January 29, 2025

New York to Paris in 30 Mins? How to Achieve Elon Musk’s Vision of Rockets Replacing Long Haul (Source: The Conversation)
Elon Musk’s plan to use Starship rockets for long-distance flights on Earth could move forward. Dubbed Starship Earth to Earth, this would see passengers transported by rocket between cities. They would briefly leave the planet’s atmosphere during the journey before flying back down to reach their destination. Musk claims it will be possible to travel to anywhere on Earth within an hour. His rocket company, SpaceX, has given examples such as New York to Paris in 30 minutes and London to Hong Kong in 34 minutes. In response to a post about it on his X platform, Musk responded: “This is now possible.” (1/27)  

Space Command: Top Priority for Colorado Representative Jeff Crank (Source: KOAA)
The politics of Space Command and whether it will stay in Colorado Springs continue. "Well, it certainly keeps us up at night. There's no doubt about it," said Colorado 5th District Representative, Jeff Crank. When he says "us” Crank is referring to all of Colorado's representatives and senators working in Washington D.C.

There are multiple members of the Alabama congressional delegation telling reporters President Trump will soon fulfill his promise to move Space Command to their state. Crank is actively working with the rest of Colorado’s delegation to keep space command in Colorado. (1/27)

Guardian Mentors Mapping to Prevent “Lost in Space” (Source: USSF)
Best known for operating the Global Positioning System — a gold standard system that delivers position, navigation and timing signals to users around the world, Mission Delta 31 is equally committed to navigating the growth and development of its people. Through the Guardian and Airmen Development Program developed by Space Operations Command, MD 31 is fostering a new generation of leaders and equipping them with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to meet current and future demands of the U.S. Space Force. (1/27)

Head of Alaska Aerospace Sees Kodiak Island Spaceport as Solution for National Congestion (Source: Alaska Public Media)
No rocket launches are scheduled as of yet for this year at the spaceport on Kodiak Island, but the head of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation is hoping to capitalize on what’s becoming a national shortage of launch space in the Lower 48. Alaska Aerospace’s president and CEO John Oberst went on NBC’s "Today" show earlier this month to discuss what is being described as a “traffic jam” at the country’s spaceports and how Alaska’s facilities could relieve that congestion.

“Now is the time because we offer availability. We can take a customer and get them up on time," Oberst said. "We are not congested.” At the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, near Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island, potential customers could launch satellites, support space missions or test government defense projects. (1/27)

DoD Not Affected by Spending Freeze (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department has not paused contracts despite a White House directive freezing other federal spending. The Pentagon said Tuesday it had not stopped contract awards after an OMB memo Monday ordering a "temporary pause" of grants, loans and other financial assistance. The memo, the Pentagon said, did not apply to military programs, although some Army offices did temporarily suspend contracting actions in response to the memo. The Pentagon will "temporarily pause activities related to the obligation or disbursement of financial assistance," though. (1/29)

ULA Plans More Military Launches in 2025 Than SpaceX (Source: Space News)
United Launch Alliance is slated to conduct more military launches this year than SpaceX. Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, head of the Space Force's assured access to space office, said at the Space Mobility conference Tuesday that the service has 11 Vulcan launches scheduled for 2025 and seven on Falcon rockets. That schedule depends on the timing of certification of Vulcan, although the Space Force currently expects the first national security Vulcan launch to take place as soon as this spring. (1/29)

Space Force Developing In-Space Logistics Strategy (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is still developing its strategy for the use of in-space logistics. Following a $30 million congressional allocation in 2023 aimed at accelerating these efforts, the Space Force has yet to solidify its long-term strategy for in-space services to allow the maneuvering and servicing of satellites. The service has awarded contracts to commercial players including Astroscale, Starfish Space, Northrop Grumman and Orbit Fab for various prototype projects. Space Force Maj. Gen. Dennis Bythewood, a special assistant to the chief of space operations, said at the Space Mobility conference that the service has not decided on a funding level for those efforts in its 2026 budget request amid reports that at least one version of that proposal zeroed out funding for it. (1/29)

FAA Optimistic for Launch Licensing Shift (Source: Space News)
FAA officials believe they can meet a March 2026 deadline to shift existing launch licenses to new regulations. Those regulations, called Part 450, were intended to streamline the launch licensing process, but companies have complained they are difficult to work with. An FAA official said at the Space Mobility conference Tuesday that they are working with the companies that hold 20 older launch licenses that need to move to the new regulations, and have schedules in place that would allow that transition to be complete by the end of this year. The FAA is also working on ways to improve Part 450, including an aerospace rule-making committee that started work last month. (1/29)

India Launches NavSat (Source: Space News)
India's first launch of the year placed a navigation satellite into orbit Tuesday night. A GSLV Mark 2 rocket lifted off at 7:53 p.m. Eastern from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It placed into orbit NVS-02, the second of five new-generation spacecraft for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). NVS-02 will operate from GEO, replacing the IRNSS-1E satellite. The mission was the first of 10 orbital launches planned by India in 2025 and also the 100th launch from Sriharikota. (1/29)

Blue Origin Scrubs New Shepard Launch (Source: Space.com)
Blue Origin scrubbed a New Shepard suborbital flight Tuesday because of weather and technical issues. The company called off launch of the NS-29 mission from its West Texas test site after an extended hold initially caused by weather conditions. The company later said it was working on a technical issue with the vehicle as well. New Shepard is carrying 30 payloads, most of which will take advantage of lunar gravity levels during a portion of the flight when the capsule is spun. Blue Origin did not announce a new launch date for NS-29. (1/29)

Aerospace Corp. and Google Collaborate on Space Weather Forecasting (Source: Space News)
The Aerospace Corp. is collaborating with Google Public Sector to improve space weather forecasts. The organizations announced Tuesday they will work together to apply artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to solar-activity forecasts. Forecasters have struggled to predict solar flares and coronal mass ejections due in part to the complexity of solar activity and the volume of observations. Google will apply technologies like Vertex AI, a Google Cloud machine-learning platform, to the problem. (1/29)

Airbus and Leonardo Consider Satellite Alliance (Source: Reuters)
The CEOs of Airbus and Leonardo met Tuesday to discuss a possible satellite alliance. The CEO of Leonardo, Roberto Cingolani, said he met with his counterpart at Airbus, Guillaume Faury, to discuss how the two companies, along with Thales Alenia Space, could work together to combine their satellite businesses in some way. Such a combination, which has been rumored since last year, could allow those European companies to be more competitive against American firms. Cingolani didn't offer a timeline for reaching an agreement on an alliance, noting that such discussions take time. (1/29)

Starlink Direct-to-iPhone Coming Soon? (Source: Bloomberg)
Starlink direct-to-smartphone connectivity may soon be coming to iPhones. Apple has been working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to incorporate Starlink into the next update of the iPhone's operating system. T-Mobile, which is partnered with SpaceX on Starlink direct-to-device services in the United States, currently only offers the service on some Samsung phones. Adding Starlink to iPhones would compete with Apple's existing partnership with Globalstar to provide satellite connectivity through that company's satellites. (1/29)

NASA DOGE Countdown (Source: SatNews)
Has America’s space ambition finally hit rock bottom? Or should we say, hit DOGE bottom? Because from 21st January, America’s cosmic dreams will be officially leashed to a new master. The newly christened Department of Government Economies (DOGE) – because, apparently, we needed another acronym in DC – will operate from Elon Musk‘s personal office. You know, the same place where tweets turn into government policy and memes into monetary strategy.

Meanwhile, NASA’s leadership transition reads like a billionaire’s bucket list achievement. Out goes the old guard (apparently not crypto savvy enough). In comes Jared Isaacman, whose main qualification appears to be having done a spacewalk while his accountant calculated the tax deductions. (1/23)

Trump to the Rescue: Musk 'Announces' Plan to Return Stranded ISS Astronauts, Blames Biden (Source: CNN)
In a post on the social media platform X, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk claimed Tuesday that the Biden Administration left two astronauts “stranded” and said President Donald Trump has asked SpaceX to step in to rescue them. But NASA already put such a plan in place months ago when it asked SpaceX to return astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station as part of its Crew-9 mission. A delay in that plan was then announced in December because mission teams said they needed more time to prepare a new SpaceX vehicle. (1/28)

ESA Enlists Thales Alenia Space for Mission to Venus (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Thales Alenia Space a contract worth a total €367 million ($383 million) to lead the development of EnVision, a satellite slated to launch in November 2031 on a 15-month journey to study Venus. EnVision would carry five scientific instruments and a radio science experiment — on behalf of space agencies from Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and the United States — to provide a comprehensive view of Venus from its inner core to upper atmosphere. (1/28)

NASA Space Tech’s Favorite Place to Travel in 2025: The Moon! (Source: NASA)
NASA Space Technology has big travel plans for 2025, starting with a trip to the near side of the Moon! Among ten groundbreaking NASA science and technology demonstrations, two technologies are on a ride to survey lunar regolith – also known as “Moon dust” – to better understand surface interactions with incoming lander spacecraft and payloads conducting experiments on the surface. These dust demonstrations and the data they’re designed to collect will help support future lunar missions. (1/24)

New Asteroid Tops NASA’s Impact Risk Chart, 1.2% Chance of 2032 Collision (Source: Gizmodo)
2024 YR4 is a newly spotted asteroid with the potential to hit Earth—and its chances of smashing into our planet in 2032 is definitely more than zero. There is a 1.2% chance the asteroid hits Earth based on very preliminary calculations. Which means—obviously—a 98.8% chance the rocky object misses us! But those odds are still upsettingly high, so let’s bear down on what we know about the recently discovered asteroid. The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) first spotted 2024 YR4 on December 27, 2024. (1/28)

Boom Supersonic XB-1 Jet Breaks Sound Barrier on Historic Test Flight (Source: Space.com)
Boom Supersonic made history today (Jan. 28) when its XB-1 jet broke the sound barrier for the first time. Boom Supersonic's chief test pilot Tristan "Geppetto" Brandenburg took off in the company's XB-1 jet from the storied Mojave Air & Space Port in California this morning under mostly clear skies. Some 11.5 minutes into the flight — the 12th overall for the XB-1 — at an altitude of around 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), the test plane exceeded Mach 1, the speed of sound. (1/28)

Everyone Who Has Ever Been to Space, Charted (Source: Scientific American)
The number of space visitors peaked in the 1990s, when NASA flew an average of six space shuttle missions a year, each usually carrying five to seven astronauts. For many years NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, were the only spacefaring entities in the world. The Chinese National Space Administration launched its first astronaut in 2003. After NASA’s space shuttles retired in 2011, NASA bought transportation for its astronauts on Russian and then private American spacecraft. Click here. (1/21)

French Space Tech Loft Orbital Hits Billion-Dollar Valuation with €170m Raise (Source: Sifted)
Loft Orbital, a French-American space tech company, has raised €170m in equity as part of a Series C round, to build infrastructure ready-to-use in orbit that it says will allow customers to easily deploy space-based missions. The new injection of capital values Loft at more than $1bn, meaning it has reached unicorn status, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the deal. Loft declined to confirm the latest company valuation.

It is one of Europe’s only private space tech companies with a billion-dollar valuation. In 2022 UK satellite operator OneWeb was valued at $3.4bn when it merged with rival European company Eutelsat. Loft provides “space infrastructure”, meaning that it owns and operates satellites that it offers to customers that wish to launch missions into space. The startup compares its model to cloud computing infrastructure back on Earth, but for space. (1/14)

Astroscale Japan Selected to Develop In-Space Refueling Technologies (Source: Astroscale)
Astroscale Japan has been selected to develop in-space refueling technologies under the “Key and Advanced Technology R&D through Cross Community Collaboration Program” (K Program), led by Japan’s Cabinet Office and promoted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The project will span five years with a total budget of up to JPY 12 billion.

The K Program was established to support the research and development of key technologies critical for maintaining Japan’s global competitiveness. Astroscale Japan was selected under the “Refueling Technology Contributing to Satellite Life Extension” initiative and will develop and demonstrate in-space refueling technologies for prepared satellites. (1/22)

Dwarf Planet Ceres May Have Received Organic Material From Space Objects (Source: Phys.org)
The organic material found in a few areas on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is probably of exogenic origin. Impacting asteroids from the outer asteroid belt may have brought it with them. Researchers presented the most comprehensive analysis to date of this mysterious material and its geological context. To this end, the team has, for the first time, used artificial intelligence to analyze observational data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

According to the study, the dwarf planet's unique cryovolcanism, in which salty brine rises from the body's interior to the surface, is not responsible for the organic deposits discovered so far. The authors of the current study have now used artificial intelligence to comb the entire surface of the dwarf planet for traces of aliphatic organic molecules. "At none of the deposits do we find evidence of current or past volcanic or tectonic activity: no trenches, canyons, volcanic domes or vents. Furthermore, there are no deep impact craters nearby." (1/27)

Super-Earth Discovery Reveals an Exoplanet Potentially Capable of Sustaining Life (Source: Phys.org)
Thirty years after the discovery of the first exoplanet, astronomers have detected more than 7,000 of them in our galaxy. But there are still billions more to be discovered. At the same time, exoplanetologists have begun to take an interest in their characteristics, with the aim of finding life elsewhere in the universe. This is the background to the discovery of super-Earth HD 20794 d by an international team including the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the NCCR PlanetS.

The new planet lies in an eccentric orbit, so that it oscillates in and out of its star's habitable zone. This discovery is the fruit of 20 years of observations using the best telescopes in the world. The results are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. (1/28)

Intuitive Machines Delivers Second Lunar Mission Lander to Cape Canaveral (Source: Intuitive Machines)
Intuitive Machines has delivered its IM-2 mission lunar lander, named Athena, to Cape Canaveral, Florida following a historic southeast Texas snowfall. In coordination with SpaceX, the liftoff of the IM-2 lunar mission is targeted for a four-day launch window that opens no earlier than February 26. In case of unfavorable launch conditions, such as inclement weather, backup opportunities will be determined based on the lunar blackout window and other factors. (1/28)

How the Roots of the ‘PayPal Mafia’ Extend to Apartheid South Africa (Source: Guardian)
When Elon Musk’s arm shot out in a stiff arm salute at Donald Trump’s inaugural celebrations, startled viewers mostly drew the obvious comparison. But in the fired-up debate about Musk’s intent that followed, as the world’s richest man insisted he wasn’t trying to be a Nazi, speculation inevitably focused on whether his roots in apartheid-era South Africa offered an insight. Musk is part of the “PayPal mafia” of libertarian billionaires with roots in South Africa under white rule now hugely influential in the US tech industry and politics.

They include Peter Thiel, the German-born billionaire venture capitalist and PayPal cofounder, who was educated in a southern African city in the 1970s where Hitler was still openly venerated. Thiel, a major donor to Trump’s campaign, has been critical of welfare programs and women being permitted to vote as undermining capitalism. A 2021 biography of Thiel, called The Contrarian, alleged that as a student at Stanford he defended apartheid as “economically sound”. David Sacks, formerly PayPal’s chief operating officer and now a leading fundraiser for Trump, was born in Cape Town and grew up within the South African diaspora after his family moved to the US when he was young.

Among them, Musk stands out for his ownership of X (increasingly a platform for far-right views) and his proximity to Trump, who has nominated Musk to head a “department of government efficiency” to slash and burn its way through the federal bureaucracy. Some draw a straight line between Musk’s formative years atop a complex system of racial hierarchy as a white male. The week before the inauguration, Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, described white South Africans as the “most racist people on earth”, questioned their involvement in US politics and said Musk was a malign influence who should go back to the country of his birth. (1/26)

Musk Decries Multiculturalism in Support for German Far-Right (Sources: Guardian, Newsweek)
After facing widespread accusations of making a Nazi gesture twice during a speech to a crowd of Trump supporters, a German aerospace museum removed a space exhibit that prominently featured Elon Musk. Days later, Musk appeared at a rally for a far-right German political party, saying:
“It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.” The AfD party leader Alice Weidel, said Republicans were making America great again, and called on her supporters to make Germany great again. (1/25)

A Cosmic 'CT scan' Shows the Universe is Far More Complex Than Expected (Source: Space.com)
A powerful combination of data from two very different astronomical surveys has allowed researchers to build a "cosmic CT scan" of the universe's evolution. These snapshots reveal that, as forces like gravity have reshaped the universe, the universe has in turn become less clumpy. In other words, the universe grew more complicated than expected. The team behind these findings used the sixth and final data release from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in combination with Year 1 data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to reach these conclusions. (1/28)