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Intuitive Machines will attempt a lunar landing later today after going into orbit around the moon Wednesday. The company said its Nova-C lander entered a circular orbit around the moon Wednesday morning at an altitude of 92 kilometers. That sets up the spacecraft to attempt a landing near the Malapert A crater at the south polar regions of the moon at 5:30 p.m. Eastern today. If successful, the spacecraft would be the first privately developed lander to touch down on the moon after three failed attempts over the last five years. The IM-1 mission is carrying six NASA payloads and six payloads for other customers. [SpaceNews]
A commercial capsule reentered and landed in the Utah desert Wednesday. Varda Space Industries said the capsule from its W-Series 1 spacecraft landed at the Utah Test and Training Range at 4:40 p.m. Eastern. The company received an FAA reentry license last week for the mission after several months of efforts to win approvals from the agency and from the Air Force, which operates the range. The capsule was part of a spacecraft built by Rocket Lab and launched in June to test microgravity production of a drug called ritonavir. Varda said it is preparing a second mission to launch this summer. [SpaceNews]
The FCC plans to vote next month on rules to allow the use of terrestrial spectrum for direct-to-device services. The FCC said Wednesday the proposed rules, to be distributed this week, will be taken up by commissioners at a March 14 meeting. The rules would enable satellite operators and their terrestrial partners to seek FCC permission to use some spectrum currently allocated for terrestrial services in space. AST SpaceMobile and SpaceX have partnered with AT&T and T-Mobile, respectively, to use those operators' terrestrial spectrum to provide direct-to-device services. Those plans may still face opposition from other companies, like Omnispace, which claims its S-band satellite services will face significant interference if SpaceX uses T-Mobile spectrum. [SpaceNews]
The former general who was the first chief of the Space Force has joined the board of Impulse Space. The company announced Wednesday it named John "Jay" Raymond to its board of directors. Impulse is developing a line of in-space transportation vehicles and flew its mission last fall. Impulse also announced it recently won two Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) contracts under the SpaceWERX Tactically Responsive Space challenge. Raymond, who was chief of space operations from 2019 to 2022, is also a senior managing director at Cerberus, a private equity fund that is reportedly bidding to acquire United Launch Alliance. [SpaceNews]
Hughes Network Systems has won a contract to provide networking equipment for a military satellite communications project. Hughes said Wednesday it will supply modems and other ground-based technology to SES Space & Defense for a military experiment aimed at establishing a multi-vendor mobile communications network that includes commercial satellites in geostationary, medium and low Earth orbits. The project is part of the U.S. Air Force's DEUCSI (Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet) program. [SpaceNews]
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A defunct ESA satellite harmlessly reentered Wednesday over the Pacific. ESA said its ERS-2 satellite reentered at around 12:12 p.m. Eastern over the North Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Alaska. The spacecraft was decommissioned in 2011 after more than 15 years of operations providing Earth science data but lacked the ability to perform a controlled reentry. [ESA]
Blue Origin rolled out a prototype of its New Glenn rocket to its Cape Canaveral launch pad Wednesday. The vehicle, erected on the pad by Wednesday evening, will be used for tanking tests over the coming days. The company said that while the propellant tanks themselves are flight hardware, other components of the first stage may or may not be used on an actual launch; the stage also lacks its BE-4 engines that are being tested at other company facilities. Company executives said they expect the first launch to take place later this year but did not provide a more precise date. [New York Times]
The Indian government will allow more foreign investment in the country's space industry. The government announced Wednesday that it is increasing limits on foreign direct investment (FDI), including up to 100% foreign investment in companies that produce subsystems for satellites, ground stations and user terminals. FDI limits will be increased to 74% for companies that build satellites and ground stations, and 49% for companies that produce launch vehicles and related subsystems. The move is intended to spur investment in Indian space companies. [Deccan Herald]
A proposed large telescope has added a new partner. The Giant Magellan Telescope announced this week that Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, a Taiwanese research institute, had joined the project, joining universities and organizations in the United States and several other nations. The telescope, which is still seeking funding to complete its development, will be located in Chile and use seven mirrors, each 8.4 meters across. [Giant Magellan Telescope Organization]
A wave-shaped structure in our galaxy is, in fact, waving. Astronomers say the Radcliffe Wave, a wave-shaped line of clouds 9,000 light-years long, is going up and down through the plane of the Milky Way. Astronomers don't know why the structure is waving, but suggested it could be linked to a series of supernova explosions or a collision with a dwarf galaxy. The Radcliffe Wave comes within 500 light-years from the Earth, and our solar system likely passed through it 13 million years ago. [Washington Post]
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"The critical thing is, what do we want, people: The United Federation of Planets or the Imperial Senate? Or, God forbid, The Expanse?"
– NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, discussing the value of the Artemis Accords in setting up a framework for peaceful space exploration during a talk Wednesday at the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington.
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