News from SmallSat | Cardillo hopes to foster next “unicorn” by inviting innovators to feed at NGA’s data trough

View this email in your browser SpaceNews' show daily for the 31st Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites Today is Tuesday, August 8, 2017 Cardillo hopes to foster next "unicorn" by inviting innovators to feed at NGA's data trough DEBRA WERNER — The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency plans to establish a public-private partnership that would allow companies and academic researchers to dip into its vast geospatial-data archive in exchange for access to the new products and services they create, like change-detection algorithms, hyperspectral imagery applications or automated ways to label objects in images. "Our idea is to invest the data into the U.S. economy, U.S. companies, universities and inventors," NGA Director Robert Cardillo said Aug. 7 at the annual Conference on Small Satellites. "We give data and get back data and technology in return." The U.S. government has decades worth of geospatial imagery labeled to identify its contents as well as maps and other types of geographic information system (GIS) data. "We must find inventors who have the skill and talent and experience to take that and turn it into something even more valuable," Cardillo said. "For example, if a company comes up with a great change-detection algorithm, they can sell it commercially and become the next unicorn. We just want to be able to use the new invention ourselves and combine it with our classified sources and apply it across our mission spectrum." SEE FULL STORY Cubesat reliability a growing issue as industry matures JEFF FOUST — As cubesats move from technology demonstrations and university projects to operational missions for companies and government agencies, ensuring those spacecraft are sufficiently reliable is a growing issue for the industry. In an Aug. 6 presentation at the 31st Annual Conference on Small Satellites here, Michael Johnson, chief technologist for the applied engineering and technology directorate of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, warned that despite increasing interest in cubesats and other smallsats at the agency to perform various missions, a lack of assurance about their reliability would keep NASA from pursuing them for some applications. "Because we cannot quantify the mission confidence of cubesat subsystems, we can't use them for certain types of missions," he said. SEE FULL STORY . NGA director supports commercial remote-sensing regulatory reform JEFF FOUST — Facing increasing pressure from both industry and Congress, the head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said the federal government is taking steps to streamline the licensing process for commercial remote sensing satellites. In a keynote address Aug. 7 at the 31st Annual Conference on Small Satellites here, NGA Director Robert Cardillo said he also expected the newly-reconstituted National Space Council to play a role in speeding up the license application review process as more companies and organizations propose small satellite systems for Earth imaging. Cardillo shared the assessment of others in both industry and government that the sometimes lengthy delays in getting commercial remote sensing licenses from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is caused in large part by the surge in license applications, including from companies planning constellations of satellites or proposing other novel applications that required extended review. "As everyone knows, the volume, variety and complexity of commercial remote sensing licensing requests continue to grow dramatically," he said. SEE FULL STORY Related: Commercial remote sensing companies seek streamlined regulations York and Accion join forces to offer small satellite propulsion DEBRA WERNER — York Space Systems, a Colorado startup planning to mass manufacture standard spacecraft buses, is joining forces with Accion Systems to offer customers the option of integrating Accion's ion engine with their satellites. York and Accion announced the agreement Aug. 7 at the Small Satellite conference here. York is building a factory in Denver to produce as many as 200 satellites per year. The firm plans to charge customers $675,000 to $1 million for next-day delivery of three-axis stabilized satellite buses designed to support payloads weighing up to 85 kilograms. Although the satellite buses are common, York will offer customers standard options, including propulsion. With the new agreement, customers seeking propulsion for their York satellites will be able to choose between Accion's electric propulsion system and Enpulsion of Austria's Field Effect Electric Propulsion. SEE FULL STORY   Related: Smallsats need small propulsion. Boston startup Accion has a few big ideas. Lithuanian nano-spacecraft industry player obtains 3.2M euros to commercialize propulsion system JAROSLAW ADAMOWSKI —  Lithuanian nano-spacecraft equipment maker NanoAvionics has announced the company secured some 3.2 million euros ($3.7 million) in funding to commercialize its Enabling Propulsion System for Small Satellites (EPSS), and performed a successful in-orbit test of its chemical propulsion system onboard a cubesat. The EPSS "provided the 3U CubeSat LituanicaSAT-2 with 10 cm/s of delta-V, making an evident change in its orbit parameters," NanoAvionics said in a statement. The CubeSat was launched into a polar sun-synchronous orbit June 23, and the test was performed July 5. The company's senior management says that NanoAvionics is confident about the commercial potential of its system, and the market forecast for the global smallsat market is quite optimistic. "Despite the obvious growth in numbers small satellites, in particular constellations, are becoming strong competitors to their big counterparts," Vytenis Buzas, the chief executive and co-founder of NanoAvionics, told SpaceNews. SEE FULL STORY Stop by our booth to sign up for free trial subscriptions. We're in the Field House next to the stage. Follow SpaceNews Advertise with Us Copyright © 2017 SpaceNews Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: SpaceNews Inc. 1414 Prince St, Suite 204 Alexandria, VA 22314