Plus: Spire joins forces with German manufacturer
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: The EU Space Act raises concerns in European industry, Spire joins forces with a German manufacturer for smallsats, the FAA calls for Starship mishap investigation and more.
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Top Stories
A House defense authorization bill would eliminate the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office as standalone organizations. The proposed changes align with the reorganization of Department of the Air Force acquisition programs around Portfolio Acquisition Executives, or PAEs, senior officials responsible for managing broad mission portfolios rather than individual programs. SDA and Space RCO were established to accelerate space procurement outside the traditional military acquisition system, but their efforts have now become institutionalized across the Space Force. The Space Force plans to have SDA focus on missile warning and tracking, but it is unclear how Space RCO will be realigned. [SpaceNews]
The proposed EU Space Act could slow down Europe's space industry, executives warn. Speaking at SmallSat Europe, panelists said they did not oppose regulation itself or the idea behind a common European framework, but said the proposed implementation would slow down companies through requirements such as licensing that could take up to 12 months to obtain. Another concern is that the act could favor large incumbent players over startups. Its treatment of countries outside the EU, like Norway and the United Kingdom, could affect launch since both countries host spaceports used by EU-based launch companies. [SpaceNews]
A former Ukrainian defense official says SpaceX needs to further tighten controls on Russian access to Starlink. Kateryna Chernohorenko, Ukraine's deputy minister of defense from 2022 to 2025, said at SmallSat Europe that while SpaceX has taken measures to limit use of Starlink by Russian forces, the company could do more, like enhanced geolocation controls. She said that while Ukraine has benefited from extensive European contributions in areas like satellite communications, Europe lacks several critical capabilities that continue to make SpaceX an indispensable partner. [SpaceNews]
A proposal for allocating direct-to-device satellite spectrum in Europe could hinder SpaceX and Viasat. The European Commission outlined plans Wednesday to divide the 2-gigahertz spectrum band into three equal blocks. One would be used by the IRIS² constellation and a second by EU operators entering the market, with only the third available to operators outside the EU. U.S.-based Viasat is using the spectrum for its hybrid satellite-cellular European Aviation Network, while EchoStar plans to sell off its holdings to bolster SpaceX's Starlink Mobile D2D service. The proposal still needs approval from the European Parliament and Council, leaving room for changes as lawmakers scrutinize the plan. [SpaceNews]
Spire Global plans to collaborate with a German manufacturer on scaling up European satellite production. Spire said it will work with Schaeffer AG, a major German manufacturer of automotive systems and other motion technologies, drawing on Schaeffler's expertise in large-scale manufacturing, precision engineering and production discipline. The two companies said they would create a "sovereign European space hardware and mission business" by the end of the decade. Spire announced earlier this month a new factory in Munich capable of building up to 100 smallsats annually. The first satellites to be integrated in the Munich facility will be for Eurialo, satellite constellation designed to locate and track aircraft by observing their radio-frequency emissions. [SpaceNews]
The FAA will require SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into its latest Starship test flight. The FAA said Tuesday that SpaceX will need to conduct the investigation, overseen by the FAA, because of issues with the Super Heavy booster. That booster failed to perform a boostback burn required for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and instead splashed down at a high speed in a designated debris zone. SpaceX will not be able to resume Starship launches until the FAA approves the investigation report. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Kongsberg NanoAvionics is working to scale up satellite production. The company secured a contract last year to build up to 280 satellites for SpinLaunch's Meridian Space broadband constellation. NanoAvionics, founded in Lithuania, plans to retain a "center of excellence" there while establishing new production facilities in other countries. The company also sees opportunities to build and operate sovereign constellations for countries. [SpaceNews]
SpinLaunch sees new opportunities for its constellation thanks to geopolitics. The company's CEO, Massimiliano Ladovaz, said in an interview that the company's Meridian system, meant to employ smaller, highly-efficient satellites, could make sovereign constellations financially attainable for countries and regional operators that previously lacked the resources to compete. That would allow, he said, constellations to be built for hundreds of millions of dollars and be deployed on a single launch. [SpaceNews]
Virgin Galactic's older spaceplane has resumed test flights to train for its new vehicle. Virgin's VSS Unity vehicle performed a glide flight Wednesday, dropped from the company's Eve aircraft and gliding to a landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The company plans several such glide flights to train pilots and ground crews ahead of tests of the company's next-generation SpaceShip. Those flights are expected to begin in the third quarter, with commercial suborbital launches starting by the end of the year. [SpaceNews]
Russian cosmonauts performed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Wednesday. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev spent a little more than six hours outside the station on the spacewalk, installing and retrieving science instruments. That work included installing a telescope called Solntse-Teragerts on the exterior of the Zvezda module that will be used to monitor solar flares. The spacewalk was the second for Kud-Sverchkov and the first for Mikaev. [Space.com]
Telesat is in early-stage talks to provide secure communications services for the Italian government. Sources said the discussions between Telesat and Italian officials remain preliminary, and have not yet included financial details. The Italian government considered giving SpaceX a contract last year to provide similar services using Starlink, but backed off giving tensions between Europe and the United States. [Reuters]
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Depends on Your Credit Limit
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"I'm not sure how it works with credit card payments when you have three satellites in your shopping cart, but at least they claim you can do it."
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– Markus Geiss, chief commercial officer of Dcubed, on ecommerce options some satellite and component manufacturers offer during a panel at SmallSat Europe on Wednesday.
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