Plus: Anduril's new solid rocket motor contract
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 01/08/2025 | | | | | NASA will study two alternative options for its Mars Sample Return (MSR) program in an effort to reduce cost and schedule overruns. NASA announced Tuesday it will examine one option, which will leverage JPL's "sky crane" technology, previously used for landing the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, to land a spacecraft that would pick up the samples Perseverance has collected and launch them into orbit for return to Earth. A second option would instead use a commercial "heavy lander" from a company such as Blue Origin or SpaceX. NASA estimates those alternatives would cost between $5.8 billion and $7.7 billion, less than previous estimates of up to $11 billion for MSR, and could return samples as soon as 2035. NASA said the studies will last about a year and a half, but the agency needs Congress to provide at least $300 million in the current fiscal year. [SpaceNews]
Ligado Networks is suing Inmarsat for allegedly breaching their long-standing L-band spectrum partnership. Ligado, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week, said it is seeking financial damages and restitution for more than $1.7 billion paid to Inmarsat under their 2007 cooperation agreement. The company alleges that Inmarsat failed to upgrade satellite terminals to avoid interfering with Ligado's network, delaying and ultimately restricting FCC approval for Ligado's plans to provide 5G terrestrial services. Viasat, which acquired Inmarsat last year, said the lawsuit has "absolutely no legal merit." [SpaceNews]
China has disclosed few details about the first satellites of a megaconstellation launched last month. A Long March 5B launched the first 10 satellites for its Guowang ("national net") megaconstellation last month, but Chinese agencies and companies have not released any details about the satellites or even formally confirmed they are part of Guowang. The use of the powerful Long March 5B has prompted speculation that the satellites may be equipped with more than just communications payloads. The lack of transparency also has implications for space traffic management as low Earth orbit gets increasingly crowded. [SpaceNews]
Anduril Industries won a Pentagon contract to expand solid rocket motor production. The $14.3 million contract, awarded under the Defense Production Act on Tuesday, will support facility modernization and manufacturing improvements at Anduril's Mississippi plant. California-based Anduril, which acquired solid rocket motor manufacturer Adranos in June 2023, is an emerging player in a sector traditionally dominated by a handful of contractors, and its rise comes amid concerns about the health of the industrial base for producing solid rocket motors for defense and space applications. [SpaceNews]
Satellite propulsion company Pale Blue has signed an agreement with D-Orbit to test a thruster using water as propellant. The companies announced the deal Wednesday to conduct two demonstrations of the Pale Blue 1U+ Water Ion Thruster on D-Orbit orbital transfer vehicle missions later this year. Pale Blue first tested its thruster technology in orbit in 2023. Water propellants offer the advantages of safety, availability and ease of handling, if they perform as advertised in orbit. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | The Indian government has named a new head of its space agency ISRO. V. Narayanan will take over as chairman of ISRO next week, succeeding S. Somanath, who is completing his three-year term at the helm of the agency. Narayanan, who joined ISRO in 1984, has worked on several major launch vehicle and satellite propulsion projects, including cryogenic engines for the upper stage of the GSLV rocket. He has been director of ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre since 2018. [The Hindu]
Fidelity has sharply reduced the valuation of its stake in launch vehicle company Relativity Space. Fidelity, which held shares in Relativity from three funding rounds, had valued the company last March at $19 per share, but in its latest report had cut its estimate of the share price to less than $1, which would imply Relativity's valuation had dropped from $4.5 billion to around $100 million. Relativity says its work on the Terran R reusable launch vehicle remains on track and did not comment on Fidelity's valuation of the company. Relativity is reportedly getting financial support from an unnamed "Silicon Valley engineer and multibillionaire" who is considering a larger investment in the company. [Ars Technica]
Two lunar landers will launch next week. NASA announced Tuesday that a Falcon 9 will launch Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost 1 lander on Jan. 15 at 1:11 a.m. Eastern. The lander is carrying 10 NASA science and technology payloads through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The launch will also deploy the Resilience lander for Japanese company ispace. [NASA]
Slovenia has officially become the newest member of the European Space Agency. The country formally acceded to the ESA Convention on Jan. 1, making it ESA's 23rd member state. Slovenia started cooperating with ESA in 2009 and signed a series of agreements since then that paved the way for full membership. The country is working to establish its own national space agency as well. [The Slovenian Times]
Pluto and its largest moon may have come together with a "kiss." A study published this week concluded that Pluto captured that moon, Charon, billions of years ago when Charon made a gentle collision with Pluto. The structural strength of the two objects kept them from breaking apart, and Charon instead remained in contact with Pluto for 10 to 15 hours before rotational forces pulled them apart, locking Charon into an orbit around Pluto. Scientists said this "kiss and capture" model might explain other worlds in the distant Kuiper Belt of icy objects that have large moons. [Space.com]
| | | | | | Can't Lose a Race You're Not Running
"You cannot compare the two missions. Now, will people say that there's a race? Well, of course, people will say that. But it's two totally different missions."
– NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, speaking Tuesday about the comparison of the NASA-led Mars Sample Return program with a planned Chinese mission that may return samples from Mars years earlier.
| | | | | | 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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