LeoLabs

We're proud to share that we've been selected to support the launch and operations of the UK Space Command's Project Tyche by delivering space tracking and monitoring, and collision avoidance services. "LeoLabs is proud to support the UK Space Command and the UK Ministry of Defence as it takes this significant step towards developing the UK's first constellation of ISR satellites in #LEO," said LeoLabs CEO Tony Frazier. "We look forward to acting as a critical mission partner to the UK and its Allies for this and future missions, enabling the continued safety and security of #space."

"For #VLEO to be successful, operators will need a more sophisticated situational awareness network that allows more eyes to be on the sky," says LeoLabs Daniel Ceperley. That's why we're building next-generation radar technology with VLEO in mind. Learn more about the growing opportunities and challenges in VLEO in Kratos Defense and Security Solutions' latest deep dive.

今週は Spacetide, SWF Summit, LSAS Workshop に弊社メンバーが参加予定です。私も本日午後、Spacetide にて登壇いたします。ぜひお気軽にお声がけください。どんと見据えて!

We're in Tokyo this week as proud sponsors of the Secure World Foundation's #SWFSummit24. If you're attending, don't miss our Senior Technical Fellow Dr Darren McKnight's presentation on Orbital Debris Remediation on July 12 at 11:50 am local time. Learn more: https://www.swfsummit.org/

Happy Independence Day from SpOC! As we celebrate the birth of our nation, we also honor the service members who protect our freedom across all domains. At SpOC, we are dedicated to ensuring space superiority and operational readiness, safeguarding the satellites and communication networks that keep us connected and secure. Today, we salute our service members who tirelessly work to defend our nation's interests in the final frontier. Enjoy the fireworks, and remember the stars above are also part of the domain we proudly serve. Stay safe and have a stellar 4th of July! #IndependenceDay #USSpaceForce #SpaceForce #USSF5 #SemperSupra #ViaVincimus #BuildOnAndBuildOut

On June 26 EST, we first shared publicly that we had detected a debris-generating event in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). A non-operational Russian spacecraft, #ResursP1 (SATNO 39186), released several fragments between 13:05 UTC 26 June and 00:51 UTC 27 June. The ~6,000 kg satellite was in a nearly circular orbit at ~355 km at the time of the event.   After several days of tracking and studying the resulting debris cloud, we estimate that the event created at least ~250 fragments and the cloud extended to at least 500 km.    What caused the breakup?    To identify the most likely root cause of this event we leveraged detailed measurements by our radars, in-house expertise, and our breakup assessment tool. This tool uses data and contextual information, such as the fragment size distribution, symmetry of the cloud, energetics of the cloud, and state of the parent object to ascertain the most likely cause for a fragmentation event.    While much of the debris cloud has yet to be analyzed fully, our preliminary assessment concludes that the most likely cause of the event is a low intensity explosion.    This explosion could’ve been triggered by external stimuli such as an impact by a small fragment (not currently cataloged) or an internal structural failure leading to a propulsion system failure. We will continue to analyze the remnants from this event and update our assessment, as appropriate.   What’s the significance?    This event demonstrates the ongoing risk of defunct spacecraft in orbit. Resurs P1 was decommissioned in 2021 and likely going to de-orbit naturally later this year due to atmospheric drag. There are over 2,500 long-lived intact derelict hardware (i.e., abandoned rocket bodies and non-operational payloads) that may suffer a similar fate to Resurs P1 over time.    In addition, this event highlights the importance of quickly tracking, cataloging, and characterizing fragments accurately and frequently to understand the collision risk to surrounding objects and to aid in forensics of on-orbit events.    Based on our analysis, any spacecraft operating up to 500 km in altitude may be affected by the resulting fragments from this event. Within this region of #LEO, many CubeSats, scientific satellites, and human spaceflight operate. Due to the low orbit of this debris cloud, we estimate it will be weeks to months before the collision hazard has passed. #SpaceSafety #SpaceSustainability

Update: We are now tracking at least 180 fragments resulting from this event. We expect this number to increase in the coming days. We are actively analyzing the debris cloud to characterize it, identify a potential cause, and estimate the impact. More details to follow.

LeoLabs has detected a debris-generating event in Low Earth Orbit. Early indications are that a non-operational Russian spacecraft, Resurs P1 (SATNO 39186), released a number of fragments between 13:05 UTC 26 June and 00:51 UTC 27 June. The ~6,000 kg satellite was in a nearly circular orbit at ~355 km at the time of the event. LeoLabs will continue to monitor the resulting debris cloud and provide more details in the near future.

LeoLabs' CEO Tony Frazier spoke alongside Chad Anderson, Richard DalBello, Siamak Hesar, and Peter Marquez at Space Capital's recent summit to discuss the future of space and the critical need for more robust space safety and security services and systems to ensure the continuity of missions in Low Earth Orbit.    "The time is now," explained Tony, to build services and systems that are responsive to the needs of both commercial and government operators and are interoperable for global collaboration. "Countries around the world will have a similar need. Once there's cooperation at the government-to-government level, then collaboration will be enabled through both data and software."   Watch the full panel below. Thank you, Space Capital for hosting us at such a timely and insightful event. #SpaceSafety #SpaceSecurity #TRACSS

#OnThisDay in 2018, The White House issued Space Policy Directive-3, providing guidance and direction to federal agencies to promote the safety, stability, and sustainability of U.S. space operations as space becomes increasingly congested and contested. Six years later, the U.S. government has progressed in implementing SPD-3 thanks to efforts by OMB, National Space Council, and Congress to follow through with the funding and leadership support needed for departments and agencies to execute their assigned tasks. For the U.S. Department of Commerce, this has meant significant budget increases to field the Traffic Coordination System for Space (#TraCSS)—up from a few million dollars a couple years ago to tens of millions of dollars today! Secretary Gina Raimondo and Deputy Secretary Don Graves have been instrumental in supporting the TraCSS program within the Department of Commerce and before Congress. Among other things, SPD-3 named the Department of Commerce as the civil agency that should be responsible for freely disseminating the publicly releasable portion of United States Department of Defense space object catalog via an open architecture data repository. TraCSS will be that open data repository, providing basic space situational awareness (SSA) data and basic #SpaceTrafficCoordination (STC) services, including timely warning of potential collisions, free of direct user fees. SPD-3 also directed the Department of Commerce, in coordination with the Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Transportation, and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to lead efforts to encourage and facilitate continued U.S. commercial leadership in SSA, STC, and related S&T. Per this direction, OSC is integrating commercial SSA capabilities into TraCSS and limiting the free TraCSS services to a basic set of inherently governmental safety functions, leaving U.S. commercial firms free to innovate and sell enhanced services. SPD-3 assigned many additional tasks to DOC and other agencies, who have done much to execute them over the past few years. Read the full text at https://lnkd.in/eVeH--_e ⚠️ NOTE: SPD-3 uses the term “space traffic management” (STM), but conceptually means STC when doing so. As true STM requires technology advances, and nobody today has authority to direct global space traffic, OSC is focused on SSA and STC as a productive step forward.