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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson defended proposed cuts to programs in NASA's fiscal year 2025 budget request, putting much of the blame on Congress. At a House appropriations hearing Wednesday, Nelson said the debt-ceiling deal last year that placed spending caps on non-defense discretionary programs, like NASA, forced "very tough choices" on the agency, including the cancellation of the OSAM-1 satellite servicing mission and cuts in the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. He added that he was "quite sanguine" about the future of the Mars Sample Return program given plans announced this week to seek alternative architectures amid concerns that proposed budgets could lead to further layoffs at JPL. [SpaceNews]
A new report found growing evidence of counterspace activities against satellites. The report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released Wednesday highlights the expanding anti-satellite capabilities of foreign adversaries, notably China and Russia, alongside the world's growing reliance on space-based systems for critical services. While the report noted there have been no destructive ASAT weapons tests since one by Russia in 2021, there is growing non-destructive counterspace activities like jamming and GPS spoofing as well as "unfriendly behaviors" of Chinese and Russian spacecraft. [SpaceNews]
Regulators are offering mixed messages about the use of satellites for direct-to-device connectivity. The FCC approved last month a new regulatory framework called Supplemental Coverage from Space to permit satellites to use radio waves from terrestrial partners to keep their mobile subscribers connected outside cell tower coverage. While that framework was hailed by the industry as a major step forward, the FCC later last month rejected a request from SpaceX to use some mobile satellite service bands to expand the capacity it is getting from U.S. terrestrial partner T-Mobile. The FCC concluded that the potential for interference warranted a new rule-making process that is subject to a lengthy public comment period. [SpaceNews]
Astrobotic is seeking defense business for a reusable suborbital rocket. Astrobotic is developing Xogdor, obtained when Astrobotic acquired the former Masten Space Systems, with a first flight planned in 2025. Astrobotic plans to offer Xogdor to the U.S. Air Force, the Missile Defense Agency and other defense organizations for use as a testing and research platform, and potentially for "rocket cargo" initiatives. Xogdor will be capable of flying at supersonic speeds and suborbital altitudes, with a range of several hundred kilometers. [SpaceNews]
A group of low Earth orbit satellite operators are working together to discuss potential threats to their satellites. Space ISAC announced last week the creation of the LEO Owner Operators Affinity Group, allowing companies to share information on topics ranging from space weather to threats from adversaries. Frank Backes, CEO of Capella Space and co-chair of the group, said the creation of the group was prompted by the desire to bring together companies that are facing similar challenges to operations specific to LEO. [SpaceNews]
| | Scientific Discovery Begins with L3Harris
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SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites from Florida on Wednesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A at 5:26 p.m. Eastern and deployed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. Another Falcon 9 Starlink launch from neighboring Space Launch Complex 40 is scheduled for this evening. [Florida Today]
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says he supports a proposal to transfer space-related National Guard units into the active-duty Space Force. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said after a hearing on the Department of the Air Force's budget request that he is "fully supportive" of the legislative proposal from the Defense Department that would allow it to move nearly 600 Guardsman in several states to the Space Force. He rejected criticism from the National Guard Association that the move, while involving only a small number of guardsmen, was an "existential threat" to the National Guard. [Breaking Defense]
Canada is creating its own National Space Council. The Canadian government announced plans this week to establish a National Space Council as part of the rollout of its 2024-2025 budget. The council will provide "a new whole-of-government approach to space exploration, technology development, and research," the government stated. Space Canada, an industry group, welcomed the announcement. [CBC]
NASA's TESS spacecraft has returned to operations. NASA said Wednesday that the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has restarted normal scientific operations after going into a safe mode last week. The agency said engineers are still studying what triggered the safe mode on the six-year-old spacecraft, which maps the sky looking for exoplanets. [NASA]
NASA has given its sendoff to the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. Controllers this week transmitted a final command to the helicopter, turning it into a stationary testbed. Ingenuity will continue to collect telemetry about its systems and take images even after its loses its radio link to the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity's memory could hold up to 20 years of data that might be retrieved by some future mission. Ingenuity ended its flight operations in January after a hard landing damaged its rotor blades. [Space.com]
| | Name Change
"In the polar orbit, we had a new opportunity emerge with Italy. They have a lidar that they proposed called CALIGOLA. That name probably won't last in our collaboration because, to American ears, it sounds like Caligula, and we've all learned really bad things about Caligula."
– Julie Robinson, deputy director of NASA's Earth science division, discussing at an advisory committee meeting Wednesday a potential partnership with Italy on its Cloud Aerosol LIDAR for Global Scale Observations of the Ocean-Land Atmosphere System, or CALIGOLA, mission.
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