TYB
Booz Allen Ventures invests in space tech startup Quindar
July 11, 2024
Booz Allen Hamilton, the U.S. defense and intelligence contractor, announced July 11 that its corporate venture capital arm, Booz Allen Ventures, has made a strategic investment in Quindar, an early-stage commercial space technology company.
The investment aims to support Quindar’s platform for automating satellite operations.
Satellite owners use Quindar’s app to analyze, test and operate their constellation, and operate their satellite fleet with minimal human intervention.
Booz Allen launched its corporate venture arm in 2022 and manages a fund of about $100 million.
Founded in 2022 by former OneWeb engineers in Denver, Quindar says its goal is to “democratize space” by providing an IT infrastructure for satellites.
Chris Bogdan, executive vice president at Booz Allen and leader of the firm’s space business, said the investment in Quindar was at the seed stage because “we were confident in Quindar’s solution based on the critical needs our DoD clients are experiencing.”
Bogdan noted that federal clients are increasingly seeking industry help to accelerate innovation and integrate technology to modernize legacy satellite and ground systems.
Nate Hamet, CEO and co-founder of Quindar, said the company is “thrilled to partner with Booz Allen Hamilton in advancing AI-enabled solutions for space management.”
Travis Bales, managing director of Booz Allen Ventures, highlighted the growing need in the space domain to scale and integrate mission areas.
“For the last five years or so, the stacks that support satellite operations have been separated into different stovepipes, such as launch, payload, and operation,” Bales added. “Quindar’s stack enables the future of space support operations for disparate partners and payloads to be controlled through one holistic view.”
Booz Allen Ventures previously invested in early-stage companies developing dual-use technologies, including Latent AI, Synthetaic, Reveal Technology, Credo AI, Hidden Level, Shift5, Hidden Layer, Second Front and Albedo.
Quindar in January announced it closed a $6 million funding round as an extension to a $2.5 million seed round it completed a year ago.
https://spacenews.com/booz-allen-ventures-invests-in-space-tech-startup-quindar/
Chinese commercial rocket firm suffers 4th launch failure
July 11, 2024
Chinese commercial rocket outfit iSpace suffered a launch failure late Wednesday in a fresh setback for the company.
The four-stage Hyperbola-1 solid rocket lifted off from Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert at 7:40 p.m. Eastern (2340 UTC) July 10.
State media Xinhua later announced the mission ended in failure.
Beijing-based iSpace later issued a release stating that the rocket’s fourth stage suffered an anomaly.
The company stated the specific reasons for the failure will be announced as soon as possible after detailed investigation and review.
The statement did not reveal the name nor nature of the payloads lost on the flight.
Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., or iSpace, made history in 2019 as the first privately-funded Chinese company to reach orbit with the solid-fueled Hyperbola-1.
However the rocket suffered three consecutive failures following that feat.
The company recovered with two successful flights in 2023 but now faces a new setback.
The loss could add to concerns over China’s commercial launch industry as it follows Space Pioneer’s recent catastrophic static-fire explosion, which saw a fully-fueled first stage unintentionally launch from the test bench in Gongyi, Henan province.
Commercial space has received increasingly strong backing from China’s central, provincial and city governments.
A number of low Earth orbit communications megaconstellations are expected to provide opportunities for medium and heavy-lift commercial launchers.
iSpace is also looking beyond solid rockets. It launched and landed a test article for its methane-liquid oxygen Hyperbola-3 rocket in November last year.
Despite an already crowded field of contenders, new entrants are still emerging in China’s commercial launch sector.
The latest appears to be Dahang Yueqian, or Cosmoleap, established in February. Cosmoleap released concept art of its planned rocket this week.
The art suggests plans to develop a methalox rocket with nine engines performing a powered descent and to be caught by in a fashion apparently similar to that planned by SpaceX to recover its Starship Superheavy boosters.
More concretely, Chinese firms such as Landspace are planning first launches of reusable methane rockets as soon as 2025.
The firm has already conducted vertical takeoff, vertical landing tests for its stainless Zhuque-3 rocket.
https://spacenews.com/chinese-commercial-rocket-firm-suffers-4th-launch-failure/
1st images from European climate satellite reveal how energy cycles to and from Earth
July 11, 2024
Scientists now have more information to study how human-driven climate change is impacting our planet, thanks to brand new imagery arriving from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite.
The cloud and aerosol mission launched on May 29, 2024 from Vandenberg Space Force Base on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket; just over a month later, its broadband radiometer instrument managed to produce the first image from the mission. This image, the team says, captures Earth's energy balance — referring to how much energy the planet takes in from solar radiation, and how much thermal radiation is then released from Earth back into space.
As global temperatures are on the rise, the mission is thus crucial.
With EarthCARE in action, scientists should be able to better understand how, precisely, human activities are contributing to an increase of greenhouse gases and how industrial plants, traffic and agricultural practices are also sending aerosols into Earth's atmosphere.
"Of course we have never doubted the EarthCARE broadband radiometer's potential, but here we see, at such an early stage in the mission, that the instrument is working very well and delivering excellent data," Simonetta Cheli, ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programs, said in a statement.
"Each of the satellite's different instruments has an extremely important role to play — and when all of them are working in harmony and the satellite is commissioned, then the scientific community and weather forecasters will have a powerful tool to advance our understanding of Earth’s energy balance, advance climate science and improve weather predictions," Cheli added.
The radiometer is one of four instruments aboard the satellite that highlights how clouds and aerosols play a part in regulating our climate.
Last month, the satellite's cloud profiling radar instrument captured an image that showcased the dynamics and internal structure of clouds, a turning point in studying clouds from space.
"We are thrilled to be able to present this first image, which reveals detail on the internal structure of cloud dynamics over the ocean, east of Japan on 13 June," Takuji Kubota, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Mission Scientist for the cloud profiling radar, said in a separate statement.
"This is the first image of its kind — we have never had this kind of information measured from space before. It is all we hoped for, and more. I believe that the cloud profiling radar will bring various scientific discoveries."
Typically, these types of measurements can only be taken from a cloud radar on the ground or from an aircraft.
The EarthCARE satellite allows for a more uniform scan of the planet, however, providing a three-dimensional view that helps researchers understand climate science unlike ever before.
https://www.space.com/earthcare-first-images-energy-balance-climate-change
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/07/EarthCARE_s_broadband_radiometer_first_results
Private space-junk probe gets up-close look at discarded rocket in orbit
July 11, 2024
Astroscale Japan has released yet more eye-watering imagery of space debris in Earth orbit.
The Tokyo-based company launched its Active Debris Removal spacecraft (ADRAS-J) atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on Feb. 18, 2024. ADRAS-J is designed to test safe methods of approaching and surveying space debris in orbit through what are known as Rendezvous and Proximity Operations, or RPO.
To test the spacecraft's capabilities, Astroscale sent ADRAS-J to photograph the discarded upper stage of a Japanese H-2A rocket that was launched in 2009.
The company released a statement on July 9 showing off a new image of the debris as it floats lifeless above a blue-and-white Earth with the sun's glare reflecting off of it.
ADRAS-J took the photograph sometime in June 2024 while just 165 feet (50 meters) away from the bus-sized H-2A upper stage, which measures some 36 feet (11 m) in length and weighs 3 tons.
Aside from taking photographs of the space debris, ADRAS-J used the RPO with the defunct upper stage to demonstrate its collision avoidance system, which includes autonomous operations.
In fact, while making the close approach to the rocket body, Astroscale's spacecraft initiated an autonomous abort when it experienced an attitude (orientation) anomaly.
ADRAS-J was then able to maneuver away from the debris, a capability that demonstrates the spacecraft "can maintain safety even while performing close approach observations of non-cooperative objects," Astroscale wrote in the statement.
Remote proximity operations such as these are delicate maneuvers, due to the fact that many space debris objects such as the H-2A's upper stage are not designed with such missions in mind.
Astroscale has high hopes for ADRAS-J.
When this phase of the mission, known as Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2), comes to a close, the company plans to move ahead with a new phase funded by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in which it plans to remove and deorbit a large piece of "non-cooperative" space junk — that is, one that was not designed with such a deorbiting mission in mind.
"This next phase holds significance in addressing the space debris issue and laying the foundation for a sustainable environment for future generations," Eddie Kato, the president of Astroscale Japan, said in a previous statement.
Phase 2 of the CRD2 mission is scheduled to begin no earlier than 2026.
https://www.space.com/astrobotic-space-junk-probe-rocket-photo
STARCOM welcomes USSF Cyber Combat Course from SpOC
July 8, 2024
The Space Force’s Cyber Combat Course has a new home at Space Training and Readiness Command.
Effective July 1, C3 transitioned from Space Operations Command’s Space Delta 6 Detachment 1 to STARCOM’s 533d Training Squadron.
Since its inception on June 20, 2023, the course has trained 277 graduates over 22 sessions facilitated by a team of 22 instructors.
Designed as a 15-week, self-paced course, C3 utilizes a two-phased teaching approach, focusing on red and blue cyber tactics. Each phase ends with a capstone project and an industry-level certification.
“This course is critical in generating combat-ready Guardians,” said Col. Christopher Kennedy, Space Delta 6 commander.
“The Detachment 1 instructors rapidly solved a service-level problem, did the analysis to prove the viability of their solution, and then scaled capacity to train our operators before transitioning the course to STARCOM.”
With this transition, the 533d TRS will host the course at its Colorado Springs location, managing up to five concurrent cohorts with a capacity to train 100 students at any given time.
According to Maj. Joseph Schlueter, STARCOM’s chief of cyber training integration, the transfer, with zero mission impact, was only made possible by a combined team of professionals dedicated to C3’s continued success.
“This transfer is a team effort, but major credit goes to the whole Detachment 1 team, especially its commander, Major Roberto Molineros, senior enlisted leader, Master Sgt. Steven Brumley, and training flight chief, Master Sgt. Christopher Reljin,” said Schlueter.
“On 533d’s end, kudos go to their Detachment 2 commander at Keesler Air Force Base, Capt. Samuel Aspiranti. We’ve even managed to leverage the Total Force by bringing on Lt. Col. Danny ‘dj’ Morales from the 42d Combat Training Squadron to manage the course on an interim basis.”
Instrumental to the seamless transfer, Schlueter further credits SpOC’s Lt. Col. Mark Boatman, STARCOM and Space Delta 1’s Financial Management and Comptroller shops, STARCOM’s business operations office, 533d’s Meredith McElroy, and 1st Delta Operations Squadron’s Tech. Sgt. Austin Morgan and Tech. Sgt. John Babick.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Arehart, Commander of the 533d TRS, expressed readiness and enthusiasm to integrate C3 into their operations, aligning with their longstanding expertise in initial skills training.
“I’m excited to continue Delta 6 Det 1’s work,” Arehart said. “With C3 transitioning to an SFSC [Space Force Specialty Code] awarding course and the 533d having done initial skills for a long time, it fits naturally into our family.
We’re honored and ready to take on this mission from our teammates at Delta 6 Det 1.”
https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3825086/starcom-welcomes-ussf-cyber-combat-course-from-spoc/
Another «UFO» was spotted over Ukraine: what it really was.
16:46 , 10 July 2024
On the night of Wednesday, July 10, a glowing object of an unusual shape was spotted in the sky over Ukraine, which was immediately dubbed a "UFO" on the Internet.
However, it was the second stage of an Ariane 6 rocket flying over our country.
The authors of the Alpha Centauri space project told about it. They reported that Ariane 6 is a European carrier that has finally made its maiden flight.
"The rocket worked perfectly: from the launch stage to the payload separation," the statement said.
The European Space Agency was broadcasting the rocket launch live from a spaceport in French Guiana.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians on social media shared footage of the rocket's second stage flying over Ukraine.
https://uazmi.com/news/post/98c7cf643a7d615fe52bced3aa9d2488