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By NASA
NASA has selected multiple companies to expand the agency’s Near Space Network’s commercial direct-to-Earth capabilities services, which is a mission-critical communication capability that allows spacecraft to transmit data directly to ground stations on Earth.
The work will be awarded under new Near Space Network services contracts that are firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts. Project timelines span from February 2025 to September 2029, with an additional five-year option period that could extend a contract through Sept. 30, 2034. The cumulative maximum value of all Near Space Network Services contracts is $4.82 billion.
Some companies received multiple task orders for subcategories identified in their contracts. Awards are as follows:
Intuitive Machines of Houston will receive two task order awards on its contract for Subcategory 1.2 GEO to Cislunar Direct to Earth (DTE) Services and Subcategory 1.3 xCislunar DTE Services to support NASA’s Lunar Exploration Ground Segment, providing additional capacity to alleviate demand on the Deep Space Network and to meet the mission requirements for unique, highly elliptical orbits. The company also previously received a task order award for Subcategory 2.2 GEO to Cislunar Relay Services. Kongsberg Satellite Services of Tromsø, Norway, will receive two task order awards on its contract for Subcategory 1.1 Earth Proximity DTE and Subcategory 1.2 to support science missions in low Earth orbit and NASA’s Lunar Exploration Ground Segment, providing additional capacity to alleviate demand on the Deep Space Network. SSC Space U.S. Inc. of Horsham, Pennsylvania, will receive two task order awards on its contract for Subcategories 1.1 and 1.3 to support science missions in low Earth orbit and to meet the mission requirements for unique, highly elliptical orbits. Viasat, Inc. of Duluth, Georgia, will be awarded a task order on its contract for Subcategory 1.1 to support science missions in low Earth orbit. The Near Space Network’s direct-to-Earth capability supports many of NASA’s missions ranging from climate studies on Earth to research on celestial objects. It also will play a role in NASA’s Artemis campaign, which calls for long-term exploration of the Moon.
NASA’s goal is to provide users with communication and navigation services that are secure, reliable, and affordable, so that all NASA users receive the services required by their mission within their latency, accuracy, and availability requirements.
These awards demonstrate NASA’s ongoing commitment to fostering strong partnerships with the commercial space sector, which plays an essential role in delivering the communications infrastructure critical to the agency’s science and exploration missions.
As part of the agency’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program, teams at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will carry out the work of the Near Space Network. The Near Space Network provides missions out to 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers) with communications and navigation services, enabling spacecraft to exchange critical data with mission operators on Earth. Using space relays in geosynchronous orbit and a global system of government and commercial direct-to-Earth antennas on Earth, the network brings down terabytes of data each day.
Learn more about NASA’s Near Space Network:
https://www.nasa.gov/near-space-network
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Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Jeremy Eggers
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
757-824-2958
jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov
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By Space Force
The new squadron, which falls under Space Delta 11, marks a critical milestone in advancing the Space Force’s ability to test, train, and prepare for cyber threats in the contested space domain.
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 4 min read
Sols 4398-4401: Holidays Ahead, Rocks Under the Wheels
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on Dec. 17, 2024, at 23:24:13 UTC — Sol 4396, or Martian day 4,396, or the Mars Science Laboratory mission. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024
It’s almost holiday time, and preparations are going ahead on Earth and Mars! For myself that means having a packed suitcase sitting behind me to go on my holiday travels tomorrow morning. For Curiosity that means looking forward to a long semi-rest, as we will not do our usual planning for the geology and mineralogy, but will still be monitoring the atmospheric conditions throughout. Today should have been a normal planning day with lots of contact and remote science. Well, Mars had other ideas.
The regular readers of this blog know that we are driving through quite difficult terrain. The image above gives a good impression on what the rover is dealing with: lots of rocks embedded in sand. I think even hiking would be quite difficult there, let alone driving autonomously. Curiosity, thanks to our excellent rover drivers, makes it successfully most of the time, but here and there Mars just doesn’t play nice. Thus, the rover stopped after 14 meters (about 46 feet) of a planned much longer drive. One of the wheels had caught a low spot between two rocks, and — safety first — the rover stopped and waited for our assessment. The rover drivers found no major problem, as it’s just the middle wheel that hit a bit of a rough patch, and driving can continue in this plan. But better safe than sorry, especially on another planet where there are no tow trucks to get us out of difficulty!
There was, however, quite a bit of discussion before we decided that course of action. Not because of the wheels themselves, but because the rover also stands in a position where it can only communicate directly with Earth in limited ways as the antenna is not facing the expected direction after the sudden stop. Of course, we still have the orbiters to talk to our rover, so we know it’s all fine. And — all things are three — this all happened on the penultimate plan of the year! Friday we’ll be planning a large set of sols that the rover will be executing on its own on Mars, monitoring the atmosphere and taking regular images of its surroundings, while the Earth-based team enjoys the well-deserved break. We really want to make sure to have everything going right on a day like today, so we all can enjoy the holidays without worrying about the rover!
With today being the last day of normal science planning, we had lots of ideas, but had to keep the arm stowed. The drive fault also meant that we had to forego arm movements, as the rover was sitting on a few rocks, and one of the wheels in that little depression that stopped us, all in ways that meant that a shift of rover weight (such as occurs when we move the arm) could make the rover move. Avoiding this situation, the team kept the arm stowed and focused on remote observations today. ChemCam observes a vein target called “Monrovia Peak” and takes remote images on the target “Jawbone Canyon” and up Mount Sharp toward the yardang unit. Mastcam looks at the target “Circle X Ranch” to investigate the material around the rocks embedded in the sand, looks at “Anacapa Island,” which is a vein target, “Channel Islands,” which is an aeolian ripple, and target “Gould Mesa,” which gets the team especially excited as this is the first glimpse of the so-called boxwork structures, which we saw from orbit even before Curiosity landed. Finally, we drive away from the spot that held us up today. Let’s hope Mars has read the script this time!
For the looooong break, we are planning autonomous and remote investigations only, and this starts before Friday’s planning, so that we know all is ok! Thus, the other three sols in today’s planning have Aegis, the automated ChemCam LIBS observation, a Mastcam 360° mosaic, and many, many atmospheric observations. It’s going to be a feast for DAN, REMS, and generally the atmospheric science on Mars, while here on Earth we enjoy the treats of the season. The Curiosity team hopes you do, too. See you in 2025!
Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
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Last Updated Dec 20, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
Thales Alenia Space A maze of cables and sensors snakes through a major piece of Gateway, humanity’s first space station around the Moon, during a key testing phase earlier this year to ensure the lunar-orbiting science lab can withstand the harsh conditions of deep space.
HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) is one of four Gateway modules where international teams of astronauts will live, conduct science, and prepare for missions to the lunar South Pole region. Other elements will be provided by the European Space Agency, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre of the United Arab Emirates. The Canadian Space Agency is providing Gateway’s Canadarm3 advanced robotics system.
HALO is provided by Northrop Grumman and their subcontractor, Thales Alenia Space. The module completed testing in Turin, Italy, before its expected arrival to the United States in 2025. Northrop Grumman will complete final outfitting of HALO and integrate it with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element for launch ahead of the Artemis IV mission on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
Image credit: Thales Alenia Space
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov approaches the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above Ontario, Canada, near James Bay. NASA published a new report Thursday highlighting 17 agency mechanisms that have directly and indirectly supported the development and growth of the U.S. commercial space sector for the benefit of humanity.
The report, titled Enabling America on the Space Frontier: The Evolution of NASA’s Commercial Space Development Toolkit, is available on the agency’s website.
“This is the most extensive and comprehensive historical analysis produced by NASA on how it has contributed to commercial space development over the decades,” said Alex MacDonald, NASA chief economist. “These efforts have given NASA regular access to space with companies, such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab, modernizing our communications infrastructure, and even led to the first private lunar lander thanks to Intuitive Machines. With commercial space growth accelerating, this report can help agency leaders and stakeholders assess the numerous mechanisms that the agency uses to support this growth, both now and in the future.”
Throughout its history, NASA has supported the development of the commercial space sector, not only leading the way in areas such as satellite communications, launch, and remote sensing, but also developing new contract and operational models to encourage commercial participation and growth. In the last three decades, NASA has seen the results of these efforts with commercial partners able to contribute more to missions across NASA domains, and increasingly innovative agency-led efforts to engage, nurture, and integrate these capabilities. These capabilities support the agency’s mission needs, and have seen a dramatic rise in importance, according to the report.
NASA has nurtured technology, companies, people, and ideas in the commercial space sector, contributing to the U.S. and global economies, across four distinct periods in the agency’s history:
1915–1960: NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA’s pre-Apollo years. 1961–1980: Apollo era. 1981–2010: Space shuttle era. 2011–present: Post-shuttle commercial era. Each of these time periods are defined by dominant technologies, programs, or economic trends further detailed in the report.
Though some of these mechanisms are relatively recent, others have been used throughout the history of NASA and NACA, leading to some overlap. The 17 mechanisms are as follows:
Contracts and Partnership Agreements Research and Technology Development (R&TD) Dissemination of Research and Scientific Data Education and Workforce Development Workforce External Engagement and Mobility Technology Transfer Technical Support Enabling Infrastructure Launch Direct In-Space Support Standards and Regulatory Framework Support Public Engagement Industry Engagement Venture Capital Engagement Market Stimulation Funding Economic Analysis and Due Diligence Capabilities Narrative Encouragement NASA supports commercial space development in everything from spaceflight to supply chains. Small satellite capabilities have inspired a new generation of space start-ups, while new, smaller rockets, as well as new programs are just starting. Examples include CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), commercial low Earth orbit destinations, human landing systems, commercial development of NASA spacesuits, and lunar terrain vehicles. The report also details many indirect ways the agency has contributed to the vibrance of commercial space, from economic analyses to student engagement.
The agency’s use of commercial capabilities has progressed from being the exception to the default method for many of its missions. The current post-shuttle era of NASA-supported commercial space development has seen a level of technical development comparable to the Apollo era’s Space Race. Deploying the 17 commercial space development mechanisms in the future are part of NASA’s mission to continue encouraging commercial space activities.
To learn more about NASA’s missions, please visit:
https//:www.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Dec 19, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related Terms
Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article
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