By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: military space programs still struggle with cost and schedule, a Chinese satellite company raises a record funding round, a solar panel company pivots from terrestrial to space work and more.
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Top Stories
A spacecraft is on its way to save a NASA astronomy satellite after a launch Friday. A Pegasus XL rocket launched at 4:36 am Eastern Friday after several days of weather and technical delays. The rocket placed into orbit Link, a spacecraft built by Katalyst Space Technologies on a mission to attach to NASA's Swift gamma-ray observatory and raise its orbit. Link will spend the next few weeks performing on-orbit checkouts and approaching Swift before attempting to grapple it with its robotic arms. The reboost, if successful, would prevent Swift from reentering in the next several months as its orbit decays. The launch was also the last scheduled flight of the Pegasus XL, although Northrop Grumman says it continues to offer the vehicle for specific applications, like responsive space missions. [SpaceNews]
A new report says space procurements continue to face many of the same problems that have plagued defense acquisitions for decades despite recent reforms. The GAO's annual assessment of major defense acquisition programs, released Thursday, found the Space Force making progress on several high-profile satellite efforts while continuing to wrestle with slow development timelines, cost growth and workforce shortages that threaten the pace of future national security launches. Among the programs drawing the sharpest scrutiny was the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared geosynchronous missile-warning constellation, with the GAO citing significant cost growth. The report also disclosed that the Pentagon decided late last year to cancel the troubled OCX ground system for the GPS 3 constellation, a move not publicly announced until April. [SpaceNews]
Hongqing Technology has raised more than 1.3 billion yuan ($191 million), one of the largest rounds for a Chinese commercial satellite maker. The funding round announced last week brings the total raised by Hongqing, the satellite manufacturing affiliate of launch firm Landspace, to $383 million. The participants notably include investment arms of all five big state banks, including several of their financial asset investment companies, which have been empowered since late 2024 to directly invest in strategic technology. The round of financing will be mainly used for company operations, research and development investment, and team building as the company positions itself as a provider of end-to-end constellation solutions. [SpaceNews]
ESA has awarded a contract to Airbus Defence and Space to build a wind-monitoring satellite. ESA announced Thursday it authorized Airbus to begin work on the Aeolus-2 satellite, providing 51 million euros ($58 million) for the initial phases of the satellite's development. Aeolus-2 is the successor to Aeolus, a satellite launched in 2018 to demonstrate the ability of a lidar instrument to collect global wind profiles. Aeolus-2 will fly an updated version of the lidar instrument. The mission is set to launch in 2034. [SpaceNews]
Isar Aerospace is partnering with Planet's German subsidiary on the launch of an imaging satellite. The companies announced a deal Thursday where Isar's Spectrum rocket will launch a Pelican imaging satellite built by Planet in Germany. The launch is planned for within the next year, with options for additional launches. The agreement is intended to illustrate an end-to-end capability within Germany to build and launch satellites as companies work to win a share of the 35 billion euros the German military plans to spend on space systems over the next five years. Isar did not provide in the announcement any updates on the status of the second Spectrum launch, which has suffered months of delays because of technical problems. [SpaceNews]
A solar panel manufacturer is shifting its work from terrestrial to space systems. Verde Technologies said it is making a strategic pivot from making rooftop solar panels to spacecraft arrays, betting that its thin-film perovskite-based material can help power orbital data centers and other large constellations. After some terrestrial tests, Verde found a more compelling early market in space, particularly where shorter mission lifetimes could ease some of the durability challenges facing perovskite technology. Verde anticipates hundreds of gigawatts of demand for space solar power in the coming years as other megaconstellations are set to join SpaceX's Starlink in low Earth orbit. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
China conducted a pair of launches over the weekend for a broadband constellation. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 5:30 a.m. Eastern, placing a set of satellites for the Spacesail constellation into orbit. A Long March 8A rocket lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport at 9:43 a.m. Eastern, putting another set of Spacesail satellites into orbit. [Xinhua]
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:50 a.m. Eastern, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch also carried two Fabship space manufacturing pods for Besxar Space Industries. The pods remained attached to the Falcon 9 booster on its suborbital flight, testing technologies for Besxar's plans for chip foundries in space. [Spaceflight Now]
China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft has arrived at a near Earth asteroid. The spacecraft, launched a little more than a year ago, is now within 20 kilometers of asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3), the China National Space Administration announced Monday. The first images returned by the spacecraft show the asteroid is only about 20 meters across, smaller than estimates from ground-based observations that it would be 40 to 100 meters in diameter. That indicates the asteroid's surface material is more reflective than previously thought, and suggests the asteroid is not, as some speculated, lunar material thrown off in an impact. Tianwen-2 is designed to collect samples of the asteroid for return to Earth late next year. [SpaceNews]
A Japanese spacecraft, meanwhile, has made a high-speed flyby of another near Earth asteroid. Hayabusa2 passed by the asteroid Torifune on Sunday, coming as close as 800 meters to the asteroid while traveling at a relative speed of 5 kilometers per second. That high-speed close approach was a demonstration or precision guidance technologies that could be used on future planetary defense missions to collide with and deflect a threatening asteroid. The flyby is part of an extended mission for Hayabusa2 after returning samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu in 2020. [Yomiuri Shimbun]
NASA is working with the Small Business Administration (SBA) on an initiative to help fund small businesses working on critical space technologies. Under a partnership announced last week, NASA has identified key technologies in seven focus areas, such as materials, electronics and life support. SBA will work to attract capital through its Small Business Investment Company, or SBIC, program, in which the SBA provides government-guaranteed loans to match private capital. NASA's work on this SBA partnership will be managed by a new Office of Strategic Capital within the agency. [SpaceNews]
Polish space technology startup Sybilla Technologies has raised funds to enter the U.S. market. The Polish state-owned bank BGK and European venture capital firm 3TS Capital Partners provided around 35 million zloty ($10 million) for Sybilla, which designs, builds and operates robotic optical observatories used to monitor objects in space. The company said the funding will allow it to pursue opportunities in the United States as well as the Middle East and Asia. Sybilla also plans to use the funds to further commercialize its services, reinforce its position in the defense sector, and multiply the scale of the business. Sybilla expects to double its network to some 100 optical sensors by the end of this year. [SpaceNews]
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman participated in an aerial display for the July 4th holiday in Washington despite the FAA initially denying his request to do so. Isaacman asked the FAA to allow his fleet of four F-5 fighter jets to participate in the flyover of the National Mall, but a senior agency official denied the request last week, saying the flight was "very high-risk" because of issues with the jets' flight controls and record of past F-5 crashes. However, Isaacman said that the flight fell under different rules than those governing civil aviation, and thus the FAA did not have the authority to block the flights. The planes led an hours-long air show on Saturday, although plans to have the planes carry high-profile passengers such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were canceled. [Wall Street Journal]
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Honor the icons shaping space: Since 2017, the SpaceNews Icon Awards have celebrated the companies, teams and individuals driving breakthroughs across civil, commercial and military space. Nominate the innovators, collaborators, and change-makers whose work over the past year — or an entire career — has left a lasting mark on the industry. Submit your nomination today. |
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The Week Ahead
Monday-Thursday:
Tuesday:
Tuesday-Friday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Wenchang, China: Scheduled inaugural launch of the Long March 10B rocket at 1:20 a.m. Eastern. Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10 p.m. Eastern. Saturday:
Sunday:
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