| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 05/05/2025 | | | | | The White House's proposed budget for NASA would cancel several major exploration programs and curtail use of the International Space Station. The White House released Friday a top-level or "skinny" budget that offers $18.8 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2026, $6 billion less than what it received in 2025. The proposal would end the Space Launch System and Orion programs after the Artemis 3 mission and cancel the Gateway program. It would scale back use of the ISS, reducing its crew size and number of resupply flights. The skinny budget also confirmed cuts previously reported in science missions as well as a 50% reduction in space technology and the elimination of the agency's educational programs. The complete budget proposal is expected late this month. [SpaceNews]
European regulators are investigating the planned merger of satellite operators SES and Intelsat. The European Commission set a June 10 deadline to decide whether to clear the deal with or without conditions, or open a full-scale, potentially four-month-long probe into any serious concerns about its effects on competition. A similar review by the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority is underway with a June 12 deadline. Regulators are likely to examine whether the merger could lessen competition in areas where SES and Intelsat have complementary or overlapping capabilities. In an earnings call last week, SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said he still expected the merger to close early in the second half of this year. [SpaceNews]
Eutelsat is replacing its CEO. The satellite operator announced Monday it hired Jean-François Fallacher as CEO, effective June 1, replacing Eva Berneke. Fallacher was previously CEO of mobile phone operator Orange France. The company said only that the move "comes as a natural change that fully aligns Eutelsat to the telecom ecosystem." Eutelsat added that it will release its fiscal third quarter financial results May 15, and that the results will be in line with predictions. [Eutelsat]
The U.S. Army is creating a space career field for enlisted personnel. The new military occupational specialty, designated 40D for Space Operations Specialist, will create a permanent career track for enlisted soldiers specializing in space operations, the Army announced Friday. While the Army previously had a dedicated space career path for its officers, enlisted personnel were assigned to space from other specialties such as engineering, air defense, signals or intelligence, often only temporarily. The Army said the change will better prepare the force for modern conflicts that span land, sea, air, cyber and space. [SpaceNews]
NASA will continue efforts to recover the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft through the middle of June. Lunar Trailblazer launched as a secondary payload on the IM-2 mission in late February, but lost contact with the ground hours after launch. Engineers believe the spacecraft is in a slow spin, and hope a change in orientation over the next several weeks will allow more sunlight to reach its panels, charging its batteries and turning on its radio. NASA says if control of Lunar Trailblazer can be reestablished, it will review if it is still possible for the spacecraft to carry out its original mission to orbit the moon to map water ice deposits. If not, NASA will close out the mission. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites early Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 4:54 a.m. Eastern, placing 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. This was the most Starlink satellites of the "V2 mini" design launched at one time. SpaceX, though, called off another Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites planned for early Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and has not announced a new launch date. [Spaceflight Now]
Inversion Space has wrapped up the first flight of the company's reentry vehicle, but without a reentry. The company said last week its Ray mission, launched into low Earth orbit on a SpaceX rideshare mission in January, was now complete. The spacecraft was to perform a controlled reentry, splashing down off the California coast, but the company said a short circuit in its propulsion system kept the deorbit burn from occurring. Inversion called the mission "profoundly valuable" nonetheless, demonstrating other technologies it will incorporate into its next vehicle, Arc. [SpaceNews]
Voters have, as expected, approved incorporating SpaceX's Starbase test site as a city. A referendum on incorporating Starbase passed with 212 yes votes and only 6 no votes. Most of the eligible voters were affiliated with SpaceX, which sought to incorporate Starbase to have greater control over roads and utilities. As an incorporated city, Starbase could also gain greater control over closures of Boca Chica Beach for Starship testing and launches, something currently handled by the county. [Texas Tribune]
A South Korean cubesat will fly on the Artemis 2 mission. The South Korean space agency KASA said Friday it signed an agreement with NASA to fly the K-RadCube spacecraft as a secondary payload on Artemis 2 next year. The 12U cubesat will go into a high Earth orbit to study radiation in the Van Allen belts. [Dong-A Ilbo]
Poland's space agency has a new leader. The Polish government said last week it named Marta Ewa Wachowicz as president of the Polish Space Agency, or POLSA. She was involved in the creation of POLSA in 2014 and held a senior position there for several years. She replaces Grzegorz Wrochna, who was fired in March after poor communications with emergency responders about space debris that fell in the country in February, followed by a cyberattack that forced the agency's computer networks off the internet. [European Spaceflight]
| The Week Ahead | |
Monday-Thursday: Monday-Friday: Monday-Friday, May 16: Tuesday: Wednesday: Wednesday-Friday: -
New Delhi, India: The IAF's Global Space Exploration Conference 2025 will discuss a range of issues associated with space exploration. Some plenary sessions will be webcast. -
Washington: The National Academies' Committee on Key Non-Polar Destinations Across the Moon to Address Decadal-level Science Objectives with Human Explorers holds its first meeting with presentations from NASA and decadal survey chairs. Thursday: Friday: -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 2:54 a.m. Eastern. -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
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