Plus: Where the Space Force budget increase would go
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: ULA gets a new CEO, where the Space Force's budget increase would go, SpaceX's Christmas (Island) present and more.
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Top Stories
A longtime United Launch Alliance executive has become the company's CEO. ULA announced Monday that its board selected Mark Peller to be president and CEO, effective immediately. Peller has been with ULA since the formation of the joint venture two decades ago, most recently as chief operating officer. He replaces John Elbon, who had been interim chief executive since Tory Bruno's departure in December. ULA's board said it selected Peller after a months-long search that included internal and external candidates. Peller takes over a company still working to return Vulcan to flight after an anomaly with one of the vehicle's solid rocket boosters on a February launch. [SpaceNews]
The European Union sanctioned the head of a Roscosmos subsidiary as part of a broader effort to target Russia's military space sector. The EU added five Russian defense industry executives to its sanctions list earlier this month, including Viktor Ivanov, director general of Roscosmos subsidiary NII TP. That entity develops the Kasatka-R synthetic aperture radar system. The EU said the designation sends a signal to Russian executives that working on Russia's war effort against Ukraine "carries direct, individual consequences." Under the sanctions, any assets Ivanov holds in the EU are frozen, EU persons and entities are prohibited from making funds or economic resources available to him, and he is barred from entering or transiting through EU territory. [SpaceNews]
The National Reconnaissance Office has awarded HawkEye 360 a new contract to provide commercial radio-frequency intelligence. The NRO said Monday that the contract was awarded under its Commercial Radio Frequency Capabilities Augmentation program, or CRFCA, an effort to expand the intelligence community's and military's use of commercial RF data. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The new contract follows the NRO's three-phase Commercial Radio Frequency Capabilities program, which began in 2022 with study contracts awarded to six companies including HawkEye 360. [SpaceNews]
HEO, an Australian company that uses satellites to image other space objects, has signed a deal to use Planet's satellites. The companies announced a partnership Monday giving HEO access to Planet's SkySat high-resolution imaging spacecraft for non-Earth imaging applications such as space domain awareness. The images of space objects taken by SkySat satellites will initially be available only to U.S. government customers, although HEO expects to expand access to others. With the addition of SkySat, HEO will have access to more than 50 sensors in orbit, primarily from other Earth observation companies, that it can use to observe other space objects. HEO also has its own satellite, Continuum-1, which it acquired from Satellogic early this year. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
A surge in Space Force spending is concentrated in a handful of programs. A new analysis of the administration's fiscal year 2027 budget request, published by The Aerospace Corporation, noted that while the overall request is a 120% increase from the service's 2026 appropriations, that increase is concentrated in classified activities, moving-target indication, missile warning and command-and-control programs. The proposed increase is not assured, since it includes $12.1 billion in a budget reconciliation package whose fate in Congress remains uncertain. [SpaceNews]
Two astronauts have started a spacewalk outside the International Space Station this morning. NASA's Anil Menon and ESA's Sophie Adenot started their spacewalk at 8:29 a.m. Eastern, and are scheduled to spend about six and a half hours outside the station. The two will work to replace a space-to-ground antenna. The spacewalk is the second for Menon and the first for Adenot, who became the first French woman to perform a spacewalk. [NASA]
A SpaceX Starship upper stage has been towed to an Australian island. SpaceX has been working since the Ship 40 splashdown on Flight 13 last month to try to recover the vehicle, which unexpectedly survived the splashdown. Elon Musk said a week and a half ago that recovery was looking doubtful because of rough seas. However, on Tuesday, vessels towing Ship 40 arrived just off the coast of Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean south of Indonesia. SpaceX has not disclosed its plans for Ship 40. [The West Australian]
NASA selected four companies to provide payload processing services. The agency announced Monday it awarded contracts to All Points Logistics, Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace and L3Harris to provide payload processing of spacecraft and launch vehicles for agency missions. The companies will be eligible to compete for task orders for future missions, with a maximum value of $100 million through early 2033. [NASA]
South Korea will provide an instrument for a future NASA commercial lander mission. The Korean space agency KASA said Tuesday it signed an agreement with NASA to deliver the Lunar Vehicle Radiation Dosimeter instrument, which will be flown on an Intuitive Machines lander through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program in 2030. The instrument will collect data on radiation levels on the lunar surface to help support future crewed missions. [Korea Times]
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Hype and Hypersonics
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"NASA's research fleet includes aircraft that operate anywhere from just above the ground all the way up to the upper edge of the atmosphere, and from a slow hover all the way up to Mach 10. Mach 10? Mach 2. I want it! Yeah, right on. Sorry, wishful thinking."
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– Laurie Grindle, director of NASA's aeronautics division, speaking Friday at the agency's announcement of its Max Power air show in November.
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