 | Top Stories
Eutelsat is in exclusive talks with a private equity fund to turn its ground station infrastructure into a service business. Eutelsat said Friday that it would carve out ground segment infrastructure worth 790 million euros ($863 million) into a ground station-as-a-service business and sell 80% of it to a fund run by EQT Partners of Sweden. According to Eutelsat, the new business would be the world's largest pure-play, operator-neutral, ground station-as-a-service company. Eutelsat would remain a long-term shareholder, anchor tenant and partner in the new infrastructure company, but would use the proceeds of the sale to improve its finances. The company reported a 5.5% increase in revenues, but 12.9% decline in adjusted EBITDA, in its fiscal year that ended in June. [SpaceNews]
A report by NASA's inspector general found serious quality problems with Boeing's work on the Space Launch System. The report, released last week, said Boeing lacked an acceptable quality management system and trained workforce at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it builds key components of the SLS. That included an unusually high number of quality issues flagged by inspectors over a two-year period. The report also criticized management of the upcoming Block 1B version of SLS with the new Exploration Upper Stage, which has already suffered $700 million in cost overruns since NASA set a cost baseline for the project last December. Additional problems with the stage could delay the Artemis 4 launch scheduled for late 2028. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force plans to expand a network of missile-tracking satellites in medium Earth orbit. The service issued a "request for prototype proposals" Friday, inviting vendors to submit designs for satellites known as Missile Track Custody Epoch 2. The Epoch 2 program builds upon the foundation laid by Epoch 1, the first version of the MEO missile warning and tracking constellation being built by Millennium Space Systems scheduled to launch in late 2026 and early 2027. The Space Force is seeking prototype proposals for Epoch 2 so it can test and explore new technologies before moving to full-scale production. [SpaceNews]
NASA is requesting information from companies and organizations interested in taking over a robotic lunar rover. In a request for information released Friday, NASA asked those who expressed an interest in taking over the VIPER mission to provide more details about the plans to complete, launch and operate the rover, and how that would help NASA meet the science goals of the mission. NASA announced last month it would cancel VIPER, citing cover overruns and delays even though the rover is complete and now in environmental testing. NASA said it will explore potential international partnerships for VIPER through separate channels. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab launched a Capella Space radar imaging satellite Sunday. An Electron rocket lifted off from New Zealand at 9:18 a.m. Eastern and released the Acadia-3 satellite, also known as Capella-13, into a mid-inclination orbit nearly an hour later. The launch was the second in less than 10 days for Electron, but the company said in an earnings call last week it had only one other launch of Electron scheduled for the remainder of the quarter. Rocket Lab said that customer readiness was to blame for the number of launches falling short of projections, while emphasizing the flexibility that the rocket provides to customers who need to go to specific orbits at specific times. [SpaceNews]
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| Other News
A Falcon 9 launched two communications satellites designed to serve Arctic regions Sunday night. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:02 p.m. Eastern and placed two satellites into orbit for Space Norway's Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM). The ASBM satellites, built by Northrop Grumman, are designed to provide broadband communications services over the North Pole and high-latitude areas. The satellites carry payloads for the U.S. Space Force, Norwegian Armed Forces and Viasat. The satellites will operate in highly elliptical orbits optimized to serve the Arctic. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX performed two Starlink launches over the weekend. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:50 a.m. Eastern Saturday, placing 21 Starlink satellites into orbit. The satellites on board included 13 with direct-to-cell payloads. Another Falcon 9 lifted off Monday morning at 6:37 a.m. Eastern from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A carrying 23 Starlink satellites. The launch was scheduled for Sunday but halted in the final minute of the countdown; SpaceX did not disclose the reason for the last-minute scrub. [Space.com / Spaceflight Now]
India's commercial launch revenue has dropped substantially in recent years. Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian space agency ISRO, reported revenue of 15 billion rupees ($179 million) in its 2019-2020 fiscal year, but that revenue dropped to less than 1.2 billion rupees in 2022-2023 before rebounding slightly last year. That revenue is driven by demand for launches from foreign customers, which has fallen in recent years. ISRO has performed only two launches so far this year with a third scheduled for later this week. [News9live]
A new study is the first to perform archaeology on the International Space Station. The study, published last week, used astronauts to take daily photos of selected areas of the station's interior one meter on a side, allowing researchers to document the objects in that area and how they changed over time. The study showed the need for improved storage of items on future space stations. [Cosmos]
The Milky Way may not collide with the nearby Andromeda galaxy after all. Astronomers for years had concluded that a collision between the two galaxies, several billion years from now, was inevitable, disrupting both galaxies. However, a study posted to a preprint server last month concluded that there is only a 50-50 chance of such a collision, which if it does occur would not take place for eight billion years, based on updated simulations of the galaxies' motions. "As it stands, proclamations of the impending demise of our Galaxy appear greatly exaggerated," the astronomers who led the study conclude. [Science]
| |  | The Week Ahead
Tuesday: Tuesday-Thursday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: - Columbus, Ohio: The Deep Space Food Symposium at Ohio State University will include sessions on developing sustainable food systems for deep space exploration and announce the winners of a related competition.
- Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 on the Transporter-11 rideshare mission at 2:19 p.m. Eastern.
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