Plus: Voyager Technologies files for an IPO
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 05/19/2025 | | | | | The Indian launch of a radar imaging satellite failed Saturday night because of a problem with the rocket's third stage. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off at 8:29 p.m. Eastern from the Satish Dhawan Space Center carrying the EOS-09 radar imaging satellite. Roughly six minutes after liftoff, though, an anomaly with the solid-fuel third stage caused the vehicle to lose velocity. The Indian space agency ISRO confirmed a short time later that EOS-09 did not reach orbit, stating that there was a loss of chamber pressure in the third stage. The failure was just the third in more than 60 launches of the PSLV and the first since 2017. [SpaceNews]
Voyager Technologies has filed for an initial public offering, providing details about its finances and plans for its biggest project. The company filed a prospectus for the IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday after confidentially filing for an IPO in January. The prospectus notes that the company had $144.2 million in revenue in 2024, split evenly between space and defense work, with a net loss of $65.6 million. The company's biggest project is the Starlab commercial space station, which it is developing through a joint venture that Voyager owns two-thirds of. Voyager estimates that Starlab will cost $2.8-3.3 billion to develop, launching in 2029. Once in operation, Voyager said it expects Starlab to provide a "significant portion" of its revenue and profits. [SpaceNews]
Capella Space said it is not abandoning its radar imaging work as it is acquired by a quantum computing company. IonQ announced earlier this month it would acquire Capella for $318 million in an all-stock deal. Executives with the companies said they will continue to operate Capella's fleet of synthetic aperture radar imaging satellites, doubling the number of satellites to eight by next year. Beyond the SAR imaging, the vision is to leverage IonQ's quantum systems to address long-standing issues in space-based Earth observation: latency, security, and data throughput. [SpaceNews]
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) expects to open its new St. Louis campus later this year. The $1.7 billion NGA West facility, the largest federal investment in St. Louis history, will replace the NGA's current downtown site and serve as a hub for geospatial intelligence operations. NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth said the new NGA West campus will open in late September. Regional leaders have framed it as a catalyst for transforming St. Louis into a national center for geospatial science and technology. [SpaceNews]
SES Space & Defense plans to demonstrate "satellite orchestration" technology for military communications. Under a new contract with the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit, SES Space & Defense plans to demonstrate a software platform that would make it easier for users to access and manage bandwidth from multiple satellite networks across orbits. It would help enable multi-orbit networks that are increasingly sought by the military as it faces sophisticated electronic warfare and anti-satellite threats. [SpaceNews]
The FAA has updated the license for SpaceX's Starship but has yet to provide final approval for its next launch. The FAA said last week it updated the license ahead of the Flight 9 mission, including incorporating approvals for an increased launch rate of up to 25 each year from Starbase in South Texas. The agency said, though, that final clearance for the launch requires the FAA to first approve the mishap investigation into the previous launch in March or provide a safety determination. SpaceX had been working toward a launch of Flight 9 as soon as this week but has since backed off those plans, slipping until after Memorial Day. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | Chinese startup Landspace launched six satellites into orbit early Saturday. The Zhuque-2E lifted off at 12:12 a.m. Eastern from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It deployed six Tianyi spacecraft into orbit for commercial satellite maker Spacety. The mission involves a number of partners who will perform SAR and optical imaging as well as space science experiments. The mission was the second flight of the methane-liquid oxygen enhanced Zhuque-2 (Vermillion Bird-2), or Zhuque-2E, which can carry 4,000 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. [SpaceNews]
Another Chinese startup launched four satellites early Monday. A Ceres-1 rocket launched at 3:38 a.m. Eastern from a ship off the coast of China's Shandong Province. The rocket placed into orbit four satellites for the Tianqi constellation, which provides Internet of Things communications services. [Xinhua]
Rocket Lab launched a Japanese SAR satellite Saturday. An Electron rocket lifted off from the company's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 4:17 a.m. Eastern. Its payload was the QPS-SAR-10 for iQPS, a Japanese company developing a SAR constellation. That launch was the second in a multi-launch deal between iQPS and Rocket Lab that includes six more launches through 2026. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Friday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 9:43 a.m. Eastern and deployed 26 Starlink satellites. SpaceX has now launched more than 1,000 Starlink satellites so far this year. [Spaceflight Now]
The head of the Japanese space agency JAXA said his agency is willing to accommodate any changes NASA makes in the Artemis lunar exploration effort. Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of JAXA, said that if NASA does make changes to Artemis "we must respond to it" by offering different technologies. JAXA is currently providing elements for the lunar Gateway, which NASA proposes to cancel. Yamakawa said JAXA could provide alternative infrastructure to support lunar exploration, like high-precision landing technology and resupply services. [Reuters]
SpaceX has acquired the assets of a bankrupt electronics supplier. Akoustis Technologies said last week that it completed the sale of substantially all of its assets to Tune Holdings, a subsidiary of SpaceX, for $30.2 million and assumption of certain liabilities. The North Carolina company makes radio-frequency filters used in broadband communications systems. SpaceX will continue operations of Akoustis and keep most of its employees. [Akoustis]
| The Week Ahead | |
Monday: Monday-Wednesday: Tuesday: Tuesday-Thursday: Wednesday: -
Jiuquan, China: Anticipated launch of a Kinetica 1 rocket with an unidentified payload at 12:04 a.m. Eastern. -
Greenbelt, Md.: Two representatives of the NASA Dragonfly mission to Titan speak at a Maryland Space Business Roundtable luncheon. -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 5:20 p.m. Eastern. Thursday: Friday: Saturday: -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 12:14 p.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 1:19 p.m. Eastern.
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