Top Stories SpaceX launched Starship on a third, mostly successful test flight Thursday. The Starship/Super Heavy vehicle lifted off from the company's Starbase facility in South Texas at 9:25 a.m. Eastern. The launch placed Starship on its planned suborbital trajectory, where it performed tests such as opening a payload bay door and starting a propellant transfer demonstration. The vehicle reentered over the Indian Ocean but appeared to break up at an altitude of about 65 kilometers nearly 50 minutes after liftoff. The Super Heavy booster also broke up during a landing burn over the Gulf of Mexico. Although the vehicle did not complete all its test objectives, SpaceX still considered the flight successful, an assessment shared by NASA. [SpaceNews] The FCC has approved rules to allow direct-to-device satellite communications using terrestrial spectrum. FCC commissioners unanimously approved Thursday the Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) regulatory framework. The rules will allow satellite operators like SpaceX to use radio waves from terrestrial mobile partners to keep smartphone users connected outside cell tower coverage. SCS providers would have to immediately cease operations if they interfere with a mobile satellite services provider or terrestrial telco with primary rights. The final rules approved by the FCC will go into force after a final review and publication in the Federal Register in the coming weeks. [SpaceNews] Sierra Space is looking to take a larger role in national security space with dual-use spacecraft. The company says it has $1.3 billion in defense orders, including a $740 million contract from the Space Development Agency it won in January to produce 18 missile-tracking satellites. Sierra Space says it is examining how it can make use of spacecraft and related technologies originally developed for civil and commercial applications, like its Dream Chaser spaceplane, for national security applications. That includes what the Pentagon calls "space access, mobility and logistics" or SAML services, which has $40 million earmarked for it in the Space Force's 2025 budget proposal. [SpaceNews] Taiwan, wary of relying on Starlink, may develop its own satellite communications network. The government is planning to launch its first communications satellite in 2026, with a second to follow within two years and several more test satellites in development. The satellites would provide connectivity to back up a telecommunications infrastructure reliant on undersea cables that could be severed in a natural disaster or crisis with China. The country is also working with SES and Eutelsat OneWeb on connectivity services, but some officials say they worry that SpaceX might not make Starlink available in Taiwan during a crisis because of Elon Musk's business interests in China. [New York Times] | |
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