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WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency announced Jan. 16 it selected L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and Sierra Space to build and operate 54 satellites equipped with infrared sensors capable of tracking hypersonic missiles in all phases of flight.

The satellites will be part of SDA’s Tranche 2 Tracking Layer, a network of satellites in low orbit 1,000 kilometers above Earth.

The three agreements are worth about $2.5 billion. Each company will produce and operate 18 satellites — the contract awarded to L3Harris is worth $919 million, Lockheed Martin’s is $890 million and Sierra Space’s is $740 million. The contracts include incentives for on-time delivery.

Solar energy is traditionally known for using massive solar panels that collect sunlight and convert it into clean energy, but what if this same energy was instead beamed from satellites in orbit around the Earth, known as space solar power? This is the goal of Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), which is a 110-pound (50-kilogram) project run by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). SSPD-1 was launched onboard the SpaceX Transporter-6 mission on January 3, 2023, and recently concluded its mission after conducting a series of experiments, including the ability to wirelessly beam solar power from space to Earth, which it accomplished in early 2023.

“Solar power beamed from space at commercial rates, lighting the globe, is still a future prospect. But this critical mission demonstrated that it should be an achievable future,” said Dr. Thomas F. Rosenbaum, who is the President of Caltech and the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics.

SSPD-1 successfully demonstrated three experiments during its one-year mission: DOLCE (Deployable on-Orbit ultraLight Composite Experiment), ALBA, and MAPLE (Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment). DOLCE demonstrated the architecture necessary for developing space solar power, ALBA demonstrated how to harness solar energy in space, and MAPLE demonstrated how this energy could be wirelessly beamed to Earth.

The company behind the Dream Chaser spaceplane and the Orbital Reef space station has been selected by the space development agency to build 18 satellites for the tranche 2 tracking layer.

Through exquisite, millimeter-scale, formation flying, the dual satellites making up ESA’s Proba-3 will accomplish what was previously a space mission impossible: Cast a precisely held shadow from one platform to the other, in the process blocking out the fiery sun to observe its ghostly surrounding atmosphere on a prolonged basis.

Ahead of the Proba-3 pair launching together later this year, the scientists who will make use of Proba-3 observations were able to see the satellites with their own eyes. Members of this team will test hardware developed for the mission during an actual terrestrial solar eclipse over northern America next April.

The two satellites are currently undergoing final integration in the premises of Redwire near Antwerp in Belgium. They were paid a visit by the Proba-3 Science Working Team, a 45-strong group of solar physicists coming from all across Europe and the wider world.

Thousands of satellites have been launched into Earth orbit over the past decade or so, with tens of thousands more planned in coming years. Many of these will be in “mega-constellations” such as Starlink, which aim to cover the entire globe.

These bright, shiny satellites are putting at risk our connection to the cosmos, which has been important to humans for countless millennia and has already been greatly diminished by the growth of cities and artificial lighting. They are also posing a problem for astronomers – and hence for our understanding of the universe.

Continue reading “Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are ‘leaking’ signals” »

Recent regional space developments also include South Korea’s spy satellite launching aboard SpaceX amid North Korea’s surveillance satellites deployment.

Explore the latest in space tech – Japan’s spy satellite, South Korea’s success with SpaceX, and North Korea’s bold plans.

The first text exchange was achieved just six days after the satellite launch.

The Starlink team successfully sent and received their first text messages using T-Mobile network spectrum through their new Direct to Cell satellites launched six days prior.

WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency confirmed on Jan. 8 that it awarded Rocket Lab a $515 million contract to build and operate 18 spacecraft that will be part of a low Earth orbit network of military satellites.

SpaceNews first reported on this contract award on Dec. 23 after the agreement was disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Rocket Lab becomes the third supplier of SDA’s Transport Layer Tranche 2 Beta satellites — projected to launch in mid-2027 — that will carry radios using the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) and S-band frequencies that military and intelligence units rely upon for voice and low-speed data transmissions.

WASHINGTON — The startup Muon Space announced Jan. 9 it will explore the use of climate-monitoring satellites to capture cloud characterization data for the U.S. Air Force.

The Mountain View, California-based company, founded in 2021, is developing small satellites to monitor Earth’s climate and ecosystems.

Under a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 contract from the U.S. Air Force, Muon Space “will perform a feasibility study to determine the benefit of modifying its multispectral electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) instrument to support the Department of Defense’s cloud characterization observation capability,” the company said.