01/24/2025 | Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, NASA shut down programs related to equitable hiring, Redwire announced a $925 million acquisition of Edge Autonomy, Chinese researchers are exploring using lasers to power lunar operations, and more. | Our Top Story | | |
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| |  | By Jeff Foust, Jan. 16, 2025 | NASA is beginning to implement a White House executive order to terminate certain diversity programs at the agency that were once praised by its current acting administrator.
In a memo to employees Jan. 22 obtained by SpaceNews, NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro said the agency was working to close offices related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) at the agency and cancel relevant contracts.
"These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination," she wrote in the memo.
The steps, she wrote, are intended to implement an executive order issued by President Trump hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration. The order called on federal agencies to terminate DEIA programs and positions related to them, calling such efforts "discriminatory" and an "immense public waste." Read More |  | Other News From the Week | CIVIL | China explores using orbiting lasers to power spacecraft on the moon
Chinese researchers have assessed the viability of using laser wireless power transmission (LWPT) from lunar orbiters to supply spacecraft left in the dark during the long, dark nighttimes on the surface of the moon. LWPT uses laser beams to transmit power wirelessly from orbiting satellites to surface receivers, converting light into electricity. The researchers recommend the development of key technologies, followed by on-orbit testing. Read More
Europe to develop geostationary quantum encryption payload
European satellite maker Thales Alenia Space and Spanish operator Hispasat have secured $108 million of European government funding to develop a geostationary payload that uses quantum technology to distribute encryption keys. Read More
| | | COMMERCIAL | AST SpaceMobile raises $400 million to accelerate direct-to-smartphone plans AST SpaceMobile has raised $400 million through convertible debt to help ramp up manufacturing for its direct-to-smartphone constellation. Investors can convert the debt, which priced Jan. 22 to pay interest at 4.25%, into AST SpaceMobile equity if shares rise above $45, or cash at the bond's maturity in 2032. Read More
Redwire expands into defense with $925 million purchase of Edge Autonomy Redwire announced a deal to acquire drone maker Edge Autonomy for $925 million, a combination that would transform the space infrastructure company into a bigger player in defense technology. Jacksonville, Florida-based Redwire announced Jan. 20 it will pay $150 million in cash and $775 million in stock for Edge Autonomy, a manufacturer of military uncrewed aircraft systems whose technology has been deployed with Ukrainian forces in their war against Russia. Read More
Boeing projects additional Starliner losses in fourth quarter
Boeing says it expects to take additional losses on its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew program when it releases its fourth quarter financial results next week. In a Jan. 23 press release, Boeing provided preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2024. That included a projection of $1.7 billion in charges against earnings for five programs in its Defense, Space and Security business unit. | | | LAUNCH | China launches classified TJS-14 satellite towards geostationary belt A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 10:32 a.m. Eastern (1532 UTC) Jan. 23 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) announced launch success in a statement under an hour after liftoff, revealing the previously undisclosed payload to be communication technology experiment Satellite-14, or Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-14 (TJS-14) and headed for geostationary orbit (GEO). Read More
China launches fourth batch of Thousand Sails megaconstellation satellites
The Long March 6A lifted off at 12:11 a.m. Eastern (0511 UTC) Jan. 23 from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China, carrying 18 Qianfan (Thousand Sails) Polar orbit group 6 satellites into orbit. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which produced the launcher, confirmed launch success in a post-launch statement. Read More
U.S. and Norway sign technology safeguards agreement for launches from Andøya
The governments of the two countries announced Jan. 16 that they signed the technology safeguards agreement, or TSA. The agreement, formally known as the Agreement on Technology Safeguards Associated with U.S. Participation in Space Launches from Norway, covers safeguards of U.S. launch vehicles and satellites that are exported to Norway for launches there. The TSA would allow American satellites, and potentially launch vehicles, to operate from Andøya Spaceport, located on an island above the Arctic Circle in Norway. That facility received a license from Norwegian regulators in August to allow orbital launches. Read More |
|  | | | OPINION |
|  | By Donald F. Robertson, Jan. 23, 2025
| Ending the Space Launch System's decades-long drain on the United States' limited spaceflight budget should be a high priority during the transition from President Joe Biden to President-elect Donald Trump. Unfortunately, NASA's giant rocket, decades in development but flown exactly once, is likely to survive the transition.
In its current form, SLS largely duplicates capacity available elsewhere at far lower cost. It consumes money and engineering resources that would better be spent developing improved deep space propulsion, building lunar bases, preparing for outposts on Mars, conducting mining experiments on asteroids, or on any other activity that would advance humanity's space exploration goals.
For SLS opponents, all the stars finally seem to align. Most likely, Trump will continue to be an unpredictable leader, but one who likes an aggressive space program and prefers commercial development over government efforts. SLS is anything but aggressive and it is the antithesis of commerce. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, one of the chief donors and a key advisor to Trump's campaign, is an advocate for commercial space and no friend of the SLS. He may be given great power in the administration to cut "government waste." Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, is an entrepreneur who has financed two private human space missions on SpaceX Dragon capsules launched on Falcon 9s, and has two more in the pipeline, one of which may fly on Starship. He, too, may be expected to question the money spent on SLS. Read More
What President Biden's second cybersecurity executive order means for the space economy By Nick Reese
Transforming NASA: enabling America's commercial space leadership
By David Steitz
We need a National Space Council to chart our future in outer space By James E. Dunstan
Why organizing the White House for sustained space leadership is necessary By Audrey Schaffer
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| | Sponsored Post |  | By Farnborough International Space Show
Leaders from NASA, Babcock International Group (Babcock), Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, UK Ministry of Defence, and US Government have been confirmed as speakers for the Farnborough International Space Show and The 40th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, taking place in the UK during March 2025. Read More
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