Space Industry News: EGNOS Extension, Lunar Data Storage, and Satellite Tracking

EGNOS Service Life Extension

• 🛰️ Thales Alenia Space has been awarded a €51 million contract by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme to extend the operational life of the EGNOS satellite system.
• 💡 EGNOS enhances the accuracy and reliability of global navigation satellite systems like GPS and Galileo, crucial for sectors including aviation, maritime, and agriculture.
• ✅ The Lifex1 contract ensures EGNOS version 2 will continue providing essential services beyond 2028.

Lunar Data Storage and Spacecraft Development

• 🌕 Sidus Space is expanding its preliminary agreement with Lonestar Data Holdings to a value of approximately $120 million.
• 🚀 The partnership focuses on designing, building, and supporting six lunar data storage spacecraft based on Sidus' Lizzyat platform.
• 💾 These vehicles aim to advance secure and resilient data solutions beyond Earth.

Space Object Identification and Tracking

• 👁️ Slingshot Aerospace will support AFWERX's Raptor program, using machine learning for space object identification and behavior recognition.
• 🛰️ The Raptor program will track and analyze objects in low Earth orbit to enable timely reports on potential satellite maneuvers or mission changes for the US Space Command.
• 📊 Slingshot currently monitors approximately 14,500 active spacecraft and debris using a global network of optical sensors.

China's Satellite Internet Technology

• 📡 China has launched an experimental spacecraft to test satellite internet technology, including mobile-to-satellite broadband connections and space-ground network integration.

Taiwan's Communications Satellite Constellation

• 🇹🇼 Cesium Astro will provide software-defined radio payloads and ground terminals for Taiwan's first national communications satellite constellation, part of its Beyond 5G (B5G) program.

NASA's SPHEREx Observatory and Citizen Science

• ✨ NASA's SPHEREx Observatory has released its first uncalibrated images of the sky, showing approximately 100,000 light sources per image.
• 🔭 The observatory is preparing to officially begin science operations in late April, aiming to capture 600 images daily.
• 🧑‍🔬 Citizen scientists are invited to join analysis working groups to help NASA research life in deep space using open science data.