Last week, the U.S. Space Force launched the seventh mission of the X-37B: a secretive spaceplane or orbital test vehicle (OTV) project intended to prepare the country for the next era of space travel.

Almost nothing is known about the Boeing-built spacecraft’s specific purpose, payload, or final destination. But we do know that the most recent launch had more juice than any other, perhaps enough to send X-37B into deep orbit—or even to the neighborhood of the moon.

“The technological advancements we’re driving on X-37B will benefit the broader space community, especially as we see increased interest in space sustainability,” said Michelle Parker, vice president of space mission systems for Boeing Defense, Space & Security. “We are pushing innovation and capability that will influence the next generation of spacecraft.”

The mission, known as USSF-52 or OTV-7, departed Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A last Thursday evening in Florida after a few weeks of delays because of weather and technical issues. SpaceX shut down its livestream of the launch at the request of the Space Force once X-37B reached orbit.

“My memories go back to the Gemini and Mercury programs,” said Frank Kendall, secretary of the U.S. Air Force. “This is an incredible event, and I think about the teamwork over all those decades that has led to what has been a revolutionary improvement in space travel capability. We have come so far, and it’s been teamwork by the government, the Air Force, and now the Space Force, which didn’t exist until a few years ago, NASA, industry teams, and so many others that all contributed to what we saw.”

For the first time, the reusable, self-flying spaceplane left the launchpad coupled to a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket—one of the most powerful launch vehicles in existence. The rocket’s three first-stage boosters are also reusable.

X-37B’s first five missions used Atlas V rockets made by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, while the sixth flew on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster. Each trip was confined to below 1,200 miles in altitude. Falcon Heavy, meanwhile, can reach 22,000 miles, fueling speculation that X-37B’s seventh mission may go deeper than ever before. But the Space Force has not disclosed the spaceplane’s flight plan.

The X-37B project—a collaboration between the Space Force and U.S. Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office under the National Security Space Launch program, with support from Boeing—is shrouded in secrecy.

Speculation on X-37B’s purpose ranges from new spying and reconnaissance capabilities to a weapons delivery system, the latter of which the Pentagon has denied. According to a Space Force statement, USSF-52 specifically will test operations in new “orbital regimes” and explore the effects of radiation on NASA payloads. Seeds, for example, will be exposed to the bitterness of space, perhaps to understand how humans could sustain interplanetary bases.

“The X-37B government and Boeing teams have worked together to produce a more responsive, flexible, and adaptive experimentation platform,” said William Bailey, director of the Rapid Capabilities Office. “The work they’ve done to streamline processes and adapt evolving technologies will help our nation learn a tremendous amount about operating in and returning from a space environment.”

In addition, the orbital test vehicle will experiment with “future space domain awareness technology,” which the Space Force explained is designed to enable safe and secure space operations for government and commercial users alike.

What Do We Know?

U.S. agencies have largely kept the details of X-37B under wraps, but there are a few clues as to its intended use.

The spaceplane has been in development for decades. Originally, it was a NASA-led project. In 1999, the agency enlisted Boeing’s Phantom Works—the manufacturer’s prototyping arm responsible for such cutting-edge designs as the A160 Hummingbird—to build the ambitious concept.

According to Boeing’s website, the design is an advanced reentry spacecraft geared for operations in low Earth orbit, about 150 to 500 miles above the ground. It’s the first vehicle since NASA’s space shuttle capable of returning experiments to Earth for analysis, landing on the runway like an airplane. Its goal, Boeing says, is to explore reusable technology for “long-term space objectives.”

X-37B introduced a handful of technologies that had previously never been used in spaceflight. Its state-of-the-art avionics, for example, automate de-orbiting and landing, considered some of the trickier maneuvers to make. The spaceplane’s flight controls and brakes replace hydraulics with electromechanical actuation, while a lighter composite structure stands in for traditional aluminum. The design also includes a new generation of high-durability tiles.

Not everything is new, however. The mysterious spacecraft’s landing profile and lifting body architecture—a fixed-wing configuration wherein the body itself provides lift for subsonic, supersonic, or hypersonic flight or spacecraft reentry, à la Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser—resemble the space shuttle’s.

Yet X-37B is only one-fourth as large, about the size of a small bus. It’s also much harder to track than its predecessor, capable of quickly changing orbit or “hiding” in the glare of the sun to keep its position secret.

Since its maiden voyage in April 2010, the spaceplane has spent more than 3,750 days in space, traveling an astounding 1.3 billion miles. In 2019, it won the Robert J. Collier Trophy, awarded by the National Aeronautic Association for the greatest American aeronautical or astronomical achievements of the year prior.

Another Space Race?

With each voyage, X-37B has flown farther and for longer. But at the same time, a foreign superpower is ramping up its own mysterious, state-of-the-art spaceplane project.

Boeing’s model was initially designed for a mission duration of 270 days. But since OTV-2 in 2011, each test flight has been longer than the last. 

Its sixth and most recent mission, which touched down in November 2022, lasted a record 908 days. If that’s any indication, OTV-7 will fly even longer. The mission was also the first to introduce an expanded service module that allowed the spacecraft to host more experiments than ever before, including payloads from the Naval Research Lab and more seeds from NASA.

X-37B’s seventh mission could be its last, according to comments from General B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the Space Force, in 2020. That could be consequential given activity across the Pacific. 

Earlier in December, China launched its Shenlong “Divine Dragon” on its third mission since 2020 aboard a Long March 2F rocket, which is less powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. There are no photos available of the secretive spacecraft, but it’s thought to be similar to the X-37.

Like its American counterpart, not much is known about Shenlong’s purpose. But a few weeks ago, it reportedly deployed six mysterious objects into orbit. Though the project is covert, U.S. officials are already drawing links between it and the Space Force initiative. The close timing of the two launches, in particular, has raised eyebrows—if not for delays, X-37B and Shenlong would have reached orbit within days of each other.

“It’s no surprise that the Chinese are extremely interested in our spaceplane,” Saltzman told Air & Space Forces Magazine last month. “We’re extremely interested in theirs. These are two of the most watched objects on orbit while they’re on orbit. It’s probably no coincidence that they’re trying to match us in timing and sequence of this.”

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Blue Origin, the space tourism venture of billionaire ex-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announced on X, formerly Twitter, that the company’s New Shepard rocket could fly again as soon as Monday. New Shepard had been grounded by the FAA following the crash of an uncrewed escape capsule in September 2022.

The company said it’s targeting a launch window for its next New Shepard payload mission that will open December 18. The mission, NS-24, will carry cargo in the form of science and research materials and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards—a similar payload to NS-23, the mission that failed.

In a statement earlier this year, Blue Origin identified a faulty engine nozzle as the culprit of the September 2022 mishap. Both the company and the FAA reported no injuries or damage from the incident, which occurred just over one minute into the flight. Seconds later, New Shepard’s crew capsule escaped as designed.

It’s unclear whether the capsule’s retro thrust system—which is designed to enable a soft landing—fired as intended. But Blue Origin said the capsule and all payloads “landed safely” and that they would fly again on the next mission.

That flight was expected to take place a few weeks or months later. But an FAA mishap investigation—which is standard when a launch does not go as planned—kept New Shepard grounded for more than a year until it concluded in September. As part of that investigation, the regulator required Blue Origin to take several corrective actions.

Now, it appears the company is satisfied with the changes and ready to fly again. It will still need the FAA to sign off on its launch window. But that process can happen fast, as evidenced by the rapid turnaround achieved by SpaceX for the second test flight of its Starship rocket.

While Blue Origin has been tweaking and tinkering, its main rival, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, appears to have leapfrogged the company in its bid for space tourism supremacy. Virgin completed its first commercial spaceflight in June and has flown to the edge of the atmosphere every month since, carrying both cargo and passengers.

Still, Blue Origin has a head start. Bezos’ company made a handful of commercial spaceflights in 2021 and 2022, ferrying high-profile passengers like Star Trek icon William Shatner and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan. So while the year-plus hiatus may have put it in the hole, Blue Origin remains one of the only companies to actually fly paying customers to space.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which was originally expected to debut in 2020, may have a shot at launching next year. The company has also been contracted for several NASA missions—including to the moon and Mars—and is developing the Orbital Reef commercial space station.

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That’s a question NASA is scrambling to answer. The longest-operating spacecraft in history (alongside its twin Voyager 2) is apparently experiencing an issue with one of its onboard computers—and now it can’t phone home.

According to the space agency, it could take engineers “several weeks” to even come up with a solution to the problem.

NASA said Voyager 1—which is more than 15 billion miles away from Earth on a journey to explore the farthest reaches of our solar system—is still receiving and executing commands from mission control. But the probe’s flight data system (FDS) is struggling to communicate with one of its subsystems, called the telecommunications unit (TMU).

The result is radio silence. Voyager 1’s FDS collects data from science instruments as well as engineering data about the 46-year-old spacecraft’s health and status, but none of that information is being beamed back to Earth.

The FDS packages data for the TMU to communicate to NASA in the form of binary code. But recently, the space agency said, the TMU has been “stuck” repeating the same pattern of ones and zeros.

NASA pinpointed the FDS as the source of the issue and tried the old “turn it off, turn it back on again” approach over the weekend. Yet it was to no avail—Voyager 1 is still not returning usable data, and it could be weeks before engineers come up with a new fix.

That’s because Voyager 1 is old…very old. It and its twin were launched in 1977, which makes the pair ancient as far as spacecraft go. As a result, NASA needs to pore over the original, decades-old documents—written by engineers who did not anticipate the issues arising today—to find a solution.

The space agency does not want to make a bad situation worse. To avoid any unintended consequences, its teams are working to understand how new commands will affect the probe’s operations. However, because Voyager 1 is so far away, those commands take nearly 24 hours to reach it—which means engineers need to wait close to two days to see their effects.

This isn’t the first time Voyager 1 has had issues with data transmission. In May 2022, NASA identified a glitch in the spacecraft’s telemetry system, which wasn’t resolved until August. More recently, an issue arose with Voyager 2’s communications system, but it was fixed within a week.

Voyager 1’s FDS problem won’t be solved so quickly. But NASA is hoping it can be remedied in weeks rather than months. The longer the outage, the more the agency will miss out on data from the edge of the solar system.

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Now for this week’s top story:

FAA Powered-Lift Pilot Plan Takes Flak From Industry

What happened? The FAA poked the bear. Since the agency reversed course to certify electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the powered-lift category, it’s been tasked with developing guidelines for training and certifying the pilots who will fly them. But its plan—proposed in June—did not go over well with the industry.

Too many hours: While the FAA proposed applicants should obtain a powered-lift category rating before pursuing a type rating, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and seven other groups said training should credit existing airplane and helicopter certificates. That would eliminate some hours-based requirements, which they argue are too extensive.

The industry also requested the FAA ax the requirement for eVTOL manufacturers to build and maintain a dual-control model for pilot training. Instead, they insisted on awarding more credit to training done in simulators and expanding the simulator models acceptable for instruction.

Let eVTOLs be eVTOLs: Another of the industry’s qualms centered on eVTOL operational rules, which the FAA prescribes to be similar to airplane rules. But stakeholders countered that the aircraft—many of which can take off, land, and maneuver like helicopters—don’t fit neatly into the regulations for any one aircraft type.

Instead, they suggested applying airplane and helicopter rules to eVTOL operations as appropriate. For example, they should be subject to helicopter minimum visibility requirements but be treated as airplanes when flying over water. In other words: let eVTOLs be eVTOLs.

Quick quote: “These barriers are a direct consequence of FAA reversals on this rulemaking and the content of the proposed SFAR,” GAMA said.

My take: There are many, many further criticisms in the industry’s letter that I simply didn’t have space to fit here. Suffice it to say, though, that stakeholders have a very different vision for powered-lift pilot training and certification than the FAA’s.

In essence, the groups feel the proposed requirements are too strict and will impede the pathway for an initial cohort of eVTOL pilots and instructors to emerge. They also worry about the impacts on manufacturers, whom they argue would take on too great a financial and material burden under the FAA’s plan.

This level of political coordination isn’t exactly uncommon in general aviation. But whenever it happens, you should expect results. Several of these groups (GAMA in particular) have immense political clout on Capitol Hill, and their recommendations may very well end up shaping the bulk of the final rule.

Deep dive: GAMA and Other Industry Groups Cast Shade on FAA Powered-Lift Pilot Proposal

In Other News…

DJI Now Delivers

What happened? China’s DJI, which dominates somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of the global consumer drone market, just launched its first delivery drone, FlyCart 30. Named for its 30 kilogram (66 pound) payload, the new design has some impressive features.

The specs: FlyCart 30 is a four-axis, eight-propeller multirotor design powered by a pair of batteries, capable of flying 10 miles at close to 45 mph with a full load. It won’t be hampered by inclement weather—the drone can fly in dust or moderate rain, as well as at high altitudes. It also uses an intelligent “anti-sway” system to maintain level flight in wind.

Another neat feature is the dual-control mechanism, which allows multiple pilots in different locations to control FlyCart 30 at various points along the mission. It also offers two delivery mechanisms: a standard cargo box or a winch and crane configuration that lowers items from the sky.

Deep dive: DJI Already Dominates Consumer Drones; Now It’s Getting into Delivery

Ex-CEO of Wisk Aero Joins Flying Car Racing Company

What happened? Gary Gysin, who helmed Boeing-owned Wisk from its founding in 2019 until his resignation in February, joined a company that’s already flying eVTOL aircraft. The firm, Airspeeder, currently hosts remotely piloted flying car races and is looking to begin piloted races in 2024.

A new form of competitive racing: Wisk’s self-flying Gen 6 isn’t expected to fly commercially for at least another five years, but Airspeeder’s Mk3 eVTOL is already doing laps on digitally generated tracks in the sky. The company is now developing the Mk4, a crewed variant expected to be ready for the first piloted Airspeeder races in 2024.

Last year, the firm hosted the EXA Series, a precursor to next year’s event that allowed pilots to safely familiarize themselves with the technology. Pilot commands are sent as inputs to a robot “aviator,” which mimics their movements as they navigate augmented reality obstacles. Airspeeder is backed by a pair of venture capital firms and global logistics titan DHL.

Deep Dive: Former Wisk CEO Joins Flying Car Racing Company Airspeeder

And a Few More Headlines:

• Autonomous eVTOL maker EHang said it’s on the cusp of type certification after wrapping up its latest round of flight testing.

• India became the fourth nation to put a lander on the moon and the first to land on the lunar south pole.

• Google parent Alphabet’s drone delivery arm Wing signed a deal to deliver from Walmart stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

• Reliable Robotics successfully demonstrated its continuous autopilot system for the FAA.

• Defense drone manufacturer Red Cat doubled its contract value with the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency.

Spotlight on…

Rotor X Aircraft

Who needs a pilot certificate? Not you, apparently, if you plan to fly Rotor X Aircraft’s Dragon eVTOL.

Dragon just completed its final unmanned flight tests and could be available as soon as next spring. It’s a one-seat, build-it-yourself eVTOL design that’s light enough to qualify as a Part 103 ultralight aircraft—meaning no pilot certificate is required to fly it. Rotor X claims it can be assembled over a weekend, but we’re a little skeptical.

Limiting Dragon are its speed and range: it maxes out at 63 mph (54 knots) and can stay airborne for just 20 minutes. It’s also expected to cost around $90,000 to $100,000 at purchase, more expensive than other ultralight aircraft.

It will be interesting to see if the FAA has anything to say about all this. So far, the agency has struggled to chart the path for eVTOL pilot training and certification given the novelty of the technology. Chances are the agency won’t want a bunch of inexperienced pilots flying these unfamiliar designs.

Deep Dive: One-Seat eVTOL Needs No Certificate to Fly—and It’s Ready for Piloted Tests

On the Horizon…

The biggest regulatory news this week was without a doubt GAMA and other groups’ resistance to the FAA’s powered-lift pilot proposal. But since I broke down that situation above, in last week’s newsletter, and in a story for FLYING Digital, I’ll give you all (and myself) a break here.

At the same time, other groups—such as the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and Studio City for Quiet Skies, a Los Angeles-based coalition—have pushed back on the FAA’s broader advanced air mobility (AAM) initiatives, including the Innovate28 plan for AAM integration at scale by 2028.

Other than that, there wasn’t too much action this week. But if you haven’t already read my story on the topic, consider this your first reminder: The FAA’s Remote ID rule for drones takes full effect September 16, and all operators will need to ensure their drones are equipped with the proper technology in order to continue flying.

Mark Your Calendars

Each week, I’ll be running through a list of upcoming industry events. Here are a few conferences to keep an eye on:

• Defense and Security Equipment International 2023—September 12-15 in London
• DroneX 2023—September 26-27 in London
• World Aviation Festival—September 26-28 in Lisbon, Portugal
• Airtaxi World Congress—October 2-5 in San Francisco
• FAI World Drone Racing Championship—October 6-9 near Seoul, South Korea
• Intergeo 2023—October 10-12 in Berlin
• Dronitaly—October 11-13 in Bologna, Italy
• Commercial UAV Expo—October 23-26 in Las Vegas
• World’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Conference—November 12-14 in Jerusalem

Tweet of the Week

Want to see your tweet here next week? Have comments or feedback? Share your thoughts on Twitter and tag me (@jack_daleo)! Or check out FLYING’s media accounts:

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I want to hear your questions, comments, concerns, and criticisms about everything in the modern flying space, whether they’re about a new drone you just bought or the future of space exploration. Reach out to jack@flying.media or tweet me @jack_daleo with your thoughts.

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In the early hours of Wednesday morning, India’s Vikram lunar lander, part of the country’s Chandrayaan-3 (literal translation: “moon vehicle”) mission, successfully touched down on the moon’s surface. 

The “soft landing” cemented India as just the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the earthly satellite alongside the U.S., the Soviet Union, and China. India is also the first country to land in the lunar south polar region, which is littered with craters and considered particularly difficult to reach.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the nation’s space agency, shared images captured by the lander as it approached the moon’s jagged facade.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
Updates:

The communication link is established between the Ch-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru.

Here are the images from the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera taken during the descent. #Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/ctjpxZmbom

— ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023

The mission’s success has drawn the praise of observers worldwide, from NASA administrator Bill Nelson to European Space Agency director general Josef Aschbacher and even Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Congratulations @isro on your successful  Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission! https://t.co/UJArS7gsTv

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) August 23, 2023

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also chimed in through a statement: “This success belongs to all of humanity. And it will help moon missions by other countries in the future. I am confident that all countries in the world, including those from the Global South, are capable of achieving such feats. We can all aspire for the moon and beyond.”

Historic day for India's space sector. Congratulations to @isro for the remarkable success of Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. https://t.co/F1UrgJklfp

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 23, 2023

The SUV-sized Vikram lander and a smaller rover housed within, named Pragyan, will spend the next two weeks performing an array of scientific experiments. The mission will study things like lunar mineral composition and seismic activity and, crucially, search for water ice shrouded by the south pole’s abyssal craters and craggy peaks.

Race to the Moon

India is one of several global superpowers with its eye on the moon, and its rendezvous with the lunar surface was a big deal for the country’s citizens. The hope is the mission is a sign of things to come. But other nations are now racing to send humans to the lunar south pole.

Chandrayaan-3 took off in July, sending the uncrewed Vikram lander hurtling hundreds of thousands of miles toward the desolate rocky satellite. Getting there was no small task—in fact, this week’s landing followed ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission, which failed to land Vikram on the moon in 2019.

It also came just days after Russia’s Luna-25 probe careened into the lunar surface. That mission also sought to land in the south polar region. The crash and India’s newfound success represent a major blow to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, which said it lost contact with the lander shortly after it fired its engines in preparation for descent. Luna-25 was the agency’s first moon landing attempt in nearly half a century.

An uncrewed Japanese lunar mission ended in similar fashion in April. The mission’s lander was built by lunar robotic exploration company Ispace.

The private firm’s involvement in the mission is not uncommon in the modern era of space exploration. Increasingly, NASA has enlisted the private sector to assist with uncrewed launches. Two such missions—one each helmed by Houston-based Intuitive Mechanics and Pittsburgh-based Astrobotics—are scheduled to launch in the next 12 months. SpaceX has also become a key partner for NASA, providing it with spacecraft like the Crew Dragon.

The ISRO will now compete with NASA and the China Manned Space Agency to land the first humans on the moon’s south pole—both are expected to launch crewed missions to the region before the end of the decade. China’s is expected to arrive by 2030.

The U.S. effort, Artemis III, scheduled for 2025, has enlisted SpaceX to provide the landing system that will transport humans between lunar orbit and the surface. The expedition would put American astronauts on the moon for the first time since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission.

NASA is also expected to fly Indian astronauts to the International Space Station next year. That agreement took shape around the same time India became the 27th country to sign the Artemis Accords during a June meeting between Modi and President Joe Biden. It will work with the U.S. and other signatories to establish principles to guide cooperation among nations in space exploration.

India, the U.S., and other global leaders are racing to the moon’s southern tip because there is thought to be an untapped supply of water ice nestled within the region’s craters and trenches. NASA probes and other spacecraft have so far identified small amounts of the frozen compound near the south pole, which is assumed to have a higher concentration than in other regions.

“There’s water there, which was one of the findings of Chandrayaan-1,” Ian Whittaker, a senior lecturer in physics at Nottingham Trent University, told Al Jazeera. “This water can be used for a lot of things. We could also look for building materials.”

Lunar water ice could provide records of the moon’s history and clues to the origins of oceans. But on future moon missions, it could also serve as a source of drinking water for astronauts or a coolant for their equipment. These water reserves could even be broken down to produce breathing oxygen or hydrogen fuel.

The discovery and extraction of lunar water ice could be critical to the formation of long-term human settlements on the moon. Logistically, transporting water from the Earth to the moon would be a nightmare. But if astronauts can find a way to harness the frozen sea beneath the lunar surface, countries could begin to build bases that may one day serve as waypoints for expeditions to Mars and beyond.

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“Fiefdoms come and go, kingdoms come and go. But the port itself and the location has arisen as a way in which humans collaborate and onboard and offboard commodities that get shipped around the world,” Dan Lopez, chief business officer of spaceport startup Arkisys, told FLYING.

Arkisys borrows the name of its flagship product, the Port, from earthbound maritime logistics hubs, aiming to accomplish what they have done for the planet—connect people, transfer capital, and scale up businesses.

Lopez describes the Port as the first space outpost providing assembly, integration, and resupply for private companies and startups. And his vision for its applications is as grandiose as it gets: It could one day ferry payloads to the International Space Station (ISS), refuel passing spacecraft, construct satellites in orbit, or even facilitate communications between Earth and Mars.

In short, Lopez envisions the Port as a ubiquitous, platform-agnostic hub to enable rapidly deployed space operations for companies that would never have a chance to do so. But let’s break down how Arkisys plans to do all of this.

What’s the Port?

There are a few different components to the Port architecture, each serving a unique purpose.

The Port module itself consists of one or more hexagonal spacecraft, with six detachable sides measuring about 6.5 feet high by 3.25 feet wide. Each module is constructed from steel and 3D printed elements and provides structural, thermal, electrical and data interoperability between each other and the Port’s other components, looping everything into one system.

Each side of the module is called a Cutter, which also has a maritime counterpart. Arkisys will use Cutters to ferry other companies’ payloads to and from the Port—a native integration between the two allows them to rendezvous. Importantly, those payloads could come from any number of firms, since the system is designed to be platform and vessel agnostic.

“Current orbital transport vehicles (OTVs) charge half the amount it costs to launch your payload anyway,” Lopez said. “So we thought through it, and we would be negligent in our business modeling to think that it would be OK to do that. We want other OTVs to come to the port.”

The Port and Cutter modules each fit inside larger launch vehicles. For example, Lopez said, launch systems company ABL Space Systems could send both into orbit, where the spacecraft could then guide itself into position.

To allow different payloads to attach to the Port, each of its six sides features an interface called an applique, which Lopez described as “akin to a USB in space.” The patent-pending technology inducts mechanical systems, electronics, and external protocols for data into the Port’s own systems.

“Imagine your laptop,” Lopez said. “Apple doesn’t care what you plug into it—if it plugs into a USB-C, or an adapter that translates USB-C to USB-3, maybe you have an older MIDI keyboard…That’s the exact same kind of idea, but nothing like that exists for space.”

Docking a small spacecraft, satellite, or other payload to the Port requires the precision of a neurosurgeon. So Arkisys gave it “hands” in the form of a robotic arm that can move, manipulate, and grab objects from approaching vessels. According to Lopez, the arm “essentially has a toolshed” of attachments that it can use to perform its tasks.

The final component of the Port ecosystem is the Boson’s Locker, which is essentially a shipping container for space. Each Locker has interfaces that allow it to connect to the Port and the Cutter, or be stacked on another Locker.

The Do-It-All Spacecraft

Lopez views the Port as a breeding ground for innovation but not for Arkisys. He compared it to Amazon Web Services—a product built to, well, build products.

Each Port module will be able to perform multiple functions at once. Satellite servicing and repairs, refueling of passing spacecraft, and payload delivery between Earth and orbit are a few potential use cases. Rapid prototyping, testing, and development of new space technology is another the company promises to enable early on, and mining, resource utilization, and long-distance space communications may come in the future.

But the applications get far more whimsical.

Not only is the Port expected to repair satellites—it will be able to serve as one. Arkisys can aggregate Cutters carrying radar or communications equipment to create a free-flying spacecraft, or what Lopez refers to as a “common bus.” So, in theory, an Arkisys customer could use the Cutters (or an entire Port module) as a satellite base, attaching equipment for whatever use cases they need.

Perhaps even more exciting is that Arkisys is looking to build satellites from the Port—while in orbit—as well.

It plans to do so through two interfaces, the first of which is hardwired to the Port’s robotic arm. Lopez couldn’t get into the finer details, but he explained the configuration solves certain physics problems and allows the arm to move, attach to an interface, detach, and reattach somewhere else. 

The arm’s claw, or end effector, will be able to grab materials, bolt into interfaces, and translate data, electronics, and mechanical commands and controls through them.

Arkisys will also deploy something called a HighSat, which Lopez said is akin to a CubeSat but half the size. These small satellites, each equipped with electronics and propulsion, work with a different interface that allows them to interlock with each other and create a single system. And since they can also bolt onto the Locker, Arkisys can use its arm to build new payloads—like remote sensing cameras or solar panels—and integrate them to the HighSat body.

When construction is complete, the Port acts like a launcher, ferrying the new satellite to a different location or shooting it out into an orbital plane. The collection of HighSats and equipment can also attach to a Cutter, allowing it to travel farther, faster.

Essentially, a customer could send Arkisys the materials to build a satellite, and the company would beam them to space, build it, and launch it for them.

Lopez said payloads such as remote sensing cameras—which are designed to be reusable and stay in orbit for long periods—are the most ideal fit for this application, since the Port can refurbish and relaunch them.

“We have too much stuff in space,” he said. “We’re not reusing it, and we’re programming stuff to come back to Earth and burn up. And that is just essentially deforesting our precious commodity of orbits around the Earth orbital class. So what we propose is a stable, long-duration platform.”

Arkisys can also time those launches with agility and precision, quickly sending out a satellite to snap a photo. Or, if a customer wanted to take pictures of a specific location, it could calculate the orbital plane that passes by it most frequently.

While all of this sounds a little out-of-this-world, the company recently signed a deal with the U.S. Space Force to test out its satellite-building capabilities. The project is expected to ramp up next year.

How the Port Could Change the Game

There are two key advantages the Port provides: accessibility and cost.

To that first point, a growing number of space startups are looking for ways to test and validate their ideas in space. But doing so on a hosted payload, like another company’s satellite, can restrict launch timing and duration. And testing new technology on government-owned spacecraft, like the International Space Station, has limitations resulting from the presence of humans.

“If you go up to the ISS, which [involves] an extraordinarily high amount of red tape, to test out your idea, your technology, there’s a whole bunch of other things you can and cannot do,” Lopez said.

The Port, conversely, is designed to open up new applications. Lopez listed a few potential ones: nuclear, radio and energy, microwave, and infectious disease research. He added that space travel and exploration is tightly tied to government-sponsored programs—from which Arkisys wants to move away.

“You can’t go and turn on a synthetic aperture radar or microwave antenna outside the ISS because you’ll fry the brains of cosmonauts,” said Lopez jokingly.

The other key benefit is cost. Arkisys is tight-lipped about end-to-end pricing, but its goal is to reduce the cost of launches—which is typically tens of millions of dollars—exponentially.

“We’ll take your payload or your spacecraft or whatever it is, reduce the time for integration, reduce risk, reduce costs, and then off you go,” Lopez said.

For now, interested startups can pay $5,000 to receive a ground-based version of the Port’s applique interface and integrate with Arkisys’ digital twinning program, which more than half a dozen companies have already done. The software models how a customer’s hardware would get to space and how it would behave while there, allowing them to test new scenarios—and when the time comes, integrate seamlessly with the Port.

“That’s like going to AWS [Amazon Web Services] and trying something out for five bucks,” Lopez said.

Path to Launch

Arkisys is developing its components at two facilities near Los Angeles and has conducted electronic, thermal, and propulsion testing on the ground.

The company has also built a ground unit with the subsystems needed to control a prototype robotic arm that can manipulate payloads. A few applique modules have also been completed—Lopez said the first has been delivered to a launch provider and is ready to go.

The applique is expected to launch soon, followed by the first Cutter in 2024 and an entire Port module by 2025 or 2026. Next year, Arkisys plans to launch select companies’ payloads for just $150,000 through a program called Embark U.S., sponsored by the federal government.

One of the company’s most ardent supporters has been the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an organization within the Department of Defense focused on scaling and speeding the adoption of commercial technologies. 

Through the DIU, Arkisys obtained an other transaction authority (OTA) contract that allows other agencies to quickly join their contract, especially if they have funding. According to Lopez, several research labs within the military have shown interest in launching their technologies with the company.

That interest has extended to other governments as well—for example, Arkisys is working closely with the government of New Zealand and its Ministry of Business, Education and Employment, which oversees the country’s space agency. So far, it has assisted with debris mitigation and strategies for docking in space, and the country will eventually use the Port to support more innovation.

The main thing holding back Arkisys—and the rest of the industry—is funding, Lopez said. That will most likely come from the government, which heavily backed SpaceX’s rise to stardom.

“A massive challenge is having governmental entities understand that it takes a village,” he said. “And we have to work with all of the moving parts: NASA, NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], Congress, everyone, to understand how to ramp up innovation. Otherwise, the U.S. will be struck by lightning from external forces.”

The post Meet Arkisys, the Startup Building the World’s First Private Spaceport appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

On Thursday morning, a crew of pilots and Italian researchers and engineers left the grounds of Spaceport America aboard a spaceship, hardly disturbing the sand as it took off from a runway in the middle of the Jornada del Muerto desert.

The spacecraft, VSS Unity, belongs to billionaire Richard Branson’s space tourism firm Virgin Galactic. And its passengers were the company’s first paying customers, who are now headed 50 miles up to the edge of the atmosphere on a research mission.

Thursday’s launch kicked off Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 01 mission, its sixth–ever spaceflight and just its third with humans on board. The firm considers the mission its first-ever commercial spaceflight, taking place nearly two years after Branson’s highly-publicized maiden voyage.

Initially agreed upon in 2019, Virgin Galactic’s first mission with paying customers has been planned since 2021 and was originally slated for that year. However, following Branson’s orbital jaunt, the FAA grounded Unity after the spacecraft reportedly veered off course. Less than two weeks later, engineers discovered a ‘potential defect’ in the ship that led to refurbishing delays.

Those issues kept Virgin Galactic earthbound until May, when it successfully completed the crewed Unity 25 test flight. That was the last planned launch before Galactic 01, and the company now believes its technology has been sufficiently validated for commercial flights.

The Galactic 01 crew aboard Unity consists of three Italian ticket-holders, a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor, and two pilots.

Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei is commanding the flight’s research mission, Virtute 1, which consists of more than a dozen experiments designed to make use of the journey’s zero-gravity environment. Villadei was a backup pilot for SpaceX and Axiom Space’s May Ax-2 mission to the International Space Station and will use Galactic 01 to train for a future mission to the ISS.

Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi, also with the Italian Air Force, and Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer with Italy’s National Research Council, round out the paying crew members. They are being assisted by astronaut instructor Colin Bennett, who accompanied Branson on his 2021 spaceflight.

Commander Mike Masucci, who has already been to space three times, and Pilot Nicola Pecile are flying the Unity spacecraft. And VMS Eve, the “mothership” that carries Unity to its launch altitude, is piloted by Kelly Latimer and Jameel Janjua.

Unity and Eve took off in tandem from Spaceport America at 10:40 a.m. EST and climbed together to around 45,000 feet. Virgin Galactic in a livestream called it a “perfect takeoff.”

Then, Unity separated, ignited its booster, and began ascending at three times the speed of sound to an altitude of 50 miles—considered high enough to be awarded astronaut wings.

While weightless at the mission’s apex, the Italian crew members conducted their research with a panoramic backdrop of the Earth. Then, through a process Virgin Galactic calls “feathering,” Unity realigned itself toward the Earth, descending and eventually gliding along its wings into a runway landing.

If all goes according to plan, the company expects to launch its second commercial spaceflight, Galactic 02, in August, with monthly missions to follow should it be successful. Those flights will be recreational and more akin to “true” space tourism.

So far, Virgin Galactic has sold more than 800 spots on those flights, with customers paying anywhere between $200,000 and, if they purchased tickets after 2020, $450,000. Branson envisions the company’s fleet growing large enough to eventually handle 400 flights annually.

The post Virgin Galactic Launches First Spaceflight with Paying Customers appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The space tourism firm on Sunday launched Ax-2, its second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station in conjunction with Houston-based space infrastructure developer Axiom Space. 

The launch is SpaceX’s third fully commercial flight and its 10th crewed mission to space. And it’s backed by NASA, which has agreed to support two private space tourism missions per year. The collaborative team secured one of FLYING’s Editors’ Choice Awards in 2020.

Ax-2 launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A Sunday evening in Florida, sending four people—three paying customers and one longtime NASA astronaut—hurtling toward the space station aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.

Crew Dragon took off on top of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, whose reusable lower stage booster separated from the capsule and landed vertically on the pad about eight minutes after launch.

“If SpaceX can perfect their launch infrastructure and produce a rapid-turnaround capability for these vehicles, it would greatly reduce the human effort and processing time required to fly space missions,” David Cunniff, a space strategist for national security firm Peraton, told FLYING. “Workforce labor is one of the largest cost elements in the space industry.”

The capsule then separated from Falcon 9’s upper stage as planned, arriving and docking at the space station Monday morning.

Now the crew will spend eight days aboard the satellite, conducting more than 20 experiments supporting research on cancer, DNA, the impact of gravity on inexperienced astronauts, and more. That will support Axiom’s goal of developing its own independent commercial space station when the ISS is retired at the end of the decade. Axiom will even begin adding its own rooms to the space station, with plans to later remove them and form a stand-alone outpost.

After learning from the space station’s current occupants, the crew will return to Earth, splashing down off the coast of Florida.

“This journey is the culmination of long hours of training, planning, and dedication from the crew and the entire Axiom Space team, our partners at SpaceX, and of course, a credit to NASA’s vision to develop a sustainable presence in low-Earth orbit,” said Michael Suffredini, president and CEO of Axiom.

The Ax-2 crew is led by Peggy Whitson, an Axiom employee and former NASA astronaut who has spent more time in space than any American or woman in history.

“Good to be here. It was a phenomenal ride!” Whitson radioed to SpaceX Chief Engineer Bill Gerstenmeier, who congratulated the crew from the ground after Crew Dragon separated from Falcon 9.

Three more crew members paid an undisclosed fee to Axiom for their seats: pilot John Shoffner, an American racecar driver, investor, and businessman; Ali al’Qarni, a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force; and stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi, the first Saudi Arabian woman in space.

“We are now living a dream that we did not expect to become a reality,” Barnawi said Sunday after reaching the space station. “This trip represents Saudis and the entire Arab world. It is also an opportunity to discover space.”

Ax-2 follows Axiom’s 2022 Ax-1 mission, the first privately crewed launch to the ISS, which sent another former astronaut and three paying customers to space. It’s also a milestone for SpaceX, which is rapidly becoming the leader in commercial space travel and is currently evaluating last month’s Starship test launch to identify areas of improvement.

“SpaceX has often used ‘failures’ as valuable data gathering events,” Cunniff said of the attempt. “One might say that they have re-defined what a failure is for the industry, as any mission or launch activity can and does produce valuable data that can be useful for future successful attempts. Often, this data is obtained at much lower cost (and in less time) than otherwise required for a rigorous engineering analysis and test series.”

While it’s unclear how large of an impact Ax-2’s research efforts will have on the creation of a new space station, the mission undoubtedly will give NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom more information to use in future missions.

The post SpaceX Sends Paying Customers on Ax-2 Mission to ISS appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Billionaire business mogul Richard Branson’s space tourism firm has been quiet since the founder’s highly publicized maiden voyage in 2021. But on Monday, the firm announced its return to space with a test flight later this month, which could finally clear the way for a commercial launch in June.

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity and VMS Eve, the spacecraft and “mothership” that enabled Branson’s July 2021 flight, have been sidelined for years. At first it was because of a Federal Aviation Administration investigation—like the one currently grounding SpaceX’s Starship—which ended that September. Then it was due to delays in refurbishing its aircraft.

Last month, the firm finally got back in the air with an in-orbit test flight, the Unity 24 mission. But this month’s scheduled launch, Unity 25, would send VSS Unity into space for just the fifth time.

The test flight will serve as a “final assessment” of the company’s core offering, an hour-and-a-half-long jaunt to the edge of the atmosphere.

• READ MORE: Commercial Space Travel Is a Giant Leap for the One Percent

VSS Unity will ascend in tandem with VMS Eve until around 50,000 feet, when the spacecraft will separate from the mothership and continue its climb alone. After spending some time hovering in the heavens, it will adjust its trajectory back to Earth before descending and gliding into a landing.

Unity 25 is slated to be crewed by four astronauts: Beth Moses, who on a prior Virgin Galactic mission became the first woman to reach space on a commercially launched vehicle; Jamila Gilbert, who will join Moses as one of the first 100 women to reach space; Christopher Huie, who would become the 19th Black astronaut in the world; and Luke Mays, a 25-year NASA vet.

An additional two pilots will be onboard, while two others will be stationed at Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic’s launch site outside Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic had initially expected to be flying commercially by 2007. Since then, that date has been pushed back on several occasions, each time accompanied by Branson’s promise that the service would be operational in a few months or years. But crashes and unhappy investors have so far derailed the billionaire’s efforts.

Could this time be for real, though? Branson will certainly hope so. Since 2018, Virgin Galactic has recorded $1.5 billion in operating losses, punctuated by a $150 million net loss in Q4 2022—a nearly 50 percent increase year over year.

A fresh test flight and subsequent commercial launch could smooth things over. If this month’s test run is successful, Virgin Galactic is expected to deliver four officers from the Italian Air Force to the edge of the atmosphere next month. Following that, the firm hopes to complete as many as 400 trips per year.

Virgin Galactic’s main space tourism rival is Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin, which flew Bezos to space just weeks after Branson’s trip (and William Shatner a few months after that). The company hasn’t had a launch since September 2022, when its New Shepard rocket exploded after minutes, though the spacecraft is expected to be back in action this year.

• READ MORE: Shatner Left Saddened by Space Travel

As of July 2021, Blue Origin had sold nearly $100 million in tickets. But Virgin Galactic may have it beat—as of Monday, it had sold around 800 tickets worth $210 million. It’s worth noting, however, that only 200 of those were bought at the current $450,000 price tag, and several were purchased a decade ago.

It will likely take decades for space travel to become affordable to the average person if it ever does. Until then, Virgin Galactic will make its money by courting the super-rich with promises of “breathtaking views” and “life-changing transformation,” per its website. Successful launches this month and next could help curry favor.

The post Virgin Galactic Plans Return to Space This Month appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The 400-foot-tall rocket and booster departed the company’s Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, bombastically, leaving a trail of ignited propellant in its wake.

But a few minutes into the orbital test flight, as Starship’s super heavy booster was preparing to separate from the rocket, the spacecraft exploded, sending a ball of fiery debris hurtling into the Gulf of Mexico. The mission was uncrewed, so no humans were on board.

My Autotrack software captures the moment that Starship lost control. Excitement was very much guaranteed. Great first attempt by the SpaceX team!

Tune in to hear our live reaction! @NASASpaceflight https://t.co/uutBwWSABz pic.twitter.com/in201JaOiU

— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) April 20, 2023

According to SpaceX spokeswoman Kate Tice, it’s still unclear what caused the explosion. 

For about four minutes, Starship traveled along its expected path, though reports suggest some of the rocket’s 33 first-stage engines failed to ignite. It’s possible the rocket’s flight termination system, sensing the vehicle was going off course, triggered the explosion at the point of separation. Or, it could just be that natural forces tore it apart.

SpaceX called the event a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

By SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s standards, though, the test flight was a success. While Starship did not complete its more ambitious goals, it did comfortably clear the launch pad, and Musk on Sunday said he “would consider that to be a success.”

“Just don’t blow up the launchpad,” he half-jokingly told thousands of listeners during a Twitter Spaces that evening.

By Musk’s estimation, the launchpad would take “months” to repair, sidelining test flights for the foreseeable future. So despite the explosion, the launch will give the SpaceX team valuable data for future missions without incurring rebuilding costs.

Plus, this isn’t unusual. Starship prototypes have crashed or exploded in several previous missions, and the company has been known to embrace such incidents as progress toward a greater goal.

“Success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” it said in a Tweet.

Even agencies like NASA experience explosions. The most infamous, of course, was the Challenger explosion, but similar incidents are not exactly uncommon.

Bill Nelson, the former Democratic senator from Florida and current NASA administrator, congratulated SpaceX for a successful test flight on Twitter: “Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test—and beyond.”

Speaking of the next test flight, Musk dropped a hint at when that may take place.

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!

Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

Barring an unanticipated rift, SpaceX will have NASA’s full backing for its next test. The two have already completed several successful resupply missions to the International Space Station using SpaceX’s Dragon, the most recent of which concluded over the weekend.

Now, they want to go deeper into the unknown. Starship was designed to do more than just orbit the Earth—its eventual purpose, SpaceX and NASA say, is to ferry hundreds of humans at a time to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

As it stands, the plan is for SpaceX to help NASA astronauts land on the moon in 2025, which would mark humanity’s first return to its surface in over 50 years. And Musk has claimed that the firm will land humans on Mars by 2029, but he’ll look to beat out a pair of private spaceflight firms that are each targeting rover landings sometime in 2024.

All of those projects will rely on a successful Starship orbital test flight. But despite Thursday’s explosion, Musk and SpaceX have time to iron out the kinks.

The post SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Explodes Minutes After Launch appeared first on FLYING Magazine.