Plus: Space Force 🤝 NGA
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 05/22/2025 | | | | sponsored by |  | | | | | The U.S. Space Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) signed an agreement Wednesday intended to end turf battles between the two. The agreement describes the agencies' roles and responsibilities in acquiring and providing commercial imagery, remote sensing data and associated products, enhancing support to the combatant commands while minimizing redundancy and duplication of effort. The pact comes amid increasing military demands for faster access to space-based intelligence, particularly commercial satellite imagery, and criticism of the NGA and National Reconnaissance Office for creating bureaucratic bottlenecks that slow the delivery of intelligence to military combatant commands. The Space Force had created a program known as TacSRT program (Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking) that leverages commercial satellite imagery and data analytics to support military operations. [SpaceNews]
NGA selected three organizations Wednesday for awards to support geospatial intelligence work. Ursa Space Systems won a $13.8 million task order through the Luna A program to provide unclassified commercial geospatial intelligence analytics of petroleum-based production and storage facilities. Palantir won a $28 million contract to expand access for Maven Smart System, which is designed to speed up detection, identification and characterization of features and objects in drone and satellite imagery. The University of Illinois, as part of the Taylor Geospatial Institute, won a $25 million NGA contract for high-performance computing for AI and machine learning work. [SpaceNews]
A new report finds accelerating demand for space-based maritime surveillance capabilities. The study by Quilty Space points to a sharp uptick in disruptive maritime events over the past five years as a major driver of demand, as well as the global fight against illegal fishing. The shift comes as nations move to counter activities by China's distant-water fleets. Maritime tracking has traditionally relied on Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders, but that data is increasingly vulnerable to spoofing and manipulation, while some ships turn off their transponders. Companies are turning to "tip and cue" models where one satellite detects radio-frequency emissions and hands that data over to imaging satellites to identify the source of the emissions. [SpaceNews]
The European Space Agency will ask member states to fund an Earth observation satellite system for "security and resilience" applications. In an interview Wednesday, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said member states are interested in a satellite system that "allows a much better intelligence of the situation around the world," including improved revisit times compared to existing European national satellite systems. The system ESA will seek funding for at its November ministerial conference will be the first step towards a future Earth Observation Government Service led by the European Commission. [SpaceNews]
Two years after winning a NASA award for an Artemis lunar lander, Blue Origin has provided an update on its plans. At a conference this week, Blue Origin showed off a new design of a cislunar "transporter" spacecraft that is part of its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander that will take astronauts to the lunar surface. The transporter will be fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in low Earth orbit, then go to lunar orbit to fuel the Blue Moon lander. The transporter can also deliver 100 metric tons to the moon or, with minor modifications, 30 metric tons to Mars. Blue Origin is separately working on its smaller Blue Moon Mark 1 robotic lander, with a first mission to the south polar region of the moon still scheduled for later this year. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | A new generation of Earth monitoring satellites is emerging to help responders detect and react to wildfires more quickly. Muon Space launched its first FireSat satellite in March, part of a constellation for the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance that could ultimately reach 50 satellites. OroraTech has more than 10 smallsats in orbit for a constellation of more than 30. Both companies say their satellite systems can provide early detections of wildfire in remote areas. [SpaceNews]
Artificial intelligence combined with human insight promises to transform geospatial intelligence, if done right. In a panel at the GEOINT Symposium this week, experts said that while AI has potential major benefits, it will require standards, data verification and monitoring to ensure accurate results. People will need to collaborate to establish the metrics, benchmarks, standards and best practices for AI usage, they said, including careful selection of training data for AI models and monitoring of those models. [SpaceNews]
PiLogic has raised a seed round to develop satellite diagnostics and other artificial intelligence tools tailored for space applications. The startup announced Thursday a $4 million seed round led by Scout Ventures and Seraphim Space. The company has developed software that can be used on spacecraft to monitor electrical power systems, including the ability to resolve issues autonomously. The software will be first used on a satellite launching later this year for an undisclosed customer, and PiLogic said it is currently being tested by several large satellite operators and dual-use commercial/government companies. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX's reputation has taken a hit because of Elon Musk's work in the Trump administration. The 2025 edition of the Axios Harris Poll 100, a public survey measuring brand reputations of major companies, saw a sharp decline in the "reputation quotient score" of SpaceX, which once had scores in the "excellent" category but is now in the "fair" category. Tesla also saw a steep drop in the survey. Pollsters believe the declines are linked to Musk's political activism. [Axios]
Geospatial intelligence companies need to advance their discussions of AI. Keith Masback, the former CEO of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, said on the Space Minds podcast Wednesday that companies need to move beyond buzzwords related to artificial intelligence. "We're past being able to say, 'I have an AI solution.' Okay, I got it. Now, tell me what your solution is. How does it work? What are the technologies involved, and how does it work downstream? What's the ultimate impact?" [SpaceNews]
Blue Origin has named the people flying on its next New Shepard suborbital flight. The NS-32 mission will carry six people including Mark Rocket, an early investor in Rocket Lab who will become the first person from New Zealand to go to space. Others on the flight include a doctor, entrepreneurs, a former Panamanian ambassador to the United States and a teacher whose flight is sponsored by Mexican company Farmacias Similares. Blue Origin did not announce a date for the NS-32 mission. [Blue Origin]
| Moon vs. Cats
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"I think if you go on the internet there's almost as many pictures of the moon as there are of cats."
– Jeremy Fix, chief engineer of ispace U.S., showing a picture of the moon taken by ispace's Resilience lander during a session of the spring meeting of the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Wednesday.
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