By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: SpaceX buys EchoStar spectrum, NASA releases more details on commercial space station plans, Lynk plots its post-SPAC future and more.
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Top Stories
EchoStar is dropping plans to develop its own direct-to-device constellation and is selling spectrum to SpaceX. EchoStar announced Monday that it would sell S-band spectrum to SpaceX for $17 billion in cash and stock, with SpaceX making $2 billion in EchoStar debt interest payments through late 2027. Customers of EchoStar's Boost Mobile wireless service will get access to Starlink direct-to-cell capabilities as part of the deal. EchoStar had planned to use that spectrum for its own direct-to-device satellite constellation, awarding MDA Space a contract just over a month ago to build 100 satellites. MDA Space said in a separate statement Monday that it received a notice from EchoStar terminating that contract. [SpaceNews]
NASA has released more details on how it plans to spend up to $1.5 billion on the next phase of commercial space station development. The agency released Friday a draft solicitation for the Commercial Destinations – Development and Demonstration Objectives, or C3DO, effort, where it will award multiple Space Act Agreements to support work on commercial stations intended to succeed the International Space Station. That would include a four-person crewed mission to such stations for one month by 2030. The document states that NASA anticipates providing $1 billion to $1.5 billion from 2026 to 2031 for the C3DO agreements. NASA announced a little more than a month ago that it was changing direction on commercial station development, moving away from earlier plans to award contracts that would lead to permanently crewed commercial stations. [SpaceNews]
The Pentagon is changing the leadership of parts of the Space Force, as well as the name of one of its commands. The Pentagon on Friday announced a slate of senior leadership shifts within the U.S. Space Force, including Lt. Gen. David Miller as the new deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements and Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess as deputy chief of space operations for operations. The changes also involve renaming the service's Space Operations Command to Combat Forces Command, reflecting an increased focus on combat readiness and warfighting. [SpaceNews]
Anduril Industries and Blue Origin won small study contracts for "rocket cargo" services. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) last month awarded Blue Origin $1.3 million and Anduril $1 million under the Rocket Experimentation for Global Agile Logistics program, known as REGAL. Blue Origin will assess how its space vehicles could be adapted for point-to-point transport of cargo, while Anduril will examine how to integrate multiple government payloads into a single rocket cargo delivery system. Several other companies have won similar contracts to study rocket cargo services, but cost, safety and infrastructure challenges have kept the concept experimental. [SpaceNews]
Lynk Global says leveraging SES satellites will allow it to accelerate plans for a global rollout of its direct-to-device services. Lynk CEO Ramu Potarazu said in a recent interview that the company expects to achieve global, continuous services in 2027 by augmenting its small constellation of LEO satellites with satellites in medium and geostationary orbits owned by SES. Potarazu, a former SES executive, said working with SES also helps with regulatory issues. Lynk recently abandoned plans to go public through a SPAC merger, and Potarazu said the company had enough money to operate for the next two years as it lines up a new round of funding. [SpaceNews]
The FAA is allowing SpaceX to increase Falcon 9 launches at one Florida pad while it studies Starship launches at another. The FAA announced last week it completed an environmental review that will allow SpaceX to go from 50 to 120 launches annually from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. The decision also allows SpaceX to build a booster landing pad at that launch complex. The announcement came the same day as the FAA held a virtual public meeting on a draft environmental impact assessment for up to 44 Starship launches annually from nearby Launch Complex 39A. Many attendees raised concerns about the effects the noise of launches and reentries would have on surrounding communities, as well as closures of nearly beaches and of airspace in the region. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
China performed three launches in a little more than 36 hours last week. A Long March 3C rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 10:34 p.m. Eastern Thursday, putting the Shiyan-29 satellite into a geostationary orbit. Analysts believe Shiyan satellites are used to test new systems such as sensors, communications subsystems and environmental instruments, forming part of China's efforts to validate new space technologies in orbit. A Ceres-1 commercial rocket, operated by Galactic Energy, launched at 7:39 a.m. Eastern Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, putting into orbit three small satellites and an on-orbit experiment platform. A Long March 6A lifted off at 12:34 p.m. Eastern Saturday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. It put into orbit a set of satellites called Yaogan-40 (03) likely designed to perform radio frequency monitoring and geolocation tasks. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX carried out a pair of Starlink launches over the weekend. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 8:32 a.m. Eastern Friday, putting 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The first stage landed on a droneship, marking SpaceX's 500th booster landing. Another Falcon 9 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2:06 p.m. Eastern Saturday, putting 24 Starlink satellites in orbit. SpaceX has now launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites this year alone. [Spaceflight Now | Noozhawk]
GHGSat announced a deal with ExxonMobil to monitor methane emissions. The companies said Friday that ExxonMobil will use GHGSat satellites to track and mitigate methane emissions at its onshore facilities in North America and Asia. ExxonMobil has now made "a significant investment" in GHGSat's emissions monitoring, the companies announced, but did not disclose the size of the deal. GHGSat has 13 spacecraft in orbit that monitor millions of industrial facilities worldwide. [SpaceNews]
Orbital Sidekick hyperspectral sensors revealed new information on damage sustained by Iran's Fordow nuclear fuel enrichment plant after a June air strike. The company said its Global Hyperspectral Observation Satellite (GHOSt) constellation exposed the outline of a rectangular subsurface structure at Fordow that indicated the "potential collapse or damage" of an underground facility. That damage was not seen in conventional optical imagery of the site, the company said. [SpaceNews]
NOAA has ordered more radio occultation weather data from two companies. The agency said last week it awarded PlanetiQ more than $24.3 million and Spire nearly $11.2 million to provide radio-occultation atmospheric profiles using their satellites. Those profiles, made by monitoring signals from navigation satellites as they pass through the atmosphere, provide information on atmospheric conditions used in weather forecasting models. [NOAA]
Astrobotic has signed an agreement to fly low-altitude reusable rockets from a spaceport in Norway. Astrobotic announced last week an agreement with Andøya Space to fly its Xodiac vehicle from the Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway. Xodiac is a reusable launch vehicle technology testbed, capable of vertical takeoffs and landings. The agreement would allow Xodiac launches to take place from Andøya as soon as 2026. Xodiac, developed by Masten Space Systems before that company went bankrupt and its assets acquired by Astrobotic, has flown for years at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. [Astrobotic]
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