Plus: India's satellite crackdown for new entrants
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 05/07/2025 | | | | | The top officer of the Space Force told House appropriators that his service needs more funding as its activities grow. At a hearing Tuesday, Gen. Chance Saltzman highlighted what he described as a concerning trend of flat budgets coupled with growing responsibilities. The Space Force received $28.7 billion in fiscal year 2025, $300 million less than 2024, even as Saltzman said the service is being asked to take on new roles and increased activity. The White House proposed overall defense spending in 2026 of $892.6 billion, the same as 2025, but would add $113.3 billion if Congress passes a separate $150 billion Republican-led reconciliation bill. Both Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee criticized that approach, arguing it undermines the regular appropriations process. [SpaceNews]
India is tightening security and data compliance rules for satellite connectivity, creating problems for companies seeking to enter the market. The country's Department of Telecommunications announced 29 additional regulations Monday, citing national security interests. They also apply to companies that already hold licenses for providing space-based communication services directly to users. The new policy requires companies to maintain user records in India and source 20% of their ground infrastructure equipment from India within five years. The new rules pose challenges for OneWeb, which has a license to operate in India but does not have a spectrum allocation yet, as well as SpaceX's Starlink, which has yet to receive a license. Analysts with Novaspace said they don't expect SpaceX to secure regulatory approvals to operate in India this year. [SpaceNews]
The FAA has given environmental approval for a five-fold increase in Starship's launch rate in Texas. The FAA released Tuesday the final environmental assessment that concluded there would not be significant impacts by increasing the limit on Starship launches from the Starbase site from five per year to 25. The FAA said it received more than 12,300 public comments about the environmental assessment, and in public meetings many opposed the increase because of fears of adverse environmental effects. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force awarded a contract to develop a ground system for missile-warning satellites. New Jersey-based software specialist SciTec won the $259 million contract Tuesday for part of the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) program, which seeks to build a government-owned ground system for missile warning satellite command and control. SciTec won a $272 million contract in 2022 for another part of FORGE, for data processing applications supporting both legacy Space-Based Infrared System and Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared systems. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | Japanese lunar lander Resilience has entered orbit around the moon ahead of a landing attempt next month. The lander's developer, ispace, said the vehicle entered orbit Tuesday after a nine-minute burn by its main thruster. Resilience launched in January, flying a low-energy trajectory to minimize propulsion requirements. The spacecraft is scheduled to land in the Mare Frigoris region of the moon June 5, carrying a small rover and other payloads. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Tuesday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 9:17 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral, Florida, placing 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the 470th for the Falcon 9. [Spaceflight Now]
South Korea is seeking closer ties to the European Space Agency as a hedge against changing American policies. Officials with the Korean space agency KASA met with their ESA counterparts last month and discussed South Korea becoming a "non-member" ESA state like Canada, which has a cooperating state agreement with ESA. Korean officials said that working with ESA is a way to diversify its international cooperation efforts that have focused on working with NASA, given uncertainties about the future of U.S. space exploration policy. [ChosunBiz]
A former NASA astronaut is considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Terry Virts is weighing a run for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat currently held by Republican John Cornyn in Texas. Virts has reportedly talked with other Texas Democrats about a possible run in 2026, with Cornyn facing a strong challenge in the Republican primary. [New York Times]
| Minor Problems
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"It's like announcing a camping trip on your next available weekend, without having purchased any camping supplies. And your car is in the shop. And has exploded."
– Paul Sutter, a cosmologist, responding to claims by Elon Musk about sending humans to Mars as soon as 2030. [The Independent]
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