Plus: More signatures for the Artemis Accords
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Voyager acquires a satellite propulsion company, two more countries sign the Artemis Accords, SpaceX sets another launch record and more.
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Top Stories
Voyager Technologies is acquiring satellite propulsion company ExoTerra Resources. Voyager announced the deal Monday, but did not disclose the value of the acquisition. ExoTerra, founded in 2011, has spent the last couple of years expanding its staff and moving into larger facilities to meet growing demand for satellite propulsion. ExoTerra first demonstrated its Halo Hall-effect thrusters in orbit on DARPA Blackjack satellites, and York Space Systems is using ExoTerra thrusters on satellites it is building for the Space Development Agency. Since becoming a public company in June, Voyager has been evaluating merger and acquisition opportunities, a company executive said in a recent interview. [SpaceNews]
A networking company is using Starlink to enable companies to have links to remote sites without going through the public internet. MTN said its service would transfer data through a terrestrial backbone it leases from major carriers once data transmitted from a customer's Starlink terminal reaches a SpaceX gateway. MTN says its StarEdge Horizon service avoids the extra latency often seen with standard virtual private networks, since data does not need to pass through encrypted software tunnels before reaching MTN servers or a customer's cloud system. SpaceX has been steadily expanding Starlink's appeal to enterprise and government customers since its initial focus on consumer broadband. [SpaceNews]
Two more countries have signed the Artemis Accords. Malaysia and the Philippines signed the Accords recently, the White House said in a fact sheet about President Trump's visit to Malaysia. A total of 59 nations have signed the Accords since 2020, including seven so far this year and three this month. The document outlines norms of behavior for safe space exploration on topics from transparency to noninterference. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX is struggling to keep up with demand for Starlink services along the front lines in Ukraine. Troops there say the high demand for Starlink to support military operations means remotely operated vehicles, like rovers, get as little as 10 megabits per second of bandwidth. That makes it difficult to get the video needed to control the vehicles. Some have turned to terrestrial radio signals, including repeaters on tethered drones, as alternatives, but say that Starlink remains essential to military operations there. [Space.com]
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Other News
SpaceX set a record for pad turnaround time with a Starlink launch Monday evening. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:43 p.m. Eastern and placed 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch took place just less than 55 hours after the previous launch from the same Vandenberg pad, a record for the company as it continues efforts to increase the rate of Falcon launches from California and Florida. [Spaceflight Now]
A Canadian agency is providing funding to help build a spaceport in Nova Scotia. Maritime Launch Services (MLS) said that Export Development Canada, the country's export credit agency, issued a $10 million Canadian ($7.1 million) senior credit facility intended to help build Spaceport Nova Scotia. The facility, which MLS has been working on for several years, would host launches of small launch vehicles. MLS said the funds would go toward work on pad development for multiple users as well as tenant-specific facilities. MLS expects to host the first launch there as soon as late 2026 or early 2027. [SpaceQ]
Kepler Communications has hired former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. The company said Monday that Hadfield will serve as an adviser as Kepler works to move into the market for human spaceflight communications. Hadfield will work with the company on communications needed for future commercial stations and vehicles as well as provide "general leadership" advice. Hadfield served as commander of the International Space Station during a five-month stay there over a decade ago. [Kepler]
Geopolitics has halted work on a radio telescope in Argentina. The China-Argentina Radio Telescope (CART), an antenna 40 meters in diameter, was on track to start operations later this year as the largest radio telescope in Latin America. But work to complete the telescope has been paused as Argentina's government first held up imports of equipment from China and then imposed new conditions for the facility's approval. Scientists believe the roadblocks stem from efforts by the government to secure a bailout from the United States, whose terms require Argentina to suspend ties with China on "observational facilities." Scientists argue that CART has no military applications and that Argentina's defense ministry approved the telescope nearly a decade ago. [Science]
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And Mars Must Be Very Hard
| "I've heard this saying: 'Space is hard and the moon is harder.' It's true."
| – Steve Clarke, vice president for space programs at Astrobotic, discussing the state of commercial lunar missions during a panel at the American Astronautical Society's von Braun Space Exploration Symposium Monday.
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