Plus: DIU rethinks its approach to space
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Isaacman moves a step closer to becoming NASA administrator, DIU rethinks its approach to supporting space, a Soyuz spacecraft returns three people from the ISS and more.
If someone forwarded you this edition, sign up to receive it in your inbox every weekday. Have thoughts or feedback? You can hit reply to let me know.
| | |
|
|
|
Top Stories
The Senate Commerce Committee sent the nomination of Jared Isaacman to the full Senate on Monday. The committee voted 18-10 to advance the nomination, with three Democrats joining all of the committee's Republican members in supporting Isaacman's second bid to lead the space agency. Isaacman lost the support of two Democratic senators who voted for his first nomination in April, including Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who questioned Isaacman about his "Project Athena" plan during last week's confirmation hearing. The Senate has not scheduled a confirmation vote but leaders of the committee said last week they hoped to get Isaacman confirmed before the end of the month. [SpaceNews]
Muon Space won a Space Force contract to develop sensors for missile defense applications. The $1.9 million award made by SpaceWERX, the U.S. Space Force's technology arm, covers development of a prototype of an infrared sensing payload for missile detection and tracking. The sensor could be used by the Space Development Agency for future missile tracking satellites. Earlier this year, the Space Force awarded the company a $44.6 million contract to demonstrate its Quickbeam thermal imaging system for environmental monitoring and weather imaging. [SpaceNews]
The Pentagon is reviewing the Defense Innovation Unit's sprawling technology portfolio, including its space projects. Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the Pentagon's chief technology officer, said Monday his office is assessing the DIU's work as part of a broader push to align investments with six "critical technology areas" the department says need sharper focus, ranging from artificial intelligence to hypersonics. DIU has become a key entry point for commercial space firms, backing work in hybrid communications, space domain awareness, sensors, logistics, servicing concepts and launch-related innovation. [SpaceNews]
The European Space Agency achieved a new record in funding last month thanks in part to increased contributions by two countries. Poland boosted its budget from 198 million euros ($230 million) in 2022 to 735 million euros in 2025, while Spain's contribution increased from 933 million euros to 1.871 billion euros. Spain is now the fourth-largest contributor to ESA, moving ahead of the United Kingdom and trailing only Germany, France and Italy. Spain made clear that its priority is supporting its industrial base, with the country providing 169 million euros for Spanish launch firm PLD Space in the European Launcher Challenge. Both countries also made major contributions to the new European Resilience from Space initiative, although to different aspects of it. [SpaceNews]
Space-based solar power startup Aetherflux has thrown its hat into the emerging market for orbital data centers. The company announced Tuesday it will deploy its first "Galactic Brain" data center node in low Earth orbit in the first quarter of 2027. Aetherflux, which raised $50 million in April to support its plans for satellites that would beam power to Earth, says it sees an opportunity to use those technologies to power data centers, avoiding challenges terrestrial data centers face in obtaining power. Several other companies have shown an interest in orbital data centers, including Amazon and SpaceX. [SpaceNews]
| | |
|
|
|
Other News
A Soyuz spacecraft returned three people from the International Space Station overnight. The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft undocked from the station at 8:41 p.m. Eastern Monday, landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 12:03 a.m. Eastern Tuesday. The spacecraft returned Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim after eight months on the station. The three were in good condition after leaving the spacecraft. [Space.com]
China performed two launches hours apart Monday. A Long March 6A lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 5:21 p.m. Eastern and put a set of satellites into orbit for the Guowang constellation. Previous Guowang launches using that rocket each carried five satellites, and with this launch there are 118 operational satellites in the constellation. A Long March 4B lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 10:41 p.m. Eastern, putting into orbit the Yaogan-47 satellite. Chinese officials said the satellite will be used for civil Earth imaging applications, although other Yaogan satellites have military applications. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX set another Falcon 9 reuse record with a launch Monday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:26 p.m. Eastern after a one-day delay due to weather, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the 32nd flight of the B1067 booster, a record for the company. With this launch SpaceX has launched 3,000 Starlink satellites this year. [Spaceflight Now]
A "Hungry Hippo" is on its way to a Virginia launch site. Rocket Lab said Monday that it completed qualification testing of the first payload fairing for its Neutron rocket in New Zealand, and is now shipping the fairing to Launch Complex 3 in Virginia to be integrated with other elements of the rocket. The fairing is nicknamed "Hungry Hippo" because, rather than detaching and falling away, its two halves swing open to allow the upper stage and payload to be deployed, then shut while remaining attached to the Neutron booster. This allows the fairings to be reused without the need for ocean recovery and refurbishment. [Rocket Lab]
One of the most famous journalists to chronicle the early space program has died. John Noble Wilford passed away Monday at the age of 92. He was the lead reporter at the New York Times covering the Apollo program, including the Apollo 11 landing, providing "an awe-inspiring and comprehensive account" of the mission. He later won Pulitzer Prizes for his coverage of the space program, including an investigation into the Challenger accident. In a video for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Wilford said he knew in 1969 that the landing would likely be the biggest story of his career, "unless of course, I am still around reporting when people discover other life in the universe." [New York Times]
|
|
|
|
FROM SPACENEWS |  | Meet the 2025 Icon Award Winners: This year's recipients range from a company that successfully landed on the moon to an agency leader who transformed NASA's relationship with industry, making room for commercial lunar landers in the first place. On Tuesday, Dec. 2 in Washington D.C., we awarded this year's Icon Awards during a program at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. Learn more about what made this year's class stand out. | | |
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment