 | Top Stories
The first stage of Rocket Factory Augsburg's first rocket exploded on a test stand Monday, just weeks before its anticipated launch. The Germany company said the stage for its RFA ONE rocket was destroyed in a static-fire test late Monday at SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands. Video of the test showed an explosion at the base of the stage at engine ignition, starting a fire that consumed the stage. The test was one of the last planned for the rocket before a launch that was expected for this fall from the spaceport. That launch was to have been the first for RFA and the first vertical orbital launch from the United Kingdom. [SpaceNews]
Globalstar has received conditional approval from the FCC for its next-generation constellation. The FCC authorized the proposed 17 satellites last week and extended the company's operating license by 15 years to 2039. However, the FCC deferred deciding on plans to deploy another nine satellites, which Globalstar intends to use as in-orbit spares, until the operator updates its orbital debris mitigation plan. The FCC rejected a request from SpaceX to force Globalstar to assess whether its upcoming satellites could interfere with other mobile satellite services systems, including SpaceX's own constellation. [SpaceNews]
The crew of the Polaris Dawn private astronaut mission arrived in Florida on Monday for their upcoming launch. The four-person crew is scheduled to launch early next week on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on a five-day mission. The mission will fly to altitudes as high as 1,400 kilometers, the highest for a crewed mission since Apollo 17, and test Starlink intersatellite communications. The highlight of the mission will be a spacewalk using SpaceX-developed spacesuits, the first time those suits will be used in space and the first spacewalk on a private mission. [SpaceNews]
Planet will supply satellite imagery to NATO under a new contract. Planet announced Monday it signed a contract with NATO's Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) to provide the alliance with high-resolution data from Planet's SkySat fleet as part of the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) program. Planet did not disclose the value of the contract. APSS is a NATO initiative started in 2023 to create a "virtual constellation" by pooling together national and commercial satellite networks, and involves $1 billion in commitments from 17 countries over five years. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX will launch a South Korean geostationary orbit satellite. KASA, the new South Korean space agency, announced this month a contract with SpaceX for the launch of the KOMPSAT-3 multipurpose communications satellite in 2027. The 3.7-ton satellite, also known as Chollian-3, will replace the aging GEO-Kompsat-1 launched in 2010. Chollian-3 will feature advanced payloads for communications, disaster prevention, maritime safety and the safe flight of aircraft. [SpaceNews]
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| Other News
Two Chinese spacecraft appear to have made it to their planned lunar orbit despite a problem with their launch earlier this year. A presentation by a center that is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences stated that the DRO-A and -B satellites had successfully entered distant retrograde orbits around the moon. The satellites launched on March on a Long March 2C, but a problem with the rocket's upper stage meant the satellites were not placed in their desired orbits. China has yet to provide any formal update on the mission since that launch. The two spacecraft, while not critical to China's lunar exploration efforts, could play a role in China's wider lunar ambitions by testing lunar communications and navigation technologies.
A German cubesat launched last week will attempt to test quantum communications technologies. The Qube satellite launched on the Transporter-11 rideshare mission Friday. The spacecraft, designed and built at the University of Wurzburg Center for Telematics, carries a payload developed by several German universities and organizations to test quantum key generation and distribution via optical link for secure communications. [SpaceNews]
AT&T and Verizon are asking the FCC to block the use of direct-to-device services from Starlink satellites. The two mobile phone operators said proposed transmissions by Starlink satellites would interfere with their terrestrial signals, causing an average reduction of 18% in network downlink throughput. SpaceX is partnered with T-Mobile, another mobile operator, to provide cellular services via satellite; AT&T and Verizon are working with AST SpaceMobile for similar services. [PC Magazine]
NASA awarded $1.25 million in prizes to three teams developing food production technologies for deep space missions. At the Deep Space Food Challenge last week in Columbus, Ohio, Interstellar Lab won the $750,000 top prize for its design of "self-sustaining food production mechanism" for vegetables, microgreens and insects. Two other teams, Nolux and SATED, each received $250,000. NASA supported the competition to identify technologies that could be used on later long-duration Artemis missions and eventual human missions to Mars. [NASA]
| |  | Planet Cinnamon
"For a while, we were actually trying to make the exhibits smell like exoplanets. And so when you're playing with a world that's hot and full of lava… you think, 'Is this going to smell like sulfur? Is it going to smell like cinnamon and an oven full of baking cookies? How can we convey different aspects of it?'"
– Anjali Tripathi, a scientist at JPL who collaborated with artists on an art installation called "Blended Worlds" that will be part of the PST Art exhibition in Los Angeles opening next month. [New York Times]
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