What Does DeepSeek Mean for Space? - SpaceCom 2025

Top Stories From SpaceCom 2025

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This week, SpaceNews journalists were reporting from SpaceCom, the Global Commercial Space Conference & Exhibition, held in Orlando, Florida. We'll be bringing highlights to your inbox — for full coverage, go to SpaceNews.com. Our Top Story China's DeepSeek AI signals faster path to space autonomy By Jason Rainbow, Jan. 31, 2025 The emergence of China's DeepSeek has shaken up the artificial intelligence sector, promising new opportunities for space companies beginning to explore ways to leverage AI in space. AI is seen as key to unlocking true autonomy in orbit and managing an increasingly congested space domain. Yet, while satellite operators like Loft Orbital are making strides to integrate AI into their operations, widespread adoption across the industry remains in its early stages. Enter DeepSeek, which claims to achieve high performance with significantly lower computational demands than other generative AI — a category of deep-learning models that analyze vast datasets to generate content, answer questions and infer likely outcomes based on learned patterns. This efficiency is a critical advantage for space applications, where bandwidth and onboard processing power are limited. Notably, DeepSeek is open source, positioning it as a potential catalyst for broader AI innovation. Read More More News From SpaceCom Artemis contractors defend current architecture as fastest way to return to the moon By Jeff Foust Companies involved in the Artemis lunar exploration campaign urged the new administration to retain the current architecture, arguing it still offers the fastest way to return humans to the moon. The Trump administration has not made any public changes to Artemis since taking office Jan. 20. However, administration advisers like Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, have been critical of the existing approach, with Musk stating in December that it was "a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program" and that "something entirely new is needed." Read More Clearer career pathways needed to sustain space industry growth By Jason Rainbow The commercial space industry should establish standardized career paths to attract the talent needed for its rapid expansion, a panel of professional services specialists said at the conference. Despite existing for decades before the IT boom, the space industry has lagged in developing structured workforce pathways. With space now at a commercial inflection point, the industry is struggling to find enough workers to sustain its rapid growth, said George Pullen, chief economist at boutique think tank MilkyWayEconomy. Read More FAA optimistic launch companies will switch to new regulations by 2026 deadline By Jeff Foust Federal Aviation Administration officials say they are increasingly confident that they can move commercial launch licenses to a new set of regulations by a March 2026 deadline despite industry complaints about the rules. Read More What's New With SpaceNews? Check out the latest episode of our new podcast, Space Minds. Join David Ariosto, Mike Gruss and journalists from the SpaceNews team for compelling interviews with scientists, founders and experts who love to talk about space, and their takes on the week's biggest news. New episodes come out every Thursday on SpaceNews.com, YouTube and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

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Apple🤝Starlink - SpaceNews This Week

Top Stories of the Week From SpaceNews

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View in Browser 01/31/2025 Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, a deal between Starlink and Apple tumbled rival direct-to-device stocks, NASA pushes back against Trump's and Musk's plans for Artemis and Crew-9 return, three companies partner on 3D Earth mapping, and more. Our Top Story iPhone Starlink compatibility sends direct-to-smartphone stocks sliding By Jason Rainbow, Jan. 29, 2025 Shares in direct-to-smartphone satellite players tumbled Jan. 29 after Apple enabled iPhones with a T-Mobile cellular plan to join beta tests for SpaceX's rival Starlink service in the United States. The capability was discreetly rolled out earlier this week with Apple's iOS 18.3 software update, Bloomberg reported Jan. 28. Shares in Globalstar, which enables connectivity beyond the reach of cellular towers on the latest iPhones via a far-reaching partnership with Apple, closed down nearly 18% the following day. Constellation developer AST SpaceMobile slipped 12%. Canada's MDA, which is building at least 17 satellites for Globalstar after Apple agreed to cover most of the costs to replenish the constellation, also saw its shares fall more than 9%. Read More Other News From the Week CIVIL Safety panel reports progress in Starliner investigation Boeing and NASA are making "significant progress" on addressing issues seen on a test flight of the company's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft last year, an independent NASA safety panel says, although key problems with the spacecraft's thrusters remain unresolved. Read More Europe awards $900 million contract for Argonaut lunar lander development Thales Alenia Space announced a contract worth nearly $900 million Jan. 30 to develop and deliver the Lunar Descent Element (LDE) for Argonaut, the European Space Agency's cargo lander slated for missions to the Moon starting in the 2030s. The contract includes mission design and integration of the LDE, which would be responsible for transporting and landing the spacecraft on the Moon. Read More Artemis contractors defend current architecture as fastest way to return to the moon Companies involved in the Artemis lunar exploration campaign urged the new administration to retain the current architecture, arguing it still offers the fastest way to return humans to the moon. The Trump administration has not made any public changes to Artemis since taking office Jan. 20. However, administration advisers like Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, have been critical of the existing approach. Read More ESA enlists Thales Alenia Space for mission to Venus The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Thales Alenia Space a contract worth a total €367 million ($383 million) to lead the development of EnVision, a satellite slated to launch in November 2031 on a 15-month journey to study Venus. EnVision would carry five scientific instruments and a radio science experiment — on behalf of space agencies from Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and the United States — to provide a comprehensive view of Venus from its inner core to upper atmosphere. Read More NASA rules out immediate Crew-9 return, saying astronauts will come back "as soon as practical" NASA appears to be retaining its existing plans to return astronauts from the International Space Station after Elon Musk said President Trump called on SpaceX to bring back two astronauts "as soon as possible." In a statement to reporters Jan. 29, NASA stated it was proceeding with plans to return the Crew-9 astronauts "as soon as practical" and after the arrival of new astronauts on the upcoming Crew-10 mission. Read More COMMERCIAL Chinese provinces are fueling the country's commercial space expansion Across the country, local governments are rolling out policies to cultivate commercial space industries and attempting to position their regions as key players in the burgeoning space sector. The actions come as provinces discuss priorities for the year ahead. China holds its annual, national-level political sessions in early March, but the "sessions at the provincial level" begin around mid-January. Read More Array Labs, Raytheon, Umbra form partnership focused on 3D mapping from space Defense contractor Raytheon is partnering with satellite imaging startups Array Labs and Umbra Space to develop advanced three-dimensional Earth observation technologies for the commercial and government markets. The companies announced Jan. 27 they will jointly offer a new product called Site3D, which combines synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology with specialized mapping algorithms to create detailed 3D models of the Earth's surface. Read More MILITARY U.S. Space Force Rapid Capabilities Office selects companies for tech accelerator The U.S. Space Force's Space Rapid Capabilities Office (Space RCO) announced Jan. 29 it selected 10 companies to participate in its inaugural Prime Fusion Pilot Accelerator Program, an initiative aimed at fast-tracking technologies to protect military satellites from orbital threats. The program, run in partnership with defense contractor FedTech, is designed to identify emerging space technologies that could enhance the safety of satellites in orbit. Space RCO, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, focuses on the rapid acquisition and delivery of critical space systems. Read More Space Force projects ULA to outpace SpaceX in 2025 national security missions The U.S. Space Force is projecting 11 national security launches aboard United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan rocket in 2025, contingent on the rocket receiving final certification, officials said Jan. 28. The forecast also includes seven missions on SpaceX's Falcon rockets, Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, head of the Space Force's Assured Access to Space office, told reporters at the Space Mobility Conference. Read More Trump orders 'Iron Dome for America' in sweeping missile defense push President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 27 that calls for the development of a sweeping new missile defense system for the United States, including controversial space-based interceptors. Read More OPINION A call to stargaze with strangers By Sarah Walker, Jan. 31, 2025 As an international affairs professional in Washington, DC, I have faced immense grief while helping others navigate recent international crises, from the coronavirus to the Ukraine invasion to the genocide in Gaza. These disasters are personal for me, too. My mom was a doctor on the frontlines of the pandemic. My dad — who grew up in Izmir, Turkey, mere decades after the fall of the Ottoman Empire — mourned the implosion of his homeland.  In the midst of the pain that I feel for both intimate and universal reasons, I have found great comfort in rituals. For me, one is stargazing. I have no control over borders being invaded or hostages being taken, or wildfires blazing or banks failing; but I can usually find the Big Dipper if I try hard enough.    One night not long ago, I found myself thousands of miles away from home on a hilltop in Northern California with a dozen perfect strangers. Following a brutal breakup, my father's cancer diagnosis and the death of a friend, I felt that a significant intervention was required to maintain any remnants of my mental well-being. So, I signed up for an intensive wellness retreat that included experiential learning, visualizations, embodiment exercises and digital detoxing. Read More Ending the dream By Gary Church Will AI redefine human roles in space exploration? By Ilaria Cinelli China's lunar agenda – a heightened warning By Grant Anderson SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community's diverse perspectives. Whether you're an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion@spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. Publish your press release with SpaceNews' premier press release service and start seeing results today. Latest Press Releases Alicia Brown Joins Commercial Space Federation as Executive Director SpaceNews Celebrates 2024 Milestones and Looks Ahead to an Ambitious 2025 Space Foundation and Starburst to Host Second Annual Space Symposium Innovate Pitch Competition What's New With SpaceNews? Check out the latest episode of our new podcast, Space Minds. Join David Ariosto, Mike Gruss and journalists from the SpaceNews team for compelling interviews with scientists, founders and experts who love to talk about space, and their takes on the week's biggest news. New episodes come out every Thursday on SpaceNews.com, YouTube and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

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Solving Starliner’s thruster problems

Plus: Developing more career paths to space and the latest inductees to the Astronaut HOF

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View in Browser A SpaceNews daily newsletter 01/31/2025 Top Stories NASA and Boeing are making progress into resolving issues on Starliner's flawed test flight last year, but have yet to fix problems with its thrusters. NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel stated at a meeting Thursday that NASA and Boeing teams had made "significant progress" on closing out anomalies that took place during the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission last summer. Starliner launched two astronauts to the International Space Station on CFT in June, but returned three months later uncrewed because of NASA concerns about the performance of its thrusters. The panel said that NASA and Boeing have yet to find the root cause of the thruster problems and did not offer a schedule for doing so. NASA and Boeing have said little about Starliner since the spacecraft's return in September and have not scheduled the vehicle's next flight to the station. [SpaceNews] Local Chinese governments are playing a major role in the development of the country's space industry. Across the country, local governments are rolling out policies to cultivate commercial space industries and attempting to position their regions as key players in the burgeoning space sector. New initiatives include tax incentives, subsidies, industrial clusters and commercial spaceports. This approach allows provinces to experiment with commercial space initiatives as part of decentralized efforts for economic growth. [SpaceNews] The space industry needs to develop standardized career paths to ensure future growth. During a panel at the SpaceCom conference this week, industry officials said the space industry can be a "scary place" for people moving into it from other industries because there is often no clear roadmap for career progression. A lack of structured workforce pathways could make it difficult for the industry to attract workers, along with salaries that don't keep pace with the high cost of living in the regions of the country with concentrations of space companies. [SpaceNews] Spanish company Added Value Solutions (AVS) has won an ESA study contract for a science mission. AVS said Thursday that it was one of two companies that received contracts from ESA to perform Phase A and B work on an astrophysics mission called ARRAKIHS scheduled to launch into Earth orbit in 2030. ESA will later select which company to build the spacecraft. AVS, a company best known for work in scientific instrumentation, is moving into the space sector, launching its first smallsat last year. The company wants to focus on "high performance" smallsat missions rather than mass manufacturing of standardized spacecraft. [SpaceNews] Other News Two astronauts completed a spacewalk outside the ISS Thursday. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore spent about five and a half hours outside the station on the spacewalk, retrieving a malfunctioning antenna that two previous spacewalks had been unable to detach from the station's exterior. The astronauts also swabbed sections of the station to see if any microbial life can survive there. This was the fifth spacewalk for Wilmore and ninth for Williams, who has spent more than 62 hours in space on those spacewalks. She broke the record for cumulative spacewalking time by a female astronaut, a mark that had been held by Peggy Whitson. [CBS] Russia says the Trump administration's plans for an "Iron Dome for America" missile defense system is a ploy to weaponize space. A spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the proposal, announced earlier this week, was proof of American interest "on turning space into an arena of armed confrontation." That plan, the ministry said, could prevent talks between the United States and Russia on nuclear arms control. [Reuters] Commercial space station developer Vast is working with SpaceX to solicit proposals for research related to human habitation in space. The companies said they are interested in research that could be performed on private astronaut missions to the ISS on on Vast's Haven-1 station in development. The companies are looking for "high-impact research projects to support humanity on Earth and advance our capacity to live and work in Earth orbit and beyond." Vast and SpaceX said they would not directly fund any research projects they select but will offer payload accommodations and crew time to conduct the research. [Vast] Former NASA astronauts Bernard Harris and Peggy Whitson are the latest inductees to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Harris flew on two shuttle missions in the 1990s, one to the Russian space station Mir, and is the first Black astronaut to perform a spacewalk. Whitson flew on three long-duration missions to the ISS for NASA and holds the U.S. record for cumulative time in space at 675 days. After leaving NASA, she commanded the Ax-2 private astronaut mission to the station for Axiom Space and is preparing for the Ax-4 mission, which could overlap with the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in late May. [collectSPACE] Window-Rattling Fun "I live very close to the [Redstone] Arsenal and there's nothing better than having your windows rattle every other evening, almost it seems, about dinnertime. I hope they sell windows on Amazon because I may need some." – Joseph Pelfrey, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, discussing engine tests by Blue Origin at the center during a panel at the SpaceCom conference Thursday. What's New With SpaceNews? Check out the latest episode of our new podcast, Space Minds. Join David Ariosto, Mike Gruss and journalists from the SpaceNews team for compelling interviews with scientists, founders and experts who love to talk about space, and their takes on the week's biggest news. New episodes come out every Thursday on SpaceNews.com, YouTube and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Manage Preferences

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