| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 03/10/2025 | | | | | The second Intuitive Machines lunar lander mission ended early Friday after barely 12 hours on the surface of the moon. The company announced Friday that the IM-2 mission ended because the lander, on its side in a crater, could not generate sufficient power to operate in the "extremely cold" conditions in that location. The company said the vehicle missed its landing site in Mons Mouton in the south polar region of the moon by 250 meters, although NASA later stated the lander was off by more than 400 meters. NASA said it got some data from its PRIME-1 drilling payload on the lander, although the drill itself was not able to probe the surface. Shares of Intuitive Machines, which fell 20% Thursday, dropped another 22% Friday. [SpaceNews]
The Trump administration is no longer sharing commercial satellite imagery with Ukraine. The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) confirmed Friday that the administration had cut off access to NGA's commercial satellite imagery platform, which provided Ukraine electro-optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from multiple commercial remote sensing satellites since 2022. The decision to halt Ukraine's access to NGA's imagery is part of an abrupt policy shift by the administration that also includes halting intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials are exploring alternative sources for satellite imagery, with discussions ongoing with other nations and private firms to secure critical geospatial intelligence. [SpaceNews]
The Space Development Agency (SDA) is revising its schedule of launches of communications and missile-tracking satellites. SDA said Friday it would start launches of Tranche 1 satellites in late summer, with more than 150 spacecraft projected to be launched by 2027. This new timeline represents a delay of nearly a year from the original September 2024 target for beginning the Tranche 1 launches. The updated projections come as the agency faces multiple challenges, including a recent leadership shakeup, supply chain issues and scrutiny from government watchdogs questioning the program's technical readiness. [SpaceNews]
The FCC granted SpaceX permission to increase power levels for its direct-to-device services. The increased power levels for transmissions in spectrum bands adjacent to terrestrial frequencies used by its partner, T-Mobile, paves the way for services to expand beyond SOS and texting to support real-time voice and video calls. The FCC determined that SpaceX's proposed power levels were justified and unlikely to cause harmful interference, something that rival terrestrial operators AT&T and Verizon had warned of. [SpaceNews]
Singapore's Astrum Mobile has ordered a small GEO communications satellite from Swissto12. The Neastar-1 satellite will leverage the latest 5G standards to connect directly with smartphones and other devices, providing media and mass notification services in addition to basic connectivity for remote networks. Switzerland-based Swissto12 said the deal, announced Monday, reflects growing demand for smaller, regionally focused satellites closer in size to a washing machine than traditional school bus-sized GEO spacecraft. Astrum Mobile is the third customer for Swissto12's HummingSat platform after Inmarsat and Intelsat. [SpaceNews]
President Trump said he's interested in human missions to Mars but added they are not a top priority for him. In an interview broadcast by Fox News on Sunday, Trump said there's "a lot of interest" in going to Mars, an idea he has mentioned in both his inaugural address as well as in a speech last week to a joint session of Congress. But, he added, "is it number one on my hit list? No. It's not really." Trump has not provided any additional details about his plans for Mars missions beyond those general comments in his speeches. The comments come amid reports that the administration is proposing to slash NASA's science budget by as much as 50% in its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal to be released this spring. Doing so, scientists and advocates warn, would be an "extinction event for space science and exploration" in the U.S. [SpaceNews]
Chinese launch startup Deep Blue Aerospace has raised a new funding round as it works towards a first orbital launch attempt later this year. The funding round, announced by the company last week, provided nearly 500 million yuan ($69 million) for its work on its Nebula series of reusable launch vehicles. The company has now set a target of the middle of the year for the first launch of the Nebula-1 orbital rocket, likely from the new commercial spaceport on Hainan island. The launch will include an attempt at recovering the first stage through powered descent and landing. Deep Blue Aerospace is also planning to launch the much larger Nebula-2 rocket as soon as 2026. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | China launched a classified communications satellite Sunday. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 12:17 p.m. Eastern from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, placing the TJS-15 satellite into orbit. Chinese officials provided few details about TJS-15, saying only it would test "multi-band, high-speed satellite communication technology." The lack of details on the TJS-15 satellite is consistent with statements on earlier TJS missions, and Western observers believe the TJS satellites are used for classified missions including signals intelligence, early warning missions and satellite inspection activities. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force's X-37B spaceplane returned to Earth on Friday after 434 days in orbit. The X-37B landed at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California early Friday, the service announced. The flight, the seventh mission for the X-37B, was the first to operate in a highly elliptical orbit. The Space Force considers the mission particularly significant for its demonstration of aerobraking maneuvers, using atmospheric drag to modify its orbit. The mission also incorporated NASA experiments and conducted space domain awareness tests designed to collect data on orbital maneuvering. [SpaceNews]
A fuel leak in an engine led to the demise of a Falcon 9 booster a week ago. The booster launched a set of Starlink satellites late March 2, but SpaceX said the next day that a fire broke out after landing on a droneship that caused the booster to topple. At briefings Friday, SpaceX officials said that a fuel leak occurred in an engine during the vehicle's ascent. That did not cause a problem until after landing, when vaporized fuel mixed with oxygen to trigger a fire. SpaceX added that if a similar fire occurred during ascent, damage would have been contained to that single engine and not affected the safety of a mission. [SpaceNews]
The space industry is pondering the impacts of potential deregulation. The Trump administration issued an executive order in January calling for repealing 10 existing regulations for each new regulation. Domestic and international space companies are watching carefully to determine what it could mean for how they operate and, ultimately, their bottom line. That could affect regulations on foreign investment in American companies and export controls, but industry officials warned it is difficult to predict exactly what regulations the administration will target and when. [SpaceNews]
Power-beaming startup Star Catcher Industries said Friday it secured support from Florida's space economic development agency. Space Florida is providing a $2 million financial package for the company, with most of the funds supporting tests this summer from Space Florida's Launch and Landing Facility, the runway formerly used for space shuttle landings. Star Catcher plans to use the facility to demonstrate its ability to beam hundreds of watts of energy to multiple simulated satellites simultaneously from more than a kilometer away. Star Catcher has plans to develop spacecraft that would beam concentrated sunlight on customers' solar panels, enabling them to produce more power without any modifications. [SpaceNews]
A potential issue with a Cygnus cargo spacecraft has led NASA to adjust cargo on an upcoming mission. NASA said last week that the shipping container for the Cygnus's pressurized cargo module suffered damage when transported to the launch site recently, and engineers are examining if the module itself was damaged. NASA said that in order to protect against delays in the planned June launch of that spacecraft, NASA will remove some science investigations from the next cargo Dragon, launching in April, replacing them with food and other consumables. NASA will also shorten the handover between the Crew-9 and Crew-10 missions on the station to conserve consumables on the station. [SpaceNews]
NASA is holding a contest to create a 'mascot for the Artemis 2 mission. NASA announced Friday a contest to solicit ideas for the mascot, a stuffed toy or doll that would serve as the "zero-gravity indicator" inside the Orion spacecraft, floating once the spacecraft reached orbit. NASA said submissions need to be original; relevant to a global audience, represent humanity; and meaningful to the Artemis 2 mission and astronauts. [collectSPACE]
| The Week Ahead | |
Monday: -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Rescheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions for NASA at 11:10 p.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Rescheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 11:21 p.m. Eastern. Monday-Thursday: Monday-Friday: Tuesday: -
Wenchang, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 8 carrying satellite for the G60 megaconstellation at 12:40 p.m. Eastern. -
Washington/Online: The International Institute for Strategic Studies holds a discussion on "The Future of Space Policy" at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. Tuesday-Wednesday: Wednesday: Friday: Saturday: | | | | | | | 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.
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