March 10, 2025

Second Loss of SpaceX Starship Raises Questions About Florida Plans (Source: Florida Today)
An explosion from a rocket launched from Texas that was visible as far away as the Cape Canaveral sky was not the ending SpaceX wanted for Flight 8 of their fully-stacked Starship. Nor was it the way they wanted to introduce Starship to its future Florida home. SpaceX had announced just days earlier that Starship would launch from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport by the end of the year.

After Thursday, some are wondering if that's not too ambitious to think a Starship launch from Florida could happen this year. After all, unlike Boca Chica, Texas, Cape Canaveral is the world's busiest launch port, responsible for launching high-priority defense and science missions for the U.S. government. It's not only NASA's main launch site, but also home to launch facilities (and big investments) from other companies like Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance.

"We should be expecting that Starship will launch out of Cape Canaveral when it is safe enough to do so, when the FAA and the range at Cape Canaveral say it is safe for Starship to fly," said local space business consultant Laura Forczyk. "The worry is that if a rocket the size of Starship were to have an incident near or on the pad, it would disrupt the entire operations of Cape Canaveral, which is the busiest spaceport in the world." (3/10)

Singapore's Astrum Orders GEO Satellite From Swissto12 (Source: Space News)
Singapore's Astrum Mobile has ordered a small GEO communications satellite from Swissto12. The Neastar-1 satellite will leverage the latest 5G standards to connect directly with smartphones and other devices, providing media and mass notification services in addition to basic connectivity for remote networks. Switzerland-based Swissto12 said the deal, announced Monday, reflects growing demand for smaller, regionally focused satellites closer in size to a washing machine than traditional school bus-sized GEO spacecraft. Astrum Mobile is the third customer for Swissto12's HummingSat platform after Inmarsat and Intelsat. (3/10)

China's Deep Blue Raises $69 Million for Reusable Launcher (Source: Space News)
Chinese launch startup Deep Blue Aerospace has raised a new funding round as it works towards a first orbital launch attempt later this year. The funding round, announced by the company last week, provided nearly 500 million yuan ($69 million) for its work on its Nebula series of reusable launch vehicles. The company has now set a target of the middle of the year for the first launch of the Nebula-1 orbital rocket, likely from the new commercial spaceport on Hainan island. The launch will include an attempt at recovering the first stage through powered descent and landing. Deep Blue Aerospace is also planning to launch the much larger Nebula-2 rocket as soon as 2026. (3/10)

China Launches Long March 3B (Source: Space News)
China launched a classified communications satellite Sunday. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 12:17 p.m. Eastern from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, placing the TJS-15 satellite into orbit. Chinese officials provided few details about TJS-15, saying only it would test "multi-band, high-speed satellite communication technology." The lack of details on the TJS-15 satellite is consistent with statements on earlier TJS missions, and Western observers believe the TJS satellites are used for classified missions including signals intelligence, early warning missions and satellite inspection activities. (3/10)

Star Catcher Gets Space Florida Funding for Tests at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Power-beaming startup Star Catcher Industries said Friday it secured support from Florida's space economic development agency. Space Florida is providing a $2 million financial package for the company, with most of the funds supporting tests this summer from Space Florida's Launch and Landing Facility, the runway formerly used for space shuttle landings.

Star Catcher plans to use the facility to demonstrate its ability to beam hundreds of watts of energy to multiple simulated satellites simultaneously from more than a kilometer away. Star Catcher has plans to develop spacecraft that would beam concentrated sunlight on customers' solar panels, enabling them to produce more power without any modifications. (3/10)

Cygnus Damaged En Route to Launch Site, Forces Cargo Adjustments (Source: Space News)
A potential issue with a Cygnus cargo spacecraft has led NASA to adjust cargo on an upcoming mission. NASA said last week that the shipping container for the Cygnus's pressurized cargo module suffered damage when transported to the launch site recently, and engineers are examining if the module itself was damaged.

NASA said that in order to protect against delays in the planned June launch of that spacecraft, NASA will remove some science investigations from the next cargo Dragon, launching in April, replacing them with food and other consumables. NASA will also shorten the handover between the Crew-9 and Crew-10 missions on the station to conserve consumables on the station. (3/10)

NASA Contest Seeks Artemis 2 Mascot (Source: CollectSpace)
NASA is holding a contest to create a 'mascot for the Artemis 2 mission. NASA announced Friday a contest to solicit ideas for the mascot, a stuffed toy or doll that would serve as the "zero-gravity indicator" inside the Orion spacecraft, floating once the spacecraft reached orbit. NASA said submissions need to be original; relevant to a global audience, represent humanity; and meaningful to the Artemis 2 mission and astronauts. (3/10)

Astroscale and BAE Systems Progress In-Orbit Satellite Refurbishment to Support Circular Space Economy (Source: Space Daily)
Astroscale successfully completed a study focused on developing the capability to refurbish and upgrade satellites for commercial operations. This initiative is part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) 'Systems Studies for a Circular Economy in Space' program. In collaboration with BAE Systems, Astroscale is working on an In-orbit Refurbishment and Upgrading Service (IRUS) to transition away from the current practice of single-use satellites. The findings from this preliminary study will help shape future commercial satellite servicing solutions.(3/6)

SatixFy Receives UK Space Agency Grant to Develop or Advanced LEO Payload Software (Source: Space Daily)
SatixFy has been awarded approximately $2.3 million by the UK Space Agency through its C-LEO program. The funding is designated for the creation of an advanced software suite for digital satellite payloads. The investment will facilitate the development of cutting-edge regenerative and digital beamforming software to meet the rising demand for software-defined satellite payloads.

This software aims to enable real-time control and monitoring of LEO, MEO, and GEO payloads, supporting DVB, 3GPP, and additional waveform protocols. Its implementation is expected to be crucial in advancing adaptable and intelligent satellite networks. (3/6)

KP Labs Unveils Smart Mission Lab to Revolutionize Space Technology Validation (Source: Space Daily)
KP Labs has launched Smart Mission Lab, an innovative platform aimed at transforming the development and testing of AI models and onboard data processing for space missions. Supported by ESA InCubed, a program managed by ESA F-lab, the Smart Mission Lab offers remote access to KP Labs' high-performance Data Processing Units (DPUs), enabling engineers, researchers, and mission planners to test and validate their software on real hardware before deployment. This initiative eliminates traditional barriers to testing and enhances mission preparedness. (3/5)

US FAA Says 240 Flights Disrupted by Explosion of Musk's SpaceX Starship (Source: Reuters)
The FAA said on the explosion of a SpaceX Starship spacecraft disrupted about 240 flights, with space debris concerns requiring more than two dozen of those planes to divert. It was the second straight explosion of a SpaceX test launch. The FAA on Thursday issued ground stops that lasted for just over an hour for aircraft departing for four Florida airports -- Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Palm Beach.

The FAA said the incident resulted in 171 departure delays, 28 flights were diverted, and 40 airborne flights were held an average of 22 minutes while the agency's Debris Response Area was active. The 171 planes had an average delay of 28 minutes. Editor's Note: Airlines are increasingly held liable for flight delays, but while they may incur measurable costs for launch-related delays there is currently no mechanism that forces launch companies to pay for them. (3/7)

The Existence of Other Technological Species is Highly Likely (Source: Space.com)
Defining life is surprisingly challenging. While we intuitively recognize living organisms as having life, a precise definition remains elusive. Dictionaries offer various descriptions, such as the ability to grow, reproduce and respond to stimuli. But, even these definitions can be ambiguous. A more comprehensive definition considers life as a self-sustaining chemical system capable of processing information and maintaining a state of low entropy with little disorder or randomness.

The primary argument for extraterrestrial life remains probabilistic: considering the sheer number of stars and planets, it seems highly improbable that life wouldn’t have arisen elsewhere. The probability of humanity being the sole technological civilization in the observable universe is considered to be less than one in 10 billion trillion. (3/9)

Missed Shots at the Moon are Still Scores for Commercial Space Companies (Source: The Hill)
Along with the unsuccessful Astrobotic Peregrine and the partially successful Intuitive Machines Odysseus missions of early 2024, it looks like the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program still has mixed results, with one unsuccessful attempt, two partially successful attempts and one entirely successful.

The original assumption was that commercial lunar landings would be, to use a basketball term, “shots on goal” with some of them failing. Obviously, the more successful missions there are, the more lunar exploration advances. Resilience, the Japanese lander that caught a ride on the Blue Ghost launch, is due to land on the moon no earlier than June 2025.

Unless NASA undertakes a Musk-inspired pivot away from the moon and exclusively toward Mars, human beings will follow the Commercial Lunar Payload Services robot explorers, the Artemis II crewed lunar circumnavigation mission is scheduled for 2026. The next crewed moon landing will be the greatest and most followed event (so far) of the 21st century. (3/9)

Trump Says Mars Missions are of Interest But Not a Top Priority (Source: Space News)
President Trump says a human mission to Mars is of interest to him but is not a “number one” priority, amid concerns about potential sweeping budget cuts at NASA. Near the end of an interview broadcast by Fox News March 9, Trump was asked about comments he made both in his inaugural address Jan. 20 and before a joint session of Congress March 4 that appeared to support sending humans to Mars, presumably in the near future.

“We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond,” Trump said in the speech to Congress.

“There’s a lot of interest in going to Mars,” Trump said in the interview, but acknowledged it was not necessarily a high priority for him. “Is it number one on my hit list? No. It’s not really. But it is something that would be, you know, it would be a great achievement. It would be a great thing if we could do it.” (3/9)

CSF Welcomes Five Additional Associate Members (Source: CSF)
The Commercial Space Federation (CSF) is proud to announce the addition of five (5) new Associate Member companies to the leading voice of the commercial space industry. These new members represent a diverse group of commercial space exploration companies committed to advancing the commercial space sector and helping shape the future of the industry. The new members include the Exploration Company; Impulse Space; Interlune; Intuitive Machines; and ispace-U.S. (3/6)