By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: the White House takes aim at NASA unions, a Chinese launch company raises tens of millions of dollars, the business case for bigger smallsats and more.
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Top Stories
A White House executive order would nullify NASA labor unions. The order, issued Thursday, added several agencies, including NASA, to a list of those exempted from federal collective bargaining rights under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. The White House cited an exemption in that law for agencies that perform national security work, arguing that NASA develops technologies "that are critical for U.S. national security." Little of NASA's work falls under conventional definitions of national security. According to NASA data from earlier this year, 53% of the agency's civil servant employees were part of unions that have, in some cases, existed there for decades. One of those unions, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, criticized the order. Previous efforts by the White House to remove unions at other agencies prompted a lawsuit pending in federal court. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force is laying out a strategy to bring AI tools into the daily work of service members. Chandra Donelson, the service's chief data and artificial intelligence officer, said at a recent conference that the Space Force plans annual updates to a data and AI strategic action plan published in March, while field commands have created boards to coordinate data and AI initiatives. The service is rolling out initiatives such as a series of AI challenges, which are expected to be hackathon-style competitions where guardians prototype solutions to operational and acquisition problems. These initiatives mirror a wider Department of Defense strategy to bring artificial intelligence into all aspects of military operations. [SpaceNews]
Chinese commercial rocket company Orienspace has raised tens of millions of dollars in Series B+ financing as it moves towards a key test flight. Orienspace secured funding of between $27 million and $124 million last month to support development and mass production of its Gravity-2 medium-lift liquid launch vehicle. The company will soon begin comprehensive ground verification tests for the Gravity-2 and is scheduled to carry out its first flight test by the end of this year. The vehicle is designed to put up to 21,500 kilograms into low Earth orbit with the ability to increase that payload performance with solid-rocket boosters. [SpaceNews]
South Korean company SI Imaging Services says a European customer will lease its latest imaging satellite. The unnamed customer will lease the imaging capacity of SpaceEye-T, a satellite launched in March that provides imagery at a resolution of 25 centimeters. The company did not provide details about the lease but said the deal is worth more than $11.7 million. The agreement is the latest example of the growing popularity of the satellite-as-a-service business model. [SpaceNews]
NASA's draft procurement of a lunar nuclear reactor system emphasizes commercialization. NASA released a draft Announcement for Partnership Proposals document Friday for the Fission Surface Power program, implementing a directive signed by NASA's acting administrator, Sean Duffy, a month ago. NASA plans to use a public-private partnership approach with funded Space Act Agreements to develop a reactor capable of producing at least 100 kilowatts of electrical power and be ready for launch by the end of 2029. The document emphasizes the commercial approach to the program, with companies required to provide a business case for the reactor that includes customers other than NASA. Companies can propose that NASA land the reactor on the moon but the document said the agency will give higher ratings to proposals that offer a "wholly commercial approach" to reactor delivery. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
SpaceX performed two Starlink launches over the Labor Day weekend. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:59 a.m. Eastern Saturday, putting 24 Starlink satellites into orbit. A second Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:49 a.m. Eastern Sunday, delivering 28 Starlink satellites. With the two launches, SpaceX has placed more than 1,900 Starlink satellites into orbit so far this year. [Noozhawk | Spaceflight Now]
Satellite manufacturer Muon Space is seeing strong growth in larger smallsats. Gregory Smirin, president of the company, said there is demand for its new line of 500-kilogram satellites from customers in missile warning and missile tracking, communications, radio-frequency intelligence, imaging and space domain awareness. Those customers have payloads that require larger satellites, he said, rather than a desire to consolidate missions on fewer spacecraft. [SpaceNews]
South Korea's space agency is getting a budget increase. The Korea AeroSpace Administration will get a 15% budget increase in 2026 to nearly $8 billion, the agency announced Monday. The additional funding will support development of imaging and communications satellites as well as a proposed lunar lander. Funding for launch will decrease, though, as the agency delays work on a next-generation launch system. [Yonhap]
A plane carrying the president of the European Commission allegedly suffered GPS jamming by Russia. The plane, carrying President Ursula von der Leyen, suffered GPS jamming while in Bulgarian airspace, but landed safely, a commission spokesperson said Monday. The commission blamed the jamming on "blatant interference by Russia." Flight tracking information, though, showed no major delays in the flight and its transponder provided good GPS data throughout the flight. EU officials said the incident showed the need to augment satellite navigation services with low Earth orbit satellites less susceptible to jamming. [AP | X @Flightradar24 ]
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur has retired from the agency. McArthur as selected as a NASA astronaut in 2000 and flew on shuttle mission STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, in 2009. She flew again in 2021 on the Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station, spending 200 days in space. She was the first woman to serve as pilot on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. [NASA/JSC]
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The Week Ahead
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Thursday: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 7:18 a.m. Eastern.
Washington: The George Washington University Space Policy Institute and the GW Law School host "Space Law Across Borders:Comparative Frameworks in the United States, India, Japan, and South Korea" at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Chinese Coastal Waters: Projected launch of a Jielong-3 rocket carrying several satellites at around 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
Xichang, China: Projected launch of a Long March 3C with an undisclosed payload at about 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
Friday: Saturday:
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 11:42 a.m. Eastern.
Taiyuan, China: Projected launch of a Long March 6A carrying an unidentified payload at 12:34 p.m. Eastern.
Saturday-Sunday:
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