Plus: NASA defends its all-male Artemis 3 crew
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: a House bill provides $55.5 billion for the Space Force, Spire partners with a German company on missile-warning satellites, NASA defends the all-male Artemis 3 crew and more.
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Top Stories
House appropriators unveiled a budget that provides $55.5 billion for the Space Force but without additional funding once proposed in a separate package. The draft legislation, released by the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee ahead of a markup Thursday, funds the Pentagon at the level requested by the administration through the regular appropriations process. However, it excludes roughly $350 billion in additional defense spending that administration officials have proposed funding through a separate budget reconciliation bill. Senators said earlier this week another budget reconciliation bill was unlikely to pass this year. That could affect Golden Dome, for which the administration sought $17.5 billion through reconciliation in fiscal year 2027 but would get less than $400 million in the House bill. Despite excluding reconciliation spending, the House bill still represents a substantial increase for the Space Force. [SpaceNews]
Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space won contracts to build next-generation radar imaging satellites. ESA signed contracts Wednesday with the companies for the Sentinel-1 Next Generation (NG) program, a pair of radar-imaging satellites that will be part of the Copernicus Earth observation program. Thales, the prime contractor, said its contract was worth 700 million euros ($807 million) for the first tranche of the program, with Airbus serving as a subcontractor to provide the radar imaging payloads. The satellites will build upon the existing Sentinel-1 spacecraft with new capabilities such as improved resolution. The first Sentinel-1 NG spacecraft is expected to launch in 2034. ESA separately approved for development Arrakihs, a small astrophysics mission with a cost cap of 175 million euros. Arrakihs, designed to study galactic evolution, will launch by the end of 2030. [SpaceNews]
Spire Global is partnering with a German defense contractor on missile-warning satellites. Spire and Diehl Defence announced Wednesday a memorandum of understanding to explore collaboration on satellite-based intelligence and early warning systems designed to detect ballistic and hypersonic missile threats. The agreement positions the companies to pursue future opportunities in Europe's expanding space-security and missile-defense market. The partnership comes as Europe accelerates efforts to develop sovereign missile-warning capabilities following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and amid growing concerns over ballistic and hypersonic missile threats. [SpaceNews]
U.K.-based startup Applied Atomics has raised $4 million in pre-seed financing and established a U.S. presence to offer maneuverable satellites. The company announced the pre-seed funding Wednesday led by Oxford Science Enterprises with several other investors participating. The company proposes to develop spacecraft with "multimode" propulsion that use the same propellant for both chemical and electric thrusters. The company's initial focus will be on 300-kilogram spacecraft and plans to test software for its propulsion system on a spacecraft launching later this year. [SpaceNews]
Demand for SpaceX shares in its impending initial public offering is far outstripping supply. Institutional investors seeking to buy shares in the IPO have requested more than four times the 555.6 million shares SpaceX plans to sell at $135 per share. The IPO will raise about $75 billion for SpaceX and value the company at nearly $1.8 trillion, with shares expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday. [Bloomberg]
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Other News
China launched a classified satellite early Thursday. A Long March 5 lifted off at 3:30 a.m. Eastern from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island, placing the Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-25 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The spacecraft will be mainly used to carry out multi-band and high-speed communication technology validation tests, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said, although Western analysts note that line of satellites appear to be used for classified missions such as signals intelligence, early warning missions and satellite inspection activities. [SpaceNews]
The commander of NASA's Artemis 3 mission is confident his crew will be ready to fly the mission in just one year. In an interview after Tuesday's announcement of the crew, veteran astronaut Randy Bresnik noted that he has been working on aspects of the Orion spacecraft for several years while another crew member, Andre Douglas, trained as a backup for Artemis 2. That gives him confidence that they can get the other two members of the crew, Luca Parmitano and Frank Rubio, up to speed quickly despite the complex nature of the mission, with Orion planning to dock with lunar lander prototypes from Blue Origin and SpaceX in low Earth orbit. Bresnik said the crew will initially focus on Orion training while awaiting more details about the plans for the landers. [SpaceNews]
NASA is defending the selection of the Artemis 3 crew after criticism that it includes no women. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman acknowledged reactions "from disappointment to outrage" to the all-male crew in a lengthy social media post Wednesday. He said the crew selection is based on mission requirements and the astronauts available for the mission, and that no political appointees were involved in the selection process. The Artemis 3 astronauts, he said, "deserve to be celebrated for the mission they have been assigned, just as the crews that follow will be celebrated when their time comes." [NBC]
India is planning to commercialize its largest launch vehicle. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre has requested expressions of interest from companies interested in producing the LVM3, formerly GSLV Mark 3, rocket. The selected company would receive technology and other support from the Indian space agency ISRO to take over production and operations of the LVM3, a process that would take several years. India is pursuing a similar effort to commercialize the smaller PSLV rocket as well. [The Hindu BusinessLine]
A NOAA space weather satellite has started regular operations. NOAA said Wednesday that its SOLAR-1 had formally started operational service. SOLAR-1, or Space weather Observations at L1 to Advance Readiness-1, was previously known as Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 and launched last September along with two NASA missions to the Earth-sun L-1 Lagrange point. SOLAR-1 will provide early warning of space weather events, taking over for aging spacecraft at the L-1 location. [NOAA]
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Space Wine
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"The science is interesting from a research perspective, but the cool factor will be this full-circle moment for this historic Texas variety and ultimately producing wine that is literally out of this world."
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– Justin Scheiner, associate professor in the Texas A&M Department of Horticultural Sciences, on an experiment that will fly grape seeds to the International Space Station, exposing them to radiation for six months before returning them to Earth for planting. [Texas A&M]
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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The June 2026 issue of SpaceNews magazine is out now: Once rare beasts, billion-dollar startups are multiplying across new orbital markets. Read Jason Rainbow's analysis of the 30 privately held space companies with unicorn status. Also in this issue: How New Glenn forced an explosive rewrite for NASA’s plans to build a moon base and why proponents see offshore launch as a possible answer to crowded ranges, military resilience concerns. Read the issue now. |
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