Plus: A Chinese commercial spaceport expands
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: NASA safety advisors raise concerns about Artemis and LEO access, the Space Force helps startups secure access to classified work, a Chinese commercial spaceport expands and more.
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Top Stories
As NASA prepares an update to its Artemis plans, the agency's safety advisers are raising concerns about future missions. At a public meeting Thursday, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) said it was closing an earlier recommendation suggesting changes to the Artemis 3 mission, citing revisions NASA made earlier this year that turned the mission from a lunar landing attempt to a test in low Earth orbit. However, the committee said it was planning a new recommendation calling on NASA to "reexamine the mission objectives and potentially the system architecture" for Artemis 4 and 5, the first landing missions, because of concerns about complexity and risk. That included a claim by the committee that a Starship lunar landing mission would require 22 launches for refueling; SpaceX CEO Elon Musk later said on social media the number of refueling will be six to eight. NASA is scheduled to provide an "Artemis Acceleration" update this afternoon to discuss preparations for Artemis 3 and later missions. [SpaceNews]
ASAP also warned that NASA's reliance on commercial contracting models could cause it to lose crewed access to low Earth orbit in the coming years. The committee noted SpaceX's plans to retire Crew Dragon in the next few years mean that NASA will have to rely on Boeing's Starliner, which has suffered technical problems and significant delays. It could also complicate discussions about extending ISS from 2030 to at least 2032. The committee had other concerns about NASA's plans to fund development of commercial space stations, arguing high transportation costs reduced demand for those stations beyond NASA and that such stations are unlikely to be ready before the scheduled retirement of ISS. That could create a gap in crewed access to LEO, the committee warned, affecting both research in LEO and support for Artemis. [SpaceNews]
Ukraine is exploring developing its own satellite communications constellation with the assistance of Iceye and Nokia. The two Finnish companies announced Thursday they signed a letter of intent with Ukraine's Defense Ministry to explore developing a secure broadband network. The proposed system would give Ukraine control over satellites, ground infrastructure and user terminals. Iceye and Nokia, which announced a broader partnership earlier this month, expect their first communications satellites to be available in 2028. The companies disclosed no contract value, financing arrangements or number of satellites, and Ukraine hasn't committed to purchasing a system, but it comes as Ukraine is grappling with restrictions on its use of Starlink. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force has awarded its first operational contracts under a program designed to enlist commercial satellite operators during military crises. Six space-surveillance companies were selected under the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR), an initiative launched in 2023 to give the military access to additional commercial space capabilities during emergencies or conflicts. The initial agreements are relatively small and intended to provide short-term increases in surveillance capacity and not necessarily sustained support during a prolonged conflict. The Space Force did not disclose the value of individual contracts or specify what each company will deliver. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is helping commercial space companies obtain the security clearances needed to compete for classified military work. The initiative, called Access to the Classified Ecosystem for Space (ACES) has about two dozen companies in its pipeline, and gives military acquisition officials a way to discuss classified threats and requirements with promising suppliers before those companies secure major defense contracts. The initiative is intended to get around the obstacles startups face trying to break into military markets, as they often need access to classified information to understand what the military wants to buy, but obtaining that access generally requires sponsorship tied to a government contract. [SpaceNews]
China's first commercial launch site is adding two new pads to support an increased launch rate. Hainan Commercial Spacecraft Launch Site (HCSLS) is soon set to bring online two new general-purpose pads for liquid-propellant launchers. HCSLS hosted its first launch in November 2024 with the inaugural flight of the Long March 12 rocket from Pad 2. Pad 1 began hosting Long March 8 and 8A launches in 2025. The two new pads will increase the spaceport's capacity to 60 launches a year. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
An Electron rocket launched a set of HawkEye 360 satellites Friday. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 3:11 a.m. Eastern and placed into orbit three satellites for HawkEye 360, designated Cluster 16. The launch comes three days after three other HawkEye 360 satellites, Cluster 15, launched on SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission. HawkEye 360 now has 39 satellites in orbit for radio-frequency intelligence services. [SpaceNews]
Vantor captured an image of a close approach by a Russian satellite to an Iceye spacecraft. Vandor said one of its WorldView satellites imaged both Cosmos 2612 and Iceye X36 as Cosmos 2612 approached within about a kilometer of the Iceye satellite on Oct. 17. That rendezvous raised alarms about the intent of the Russian spacecraft, although there is no evidence that it interfered with Iceye X36. [X @vantortech]
A former director of the National Reconnaissance Office has joined the board of Intuitive Machines. The company announced Thursday that Chris Scolese joined the board, replacing Michael Blitzer. Scolese retired as NRO director earlier this year and previously was a senior official at NASA, including six months as the agency's acting administrator. Biltzer is a partner at Inflection Point Asset Management, which created the SPAC that merged with Intuitive Machines to take the company public. [Intuitive Machines]
Another contractor is warning of layoffs as part of NASA's plans to bring personnel in-house. Aetos Systems filed a notice it will lay off up to 126 employees working on a NASA contract at the Kennedy Space Center in December. Aetos said that NASA is bringing in-house some of the work Aetos is supporting on an IT services contract at the center. The company said employees that are not brought into the agency as civil servants would lose their jobs. The move comes after another KSC contractor, Amentum, said it would lay off 70 employees at the center in November because of NASA in-sourcing efforts. [Florida Today]
ESA has named two new directors. The agency announced Thursday that the ESA Council appointed Andrzej Banasiak as director of commercialization and industry partnerships, effective Jan. 1. Banasiak has worked in European aerospace and defense industries for 25 years, most recently as head of Safran Group's operations in Poland. The council also appointed Nicolaus Hanowski as director of space operations effective Jan. 1. Hanowski has led ESA's Earth Observation Mission Management and Ground Segment Department since 2014. [ESA]
The Australian government is formally proposing to send an astronaut to the International Space Station. The country's science minister said Friday that it submitted a bid to ESA to fly Katherine Bennell-Pegg to the ISS on an ESA-led mission. Bennell-Pegg went through ESA astronaut training but is not a member of ESA's astronaut corps, and the Australian space industry had been lobbying the government to fund a flight for her. ESA announced earlier this year it planned to fly a private astronaut mission to the ISS, using a SpaceX Crew Dragon, to provide flight opportunities to both ESA astronauts as well as those from partners. [Australian Broadcasting Corp.]
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Changing Skies
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"No two skies are the same. Something always changes. I believe Vincent noticed those changes and put them into the painting."
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- Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, an astronomer who led a team that concluded in a new paper that Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" painting depicts the night sky as seen on July 22, 1889, rather than in June 1889 as some historians had estimated. [AP]
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Artificial intelligence is changing how intelligence organizations collect, process and exploit satellite imagery. As the volume of Earth observation data grows, AI is becoming essential for identifying patterns, detecting anomalies and delivering intelligence at operational speed. Join SpaceNews and Vantor on Thursday, Oct. 29 for a conversation that will explore how machine learning is transforming the GEOINT mission across defense, intelligence and commercial markets. Register now. |
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