Plus: Scientists urge NASA to act on Apophis concept
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 05/20/2025 | | | | sponsored by |  | | | | | Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the United States will redirect its intelligence collection efforts toward border security. Speaking at the GEOINT 2025 Symposium Monday, Gabbard outlined how the Trump administration's national security priorities will reshape the work of the nation's 18 intelligence agencies, placing unprecedented emphasis on domestic border surveillance while maintaining America's global intelligence capabilities. The shift would affect thousands of intelligence professionals across the geospatial intelligence sector. Gabbard also said her office would work to streamline contracts across intelligence agencies and make more use of commercial solutions and open-source intelligence. [SpaceNews]
NATO members plan to invest more in defense, including space technologies. At the June NATO summit in the Netherlands, allies will outline specific capabilities to contribute to the alliance, said U.K. Royal Marines Maj. Gen. Paul Lynch, NATO deputy assistant secretary general for intelligence. Space technology is an important component of NATO's modernization campaign, he said at GEOINT Monday, citing two promising space-related programs: Allied Persistent Surveillance from Space, which is aimed at ensuring NATO can collect data on any location at any given time, and the Strategic Space Situational Awareness System for NATO Headquarters. [SpaceNews]
SatVu said it has strong interest in its thermal imaging capabilities despite the premature end of its first satellite. The British company's HotSat-1 satellite failed after six months in orbit, but the thermal imagery it provided has generated $6 million in pre-orders for its HotSat-2 spacecraft. SatVu is carving a niche in high-resolution mid-wave infrared sensing, with the ability to detect heat signatures as small as 3.5 meters. SatVu has signed agreements with U.S. defense contractors involved in the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's Luno program, which aims to integrate commercial satellite data into government intelligence workflows. [SpaceNews]
South Korean company SI Imaging is allowing customers to lease its satellite as well as buy images. The company launched the 650-kilogram SpaceEye-T satellite in March, and the satellite will be able to provide imagery at resolutions as sharp as 25 centimeters. Customers will have the ability to take control of the satellite, choosing what to observe and when. SI Imaging Services plans to follow up SpaceEye-T with another high-resolution satellite launched in 2027 and two more in 2028. [SpaceNews]
Radar imaging company Iceye is looking to play a role in the Golden Dome missile-defense system. The company says that its synthetic aperture radar imaging satellites could support infrared sensors used to detect missile launches, such as tracking activities leading up to those launches. Iceye is in early conversations with potential partners in the defense industry regarding Golden Dome opportunities. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | SpaceX scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch overnight because of an unspecified problem. SpaceX halted the countdown about two and a half minutes before the scheduled 11:58 p.m. Eastern liftoff. The company said an "auto abort" was triggered but did not disclose the cause or a new launch date. The rocket is carrying 23 Starlink satellites. [Spaceflight Now]
China is set to launch a mission to an asteroid and a comet next week. The Tianwen-2 spacecraft is expected to launch on a Long March 3B during a four-hour window that opens at 12 p.m. Eastern May 28, with backup opportunities the next two days. Tianwen-2's first goal is to collect samples from near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo'oalewa and deliver them to Earth in late 2027. The spacecraft will then head to the comet 311P/PANSTARRS, arriving in early 2035. The mission aims to advance China's planetary exploration capabilities, provide new insights into the understanding of small planetary bodies and their evolution and potentially for planetary defense and the origins of life. [SpaceNews]
Scientists are asking NASA to take action on a proposal to repurpose an asteroid mission. NASA canceled the Janus mission to fly by binary asteroids in 2023, putting the twin smallsats into storage. Those spacecraft could instead be used to visit the asteroid Apophis before that asteroid makes a very close, but harmless, flyby of Earth in 2029. In a statement summarizing a conference held last month about the Apophis flyby, scientists called on NASA to act on responses to a request for information the agency issued last fall exploring that potential reuse of the Janus spacecraft. NASA has not commented on its plans for Janus, but the agency noted at a hearing last week that the OSIRIS-APEX mission, which will arrive at Apophis after the Earth flyby, will be able to observe the asteroid at a distance before the flyby as well. [SpaceNews]
Seraphim Space has selected 10 companies for its next space-focused accelerator program. The 15th round of the accelerator program, announced Monday, includes startups from five countries, including the first to participate from Mongolia. Those startups are aiming to support services ranging from defense communications to artificial intelligence-powered surveillance. The three-month program is designed to make the startups investor-ready. [SpaceNews]
Sophia Space raised $3.5 million in pre-seed funding to develop orbiting compute and data centers. The company believes its modular data centers will be particularly useful for intelligence gathering, disaster monitoring and disaster management. The company aims to provide the capability to do on-orbit processing of satellite data, "dramatically reducing" the time to get actionable insights from it. Unlock Venture Partners led the Sophia Space investment round with participation from angel investors and industry leaders. [SpaceNews]
Schrenk: GEOINT enters an era of automation and global partnerships
Rhonda Schrenk, the CEO of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, said the geospatial intelligence community is embracing faster, automated decision-making powered by multisensor tipping and queuing, which was once a distant goal but is now a practical tool. On the Space Minds podcast, Schrenk discussed the field's expanding global reach, with new international accreditation efforts and increasing collaboration with allies. She also previewed themes shaping the GEOINT conference including investor engagement, commercial partnerships and a government-wide reset with the new administration. [SpaceNews]
| Disaster Brings Us Together
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"If we can't all unite on a large chunk of rock hurtling towards the planet, what are we going to unite on?"
– Nicky Fox, NASA associate administrator for science, discussing bipartisan support for planetary defense at a hearing last week by the House Science Committee's space subcommittee.
| | | | | | | | | What's New With SpaceNews? | | Don't forget to sign up for our next webinar! |  | | Join us June 10 for an exclusive one-on-one live interview with Representative George Whitesides (D-CA), a freshman congressman representing California's 27th District. Whitesides brings years of experience to Capitol Hill, having previously served as NASA's Chief of Staff and as CEO of Virgin Galactic. | | | | |
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