By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: the Space Force plans a global expansion of a satellite jamming system, the GAO warns of a potential weather satellite data gap, a new director for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and more.
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Top Stories
The Space Force is planning a global deployment of systems to jam satellite communications. The Space Systems Command issued a sources-sought notice last week for companies capable of supporting its Counter Communications System Meadowlands fleet for roughly six years. The document says the future fleet will include at least 32 systems, while contractors should be prepared to sustain as many as 56 systems dispersed around the world. Meadowlands, built by L3Harris Technologies, uses ground-based radio-frequency equipment to temporarily interfere with an adversary's satellite communications. It became operational this year after extensive testing. The Space Force said in the notice that Meadowlands systems will be deployed in the U.S. Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command regions and contractors must also be able to support systems in the European, Southern and Northern Command areas. [SpaceNews]
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says there is a risk of a gap in geostationary weather satellites in the early 2030s. The report said that the first of a new generation of GEO weather satellites, called GeoXO, is scheduled to enter service in 2033, several months after the last spare satellite from the current generation reaches the end of life. That creates a risk of a data gap if one of the two operational satellites malfunctions during that time. The warning comes as NOAA scales back the GeoXO program, reducing the number of satellites and canceling instruments, to reduce its lifecycle cost from nearly $20 billion to $12 billion. That cost has since increased to $13 billion with "risk and uncertainty" about the program's schedule, the GAO report noted. [SpaceNews]
Northrop Grumman is emphasizing its experience as it competes with startups for new military space surveillance programs. The Space Force is investing in new surveillance systems designed to monitor the strategically important geosynchronous orbital region while encouraging newer commercial firms to compete for work traditionally dominated by large defense contractors. A Northrop executive said the company is adapting its satellite manufacturing capabilities to the military's demand for smaller, less expensive spacecraft that can be produced and deployed more quickly. The company builds the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, a constellation of military satellites that observe and characterize other spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit, spacecraft that will be augmented by new systems. [SpaceNews]
Engineering studies confirmed the Artemis 2 heat shield worked as designed. NASA said last week that a detailed analysis of the Orion heat shield from the April mission found only nine sites of "char loss" or erosion of the heat shield. There were 103 char loss spots on the Artemis 1 heat shield, which NASA blamed on gas building up within the heat shield material during reentry. NASA revised the reentry profile for Artemis 2 to reduce the heating on the material and has reformulated the Avcoat material used on the heat shield for Artemis 3 and later missions to prevent the gas buildup. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Two Iranian launch sites suffered significant damage during the ongoing conflict with the United States. Analysis of commercial satellite imagery shows that the Imam Khomeini Space Centre, operated by Iran's apce agency, and the Shahroud Space Centre, run by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, both were hit by air strikes in the early weeks of the conflict, damaging launch pads and other facilities. Iran has not attempted a space launch since the start of the conflict, although some of its smaller vehicles use mobile launch systems that could allow them to operate even if spaceport infrastructure is damaged. [IISS]
Several European mobile phone operators say they will join forces to bid on spectrum for direct-to-device satellite services. Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefonica said they are exploring a joint bid for spectrum the European Union wants to reserve for a European operator of D2D services. That EU effort has been criticized by companies like SpaceX, who are seeking access to that spectrum for their own services. In an interview, Andrew Puzder, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, appeared to threaten retaliation should the EU go forward with those plans, saying it would be "very devastating for those companies." [Bloomberg | Financial Times]
Pakistan's first astronaut will go to China's space station next month. A Pakistani government minister said Sunday that the astronaut will launch Nov. 25, spending a week on the Tiangong space station before returning. Two Pakistani pilots, Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, have been training for the mission, but neither Chinese nor Pakistani officials said which of the two will fly or even when the selection will be announced. [Geo News]
Stephen Cash is the new director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA announced Friday that Cash would take over as director, effective Monday. He worked for NASA for 34 years, including leading the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office at Marshall and, later, the center's Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate. He retired from NASA in 2016 and worked in industry until being named Marshall's new director. Rae Ann Meyer had been the center's acting director since September 2025 and will return to her previous role as the center's deputy director. [NASA]
At NASA, AI is out and SI is in. NASA is working to implement an executive order that calls on federal agencies to use the term "super intelligence" in place of artificial intelligence. An internal NASA memo outlines a four-phase approach to implementing the order, from revising website content to software revisions to accommodate the use of the new term. The changes have raised some concerns within NASA about confusion the change in terminology will cause. The memo did not state if NASA will use AI, or SI, to implement the changes to documents and software. [Space.com]
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The Week Ahead
Monday:
Online: The Mitchell Institute hosts a Schriever Spacepower Series webinar with Space Force Brig. Gen. Todd Benson at 1 p.m. Eastern. Tanegashima, Japan: Scheduled launch of an H3 rocket carrying JAXA's Martian Moons Explorer, or MMX, mission at 3:41 p.m. Eastern. Monday-Tuesday:
Tuesday:
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Rescheduled launch of a Falcon 9 on the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission at 6:30 a.m. Eastern. Online: Northrop Grumman releases its third quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Online: SpaceX releases its third quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying a set of Starlink satellites at 6:14 p.m. Eastern. Chinese Coastal Waters: Scheduled launch of a Ceres 1S rocket with an undisclosed payload at 11:42 p.m. Eastern. Tuesday-Wednesday:
Wednesday:
Mahia Peninsula, N.Z.: Scheduled launch of an Electron rocket carrying satellites for HawkEye 360 at 1 a.m. Eastern. Luxembourg: The NeoSpace Europe conference will discuss commercial space activities in Europe. Online: The National Academies host a webinar for the release of a new report, "Human Exploration Across the Moon," at 1 p.m. Eastern. Wenchang, China: Scheduled launch of a Long March 8A with an undisclosed payload at 10:58 p.m. Eastern. Wednesday-Thursday:
Thursday:
Thursday-Saturday:
Friday:
Saturday:
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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