01/10/2025 | View in Browser | Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, NASA prepares to study alternate Mars Sample Return architectures, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions won a $1.45 billion contract for hypersonic weapons testing, an international coalition of scientists issued a new warning about space debris, and more. | | |
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By Jeff Foust, Jan. 7, 2025 |
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NASA will spend the next year and a half studying two different approaches for returning samples from Mars, one leveraging technologies used on previous Mars missions and the other new commercial vehicles.
NASA leadership announced Jan. 7 that it would pursue studies of two architectures for its Mars Sample Return effort that would take samples currently being collected by the Perseverance rover and bring them back to Earth as soon as 2035.
The main difference between the two options would be how to deliver a redesigned sample retrieval lander to the surface of Mars, which would take the samples from Perseverance and launch them into orbit on a rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). The samples would then be picked up by a European spacecraft, the Earth Return Orbiter, and brought back to Earth. Read More |
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NASA emphasizes role of the moon as testbed for future human Mars missions While Elon Musk suggests he is interested in going directly to Mars, NASA experts argue that lunar missions are essential before attempting any human expeditions to the Red Planet. NASA engineers working on the agency's architecture for human Mars missions said during a panel at the AIAA SciTech Forum here Jan. 7 that they were skeptical crewed missions to Mars of any kind could be successful without first demonstrating technologies on the moon. Read More
ESA budget dips slightly in 2025
At a Jan. 9 briefing, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said that ESA's budget for 2025 will be 7.68 billion euros ($7.91 billion). That is down about 1.4% from the 7.79 billion euros the agency had for 2024. About two-thirds of ESA's budget comes from contributions directly from its member states, with the rest coming from the European Commission, Eumetsat and other sources as part of joint programs. Read More | | |
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| | Researchers propose UN goal to curb space debris
Countries must unite to include space stewardship in the United Nations' sustainable development goals to address an escalating threat of orbital debris, an international group of scientists and other experts warned Jan. 9. The group, including researchers from universities and NASA, said adding space sustainability to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the UN adopted in 2015 would provide a framework for mitigating orbital debris while fostering global collaboration and accountability. Read More
DesJarlais to chair House panel overseeing military space, nuclear programs
Rep. Scott DesJarlais is taking the helm of the House Armed Services Committee's space and nuclear weapons oversight panel. His appointment was announced Jan. 7 as part of the Republican reshuffle for the 119th Congress. DesJarlais, who has served in Congress since 2011, replaces former Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn, who has retired. He will oversee a broad portfolio including missile defense, nuclear deterrence and military space programs – areas where House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) has promised aggressive oversight amid growing great power competition. Read More | | |
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 | COMMERCIAL |
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| Interstellar and Toyota forge strategic partnership
Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies announced a 7 billion yen ($44 million) investment Jan. 6 from Woven by Toyota, the automobile company's mobility technology arm. Through a strategic partnership, Woven by Toyota will help Interstellar expand rocket and satellite manufacturing to meet surging worldwide demand for launch vehicles and satellite communications, according to the Interstellar news release. Read More
Intelsat and OneWeb expand multi-orbit services in Alaska
Geostationary operator Intelsat announced Jan. 8 its first enterprise multi-orbit broadband deal with a telco since expanding its partnership last year with OneWeb, the low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation aiming for global coverage this spring. The deal with Alaska's GCI enables the telco to provide LEO services to customers, including government agencies and businesses, across the largest state in the United States, supported by the geostationary capacity Intelsat was already providing. Read More
Sierra Space CEO departs
Sierra Space says its chief executive has retired from the company, a move that has taken many in the industry by surprise. The company said in a Jan. 6 statement to SpaceNews that Tom Vice retired as chief executive as of the end of 2024. The statement did not elaborate on the reasons for his retirement or its timing. Read More | | |
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| | Kratos wins $1.45 billion Pentagon contract for hypersonic testing Defense contractor Kratos Defense & Security Solutions won a $1.45 billion contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop testing capabilities for hypersonic weapons, marking one of the Pentagon's largest-ever investments in hypersonic testing infrastructure. The five-year contract, announced Jan. 6, will support the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program, which aims to accelerate the development of weapons that travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. Read More
U.S. military satellites achieve first cross-vendor laser communications link U.S. military satellites manufactured by York Space Systems and SpaceX successfully demonstrated cross-vendor laser communications link in low Earth orbit, marking a milestone for the Pentagon's next-generation satellite network. Read More | | |
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OPINION |
|  | By Dave Marsh, Jan. 8, 2025
| Looks like Greenland is back on the menu. In a series of Truth Social posts, President-elect Donald Trump announced that American ownership of the Arctic island, which hosts the United States Space Force's only overseas base, is an "absolute necessity" for national security. Earlier in December, Trump selected PayPal co-founder Ken Howery as ambassador to Denmark, which governs Greenland as an autonomous territory. Howery previously served as ambassador to Sweden during the previous Trump administration. Back in 2019, Trump first suggested purchasing Greenland, which sparked sharp rebukes from Danish leadership. In response to Trump's newest proposal, the current Prime Minister of Greenland, Mute Egede, declared "we are not for sale and we will not be for sale." This discussion has added to an already-growing body of foreign policy reporting about increasing great power competition in the Arctic, where climate change is opening new shipping lanes and countries race to declare continental shelf claims over oil and mineral resources.
Foreign policy commentary on the Arctic region, however, often misses a key point: the Arctic plays a unique and critical role in space security. Any satellite in a polar or sun-synchronous orbit, such as those in critical communications, imagery and weather monitoring constellations, requires an Arctic ground station for consistent tracking, telemetry, and control throughout every revolution. As space assets proliferate and competition with Russia and China increases, the Arctic will only become more important. The debate over physical control of Greenland is only one piece of this puzzle. Read More
How to conduct safe and robust medical research in the new space age By Dorit Donoviel
A vision for better MilSatCom in the United Kingdom
By Ben Bridge
To integrate commercial space services, share spectrum!
By Clay Bosler
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