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Satellite operator SES is looking to cut costs after a major customer of its video services went bankrupt. SES said Thursday it is bracing for a 5% hit to annual media revenue in 2025 after the bankruptcy of what the company only described as a broadcast customer in Brazil; that company is likely Oi, one of the largest telcos in Latin America. SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said in an earnings call that the company will first look to mitigate the loss of the long-term broadcast contract through a cost-saving drive that he did not detail. SES will also seek more revenues from its sports and events broadcasting business, where growth partially offset the video division's 6.7% year-on-year decline in the first half of 2024. SES will also lean on a networks division that grew 5% over the same period. [SpaceNews]
A former CEO of Maxar is the new CEO of engine developer Ursa Major. Dan Jablonsky, former CEO of Maxar Technologies, will lead Usa Major, replacing co-founder Joe Laurienti, who held the position since the company's founding nine years ago. Laurienti said the change brings in a "new leader with the expertise and track record" to guide the company as it seeks to expand its work in space and defense. [SpaceNews]
NASA plans to soon resume issuing awards for commercial lunar lander missions after a hiatus of more than a year. At the AIAA ASCEND conference Thursday, the manager of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program said the agency was "very close" to awarding a task order for a lander mission to the south pole of the moon, with another to follow by the end of the year. NASA hasn't selected a company for a CLPS lander mission since March of last year, a pause the agency said was intended to incorporate lessons learned from the first two CLPS missions to launch earlier this year by Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines. NASA says it expects to continue to award an average of two lander missions a year through CLPS. [SpaceNews]
The Space Development Agency (SDA) is preparing to award contracts related to satellite servicing. Derek Tournear, director of SDA, said at ASCEND Thursday that the contracts will initially cover work on technical designs and business-case analysis to study how they could deorbit the satellites that SDA is deploying for communications and missile-tracking constellations. He said that would allow companies to develop satellites for those constellations with reduced redundancy in their deorbit propulsion systems, and then "hire someone to go in and tug my satellites out" for those unable to deorbit on their own. [SpaceNews]
A new report from a Pentagon advisory panel calls for increased adoption of commercial space technologies to bolster U.S. military capabilities. The Defense Science Board (DSB), a committee of civilian experts, recommended a comprehensive approach to integrating commercial space capabilities into national security architectures. The DSB report concluded that such commercial capabilities "are key to a resilient hybrid architecture." [SpaceNews]
Japan is putting a greater focus on space domain awareness. A Japanese military official said at ASCEND this week that Japan's Space Operations Group is establishing a unit focused on space domain awareness under the command of a general. The first Japanese military spacecraft devoted to space domain awareness is scheduled to launch in 2026. That satellite includes sensors developed as part of a U.S.-Japan cooperative program to keep tabs on spacecraft and debris in geosynchronous orbit. [SpaceNews]
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China launched the second of a new, secretive series of geostationary communications satellites Thursday. A Long March 3B lifted off at 9:14 a.m. Eastern from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The payload was High orbit internet satellite-02 (Weixing Hulianwan Gaogui-02), the second in a series after one launched in February. China has provided few details about the satellites or their capabilities. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites overnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 1:01 a.m. Eastern from the Kennedy Space Center and deployed 23 Starlink satellites. The launch is the fourth since the rocket's return to flight less than a week ago after an upper stage anomaly on another Starlink launch in mid-July. [Florida Today]
The space industry needs to prepare for a transition in space policy regardless of who wins November's presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out last month, has been involved in space policy through her leadership of the National Space Council. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called her a "space aficionado" at an event earlier this week, although some industry perceptions of her are mixed. One expert argues that while a Harris administration would not likely make major changes in space policy, there will still be a transition as personnel change. [SpaceNews]
Booz Allen Hamilton has tested AI models using a computer on the International Space Station. The company said it deployed a generative AI large language model (LLM) using Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Spaceborne Computer-2 there, an advanced computer intended for "edge computing" applications. The company says having an LLM trained on space station systems and their documentation could make it easier for astronauts to find the information they need to conduct repairs and maintenance. [SpaceNews]
NASA has announced crew assignments for an ISS mission launching next year. The Crew-10 mission will be commanded by NASA's Anne McClain, with Nichole Ayers as pilot. JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will be mission specialists. Ayers is the first member of NASA's most recent astronaut class to receive a flight assignment. Crew-10 is now scheduled for launch in February 2025 after NASA announced last week it was delaying the first operational mission of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, called Starliner-1, from February to August 2025. [NASA]
| |  | How to Make a Lunar Landing Even Harder
"He told me he was going to make the moon disappear. I specifically asked him to wait until our mission was over. He agreed to wait until after that."
– Trent Martin, senior vice president of Intuitive Machines, recalling at the AIAA ASCEND conference Thursday a conversation with magician David Copperfield, who had contributed a message on a payload provided by Galactic Legacy Labs on the IM-1 lunar lander that featured descriptions of some of his famous illusions, including one he said would make the moon disappear.
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