#MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – The pace of innovation in the space sector is picking up thanks in part to artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Amazon #Web Services customers, for example, are designing spacecraft parts with generative AI. The parts are then 3D-printed and run through a battery of tests.

The process leads to rapid iteration of designs that are “very intuitive and very innovative at the same time,” Alistair McLean, AWS #Satellite Solutions principal architect, said Feb. 7 at the SmallSat Symposium here.

#MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Small launch vehicle developers are working to carve out niches in a market for smallsat launches that is increasingly dominated by SpaceX’s Transporter rideshare missions.

The Transporter missions, which fill a Falcon 9 often with more than 100 smallsats, offer per-kilogram prices significantly below dedicated small launch vehicles. SpaceX has seen high demand for those missions and announced plans last year for a related line of missions called Bandwagon that will go to mid-inclination orbits.

“The Transporter program was created a few years ago with, in my opinion, the sole purpose of trying to kill new entrants like us,” said Sandy Tirtey, director of global commercial launch services at Rocket Lab, during a panel at the #SmallSat Symposium here Feb. 7. “Yet, we are still flying because we offer something unique.”

#WASHINGTON — BlackSky, an Earth observation and data analytics firm, will provide satellite imagery services and imaging spacecraft to the Republic of Indonesia under a $50 million deal announced Feb. 8.

BlackSky will work with Thales Alenia Space to establish the building blocks of a sovereign Earth imaging satellite network tailored to Indonesia’s national security needs.

Thales Alenia Space was selected in December to deliver a dedicated Earth observation constellation to the #Indonesian Ministry of Defense, combining both radar and optical sensors

#TAMPA, Fla. — #Japan has awarded Tokyo-based small satellite thruster developer Pale Blue a grant worth up to $27 million to upgrade its water-based propulsion technology for larger #spacecraft.

The four-year-old startup tested its #Resistojet thruster in orbit for the first time in March, successfully using jets of steam to move a tiny 6U cubesat called Star Sphere.

#MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — The space industry need to take a broader examination of issues related to space sustainability that go beyond preventing the growth of space debris, one official says.

Speaking at the #SmallSat Symposium here Feb. 6, Richard DalBello, director of the Office of Space Commerce within the Commerce Department, said there is a need to define a set of “internationally accepted” actions to address issues that range from orbital debris to protecting night skies from satellite interference.

#WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic said Feb. 5 it is investigating why a pin fell from the aircraft used by its VSS Unity suborbital spaceplane on its most recent flight last month, adding that the incident did not pose a safety risk to those on board And Lynk Global has agreed to a merger that would raise money for the direct-to-smartphone operator and list its shares on Nasdaq, the venture said Feb. 5 in a regulatory filing that details its revenue projections for the emerging market. #spacenews

#HELSINKI — A pair of #Chinese rockets launched 11 mobility services satellites for an automaker and nine further, diverse satellites into orbit late Friday.

A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from Xichang #Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China at 6:37 p.m. Eastern (2337 UTC) Feb. 2, followed hours later by a Jielong-3 solid rocket launching from a mobile sea platform at 10:06 p.m. (0305 UTC, Feb. 3).

The former launch sent 11 satellites into orbit for the space arm of #Chinese automaker Geely. The spacecraft were cataloged by U.S. Space Force space domain awareness in roughly 595 by 605-kilometer orbits with inclinations of 50 degrees.

#ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is pressing forward with plans to demonstrate point-to-point rocket travel perhaps in a few years.

Among the reasons for optimism are SpaceX’s launch rates and ability to reuse #rockets, which “dramatically changes the business case,” said Gregory Spanjers, chief scientist overseeing the rocket cargo program at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Speaking on a panel Jan. 30 at the Space Mobility Conference, Spanjers said AFRL and SpaceX have been “digging through different scenarios” for the use of the company’s giant rocket Starship for rapid, global cargo transportation.