Plus: ESA ponders NASA's proposed budget cuts
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 05/06/2025 | | | | | Stratolaunch announced Monday it completed the first flights of its reusable hypersonic vehicle. The company said its Talon A2 vehicle performed two flights, one in December 2024 and the other in March, exceeding speeds of Mach 5. Talon was launched from the company's giant Roc aircraft, landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The flights were conducted under the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program, a Defense Department initiative aimed at accelerating hypersonic weapons development by tapping into commercially available testing platforms. Stratolaunch said Talon-A2 is the first U.S. reusable hypersonic test vehicle since the X-15, which last flew in 1968. [SpaceNews]
The White House's proposal to cut NASA's budget by nearly 25% is facing strong criticism and international concern. Several Democratic members of Congress have spoken out against the proposed budget, released Friday, saying it puts American leadership in space at risk. Industry groups have also criticized the proposal, noting its plans to cancel several major exploration programs and make sharp cuts to space science and technology. On Monday, Josef Aschbacher, head of the European Space Agency, said ESA will evaluate "potential actions and alternative scenarios for impacted ESA programs and related European industry" caused by the budget, which would cancel joint NASA-ESA programs such as Orion, Gateway and Mars Sample Return. The Canadian Space Agency said it, too, was reviewing the implications of the budget proposal given its role on Gateway. However, one NASA official defended the cuts, saying the reductions "counterintuitively represent an opportunity to truly innovate in how we conduct our space missions." [SpaceNews | Fox News]
The stock market reacted favorably to Eutelsat's move to change CEOs. Shares in the French satellite operator closed up 13% Monday, the day the company announced it hired telecom executive Jean-François Fallacher as its new CEO, effective June 1. Fallacher will be charged with raising money for a new generation of OneWeb satellites as well as Eutelsat's stake in the IRIS² constellation. Fallacher succeeds Eva Berneke, who said in a social media post Monday that the change is part of Eutelsat's efforts "to adjust our governance and shareholder structure" and keeping the company "strongly aligned with the telecom connectivity ecosystem." [SpaceNews]
Space Force officials remain skeptical about the benefits of satellite refueling. Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, the Space Force's deputy chief of operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements, said at a conference last week that he did not see a "clear military advantage" for in-space refueling of satellites, echoing comments he first made more than a year ago. The debate reflects uncertainty about whether in-space refueling services offer better value than simply replacing fuel-depleted satellites. Bratton noted that while refueling extends the life of satellites, in many cases those satellites would be retired anyway because of other issues. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | India is targeting the fourth quarter of this year for the first uncrewed flight of its Gaganyaan spacecraft. ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said Tuesday that two more uncrewed flights would follow in 2026 before Gaganyaan carries astronauts for the first time in early 2027. The Gaganyaan program has suffered significant delays. Its first crewed flight was originally planned for 2022, while its budget has more than doubled. [CNBC-TV18]
Gilmour Space is planning its first launch next week. The Australian launch vehicle startup said the inaugural launch of its Eris rocket from Queensland is now scheduled for no earlier than May 15. The launch was previously scheduled for March but postponed after a tropical cyclone hit Queensland. Gilmour Space is entering a market for small launchers currently dominated by Rocket Lab, which announced Monday its next Electron launch from New Zealand is currently scheduled for May 17 and will carry a radar imaging satellite for Japanese company iQPS. That mission will be the 64th for Electron. [Space Connect | Rocket Lab]
A company in Dubai claims it can 3D print very large rocket engines. Leap 71 says it uses AI technologies, along with metal 3D printing, to produce rocket engines. The company has focused on small engines for in-space applications but says it can be scaled up to engines with thrust levels of as high as 2,000 kilonewtons (450,000 pounds-force). The company acknowledges it does not currently have the ability to test engines that large, and it is unclear where the demand for such large engines would come from. [The National (UAE)]
Nearly a decade ago, SpaceX pursued a claim that a sniper caused the loss of a Falcon 9 further than previously known. A Falcon 9 upper stage exploded during a ground test in 2016, destroying the rocket and its payload. The company for a time suggested that a sniper, on the roof of a nearby building belonging to United Launch Alliance, could have shot the upper stage. According to an FAA letter recently released by a FOIA request, SpaceX asked the to FBI look into the claim, a fact not previously reported. The FBI found no evidence to support the sniper theory; an investigation later traced the explosion to composite overwrapped pressure vessels inside the second stage. [Ars Technica]
| Important Safety Tip | |
"No need for major concern, but you wouldn't want it bashing you on the head."
– Jonathan McDowell of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian on the upcoming reentry of Cosmos 482, a Soviet-era Venus probe stranded in a decaying Earth orbit since its launch in 1972. [Washington Post]
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