Plus: Why jackets are needed in Mission Control
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| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 04/02/2025 | | | | | Canadian satellite manufacturer MDA Space announced Tuesday it will buy Israeli satellite chipmaker SatixFy in a $269 million deal. MDA would pay $2.10 per SatixFy share, a 75% premium over its stock price Monday, and pay off SatixFy's debt in a deal expected to close in the third quarter. MDA said SatixFy would strengthen the company's supply chain as it works to ramp up to producing two satellites a day with software-defined payloads that can be reprogrammed in orbit. SatixFy, already a major supplier of chips to MDA after selling its U.K.-based satellite payload systems and subsystems to the Canadian company in 2023, would also support the development of next-generation satellites. [SpaceNews]
Companies offering commercial lunar lander services to NASA want the agency to expand the scope of the program. At a House space subcommittee hearing Tuesday, companies involved with NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program advocated for block buys of landers as well as opening up the program to other agencies that might be interested in delivering payloads to the moon. NASA is beginning planning for a "CLPS 2.0" when the current CLPS contracts expire in 2028. Some members of the committee criticized NASA for its decision not to fly the VIPER lunar rover on a CLPS lander as originally planned, which the agency blamed on budget problems. [SpaceNews]
Slingshot Aerospace won a U.S. Air Force contract on technology to 'fingerprint' satellites. The project, funded by the AFWERX program, focuses on photometric fingerprinting, a method that uses measurements of a satellite's brightness over time to create a unique signature for each space object. By collecting and analyzing this data, Slingshot said, it can classify satellites, detect anomalies, and maintain custody of objects in low Earth orbit. This technology could help military operators to detect unexpected maneuvers by adversaries' satellites, identify newly launched foreign satellites and reacquire lost objects. [SpaceNews]
The Japanese space agency JAXA is studying a new concept for landing small payloads on Mars. The director general of JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences said Tuesday that the agency is working with a Japanese company on an inflatable aeroshell concept that could handle most phases of a spacecraft's entry and descent through the Martian atmosphere. That approach could allow it to deliver payloads such as rovers weighing up to 100 to 200 kilograms to the Martian surface. Work on the aeroshell is funded by Japan's Space Strategic Fund, but JAXA did not give a schedule for potentially flying such a mission. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | Starliner's mission to the International Space Station last June was more difficult than widely known. In interviews after a press conference Monday, Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said thruster failures as Starliner approached the station meant they lost the ability to operate in all six degrees of freedom while other operating thrusters appeared to be sluggish. That raised questions about whether Starliner could dock with the station or return to Earth. Resetting the thrusters allowed two to start working again, restoring full control and allowing Starliner to eventually dock. Wilmore said after docking he realized that he and Williams likely would not return on Starliner; they came back instead last month on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. [Ars Technica]
ESA will not apply georeturn constraints on the next phase of an effort to develop commercial cargo spacecraft. ESA did not include georeturn in the first phase of its LEO Cargo Return Service project last year when it awarded study contracts to Thales Alenia Space and The Exploration Company, which The Exploration Company recently said gave it the freedom to choose their preferred suppliers rather than those based on nationality. Most ESA programs apply georeturn, where contracts are awarded based on funding levels each participating nation provides. ESA stated in a recent request for information it does not expect to use georeturn on the second phase of the program, which will support development of vehicles though a flight demonstration. [European Spaceflight]
A small British company won a competition to develop technology that could extract drinkable water ice from lunar regolith. Naicker Scientific won the top prize of ยฃ150,000 ($194,000) in the Aqualunar Challenge, run by the U.K. Space Agency, for a system it calls SonoChem. That system would first microwave lunar regolith to extract water, which would then be subjected to ultrasound to remove contaminants. Two runners-up won prizes of ยฃ100,000 and ยฃ50,000 for alternative approaches for producing drinking water on the moon. [The Guardian]
NASA's flight directors now have their own jacket. Some of the agency's flight directors decided to design a jacket, similar to those worn by Apollo-era astronauts, to help bring recognition to their work. The dark blue jackets include a label inside reading "Tough & Competent Since 1961." While the jackets are intended to help enhance the profile of flight directors, they also have a practical purpose: Mission Control has very strong air conditioning. [collectSPACE]
| Lost, Probably
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"Where would we all be without GPS? We certainly wouldn't know."
โ Margaret Kivelson, chair of the Space Studies Board, discussing the value of space technology during remarks Tuesday at the National Academies' Space Science Week.
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