February 5, 2025

InterFlight Global CEO Projects Global Space Economy to Reach $1.8 Trillion by 2035 (Source: Midland Times)
During the Midland Development Corporation (MDC) board meeting on Feb. 3, Oscar Garcia, CEO of InterFlight Global, outlined the projected expansion of the space industry, estimating that the global space economy will reach $1.8 trillion by 2035. Garcia presented an overview of aerospace development opportunities in Midland at the meeting, highlighting the city's growing role in the global space economy.

He noted that space applications are expected to grow at a faster rate than the global gross domestic product (GDP) over the next decade, reflecting increasing investments in aerospace technology and infrastructure. Texas is positioned to capture approximately 20% of the U.S. space market, representing a potential $240 billion economic impact. Within the state, Midland’s role as an "anchor" spaceport could contribute $48 billion, reinforcing its importance in the growing aerospace sector. (2/3)

Calcelli Joins True Anomaly (Source: Space News)
The former head of space acquisition at the Pentagon has joined startup True Anomaly. The company announced Tuesday that Frank Calvelli, until recently the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, had joined its board of directors. True Anomaly specializes in advanced space domain awareness and military training satellites with its Jackal spacecraft, designed for rendezvous and proximity operations. The move follows the recent hiring of another former defense official, Stephen Kitay, as senior vice president at True Anomaly. (2/5)

Two Chinese Cargo Craft Heading to TSS This Year (Source: Space News)
Two Chinese commercial cargo spacecraft are scheduled to fly to the Tiangong space station this year. The Haolong cargo space shuttle from the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute under the Aviation Industry Corporation will launch on Landspace's Zhuque-3 rocket, according to a recent Chinese report. The reusable Haolong will be 10 meters in length, around 7,000 kilograms in mass, and capable of landing on a runway. The Qingzhou cargo spacecraft from the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences will launch on the first flight of the CAS Space Kinetica-2 (Lijian-2) rocket no earlier than September. The missions aim to provide flexible options and redundancy for supplying the Tiangong space station, while also illustrating the expansion and progress made by Chinese commercial space actors and other non-traditional space entities. (2/5)

UAE Picks Thales Alenia to Build Gateway Airlock Module (Source: Space News)
The UAE has selected Thales Alenia Space to build an airlock module for the lunar Gateway. Thales and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre signed a contract Tuesday to build the airlock module, allowing astronauts there to perform spacewalks and access science payloads on the Gateway's exterior. Thales is building several other components of the Gateway, a crew-tended facility that will operate in lunar orbit and serve as a staging point for missions to the lunar surface. The contract comes amid speculation that the Trump administration may do away with the Gateway as part of sweeping changes in the Artemis architecture. (2/5)

Space SPAC Frenzy Was a Good Thing (Source: Space News)
The frenzy of SPAC deals in the space industry several years ago was "crazy" but ultimately good for the industry overall, says Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck. Beck said that many companies went public through mergers with SPACs that should not have done so. That was part of a wave of investment that he said meant that even "silly ideas" got funded. However, he said that influx of capital into the industry was good, resulting in "a much higher quality of company" for those that survived.

Rocket Lab is one company that went public through a SPAC merger, and its share price has soared in the last several months. He predicted that there will be consolidation in the industry this year, with large "legacy players" combining to remain competitive while smaller companies merge to fuel their growth. (2/5)

Winners of Out-of-This-World Art and Poetry Contest Announced on the ISS (Source: CASIS)
Students from around the world saw their space-themed works of pen, paint, and poetry floating in the cupola of the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a contest to spark student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers through the arts. John Shoffner, a lifelong space enthusiast, aviator, entrepreneur, and pilot on Axiom Space’s 2nd commercial astronaut mission to the space station, developed this unique student contest through his Perseid Foundation.

In collaboration with the foundation, Axiom Space and the Limitless Space Institute helped to bring this opportunity to students worldwide through the sponsorship of the ISS National Laboratory. Yhe Perseid Foundation received more than 2,700 entries of art and poetry from 35 countries depicting students’ ideas about what it is like to live and work in space. From these entries, Shoffner and a panel of judges selected four works of art and four poems, and then worked with NASA to transmit the winning pieces to the space station so crew members could print them. Click here. (2/5)

Satellites Going Modular (Source: Space News)
The shift toward standardized, modular satellite platforms used for multiple missions is reshaping the role of vertical integration. Companies are increasingly adopting a common platform and swapping out payloads to meet different customer needs. This shift is refueling a long-running debate over whether owning every part of the supply chain is the most effective way to control cost and performance in the space industry, with some manufacturers deciding to instead use a diversified supplier base to balance standardization with flexibility. (2/5)

France's ThrustMe to Enter US Market for Satellite Propulsion (Source: Space News)
French satellite propulsion company ThrustMe is making a push into the U.S. market. The company said Tuesday it has signed deals with a diverse set of U.S. firms ranging from startups to Terran Orbital, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, to provide them with electric propulsion systems. The company has developed thrusters that can use iodine as propellant, and has delivered more than 150 thrusters since moving to industrial-scale propulsion in 2023. (2/5)

Lofgren Wants Details on NASA Implementation of Trump Orders (Source: Space News)
The top Democrat on the House Science Committee is asking NASA and other agencies for information on how they are implementing Trump administration executive orders. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), ranking member of the committee, said Monday she sent letters to NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro and the heads of the Department of Energy, NOAA, NIST and NSF about their work to carry out executive orders to end diversity programs and hiring efforts. Lofgren said in the NASA letter she was "disturbed" that NASA was implementing the measures "without pushback or protest." She asked NASA for details on how it was implementing the orders by the end of next week. (2/5)

SpaceX Launches WorldView Imaging Satellites at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched a third pair of WorldView Legion imaging satellites for Maxar Tuesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at Cape Canaveral, placing the fifth and sixth WorldView Legion satellites into low Earth orbit. The launch completes the deployment of the WorldView Legion constellation, whose satellites can capture images with 30-centimeter resolution. The satellites, in both mid-inclination and sun-synchronous orbits, can provide up to 15 passes daily over some regions. (2/5)

Russia Launches Classified Satellite (Source: Russian Space Web)
Russia launched a classified satellite late Tuesday. A Soyuz-2.1v rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 11 p.m. Eastern carrying a satellite for the Russian Ministry of Defense. No details about the satellite were disclosed other than it was going to an orbit at an inclination of 82.4 degrees. (2/5)

Mission Space Developing Space Weather Sensor (Source: Space News)
Florida startup Mission Space is preparing to launch its first space-weather sensor. The sensor, hosted and operated by DPhi Space, is slated to launch as soon as next month on the Transporter-13 rideshare mission and will monitor solar activity, radiation levels and magnetospheric disturbances. Mission Space plans to establish a constellation of 24 Zohar sensors to meet industry and government demand for high-resolution, multipoint space weather measurement data. (2/5)

Rocket Lab Sells Four Electron Launches to Japan's iQPS (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab has signed a contract for four Electron launches with a Japanese company. Rocket Lab said the deal with the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS) includes three Electron launches in 2025 and one in 2026, each carrying a single radar imaging satellite. IQPS plans to deploy a 36-satellite constellation, and launched one of its satellites on an Electron in 2023. (2/5)

Chamber of Commerce Creating Space Council (Source: US Chamber of Commerce)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is creating a space council. The chamber's Space Leadership Council, announced Tuesday, is a strategic advisory board featuring companies in various parts of the space industry. The council will focus on efforts to improve the regulatory environment for space companies on topics ranging from licensing to spectrum. (2/5)

India Delays Undocking of SpaDex Satellites (Source: Indian Express)
In a sign that its SpaDex experiment involving space docking is experiencing technical issues, the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) has delayed an undocking maneuver that was scheduled soon after the successful docking on January 16. (2/5)

Workers at NASA Told to ‘Drop Everything’ to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites (Source: 404 Media)
NASA personnel were told to “drop everything” to scrub public sites of mentions of DEI, indigenous people, environmental justice, and women in leadership, according to a Trump Administration directive.

The directive states: “Per NASA HQ direction, we are required to scrub mentions of the following terms from our public sites by 5pm ET today. This is a drop everything and reprioritize your day request. Note that the list below is the list that exists this morning, but it may grow as the day goes on. -- DEIA - Diversity (in context of DEIA) - Equity - Inclusion - Accessibility - MSI (Minority Serving Institution) - Indigenous People - Environmental Justice - Underrepresented groups/people - Anything specifically targeting women (women in leadership, etc.) (2/4)

Europe Has the Worst Imaginable Idea to Counter SpaceX’s Launch Dominance (Source: Ars Technica)
Europe has good reasons for being wary about working directly with SpaceX. First, Europe wants to maintain sovereign access to space, as well as a space-based communication network. Second, buying services from SpaceX undermines European space businesses. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Musk has recently begun attacking governments in European capitals such as Berlin and London, taking up the "Make Europe Great Again" slogan.

The approach being pursued by Airbus seems like the dumbest idea imaginable. According to Bloomberg, "Airbus has hired Goldman Sachs  for advice on an effort to forge a new European space and satellite company that can better compete with Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX." The publication reports that talks are preliminary and include France-based Thales and Italy's Leonardo S.p.A. to create a portfolio of space services.

This plan seems destined to fail. Two decades ago, the US military forced Lockheed and Boeing to merge their launch businesses to create a single company, ULA. Although there were several goals of this venture, one of them was that by combining operations, the companies could avoid duplication and become more efficient. The opposite happened. Editor's Note: Europe should ask itself: if SpaceX became a European company, could they do the same things there that they are doing in the US? (2/4)

CNES to Develop Reusable Upper Stage for Heavy-Lift Rocket (Source: European Spaceflight)
The French space agency CNES has issued a call for proposals to develop a reusable upper stage for a heavy-lift rocket. On 3 February, CNES published an initial overview of Project DEMESURE (DEMonstration Étage SUpérieur REutilisable / Reusable Upper Stage Demonstration), describing it as one of the agency’s nine Priority Innovation Vectors for space transportation. In an initial introduction, it states that the development of a reusable upper stage “could offer competitive advantages at a time of growing launch capacity demand.” (2/5)

One in Four Chance Per Year That Rocket Junk will Enter Busy Airspace (Source: University of British-Columbia)
There’s a 26 per cent annual chance that space rocket junk will re-enter the atmosphere and pass through a busy flight area, according to a recent UBC study. While the chance of debris hitting an aircraft is very low, the research highlights that the potential for uncontrolled space rocket junk to disrupt flights and create additional costs for airlines and passengers is not.

Space junk disrupting air traffic is far from unheard of. In 2022, a re-entering 20-tonne piece of rocket prompted Spanish and French aviation authorities to close parts of their airspace. And with rocket launches and flights increasing, UBC researchers say policymakers need to take action. (2/4)

Why a Missile Shield in Space Makes Sense (Source: Space News)
Critics of the administration’s intentions resurrect arguments first made in the 1980s: that a space-based missile defense would cost too much, wouldn’t work anyway, and would be destabilizing and undermine nuclear deterrence. While it would undoubtedly be technologically challenging and carry a hefty price tag, space-based missile defense is indeed worth serious consideration.

These capabilities are likely to fit into a broader effort to revamp how the U.S. military uses space, recognizing that future wars will be fought from, through and in space. The implications of space as a warfighting domain are still beginning to sink in. As they do, our evaluation of military capability in space will continue to mature. (2/4)

Researchers in China Propose Novel Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Source: Physics World)
Researchers in China have proposed a novel gravitational-wave observatory to search for cracks in Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The Tetrahedron Constellation Gravitational Wave Observatory (TEGO) would detect gravitational waves via four satellites that form a tetrahedral structure in space. Backers of the conceptual plan say TEGO offers significant advantages over designs consisting of a triangular configuration of three satellites. (2/4)

ESA and Finland Pave the Way Toward a Supersite for Earth Observation (Source: ESA)
Today, ESA, the Finnish government and the Finnish Meteorological Institute took the initial steps towards establishing a ‘supersite’ for Earth observation calibration and validation in Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland. Envisaged as a joint investment, this world-class site would bring benefits to both ESA, by helping to further ensure satellites deliver accurate data over high latitude environments, and to Finland by providing Finnish businesses with new opportunities to develop and test environmental sensors and technology. (2/4)

Trump-Driven Mass Layoffs Planned at NSF (Source: E&E News)
One of the United States’ leading funders of science and engineering research is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said. The comments by Assistant Director Susan Margulies came at an all-hands meeting of the NSF’s Engineering Directorate. Marguiles, NSF and the White House didn’t respond to detailed questions about the layoffs and their potential implications.

“A large-scale reduction, in response to the President’s workforce executive orders, is already happening,” a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management said in an email. “The government is restructuring, and unfortunately, many employees will later realize they missed a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in the deferred resignation offer.”

Editor's Note: NSF supports space-related research in areas like astrophysics, planetary science, and space weather. NSF's total space investment is estimated at $300-500 million annually (about 3-5% of its total budget). The planned layoffs will likely be accompanied by funding cuts and will surely impact space-related projects at the agency. Also, these funds and these people are investments in US leadership in science and technology. (2/4)

Musk's Government-Cutting Blitz Appears Illegal. Is NASA Next? (Source: Washington Post)
The chaotic blitz by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has triggered legal objections across Washington, with officials in at least a half-dozen federal agencies and departments raising alarms about whether the billionaire’s assault on government is breaking the law.

Over the past two weeks, Musk’s team has moved to dismantle some U.S. agencies, push out hundreds of thousands of civil servants and gain access to some of the federal government’s most sensitive payment systems. Musk has said these changes are necessary to overhaul what he’s characterized as a sclerotic federal bureaucracy and to stop payments that he says are bankrupting the country and driving inflation.

Internal legal objections have been raised at the Treasury Department, the Education Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the White House budget office, among others. “So many of these things are so wildly illegal that I think they’re playing a quantity game and assuming the system can’t react to all this illegality at once,” said David Super. (2/4)

25-Year-Old Former SpaceX Engineer Now Controls Federal System That Distributes Trillions of Dollars (Source: HuffPost)
An aide to Elon Musk has administrative privileges in the Treasury Department’s payment system, according to two separate news reports — something the White House has denied. Within Musk's DOGE quasi-agency, a coterie of young aides with no government background have glommed onto a number of key choke points in the federal government, including the Office of Personnel Management, the General Services Administration and the Treasury Department. The offices, respectively, are responsible for the federal government’s workforce, its real estate, and its payment of a wide variety of funds, including Social Security benefits and tax returns.

The career civil servant who oversaw the Treasury Department’s sensitive payment system recently retired after unsuccessfully trying to resist DOGE’s efforts to gain access. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the DOGE access was “read only” — meaning they couldn’t actually make any changes to the system or to outgoing payments. But two new reports say otherwise.

WIRED reported that 25-year-old Musk aide Marko Elez — an engineer who’d previously worked for SpaceX — has administrator-level access to Treasury Department systems responsible for “nearly all payments made by the US government.” ... “You could do anything with these privileges,” one unnamed source with knowledge of the system told Wired. Someone with the level of access Elez has would typically be able to change user permissions or delete or modify files. Elez “has already made extensive changes” to the code base for the payments systems. The changes appeared to be related to potentially blocking payments and potentially leaving less visibility into what has been blocked. (2/4)

China Plans to Send a Flying Robot to Search for Water on the Moon’s Far Side (Source: CNN)
China plans to send a flying robot to the far side of the moon next year to search for the frozen water that could hold the key to future lunar exploration, as the country pushes forward with its ambitious space program. The robotic “flying detector” will be deployed to the lunar south pole as part of China’s Chang’e-7 mission, which aims to bring the country closer to landing astronauts on the moon within five years. (2/4)

Blue Origin Completes 29th New Shepard Mission, Successfully Simulates Lunar Gravity (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin successfully completed its 29th New Shepard flight and 14th payload mission today from Launch Site One in West Texas. The payloads experienced roughly two minutes of lunar gravity forces. The New Shepard crew capsule used its reaction control system to spin up to approximately 11 revolutions per minute, simulating one-sixth Earth gravity at the midpoint of the crew capsule lockers. 

The flight carried 30 payloads from NASA, research institutions, and commercial companies, bringing the number of payloads flown on New Shepard to more than 175. Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s nonprofit, flew thousands of postcards as part of its Postcards to Space program. Each postcard will be returned to its creator stamped “Flown to Space.” (2/4)

Will ESA’s ‘Fair Contribution’ Reinvigorate Europe’s Space Ambitions? No, it Won’t (Source: Space News)
At a Dec. 18, 2024, ESA council briefing, the Director General, Josef Aschbacher, said the agency would strive in 2025 to “simplify’” the long-standing principle of geo-return. According to that principle, ESA pays back to each country in industrial contracts the value of what it gives to the agency. If France gives 100,000 euros to ESA, ESA gives France 100,000 euros.

It’s a policy that ensures fairness. But it’s also one that has come under fire. As recently as September, Mario Draghi, in his “Future of European Competitiveness report,” blamed geo-return for Europe’s failure to “react to the global technology evolution,” citing a downturn in its space industry’s commercial and export sales. Geo-return, critics claim, hurts competitiveness. (2/3)

Asteroid Impact on Moon Blasted Two Grand Canyons in 10 Minutes (Source: AOL)
The Grand Canyon in Arizona is one of Earth's natural wonders, carved out over millions of years by the gradual erosion power of the Colorado River. Close to the moon's south pole are two canyons each comparable in size to the Grand Canyon that were born in a much different process.

New research indicates that these canyons, in an area called the Schrödinger impact basin on the side of the moon perpetually facing away from Earth, were dug out in a matter of less than 10 minutes by rocky debris sent violently aloft when an asteroid or comet struck the lunar surface roughly 3.8 billion years ago. (2/4)

Move Over Alabama and Colorado, Ohio Wants Space Command HQ (Source: AL.com)
The tussle over where to locate Space Command headquarters is no longer a two-horse race. The Senate armed services committee received a petition Monday calling for U.S. Space Command to take up a permanent home at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. That state’s legislators approved a joint resolution in December outlining the merits of Wright-Patterson, which has now come before senators as well as the U.S. House of Representatives, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (2/4)

Florida DOT Targets Port Canaveral Amid Space Funding Policy Recommendations (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The Florida DOT singled out Port Canaveral in its recommended state policy changes related to the space industry while highlighting the proposed state budget from Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis seeks $90 million for projects in Florida’s Spaceport Improvement Program, bringing the cumulative investment to $487 million since 2019.

The governor's proposed budget package also proposes policy changes to safeguard Florida’s launch industry leadership by: 1) Requiring Port Canaveral to receive state approval prior to utilizing any state funds intended for cargo and space activities for any other use; and 2) Expanding the eligible projects for FDOT funding to include ancillary infrastructure improvements supporting aerospace manufacturing. (2/4)