Category Archives: NewSpace

Friday / 30 August 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Aiming for NET December Launch, Blue Ghost Testing at JPL

Firefly may become 3rd American company attempting lunar landing; Blue Ghost lander now being tested at JPL, designed for future annual Moon payload services; first mission “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to launch NET Dec from Florida on Falcon 9, deliver 10 payloads per CLPS Task Order 19D and others to Mare Crisium after ~45 days in transit, operating one lunar / 14 Earth days and 5 lunar night hours; an “end-to-end space transportation company”, Firefly has new CEO Jason Kim, 700 employees, 4,650 sq meter facility, 230 sq meter clean room 307 km from Dallas TX 

Credits: Firefly Aerospace, NASA

Friday / 26 April 2024

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Intuitive Machines Well Positioned to Capitalize on Growing Cislunar Economy

Predicting US$250M revenue in 2024 and estimating $70M cash on hand, market analyst Stephen Tobin makes bullish case for Houston TX-based Intuitive Machines (LUNR) despite $53M negative equity as of Q4 2023 earnings report; Pointing to success of IM-1 and upcoming NASA CLPS-funded IM-2 and -3 missions NET Q4 2024 / 2025 as well as $30M Lunar Terrain Vehicle (with Boeing, Northrop Grumman), $719M Joint Polar Satellite System (with KBR), and $5M Fission Surface Power (with X-energy) contracts, Tobin suggests IM lunar services will be in demand by commercial interests and small national space agencies eager to utilize Earth-Moon / cislunar transport, operational and communication capabilities

 
Credits: Intuitive Machines

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 19-22 Apr 2024

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Africa Partnership Increasingly Sought by Space Powers USA and China

Space diplomacy in Africa is on the rise, according to London School of Economics analyst, evidenced by strong representation from both USA / NASA and China PRC / CNSA at NewSpace Africa Conference 2024; Angola, Nigeria, Rwanda are signatories to USA-led Artemis Accords, while Egypt and South Africa are participants of International Lunar Research Station, led by China and Russia; 270+ space companies in Africa projected to generate $22.64B by 2026; Africa resources such as cobalt, copper, chromium are essential for building space / lunar technology including craft & communications devices, and untapped reserves of rare earth elements (REE) have potential to disrupt current market in which China produces 70% of global supply

 
Picutred: Tidiane Ouattara Head of the Science, Technology and Space Division at African Union
Credits: NASA, African Union
 

Friday / 19 April 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Set to Announce Blue Ghost Mission 1 Q3/Q4 Launch Window to Moon

Austin TX-based Firefly building on 2-m tall, 3.5-m diameter Blue Ghost lunar lander at newly-expanded 19,231 m2 work space under CLPS US$93.3M task order 19D; Blue Ghost M1 could be 4th Moon surface mission to ride on SpaceX Falcon 9 (Beresheet, Hakuto-R, IM-1) with 30-day launch window TBA in May; The 150-kg capacity lander is to carry 10 NASA payloads with 94-kg mass including regolith-repelling Electrodynamic Dust Shield (KSC), solar wind-Earth magnetic field investigation Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (Boston University), and Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (MSFC), first attempt to utilize GPS on Moon

Pictured (T-B) Firefly CEO Bill Weber, Advisory Board Member Jim Bridenstine, CFO Darren Ma
Credits: Firefly

Tuesday / 16 April 2024

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ispace Japan and USA, Luxembourg Subsidiaries Preparing for Second and Third Moon Landing Missions

Resilience lunar lander being readied at Tsukuba JAXA facility as micro rover (1 of 5 manifested payloads to be delivered on HAKUTO-R Mission 2 NET Q4 2024), progresses to flight model build phase following successful testing of qualification model by ispace Luxembourg affiliate; Micro rover is key equipment for fulfillment of NASA regolith purchase under which both ispace Japan and USA were awarded precedent-setting $5,000 contracts; ispace USA also partnering with Draper on APEX 1.0 lander under CLPS contract, and will work with Raytheon subsidiary Blue Canyon Technologies to deploy 2 ‘Venus class’ cis-lunar relay satellites during NET 2026 mission

Pictured: (L-R) ispace-U.S. CEO Ron Garan, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, Ispace-Europe engineer; Credits: ispace

Wednesday / 3 April 2024

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China NewSpace Company Space Pioneer Prepares for Inaugural Launch of Reusable Tianlong-3

Space Pioneer (Beijing Tianbing Technology) working to complete build of first Tianlong-3 at factory in Suzhou following successful hot firing of all 9 first stage TH-12 engines powered by RP-1 / liquid oxygen (kerolox) propellant, together producing 7.6 MN thrust, slightly greater than SpaceX Falcon 9 (7.56 MN); Shipping to Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site expected NET late April / early May for NET July launch; Tianlong-3 planned to provide 30 per year launch cadence with up to 10x first stage reuse; While Space Pioneer has not announced lunar mission plans to date, capacity of Tianlong-3 should be suitable for realization of first China domestic NewSpace Moon mission

Pictured: Space Pioneer CEO Kang Yonglai; Credits: Space Pioneer

Friday / 15 March 2024

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ispace of Japan Preparing Next Moon Missions with International Partnerships, MSP Landing Sites

Hakuto-R Mission 2 on track for Q4 2024 launch of Resilience lander to undeclared location on Moon (ispace has conducted site characterization near Amundsen Crater [82.04°S, 66.36°E], ~220 km NE of Malapert Massif, a noteworthy MSP destination) carrying 5 commercial payloads including Gundam-inspired ‘Charter of the Universal Century’ and ~5kg micro-rover with 26×31.5x54cm dimensions, built by Luxembourg subsidiary; ispace working with global companies including Control Data Systems (Romania) on UWB position measurement, mu Space (Thailand) on cislunar satellite construction, and Rhea Space Activity (USA) on navigation device; Mission 3 being developed by ispace USA in conjunction with Draper Labs, General Atomics, Karman Space & Defense under US$73M CLPS contract launching to Schrödinger Basin NET 2026

Credits: ispace

Tuesday / 27 Feb 2024

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Japan and USA Lunar Landers Are Transmitting Data From Lunar Surface

JAXA SLIM is once again functioning on the Moon following 1 lunar night and ~½ lunar day, imaging surrounds 55m east of target landing site (13.3160°S, 25.2510°E) with multiband spectroscopic camera; JAXA hopes to gain additional field of view relative to first observation campaign conducted 30-31 Jan (JST) via new commands for analysis and publication in Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences; Intuitive Machines Odysseus continues to operate from within unnamed 1-km diameter crater with 12° slope at 2,579 meters elevation, ~1.5km from target landing site (80.13°S, 1.44°E), sending imagery and data — albeit at reduced bit rate following orientation anomaly; Power loss may force end of operations morning of 27 Feb (CST) with reactivation possible next lunar day (mid-March)

 

Credits: Intuitive Machines, JAXA
 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 23-26 Feb 2024

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IM-1 Commercial Moon Lander Odysseus Functioning and Receiving Power Despite Tip Over

The first USA craft to reach the lunar surface in 51+ years in communication with 100% battery charge ~2-3 km from intended landing site (80.2°S, 1.0°E), however orientation is off-nominal, with the 6-legged, phone box-sized lander thought to be resting on its side with ‘Panel E’ (with passive Moon Phases art installation mounted) facing down; Descent data from NASA payloads RFMG, NDL, LN-1 and SCALPSS awaiting transmission, as is imagery from independent astronomy payload ILO-X; EagleCam still planned to be deployed to record Odysseus; Precise position and location of Odysseus to be determined via LRO

 

Credits: Intuitive Machines

Tuesday / 20 Feb 2024

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Commercial Lunar Lander Odysseus Prepares for Correction Maneuvers Ahead of LOI

Intuitive Machines analyzing data from first in-space firing of liquid methane & liquid oxygen engine, conducted 270,000+ km from Earth, testing full (21 sec) and throttled thrust profiles and first of three trajectory corrections ahead of Lunar Orbit Insertion – the most powerful maneuver of the mission, expected to consume 1/3 of total propellant for 800-900 m/s delta-V and marking milestone 7 out of 16 company-defined IM-1 success criteria, set to be completed Feb 21 prior to Feb 22 powered descent; Landing to be streamed on IM website, time to be announced at Las Vegas Sphere event hosted by Columbia Sportswear

Credits: Intuitive Machines