 | Top Stories
Intuitive Machines has won a contract worth up to $4.8 billion to provide lunar communications and navigation services for NASA. The agency announced Tuesday it selected Intuitive Machines for the contract that will support the Artemis lunar exploration campaign. The contract has a maximum value of $4.82 billion over 10 years if all options are exercised. Neither NASA nor Intuitive Machines provided details about how the service will be operated, but the company has discussed plans to set up a constellation of satellites in lunar orbit for data relay services. [SpaceNews]
The head of the U.S. Space Force strongly endorsed a program that leverages commercial satellite imagery and data analytics to support military operations. Gen. Chance Saltzman said at the Air Space & Cyber Conference Tuesday that the "tactical surveillance, reconnaissance, and tracking" (TacSRT) program proved its worth recently supporting the withdrawal of troops in Niger. TacSRT provided imagery to ground forces within one and a half hours of being taken in orbit by the end of the withdrawal, he said. "This is just positive proof that space makes a difference and makes the joint force better," he said. [SpaceNews]
Elon Musk says he will sue the FAA after it proposed fines against SpaceX for launch license violations. The FAA said Tuesday it planned to fine SpaceX $633,009 for violating terms of licenses during two Falcon launches in June and July last year. In one launch, SpaceX used a new control center and countdown procedure without FAA approval, and in the other used a new propellant farm, again without FAA approval. Musk complained on social media that the fines were "lawfare" against his company and "improper, politically-motivated behavior," but offered no evidence to back his claim. [SpaceNews]
Lockheed Martin's acquisition of Terran Orbital is good news for Rivada Space Networks. Declan Ganley, CEO of Rivada, said at World Space Business Week (WSBW) Tuesday that the acquisition announced last month was welcomed since it gives the smallsat manufacturer "a big balance sheet." He said plans are on track to start its SpaceX launch campaign next year to meet a mid-2026 regulatory deadline for deploying 300 satellites, or half the constellation, which Terran Orbital is building under a $2.4 billion contract. However, he offered few new details on how his company was financing the deal. Terran Orbital, before the Lockheed acquisition, had removed the contract from its backlog. [SpaceNews]
The head of ESA wants Europe to better coordinate public space spending. Speaking at WSBW this week, Josef Aschbacher said that Europe's far lower spending on space compared to the United States is exacerbated by "fragmentation" with ESA accounting for 60% of spending with the rest spread among the EU, national agencies and other organizations. He called for closer cooperation between ESA and the European Commission. A recent EU report also warned of fragmentation of European space spending but included additional recommendations, such as ending ESA's georeturn policy. [SpaceNews]
France plans to have an active capability to defend the space assets its armed forces rely upon by 2030. Eva Portier, space deputy in the French armament agency DGA, said at the Space Defense and Security Summit (SDSS) Tuesday that France is currently focused on strengthening military space capabilities including Earth observation, telecommunications, positioning and navigation, but also wants to better understand potential threats and respond to them. In 2019, France published a space defense strategy and established French Space Command. [SpaceNews]
Those French efforts include a new space surveillance program. The French Defense Innovation Agency and armament agency DGA unveiled a low Earth orbit space surveillance program Tuesday at SDSS. French startup U-space will work with multinational missile supplier MBDA to develop a pair of satellites to demonstrate spacecraft detection, characterization and targeting called Toutatis. Those satellites are scheduled to launch in the next few years. [SpaceNews]
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| Other News
A Falcon 9 launched a second pair of Galileo navigation satellites Tuesday night. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 6:50 p.m. Eastern and deployed the two satellites into their planned orbits about three and a half hours later. This launch came after a similar one in April that launched two other satellites. While the Falcon 9 booster was expended on the earlier flight, the booster on this launch was able to make a droneship landing after SpaceX made what it called "subtle design and operational changes." [Spaceflight Now]
An Angara rocket launched a pair of Russian military satellites Tuesday. The rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at about 3 a.m. Eastern and placed the Cosmos 2577 and 2578 satellites into orbit. The Russian military did not disclose the purpose of the satellites, but they are believed to be carrying imaging payloads. [RBC Ukraine]
United Launch Alliance has set an Oct. 4 launch date for the second Vulcan Centaur mission. The company announced the launch date Tuesday for the Cert-2 mission, which will carry an inert payload. Successful completion of Cert-2 will pave the way for Vulcan to be certified for national security launches. A ULA executive said at WSBW on Monday that the company expected to conduct two such launches later this year after Cert-2. [Florida Today]
Lockheed Martin won a contract to provide a lightning mapper instrument for next-generation weather satellites. The $297.1 million contract, awarded by NASA on behalf of NOAA, covers two flight instruments and includes options for two additional lightning mappers. The instruments will be used on the GeoXO line of geostationary orbit weather satellites. Lockheed Martin also built lightning mappers for NOAA's current GOES satellites. [SpaceNews]
Capella Space won a $15 million contract by the U.S. Air Force to modernize its sensor and data collection capabilities for military applications. The Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) agreement was awarded by AFWERX, a U.S. Air Force organization that backs small businesses developing technologies with military applications. The funding will help Capella Space advance its next-generation synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor technology. [SpaceNews]
Startup Samara Aerospace won a SpaceWERX contract to develop a unique approach to satellite pointing. Samara Aerospace will work with an unnamed Earth-imaging company to improve pointing accuracy for a 200- to 500-kilogram spacecraft as part of a $1.25 million direct-to-phase two contract. The company, founded in 2022, recently opened an office in San Francisco for its staff, which is expected to double from 5 to 10 employees by the end of the year. [SpaceNews]
The Aerospace Corporation is working to improve observations of satelite reentries. Most reentries of space hardware are uncontrolled, so knowing where and when to observe a particular reentry is difficult. Aerospace has mounted reentry observation campaigns in some circumstances, and also uses tools like weather radar to track clouds of debris created by some reentering objects. Those efforts have taken on more importance given interest in potential contributions to atmospheric pollution caused by large numbers of satellite reentries. [SpaceNews]
Axiom Space had run into financial problems that led to layoffs. The company, working on commercial space stations and spacesuits, has encountered cash flow problems, according to a former executive, and also had to lay off about 100 employees. Kam Ghaffarian, the billionaire founder of Axiom, confirmed that the company has had some financial issues but said he was working to close a new round of funding by the end of the year. Failure to close the round, though, could lead to further cuts and jeopardize its work on space station modules or NASA lunar spacesuits. [Forbes]
| |  | Valves Are Rocket Science
"Missions depend on almost literally every component. I don't know if there's anybody out there brave enough to do a valve startup, but it always seems to be a valve that kicks people in the pants."
– Peter Cannito, chairman and CEO of Redwire, speaking on a panel at World Space Business Week on Wednesday.
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