Plus: The European Space Agency's 2025 budget and a new space sustainability goal
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 01/10/2025 | | | | | Satellites built by two different companies completed the first cross-vendor laser communications test for the Space Development Agency's satellite network. York Space Systems announced Thursday that a satellite it built for the SDA's Tranche 0 constellation successfully communicated with one built by SpaceX using terminals supplied by Tesat-Spacecom. Neither the company nor SDA released any technical details of the demonstration. The test was a validation of a standardized Optical Communication Terminal protocol mandated by SDA to ensure seamless data exchange between satellites from different manufacturers. [SpaceNews]
Space sustainability should be a goal of the United Nations, a group of researchers argue. In a paper published Thursday, the scientists from universities and NASA made the case for adding space sustainability to the list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the UN adopted in 2015 on topics ranging from ending poverty to mitigating climate change. They argue that a space sustainability goal could be modeled on the one for protecting the oceans to help manage debris. SDG enforcement mechanisms often rely on diplomatic pressure, public accountability and economic incentives. [SpaceNews]
The European Space Agency is starting 2025 with a slightly smaller budget. At a briefing Thursday, officials outlined a budget of 7.68 billion euros ($7.91 billion) for 2025, down about 1.4% from the 7.79 billion euros the agency had for 2024. The agency did not go into details about the decline but noted that some member states may increase their contributions slightly in the coming weeks, putting the total budget closer to 8 billion euros. ESA is also developing a package of programs for the next three years to be funded at its ministerial conference in November where the agency will likely seek a significant, but undisclosed, budget increase. [SpaceNews]
Maxar Intelligence has won a contract from the Dutch military. The four-year agreement announced Thursday, valued at $14.4 million, provides Dutch military users with access to Maxar's satellite tasking capabilities, imagery archive and data analytics through its Geospatial Platform Pro service. The deal comes as NATO allies increasingly seek to develop independent geospatial intelligence capabilities, often through partnerships with commercial providers. [SpaceNews]
Rubicon Space Systems has delivered the propulsion system for a NASA technology demonstration mission. Rubicon's propulsion system will be the first to demonstrate in space a dual-mode system that uses the same propellant for both chemical and electric thrusters. That propellant, ASCENT, is a non-toxic propellant that is safer to handle than hydrazine and offers better performance in chemical thrusters. The mission, called Green Propulsion Dual Mode, is scheduled to launch in October. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | SpaceX launched another set of NRO satellites Thursday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:53 p.m. Eastern on the NROL-153 mission. The launch carried an undisclosed number of satellites for NRO's proliferated LEO constellation for intelligence and surveillance. The mission is the seventh for the NRO constellation and the first NRO launch of 2025. [SpaceNews]
Weather in the Atlantic is delaying the first Blue Origin New Glenn launch. The company said Thursday it delayed the launch at least two days, to no earlier than 1 a.m. Eastern Sunday, because of high seas at the location of the company's ship that serves as the landing platform for the rocket's first stage. The NG-1 mission is the first flight of the heavy-lift rocket and will carry a technology demonstration payload for Blue Origin's Blue Ring orbital transfer vehicle. [Florida Today]
NASA has added Rocket Lab's upcoming Neutron rocket to a launch contract. Rocket Lab said Thursday that the agency had on-ramped Neutron, a reusable medium-lift rocket, to its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract vehicle, making it eligible to compete for future task orders. NASA uses VADR primarily for launches of small satellites, including two launches of Rocket Lab's Electron small launch vehicle last year for the TROPICS Earth science mission. Rocket Lab says it is working towards an inaugural launch of Neutron from Wallops Island, Virginia, as soon as the middle of this year. [Rocket Lab]
Australian mobile phone operator Telstra has signed a direct-to-device agreement with SpaceX. Telstra will use SpaceX's Starlink constellation to provide messaging services to mobile phones outside the reach of its terrestrial network, joining operators in several other countries, like T-Mobile in the U.S., who also have plans to use Starlink for those services. Telstra had previously signed an agreement with AST SpaceMobile to provide direct-to-device services. [B&T]
The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft has made its final flyby of Mercury. The spacecraft passed 295 kilometers above the north pole of the planet Wednesday, returning an initial set of images a day later. The flyby is the sixth and final one for the spacecraft, which will return to Mercury in late 2026 to go into orbit for a science mission lasting at least one year. [ESA]
| | | | | | How to Get an SLS for (Almost) Free
"If you want a human exploration program, there's a certain cost that has to be paid to have that, to keep the lights on, to run the factories. And then, if you want another one, it's not quite free but it's close."
– Tyler Nester, senior adviser for production and transition for NASA's Moon to Mars Program, defending estimates of a $2 billion cost for each Space Launch System rocket during a panel discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday, noting that the annual SLS budget includes significant upfront and overhead expenses.
| | | | | | 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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