Plus: NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free is retiring
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 02/20/2025 | | | | | Defense industry executives are raising concerns about confusion among agencies about space-related roles and responsibilities. At a Mitchell Institute event Wednesday, executives noted that responsibilities remain blurred among the Space Force, which is a military service; U.S. Space Command, which is a unified combatant command; and intelligence agencies operating in space. That makes them worried about the service's ability to secure resources and execute its mission effectively. They cited the recent announcement of the "Iron Dome for America" initiative as an example, as it mandates the acceleration of space technologies for missile defense without clearly delineating the responsibilities of the Space Force versus those of the Missile Defense Agency and other organizations. [SpaceNews]
The comments came at the rollout of a report that concludes the Space Force lacks the resources and "warrior mentality" needed to compete with China. The report by the Mitchell Institute's Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence takes direct aim at Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman's "theory of success" framework, arguing that his emphasis on competitive endurance over victory could leave America vulnerable in the new space race. They said while other military branches embrace their combat roles, the five-year-old Space Force has struggled to develop a similar warfighting ethos. Budget limitations and an unwillingness to consider space weapons also give China a dangerous advantage, the report stated. [SpaceNews]
The White House is proposing to cut $50 billion from defense spending in fiscal year 2026. The proposed cuts are part of plans to reduce defense spending by 8% a year for the next five years, but will protect some priority programs such as Iron Dome for America. The administration has signaled that programs related to climate change and what it describes as "excessive bureaucracy" will be first in line for reductions. [SpaceNews]
NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free is leaving the agency. NASA announced Wednesday that Free, the highest-ranking civil servant at the agency, would retire at the end of the week. Free has spent 30 years at NASA in two stints, and has been associate administrator since the end of 2023. The agency didn't disclose why Free was retiring now or his future plans. Free had been expected to become acting administrator at the start of the new administration but the White House instead selected Janet Petro, director of the Kennedy Space Center, to lead the agency on an interim basis. The announcement came a day after NASA avoided, at least temporarily, firings of probationary employees similar to those taking place at other government agencies. [SpaceNews]
Colorado-based True Anomaly has opened a factory in Southern California. The company said the 90,000-square-foot factory in Long Beach, California, will be dedicated to the design, development and manufacturing of new products for the military market, including classified Space Force programs. The new facility keeps True Anomaly close to a major customer, Space Systems Command, which is headquartered in Los Angeles. The company is maintaining its Colorado headquarters and factory, where it produces its Jackal spacecraft for proximity operations. [SpaceNews]
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The Space Development Agency (SDA) has revoked a contract for 10 satellites it awarded to Terran Orbital after a lawsuit by Viasat. The SDA said it will recompete the contract for 10 Tranche 2 Transport Layer Gamma satellites it awarded to Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a subsidiary of Terran Orbital (now owned by Lockheed Martin), in August. An Air Force review concluded that an SDA official improperly informed Terran Orbital that its bid was too high to be selected. A separate contract for Tranche 2 Transport Layer Gamma satellites awarded to York Space Systems is not affected. SDA's director at the time of the award, Derek Tournear, was placed on administrative leave last month, reportedly because of the Viasat complaint. [Breaking Defense]
OQ Technology, a Luxembourg company developing an Internet of Things constellation, has won funding from a European Union-backed accelerator. The company could receive up to 17.5 million euros ($18.2 million) from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program depending on its ability to raise money from other investors for a Series B round worth 35-40 million euros. The company has launched 10 smallsats to provide IoT services and is working on technology for direct-to-device services. [SpaceNews]
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk repeated unsupported claims about the Starliner astronauts in a televised interview. In a Fox News interview Tuesday night, both Musk and Trump claimed that astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were left on the ISS by the Biden administration for political reasons. NASA said last August it would return the Starliner spacecraft without the two astronauts on board for safety reasons, stating then that the White House was not involved in that decision. NASA's independent safety board, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, supported that decision in its recent annual report, citing an additional thruster failure during the spacecraft's return. The two astronauts have also stated they do not feel "abandoned" on the ISS. The two are expected to return by late March, a slip from February because of delays building a new SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that led the agency to swap spacecraft last week. [SpaceNews]
Debris from a Falcon 9 upper stage fell in Poland early Thursday. The upper stage, from a launch in early February, reentered over Europe. Several pieces, which appeared to be composite overwrapped pressure vessels, were found near the city of Poznań. The falling debris caused no injuries but may have damaged a light fixture in a warehouse. The upper stage was supposed to perform a burn to make a controlled reentry after its launch but failed to do so for undisclosed reasons. [BBC]
The already small chance of an asteroid impact in December 2032 has dramatically dipped. NASA said Wednesday that the latest observations of 2024 YR4 show only a 1.5% chance of an impact after gradually rising in recent weeks to as high as 3.1% on Tuesday. NASA noted it expects the impact odds to continue to change in the coming weeks as more observations of the asteroid allow astronomers to refine its orbit. The asteroid also has a 0.8% chance of hitting the moon in December 2032. [NASA]
| | | | | | | | | "That starts out as these Space Safety Coalition guidelines and best practices, which is useful, but there's no enforcement mechanism. It's what I refer to as 'pirate's code,' right? It's guidelines rather than rules."
– Bruce McClintock of RAND Corporation, discussing the lack of enforcement of space safety guidelines during a SpaceNews webinar 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, Sunil Nagaraj, Founder and Managing Partner of Ubiquity Ventures, Nagaraj discusses his early involvement in space startups, including investments in Rocket Lab and Spire Global, and how he assessed risk in the early days of commercial space ventures.
Watch out for new episodes every Tuesday on SpaceNews.com and on the SpaceNews YouTube channel.
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