| By Jeff Foust
In this today's edition: Starliner's uncertain future, NASA and the Pentagon look for SpaceX alternatives, Africa's united front in space and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
A year after its launch on a flawed test flight, NASA is weighing the next steps for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner crew vehicle. In a statement Friday, NASA said it continues to study options for Starliner's next flight, now expected no sooner than early 2026, and had not decided if that flight will be crewed or carry only cargo. Starliner launched last June on the Crew Flight Test mission, but thruster problems led NASA to bring the vehicle back uncrewed, requiring the astronauts who launched to the International Space Station on Starliner to stay on the ISS until they could return on a Crew Dragon in March. NASA said a decision on the next Starliner flight will depend on the outcome of tests of vehicle systems that will continue into the summer. Boeing had remained largely quiet about Starliner and the company's future plans for the vehicle. [SpaceNews]
NASA and the Pentagon have asked companies to speed up work on new vehicles after threats regarding SpaceX contracts. Comments last week by President Trump that appeared to put existing SpaceX contracts at risk, along with a brief threat by Elon Musk to "decommission" its Dragon spacecraft, led government officials to contact companies working on new launch vehicles and spacecraft to see how quickly they could be ready for government missions. It's unclear, though, if the government could do anything to accelerate work on those alternatives, which in some cases are years behind schedule because of technical problems. [Washington Post]
A NASA Mars smallsat mission could launch as soon as this summer on the second flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn. ESCAPADE was scheduled to launch last fall on the inaugural New Glenn, but NASA pulled the twin smallsats from that launch because the rocket would not be ready in time to meet the planned launch window. NASA's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal said the agency was working to launch ESCAPADE on the second New Glenn between July and September, the first time ESCAPADE had been identified as the payload for that second launch. A NASA spokesman said that represented a "no earlier" date for the launch, and Blue Origin did not comment. The company had previously said it would perform the second New Glenn launch in late spring, but has since pushed that launch back to no earlier than July. [SpaceNews]
A new space agency is intended to provide a united front for Africa in space. The African Space Agency was formally inaugurated in April when it opened its headquarters in Cairo and signed far-reaching cooperation agreements with ESA, the UAE Space Agency and Roscosmos. Over the past three decades, 18 African nations have collectively deployed more than 60 satellites. Yet, Africa's space sector remains relatively small on the global stage and heavily dependent on foreign support. The agency aims to coordinate and empower continental space activities through collaboration and shared resources. [SpaceNews]
Spanish propulsion startup Arkadia Space says it has successfully tested its first thruster in orbit. The company said Monday that it flew its DARK propulsion module, with a five-newton thruster, on a D-Orbit ION vehicle launched in March. Arkadia says it has fired the thruster hundreds of times since then, and the thruster's performance matched ground tests. The thruster uses hydrogen peroxide, a "green" propellant easier and less expensive to handle than hydrazine. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
SpaceX carried out two launches over the weekend. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 12:54 a.m. Eastern Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and put the SXM-10 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. It is the latest Maxar-built satellite for SiriusXM Satellite Radio, launching six months after SXM-9 on another Falcon 9. At Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, a Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:20 a.m. Eastern Sunday. It placed 26 Starlink satellites into orbit. [Florida Today | Spaceflight Now]
SpaceX is a step closer to beginning Starlink services in India. The company received a license Friday from the Department of Telecommunications, which will give the company access to trial spectrum for testing its services. SpaceX still needs commercial spectrum allocations from the government as well as approval from Indian space regulator In-SPACe before beginning commercial services in India. [PTI]
The first flight of a European reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator will likely slip. Themis, a project started in 2019 to test reusable boosters, was expected to make a long-awaited first "hop" flight this year. Delays in development and integration tests, though, are expected to push that test flight into at least early 2026, according to sources close to the program. Original plans for Themis called for that first hop test to occur in 2022. [European Spaceflight]
An asteroid that once posed a small risk of hitting the Earth in 2032 still has a chance to hit the moon instead. Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope have refined the orbit of asteroid 2024 YR4, an asteroid that early this year had a 3% chance of hitting the Earth in 2032 before improved knowledge of the asteroid's orbit ruled out an impact. The asteroid still has a small chance of hitting the moon in 2032, and the Webb observations increased that risk from 3.8% to 4.3%. The asteroid is now out of view of both ground- and space-based telescopes, and will remain so until 2028. [NASA]
| | | | | | The Week Ahead
Monday-Wednesday:
Monday-Thursday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Thursday:
Friday:
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Jiuquan, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 2D with an undisclosed payload at 3:55 a.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 7:45 a.m. Eastern. - Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of an Atlas 5 carrying the second set of Amazon Project Kuiper satellites at 2:29 p.m. Eastern.
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