| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: GAO criticizes SDA's missile-tracking constellation, a space SPAC raises $200 million, SpaceX plans next Starship launch in March and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
A Government Accountability Office report warns that the Space Development Agency is moving too quickly on missile-tracking satellite constellations. A GAO report Wednesday called on the SDA to be more "realistic and transparent" about the risks facing its plan to deploy the Tracking Layer, a large constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit to detect and track missile threats. GAO said the program faces considerable risk because SDA is pressing ahead with successive satellite procurements while overestimating the maturity of critical technologies needed to deliver operational capability on schedule. GAO also said the Pentagon lacks a reliable estimate of what the full missile warning and tracking architecture will cost over its lifetime. [SpaceNews]
The head of U.S. Space Command wants to develop an orbital logistics network that extends beyond launch. Speaking at the Space Mobility conference Wednesday, Gen. Stephen Whiting laid out a detailed case for building a space transportation and logistics infrastructure that would allow U.S. satellites to maneuver, be repaired, refueled and sustained in orbit, analogous to terrestrial logistics. The lack of such space logistics limits the ability of spacecraft to maneuver and be sustained, even as China builds up such capabilities that he said could cause the U.S. to lose space superiority in a conflict. He acknowledged many officials remain unconvinced that the cost of building space logistics infrastructure is justified, particularly when satellites can be replaced if they fail or exhaust their fuel. [SpaceNews]
Space Command will invite representatives from commercial space companies to take part for the first time in classified wargames focused on sensitive national security scenarios. Whiting said the initial exercise will examine how the United States would respond to the potential deployment of weapons of mass destruction in space. Space Command already works closely with commercial operators for space capabilities, and Whiting said bringing those firms directly into classified planning discussions is a logical next step. [SpaceNews]
A space-focused special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) has gone public. Space Asset Acquisition Corp. began trading on the Nasdaq exchange Wednesday after an IPO that raised $200 million. Those funds will be used to finance a merger with a company in the space sector, allowing that company to go public without going through the traditional IPO process. The SPAC is chaired by Raphael Roettgen, a venture capitalist whose E2MC (Earth-to-Mars Capital) has invested in dozens of space companies, including SpaceX. [SpaceNews]
Luxembourg-based OQ Technology is planning to test direct-to-device (D2D) services to smartphones. The operator intends to deploy what would be its first dedicated D2D satellite around the middle of this year that will operate in C-band, offering higher-throughput voice and data services beyond the reach of cell towers than the company's existing S-band smallsats. Subject to regulatory approvals, OQ plans to demonstrate a C-band D2D service in Luxembourg and then the United States, after lodging filings for the frequencies with international regulators. [SpaceNews]
NOAA is looking for more funding and flexibility for its commercial weather data program. Taylor Jordan, assistant secretary for environmental observation and prediction at the Commerce Department, said the agency is looking at a "high ceiling in billions of dollars over 10 years" for its program to purchase weather data from commercial satellites, which NOAA uses to augment other data for weather forecasting. That data includes radio occultation data as well as commercial microwave sounders and global navigation satellite system reflectometers. He said the agency would also like to take a more flexible approach to acquiring the data, paying as it goes rather than obligating all the funding up front. [SpaceNews]
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SpaceX expects the next Starship test flight to take place in March. In a recent social media post, Elon Musk said that the next launch would take place in six weeks, or no sooner than early March. The flight will be the first of the upgraded Starship V3. The company plans to perform the first orbital missions of Starship this year, which could include Starlink deployments and propellant transfer tests. Musk said last week SpaceX also wants to demonstrate full reusability this year by recovering and reusing the Starship upper stage. At the Space Mobility conference Wednesday, the head of the Eastern Range said the first Starship launch from Florida is currently projected for late summer or fall. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab's next launch is scheduled for tonight. An Electron rocket is scheduled to lift off from New Zealand at 7:55 p.m. Eastern carrying the NEONSAT-1A imaging satellite for South Korea. The launch was scheduled for last month but postponed by technical issues. [X @RocketLab]
China is preparing for another record launch year. While there have been no formal forecasts of launches by Chinese commercial and state-run companies for 2026, indications are that launches this year will eclipse the national record of 92 launches in 2025. Much of the increase will come from demand from the national Guowang low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation and the Shanghai-backed, more commercially-focused Qianfan megaconstellation. Several new rockets are expected to make their debuts in China in 2026 along with efforts to recover and reuse boosters. One of the biggest missions of the year will be the robotic Chang'e-7 mission to land at the lunar south pole, specifically Shackleton crater, with launch on a Long March 5 projected for the second half of the year. [SpaceNews]
China is also joining the rush to develop orbital data centers. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said it is studying "gigawatt-class space digital-intelligence infrastructure" that would involve data centers for applications like artificial intelligence. The announcement provided few details about those plans other than a goal of creating a "Space Cloud" by 2030. Several Western companies, including SpaceX, have shown a recent interest in orbital data centers, attracted by the promise of continuous solar power, and may be a key reason why SpaceX is pursuing an IPO this year. [Reuters]
HEO, an Australian company that uses commercial Earth observation satellites to image other spacecraft, has acquired its own satellite. HEO announced this week it purchased NewSat-34, a Satellogic Earth imaging satellite launched three years ago. HEO said it will use the satellite, renamed Continuum-1, for testing new imaging techniques while also building up its catalog of observations of spacecraft. About 20% of the satellite's imaging capacity will be used for its original Earth observation mission. [SpaceNews]
NASA has moved up the launch of the next mission to the International Space Station. The agency said Wednesday the Crew-12 mission, previously scheduled for no earlier than Feb. 15, is now scheduled for as soon as Feb. 11. NASA sought to move up the mission because of the early return of Crew-11 this month because of a medical issue with one of the four astronauts. [NASA]
| | | | | | SpacepowerPoint
| "One of the things that I think is pretty quickly realized when you get into operations is that a lot of the weapons systems are exquisite. How you report and communicate with the team, how you process workflows, is propped up entirely by Microsoft Office."
| | – Maj. Whitney Hessler, branch chief of SpaceWERX's Space Spark, during a panel discussion at the Space Mobility conference Wednesday.
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