stepping stone for the startup; however, the Ariane 6 has already faced multiple delays.
Huby said Bikini received an award last year from the European Space Agency “to fly almost free on Ariane 6,” but the company is looking for alternative options to ensure a flight this year.
“We have several on the table,” she added, and will select one of them by the end of March.
Swedish early-stage investor EQT Ventures and Red River West of France led The Exploration Company’s funding round, which Huby said brings the total amount raised to around $55 million for the 18-month-old company.
Other investors that joined its latest funding round include Promus Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Vsquared, Omnes Capital, July Fund, Partech, Possible Ventures, Habert Dassault Finance, Schlumberger, and Sista Fund.
%20satellite.jpg)
