THIS WEEK IN COMMERCIAL SPACE - New Glenn qualifies for NASA flights
- SDA to reexamine bids
- Lockheed buys Aerojet Rocketdyne
- Word of the day: Blisk
Companies that competed earlier this year for Space Development Agency satellite contracts were asked to resubmit proposals following protests of the awards. SDA is "expeditiously implementing" a corrective action plan for the Tracking Layer Tranche 0 competition after Airbus and Raytheon protested awards made in October to L3Harris and SpaceX. It's not clear how the protests will affect the schedule for the program, which aimed to launch satellites in late 2022. [SpaceNews] Lockheed Martin's plan to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.4 billion is likely to be approved by the incoming Biden Administration, but it's not a slam dunk. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. The regulatory review may offer an early test of the Biden Administration's approach to aerospace industry consolidation. Some industry analysts said Raytheon or Boeing could challenge the merger on grounds it will be anti-competitive, particularly in hypersonic weapons. Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet sees the acquisition as critical to the future of Lockheed's work in missile defense and hypersonic weapons. [SpaceNews] SpaceX Falcon 9 completed its 26th and final launch of 2020 with the Dec. 19 Falcon 9 launch of a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. It was SpaceX's second launch for NRO, the agency that builds and operates U.S. government spy satellites. The first SpaceX NRO launch was in 2017. Although both NRO satellites were destined for U.S. government missions, the agency procured the launch commercially rather than through the U.S. Space Force's National Security Space Launch program. The NRO and other government agencies buy commercial launch services under "delivery in orbit" contracts where procurement of a satellite is bundled with the launch service. [SpaceNews] NASA added New Glenn, the large launch vehicle under development by Blue Origin, to the list of vehicles eligible to compete for future agency missions. Being added to the list does not guarantee any contracts, but makes a vehicle eligible to compete for missions. Blue Origin nonetheless welcomed the news. "We are proud to be in NASA's launch services catalog and look forward to providing reliable launches for future NASA missions aboard New Glenn for years to come," Jarrett Jones, senior vice president for New Glenn, said in a company statement. Since announcing New Glenn in 2016, Blue Origin has secured commercial customers including Eutelsat, Mu Space, OneWeb, Sky Perfect JSAT and Telesat. [SpaceNews] United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket will be ready to launch its first mission in late 2021, according to ULA CEO Tory Bruno. ULA is confident that both the launch vehicle and its first customer — Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander — will be on the launch pad "by the end of next year," Bruno said during a press briefing. The timeline for Vulcan's maiden flight has slipped over the past two years because ULA does not yet have flight-qualified BE-4 main engines for Vulcan's first stage. Engine manufacturer Blue Origin this year delivered two pathfinder engines to be used for ground tests but the actual flight engines are not scheduled to arrive at ULA's factory in Decatur, Alabama, until summer 2021. [SpaceNews] The Italian government has ordered two additional Cosmo-SkyMed radar imaging satellites from Thales Alenia Space and tapped Telespazio to upgrade the constellation's ground segment under a contract announced Dec. 15. The contract provides nearly 300 million euros ($365 million) to build two second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed satellites. After the satellites launch in 2024 and 2025, Italy plans to retire its first-generation Cosmos-SkyMed satellites launched between 2007 and 2010. [SpaceNews] The U.S. military wants to improve its reputation as a customer for space startups and tech companies, said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, head of the Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center. "We need to do a better job in how we procure our nation's space capabilities, we need to do a better job interacting with private companies," Thompson said during the TechCrunch Sessions: Space conference. A relatively easy way to get a company's foot in the door is to join the Space Enterprise Consortium, which plans to award up to $12 billion worth of projects over the coming decade, Thompson added. [SpaceNews] Raytheon Technologies completed its acquisition of satellite manufacturer Blue Canyon Technologies, making Blue Canyon part of Raytheon Intelligence & Space. The deal first disclosed Nov. 10 was approved more quickly than expected. In addition to commercial orders, Blue Canyon has more than 90 satellites in production for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Air Force and NASA. Industry sources said Raytheon had been interested for years in buying a satellite manufacturer to support its U.S. military and intelligence space programs, most of which are classified. [SpaceNews] An investigation of a Vega launch failure conducted by the European Space Agency and Arianespace confirmed that misconnected cables in the rocket's upper stage doomed the mission. Investigators made recommendations to allow a return to flight in early 2021. An initial investigation by Arianespace, reported less than a day after the launch, concluded two cables used in a thrust vector control system in the rocket's Avum upper stage were inverted, causing the stage to tumble. [SpaceNews] Made In Space has produced a ceramic turbine part in space. The company manufactured the single-piece turbine bladed disk or "blisk" with its Ceramic Manufacturing Module delivered to the International Space Station in October. The module is designed to demonstrate a process known as stereolithography that uses a resin and ultraviolet laser to produce ceramic parts in microgravity. [Space.com] |
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