| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: York Space Systems goes public, the French government blocks sale of Eutelsat ground stations, Musk considers SpaceX mergers with xAI or Tesla and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
Satellite manufacturer York Space Systems went public Thursday, raising more than $600 million. Shares in the Denver-based company started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in an IPO that generated $629 million for the firm. Founded more than a decade ago as a smallsat specialist, York has steadily expanded its role in the national security space market, including building satellites for the Space Development Agency's constellations. CEO Dirk Wallinger said York expects to benefit from elevated U.S. military spending as it continues to build satellites for the SDA and pursues opportunities tied to emerging defense initiatives, including the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system. The company plans to use the funding from the IPO to expand satellite production from current annual rates of 300 to as many as 1,000. The company priced its shares at $34 in the IPO, and the shares closed trading Thursday at $33.61. [SpaceNews]
Eutelsat's deal to sell its ground station network has fallen through. The French satellite operator and a fund run by EQT Partners of Sweden announced Thursday that their deal had been called off after failing to meet unspecified conditions. The companies announced the deal in 2024, which would have raised 550 million euros ($658 million) for Eutelsat as it seeks to fund new OneWeb satellites and its role in the IRIS² constellation. Eutlesat said the failed deal does not affect its financial objectives for the current fiscal year or its growth strategy. Speaking on French television Friday, French finance minister Roland Lescure said he blocked the deal because those ground stations are strategic infrastructure for the French government and military. [SpaceNews | Bluesky @rolandlescure.bsky.social]
NASA is at a "crossroads" in its plans to transport cargo to and from the lunar Gateway. NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX in 2020 to provide resupply services using a version of the Dragon spacecraft called Dragon XL. At the SpaceCom Expo conference Thursday, a NASA official said the agency is evaluating an alternative from SpaceX, which could involve the use of Starship in place of Dragon XL. Work on the contract was put on hold last year because of uncertainty about the future of the Gateway, and NASA expects to move forward with one option after the Artemis 2 mission. NASA is also evaluating studies performed last year by several other companies on orbital transfer vehicles for operations in cislunar space. [SpaceNews]
U.S. Space Command has named an Alabama National Guard general to oversee the command's move from Colorado Springs to Huntsville. Maj. Gen. Terry Grisham, a two-star general in the Alabama National Guard, will manage the logistics and coordination required to shift the command's headquarters while operations continue. The transition is expected to take years, with personnel moving in phases as new facilities are constructed. Defense officials have said Space Command will continue operating from Colorado Springs during the interim, a factor that has tempered immediate workforce impacts but prolonged uncertainty for military and civilian employees. [SpaceNews]
China's main space contractor says it will push into new commercial space domains in the coming years. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country's state-owned main space contractor, has outlined plans for space tourism, digital infrastructure, resource development and space traffic management, according to Chinese media reports Thursday. Those efforts include feasibility studies for a proposed "Tiangong Kaiwu" major initiative, referring to an earlier proposal of a multi-decade roadmap for solar system-wide resource utilization. CASC is also outlining development of suborbital and orbital space tourism vehicles, including uncrewed and crewed verification flights and establishing an operational framework for space tourism. CASC did not disclose any schedules. [SpaceNews]
Elon Musk is reportedly interested in combining SpaceX with one or more of his other companies. According to reports, he is considering merging SpaceX with xAI, his artificial intelligence and social media company, ahead of a planned IPO of SpaceX this summer. Such a deal could help proposals to develop orbital data centers. Another report claims that Musk is exploring merging SpaceX with Tesla. That would eliminate the possibility of a SpaceX IPO as Tesla is publicly traded but could enable private financing from sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors. [Reuters | Bloomberg]
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Rocket Lab launched a South Korean satellite Thursday night. An Electron lifted off at 8:21 p.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, placing into sun-synchronous orbit the NEONSAT-1A satellite. The satellite, developed by South Korean university KAIST, is the second in an 11-satellite system to provide high-resolution imaging of the Korean Peninsula and surrounding region. The launch was scheduled for December but scrubbed twice because of technical issues. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX performed two Starlink launches within 14 hours. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:53 p.m. Eastern Thursday, putting 25 Starlink satellites into orbit. A second lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:22 a.m. Eastern Friday, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. With the launches, SpaceX has now deployed more than 11,000 Starlink satellites, of which more than 9,500 are in orbit. [Space.com]
Isar Aerospace has delayed its next Spectrum launch to March. The company said Friday the next launch window for its second Spectrum mission will open March 19 from Andøya, Norway. The company had scheduled the launch last week but postponed it because of a valve problem that has since been fixed. [Isar Aerospace]
NASA has delayed a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) for the Artemis 2 mission. Preparations for the WDR were set to start Thursday evening, about 48 hours ahead of the Saturday night fueling test. However, that work did not begin, and sources said that NASA postponed the WDR by two days, citing forecasts of low temperatures and high winds at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA confirmed Friday morning that the WDR has been postponed to Feb. 2 because of weather, with the earliest possible launch date for Artemis 2 now Feb. 8. [NASA]
The Ukrainian government says it is working with SpaceX to find ways to counter the use of Starlink on Russian drones. A recent wave of drone attacks in Ukraine reportedly used Starlink terminals for communications, and one crashed drone had a Starlink antenna mounted on it. Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said he has contacted SpaceX to seek ways to prevent the drones from using Starlink, thanking both Elon Musk and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell for their cooperation. [United24 Media]
Interlune, a startup planning to mine helium-3 from the moon, is raising more money. The company has filed to raise $5 million through a mechanism called a Simple Agreement for Future Equity. Interlune said it is raising the money from new and existing investors to advance technical work ahead of a future funding round. Interlune raised $18 million in 2024 and is working on technologies to harvest helium-3 from the lunar regolith for use in quantum computing and medical imaging applications. [GeekWire]
| | | | | | But Will It Blend?
| "If Sandia is good at anything, it's knowing how to destroy your stuff. If you like it burned, you like it crushed, you like it vibrated; would you like it vibrated while we're crushing it and burning it? We're really good at that."
| | – John Fulton, manager of the Accident Consequence and Analysis Department at Sandia National Laboratories, discussing how Sandia can test space nuclear reactors during a panel discussion at SpaceCom Expo Thursday.
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