Space News for Tuesday, March 19, 2024

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:24) Raytheon’s satellite contract with Space Development Agency being ‘reevaluated’(00:50) Aerospacelab to build Xona Space’s first navigation satellite(01:18) GEO operators look to local service providers to compete against Starlink(01:53) Startical orders test satellites for air traffic surveillance and comms constellation(02:24) Satellite manufacturers defend diminished GEO market(02:51) Orbith orders small Astranis GEO broadband satellite for Argentina(03:20) Bundling enterprise service in the fractured Direct-to-Device LEO landscape(03:51) SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket on sunset Starlink flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base(04:21) Spire Global to enhance AI-driven weather prediction with NVIDIA – SatNews(04:52) AI comes to space with Comsat Architects and Ubotica Technologies – SatNews(05:31) ST Engineering iDirect reveals next-gen ground system — Intuition – SatNews(06:02) NEC + Skyloom partner for 100 Gbps space optical comms – SatNews(06:29) NASA’s Swift Temporarily Suspends Science Operations(06:56) 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Broadcast(07:26) Eclipse Photographers Will Help Study Sun During Its Disappearing Act(07:55) Student-Built Robots Clash at Competition Supported by NASA-JPL(08:19) Leslie Livesay Named Deputy Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory(08:45) Scientists discover first long-lasting radio bursts above sunspots