Plus: ESA charters a Crew Dragon mission
| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Blue Origin proposes an orbital data center constellation of more than 50,000 satellites, ESA charters a Crew Dragon mission to the ISS, Artemis 2 returns to the pad and more.
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| | | | | | | SPONSORED |  | | L3Harris has been pushing the boundaries of human knowledge and observation for decades. This partnership with NASA spans the agency's 60-plus year history – ranging from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, International Space Station and James Webb Space Telescope to exciting new programs like Artemis. Learn more here. | | | | | | Top Stories
Blue Origin is the latest company to propose a giant orbital data center constellation. The company filed an application with the FCC Thursday for what it calls "Project Sunrise," a constellation of up to 51,600 satellites in low Earth orbit that would serve as an orbital data center for AI and other space computing applications. The company provided few technical details about the system other than it would operate in sun-synchronous orbits and use optical intersatellite communications links with its separate TeraWave broadband constellation. Both SpaceX and Starcloud have also filed applications with the FCC in recent weeks for orbital data center constellations of up to 1 million satellites. [SpaceNews]
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions won a $446.8 million Space Force contract for the ground system for a new constellation of missile-warning satellites in medium Earth orbit. The contract covers ground management and integration for the service's Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking program, Space Systems Command announced Thursday. Kratos will provide the systems used to operate the satellites after launch, including sending commands, receiving sensor data and processing that information for delivery to military operators. The constellation features 12 satellites being built by Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems and 10 under construction by BAE Systems. [SpaceNews]
ESA is planning to fly a dedicated Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station. The ESA Council endorsed Thursday a proposal for a project called EPIC, the ESA Provided Institutional Crew. Under EPIC, ESA would charter a Crew Dragon mission to the ISS in early 2028, spending a month at the station. The four-person crew would include ESA astronauts and potentially those from international partners. ESA said it developed EPIC to create more flight opportunities for its astronaut corps, including five career astronauts selected in 2022. [SpaceNews]
Kayhan Space has unveiled a new software platform that turns data about orbital activities into business insights for investors and insurers. The Satcat Terminal is modeled on the Bloomberg terminal used by financial professionals and lets users query orbital activity in plain language, such as whether a constellation is expanding on schedule or if there have been unusual events around a specific satellite. The terminal is an expansion of Kayhan's work providing space situational awareness data for satellite operators. [SpaceNews]
Portal Space Systems is partnering with an Australian startup on a debris removal service. Portal announced Thursday an agreement with Paladin Space to include that company's Triton debris removal payload on a Starburst satellite launching in 2027. Triton is designed to detect and capture small debris and, mounted on the highly maneuverable Starburst bus, could capture between 20 to 50 pieces on a single mission. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the agreement or details about the commercial model they are proposing for debris removal, but did announce a letter of intent with commercial space station developer Starlab Space to be a customer of that service. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
Poor weather didn't keep SpaceX from launching more Starlink satellites Thursday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:20 a.m. Eastern, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch took place in cloudy conditions with some rain reported in the area. [Florida Today]
Artemis 2 is heading back to the pad for a launch in early April. The rollout of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft started at 12:20 a.m. Eastern Friday, nearly four and a half hours late because of high winds. It will take about 12 hours for the vehicle to reach Launch Complex 39B, where workers will then begin final preparations for a launch scheduled as soon as April 1. [CBS]
SLS could play a reduced role in future Artemis missions. NASA is considering changing how the Orion spacecraft, launched by the SLS, gets to the Moon. In one scenario, Starship would transport Orion from low Earth orbit to a low lunar orbit. Currently SLS launches Orion to an elliptical lunar orbit, but a low lunar orbit — not reachable by the current SLS/Orion configuration — could simplify landers that take astronauts to and from the surface. SLS could still be retained to place Orion into low Earth orbit. [Bloomberg]
Breaking up is not necessarily hard to do for a comet. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope captured the breakup of the nucleus of comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) in November, shortly after the comet made a close approach to the sun. While comet breakups are not unusual, Hubble was able to see the initial phases of the breakup as the icy nucleus split into several pieces. [New York Times]
NASA's latest astronaut class now has its nickname: the Platypi. NASA said this week that the 10 members of the class, announced last September and formally known as Class 24, would be known as the Platypi. The nickname is part of a tradition of the NASA astronaut corps, with the name selected by the previous class, in this case the Flies. The Platypi nickname is intended to reflect diverse and sometimes hidden talents of the new astronaut class, like the platypus. [collectSPACE]
| | | | | | Elevated Slightly Closer to Space
| "A very warm welcome from the mountains of Switzerland. I'm always saying that Europe needs to elevate in space and being here in Switzerland, I think, is a very good place of doing that."
| | – ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher at a briefing Thursday after a meeting of the ESA Council in Interlaken, Switzerland.
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