Rescuing Boeing’s Stranded Astronauts

Space Technologies

Oct 01, 2024

Good morning,

SpaceX’s Crew-Dragon launched to the ISS to rescue Boeing’s stranded astronauts, but anomalies in the launch have led to SpaceX grounding its Falcon 9 fleet. China has picked up its launch cadence with four launches in the past week. Israel has launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon as Turkish president Erdoğan asks the United Nations for permission to use force against Israel. Speaking of the UN, the now deceased Hamas leader in Lebanon was a suspended UN Relief and Works Agency employee.

Now, let’s go!

News Headlines:

Israel has launched a ‘limited’ ground operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon (AP)
U.S., Iraq agree for U.S. troops to end counter-IS mission by next year (AP)
Russia downs over 100 Ukrainian drones in one of the largest barrages of the war (AP)
Defense-Tech startups need a new supplier that isn’t China (WSJ)
Austrian far-right party with ties to Nazis wins parliamentary general elections (AX)
Earth has caught a temporary 'second moon,' scientists say (SP)
Turkey wants UN-permission to attack Israel (TI)
Top Hamas commander killed in Lebanon was UNRWA employee placed on administrative leave (AP)

Satellites:

Launches:

Upcoming Launches:

Space News:

Commercial space has a critical role in the race to outpace adversaries (SN)
SpaceX grounds its Falcon rocket fleet after upper-stage misfires (SFN)
FCC voted last week to open up more spectrum to Starlink and other non-geostationary satellite operators to improve broadband speeds in the US (SN)
China calls for realtime censorship of satellite broadband (TR)
A battle over this satellite spectrum could have long lasting impacts on the new space economy (FT)
NASA develops new atomic clock that's 100x more precise than existing solutions using optical frequencies (NASA)
The European Space Agency opened its LUNA facility in Germany to simulate lunar missions (AP)
NASA and Boeing had a disputed role in designing and building Titan submersible that imploded while attempting to visit the Titanic (AP)
Once upon a time, NASA almost awarded Boeing a sole-source contract for crewed missions, whoops (AT)
U.S. Space Command's commercial operations group expands role beyond space tracking to battlefield intelligence (SN)
Space Command leader calls for better domain awareness tools by 2027 (DN)
U.S. Space Force developing plan for maneuverable GEO satellite services (DN)
The Space Development Agency is studying options for satellite tow services (DN)
Japan's Defense Ministry aims to boost space defense funding for fiscal year 2025 (AMR)
The GPS Innovation Alliance announces newest member TrustPoint—which is developing a next-gen fully commercial GNSS capability (BW)
Rocket Lab successfully launches 53^rd Electron mission, deploying another five satellites for Kinéis (BW)
Vietnam says SpaceX plans $1.5B investment in country to gain access for Starlink (RT)
Space executives call for stronger collaboration between policymakers and tech leaders to accelerate AI in space for good (SN)
Saudi Arabia plans space industry transformation, plans for wealth fund-backed Neo Space Group to be major force in space (SN)
Researchers find that nuclear radiation can deflect asteroids as large as 4km across (AT)
UAE defense-tech group Edge launches new space focused Fada (GN)
Loadpath was awarded $45M from the Air Force for space technology development (DOD)
Anduril lands $25M contract to upgrade the Space Force's aging space surveillance network (SN)
Astranis secured $13.2M from the Space Force to make its commubnications satellites compatible with military terminals (SN)
Capella Space lands $15M U.S. Air Force contract for radar imaging upgrade (SN)
Boeing to demonstrate air-space sensor fusion for U.S. military operations (SN)
Leidos replaces Lockheed Martin on Artemis rover team (SN)
NASA selects Firefly to provide launch services for NOAA in contract worth up to $300M (NASA)
Iridium approved to work on LEO compatibility for upcoming smartphones (SN)
Khosla, Musk trade barbs over subsidies for SpaceX (YF)

Deal Flow:

Italian space logistics startup D-Orbit raises $56M led by Marubeni Corporation for global expansion (PL)
Spanish satellite IoT startup Sateliot raised $33M Series B led by Global Portfolio Investments to build a 5G constellation of 100 satellites (VS)
Interstellar landed $32.5M through a SBIR grant from the Japanese government (PL)
Sequoia leads Reflect Orbital's $6.5M seed round to reflect sunlight from orbit back to earth (TC)
Longshot Space closes $5M in combined equity and non-dilutive funding from the Air Force's TACFI program to build a 500m long rail gun in the Nevada desert to push 100kg payloads to Mach 5 (TC)
Belgian spacetech gem VEOWARE secures €2.5M to empower spacecrafts with next-gen agility through its Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG)
Infosys to acquire up to 20% stake in Indian startup GalaxEye, which builds multi-sensor satellites (NDTV)

Opportunities

The DoD and ODNI collaborative Space Security and Defense Program has issued an RFI seeking advanced (2030-2040) space domain awareness technologies to assess threats and gather insights for protecting U.S. systems (SAM)
SDA released an updated STEC open BAA announcement seeking space data transport network orchestration capabilities (SAM)
NASA is issuing a solicitation under the Next STEP-2 BAA seeking studies for lunar surface logistics and uncrewed surface mobility operations (SAM)