Plus: The latest country to sign the Artemis Accords
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 01/22/2025 | | | | | Redwire is expanding into defense markets with the $925 million acquisition of a drone maker. Redwire said it is buying Edge Autonomy, a manufacturer of military uncrewed aircraft systems, for $150 million in cash and $775 million in stock in a deal expected to close in the second quarter. The deal represents a major pivot by Redwire, which had primarily been a space technology provider, into the defense sector. Redwire executives said they see an opportunity to combine its expertise in satellites with Edge Autonomy's drone technology to create integrated command-and-control networks that cater to military operators. [SpaceNews]
Voyager Technologies is planning to go public. The company, which changed its name from Voyager Space last week, has confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) that would value the company at between $2 billion and $3 billion. That IPO is planned for later this year. Voyager is best known as the leading partner on the Starlab commercial space station project but has been emphasizing its work in defense technologies, such as missile propulsion and avionics. [Wall Street Journal]
Finland is the latest country to sign the Artemis Accords. The country's minister of economic affairs, Wille Rydman, signed the Accords Tuesday during a conference at Aalto University. Finland is the 53rd country overall to sign the Accords and the first to do so this year, after nearly 20 nations signed on in 2024. There are some questions about the future of the Accords, though, given the new Trump administration's "America First" foreign policy. [SpaceNews]
The United States and Norway have signed an agreement to permit launches of American spacecraft from Norway. The technology safeguards agreement, signed last week, allows the export of American hardware to Norway for launches there while preserving export controls. The agreement would clear the way for the launch of American spacecraft on rockets from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. One company, Germany's Isar Aerospace, is planning to conduct launches from Andøya as soon as later this year. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites Tuesday morning. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:45 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and placed 27 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch carried more satellites than on recent flights, which SpaceX said was due to design changes that reduced the mass of individual satellites. The launch also featured the 400th landing of a booster, as the Falcon 9 first stage B1082 completed its tenth flight. [Spaceflight Now]
NASA is delaying a spacewalk outside the International Space Station that had been scheduled for this week. NASA said Tuesday that the spacewalk by Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, scheduled for Thursday, would be pushed back a week to provide more time to replenish ammonia in one of two cooling loops on the station. Williams and Wilmore will stow a radio antenna assembly mounted on the exterior of the station during the spacewalk and also swab surfaces to see if microbes can survive outside the station. [NASA]
Rocket Lab's first launch of 2025 is scheduled for early February. The company said it is planning a launch no earlier than Feb. 3 of an Electron carrying five Internet-of-things satellites for French company Kinéis. The launch will be the fourth of five under a contract between Rocket Lab and Kinéis. Rocket Lab conducted 16 Electron launches in 2024 and said it plans to exceed that mark in 2025, but did not disclose a specific target. [Rocket Lab]
Stratospheric ballooning company Space Perspective is in danger of being evicted from its Florida headquarters. The company received an eviction notice Friday at its facility at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida, because of failure to pay rent. The company is developing a balloon system that can carry a capsule with eight people on board to altitudes of about 30 kilometers, mimicking the view of the Earth seen from space. The company's CEO said that while it conducted a successful uncrewed test flight in September, financial problems led it to furlough 75% of its staff as it works to try to raise more money. [Florida Today]
| | | | | | Keeping Scientists on Their Toes
| | | | "This new FRB shows us that just when you think you understand an astrophysical phenomenon, the universe turns around and surprises us."
– Wen-fai Fong, an astronomer at Northwestern University, on the discovery of a fast radio burst (FRB) that didn't match previous assumptions by astronomers regarding where such bursts could take place. [Northwestern University]
| | | | | | What's New With SpaceNews? |  | | Check out the latest episode of Commercial Space Transformers, our new video series featuring conversations between SpaceNews Senior Staff Writer Jason Rainbow and the people driving the space industry's commercial transformation. This week, Alex Greenberg, co-founder and COO of Loft Orbital, discusses Loft Orbital's innovative approach as a "space-as-a-service" provider, simplifying satellite deployment for customers.
Watch out for new episodes every Tuesday on SpaceNews.com and on the SpaceNews YouTube channel.
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