Boeing takes another $250M loss on Starliner

Plus: Space Force extends missile warning contract, and SES-Intelsat merger impacts suppliers.

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A SpaceNews daily newsletter Top Stories The U.S. Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $1.8 billion contract extension to begin production of two advanced early-warning satellites. These satellites are part of the military's Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) program, a defense initiative aimed at enhancing missile threat detection from space. This latest contract modification, announced Oct. 23, brings Northrop Grumman's total value for the project to $4.1 billion, following a $2.3 billion contract awarded in 2020 to develop the two satellites. The first of the two satellites is scheduled for launch in 2028. [SpaceNews] Millennium Space Systems won a $386 million Space Force contract for six missile-warning satellites that will operate in medium Earth orbit (MEO). The contract follows a $509 million award in December for an identical set of six satellites. The 12 "Epoch 1" satellites Millennium, a Boeing subsidiary, is building will operate in MEO and carry specialized sensors for tracking both traditional ballistic missiles and newer hypersonic weapons. The Space Force plans to award contracts next year for the next batch of MEO missile-tracking satellites known as Epoch 2. [SpaceNews] Boeing is taking another $250 million in losses on Starliner. The company disclosed the new charge in its fiscal third quarter financial results released Wednesday, bringing the total losses recorded by Boeing to date on the program to about $1.85 billion. New Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in an earnings call that Boeing did not plan to walk away from troubled fixed-price contracts like Starliner and would instead find ways to improve performance on them, including working with customers to "de-risk" issues on them. Ortberg also said Boeing is carrying out a review to see what "fringe" areas of the company, outside of its core of commercial airplanes and defense, it might seek to divest. [SpaceNews] The planned merger of satellite operators SES and Intelsat is having ripple effects throughout the space industry. In a panel at the Satellite Innovation conference this week, industry officials said the $3.1 billion deal is disrupting and delaying deals for suppliers and other companies further downstream. Suppliers risk being on the losing side when two large companies come together to seek synergies and find ways to consolidate their supply chains, they said, but the merger could create a healthier company that will be a stronger buyer of services down the road. [SpaceNews] The Space Development Agency selected 19 companies from the space industry to participate in a program to accelerate the development of satellite technologies. Under the Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (HALO) program, the companies will compete for contracts to carry out experimental space missions, providing the agency a testing ground for advanced technologies that may later be integrated into future satellite networks. The goal is to test and refine technologies before integrating them into the SDA's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), a large satellite network designed to enhance military communications and missile tracking capabilities. [SpaceNews] A new report recommends the Defense Department step up its support of commercial space capabilities. The Space Agenda 2025 report, released Thursday by The Aerospace Corporation, offered recommendations on a wide range of space policy issues for the next administration. The report included a call for the DoD to become an anchor tenant of some commercial space capabilities, allowing them to make greater use of those innovations while supporting companies whose business cases may not close without government support. The report also called on the next administration to "urgently" take on space regulatory reform in topics such as mission authorization of novel space activities and export control reform. [SpaceNews] Recent export control reforms exclude products related to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite systems. The Commerce Department announced last week a series of reforms that would loosen export control restrictions, particularly with allied nations, but does not include SAR. At the heart of the issue is a technical specification that determines whether satellite technology falls under less restrictive Commerce Department oversight or much more stringent State Department weapons controls. Only SAR systems operating at 500 megahertz or less bandwidth will benefit from the relaxed rules, a threshold that industry executives say is already obsolete. Officials with U.S.-based SAR satellite companies say that decision could lead allies to go to companies in other countries, like Finland-based Iceye, for such satellites. [SpaceNews] LMV is Lockheed Martin's Venture Capital arm, and about a third of its portfolio is invested in space. Some of its most notable space Investments include launchers Rocket Lab and ABL Space. Other News Blue Origin successfully flew a new New Shepard suborbital vehicle Wednesday. The uncrewed vehicle lifted off from the company's West Texas site on the 10-minute NS-27 mission at 11:26 a.m. Eastern. The capsule reached a peak altitude of 102.4 kilometers, several kilometers lower than the apogee on other recent New Shepard flights, but Blue Origin said the flight was "nominal and on target." The uncrewed mission was a shakedown flight for a new capsule and booster, the second human-rated vehicle Blue Origin will operate for space tourism flights. This mission carried 12 payloads, including some Blue Origin technology demonstrations. [SpaceNews] A Chinese company has disclosed its plans for suborbital space tourism flights. Deep Blue Aerospace expects to begin suborbital tourism flights starting in 2027 with its "Rocketaholic" vehicle, a capsule that resembles SpaceX's Crew Dragon launched on a booster that looks like the first stage of a Falcon 9. The company says the vehicle can carry up to six people on suborbital flights to 100 to 150 kilometers. Deep Blue Aerospace is also developing the Nebula-1 reusable orbital rocket and is preparing for a new vertical takeoff, vertical landing test in November. [SpaceNews] SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites Wednesday after two days of weather delays. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 5:47 p.m. Eastern and deployed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch took place after SpaceX called off launch attempts Monday and Tuesday. The launch is the 72nd this year from Cape Canaveral, tying a record set last year; all but five of those launches have been by SpaceX. [Orlando Sentinel] A Crew Dragon spacecraft is finally on its way home from the International Space Station. The Crew-8 Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the ISS at 5:05 p.m. Eastern, setting up a splashdown off the Florida coast Friday at about 3:30 a.m. Eastern. Weather conditions at splashdown locations delayed the undocking by more than two weeks, and NASA earlier pushed back the departure by more than a month to accommodate delays in the launch of Crew-9 as NASA and Boeing sorted out issues with the Starliner spacecraft docked there on a crewed test flight. [CBS] India's lunar sample return mission will go to the south polar region of the moon. The Chandrayaan-4 mission, scheduled for launch in 2027 or 2028, will target a landing between 85 and 90 degrees south latitude at the moon, officials with the Indian space agency ISRO said at the International Astronautical Congress last week. The mission will aim to collect around three kilograms of samples from near the south pole for return to Earth. That mission will be followed by a joint mission with Japan called LUPEX that will deliver a Japanese-built rover near the lunar south pole. [SpaceNews] Telesat has ordered 127 gateway antennas from South Korea's Intellian for its upcoming Lightspeed constellation. The antennas will be installed across roughly 20-30 sites worldwide, serving as gateways that will reduce latency for the constellation. The Lightspeed satellites, being built by MDA, will have optical intersatellite links to reduce dependence on ground stations. [SpaceNews] Companies that develop optical terminals for intersatellite links don't see SpaceX as a competitor. SpaceX announced in March it would offer commercially the laser terminals it uses for Starlink, raising questions about how other companies would be able to compete with the scale at which SpaceX produces those terminals. In a panel at Satellite Innovation this week, though, optical terminal suppliers focused on government sales said they weren't concerned because the SpaceX terminals do not comply with the standards published by the SDA. [SpaceNews] Cyprus is the latest country to sign the Artemis Accords. The country's deputy minister of research, innovation, and digital policy signed the Accords Wednesday in a ceremony in the capital of Nicosia attended by the State Department and, virtually, NASA. Cyprus is the 46th country to sign the Accords, which set out best practices for sustainable space exploration, with Chile set to sign the Accords on Friday in Washington. [NASA] Rage Against the Machinists "Because the first rocket is built by people like Peter Beck and all these brilliant PhDs who designed the rocket. They're poring over every nut and bolt and screw and making sure everything's coming together the way they envisioned it. By your 20th rocket, it's techs working off work instructions. You walk in on the factory floor and these guys are blaring Rage Against the Machine." – Rocket Lab CFO Adam Spice, asked to explain a comment during a session of the Satellite Innovation conference Tuesday that a company's 20th rocket to build is more difficult than the first. A premier press release service designed to elevate your company's visibility and target our audience. Publish your company's press release with Stellar Dispatch today. Proteus Space Secures Major Investment and Partnership with SAIC By Proteus Space Astroport and Orbit Fab Join Forces for Lunar Exploration Breakthrough By Astroport Space Technologies Glasgow's Craft Prospect selected as European Space Agency's Rising Star By Craft Prospect Ltd.

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