Astronomy Prints 🌌: Resend: Corrected First Up for Dec. 19

A SpaceNews daily newsletter

12/19/2024

Top Stories

Vast Space has signed a deal with SpaceX for up to two private astronaut missions to the International Space Station. Vast announced Thursday the agreement for the Crew Dragon missions to the station, which would require NASA approval. NASA has so far approved four such private astronaut missions, or PAMs, all by Axiom Space and also using Crew Dragon spacecraft. Vast announced earlier this year its intent to compete for future PAM opportunities offered by NASA, stating that the experience it would gain from such missions would help its development of commercial space stations. [SpaceNews]

Avio signed a set of contracts with the European Space Agency regarding its Vega rocket. Avio announced Wednesday the contracts, one of which covers upgrades to its launch site in French Guiana to enable the facility to support six Vega C launches a year, up from the four planned in 2025. A second contract continues development of the upgraded Vega E, set to make its first launch in 2027 and 2028. Those two contracts are worth about 350 million euros ($364 million). Avio also signed a launch contract with ESA for the Vega C launch of the FORUM Earth science satellite in 2027. Avio took over sales and marketing of the Vega earlier this year as part of a transition of launch service provider responsibilities from Arianespace. [SpaceNews]

The Department of Defense is stepping up efforts to partner with emerging commercial space startups. Maj. Gen. Steven Butow, director of the Defense Innovation Unit's space portfolio, said in a SpaceNews webinar Wednesday that the nascent commercial space market requires "a lot of investment" and that the U.S. needed to keep pace with China, which is making significant investments in its own commercial space sector to develop systems that can also have military applications. As part of those efforts, the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command has expanded its "Front Door" initiative, a portal connecting commercial firms with potential government buyers. That initiative now includes more than 20 government agencies, including NASA and the NRO. [SpaceNews]

A new Pentagon report on China's military activities puts an emphasis on satellites and AI. The annual "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China" report, released Wednesday, underscores the accelerating pace of China's military modernization. The report noted that the number of Chinese satellites has grown from 36 in 2010 to more than 1,000 today, including over 360 dedicated to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. China has embraced "multi-domain precision warfare," a strategy that integrates AI, big data and space technologies to conduct highly coordinated military operations, mirroring similar strategies pioneered by the Pentagon. [SpaceNews]

Firefly Aerospace has won a third NASA contract for a lunar lander mission. NASA announced Wednesday it awarded Firefly a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order worth $179.6 million for a lunar lander mission to the Gruithuisen Domes region on the near side of the moon in 2028. The mission will deliver six NASA payloads and also include a rover.
Firefly is currently preparing its first Blue Ghost lander mission for NASA to launch in January, with a second mission going to the lunar farside in 2026. [SpaceNews]

Firefly's first lunar lander will share a ride to the moon with another company's lander. Japanese company ispace said late Tuesday that its second lunar lander, Resilience, will share the Falcon 9 launch in mid-January with Blue Ghost 1. A report last week stated that the two landers would launch together, but at the time neither Firefly nor ispace would confirm the report, deferring questions to SpaceX, which did not respond to inquiries. While the two landers will launch together, they will take different paths to the moon, with Blue Ghost landing about 45 days after launch while Resilience, using a low-energy trajectory to conserve fuel, landing at the moon several months after launch. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force says the first national security launch of ULA's Vulcan Centaur won't take place until next spring. In a statement, Space Systems Command said it is targeting the second quarter of 2025 for that mission, which had been planned before the end of the year. The Space Force is continuing to study an anomaly on Vulcan's second flight in October where part of the nozzle of one solid rocket booster fell off during flight. The rocket compensated for the decreased performance from the booster and still completed the mission. That investigation has delayed certification of Vulcan for national security missions, a process now expected to wrap up in the first quarter of 2025. [Spaceflight Now]

Other News

A Chinese commercial rocket completed a sea-based launch Thursday. The Ceres-1S rocket lifted off at 5:18 a.m. Eastern from a ship in Chinese coastal waters. The rocket placed into orbit four Tianqi satellites for Internet-of-Things services. [Xinhua]

A New Zealand telco is the first to provide nationwide coverage using Starlink direct-to-device services. One NZ said Wednesday it will be the first in the world to provide that service throughout a country, covering the 40% of New Zealand without terrestrial service as well as in coastal waters as far as 20 kilometers from shore. One NZ says it will provide the service for free to customers with one of four phone models and who have pay-monthly plans. According to One NZ, text messages can currently be sent and received within three minutes, but it can take up to 10 minutes as SpaceX works to add satellites to its direct-to-smartphone constellation. [SpaceNews]

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released new policies Wednesday about cislunar science and technology development. OSTP issued one memo directing NASA to lead work on a cislunar reference system needed for future navigation on and around the moon, calling for the agency to provide an implementation plan by the end of 2026. OSTP also released a National Cislunar Science and Technology Action Plan to implement a strategy it published two years ago. The action plan gives specific tasks to federal agencies on four objectives, from research and development for cislunar activities to development of cislunar space situational awareness capabilities. [SpaceNews]

Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël is leaving the company. Arianespace announced Thursday that Israël, who has been CEO of the launch services provider since 2013, will leave at the end of the month to "pursue a new career opportunity" in January. Israël will be replaced by David Cavaillolès, who has spent the last five years at IT services and consulting company Capgemini and previously was ministerial advisor for French space policy. [Arianespace]

Space Florida has agreed to provide $65 million in funding for a development project at Cape Canaveral. The funding, approved at a Space Florida board meeting Wednesday, includes $50 million in matching grant funds in partnership with the state's transportation department and $15 million in common use funds. The effort, known only by the codename "Project Hinton," includes a high-volume production facility, high bay and launch infrastructure at Cape Canaveral. Space Florida has not identified the company affiliated with Project Hinton, but many speculate it is SpaceX given its plans to expand facilities at the Cape for future Starship launches. [WFTV Orlando]

The federal government is in danger of a shutdown at the end of the week after a funding deal fell apart Wednesday. Appropriators announced Tuesday an agreement on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through mid-March while also providing disaster relief funding — more than $740 million of which would go to NASA — and other policy provisions. However, Republicans in the House objected to the scope of the bill, and both Elon Musk and, later, President-elect Trump also voiced their disapproval for the bill. House Republican leaders are now considering alternative options, but any new agreement will require Democratic support. A CR needs to be enacted by Friday to avoid a shutdown. [Roll Call]

Not the Retiring Type

"My constitution is such that I'm not going to retire. And what I said is, I'm going to cloister myself and write a book. And then, we'll see what happens."

– NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, describing Wednesday his plans when he steps down next month at the end of the Biden administration. [Florida Today]

What's New With SpaceNews?

Check out the latest episode of Commercial Space Transformers, our new video series featuring conversations between SpaceNews Senior Staff Writer Jason Rainbow and the people driving the space industry's commercial transformation. This week, James Parker, founding partner of Leonid Capital Partners, shares his career journey from NASA flight controller, where he worked on the International Space Station's robotics, to the world of private credit and finance.

Watch out for new episodes every Tuesday on SpaceNews.com and on the SpaceNews YouTube channel.