Plus: Rocket Lab's request for the Mars Sample Return program
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 01/09/2025 | | | | | Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) is the new chair of the defense subcommittee responsible for space. The House Armed Services Committee announced this week that DesJarlais would take over leadership of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, replacing Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), who retired at the end of last year. 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 a growing great power competition. DesJarlais has pushed for deeper integration of private space capabilities into military systems, arguing that commercial innovation could help the Pentagon move faster and cheaper in responding to emerging threats. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab wants the next administration to open up NASA's Mars Sample Return (MSR) program to commercial competition. The company was one of several that performed MSR studies for NASA last year, proposing a vertically integrated architecture that could deliver samples to Earth as soon as 2031 for as little as $4 billion. NASA did not include that plan among the alternative architectures it will study for the next year and a half as part of an announcement Tuesday. A Rocket Lab executive said that the company would like the Trump administration to reconsider those plans and instead open up MSR to commercial competition to enable solutions that could be done faster and cheaper. [SpaceNews]
Intelsat is partnering with OneWeb to provide broadband services in Alaska. The deal with Alaska's GCI Communications enables the company to provide LEO services to customers across Alaska, including government agencies and businesses, that is supported by the geostationary capacity Intelsat was already providing. It is Intelsat's first enterprise multi-orbit broadband deal with a telecommunications company since expanding its partnership last year with OneWeb. [SpaceNews]
A former Pentagon space policy official has joined startup True Anomaly. The company announced Wednesday it hired Stephen Kitay, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, as senior vice president of space defense. True Anomaly is developing specialized satellites for military training and space domain awareness, launching one such satellite last month. Kitay said he will focus on building relationships with customers and lawmakers while positioning True Anomaly's technology as a training platform for Space Force operators. [SpaceNews]
Wildfires in Los Angeles have closed NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The lab said Wednesday it was closed to all but emergency personnel because of evacuation orders for a wildfire burning several kilometers away. JPL itself has not suffered fire damage but reported some damage from high winds that have helped spread the fires. JPL is expected to remain closed through the weekend. [Space.com]
| | | | | The Indian space agency ISRO postponed a planned docking experiment involving two satellites launched last week. ISRO said Wednesday it postponed the docking of the two Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, satellites because the drift in their positions was "more than expected" as the spacecraft approached within 225 meters of each other. The docking was to take place later Wednesday after a two-day delay to provide more time for ground simulations. ISRO did not announce a new schedule for the docking, which is intended to test technologies for future crewed and robotic missions. [Mint]
SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites Wednesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:27 a.m. Eastern from the Kennedy Space Center and placed 21 satellites into orbit, 13 of which have direct-to-cell payloads. The launch was the third this year by SpaceX, and the second of Starlink satellites. [Spaceflight Now]
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wants NASA to move its headquarters to the Kennedy Space Center. DeSantis, speaking Wednesday at an event to mark a new research partnership between KSC and several Florida universities, claimed there is "an interest" in moving NASA Headquarters from Washington to KSC but did not elaborate, and argued that the Trump administration should support such a move. While there have been reports that the incoming administration might seek to move some agencies' headquarters out of Washington, any move would likely face hurdles in Congress, while Florida would face competition from other states. [Florida Today]
SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than Monday for the next Starship launch. The company had been working toward a launch as soon as Friday, but announced on Wednesday that it is now planning a launch early next week, cautioning that the schedule depends on "weather conditions for preflight operations" at its Starbase facility in South Texas. The seventh integrated suborbital flight of Starship/Super Heavy will test upgrades to the Starship upper stage, including deployment of Starlink satellite mass simulators. [San Antonio Express-News]
Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles is the winner of the National Space Club's Goddard Memorial Trophy. The organization announced this week that it selected Lyles for its highest honor, formally awarded at the gala Goddard Memorial Dinner in March. Lyles served in several space-related roles while in the Air Force through his retirement in 2003, and subsequently has led several advisory organizations, including the NASA Advisory Council and the National Academies' Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. [X @SpaceClubNews]
| | | | | | Can't Gain Weight in Weightlessness, Right?
"I've never seen anyone ever, ever, eat as much as Don Pettit can eat. It is amazing to watch this man eat as skinny as he is. So that's been a joy in itself."
– NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, discussing his fellow NASA astronaut and International Space Station crewmate during a video call with NASA leadership Wednesday.
| | | | | | 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, Mark Boggett, CEO of Seraphim Space, discusses the evolving landscape of space investment and the role Seraphim plays as a publicly traded space fund.
Watch out for new episodes every Tuesday on SpaceNews.com and on the SpaceNews YouTube channel.
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