Astronomy Prints 🌌: An 'unsettling' time for federal workers

A SpaceNews daily newsletter

04/08/2025

Top Stories

NASA's acting administrator says the agency is continuing work on restructuring plans, but their implementation will be left to NASA's next leader. In an interview Monday, NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro said the agency is developing several options to carry out a reorganization of the agency to allow it "operate a little bit more efficiently and effectively." She did not go into details about those options, but said it will be left to Jared Isaacman, the White House's nominee for NASA administrator, to implement them, adding that he has not been involved in the plan's development. She acknowledged that it is an "unsettling" time for the federal workforce given large layoffs at other agencies. The deferred resignation program, under which about 5% of NASA's workforce left earlier this year, created "holes" in several programs NASA is working to fill, but Petro defended the decision to close three offices and lay off their employees since those offices likely did not have a "long-term, enduring position" in the new administration. [SpaceNews]

The FCC is preparing to update decades-old satellite power limits amid broader efforts to modernize and streamline regulations. FCC Space Bureau chief Jay Schwarz, in a speech at the 40th Space Symposium Monday, mentioned a recently issued public notice to review changing rules for Ka- and Ku-band satellite frequencies, arguing that current ones put in place 30 years ago should be revisited. He said the two-year-old division is continuing to search for ways to streamline licensing procedures and spectrum access, efforts that include removing soft barriers to entry, such as lengthy and resource-intensive application processes. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force has moved a GPS satellite launch from United Launch Alliance to SpaceX. The GPS III SV-08 satellite, the eighth in the GPS III constellation, is now scheduled to launch no earlier than late May aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Space Systems Command announced Monday. This comes after the GPS III SV-07 satellite was moved from a planned ULA Vulcan rocket launch in late 2025 to a SpaceX Falcon 9, which successfully launched last December in a mission called Rapid Response Trailblazer. Officials characterized the previous reassignment as a demonstration of the Space Force's ability to accelerate launch timelines. [SpaceNews]

Eight satellites designed by Millennium Space Systems with sensor payloads from L3Harris Technologies have cleared a key design review. The companies said Monday that the "Foo Fighter," or Fire-control On Orbit-support to the Warfighter, satellites will now move into production after clearing the review. Millennium Space is building the satellites under a $414 million contract awarded last year by the Space Development Agency. The Foo Fighter satellites are engineered to detect and precisely track sophisticated missile threats, including hypersonic weapons, and have specialized equipment capable of providing the precise targeting data needed to intercept advanced missiles. [SpaceNews]

The U.S. Space Force is expanding its search for training and testing technologies. The service is soliciting a wide range of technologies from private contractors, from physical testing ranges to synthetic battle environments, as part of its Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI) program. Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said guardians need to be adequately equipped to counter emerging threats. He noted that the OTTI program budget surged over the past several years from $40 million to approximately $600 million. [SpaceNews]

LeoLabs has developed a mobile version of its space tracking radar. The system, called Scout, can be transported in a container-sized truck so it can be rapidly repositioned to emerging hotspots. Developed with funding from a Small Business Innovation Research contract, the system aims to fill gaps in the U.S. military's existing space-surveillance network. LeoLabs said it is also looking at a maritime version of the radar. The mobile system augments its existing network of fixed radars located around the world. [SpaceNews]

Viasat will use capacity on Telesat's upcoming Lightspeed LEO constellation. Telesat said Viasat signed a multi-year "substantial" contract for Lightspeed capacity, but did not provide financial specifics. Viasat signed a similar deal last year for capacity on the OneWeb constellation, but that is limited to maritime services. The Lightspeed deal, by contrast, spans maritime, aviation, government and enterprise connectivity. [SpaceNews]

Other News

A Soyuz spacecraft delivered a new crew to the International Space Station early Tuesday. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off at 1:47 a.m. Eastern from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and placed the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft into orbit. That spacecraft docked with the station's Prichal module a little more than three hours later. Soyuz MS-27 brought to the station NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. They will remain on the ISS for eight months, replacing Roscosmos' Ivan Vagner and Alexey Ovchinin and NASA's Don Pettit, who will return to Earth April 19. [NASA]

A new Falcon 9 launched a set of Starlink satellites Monday. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 7:06 p.m. Eastern, placing 27 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch featured a rare flight of a new Falcon 9 booster, with most launches using boosters that have been reused multiple times. [Space.com]

China's deployment of satellite megaconstellations is raising new space sustainability concerns. Launches of satellites for the Guowang and Qianfan constellations are leaving the rockets' upper stages in high orbits, with expected lifetimes of more than 100 years. This violates guidelines for orbital debris mitigation that call on upper stages to be deorbited as soon as possible and no more than 25 years after launch. With both constellations requiring hundreds of launches, one space debris expert warned that the mass of orbital debris in low Earth orbit will be dominated by those stages "in short order" unless China changes its practices. [SpaceNews]

NOAA is deferring maintenance on a pair of polar-orbiting weather satellites. A NOAA internal memo called for a "minimum mission operations approach" to the two Joint Polar Satellite System satellites as a cost-saving move, although the memo does not estimate how much money will be saved. That approach will defer work on what it considers discretionary activities related to flight software, special data calibrations and more. Some people, such as former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, warned those plans could threaten the ability of the satellites to provide critical weather data in the event of anomalies. [E&E News]

Axiom Space is partnering with Kepler Communications on plans for orbital data centers. Two Axiom data centers will be incorporated into Kepler satellites scheduled to launch by the end of the year for an optical data relay network. The data centers will have the ability to perform processing of imagery and other data from spacecraft. Axiom sees the satellites as precursors for plans for large-scale orbital data centers, leveraging the capabilities Axiom is developing for commercial space stations. [SpaceNews]

Aitech Systems, a California company known for military and aerospace electronics, revealed plans for a smallsat with AI capabilities. The IQSat 3U cubesat is designed to perform "pattern-of-life recognition" that enables applications like detection of space debris, observations of terrestrial activity or monitoring of electronic signals. Aitech says it is working with an unnamed customer on a constellation of hundreds of IQsats. [SpaceNews]

British component maker Olsen Actuators and Drives is opening a U.S. office. The company specializes in electromechanical actuators that convert energy into motion and can be used for applications such as satellite deployment and thrust control. The U.S. office will open next year at Cape Canaveral initially to support sales, but could expand to include prototype assembly and eventually manufacturing. [SpaceNews]

Not-So-Titanic Dog

"Our new study shows that this supply may only be sufficient to sustain a very small population of microbes weighing a total of only a few kilograms at most – equivalent to the mass of a small dog."

– Antonin Affholder of the University of Arizona, on how limited quantities of suitable organic materials may limit life on Saturn's moon Titan. [Univ. of Arizona]

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