By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: bipartisan pushback against NASA's budget proposal in the House, the White House nominates a new NRO director, European space startups raise funding and more.
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Top Stories
Member of the House Science Committee broadly rejected a proposed NASA budget for fiscal year 2027 that would make sharp cuts to agency programs. At a committee hearing Wednesday, members of both parties said they opposed the proposed $18.8 billion NASA budget, which would preserve exploration funding but cut science by 47% and eliminate the agency's education office. "Shortchanging NASA is simply not smart," committee chairman Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) said. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman defended the budget, arguing the agency can find efficiencies to allow it to do more with less funding, but committee members were skeptical of those claims. The hearing was the first by Congress on the budget proposal as appropriators in the House and Senate appear to be moving on an accelerated schedule to develop spending bills. [SpaceNews]
The Pentagon has completed a $1 billion investment in L3Harris Technologies' missile business. L3Harris said Thursday that the Defense Department had closed the deal, announced in January. The capital will be directed to L3Harris's Missile Solutions unit, a newly consolidated division focused on missile propulsion and related systems, to expand production there. The investment will turn into common equity if L3Harris proceeds with plans to spin off Mission Solutions as a standalone, publicly traded entity in the second half of this year. L3Harris said it will retain roughly 80% ownership of the business. [SpaceNews]
The White House has nominated an industry executive to be the next director of the National Reconnaissance Office. The president on Wednesday nominated Roger Mason, chief growth officer at V2X, a publicly traded firm based in Reston, Virginia, that provides logistics and technical services to the Pentagon and intelligence community. Mason previously held senior executive roles at Parsons Corporation and Peraton, both of which have deep ties to national security and intelligence programs. Mason, if confirmed, would succeed Chris Scolese, who has been director of the NRO since 2019. [SpaceNews]
AST SpaceMobile won FCC approval for an expanded satellite constellation. The FCC announced this week it will allow the company to provide direct-to-device services in the United States with a constellation of up to 248 satellites. The move paves the way for services in the United States in partnership with AT&T and Verizon, which are providing the cellular frequencies the satellites would use to keep mobile subscribers connected outside terrestrial coverage. AST SpaceMobile says 45 to 60 of its BlueBird satellites are needed for continuous coverage in the United States and other key markets. It has six satellites in orbit but lost a seventh in a launch mishap by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on Sunday. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force awarded contracts to data analytics firms Leidos and MapLarge to support what the military calls battle management and command and control. The awards this week are the first under a new program called Kronos that develops software tools used by military and intelligence units. The prototype awards are valued at about $1.4 million for Leidos and $500,000 for MapLarge, and will allow the companies to develop software that can process intelligence data and integrate it into operational workflows. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
An Electron rocket launched a set of Japanese cubesats Wednesday night. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 11:09 p.m. Eastern, deploying eight cubesats sponsored by the Japanese space agency JAXA into sun-synchronous orbits. The cubesats, developed by Japanese companies and universities, are designed to test advanced technologies. The launch was the second of two ordered by JAXA last fall for launching tech demo smallsats prompted by problems with Japan's Epsilon small launcher. The launch came a little more than 24 hours after the suborbital version of Electron, HASTE, launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a classified mission. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Wednesday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:23 p.m. Eastern, placing 24 Starlink satellites into orbit. This was the fifth flight of this booster, which previously launched an NRO payload and three sets of Starlink satellites. [Spaceflight Now]
French startup Univity raised $32 million to demonstrate very low Earth orbit broadband satellites. The company announced the Series A round Thursday with support from a fund that French investment firm Bpifrance manages on behalf of France's government. The Series A funding will support the deployment of two 350-kilogram UniShape prototypes, intended to demonstrate interoperability between terrestrial and space 5G networks. Univity has plans for a constellation of at least 1,600 satellites it wants to launch starting in 2028 for broadband services. [SpaceNews]
Atmos Space Cargo raised about $30 million to fly a series of reentry missions. The German-French startup announced its Series A round Wednesday led by European funds Balnord and Expansion Ventures. The funding will go toward three flights of its Phoenix 2 spacecraft, which can carry 100 kilograms of payload for microgravity research and manufacturing, returning it to Earth with an inflatable heat shield. The first mission is planned for the second half of this year. Atmos plans to develop a larger spacecraft, Phoenix 3, with 10 times the payload capacity as Phoenix. 2. The company also announced Atmos Works, a dedicated business unit focused on European government and defense customers. [SpaceNews]
Two Pakistani astronauts will begin training for a flight to China's Tiangong space station. The China Manned Space Agency announced Wednesday that Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud will come to China soon to begin training, with one of them to fly a short-duration mission to Tiangong. That person will be the first foreign astronaut to go to Tiangong. [Xinhua]
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The Ultimate Codel
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"When I walked in, we were talking about sending members of Congress to space, so it sounds like it's been a good day thus far, indeed."
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— Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX) at a House Science Committee hearing on NASA's budget Wednesday, referring to comments by another member, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA), who said he was interested in going to space.
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