Plus: Debris concerns postpone a China crew's return
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Jared Isaacman gets a second shot to lead NASA, China postpones a crewed spacecraft return over debris concerns, Ariane 6 launches a radar imaging satellite and more.
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Top Stories
China is postponing the return of a Shenzhou spacecraft from its Tiangong space station after concerns the spacecraft was damaged by orbital debris. The Shenzhou-20 spacecraft was expected to return to Earth today carrying three astronauts after six months on Tiangong. Chinese officials, though, said they suspected the spacecraft was struck by orbital debris and they are delaying the return to assess potential damage. Officials did not specify the location of a possible strike, the extent of any damage or the data that indicated an impact. No potential dates were noted for a return to Earth. Checks on the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft could include telemetry and leak tests, verifying guidance and propulsion systems, and screening for impacts in accelerometer and acoustic sensor data, with a focus on the spacecraft's thermal protection system and parachutes. [SpaceNews]
The White House is renominating Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator. President Donald Trump said in a social media post late Tuesday that he was picking Isaacman again to lead the agency, but did not disclose why he changed his mind five months after withdrawing his original nomination. Isaacman was just days away from a Senate confirmation vote when Trump pulled that nomination, and may have to start the process over, an effort that would take months. Trump also thanked Sean Duffy for serving as NASA's acting administrator the last four months; Duffy was reportedly interested in staying in the post for the long term. Isaacman's renomination was widely welcomed by space industry officials and organizations. [SpaceNews]
Telesat plans to launch the first satellites for its Lightspeed constellation late next year. The company said in an earnings call Tuesday that two pathfinder satellites would launch in December 2026, followed by 96 satellites in 2027 that will provide initial broadband services globally. The two pathfinder satellites are designed to confirm ground tests of the spacecraft, being built by MDA Space. Telesat signed a contract with SpaceX in 2023 for 14 launches to deploy a 198-satellite constellation. Telesat is counting on Lightspeed to offset declining revenues from its traditional GEO satellite business. [SpaceNews]
SES is turning to another satellite operator to help it meet demand for aircraft connectivity services. SES said Tuesday it is leasing the entire Ku-band capacity on SKY Perfect JSAT's Superbird-C2, an aging geostationary satellite launched over Japan in August 2008. Superbird-C2 will move from 144 degrees east to another orbital slot over Japan that the company did not disclose. Services are expected to start this winter. SES plans to use the satellite to provide extra capacity needed to meet growing demand for inflight connectivity services in Asia. [SpaceNews]
German satellite manufacturer Reflex Aerospace has raised 50 million euros ($57.4 million). The company announced the Series A round Tuesday led by American venture capital firm Human Element with participation from several other investors. Reflex launched its first satellite, SIGI, in January, and plans to use the funding to scale up its ability to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites for European governments. It cited growing interest in having sovereign European space capabilities, including plans by Germany to spend 35 billion euros on defense space systems over the next five years. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
An Ariane 6 successfully launched an Earth observation satellite Tuesday. The Ariane 62 lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 4:02 p.m. Eastern and deployed the Sentinel-1D satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit a little more than a half-hour later. Sentinel-1D carries a synthetic aperture radar payload for the Copernicus Earth observation program. The 2,184-kilogram satellite is similar to Sentinel-1C, which launched last December on a smaller Vega C rocket. European officials said they chose to launch Sentinel-1D on Ariane 6 because that was the fastest option to get it into orbit and replace the aging Sentinel-1A satellite. [SpaceNews]
A lack of experience, not funding, is hindering European launch startups. The progress of European smallsat launcher developers has been slower than promised, with companies facing technical difficulties and none yet having completed a successful orbital flight. Analysts say that funding is not an issue, but rather a lack of experience, and that means that these startups are unlikely to play a major role in meeting Europe's space access needs for the foreseeable future. [SpaceNews]
The Canadian government is proposing to invest in developing its own launch capability. A federal budget proposal released Tuesday included $182.6 million Canadian ($129.2 million) for work on a sovereign launch capability. The funds would be spent over the next three years, but the budget did not include details on how it would be spent. The funding is part of broader investment in building up the Canadian military. [SpaceQ]
A startup is allowing astronomers to buy data from a small space telescope. Blue Skies Space said it will sell data collected by Mauve, a 16U cubesat with a 13-centimeter telescope collecting optical and ultraviolet observations. Mauve is scheduled to launch later this month on a SpaceX rideshare mission. Blue Skies Space is offering annual subscriptions to data from Mauve, with nine research groups signing on so far. If successful, the company plans to develop Twinkle, a larger spacecraft with a 50-centimeter telescope for studying exoplanets. [Science]
NASA has a new chief astronaut. Scott Tingle is taking over this week as head of the astronaut office at the Johnson Space Center. He succeeds Joe Acaba, who is moving into a new role as a technical adviser to JSC director Vanessa Wyche. Tingle spent 166 days on the ISS in 2018 and for a time was slated to command Starliner-1, the first operational mission of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, before problems with the spacecraft delayed that flight. [collectSPACE]
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Space Pants
| "Dr. Pulvirenti handmade the exosuit himself, teaching himself to sew as part of the process. 'Fortunately my grandmother worked as a tailor and she was able to give me some advice,' Dr. Pulvirenti said."
| – From a press release by the University of Bristol on the development of an "exosuit", a pair of pants with artificial muscles intended to reduce muscular fatigue for astronauts on future missions to the moon and Mars.
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