02/21/2025 | Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, NASA associate administrator Jim Free retires, Elon Musk wants the ISS gone, Isar Aerospace tests its new rocket, and more. | Our Top Story | | |
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| |  | By Jeff Foust, Feb. 20, 2025
| NASA's associate administrator will leave the agency at the end of the week as uncertainty continues about the timing and scope of potential job cuts.
In a statement late Feb. 19, NASA announced that Associate Administrator Jim Free will retire from the agency, effective Feb. 22. Free had been associate administrator, the top civil-service position in the agency, since the retirement of Bob Cabana at the end of 2023.
Free was previously associate administrator for exploration systems development, a position NASA created in 2021 when it split the former Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate into two directorates, one overseeing exploration programs and the other the International Space Station and related operations. Earlier in his 30-year NASA career, he was director of the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Read More |  | Other News From the Week | CIVIL | Musk calls for deorbiting ISS "as soon as possible"
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said that NASA should deorbit the International Space Station "as soon as possible," preferably in the next two years, to focus on missions to Mars. The sudden call by Musk to end the ISS years earlier than NASA currently plans, made on social media Feb. 20, threatens to further complicate the relationship between Musk, a close adviser to President Donald Trump, and the space agency and much of the space industry. Read More
China readies Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return spacecraft for launch
The spacecraft for China's Tianwen-2 combined near-Earth asteroid sample return and comet rendezvous mission has arrived at Xichang spaceport for launch preparations. The Tianwen-2 spacecraft arrived at Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, southwest China, Feb. 20, according to a statement from the China National Space Administration (CNSA). CNSA stated vaguely that the launch is scheduled to be carried out in the first half of this year. The mission was previously stated by officials to launch around May 2025 on a Long March 3B rocket. Read More
Musk and Trump repeat inaccurate claims about Starliner astronauts
President Donald Trump and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk reiterated claims in a televised interview that NASA astronauts were "abandoned" on the International Space Station for political reasons, an allegation that appears unsupported by evidence. Read More | | | COMMERCIAL | Isar Aerospace completes testing of first Spectrum rocket
German launch vehicle company Isar Aerospace has completed tests of its first Spectrum rocket and is ready to launch, pending a license. The company announced Feb. 21 that it completed a static-fire test of the first stage of Spectrum a week earlier, firing its nine engines for 30 seconds. The company performed a similar test of the rocket's upper stage in the third quarter of last year. Read More
ABL Space renamed Long Wall as it shifts focus to defense market
ABL Space, once an emerging contender in the commercial launch industry, is rebranding as Long Wall as it pivots away from launching small satellites to focus on defense applications, including missile defense and hypersonic flight testing. Read More
Airbus takes another 300 million euros in space program charges
Airbus announced it is taking an additional 300 million euros ($314 million) in charges on its space projects as it continues talks with two other European companies about combining their satellite businesses. Read More |
|  | | | OPINION |
|  | By Lisa Dyer, Feb. 18
| The 1990s were iconic: Super Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat ruled the arcades. Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and "Ironic" by Alanis Morrisette topped the charts. Grunge fashion was all the rage, thanks to Nirvana and other Seattle Sound bands. Seinfeld dominated the airwaves. And six GPS satellites still in orbit today were designed and built, launching into space from 1997 to 2004.
Far exceeding their projected 7.5-year lifespan, the longevity of these and the seven GPS satellites that soon followed, is a testament to the skills and expertise of the engineers who crafted such marvels. However, it is long past time to replenish our GPS constellation with modern positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellites — designed and built in the era of Metroid: Prime 4, Taylor Swift and Netflix — that meet the threat environment of today and better prepare us for the future. Read More
Companies are planning to build space critical infrastructure. Can space policy keep up?
By Nick Reese
Now more expensive: the role of government tariffs in spacecraft supply
By Jennifer Ogren
War and space: The effect of Russian aggression in Georgia and Ukraine on its space ambitions
By Bako Kheladze
Legislative recommendations for the 119th Congress to advance non-governmental space
By Michael J. Listner
Trump's Iron Dome order needs constructive debate to reach its full potential By Brian G. Chow
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Sponsored Post |  | By The European Commission
The European Union is making significant strides towards establishing itself as a leader in In-Space Operations and Services (ISOS). This capability is crucial for building a more sustainable, resilient and adaptive next generation space infrastructure and will introduce a new era in the orbital/in-space economy.
The rapid expansion of space activities is driving the development of new services in space: ISOS integrates ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing) with In-Space Transportation, covering applications such as satellite servicing (e.g. inspection, repair, life extension, upgrade, refuelling), debris removal, logistic services in space (e.g. transport of cargo, warehousing), assembly/disassembly of satellites/large structures, and manufacturing (e.g. recycling/reuse). These services are of high interest for commercial and governmental applications. Read More
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