| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Sean Duffy gets to work at NASA, the Space Force sets guidelines for commercial use of its launch ranges, a new vice chief of the Space Force and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
With its acquisition of Intelsat complete, SES plans to scale up a constellation of medium Earth orbit (MEO) communications satellites. SES completed Thursday its acquisition of Intelsat, creating an operator with about 90 GEO satellites, a third more than three of its biggest rivals — Eutelsat, Telesat and Viasat — combined. In an interview, SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said while he expects the GEO communications market to stabilize soon after years of decline, he sees a major growth opportunity in MEO, where SES already has nearly 30 O3b satellites. SES is preparing to shift from launching one next-generation constellation at a time to building a continuously expanding fleet, envisioning "hundreds" of MEO satellites. SES plans to spend close to $700 million annually on capital expenditures over the next three years, excluding commitments to Europe's IRIS² sovereign broadband constellation. [SpaceNews]
A week after being named NASA's acting administrator, Sean Duffy is now starting to get to work at the agency. President Trump last week named Duffy the new acting head of the agency, a role he has in addition to serving as secretary of transportation. Neither NASA nor Duffy had said anything publicly since then, and the agency's website continued to list Janet Petro as acting administrator, raising questions about who was in charge. A NASA spokesperson said late Wednesday that Duffy is working as acting administrator and would address the agency's workforce by video on Friday. Testifying before the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday, Duffy said it was just "my first full day at NASA" even though he spent much of it at the hearing. He added that leading NASA "is not going to impact my ability to do the important work of the DOT." [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force released new guidelines for how it will allocate finite launch infrastructure and range resources as commercial demand surges. In a policy document Wednesday, the Space Force reaffirmed its support of the commercial industry to help maintain U.S. space access and industrial capacity but cautioned that government resources are finite and will be prioritized so that national security concerns take priority. A surge in commercial launch activity at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg has strained resources and infrastructure capacity at those launch sites. [SpaceNews]
A longtime adviser on space issues says he is concerned about changes to advisory committees by the Trump administration. Retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles said Wednesday that efforts by the administration to suspend or terminate advisory committees, or make sweeping changes to their memberships, was "very worrisome." He said that the roles of advisory committees are often misunderstood, and such committees can play a critical role now with widespread layoffs or retirements at agencies. Lyles has chaired the NASA Advisory Council for several years as well as the National Space Council's advisory group. He said the future of both in the current administration was uncertain. [SpaceNews]
Solar energy startup Solestial won a $1.2 million Space Force contract to develop novel arrays for small satellites. The company said Wednesday it won a SpaceWERX award to optimize silicon solar cells and power modules for speedy integration and assembly. The project will culminate in Solestial manufacturing one kilowatt of solar cells and modules in two weeks, followed by a two-week sprint to assemble and integrate the solar array. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
The White House has nominated a new vice chief of the Space Force. The administration announced Wednesday that it was nominating Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton to be the next vice chief of space operations. Bratton, the deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements, would replace Gen. Michael Guetlein, selected to lead the Golden Dome missile defense initiative. [Breaking Defense]
The nominee to lead space policy in the Defense Department has advocated for combining the National Reconnaissance Office with the Space Force's Space Systems Command. Mark Berkowitz, nominated to be assistant secretary of defense for space policy, coauthored a paper included in a new book that recommended combining the two organizations. Doing so, co-author Chris Williams said at an event this week, would create a single, more agile organization that could result in improved acquisition and create "more integrated mission architectures." An alternative would be to keep NRO and SSC separate but colocate them at NRO's Virginia headquarters. [Air & Space Forces Magazine]
Intuitive Machines plans to expand its Houston headquarters. The company said Wednesday that it will add a spacecraft development and production space, along with a warehouse and storage facility, to its current 105,000-square-foot headquarters at Spaceport Houston, on the grounds of Ellington Airport. The $12 million project was approved this week by the Houston City Council, which oversees Ellington, with construction set to start later this summer. Intuitive Machines is best known for developing lunar landers and is also working on a lunar terrain vehicle and spacecraft projects. [KHOU-TV Houston]
South Korea has added a lunar base and a Mars lander to its long-term space exploration plans. The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), the country's space agency, unveiled an updated version of its space exploration roadmap Thursday, calling for development of a lunar lander by 2040 and an "economic base" on the moon by 2045. The plan also includes a Mars orbiter mission by 2035 and Mars lander by 2045. [ChosunBiz]
A large Martian meteorite was auctioned off at a slightly higher price than expected. Sotheby's had projected a 25-kilogram rock, the largest Martian meteorite found to date, would sell for between $2 million and $4 million at auction. The winning bid was $5.3 million, including fees, after what the auction house called a "dramatic 15-minute bidding battle." Sotheby's did not disclose the identity of the winning bidder. [Washington Post]
| | | | | | The Dude Abides
| "Somebody sent me a picture that I have not seen. It's a picture of me getting suited up and getting ready to climb into a B-2, just a pilot and me. I was in the right seat to fly that. It was hard to believe that that took place, but I noted my name tag. And the name tag had my call sign on it. My call sign is 'Dude', and I would have been very happy if you just said, 'Here's Dude.'"
| | – Retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles after being introduced at a Maryland Space Business Roundtable event Wednesday.
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