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SpaceX says its next Starship test flight is scheduled to launch in as soon as a week. SpaceX said Wednesday it is targeting no earlier than March 14 for the third integrated Starship/Super Heavy launch from its Starbase site in South Texas, pending regulatory approvals. The launch will attempt a different flight profile from the first two launches, which had intended to land with splashdowns near Hawaii 90 minutes after launch. This flight will instead splash down in the Indian Ocean 65 minutes after liftoff, which the company says allows for additional tests "while maximizing public safety." Those tests include an in-space firing of a Raptor engine, opening Starship's payload bay door and performing a propellant transfer test within Starship. [SpaceNews]
Thaicom has ordered a small geostationary orbit satellite from Astranis. Thaicom-9 would provide Ka-band broadband at 119.5 degrees east in GEO, the companies announced Wednesday. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2025 and is based on the same design as the other four 400-kilogram, washing machine-sized satellites Astranis plans to deploy as part of Block-3. Astranis expects to launch four Block-2 satellites later this year on a dedicated SpaceX Falcon 9. [SpaceNews]
A revived congressional caucus seeks to build support for NASA's planetary exploration efforts. The Planetary Science Caucus was formally relaunched this week, co-chaired by Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) They said they will use the caucus to raise awareness among their colleagues of the importance of NASA's planetary science programs and related initiatives, like studies of exoplanets and the search for life. NASA's planetary science division is facing a reduced budget this year, receiving a little more than $2.7 billion, nearly a half-billion less than in 2023. That pressure is likely to continue into 2025, the second year of a debt ceiling agreement that caps non-defense discretionary spending. The administration's 2025 budget proposal will be released next week. [SpaceNews]
Planet Labs has won a contract to provide imagery to the U.S. Navy for vessel detection. Planet's imagery will be shared via SeaVision, a web-based platform used by the U.S. and allies to improve maritime domain awareness, under a one-year "seven-figure" contract the company announced this week. Planet will work with SynMax, a data analytics company that uses artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to provide actionable intelligence to customers. [SpaceNews]
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging company Iceye has rolled out a new maritime surveillance product. Ocean Vision, announced Thursday, aims to provide comprehensive monitoring of the world's oceans. SAR satellites can detect the signatures of vessels that stand out against the dark background of the ocean's surface, allowing detection even at night and in bad weather. Iceye sees a growing number of use cases for maritime surveillance, such as tracking vessels engaged in illicit trade and smuggling as well as those that conduct illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. [SpaceNews]
Two House Democrats are asking SpaceX for information about potential use of Starlink by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. In the letter late Wednesday to company president Gwynne Shotwell, Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) asked the company to report complaints about Russia's illegal acquisition of Starlink terminals and use of the satellite broadband service in occupied regions of Ukraine. Raskin and Garcia, the ranking members of the House Oversight Committee and its national security subcommittee, respectively, said any Russian use of Starlink "poses a serious threat" to both Ukrainian and American security. [Washington Post]
| | Other News
A satellite servicing startup has raised $4 million in seed funding. Kurs Orbital raised the funding in a round led by OTB Ventures with participation from several others investors, including In-Q-Tel. Kurs Orbital was founded in 2021 in Ukraine by Volodymyr Usov, former director of Ukraine's space agency, but moved to Italy after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company is developing ARCap, an interface module to facilitate rendezvous and proximity operations by servicing spacecraft. [SpaceNews]
Rhea Space Activity will test its cislunar navigation technology on an upcoming commercial lunar lander mission. The company said Wednesday it won a $750,000 award from NASA's TechFlights program to fly two of its Jervis Autonomy Module units on a lunar lander mission led by Draper launching in 2026. The units will be installed on two satellites that will be deployed in lunar orbit to relay communications between the lander, set to touch down on the far side of the moon, and Earth. Rhea Space Activity said the units will allow the spacecraft to autonomously determine their positions through celestial navigation, without the need to rely on communications with Earth. [SpaceNews]
The U.K. government is proposing to invest 10 million pounds ($13 million) into SaxaVord Spaceport. The funding was announced Wednesday in a budget speech by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt. The spaceport, under development in the Shetland Islands, will use the funding to accelerate work on infrastructure. The spaceport received a license from the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority in December and expects to host a first launch later this year. [Shetland News]
An Australian spaceport has received its license. Gilmour Space, which is developing the Eris small launch vehicle, said this week that the rocket's launch site, Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Queensland, is the first orbital launch site to be licensed by the Australian government. The company expects to perform its first Eris launch there in the coming months, after getting a separate launch license. [Business News Australia]
Saudi Arabia is developing a national space strategy. The government's minister for communications and information technology said this week that the strategy will focus on space exploration, communications, navigation and Earth observation. The minister did not disclose when that strategy will be released. [Arab News]
| | Let's Hope Not
"Maybe the Russians will decide their astronauts have to take one for the homeland. But I think that Putin, crazy as he is, is not going to do that."
– Jonathan McDowell of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, on why he doesn't believe Russia would use a nuclear weapon in space. [New York Times]
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