Plus: New legislation to create a Space National Guard
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 | | 03/17/2025 | | | | | A Crew Dragon launched a new crew to to the International Space Station Friday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 7:03 p.m. Eastern from the Kennedy Space Center and placed the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance into orbit on the Crew-10 mission. The spacecraft, with astronauts from NASA, JAXA and Roscosmos on board, docked with the station Sunday at 12:04 a.m. Eastern. This routine crew rotation mission for the ISS has received outsized attention because it has become billed as a "rescue" for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been on the ISS last June. While SpaceX CEO Elon Musk claimed he offered to bring the two back earlier but was rebuffed by the Biden administration, NASA officials said before the launch they were unaware of any proposal along those lines, and the approach they took for bringing the two back on the Crew-9 mission was the "best option" of several considered. NASA officials also said that while Musk has called for ending the ISS in as little as two years, they are continuing with plans to operate the station through the end of the decade. [SpaceNews]
NASA is moving up the return of Crew-9 mission from the station by a day. NASA announced late Sunday that the Crew-9 mission will undock early Tuesday, splashing down Tuesday afternoon off the Florida coast. NASA said it moved up the return, previously scheduled for Wednesday, to take advantage of good weather that was forecast to deteriorate later in the week. Crew-9 will bring back Williams and Wilmore on the Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom, along with NASA's Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. [NASA]
Bipartisan legislation has reignited the debate over the formation of a Space National Guard. Legislation introduced last week in the House and Senate would formally create a Space National Guard as the reserve component of the Space Force. The effort comes just months after Congress approved the Space Force Personnel Management Act, which eliminated the traditional distinction between active duty, Reserve and Guard units for the service. That law also permits the transfer of Air National Guard space units to the Space Force without requiring gubernatorial consent, a provision strongly opposed by governors and National Guard organizations. The new legislation would effectively override this arrangement, creating a formal Space National Guard. [SpaceNews]
Rising defense budgets and geopolitical shifts are creating new investment opportunities for Europe's space industry. A panel at the Satellite 2025 conference last week argued that proposals by the European Union to increase defense spending and develop the IRISยฒ broadband constellation will reshape the investment climate for space companies in Europe, offering similar opportunities that American companies now enjoy. They added that stronger funding and strategic initiatives could help Europe attract more engineers and entrepreneurs. [SpaceNews]
NASA got an extension on a plan for layoffs at the agency because its current workforce is too busy. NASA said late Friday that it received a one-week extension on a plan for reorganization and reduction in force (RIFs) directed by the White House and due last Thursday. The agency said it was busy with launches of science missions and a new crew to the ISS, among other activities. The plan, when submitted, is supposed to identify how it will achieve workforce efficiencies through RIFs and other measures. A second plan is due about a month later with more details on agency reorganizations. [SpaceNews]
German startup Constellr released first-light imagery from the initial satellite in a thermal-imaging constellation. The images from the Skybee-1 satellite allowed Constellr to create a detailed map of the heat distribution for Tokyo's buildings, parks and waterways. Skybee-1 launched on a Transporter rideshare mission in January, with a second satellite scheduled for launch in the summer. The satellites will provide thermal imagery with a resolution of 30 meters per pixel. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | SpaceX launched the latest in its series of dedicated smallsat rideshare missions Saturday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 2:43 a.m. Eastern Saturday from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Transporter-13 mission. The launch carried 74 payloads, including hosted payloads and satellites that will be deployed later on orbital transfer vehicles. Among the customers for the launch were Iceye, Spire and Varda Space Industries, which launched their latest spacecraft. NASA flew three cubesats for a mission called EZIE that will study electrical currents linked to auroras in the upper atmosphere. The NRO launched two cubesats for a unspecified research mission, while Albedo launched the first of its very low Earth orbit imaging satellites. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab deployed a Japanese radar imaging satellite Friday night. An Electron launched at 8 p.m. Eastern from the company's New Zealand launch site, placing into orbit a synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite for Japanese company iQPS. The launch was the first of eight that Rocket Lab will perform for iQPS through next year. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites on Saturday morning. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:35 a.m. Eastern and put 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the third in just over 12 hours by SpaceX, and also set a record for shortest turnaround between Falcon 9 launches from the same pad at just under 57 hours. [Spaceflight Now]
China launched two imaging satellites Saturday. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:11 a.m. Eastern and put the Gaojing-3 02 satellite into orbit. The satellite, also known as SuperView Neo-3 (02), is a high-resolution image satellite. The launch also carried the Tianyan-23 imaging satellite for Chinese company MinoSpace. [Xinhua]
Russia launched three military satellites Sunday. An Angara-1.2 rocket launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 6:50 a.m. Eastern Sunday on a launch for the Russian Ministry of Defense. The launch placed three satellites into orbit, likely the latest version of the Rodnik military communications satellites. [RussianSpaceWeb.com]
A federal judge is dismissing a lawsuit SpaceX filed against a California agency that claimed political bias. The judge in the case said Friday that SpaceX failed to show it had been harmed when the California Coastal Commission voted against a proposal to increase rocket launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The vote was largely a symbolic one, since the launch range is run by the Space Force. The commission, in its vote in October, raised concerns about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's business practices and views, prompting the SpaceX lawsuit. [Reuters]
| The Week Ahead | |
Monday: Monday-Friday: Tuesday: -
International Space Station: Scheduled undocking of the Crew-9 Crew Dragon spacecraft at 1:05 a.m. Eastern, followed by splashdown off the Florida coast at 5:57 p.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 2:09 p.m. Eastern. Wednesday: Wednesday-Thursday: Wednesday-Friday: Thursday: -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 on the NROL-57 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office at 2:02 a.m. Eastern. -
Online: The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts part one of a webinar on "Air & Space Domain Lessons from Russia-Ukraine" at 10 a.m. Eastern. Friday: Saturday:
| | | | | | | What's New With SpaceNews? | | Don't forget to sign up for our next webinar! |  | | Join us Feb. 19 for an exclusive one-on-one live interview with Mark Lewis, one of the nation's foremost authorities on hypersonics. A former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Lewis has been at the center of the Pentagon's modernization efforts, shaping the nation's strategy for developing and deploying these game-changing technologies. | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment