Plus: Kenya proposes a spaceport
| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Jared Isaacman is finally confirmed as NASA administration, another company picks Australia as a spacecraft landing site, Kenya proposes to build a spaceport 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 voted 67-30 to confirm Jared Isaacman as NASA's next administrator. The vote Wednesday afternoon came after little floor debate, with no senators speaking in opposition to the nomination. Sixteen Democrats joined 51 Republicans in voting for Isaacman, while all 30 no votes came from Democrats. The vote ended a journey that started more than a year ago with then-President-elect Trump's announcement he would nominate Isaacman. The White House withdrew the nomination at the end of May, only to renominate Isaacman last month. [SpaceNews]
The space community celebrated Isaacman's confirmation while also expressing relief that the agency now had a permanent leader in place. Companies and industry groups widely praised the confirmation, noting that Isaacman's background in business and his commercial spaceflight experience should serve NASA well. They also noted the importance of having a Senate-confirmed administrator in place after a year that has seen a 20% reduction in agency civil servants and proposed major budget cuts. During his first nomination, Isaacman outlined potential plans for the agency in a confidential document, Project Athena, that later leaked. Isaacman said he stood behind the document although it's uncertain what aspects of it he will seek to implement. [SpaceNews]
Reusable spacecraft startup Lux Aeterna plans to use an Australian range to recover its spacecraft. The company announced an agreement with Southern Launch to use the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia for its first mission, launching in early 2027, as well as another in 2028. Lux Aeterna is seeing demand for reusable satellite architecture across defense, intelligence and commercial markets. Targeted applications include short-duration technology demonstrations, hypersonic and materials testing, in-orbit servicing and in-space manufacturing missions. Varda Space Industries also uses Koonibba Test Range for the reentry of its W-series capsules. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force doesn't plan to work together with the National Reconnaissance Office on a new space surveillance satellite program. The Space Force and NRO collaborated on SILENTBARKER, a classified constellation of spacecraft to monitor other satellites. However, at the recent Spacepower Conference, Space Force officials said they will carry out a follow-on program on their own. SILENTBARKER and its successor are intended to complement the existing GSSAP satellites and the future RG-XX program, with SILENTBARKER providing broad-area surveillance and GSSAP doing more detailed reconnaissance of objects. [Breaking Defense]
| | | | | | Other News
Rocket Lab launched a mission for the Defense Department's Space Test Program overnight. An Electron lifted off from the company's Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Island, Virginia, at 12:03 a.m. Eastern on the STP-S30 mission for the Space Test Program. The launch placed into low Earth orbit four DiskSat satellites developed by The Aerospace Corporation as an alternative to the cubesat form factor for smallsats. The launch was a rare orbital mission by Rocket Lab from Wallops, which has primarily used that launch site for the HASTE suborbital variant of Electron. This was the 20th launch by Electron this year. [Rocket Lab]
SpaceX performed a Starlink launch doubleheader Wednesday as the company wraps up its busiest launch year yet. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:42 a.m. Eastern, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. That was followed at 10:27 a.m. Eastern by another Falcon 9 launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, putting 27 Starlink satellites into orbit. The two launches bring the total number of Falcon 9 launches to 165 this year. Two more launches are scheduled before the end of the year, one carrying Starlink satellites and another a COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation for Italy. [Spaceflight Now]
The government of Kenya is proposing to develop a spaceport. The government released a procurement for advisory services for the spaceport project, to be located on Kenya's coast, taking advantage of eastward trajectories over the Indian Ocean near the Equator. The spaceport would be developed as a public-private partnership, but the government did not disclose a schedule or cost estimate for the project. It's unclear what vehicles would launch from the site, but the spaceport is intended to allow African satellite developers to launch their spacecraft from the continent. [NairobiWire]
Saturn's moon Titan may not have a subsurface ocean. Scientists reanalyzed data from the Cassini mission, finding that the moon is not flexing as much from gravitational forces from Saturn. That suggests that Titan may not have a subsurface ocean as previously thought, but instead a layer of ice near the surface with pockets of liquid water within it. Scientists said the finding may mean worlds with subsurface oceans may be less common than previously thought, but doesn't affect the potential habitability of Titan, which has seas of liquid hydrocarbons on its surface and a dense atmosphere. [Space.com]
| | | | | FROM SPACENEWS |  | | How the Space Force trains Guardians for the future of warfare: In this episode of Space Minds, senior staff writer Sandra Erwin sits down with former NASA astronaut and Space Force leader Brig. Gen. Nick Hague for a wide-ranging conversation on how the U.S. Space Force is shaping its culture, training Guardians and preparing for future conflict in space. Hague shares insights on warfighting culture, career development, new training pipelines and the realities of building a combat-ready force with limited resources. Watch or listen now.
| | | | | | Megabreccia
| "That area in particular is notable because it wasn't just breccia, it was megabreccia, which is as cool as it sounds."
| | – Briony Horgan, a Purdue University planetary scientist, discussing terrain on Mars featuring large jumbled chunks of rock, or megabreccia, being studied by the Perseverance rover at a media briefing during the AGU Annual Meeting Wednesday.
| | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment