SpaceX takes a bigger role in missile defense
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Golden Dome's funding challenge, Firefly ramps up launch vehicle production, NASA's confidence in the schedule for a space nuclear propulsion mission, and more.
If someone forwarded you this edition, sign up to receive it directly in your inbox every weekday. Have thoughts or feedback? You can hit reply to let me know directly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
SPONSORED |
 |
Blue Canyon Technologies has shaped the small satellite industry for more than a decade. We helped pioneer the precision pointing, reliable spacecraft buses and efficient mission operations that made compact architectures possible. Today, our solutions support missions from low Earth orbit to cislunar space and beyond, holding a proven record of success across commercial, civil, and national security applications. We were here at the beginning, and we are still leading the way. From flight-proven components to our latest bus platforms and mission enablers, we continue to advance what small satellites can achieve. |
|
|
|
|
Top Stories
The general in charge of the Golden Dome missile defense system warned the program was facing a funding cliff. Gen. Michael Guetlein said at the Space & Missile Defense Symposium Tuesday that Golden Dome is in an unusual budget position because its initial funding was routed through reconciliation rather than the Pentagon's regular annual budget. The administration planned another reconciliation package for fiscal year 2027 that would support Golden Dome, but that is now seen as less likely. The Pentagon is seeking about $17.5 billion for Golden Dome in 2027, but just $400 million is included in the base defense budget. He said he expected the funding to eventually come through, but the timing and process remain topics of concern. [SpaceNews]
Companies involved with Golden Dome are also closely watching the funding situation. Executives said at the conference that money is flowing into their companies to work on Golden Dome, including contracts for satellite sensors, interceptor weapons and other programs now grouped under the initiative. Most details remain classified, limiting what contractors can say about their specific roles, but executives nevertheless have highlighted the program as a source of future growth. Golden Dome's high level of classification is testing the defense industry's ability to understand and respond to requirements, including among companies that hold security clearances. [SpaceNews]
Firefly Aerospace said Tuesday that it has increased launch vehicle production even as launch activity lags. In an earnings call, executives said production of its Alpha rocket is at an "all-time high" and cited strong government and commercial demand for the vehicle. However, Alpha has not launched since March and the company says the next launch, previously planned for late summer, is now expected in the fourth quarter. The company also declined to give guidance on how many Alpha launches it plans for 2027. Firefly also said it continues to make progress on the medium-lift Eclipse rocket it is developing with Northrop Grumman, but its first launch remains scheduled for no earlier than 2027. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX is playing a bigger role in missile defense. Recent Space Force awards totaling roughly $8.1 billion place the company at the center of the Pentagon's push under the Golden Dome program to build a layered missile-defense architecture. Those contracts include work on the Space Data Network satellite communications systems, the initial constellation of space-based Airborne Moving Target Indicator satellites and launches of Space-Based Sensing and Targeting satellites. Space Force officials said that despite those recent awards competition remains a central objective. [SpaceNews]
|
|
|
|
|
Other News
SpaceX performed two Starlink launches nearly 13 hours apart yesterday. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:58 a.m. Eastern Tuesday and placed 29 Starlink satellites in orbit. That launch was scheduled for Monday but delayed a day for reasons SpaceX did not disclose. A second Falcon 9 lifted off at 12:46 a.m. Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, placing 24 Starlink satellites into orbit. [Spaceflight Now]
The Pentagon is pressing defense contractors to increase production of missile interceptors. Recent conflicts have shown that such interceptors can be used far faster than they can be produced, depleting stockpiles. The Pentagon has moved recently to expand production across the missile-defense industrial base after heavy use of U.S. interceptors. In the longer term, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command said it is considering a broader defensive architecture that could include less-expensive interceptors, guns, electronic warfare systems and, eventually, directed-energy weapons. [SpaceNews]
NASA officials say they are confident in plans to launch a space nuclear propulsion demonstration mission at the end of 2028. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other agency officials visited last week the Idaho National Lab (INL), which is responsible for the reactor that will be used on Space Reactor 1 (SR-1) Freedom. SR-1 will use that reactor to power an electric propulsion system to go to Mars. Isaacman said after the tour that visiting the lab increased his confidence in the schedule for the mission. The reactor, based on an existing design called VALKRE, needs to be completed by the spring of 2028 to meet the launch schedule for SR-1 Freedom. Both NASA and INL officials said that design will be extensible for larger future reactors, including those planned to support NASA's lunar base effort. [SpaceNews]
NASA's Johnson Space Center is losing one of its defining features: a herd of cattle. For three decades a herd of longhorn cattle has grazed on JSC property, an initiative started by former center director George Abbey as part of an educational effort. The nonprofit organization that has managed the project since 2015 announced it will shut down later this month, citing "significant financial challenges." The cattle currently at JSC will go to event venues and ranches, the organization stated. [Houston Chronicle]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Party on the Moon
|
"Anyone at SpaceX who wants to go to the moon or Mars will be able to go in the future, you have my word. It would be pretty fun to have a party on the moon, you know, jumping around."
|
– SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in an update to SpaceX employees posted online Tuesday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
FROM SPACENEWS |
 |
Submit your nominations by this Friday, Aug. 14: 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. |
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment