R2 Space was founded in 2018 in order to provide cutting-edge commercial satellite technology to address the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance needs of the United States Government (“USG”). R2 Space plans to launch and operate eight XR satellites over a series of launches. The XR-1 satellite will be the first deployment of the XR constellation with an anticipated launch date of December 16, 2020. R2 Space plans to launch the XR-1 satellite using the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which will be launched out of the Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. The XR-1 satellite is projected to be in a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (“SSO”) and have an operational altitude of 550 kilometers with a 97.7-degree inclination angle. All of the XR satellites are expected to be identical. Each XR satellite has a stowed form profile measuring 0.66 x 0.51 x 0.40 meters, with a total mass of 90 kilograms (85 kilograms dry mass).
Additional XR satellites will be launched subsequently thereafter. R2 Space will provide details regarding the follow-on XR satellite launches when such information becomes available and prior to launch. R2 Space has identified Falcon 9 and Electron as two potential launch vehicles for the subsequent XR satellite launches. The Falcon 9 vehicle would be launched out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida or the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Electron vehicle would be launched out of the Rocket Lab facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to launch the first experimental satellites of the Blackjack program in late 2020 and early 2021, the agency said May 11.
The first demonstration, Mandrake 1, is a cubesat that will carry supercomputer processing chips. The second, Mandrake 2, is a pair of small satellites that will carry optical inter-satellite links for broadband data. DARPA says these could form the basis of future optically meshed networks in LEO.A third payload scheduled to launch is called Wildcard, a software-defined radio that will experiment with links from LEO to tactical radios.The launch dates and vehicles have not yet been decided.Blackjack program manager Paul “Rusty” Thomas said Mandrake 1 and 2 will fly in separate launches, and there’s a possibility that Mandrake 2 and Wildcard could be on the same launch. “The program will firm up the dates once there is a clearer picture of how COVID-19 could affect upcoming launch schedules,” Thomas said in a statement.
Planet is set to launch six more SkySat satellites (SkySats 16-21) into Low Earth Orbit this summer, rounding out the fleet of 15 SkySats already in operation.
The six SkySats will be evenly split across two launches on SpaceX’s Falcon 9, a two-stage reusable rocket that has successfully flown satellites and cargo over 80 times to orbit. They will do so as rideshare payloads on launches of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.SkySats 16-18 will launch on SpaceX’s ninth Starlink mission, targeted for launch in the next month, and SkySats 19-21 will launch later this summer. Both missions will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida.
ATLAS V TO LAUNCH USSF-7 • Rocket: Atlas V 501• Mission: USSF-7• Launch Date: May 16, 2020 at 8:24 a.m. EDT.• Launch Location: Space Launch Complex-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 04/23/2020 07:45 pmTo whom it may concern:Tail number, please?AV-081https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1260589556392394758
To whom it may concern:Tail number, please?
https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1261818457810710529Quote Due to a tropical depression developing off the Southeast Coast of the U.S., now targeting Tuesday, May 19 at 3:10 a.m. EDT for the Starlink mission—SpaceX teams will continue monitoring launch and landing weather conditions
Due to a tropical depression developing off the Southeast Coast of the U.S., now targeting Tuesday, May 19 at 3:10 a.m. EDT for the Starlink mission—SpaceX teams will continue monitoring launch and landing weather conditions
2020 CC Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with Umbra-SAR 2001, XR 1, Vigoride 1, PlasmaBrake, RadCube, VZLUsat 2, SpaceBEE x1, ..., x12, Sattla, EASAT, HADES, Grizu-263a, LibertyQube 1, Pycubed, TRSI 2, (Carnegie Mellon University PocketQube), Lemur-2 x1, ..., x8, Outpost Demonstration 1, (multiple satellelites)
http://www.albaorbital.com/launch
Exact launch time: 1314:00.241UTC
https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1262161843407085568QuoteSpaceX's next launch will have crew onboard. The Starlink launch is in fact now postponed until after Demo-2 due to not enough time to turnaround OCISLY.JRTI still has several weeks of trials ahead of it before it will be ready.
SpaceX's next launch will have crew onboard. The Starlink launch is in fact now postponed until after Demo-2 due to not enough time to turnaround OCISLY.JRTI still has several weeks of trials ahead of it before it will be ready.
From NOAA license:Quote“TIS Serenity” is a 3u (100mm x 100mm x 300mm) educational cubesat weighing 1.6kg. The payload is scheduled for launch from Vandenberg AFB on the Firefly Alpha rocket in summer of 2020. Deployment of TIS Serenity will be into a circular orbit of 300 km and inclination of 137°. The orbit lifetime due to natural decay is estimated to be about 11 to 32 days.
“TIS Serenity” is a 3u (100mm x 100mm x 300mm) educational cubesat weighing 1.6kg. The payload is scheduled for launch from Vandenberg AFB on the Firefly Alpha rocket in summer of 2020. Deployment of TIS Serenity will be into a circular orbit of 300 km and inclination of 137°. The orbit lifetime due to natural decay is estimated to be about 11 to 32 days.
Hmmmm, a rideshare flight to 550km SSO in December, what could it be...QuoteGeneral Atomics-EMS(2) A general description of the system:The purpose of the Laser Interconnect & Networking Communications System (LINCS) experiment is to evaluate a pair of SWIR cameras and focal plane and to flight qualify our high data-rate laser communication terminals. To expand, General Atomics Electromagnetics (GA-EMS) has developed a free space optical laser communication terminal (LCT) for space applications. The system operates at 1550 nm and utilizes on-off keying (OOK) to support a data rate of up to 5Gbps. The amplifier, based on a GA-EMS, TRL9 system for airborne applications, has been redesigned for space applications and is currently TRL6 based on a T-VAC test conducted in 2018. The system utilizes a software defined On-Off Keying (OOK) modulation scheme that can change between non-return to zero (NRZ) and return to zero (RZ) to support various cross-link distances. Although many modulation schemes are available, OOK was chosen for maximum compatibility with lasercomm terminals and will allow it to connect to non-GA-EMS terminals to include the NASA Lasercomm Relay Demonstration (LCRD) to be launched in 2021. Additionally, the LCT uses a novel acquisition scheme that enables rapid acquisition and connection even when the bus level pointing accuracy is in excess of 350 μrad. This results in a bus agnostic LCT architecture that can be used on multiple missions without necessitating extensive redesign and qualification. These capabilities will be validated on the LINCS mission.GA-EMS is also launching a SWIR camera on the same platform that will allow a number of imaging experiments to include stereo viewing (18 degrees of parallax) from separate satellites, dual imaging (for super resolution) and spectral fusion.GA-EMS is launching these cubesats as a rideshare with a Launch Readiness Date (LRD) of December 2020 and will conduct experiments in 2021 and 2022.The anticipated insertion orbit is 550Km in Apogee and 550km in Perigee with an inclination angle of 97.6 degrees. The orbital period is approximately 95 minutes.(from https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/CRSRA/noaaLicensees.html)
General Atomics-EMS(2) A general description of the system:The purpose of the Laser Interconnect & Networking Communications System (LINCS) experiment is to evaluate a pair of SWIR cameras and focal plane and to flight qualify our high data-rate laser communication terminals. To expand, General Atomics Electromagnetics (GA-EMS) has developed a free space optical laser communication terminal (LCT) for space applications. The system operates at 1550 nm and utilizes on-off keying (OOK) to support a data rate of up to 5Gbps. The amplifier, based on a GA-EMS, TRL9 system for airborne applications, has been redesigned for space applications and is currently TRL6 based on a T-VAC test conducted in 2018. The system utilizes a software defined On-Off Keying (OOK) modulation scheme that can change between non-return to zero (NRZ) and return to zero (RZ) to support various cross-link distances. Although many modulation schemes are available, OOK was chosen for maximum compatibility with lasercomm terminals and will allow it to connect to non-GA-EMS terminals to include the NASA Lasercomm Relay Demonstration (LCRD) to be launched in 2021. Additionally, the LCT uses a novel acquisition scheme that enables rapid acquisition and connection even when the bus level pointing accuracy is in excess of 350 μrad. This results in a bus agnostic LCT architecture that can be used on multiple missions without necessitating extensive redesign and qualification. These capabilities will be validated on the LINCS mission.GA-EMS is also launching a SWIR camera on the same platform that will allow a number of imaging experiments to include stereo viewing (18 degrees of parallax) from separate satellites, dual imaging (for super resolution) and spectral fusion.GA-EMS is launching these cubesats as a rideshare with a Launch Readiness Date (LRD) of December 2020 and will conduct experiments in 2021 and 2022.The anticipated insertion orbit is 550Km in Apogee and 550km in Perigee with an inclination angle of 97.6 degrees. The orbital period is approximately 95 minutes.
Next-Gen OPIR Polar SatellitesMay 19, 2020 | By Rachel S. CohenNorthrop Grumman on May 18 won a contract worth up to $2.4 billion to supply two polar orbit satellites that are part of the next generation of missile warning systems.“This modification adds phase one for design/development, critical path flight hardware procurement, and risk-reduction efforts leading to a critical design review to the basic contract,” the Defense Department said in a contract announcement.Phase one development work will run through the end of 2025, and another contract that will fund production, testing, and launch is due out in fiscal 2022. The Space Force wants the first polar satellite in fiscal 2027 and all five initial satellites ready for operations in 2029.The new Overhead Persistent Infrared constellation includes two satellites in polar orbit and three in geosynchronous Earth orbit as part of Block 0. Lockheed Martin is on contract to develop the GEO satellites. The Space Force plans to take competitive bids for additional batches of satellites to replace the Space-Based Infrared System.
The Next-Gen OPIR constellation will comprise five satellites: three in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) and two in a polar orbit. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the GEO satellites, the first of which is known as Block 0 GEO; Northrop Grumman is the prime for the polar orbiting satellites. Raytheon was chosen in 2018 by Lockheed as one of two subcontractors for the advanced sensor suites on the GEO satellites, along with a team comprising Northrop Grumman and Ball Aerospace.Currently, the aim is to launch the first satellites in 2025. So far the program is on track to doing just that, Roper said. Compared to where a traditional satellite acquisition program like SBIRS would be in the development process, Next-Gen OPIR “is five years ahead It’s firing on all cylinders,” Roper stressed. “It’s green across the board. Do I think they’re going to succeed? I’d say yes,” he said.
Next-Gen OPIR Space is the next iteration of the legacy Space-Based Infrared System, and aims to field five missile-warning satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit—which offers continuous coverage of very large regions—and two in an orbit that passes over the Earth’s poles. As part of Block 0, three GEO satellites and two polar satellites are expected to be on orbit by 2029. Three of those should be in space by 2028, according to the Air Force’s September presentation.
