Astronomy Prints 🌌: China’s goal to dominate AI in space

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05/30/2025

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Rocket Lab says its acquisition of a payload developer is part of the company's efforts to become a defense prime contractor. Rocket Lab announced this week it signed an agreement to acquire Geost, which makes optical and infrared imaging payloads for satellites, for $275 million. In an interview, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said the acquisition is part of a strategy to become a "disruptive, nontraditional prime," a full-spectrum defense contractor capable of building and deploying entire satellite systems for military customers. Beck said Rocket Lab is pitching agility, vertical integration and manufacturing speed as its competitive edge, and hinted that the company is considering additional acquisitions, possibly in satellite propulsion. [SpaceNews]

Northrop Grumman is investing $50 million in Firefly Aerospace to support development of a launch vehicle with a new name. The companies announced the investment, which Firefly said is added to a $175 million Series D round the company closed last November. The funding is earmarked for work on a vehicle previously called MLV and now renamed Eclipse, capable of placing more than 16 metric tons into orbit. Firefly said it is particularly interested in pursuing national security missions for Eclipse as part of the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 program. The first Eclipse launch is scheduled for no earlier than next year. Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said at an investment conference this week that the company saw launch as a growth opportunity, contrasting it with diminished opportunities at NASA given budget cuts. [SpaceNews]

Maxar Intelligence has appointed longtime technology executive Todd Surdey to lead its commercial operations. Surdey takes on the role of senior vice president and general manager of Maxar's enterprise business segment, which supplies geospatial data and analytics to sectors including consumer mapping, energy, automotive and telecommunications. Surdey has worked for a variety of technology companies but is a newcomer to the geospatial intelligence field. The appointment reflects broader industry trends as satellite imagery companies seek to monetize their data assets through software-based solutions rather than relying solely on raw imagery sales. [SpaceNews]

A new report says China's efforts to dominate in artificial intelligence extend to space. The report, released Thursday by the Special Competitive Studies Project and the intelligence firm Strider Technologies, describes a sweeping, state-led initiative to build out the physical backbone of AI dominance: massive data centers across the country, with plans that now stretch beyond Earth's atmosphere. Beijing is exploring the use of satellites equipped to function like data centers, capable of storing, processing and analyzing information in space. Earlier this month, the Chinese startup ADA Space and Zhejiang Lab launched the first 12 satellites of a planned supercomputing network of 2,800, with the goal of moving AI processing into space. [SpaceNews]

Another Chinese launch startup is taking a page from SpaceX's playbook. Astronstone announced Thursday that it raised more than 100 million yuan ($14 million) in early-stage funding for its AS-1 (Astronstone-1) stainless steel, methane-liquid oxygen reusable launch vehicle. The company says it is "fully aligning its technical approach with Elon Musk's SpaceX," including SpaceX's approach for Starship of using mechanical arms, or "chopsticks," to catch the vehicle back at the launch site. AS-1 is smaller in scale than Starship, designed to place 10,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit when reused and 15,700 kilograms when the vehicle is expended. Astronstone says in the coming months it will focus on carrying out a second-stage rocket assembly test, a static fire test and a full-scale chopstick prototype ground test. [SpaceNews]

Other News

The United Kingdom has given its approval for the acquisition of Intelsat by SES. The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Thursday that based on the available information, it does not need to perform an in-depth review of the deal combining the two satellite operators. The European Union is continuing its own review of the acquisition, with a June 10 deadline. [Bloomberg]

Space Florida is starting work on a master plan to manage growth in launch activity at Cape Canaveral. Rob Long, president and CEO of Space Florida, said at a board meeting this week that the organization will release a solicitation next month to hire a consulting firm to lead development of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport master plan. That document is intended to address concerns from industry that the surge in activity at the Cape, projected to be as high as 130 launches in 2025, will push the spaceport's infrastructure to its limits. The plan will also explore ways to create a "unified spaceport" to better combine the capabilities of the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. [Spaceflight Now]

A union representing some NASA employees has criticized the closure by the agency of offices in New York City. NASA announced last month it would close the offices of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies near Columbia University at the end of May, with the staff of the institute working remotely until NASA finds new offices. Matt Biggs, the president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the largest union representing NASA employees, said at a press conference this week that the decision makes little fiscal sense, since the lease with Columbia for the offices runs through 2031 and NASA cannot sublet the space. Biggs argued the closure was an attack on both science and higher education by the Trump administration. [Space.com]

Astronomers have discovered what may be a dwarf planet in the outer solar system. The object, designated 2017 OF201, is in an elliptical orbit far beyond Neptune, taking 24,000 years to complete one trip around the sun. Astronomers estimate the object is about 700 kilometers across. That's large enough to qualify as a "dwarf planet," a class of objects that includes Pluto that are larger than asteroids but deemed by the International Astronomical Union to be too small to be considered planets. The discovery came as part of efforts to look for a hypothesized "Planet Nine" in the outer solar system, although the orientation of the orbit of 2017 OF201 has raised doubts that such a planet exists there. [New York Times]

The Blue Danube is waltzing into space this weekend. The European Space Agency will transmit a performance by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra of the famous piece Saturday from a 35-meter antenna at a ground station in Spain. The event is intended to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss II as well as ESA's 50th anniversary. [AP]

It's Still a Work of Art

"It's not like finding a Rembrandt in your garage, unfortunately. I don't think 'Antiques Road Show' is going to be out after me to appraise NASA memorabilia."

– Retired NASA engineer Jim Soeder after reviewing blueprints for Space Station Freedom from 1992 found in a garage of a Cleveland home. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

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