| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 03/31/2025 | | | | | Isar Aerospace launched its first Spectrum rocket Sunday, but the vehicle fell to Earth seconds after liftoff. The Spectrum rocket lifted off from the Andรธya Spaceport in northern Norway at 6:30 a.m. Eastern. However, the vehicle started to lose attitude control about 25 seconds after liftoff and the vehicle triggered its flight termination system five seconds later, shutting off its engines. The vehicle crashed in waters near the launch pad but did not damage the launch facility. The company did not provide any details on what might have triggered the loss of control. Despite the failure to reach orbit, Isar considered the launch a successful test flight, providing the company with "tons of data" to support the development of Spectrum, a rocket designed to place up to one ton into orbit. This was the first orbital launch attempt from continental Europe outside of Russia. [SpaceNews]
Former NASA administrator Bill Nelson says he is concerned about some layoffs and changes at NASA, but notes things could be worse. During a panel discussion Saturday, Nelson said he was concerned that among the first employees fired by the agency since the start of the Trump administration was its chief scientist. He added that he is also worried about other potential impacts on NASA Earth science programs. Nelson said after the panel that despite those layoffs, NASA has fared better than many other federal agencies so far, crediting acting administrator Janet Petro for holding off bigger changes. He also said he was unaware of any proposal by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to offer an earlier return of Starliner astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station, stating that, if Musk had contacted the White House with such a plan, the administration would have then contacted NASA. [SpaceNews]
Telesat says geopolitical shifts are driving government interest in that Canadian company's plans for its Lightspeed low Earth orbit broadband constellation. Rising global defense priorities and a push for sovereign-controlled communications are making customer demand for Lightspeed "much more concrete" and urgent, Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg stated in an earnings call last week. He said that while Lightspeed has a backlog of 600 million Canadian dollars ($419 million) today, he expects it to soon grow beyond the 1.1 billion Canadian dollar backlog Telesat has for its existing geostationary satellite business. He added that Canada's two main political parties are calling for increased and accelerated defense spending, with an emphasis on supporting domestic industry, which could benefit Telesat. [SpaceNews]
Airbus Defence and Space will build the landing platform for ESA's ExoMars rover mission. Airbus said late Friday it won a contract from ESA and ExoMars prime contractor Thales Alenia Space worth ยฃ150 million ($194 million) to build the landing platform for the mission. That platform was originally to be provided by Russia until ESA terminated cooperation with Russia on the mission three years ago after the invasion of Ukraine. ExoMars is now scheduled to launch in 2028, delivering to Mars the Rosalind Franklin rover that will search for past and present Martian life. [SpaceNews]
Chinese startup Bluelink Satcom has raised early-stage funding to build a satellite network capable of detecting Bluetooth signals from space. Bluelink Satcom announced an "angel+" funding round worth somewhere between $3 million and $13 million. The company says it has technology that can provide a cost-effective solution for low-speed, wide-area Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity using Bluetooth, allowing satellites to detect signals from IoT devices on the ground. However, the technology cannot be used to transmit signals to those devices from satellites. Bluelink Satcom expects to have its first payload in orbit around the middle of this year with plans for a 72-satellite constellation by 2028. [SpaceNews]
This year should be a turning point for two Chinese megaconstellations. The first launch for the Guowang ("national net") megaconstellation, aimed at global broadband coverage, took place in December, and the project must have 10% of its 13,000 satellites in orbit by September 2029, requiring a rapid increase in launches this year. The Shanghai-backed Qianfan ("Thousand Sails") megaconstellation saw the launch of its fifth batch of 18 satellites earlier this month, with a goal of 600 in orbit by the end of the year as part of a 14,000-satellite system. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | China launched a classified satellite Saturday. A Long March 7A rocket lifted off at 12:05 p.m. Eastern and placed the TJS-16 satellite into orbit. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation described the TJS-16 satellite as mainly used to verify multi-band and high-speed satellite communication technology, but provided few other details. The TJS series is seen by Western analysts as likely carrying out classified missions in GEO including signals intelligence, early warning missions and satellite inspection activities. The launch of TJS-16 follows the March 9 launch of TJS-15, now in GEO. The apogee kick motor that delivered TJS-15 to GEO has since made a series of small changes to its orbit, suggesting tests of low-thrust propulsion. [SpaceNews]
NASA has added SpaceX's Starship to a launch contract for agency missions. NASA said Friday that Starship had been on-ramped to its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract vehicle, used for procuring launches of NASA science and exploration missions. Adding Starship to the NLS II contract, though, does not mean it is immediately eligible for launching all such missions, since it must first demonstrate sufficient reliability. Starship has yet to attempt to place a payload in orbit. [SpaceNews]
Three European satellite manufacturers have started preliminary talks about a merger. Airbus Defence and Space, Leonardo and Thales Alenia Space have initiated talks with European Union antitrust regulators about a merger of their space businesses. A source familiar with the talks emphasized the preliminary nature of the discussions, with no final outcome until "well into next year." The companies have been discussing for months the possibility fo a joint venture of some kind to make their satellite businesses more competitive. [Reuters]
Ukraine's military has established a space policy unit. Kateryna Chernohorenko, deputy minister of defense for digital development, said at a recent conference that the country's defense ministry had created a Space Policy Directorate. That directorate will be responsible for military space policy. It will also work with those developing military space technologies and handle procurement. Those efforts, she said, include deploying satellites by 2030 with applications such as missile warning. [Ukrainska Pravda]
A lawsuit by Amazon shareholders regarding the company's procurement of Project Kuiper launches is moving to a higher court. A pension fund sued Amazon in Delaware court in 2023, arguing that the board failed to perform due diligence when it accepted launch contracts for Project Kuiper that included Blue Origin, rather than SpaceX. That court dismissed the lawsuit last month after concluding the board did not have conflicts of interest. The pension fund last week appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, seeking to revive the case. [Bloomberg Law]
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