#WASHINGTON — The Defense Innovation Unit announced March 21 it has signed an agreement with Firefly Aerospace to study the potential use of the company’s Elytra orbital vehicle for missions beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit.

The Pentagon’s commercial technology arm, DIU awarded Firefly a study contract that, once complete, could lead to as many as two flight demonstration missions in the region between GEO orbit and the moon, known as cislunar space.

The contract supports DIU’s Sinequone project that aims to deliver cost-effective, responsive access to cislunar space through both launch and orbital transfer services.

“The Department of Defense must be poised to foster safe and secure commercial and civil growth in this region,” DIU said of cislunar space.

#WASHINGTON — #Rocket Lab launched a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Virginia March 21, the company’s second launch in as many weeks.

The #Electron lifted off from Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, at 3:25 a.m. Eastern. The launch took place at the end of a 45-minute window after controllers called a hold about four and a half minutes before liftoff for what the company described as an “out-of-family” data issue.

The launch, on a mission designated NROL-123 by the NRO, carried a classified payload. In a statement confirming the success of the launch about an hour after liftoff, the NRO suggested the mission was conducting technology demonstrations of some kind for the agency

#HELSINKI — #China has launched a new batch of Yunhai-2 meteorological satellites likely for use by its military.

A Long March 2D with a Yuanzheng-3 upper stage rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 1:27 a.m. Eastern (0527 UTC) March 21. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), confirmed launch success around three hours later, also revealing the payloads for the mission to be the Yunhai-2 (02) batch of satellites.

The satellites were likely released into a series of orbits following a series of burns by the YZ-3 upper stage. The launch follows a similar mission from 2018 which saw a first group of six Yunhai-2 satellites put into orbit by a Long March 2D and YZ-3 combination

#WASHINGTON — The #Pentagon’s commercial technology arm, the Defense Innovation Unit, announced March 20 it is funding three projects to explore ways to create a more robust space infrastructure that can support military operations beyond low #Earth orbit.

The projects were awarded to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and #Spacebilt. “Each of the companies selected for an award showed strong research and development investments into their particular solutions for use in the commercial market,” said DIU.

#DIU is partnering with Blue Origin on a space mission called Dark-Sky 1 that will send to orbit a heavy multi-orbit space tug based on the company’s Blue Ring platform. The vehicle will be launched as a rideshare payload on a U.S. Space Force national security mission.

#Capella #Space sets sights on international market for radar #satellites. CEO Frank Backes: ‘We’re seeing a real surge of interest from countries that want to build their own sovereign SAR capabilities’.

#WASHINGTON — The launch industry is negotiating a transition into new families of launch vehicles, working to bring additional capacity into the market while seeking out competitive advantages against a growing number of competitors.

A panel at the #Satellite 2024 conference March 18 features two companies that recently completed the first successful launches of new vehicles and four others working on new launch vehicles, in some cases while operating existing ones.

“Right now we’re in transition,” said Mark Peller, vice president of Vulcan development at United Launch Alliance, citing the successful inaugural launch of Vulcan Centaur Jan. 8. “We’ve wrung out the Vulcan system and now our focus is getting up to a steady launch cadence.”

#Lockheed Martin eyes growth in #satellite business through partnerships. President of Lockheed Martin Space Robert Lightfoot: ‘We’re looking for strategic partners’

#HELSINKI — #China launched its Queqiao-2 relay satellite Tuesday to support upcoming lunar far side and south polar missions.

A Long March 8 rocket lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 8:31 p.m. Eastern, March 19 (0031 UTC March 20). The China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed the Queqiao-2 satellite was on a trajectory towards the moon around 40 minutes after launch.

CNSA stated Queqiao-2 had deployed its solar arrays and was in its predetermined orbit with a perigee of 200 kilometers and an apogee of 420,000 kilometers.

The 1,200-kilogram satellite carries a 4.2-meter parabolic antenna and is part of China’s plans for future lunar exploration and a stepping stone towards building a lunar base in the 2030s.

The spacecraft will enter a highly elliptical lunar orbit inclined by 55 degrees once it reaches the moon. The orbit is specially designed to support China’s Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample.

#WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has awarded three contracts worth a quarter of a billion dollars to develop a pair of navigation missions, including one to test the feasibility of a low Earth orbit #satellite constellation.

ESA announced the award of the contracts for its FutureNAV program March 19, with a combined value of 233.4 million euros ($253 million). The contracts cover two missions, called Genesis and LEO-PNT.

“With Genesis and LEO-PNT we are responding to rapidly growing needs for more resilient and precise navigation and ensuring Europe leads global satellite navigation,” Javier Benedicto, ESA’s director of navigation, said in a statement about the contracts

#SANFRANCISCO — #German startup #Blackwave raised $6.6 million in a seed extension round to expand production of carbon fiber structures.

The Munich-based startup announced the investment round March 19 as well as plans to offer carbon fiber high-pressure tanks for launch vehicles, satellites and other space-related applications.

“We are more than happy to finally unveil what has been in the making for the last 18 months and what nobody has addressed so far: commercial-off-the-shelf pressure vessels for launchers and satellites that are lightweight, affordable and available within days,” Blackwaves CEO Bastian Behrens said in a statement.