| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 01/20/2025 | | | | | The FAA is investigating reports that debris from the failed Starship test flight last Thursday fell in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The agency said in a statement Friday it was working with SpaceX and local authorities "to confirm reports of public property damage" from debris that fell on the islands. Local officials said some debris had been recovered from the vehicle but that it led to only "minimal," if unspecified, property damage. The Starship upper stage broke apart after telemetry was lost about eight and a half minutes after liftoff. The FAA confirmed it redirected air traffic in the area for a time, with some flights diverting, because of debris "falling outside of the identified closed aircraft hazard areas." SpaceX, though, said that any surviving debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area. [SpaceNews]
The FAA is also requiring a mishap investigation into the failed booster landing on the inaugural New Glenn launch by Blue Origin last week. The FAA said it required the investigation after the rocket's first stage failed to make a landing on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Blue Origin has not released additional details about what happened to the first stage but said it submitted initial findings to the FAA 24 hours after the launch. The company considers the launch a success overall, with the upper stage going into a final orbit with parameters within 1% of those planned. [SpaceNews]
Satellite operator Thaicom is asking shareholders to reject a takeover bid. Thaicom's board said in a filing last week to Thailand's stock exchange that the bid, from Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi, power producer Gulf Energy Development and mobile operator Intouch Holdings, does not reflect the company's full potential. The bid proposes to buy Thaicom shares at a price of 11 baht ($0.32), but shares in Thaicom traded above 12 baht for much of last year. The takeover bid is part of a merger proposed last year between Gulf and Intouch to consolidate their energy and telecom investments into a new entity valued at around $30 billion. Gulf, led by Ratanavadi, is already Thaicom's largest shareholder with a 41.14% stake. [SpaceNews]
Another satellite operator, Agility Beyond Space (ABS), is looking for new partnerships and business models to survive in a changing market. The company noted that while capacity prices continue to fall, satellite costs remain unchanged, making it "increasingly difficult" to replace existing satellites. This reality has driven ABS to explore new approaches, such as a condosat model, where multiple customers share a single satellite to lower costs and investment risks. ABS is also planning to shift from C- and Ku-band spectrum to Ka-band to align with increasing demand for higher throughput services. [SpaceNews]
The incoming Trump administration plans to nominate a controversial former Space Force officer to be undersecretary of the Air Force. Trump said Friday that he would nominate Matthew Lohmeier for the post, subject to Senate confirmation. Lohmeier is a former Air Force officer and pilot who transferred to the Space Force in 2020, but was relieved of his command in 2021 after he published a book that argued that Marxist ideologies were infiltrating the armed forces through diversity and inclusion training programs. [SpaceNews]
Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Transportation said he would review fines issued by the FAA last year against SpaceX. At a confirmation hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee last week, Sean Duffy agreed to review more than $633,000 in fines the FAA issued last September for violations of provisions of launch licenses for two Falcon launches in 2023. Duffy also agreed to a request by the committee's chair, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), to examine "curtailing bureaucratic overreach" on regulating launches. The hearing did not bring up whether the FAA's commercial space office should be moved out of that agency and made a standalone office under the Secretary of Transportation, as some in industry have called for. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | A Chinese company conducted a high-altitude test of a reusable rocket, but it is not clear if the test was a success. The Longxing-2 vehicle launched around 10 p.m. Eastern Saturday from a makeshift launch area near Haiyang, Shandong province. The vehicle was intended to fly to an altitude of about 75 kilometers before making a powered descent and splashdown in the Yellow Sea. Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), which built Longxing-2, has not made any announcements about the test, leading to speculation that something went wrong during the flight. Longxing-2 is thought to be a test article for the Long March 12A reusable launcher SAST is developing. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch Sunday when an aircraft flew into restricted airspace. Controllers called off the launch 11 seconds before the scheduled liftoff Sunday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, citing a "possible aircraft in the airspace." That aircraft turned out to be a Delta Airlines plane flying from Los Angeles to Honolulu that was directed by air traffic controllers on a path that took it into restricted airspace for reasons not immediately clear. The launch has been rescheduled for Monday morning. [Noozhawk]
An executive order by the outgoing Biden administration calls for cybersecurity reviews of civil space systems. The order, released by the White House last week, includes one provision requiring reviews of cybersecurity of ground systems used by civil agencies. Another provision calls for NASA, the Department of Commerce and Department of the Interior to review contracting regulations and make recommendations on changes to them to improve cybersecurity. [SpaceNews]
The first general to lead the Space Force has joined the board of satellite imaging company Planet. The company announced last week it appointed retired Space Force General John "Jay" Raymond to its board of directors. Raymond, who served as the first Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force and is currently a senior managing director at private equity firm Cerberus, brings extensive military space expertise to Planet as the company seeks to expand its footprint in the defense and intelligence markets. [SpaceNews]
A venture capital firm has started a new effort to support emerging space companies. Seattle-based VC firm Fuse announced last week the Fuse Space Program, which will provide $1 million or more in pre-seed funding to startups. Fuse plans to focus on companies in the Seattle area, tapping into people leaving companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX to start their own ventures. [GeekWire]
Astronomers are concerned about how a renewable energy project in Chile could hurt observatories there. The European Southern Observatory says a renewable hydrogen production facility proposed by American company AES Energy in Chile would create significant light pollution for the existing Very Large Telescope on a nearby mountaintop, as well as for the even larger Extremely Large Telescope under construction there. The site today has some of the darkest skies in the world, but the construction of the plant would increase the brightness of the night sky by 10%. Observatory officials said that increase is the difference between "the best observatory in the world and an average observing place." [Space.com]
| | | | | | | | | Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Wednesday-Thursday: Thursday: -
International Space Station: NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore conduct a spacewalk starting at 8:15 a.m. Eastern to conduct station repairs and maintenance. -
Xichang, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 3B carrying an unidentified payload at about 10 a.m. Eastern. -
Online: AIAA hosts a webinar on "Integrating Commercial Innovation Into National Space Missions" at 1 p.m. Eastern. -
Taiyuan, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 6A carrying an unidentified payload. Friday:
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Washington: The Meridian International Center and the Secure World Foundation host "Celestial Navigation: Space Essentials for New Actors" at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 8:54 a.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla.: Rescheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 5:45 p.m. Eastern. Sunday:
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