Plus: What the success of Blue Ghost 1 means for lunar landers
โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 03/14/2025 | | | | | Chinese launch startup iSpace has raised tens of millions of dollars to support work on reusable rockets. The company said this week it raised several hundred million yuan in a Series D round led by a provincial industrial investment fund. The funds will be mainly used for the research and development of the Hyperbola-3 methane-liquid oxygen rocket, as well as work on engine testing and production. The company said it has three Hyperbola-3 rockets in various stages of production. It is targeting a first orbital launch with an attempted "sea recovery" of the first stage in December. If successful, it aims to conduct a reuse test flight in June 2026. [SpaceNews]
European satellite manufacturers said they need to cooperate to better compete against SpaceX. Benoit Deper, founder and CEO of Aerospacelab, called for companies like his to "break some barriers" and collaborate, including forming joint ventures. Speaking on a Satellite 2025 panel this week, he said European satellite manufacturers like his must learn the lessons from the launch industry as it struggled to compete with SpaceX and its vertical integration. Thales Alenia Space CEO Hervรฉ Derrey also recommended moving beyond classic "vendor-supplier-customer relationships" in the satellite market as his company talks with Airbus and Leonardo about a potential satellite joint venture. [SpaceNews]
L3Harris is looking to artificial intelligence to help it contribute to the proposed Golden Dome missile-defense system. L3Harris, which has secured over $2 billion in missile-tracking satellite contracts from the Space Force's Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency, intends to incorporate AI and machine learning technologies developed through partnerships with Palantir Technologies and Shield AI into the program's framework. The company believes that Golden Dome, which likely will have a major space component, needs a "collaborative autonomous network" capable of processing data from hundreds of sensors about incoming threats and sharing that information with interceptor weapons at unprecedented levels of accuracy. [SpaceNews]
The success of the Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander is 'proof positive' for a NASA program supporting commercial landers like it. At a NASA town hall meeting earlier this week, the agency said that six of 10 payloads on the lander had completed their mission success criteria, with the rest expected to do so by the time the lander mission ends this weekend at lunar sunset. That was evidence, NASA officials said, that the Commercial Lunar Payload Services model works even though Blue Ghost 1 is the only fully successful landing to date in four attempts. Officials also said at the town hall that they are continuing to work to restore contact with the Lunar Trailblazer orbiter launched last month. However, in an update Wednesday, NASA said that the prime science mission of the orbiter, intended to map water ice on the moon, is no longer possible. [SpaceNews]
The new head of the FCC's Space Bureau said his near-term priorities are licensing reform and 'intensive' use of space spectrum. In a speech at this week's Satellite 2025 conference, Jay Schwartz, named as chief of the bureau early last month, said one effort will focus on streamlining the licensing process so that space companies don't need to undertake a "multi-year odyssey" to get a license. Another will be to both look for new spectrum for space applications as well as ensure existing bands are used "as intensively as possible." [SpaceNews]
ESA is backing a demonstration of multi-orbit optical data relay technologies. The HydRON program aims to transform satellite connectivity, bridging the gap between LEO, GEO and terrestrial networks with laser links transmitting data at up to 100 gigabits per second. ESA has awarded contracts to Kepler Communications and Thales Alenia Space for initial space-based elements of HydRON, and plans to later select several other companies to test the interoperability of their space, ground and airborne terminals with the orbital infrastructure. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | Argotec has rolled out a new modular satellite platform. The Hawk Plus satellite bus features modular, plug-and-play elements that can be swapped out as needed for various applications. That approach also decouples the bus from the payload, allowing for later installation of the payload by the customer. Argotec plans to build Hawk Plus buses at its headquarters in Italy as well as a new factory it is developing in Florida. [SpaceNews]
Leonardo plans to deploy a constellation of nearly 40 satellites for civilian and military applications. Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani said at a press conference this week that the company would launch 18 military and 20 civilian "multi-sensor" satellites by 2028. The system is projected to cost 900 million euros ($975 million), with more than half of the funding coming from the Italian military. Leonardo expects to fund the remainder of the system itself. [Wall Street Journal]
Texas is helping SpaceX fund the expansion of a Starlink production facility in the state. The state government is providing a $17.3 million grant to SpaceX as part of an expansion of semiconductor R&D and production facility in Bastrop, east of Austin, projected to cost more than $280 million. That factory produces Starlink terminals and related components. [Houston Chronicle]
An ESA asteroid mission captured images of Mars and one of its moons during a flyby. ESA released images Thursday from the Hera spacecraft during its gravity-assist flyby of Mars a day earlier. The spacecraft passed 5,000 kilometers from Mars and just 1,000 kilometers from Deimos, one of the planet's two small moons. The flyby puts Hera on course to arrive at the asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos, the target of NASA's earlier DART mission, in October 2026. [New Scientist]
March Madness, meet Mars Madness. The social media network X, owned by Elon Musk, says anyone who has a perfect bracket in its March Madness competition will get a trip to Mars on SpaceX's Starship. The competition, notably, does not state when such a flight would take place, or even if it is one-way or round-trip. The winner can also take an alternative set of prizes that include $250,000, a year of Starlink service and a chance to "train like an astronaut" for a day. [Awful Announcing]
| Seems Fair
| |
"Personally, I think if the AI bros are literally raising hundreds of billions of dollars for hallucinating chatbots, I think our sector deserves a few billion for national security and cool physics."
โ Raphael Roettgen, general partner at E2MC Ventures, during a space industry investment panel at Satellite 2025 on Thursday.
| | | | | | | What's New With SpaceNews? |  | | Announcing the SpaceNews Job Exchange: A launchpad to career success in the space industry. Designed for job seekers, employers, and industry leaders alike.
| | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment