Plus: The Site3D team and China's stainless steel rocket the Blackbird
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 01/28/2025 | | | | | President Trump has ordered the development of a missile defense system for the United States that would include space-based interceptors. Trump signed an executive order Monday for the development of "Iron Dome for America," which invokes Israel's successful rocket defense system. It directs the Pentagon to accelerate development of defenses against hypersonic weapons and other advanced aerial threats. Unlike traditional ground- or sea-based missile defense systems, the envisioned architecture leans on space-based solutions, which have long been controversial. The Pentagon must submit within 60 days a proposed architecture for the system, including efforts to accelerate ongoing missile-tracking satellite programs. [SpaceNews]
Defense contractor Raytheon is partnering with satellite imaging startups Array Labs and Umbra Space to develop 3-D Earth observation technologies. The companies announced Monday that they will jointly offer a new product called Site3D, combining synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology with specialized mapping algorithms to create detailed 3-D models of the Earth's surface. Umbra currently operates a fleet of SAR satellites while Array Labs is working on clusters of small radar satellites designed to work in formation to capture multiple angles of the same location simultaneously. The partnership leverages Raytheon's experience in imagery processing. [SpaceNews]
A Chinese launch startup has raised a seed round of funding to develop a reusable launcher. Nayuta Space secured "tens of millions of yuan," or several million dollars, in pre-A round funding last week. Nayuta Space is developing a series of stainless steel rockets named Black Bird, referring to a creature from Chinese mythology rather than the common blackbird. The company aims, eventually, to achieve reusability of both stages, including a Starship chopstick-style catch of the first stage, called an "eagle grab." [SpaceNews]
Firefly Aerospace says it remains on track to launch its Alpha rocket from Virginia and Sweden as soon as next year. At a spaceport conference Monday, a Firefly executive said the company expected to conduct the first Alpha launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, in early 2026, with the first launch from Esrange Space Centre in Sweden in late 2026 or early 2027. The company, which has launched Alpha to date only from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, says it is diversifying its launch sites to avoid traffic jams at Vandenberg and in Florida. The company is planning five Alpha launches in 2025, all from Vandenberg. [SpaceNews]
Space technology company GITAI has developed its first satellite. The company, best known for work on space robotics, launched a 16U cubesat on a SpaceX rideshare mission in December. That 20-kilogram spacecraft completed all its goals, including capturing and transmitting image and video data. GITAI has plans for spacecraft as large as 500 kilograms that would be equipped with robotic arms for a rendezvous and docking demonstration. The company wants to differentiate itself from other satellite manufacturers through greater vertical integration. [SpaceNews]
Companies see new opportunities for commercial weather data in the Trump administration. Operators for satellites providing weather data to NOAA expect the second Trump administration to reshape the market for their data and push tens of millions of dollars in new money toward their businesses. NOAA's spending on commercial weather data has grown from $5 million in 2017 to $27.5 million in 2024, but companies and other advocates for commercial weather data note it is only about 1.5% of the budget of NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, which focuses on traditional weather satellites. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites Monday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:05 p.m. Eastern and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the 12th this month by SpaceX, with two more launches on the manifest through the end of the month. [Spaceflight Now]
Sen has started a high-definition livestream of the Earth as seen from the International Space Station. The London-based company formally started a 4K livestream from the ISS Monday after several months of tests, using a camera mounted on the Bartolomeo platform outside the Columbus module. Sen plans to make money through advertising, sponsorships and subscriptions. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX is seeking changes to South African policies before offering Starlink services there. The company informed South African regulators that it opposed rules that require "historically disadvantaged" groups to hold a 30% stake in the local venture managing the service. The company said such policies run afoul of "global policies" against local shareholding. SpaceX is scheduled to participate in hearings next month about its license application to operate in the country. [TechCentral]
Amazon is shipping its first operational Project Kuiper satellites for launch. The company said in a recent social media post that it started shipping Kuiper satellites late last year "and even more have been on their way in recent weeks." The first set of satellites is expected to launch in the coming months on an Atlas 5. The current terms of Amazon's FCC license for Kuiper require it to have half of the 3,200-satellite constellation in orbit by the middle of next year. [GeekWire]
An Israeli government minister says that NASA has agreed to fly the country's first female astronaut. Speaking at the Ilan Ramon International Space Conference on Monday, Gila Gamliel, Israel's science and technology minister, said that she "received a confirmation from NASA to send the first Israeli woman astronaut into space" and that the government was starting the process to select that astronaut. She did not disclose when and how that astronaut would fly, and NASA has not commented on the report. [JNS]
| | | | | | | | | "We see the United States with really great dreams, romantic, moving ahead, exploration, new frontiers and so on. We Europeans are a little bit, how do you say, not so romantic, maybe. I don't know why."
– Andrius Kubilius, the EU's commissioner for defense and space, during a panel discussion about space at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.
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