Plus: Globalstar eyes more defense business
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Globalstar seeks more defense business, the U.K. Space Agency loses its independence, New Shepard's next research flight and more.
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Top Stories
Satellite communications provider Globalstar is pursuing partnerships with defense contractors to establish a foothold in the military market. The company, which operates a constellation of communications satellites in low Earth orbit for voice calls and low-bandwidth data services, is working to demonstrate more advanced military applications through collaborations with defense contractor Parsons and with the U.S. Army. This represents a shift for Globalstar, which has primarily focused on commercial markets while competitor Iridium has dominated military narrowband communications over the past two decades. Globalstar CEO Paul Jacobs said in a recent interview that the defense market was now a priority for the company. [SpaceNews]
Comments by NASA's acting administrator have created new doubts about the future of Earth science at NASA. In a television interview last week, Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said that science at NASA would be directed toward exploration, which he argued was the purpose of NASA, "not to do all of these Earth sciences." The agency did not respond to a request for clarification of his comments. His remarks have been criticized by those who see it an effort to end Earth science research at the agency. NASA's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal would cut Earth science spending by more than 50% and cancel several missions. [SpaceNews]
The U.K. Space Agency will no longer be an independent agency in a British government reshuffling. In a plan announced Wednesday, UKSA will be folded into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology next April. It will retain its name but its budget and activities will be incorporated into the department. The government said the move is intended to save money and streamline operations, but critics say it sends the wrong signal to the country's space sector. [BBC]
BlackSky has signed a new contract to provide non-Earth imaging of satellites. The company said Tuesday it signed a "seven-figure" contract with Australian company HEO to provide it with imagery of spacecraft. The companies say they have automated processes where HEO identifies opportunities for BlackSky satellites to take images of spacecraft of interest to HEO. [BlackSky]
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Other News
The next flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle will be an uncrewed research flight. The NS-35 mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than Saturday from the company's West Texas site. The vehicle will carry more than 40 payloads, including 24 from a NASA student competition. It will be the seventh flight of New Shepard this year and the second payload-only mission in 2025. [Blue Origin]
Organizations are proposing smallsat missions to study, and even collide with, a near Earth asteroid. At last week's Small Satellite Conference, a team from the University of Maryland discussed TERP RAPTOR, a cubesat mission they are developing that would fly by the asteroid Apophis when it makes a close pass of Earth in April 2029. The $10 million cubesat would take closeup images of the asteroid. A separate mission proposed by the Southwest Research Institute and Advanced Space, the Apophis Cratering Experiment, would deliberately collide with the asteroid after the close approach to study cratering science and improve the understanding of "rubble pile" asteroids. [SpaceNews]
Alaska Airlines is the latest to adopt Starlink for in-flight connectivity services. The airline announced Wednesday it will outfit its entire fleet with Starlink terminals by 2027, providing free wi-fi for members of its frequent flyer club. Alaska recently acquired Hawaiian Airlines, which was one of the first to install Starlink. [Alaska Airlines]
Astronomers have discovered a very small moon orbiting Uranus. Astronomers said Tuesday they spotted the moon images in from the James Webb Space Telescope. The moon, provisionally designated S/2025 U1, is about 10 kilometers in diameter, and is the 29th moon known to orbit Uranus. [Space.com]
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Awkward Interview
| "When I spoke with the Prime Minister, which was a huge honor and the first interview of this kind I gave from up there, I remember that the first eight to ten minutes were very pleasant, and we both tried to insert as much humor as possible into our questions and answers. What followed was quite a surprise to me, but I think we both handled the task well."
| – Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu, recounting a call he had while on the ISS during the Ax-4 mission with the country's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, that turned toward political topics. [Telex]
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