February 3, 2025

Canadian Province to Cancel Starlink Contract Over Musk/Trump Ties (Source: Toronto City News)
Doug Ford says his provincial party will terminate Ontario’s contract with Starlink due to its connection to Elon Musk, saying his government won’t do business with people “hellbent on destroying our economy.” Ford issued a statement regarding Ontario’s move to ban American companies from provincial contracts, including the $100 million Starlink deal. U.S.-based businesses [including SpaceX] will now lose out on tens of billions of dollars in new revenues. They only have President Trump to blame,” Ford said. (2/3)

European Investment Bank to Finance SES O3b Constellation (Source: EIB)
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a loan to SES to finance its O3b mPower constellation. EIB announced last week it will provide 125 million euros in loans to SES to partially cover the costs of completing the mPower fleet of medium Earth orbit broadband satellites. Neither EIB nor SES disclosed terms of the loan. (2/3)

Astranis Buys Falcon-9 Launch for Small GEO Satellites (Source: Astranis)
Astranis has lined up another Falcon 9 launch for its small GEO satellites. The company said it procured a Falcon 9 for a launch later this year of five MicroGEO satellites, including satellites for Thaicom and Mexican internet service provider APCO. Astranis launched four MicroGEO satellites on another Falcon 9 in late December, and the company says those satellites are working well and raising their orbits to allow them to enter service this summer. [Astranis]

Debris From Starship Caused Damage on Turks and Caicos Islands (Source: CNN)
Debris from last month's Starship accident caused minor damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The FAA confirmed last week that it was aware of "minor damage" to a car from falling debris from the explosion on the Jan. 16 test flight. Residents of the Turks and Caicos said that debris has also washed up on shorelines and that they were disappointed in SpaceX's response to the incident. (2/3)

Indian NavSat Propulsion Fails in Orbit After Launch (Source: Space News)
An Indian navigation satellite launched last week is stranded in a transfer orbit after the failure of its thrusters. The Indian space agency ISRO said Sunday that the propulsion system on its NVS-02 satellite, launched last Tuesday into a geostationary transfer orbit, failed when oxidizer valves failed to open. ISRO stated that other systems on the satellite are working well and that it would try to find a way to use the satellite in the elliptical orbit. However, that elliptical orbit has a very low perigee of 165 kilometers, which will lead to the satellite reentering in the not-too-distant future if ISRO does not find a way to raise it. (2/3)

NASA Orders Committees to Stop Work Based on Trump Orders (Source: Space News)
NASA has ordered a set of science committees to stop their work, citing Trump administration executive orders. In memos Friday, NASA instructed "analysis groups" and "assessment groups" supporting its astrophysics and planetary science programs to halt their work while NASA "continues to review and ensure compliance with presidential actions" such as executive orders related to DEI and climate change. That directive resulted in the cancellation of a meeting scheduled for this week by the Mercury Exploration Assessment Group while other groups have put planning for upcoming meetings or other activities on hold. (2/3)

NASA Says Mars Rover Sample Has Textures 'Unlike Anything We've Seen’ (Source: Independent)
NASA’s Perseverance rover has collected a sample from Mars that has textures “unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.” Known as “Silver Mountain,” the rock core has been sealed into a tube so it can be analyzed in labs on Earth in the future. Silver Mountain is the Martian rover’s 26th sample. Dozens of samples are being collected to better understand the planet’s geological history, its climate, and determine whether it ever hosted life. (2/2)

Will Trump Administration End Women and Minority-Owned Business Set Asides? (Source: Parker Poe)
Last week’s revocation of federal affirmative action requirements was accompanied by a statement from the Trump administration stating its intent to eliminate any federal program that promotes DEI principles. This action calls into question the future of programs that require that portions of some federal contracts be offered to women and minority-owned small businesses.

Unlike the executive order Trump revoked last week about affirmative action, these set aside programs, which are administered by the Small Business Administration, are based on federal statutes that would need to be modified or revoked through legislative action. Regardless, the SBA has significant authority to modify set aside rules and exceptions to such rules that could result in a significant decrease in application or enforcement of these laws. (1/31)