Moonshot #12

Crew-6 splashdown, Viasat confirms a power system anomaly, Sedaro lands a Space Force contract, and everything else happening in commercial space this past week

Hello Continuum readers and Celestial Citizens,

Welcome back to Moonshot where we will give a bi-weekly rundown of all the private sector space news. If you haven’t already, consider becoming a paid subscriber ($6/month) so you can get past that pesky paywall and read the full Moonshot post!

And here is the commercial space beat…

Amidst hiring discrimination allegations, SpaceX moves forward with a hot fire test on giant Starship. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX – Launch powerhouse SpaceX is gazing down the barrel of a lawsuit, brought forth by the U.S. Department of Justice. The suit surrounds SpaceX’s hiring practices, alleging the company unfairly restricted hiring of refugees and asylum seekers. As with most legal cases, this one’s been a few years in the making, beginning back in 2020 when SpaceX refused to hand over employment records to the DOJ. Needless to say, the department did eventually get their hands on the records in order to now sue the company currently valued at  $140 billion. Lawsuit aside, SpaceX is charging ahead with satellite launches for both Starlink and the Space Development Agency, the latter of which took place via a Falcon 9 on Saturday after a couple days of delays. With thirteen demonstration satellites, this was SpaceX’s second launch for the SDA’s Tranche 0, a layer of a missile tracking military satellite. In other news, while not quite ready for the launchpad, the infamous Starship underwent testing of its Raptor engines at the end of August and successfully lit all 33 Raptor engines. And last but not least, early this morning, SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft safely carried four space station fliers back to Earth following a six-month stay in orbit.

The moment the Crew Dragon splashed down under its four main parachutes in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Jacksonville. Credit: NASA

Viasat – Last week, Viasat confirmed a power system anomaly on its Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite. While manufacturer Airbus was quick to call the malfunction “unprecedented” and Viasat assured that customers would not experience any service disruption, the satellite network provider did experience a separate issue in July — with the antenna on their ViaSat-3 Americas satellite. At this moment, neither satellite has been deemed a total loss. However, if the examination into ViaSat-3 proves no future for the broadband payload, insurers could be looking at a $420 million claim for the ViaSat-3 alone. Whether or not Inmarsat-6 suffers the same fate, there could be huge implications in the satellite insurance industry. 

Galactic Energy – A commercial Chinese launch provider sent off its 8th mission of its CERES-1 rocket series. The CERES-1 Y8 carried an imaging satellite to orbit on August 25th from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. 

Sedaro’s cloud-based digital engineering software incorporates the concept of “digital twins” to reduce the need for physical prototypes during spacecraft design. Credit: Sedaro

Sedaro – Virginia-based startup Sedaro has landed a $1.5 million contract to demonstrate how their cloud-based digital engineering software can accelerate in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) for the Space Force. Sedaro uses “digital twin” models to reduce physical prototyping and conduct design, trial and error, etc. all digitally. And if the term “digital twins” conjures an image of two identical girls in an abandoned hotel hallway — don’t worry, Sedaro doesn’t have The Shining (as far as we know). 

Larsen & Toubro / Hindustan Aeronautics – ISRO is considering two Indian companies to take over the agency’s smallsat launch rocket, as the agency moves to privatize its operations. Hindustan Aeronautics, or HAL, and Larsen & Toubro are existing contractors for the ISRO, set to deliver five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles beginning in two years. The existing relationship certainly gives the companies a leg up in the bid for India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle; so long as there are no major snags in their current contract, the duo may be in for a windfall. 

MyRadar – Florida-based software company MyRadar just landed an NOAA grant worth $650,000 to develop and launch a pair of cubesats, as part of a wildfire prevention objective. These dual Orbital Wildfire Resilience cubesats will use a high resolution optical camera, thermal infrared imagers and near infrared hyperspectral imagers to study vegetation — AKA “fuel” — with the help of onboard AI to more efficiently communicate their observations. Beyond these wildfire-focused satellites, MyRadar hopes to continue expanding products to eventually monitor environmental issues around coral reefs, algae blooms and the effects of illegal fishing.  

Smallsat manufacturer LeoStella’s facility in Tukwila, Washington could become the new build site for Tranche 2 military satellites. Credit: LeoStella

Hera Systems / LeoStella – After the Space Development Agency (SDA) called for commercial bids back in July to build their Transport Layer Tranche 2 — a layer of an in-progress military constellation — two companies decided to team up. California-based Hera Systems and Washington-based LeoStella each bring something attractive to the table: for one, LeoStella has excess facility space to build satellites for the Tranche layer. Additionally, Hera Systems’ existing satellite bus, the “Leoness,” has already been the apple of the Space Force’s eye, on another project set for 2025. Talk about a power couple — move over, Michelle and Barack.