Vector Space Systems is a smallsat launch provider comprised of newspace and enterprise software industry veterans from SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, to McDonnell Douglas and VMware. The company recently announced at the San Francisco Space Technology & Investment Forum
the launch of its Software Defined Satellites business unit, Galactic Sky
.
Galactic Sky is building a new business platform to provide startups, innovators, and entrepreneurs with unprecedented access to satellite-derived big data and constellation infrastructures. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the division will open the door for a new wave of companies to explore and experiment with satellites without the traditional costs and time to market associated with paying for a rocket launch and mastering the complexities of creating a satellite. Space startups can now innovate on what is most important to them: their unique software applications and the data that they acquire.
Image from BlogDroidSeattle
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Deep Space Industries (DSI) has announced its first commercial asteroid mining mission
.
The company and its partners in Luxembourg will send their spacecraft, Prospector-1, to explore a near-Earth asteroid for potential space resources. The 50kg spacecraft will use the Comet-1 water thruster system. Rick Tumlinson, co-founder of Deep Space Industries, stated "DSI has worked diligently to get to this point, and now we can say with confidence that we have the right technology, the right team and the right plan to execute this historic mission." The company will launch its experimental precursor spacecraft, Prospector-X, into low-Earth orbit in 2017, with hopes to have the full mission begin before the end of the decade.
Image From DSI
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Image From SpaceflightInsider
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Seeking to expand the satellite launching capabilities of the International Space Station (ISS),
Colorado-based Surrey Satellite Technology US LLC (SST-US) has signed a contract with NanoRacks LLC
for future flights of a 100-kilogram-class satellite platform specifically developed by SST-US for deployment from the ISS using the NanoRacks Kaber deployment system. Dr. John Paffett, CEO of SST-US, commented, "Utilization of the ISS for launch of small satellite platforms has increased in recent years with a number of cubesat platforms being deployed. Our agreement with NanoRacks and the development of our one-hundred-kilogram-class, ISS-optimized satellite platform will significantly expand the capability, enabling larger, higher performance missions and payloads to be deployed from the station."
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Lockheed Martin signed a contract with NASA
to send their SkyFire nanosatellite on the maiden launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) in September 2018. SkyFire is one of the 13 satellites that will ride in an unmanned Orion Spacecraft atop SLS. The satellite will get within 600 miles of the Lunar surface, sending photos and data such as temperature and material composition back to Earth. Lockheed Martin Principal Investigator James Russell stated, "If SkyFire is a success, it could spark more missions using nanosatellites equipped with infrared cameras, leading to future exploration and discoveries... scientists could analyze the makeup of asteroids or planets to better understand how the universe formed. Explorers also could scout for resources, such as ice water, to drill while traveling through space."
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NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)
has released a solicitation for "tipping point" technologies - ideas that are ready to enter the market and have a high likelihood of entering long-term commercial spaceflight applications, but need a small boost to do so. The solicitation focuses on two major areas: small launch vehicle development for affordable access to low-earth orbit, and small spacecraft capability demonstrations. The agency plans to select up to seven proposals, with investment totaling approximately $15M.
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Hera Systems recently announced a Space Act Agreement with NASA Ames Research Center
. The agency will aid in the development of Hera's 2nd-Generation High Optical Performance Satellite (2HOPSat). Hera plans to provide 31cm Ground Sample Distance (GSD) resolution imagery with this new platform, with a particular focus on the government and security markets. CEO Bobby Machinski says, "Our aim is to level the playing field. We know that certain applications in government and commerce benefit particularly from 31-centimeter resolution and better, and intend to open up access to such imagery and derived information to the greatest allowable extent."
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NASA awarded six companies to advance future space habitat technologies
under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) program. Approximately $65M will be shared among Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and NanoRacks. Many of the companies will be building prototypes to test their concepts and technologies. These investments are targeted to speed up development of deep space habitats in low Earth orbit and to seed future habitats for Mars and beyond.
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Kepler Communications announced this month
that they've raised $5M in seed funding, largely through the investment firm IA Ventures. The investment will further progress Kepler's goal of developing a network of cubesats that would offer real-time communication for terrestrial and in-space devices.
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DigitalGlobe, a leader in earth imagery and planetary information,
today announced it has received a follow-on contract to deploy its Geospatial Big Data platform (GBDX).
The GBDX's purpose is to map the man-made environment and provide easy access to the physical attributes of more than 15 million structures across the continent of Australia for a new product called Geoscape, by PSMA Australia. Geoscape will host valuable location and structural information on buildings across Australia, including features such as building footprints and heights, rooftop materials, solar panels, and swimming pools.
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The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos has signed an agreement with 3D Bioprinting Solutions
to create a magnetic bioprinter to be launched to the International Space Station. This will allow researchers to print sensitive organs such as thyroids and study the effects of long-term radiation. The printer is scheduled to launch in 2018.
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European Space Agency (ESA)
will be hosting first Citizen's Debate on Space for Europe
. Those selected during pre-registration will have an opportunity to suggest current and future priorities for the agency.
This unprecedented consultation will take place simultaneously in all 22 ESA Member States, with around 100 people from each country gathered at various locations.
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Urthecast has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP)
to US companies who are interested in long term strategic partnership. The RFP is targeted toward companies that have strong US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community experience to help deliver data from its OptiSAR and UrthDaily constellations.
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- Commercial Crew Access Arm Installed [Link]
- NASA Nearing Asteroid Sample Return Mission Launch [Link]
- Aerojet Supplying Power System for Dream Chaser [Link]
- China Launches Quantum Satellite [Link]
- SSC Selling Nanospace Shares to Gomspace [Link]
- Spaceflight Schedules SHERPA Launch [Link]
- SpacePharma Expands to US [Link]
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This month, Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society and Vera Mulyani of Mars City Design share their respective newspace initiatives with Dr. David Livingston on
The Space Show.
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OTHER COOL THINGS
High Dynamic Range View of SLS SRB [Video]
NASA Docking Port Installation Livestream [Link]
RL10 Engine Tested for Starliner [Link]
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UPCOMING LAUNCHES
Sept 8
GSLV - Insat 3DR
Atlas V - OSIRIS-REx
Sept 13
Long March 2F - Tiangong 2
Sept 15
Atlas V - WorldView 4
Vega - PeruSat 1, SkySat
Sept 19
F9 - Iridium Next 1-10
Sept 23
Soyuz - ISS 48S
Sept 26
PSLV - ScatSat 1
Sept TBD
Antares - OA-5
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NEWSPACE MENTIONS IN THIS ISSUE
APT
Aerojet Rocketdyne
Airbus
Airbus Safran Launchers
Arianespace
Bigelow Aerospace
Blue Origin
Boeing
Moon Express
Nanoracks
OmniEarth
OneWeb
Orbital Access
Orbital ATK
Planet Labs
Reaction Engines
Rocket Lab
Safran
Sierra Nevada Corp.
Space Systems Loral
SpaceIL
SpaceX
Surrey Satellite Tech.
Terminal Velocity Aerospace
UrtheCast
Vector Space
XCOR Aerospace
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