Astronomy Prints 🌌: Trump picks private astronaut Jared Isaacman to lead NASA

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12/05/2024

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President-elect Trump announced Wednesday his intent to nominate Jared Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut, as NASA administrator. Isaacman is the CEO of payment processing company Shift4 and commanded two private astronaut missions on SpaceX's Crew Dragon, Inspiration4 in 2021 and Polaris Dawn in September. On the latter mission he conducted the first private spacewalk. Isaacman said that as head of NASA, he will "passionately pursue" possibilities enabled by new commercial capabilities in space. Many in the space industry welcomed his nomination, although some raised concerns about his close ties to SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Musk. Isaacman has previously been critical of defense contracting approaches, calling for measures such as canceling or renegotiating contracts and even recommending to "break up the largest primes" to improve overall performance. [SpaceNews]

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said he was not concerned that Musk might use his influence with the Trump administration to put Blue Origin at a disadvantage. In a conference interview Wednesday, Bezos said he took "at face value" comments by Musk that he would not use his current ties with the incoming Trump administration to put his companies at an advantage over competitors. Bezos also said in the interview that Blue Origin is "very, very close" to a first launch of its New Glenn rocket, suggesting that a launch license was one of the final milestones remaining before attempting that launch. He did not provide a more specific schedule for the flight, though. [SpaceNews]

Telesat's Lightspeed constellation has passed a key early review. The company said Wednesday that a preliminary design review showed the design of the spacecraft, the first to use Canadian company MDA Space's reprogrammable Aurora platform, is aligned with the program's functional and performance requirements. The review keeps the company on track to start deploying the 198-satellite constellation in mid-2026, using 14 SpaceX Falcon 9 launches over a year. Telesat is targeting markets including backhaul services for mobile network operators and internet service providers, aviation and maritime connectivity, and government customers. [SpaceNews]

Umbra Space has won a contract extension from the National Reconnaissance Office for radar satellite imagery. The company, which has been working with the NRO since 2022, said the extension offers the company continued opportunities to demonstrate its technology and refine its offerings to meet government needs. The financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Umbra currently operates five spacecraft, with more in production to serve government and commercial customers. [SpaceNews]

Small launch vehicle developer Orbex is switching launch sites. The company announced Wednesday it would pause development of its own launch site, Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland, and instead operate its Prime rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands. Orbex said the move would free up resources to support work on its Prime launch vehicle and a new medium-class rocket called Proxima. The decision was a surprise, since as recently as last month the company was requesting bids for construction work on the next phases of Sutherland Spaceport. Orbex did not disclose how much money it would save by operating from SaxaVord, which is working with Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse. [SpaceNews]

Airbus Defence and Space will cut more than 1,000 jobs from its space unit. The company disclosed details Wednesday of previous plans to reduce its workforce because of financial problems, particularly with space projects. Airbus said it will cut 1,128 jobs from its Space Systems business, adding that it doesn't plan to use involuntary layoffs. Airbus Defense and Space will cut 2,043 jobs overall across its business lines, less than the 2,500 jobs it said in October it would eliminate. [Reuters]

Other News

India launched a European Space Agency mission this morning to create artificial solar eclipses. A PSLV-XL rocket lifted off at 5:34 a.m. Eastern and placed the Proba-3 spacecraft into its planned highly elliptical orbit. The 550-kilogram Proba-3 mission aims to study the solar corona by emulating a total solar eclipse using two spacecraft flying in precise formation. The spacecraft will create eclipses lasting up to six hours, allowing instruments to collect data on the solar wind and coronal mass ejections. It will also demonstrate precision flying technology that could be used on future missions. [SpaceNews]

A Starlink launch Wednesday night has completed SpaceX's first set of direct-to-cell satellites. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:05 p.m. Eastern and placed 20 Starlink satellites into orbit, 13 with direct-to-cell payloads. SpaceX said that, with this launch, its first set of direct-to-cell satellites is now in orbit and able to provide messaging services for unmodified smartphones once those satellites reach their final orbits. [Space.com]

Russia launched a military satellite Wednesday. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 12:59 p.m. Eastern and placed its payload into its desired orbit. Russian officials did not disclose details about the payload other than it is a defense satellite. Western observers speculate that it is an electronic intelligence gathering satellite. [TASS]

China launched a third set of satellites for a broadband constellation overnight. A Long March 6 rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 11:41 p.m. Eastern Wednesday carrying a set of Qianfan, or Thousand Sails, satellites. That constellation, previously known as G60 Starlink, may ultimately include more than 10,000 satellites to provide broadband services. [Xinhua]

A whistleblower claims there are serious safety lapses as a Boeing satellite factory. The whistleblower, the head of a union representing 600 workers at the Southern California factory, said Boeing had created a "toxic culture" there that emphasized speed over safety. Workers in October filed a complaint with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration regarding what they considered unsafe conditions there, ranging from obstructed fire extinguishers to machinery blocking exits. Boeing did not respond to specific incidents raised by the person but denied the company retaliated against the whistleblower. [CBS]

The U.S. Space Force has opened a new unit in Japan. The U.S. Space Forces Japan unit, located at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, will support space surveillance activities, including monitoring missile launches by North Korea. It will be staffed by several dozen people and work with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. [NHK]

Alert the DOGE

"I feel bad for the folks in the Department of Education because I will say, hey, a dollar spent at NASA is a better dollar on education than anywhere else."

– NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free, talking about the role of NASA to inspire the public during a keynote address Wednesday at the Cislunar Security Conference.

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