SpaceNews This Week | Vector performs second test flight of smallsat launch vehicle

08.04.17 View this email in your browser Vector performs second test flight of smallsat launch vehicle Jeff Foust — Vector, a company developing the Vector-R small launch vehicle, carried out what it said was a second successful low-altitude test flight of the rocket from a Georgia site Aug. 3. The Vector-R rocket lifted off from future site of Spaceport Camden in Camden County, Georgia, near the Atlantic coast, at about 12:25 p.m. Eastern. The launch, designated B.002 by the company, is the second in a series of several test flights planned for the Vector-R. The company did not immediately release details about the flight, but declared the launch a success in social media posts immediately after the brief flight. The Series H round gives SpaceX a valuation of $21.2 billion, making it one of the most valuable privately-held companies. That valuation is a 75 percent increase over the company's value from its last funding round, a $1 billion investment led by Google and Fidelity in January 2015 that valued SpaceX at $12 billion. ComSpOC warned Bolivian space agency of EchoStar-3 pass Caleb Henry —  Analytical Graphics Inc. of Exton, Pennsylvania contacted the Bolivian Space Agency July 29 to warn that its sole satellite was in the approximate path of EchoStar's uncommunicative EchoStar-3 satellite. AGI's Paul Welsh, vice president of business development, told SpaceNews Aug. 3 that ComSpOC, the company's Commercial Space Operations Center, has tracked EchoStar-3 as it moved past two satellites so far — the SES-2 satellite for global fleet operator SES, and Tupak Katari-1, operated by the Agencia Boliviana Espacial, or ABE. SES is a member of the Space Data Association, as is EchoStar, meaning the operator automatically received information about the upcoming pass through the organization's Space Data Center. ABE however, is not a member. USAF sees "minimal" mission impact with AEHF-4 satellite launch delay Michael Fabey — A problem with the power regulator on the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF)-4 satellite is forcing the U.S. Air Force to slip the launch of the satellite until the coming calendar year but the service says the delay will not result in a major mission impact. The target date for the for the satellite was Oct. 17, Capt. AnnMarie Annicelli, an Air Force spokeswoman, said. "The AEHF-4 launch is delayed due to an issue with a power regulator unit that was discovered in January 2017 and confirmed via testing in Apr 2017," she said. Raytheon under "pressure" after GPS 3 ground control network extension Michael Fabey — Following an acknowledgment of another deployment extension for the GPS 3 ground control network, the U.S. Air Force publicly and forcefully called on contractor Raytheon to put the program back on track. It will take at least another additional nine months to deploy the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX), Capt. AnnMarie Annicelli, an Air Force spokeswoman, said July 31. "The OCX program has been a troubled program from the beginning," she said in a July 31 email. "We are placing a lot of pressure on the contractor, and expect Raytheon to do the job they are contracted to perform." Orbital ATK increases government satellite work to make up for commercial shortfall Jeff Foust — With the commercial satellite market in its deepest doldrums in at least a decade, Orbital ATK says it is making up for the shortfall with increased government satellite business. Orbital ATK reported revenues of $1.115 billion for the second quarter of 2017 in financial results released Aug. 3, up from $1.084 billion in the same quarter of 2016. Operating income for the quarter was $135.7 million, down from $147.5 million in the same quarter of 2016 because of one-time profit adjustments last year. In otherwise favorable news about the company's finances, Orbital ATK President and Chief Executive David Thompson said demand for commercial geostationary orbit communications satellites remained weak. Three Orbcomm OG2 satellites malfunctioning, fate to be determined Caleb Henry — Three satellites in Orbcomm's recently launched fleet of low-Earth orbit satellites have ceased communicating, reducing the operator's second-generation constellation by a third of its envisioned strength if not recovered. Anomalies occurring almost once a month since April have sidelined the satellites one by one, but have not jeopardized service for customers relying on them to carry machine-to-machine and internet-of-things data, Marc Eisenberg, Orbcomm CEO told investors Aug. 3.  With only 12 of 18 satellites now operating as planned, Eisenberg said Orbcomm is planning a smaller batch of third-generation satellites coined OG3 that will serve as a gapfiller. As annual SmallSat gathering convenes, small satellites have never been a bigger deal Debra Werner — When Pat Patterson was a student at Utah State University in 1987, a friend told him about a conference on small satellites taking place on the campus. "What's a small satellite?" he replied. Over the next few years as Patterson earned his bachelor's, master's and PhD in electrical engineering at Utah State, he learned that most satellites in orbit were the size of school buses. "That made no sense to me," Patterson told SpaceNews in a recent interview. "As I got closer to the small satellite community, I realized they were onto something." Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Advertise with Us | Privacy Policy | Subscribe Copyright © 2017 SpaceNews Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: SpaceNews Inc. 1414 Prince St, Suite 204 Alexandria, VA 22314