Plus: Golden Dome gets a leader
| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Guetlein confirmed to lead Golden Dome, House Democrats' concerns about NASA spending, Blue Origin's second New Glenn gets a payload, and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
The Senate confirmed Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein on Thursday to lead the Golden Dome missile defense system. Guetlein's confirmation, which came two months after Trump nominated him, marks a key milestone for the administration's ambitious plan to create an orbital missile defense shield that would protect the continental United States from ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missile threats. Guetlein had been vice chief of space operations at the Space Force, and the White House nominated Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton earlier this week to move into that role. [SpaceNews]
Top House Democrats are accusing NASA of illegally impounding funds and taking steps to prematurely implement the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal. In a letter this week to Sean Duffy, the new acting administrator of NASA, the ranking members of the House Science Committee and its space subcommittee, Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.), argued that agency officials are "attempting to override Congress' rightful authority over NASA's budget" through measures such as impounding funds appropriated for fiscal 2025 and implementing elements of the 2026 budget proposal before Congress acts on it. That includes canceling a planned upgrade to the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument on the ISS and blocking press releases about milestones from missions slated for cancellation. While the White House proposed a nearly 25% cut in NASA's budget for 2026, House and Senate spending bills would instead keep overall agency funding flat. [SpaceNews]
The next New Glenn launch will carry a NASA Mars mission. Blue Origin said Thursday that the NG-2 mission of New Glenn will carry ESCAPADE, a mission featuring a pair of smallsats that will go to Mars to study how the solar wind interacts with the planet's magnetic field. ESCAPADE was the original payload for the first New Glenn launch but taken off that flight because of delays with the launch vehicle. The launch will also carry a technology demonstration payload from Viasat as part of NASA's Communications Services Project. Blue Origin did not give an updated launch date for NG-2, but the ESCAPADE smallsats have yet to be shipped to the launch site, suggesting the launch may still be months away. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
Starlink could begin services in India by the end of the year. SpaceX has received all the regulatory approvals needed for those services but is still awaiting a spectrum allocation to begin at least trial services, which is expected in the coming months. SpaceX is also staffing up an India office for Starlink, including soon hiring a CEO for that office. [NDTV]
The founder of SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands is stepping back from the project after a terminal cancer diagnosis. Frank Strang said he would "step back but not down" from his work at the spaceport after being told he has six months to two years to live. He worked for years to develop a spaceport at a former Royal Air Force radar station on the island of Unst. The facility is now a licensed spaceport but has yet to host an orbital launch attempt. German company Rocket Factory Augsburg is working to perform the inaugural launch of its RFA ONE rocket there before the end of this year. [Shetland News]
A Chinese study finds that water and oxygen could be extracted from lunar soil, but not everyone is convinced it is feasible. A study by Chinese researchers, using a lunar sample from the Chang'e-5 mission, found that water could be extracted from lunar soil and then combined with carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and methane. The approach, the Chinese study says, needs only solar power to heat the lunar regolith and a source of carbon dioxide, such as from the exhalations of astronauts. However, one American researcher has raised questions about the effectiveness of this technique, including the efficiency of heating the regolith and whether astronauts could provide enough carbon dioxide. [Space.com]
| | | | | | The Universe's Best ISP
| "We actually keep over a hundred missions connected and on course every day. You can think of us — our motto — we're the universe's best internet service provider."
| | – Greg Heckler, deputy program manager for capability development at NASA's Space Communications and Navigation program, at a briefing Thursday discussing an upcoming mission to test new communications technologies.
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