Top Stories
Verizon will invest $100 million into AST SpaceMobile to support its direct-to-smartphone services. The $100 million commitment comprises $65 million in commercial prepayments and $35 million in convertible debt. AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan called the deal a "transformational commercial milestone" for the venture's proposed constellation, paving the way to fully cover the continental United States. It comes after another mobile operator, AT&T, made a $20 million prepayment to AST SpaceMobile earlier in the year; AT&T, Google and British telco Vodafone have also banded together to provide $110 million in funding to AST SpaceMobile via convertible debt. [SpaceNews]
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee called for a major increase in defense spending that includes enhancing space capabilities. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) released a white paper Wednesday calling for an increase in defense spending to fund cutting-edge technologies. He took particular aim at China's recent space advancements, warning that Beijing is pushing a "strategic breakout" and that its growing reliance on space assets is creating new vulnerabilities that the U.S. should be prepared to exploit. The paper calls for the Space Force to invest in designing a more capable, layered and networked satellite architecture across multiple orbits, and to upgrade satellite cybersecurity and anti-jamming features. [SpaceNews]
Canada's MDA Space is joining the Starlab Space joint venture to develop a commercial space station. MDA Space will take an equity stake in Starlab Space, joining Voyager Space, Airbus Defence and Space, and Mitsubishi Corp., the companies announced Wednesday. In return, MDA Space will provide robotics capabilities such as a robotic arm based on a new line of space robotics products called MDA Skymaker. The announcement comes a day after Starlab Space signed an agreement with The Exploration Company, a European space transportation startup, to use that company's Nyx vehicle to transport cargo to and from Starlab. [SpaceNews]
The chair of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, is calling for new rules to reduce the risk of accidental explosions in orbit. The new rules, announced Wednesday, would require applicants for FCC licenses to assess and limit the probability of accidental explosions to less than one in a thousand for each satellite they submit for approval. Currently, FCC rules only require satellite licensees to affirm they have effectively mitigated the risk of debris-generating explosions in space. [SpaceNews]
Europe's Vega C is rocket is a step closer to returning to flight. Avio, the prime contractor for the rocket, said Tuesday it performed a successful static-fire test of the Zefiro-40 motor used in the rocket's second stage, confirming the performance of a redesigned nozzle. That motor was the cause of a Vega C launch failure in December 2022 and later tests led to a redesign of the nozzle. The test keeps Avio and ESA on track to return Vega C to flight by the end of the year. [SpaceNews]
Ursa Major has completed ground tests of a new hypersonic rocket engine. The hot-fire tests of the Draper engine validated the basic design, the company said this week. The engine, which produces 4,000-pounds-force of thrust, uses storable kerosene and peroxide propellants. Ursa Major envisions using Draper for hypersonic missiles and in-space applications where propellants need to be stored for extended periods. [SpaceNews]
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner remains on track for its next crewed launch attempt. NASA said Wednesday that mission managers completed a "delta" agency flight test readiness review, confirming plans to launch the spacecraft on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission on Saturday. The review took place after Boeing concluded a helium leak in one spacecraft thruster could be managed and after identifying and working around a "design vulnerability" in the overall spacecraft propulsion system. There is a 90% chance of acceptable launch weather both Saturday and Sunday. [NASA]
| | | ENABLING A SAFER, MORE WEATHER-READY WORLD Extreme weather events, like hurricanes, flash floods, fires and tornadoes, are becoming more frequent, destructive and widespread than ever before. That's why L3Harris is moving with urgency to deliver next-generation weather solutions that advance upon our proven on-orbit instrumentation and ground heritage to improve short- and long-range forecast accuracy and increase life-saving warning times globally. These innovative solutions include a next-generation GeoXO imager and modernized GOES-R ground system for the U.S. and next-generation imaging and sounding technology for Japan. Our technology is paving the way toward a safer, more weather-ready world. LEARN MORE | | | Other News
A Progress cargo spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station after a launch early Thursday. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 5:43 a.m. Eastern and placed the Progress MS-27 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft, carrying about three tons of supplies and fuel, is scheduled to dock with the station at about 7:47 a.m. Eastern Saturday. [Space.com]
Indian startup Agnikul launched its first suborbital rocket Thursday. The vehicle, called Agnibaan Suborbital Tech Demonstrator or SOrTeD, launched from the Sriharikota spaceport, and the company called the suborbital flight a success. The vehicle was designed to test technologies, such as a 3D-printed engine, that will be used on a small orbital launch vehicle that Agnikul is developing. [Outlook India]
A startup working on mobile sea-based launch platforms has won a Defense Department contract. The Spaceport Company received a $2.5 million contract from the Defense Innovation Unit, an organization that scouts commercial tech for the Pentagon. The contract will help fund the development of a prototype ocean-going launch complex built on a repurposed Navy torpedo recovery vessel. It's part of a new DIU program called Novel Responsive Space Delivery aimed at making U.S. access to space more resilient. The Spaceport Company purchased the ship earlier this year and is converting it into a launch platform for testing later this year. [SpaceNews]
Wallaroo.AI, a startup that helps businesses deploy machine learning models, will participate in a Space Force accelerator program. Wallaroo will prototype an AI platform to help Space Force teams quickly operationalize their machine learning models using unclassified data. Wallaroo will focus on object detection, like identifying deceptive spacecraft behavior, and launch warnings using data like seismic signatures. The TAP (Tools, Applications & Processing) Lab accelerator is focused on the use of commercial technologies for space domain awareness, a capability sought by the U.S. military as threats in the space domain heighten. [SpaceNews]
LEOcloud will install a data center on the ISS. Under a cooperative agreement announced Wednesday with the ISS National Lab, LEOcloud will install its first-generation Space Edge virtualized micro datacenter on ISS. Customers will be able to reserve cloud resources and migrate applications from the terrestrial cloud to the space-based cloud. LEOCloud is working with Microsoft and Red Hat on the project along with Sierra Space, which is interested in using LEOCloud's services to support its Dream Chaser spaceplane and future commercial space stations. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab will launch the second NASA PREFIRE Earth science cubesat Friday night. The company said it is planning a launch of the cubesat on an Electron rocket for 11 p.m. Eastern Friday night, a week after another Electron launched the first PREFIRE cubesat. The two PREFIRE, or Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, satellites will measure radiant heat emitted at the Earth's poles to improve climate models. [Rocket Lab]
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), an industry group, has a new president. CSF announced Wednesday that David Cavossa will take over as president of the organization next week, succeeding Karina Drees. Cavossa was, earlier in his career, executive director of another space industry trade group, the Satellite Industry Association, and most recently was an executive with satellite operator ABS. [CSF]
| |  | Risk, Change, Cancel
"NASA hates three words. NASA doesn't like 'risk', NASA doesn't like 'change', NASA doesn't like 'cancel.'"
– Kurt "Spuds" Vogel, associate administrator for space technology at NASA, speaking at a Space Transportation Association event Wednesday.
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