| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 03/11/2025 | | | | | Satellite operators SES and Intelsat have made separate deals with direct-to-device satellite startup Lynk Global. SES announced at the Satellite 2025 conference Monday that it is making a "small, low-risk" investment in Lynk, contributing ground infrastructure and its geostationary and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites. SES will also collaborate with Lynk to bring its satellite manufacturing capability to Europe, mirroring direct-to-device rival AST SpaceMobile's recent expansion. Intelsat, which is in the process of merging with SES, separately announced Monday it made its own investment in Lynk. Intelsat said it sees an opportunity to help bring Lynk Global's technology to government and mobility customers worldwide and is also looking to collaborate on new small satellites. SES and Intelsat were unaware of each others' investments in Lynk. [SpaceNews]
Rivada Space Networks plans to start deploying test satellites next year for its projected low-Earth constellation. The company announced Monday that the test satellites will be followed by launches of operational satellites beginning in 2027 for its Outernet project that aims to create a secure, laser-linked mesh network in space that does not rely on terrestrial gateways. Rivada is intensifying its focus on U.S. government and defense markets with the formation of Rivada Select Services, a subsidiary that won a U.S. Navy contract recently. Rivada has faced financial and regulatory challenges but the company's CEO insists the company is working through these issues and is gaining momentum. [SpaceNews]
NASA is closing three offices and laying off about two dozen people as a precursor to larger job cuts. NASA announced Monday it was closing its Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist; and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The 23 employees of those offices are being laid off. NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro said these cuts were in advance of a larger "reduction in force" of agency personnel, mandated by a White House executive order. [SpaceNews]
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is the new CEO of launch vehicle startup Relativity Space. The company confirmed Monday that Schmidt had been named CEO, replacing co-founder Tim Ellis, who will remain as a member of the board. Schmidt, a billionaire, reportedly invested a significant amount of money in the company. Relativity is working on the Terran R rocket and said in a separate update Monday that the design of the vehicle had passed a critical design review, with a first launch of the Falcon 9-class vehicle planned for as soon as late 2026. [SpaceNews]
Voyager Technologies is expanding its partnership with data analytics firm Palantir Technologies on defense. Voyager said Monday that the partnership aims to produce specialized payloads for space domain awareness that can be deployed on either military or commercial satellites to monitor the space environment, taking advantage of Palantir's artificial intelligence capabilities. The companies previously announced a strategic partnership focused on commercial and civil space applications, including work on the Starlab commercial space station. [SpaceNews]
The head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) said the organization is focused on its mission despite job cuts. NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth said at Satellite 2025 Monday he was proud of how NGA's workforce is handling mandated reductions, though he declined to specify exact numbers of employees who have departed either through voluntary buyouts or layoffs. "That said, they're humans, they have stresses," he added. As the agency manages workforce realignment, it is simultaneously accelerating efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into analysts' workflows, naming three officials to new AI-related positions recently. [SpaceNews]
Thales Alenia Space won an order from Japan's SKY Perfect JSAT for a GEO communications satellite. Thales said Monday that it will build the JSAT-32 satellite for launch in 2027, providing Ku- and Ka-band broadband and broadcast services over Japan and surrounding areas. Like the THOR 8 satellite ordered by Space Norway earlier this year, JSAT-32 will be based on Thales Alenia Space's legacy Spacebus 4000B2 platform rather than its software-defined model, which allows in-orbit reprogramming to adapt to demand changes. It is the fourth commercial GEO satellite ordered so far this year, a strong start compared to 2024, when just six such satellites were ordered the entire year. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | SpaceX scrubbed a pair of Falcon 9 launches on opposite coasts Monday night. The company called off the Falcon 9 launch of NASA's SPHEREx and PUNCH science missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base given poor weather and a "ground data-flow issue" with SPHEREx. Hours later, the company scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch at Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, citing high winds. Both launches have been rescheduled for as soon as Tuesday night. [Spaceflight Now | Florida Today]
Emerging launch companies believe there is room in the market for their new vehicles but are looking for support from the government. During a session at the Satellite 2025 conference, executives from several companies said there is strong commercial and government demand for their vehicles in a market currently dominated by SpaceX. They said the government in particular will be interested in new providers to offer assured access to space. They called on the Space Force, though, to rapidly on-ramp new companies to Lane 1 of the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 contract, suggesting Congress should step in if the service fails to do so. They also want more funding for the Space Force's space mobility and logistics efforts, which extend beyond launch to satellite servicing and reentry services. [SpaceNews]
SpaceWERX, the commercial outreach arm of the U.S. Space Force, has picked eight companies for funding agreements. The Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) agreements are worth $60 million to each company, with SpaceWERX and several defense agencies contributing up to $30 million per project and the rest matched by private investors. The winners — Albedo, Beast Code, CesiumAstro, Gravitics, LeoLabs, Rise8, Umbra and Xona — were announced Saturday at an event at the Capital Factory in Austin, Texas. SpaceWERX argues that the STRATFI agreements help bridge the notorious "valley of death" that can prevent promising technologies from reaching operational deployment. [SpaceNews]
One of the companies winning a STRATFI agreement, LeoLabs, will use it to build another tracking radar. The company said Monday it plans to deploy a new Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radar installation by late 2026 somewhere in the Indo-Pacific region. The Indo-Pacific radar will track space activities but also focus on the detection of Chinese space launches and on tracking Chinese satellite maneuvers, LeoLabs said. [SpaceNews]
Satellite operators have to deal with a growing number of threats. During a panel at Satellite 2025 on Monday, government officials said many industry executives do not have a good grasp of the threat posed by state-sponsored organizations in China and Russia. This includes cybersecurity potential attacks to their networks. Russia has increased laser and radio-frequency jamming attacks on satellites as well since its invasion of Ukraine three years ago. [SpaceNews]
This could be the busiest year for space mergers and acquisitions for some time. Industry executives see pent-up deal activity from last year that failed to close along with new interest in acquisitions across the sector. That interest is driven by an expectation of higher U.S. government spending on early-stage defense technology and national security satellites as well as a growing level of interest from well-financed commercial space companies looking to grow through acquisitions. There many also be consolidation among companies. [SpaceNews]
Next month's Space Symposium is set to be the biggest yet. A record number of exhibitors are confirmed for the 40th Space Symposium taking place in Colorado Springs, along with potentially a record for international participation in the event. However, budgetary constraints are likely to prevent some U.S. Air Force and Space Force personnel from coming. [SpaceNews]
| Tomorrow is a Year Away | |
"We had a suppliers conference with our Artemis industrial suppliers just last week. Both Jeremy [Hansen] and Christina [Koch] were there, hearing them talking about how we're getting close to this, right? And I think Christina said that in the sense of spaceflight, this is basically tomorrow; it's like tomorrow that we're going. So on the timescale of space exploration, these folks are really about ready to go."
- Jake Bleacher, NASA chief exploration scientist, discussing the Artemis 2 mission currently scheduled to launch no later than April 2026 during a town hall session at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference on Monday.
| | | | | | | What's New With SpaceNews? |  | | Check out the latest episode of our new podcast, Space Minds. Join David Ariosto, Mike Gruss and journalists from the SpaceNews team for compelling interviews with scientists, founders and experts who love to talk about space, and their takes on the week's biggest news.
New episodes come out every Thursday on SpaceNews.com, YouTube and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
| | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment