Plus: EchoStar pulls back from its threat to file for bankruptcy … for now
| By Jeff Foust
In this today's edition: a busy weekend of launches, EchoStar's temporary bankruptcy reprieve, SpaceX wins another Space Force launch contract and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
EchoStar has pulled back from its threat to file for bankruptcy as talks with the FCC continue. The company said last week it would make overdue interest payments on its debt within a 30-day grace period after withholding those funds earlier this month amid uncertainty over its standing with the FCC. The commission is reviewing EchoStar's compliance with both the buildout of a terrestrial network as well as use of 2-gigahertz satellite spectrum. EchoStar said in a regulatory filing that President Trump had recently encouraged the parties involved to reach an amicable resolution. EchoStar cautioned, though, that it would not make its next interest payment on July 1, triggering another 30-day grace period. [SpaceNews]
A new solid rocket booster for the Space Launch System suffered an anomaly in a test last week. Northrop Grumman performed a static-fire test of the Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) version of the five-segment solid rocket booster for the SLS at its Utah test site. While the booster fired for its planned duration of a little more than two minutes, near the end of the test, debris scattered from the nozzle of the booster. Northrop Grumman acknowledged the booster experienced an anomaly but did not provide additional details. BOLE features carbon-fiber composite cases and other changes to increase the booster's performance. The booster is planned for SLS launches starting with Artemis 9 in the 2030s, but NASA's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 seeks to cancel SLS after Artemis 3. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX won a Space Force task order to launch a weather satellite. Space Systems Command announced Friday it awarded SpaceX an $81.6 million contract for the USSF-178 mission launching on a Falcon 9 in 2027. That launch will carry the Weather System Follow-on – Microwave Space Vehicle 2 (WSF-M2), a weather satellite designed to monitor ocean winds, along with a secondary payload of experimental small satellites called BLAZE-2. The award represents SpaceX's third consecutive win under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program. [SpaceNews]
Xona Space Systems raised $92 million for development of a navigation satellite system. The company said last week it raised the Series B round from investors led by Craft Ventures. The total amount included $20 million from a Strategic Funding Increase award from SpaceWERX. Xona is developing a low Earth orbit constellation of satellites to provide navigation services that are more robust than those from medium Earth orbit systems like GPS. The company launched its first "production-class" satellite, Pulsar-0, last week on the SpaceX Transporter-14 rideshare mission. The funding will allow Xona to scale up its constellation to hundreds of satellites in the next few years. [Xona Space Systems]
Blue Origin launched its third set of suborbital space tourists in less than three months Sunday. Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle lifted off at 10:40 a.m. Eastern from the company's West Texas site, reaching an altitude of 105 kilometers before landing about 10 minutes later. The NS-33 mission carried six people and follows the NS-31 mission in mid-April and NS-32 at the end of May. The capsule landed under parachutes within a few hundred meters of its booster, which had made a powered landing on a pad a few minutes earlier. Blue Origin said the unusually close landing of the capsule to the booster was within safety margins. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
Japan's H-2A rocket performed its 50th and final launch Saturday. The rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 12:33 p.m. Eastern and deployed its payload, GOSAT-GW, into a sun-synchronous orbit less than 20 minutes later. GOSAT-GW, also known as Ibuki GW, is the latest in a series of missions to study greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as well as water conditions on land, sea and air. The H-2A was successful in all but one of its 50 launches. Japan phased out the H-2A in favor of the H3 vehicle. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab launched its second Electron in less than 48 hours on Saturday. The Electron launched from the company's New Zealand site at 3:08 a.m. Eastern, putting into orbit a satellite for an undisclosed commercial customer. That customer could be EchoStar, which is developing a LEO constellation of Internet of Things satellites called Lyra. The launch took place after another Electron launched from the same site on Thursday carrying satellites for HawkEye 360. Rocket Lab has launched 10 Electrons so far this year, including four in June. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX carried out two Falcon 9 launches of Starlink satellites on Saturday. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 12:26 a.m. Eastern and put 27 Starlink satellites into orbit, while another launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 1:13 p.m. Eastern and deployed 26 Starlink satellites. The two launches, along with the Electron and H-2A missions, all took place within the span of less than 13 hours. [Space.com]
Meteorologists are worried about the loss of data from military weather satellites. The Defense Department is cutting off access to microwave sounding data from its DMSP weather satellites, effective Monday. The Defense Department did not disclose a reason for ending access to the data, which will remain available for military weather forecasters, but some reports cited unspecified security concerns. Forecasters say the loss of the DMSP microwave data will hinder their ability to monitor tropical weather systems just as the Atlantic hurricane season is starting. [Scientific American]
Meteorite hunters have found objects linked to a bright fireball seen in the skies of the southeastern U.S. on Thursday. The fireball was visible across parts of Georgia and South Carolina in clear midday skies and also seen by a weather satellite. Meteorite collectors swarmed an area south of Atlanta, finding several small meteorites from that fireball. One meteorite punched a hole the size of a golf ball in the roof of a house, but caused no injuries. [Sky & Telescope]
| | | | | | The Week Ahead
Tuesday: -
Online: Col. Robert Davis, the Program Executive Officer of the Space Sensing Directorate at Space Systems Command, speaks at a Schriever Spacepower Series webinar at 2 p.m. Eastern. -
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying the MTG-S1/Sentinel-4A weather satellite at 5:03 p.m. Eastern. Wednesday: -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 1:29 a.m. Eastern.
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McLean, Va.: The Intelligence and National Security Alliance holds a leadership dinner with Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, as the keynote speaker.
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Bowen Orbital Spaceport, Australia: No earlier than rescheduled launch of the first Eris rocket by Gilmour Space Technologies at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. Thursday:
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