Oklahoma Spaceport Secures Dawn Aerospace Partnership for Hypersonic Travel

Ursa Major's Hypersonic Engine Contract

• 🚀 Ursa Major has been selected by Stratolaunch to develop and deliver 16 upgraded Hadley H13 engines for their hypersonic test program.
• 💡 The Hadley H13 engine is an upgraded variant designed to increase engine reusability and reduce cost per flight, supporting sustained Mach 5+ flight.
• 🎯 This contract is seen as a direct support to US hypersonic test infrastructure and the broader imperative to accelerate high-speed flight programs for national security.

UK's Orpheus Space Domain Awareness Mission

• 🛰️ The UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory awarded a £5.15 million satellite contract to Astroscale UK for the Orpheus Space Domain Awareness Mission.
• 🔬 Astroscale UK will design and build two near-identical cubats to observe and collect critical data using insitu and remote sensing techniques.
• 📅 The mission, a successor to previous lost missions, is expected to launch in 2027 and is a collaborative effort with international partners.

Rocket Lab and Millennium Space Systems Updates

• ⚡ Rocket Lab has added two new Electron missions to its 2025 launch manifest, with the first scheduled for launch soon.
• 🌌 Millennium Space Systems has delivered two satellites for NASA's Tracers mission, which will study the interaction between the sun's magnetic field and Earth's magnetosphere.
• 🛰️ Understanding magnetic reconnection is crucial for predicting space weather events that can disrupt satellites, communications, and power grids.

Oklahoma's Growing Space Industry

• 🔑 Craig Smith, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority, discusses the state's focus on developing its space industry.
• ✈️ The Oklahoma Air and Space Port, with its extensive runway, is ideal for companies like Dawn Aerospace, which will establish its US footprint there.
• 🌟 Oklahoma has a rich aerospace heritage, with past contributions from figures like Clyde Cessna and General Tom Stafford, and a strong MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) capability.
• 💡 The partnership with Dawn Aerospace is expected to bring repeated, low-cost access to microgravity, fostering peripheral businesses and providing STEM opportunities.

Other Space News

• 💰 Logos Space Services raised $50 million in a Series A funding round to build a resilient autonomous space-based network with AI-enabled computing and communications.
• ☀️ The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission has captured its first images of an artificial solar eclipse, demonstrating formation flying technologies and providing valuable data on the sun's corona.