 | Top Stories
ULA will launch an inert payload, rather than Sierra Space's Dream Chaser, on the second Vulcan launch. ULA announced Wednesday that the Cert-2 mission, scheduled for September, will carry only that inert payload and instrumentation after Sierra Space informed ULA that there was "significant risk" for Dream Chaser being ready in time for that launch as previously planned. ULA wants to fly Cert-2 in September to win Space Force certification for Vulcan, allowing it to perform two national security missions before the end of the year. Sierra Space said it understood ULA's decision and will work with the company to find a new launch slot for Dream Chaser, a cargo spaceplane that will fly to the International Space Station. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX won a $843 million NASA contract to build a vehicle to help deorbit the ISS. NASA said Wednesday it selected SpaceX to build the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), a spacecraft that will dock to the station near the end of its life and perform the final maneuvers needed to bring the station down over an empty region of the ocean. Neither NASA nor SpaceX disclosed details about SpaceX's design for the USDV. NASA, in a white paper released Wednesday, said that deorbit vehicle is "the safest and only viable method" of decommissioning the station at the end of its life, currently planned for around 2030. [SpaceNews]
Intelsat will be the first commercial customer for Starfish Space's life extension vehicle. The Otter spacecraft being developed by Starfish will launch between late 2025 and mid 2026, first docking with a retired Intelsat satellite in a graveyard orbit to test its capabilities before then docking with an active Intelsat spacecraft, taking over stationkeeping to extend its life. The companies did not disclose financial details of the agreement. Starfish launched a prototype spacecraft, Otter Pup, last year, but a problem with the transfer vehicle carrying it prevented it from carrying out its original mission. [SpaceNews]
Planet is laying off 17% of its workforce. The company said in an SEC filing Wednesday it was laying off 180 employees as the company works to become profitable. Planet did not disclose details of specific parts of the company impacted by the layoffs, the second in less than a year. Planet reported a net loss of $29.3 million in the quarter ending April 30, and executives at the time said they were making good progress towards profitability. [SpaceNews]
House appropriators have advanced a bill that would cut funding for NASA science and education programs. The House Appropriations commerce, justice and science subcommittee favorably reported a fiscal year 2025 spending bill Wednesday that includes a little less than $25.2 billion for NASA, $205 million below the agency's request. The cuts are concentrated in science and education, although with few details about which programs would be affected. The bill funds other parts of NASA, including exploration, space technology and space operations, at or above the request. The full House Appropriations Committee will take up the bill next month. [SpaceNews]
A Chinese approach to "worst-case thinking" could lead to a space crisis with the United States, according to a new report. The RAND Corporation report released this week concluded that China's approach to space competition with the United States could increase the risk of unintended military escalation. That approach includes deep suspicions in China about American activities, growing assertiveness by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and a historical reluctance to engage in crisis communication. The report recommends the U.S. should avoid investing heavily in establishing crisis communications mechanisms with the PLA, as these efforts are unlikely to be reciprocated in good faith. [SpaceNews]
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| Other News
SpaceX set another booster reuse record with a Starlink launch this morning. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:14 a.m. Eastern carrying 23 Starlink satellites. The Falcon booster, making its record-setting 22nd flight, landed on a droneship. The launch was the 350th flight of the Falcon 9. [Spaceflight Now]
China will launch the first satellites for a megaconstellation in August. Eighteen satellites for the Starlink G60 constellation will launch on Aug. 5, according to Chinese reports, likely on a Long March 6A rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The Starlink G60 constellation is designed to have more than 12,000 satellites providing broadband global access. [SpaceNews]
Urban Sky has won a NASA contract to develop a wildfire detection system using stratospheric balloons. The $2.6 million award from NASA's Earth Science Technology Office, announced Wednesday, will go towards development of a small thermal infrared sensor system that can fly in the stratosphere on "microballoons" that can detect and monitor wildfires, transmitting information about them directly to firefighters on the ground. The company argues that this approach has several advantages over satellite-based systems, including better resolution and the ability to loiter over an area for hours or days. [SpaceNews]
Wyvern will use Loft Orbital satellites to expand its hyperspectral imaging constellation. The companies said Wednesday that Wyvern will have access to hyperspectral imagers on Loft Orbital satellites, allowing it to virtually expand its constellation. Wyvern has launched three cubesat-class satellites, built by AAC Clyde Space, with hyperspectral instruments to serve agricultural and other markets. Loft Orbital says the agreement is part of its efforts to offer "virtual missions" on its satellites that carry imagers and other payloads. [SpaceNews]
An ongoing stock sale values SpaceX at $210 billion. The tender offer, where the company allows employees to sell stock to investors, set a price of $112 per share, higher than expected, boosting the company's valuation from $180 billion in December. Sources said strong demand for the shares led to the higher price. That valuation would be the highest for a privately held American company, trailing only China's ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. [Bloomberg]
After months of effort, scientists and engineers have gotten an instrument on the Perseverance Mars rover working again. NASA said in January that a dust cover on an instrument called SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) on the rover's robotic arm was stuck partially open, keeping the instrument from operating. Engineers concluded that a motor used for opening the cover, as well as focusing the instrument, had malfunctioned. Efforts to shake the cover open eventually worked, and scientists then worked to calibrate the instrument to find the best focus. Earlier this month, scientists said that SHERLOC's camera and spectrometer were operational again. [NASA/JPL]
| |  | Smoking Hazards
"If you were to go to our storage facility — maybe I shouldn't say where in Florida — where we are pre-staging the large solid rocket motors, you would see 35 of those stacked up like cordwood. It's nearly four million pounds of propellant. In my long career of building solid rocket motors, I believe this is the maximum number of solid rocket motors that have ever been built up in one place before ever in history. Definitely a non-smoking zone."
– ULA CEO Tory Bruno, discussing on a media call Wednesday how the company had built up inventories of rocket components to allow it to ramp up launches of its Vulcan vehicle once it is certified by the Space Force for national security missions.
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