March 15, 2025

Florida’s US Senators Announce Bill to Move NASA’s HQ to Space Coast (Source: WKMG)
Florida’s Republican U.S. senators Ashley Moody and Rick Scott have announced the Consolidating Aerospace Programs Efficiently at Canaveral (CAPE Canaveral) Act to relocate NASA’s headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Brevard County. Introduced Thursday by Sen. Moody to the 119th Congress, the act is comprised of barely two pages instructing that NASA’s headquarters be transferred to Brevard County no later than one year after the legislation is enacted, if it is. (3/14)

Earth’s Oldest Crater May Have Jumpstarted Life (Source: Popular Mechanics)
Geologists have now unearthed evidence of a 3.5 billion-year-old crater found in a layer of Australian rock. Shatter cones, which are features caused by the shockwave of a hypervelocity meteorite impact, are evidence that something hit this region when Earth was young. Impact craters this old have the potential to tell us not only how Earth evolved but how the earliest impacts created the conditions for life to emerge. (3/14)

NASA, SpaceX Launch Starliner Astronauts' Replacement Crew (Source: CBS)
NASA's next ISS crew blasted off Friday atop a Falcon-9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, finally clearing the way for Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to be ferried home next week by two other outgoing station crew members, finally closing out an extended space odyssey. (3/14)

SpaceX Lobbies Trump Trade Representative on Tariffs (Source: CNBC)
SpaceX submitted a letter lobbying the U.S. trade representative on Trump administration tariff policies. SpaceX complained that operating costs for its Starlink internet satellite service are increased by trade barriers abroad, while foreign competitors face no such costs in the United States. (3/14)

Weldon Dropped as CDC Nominee (Source: SpaceCoast Daily)
President Trump has withdrew his nomination of Brevard County’s Dr. Dave Weldon (a former seven-term congressman) to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The decision follows concerns that Dr. Weldon lacked the necessary votes for Senate confirmation. Weldon was set to appear before the Senate Health Committee for a confirmation hearing on Thursday. (3/14)

NASA RIF Update: We’re Too Busy (Source: NASA Watch)
NASA got a 1 week extension to finish their plan on how to fire many of its workers. “In compliance with the President’s Workforce Optimization Initiative, NASA continues to work on our broader reorganization plan. Considering a variety of agency priorities this week, including the launch of SPHEREx and PUNCH, as well as preparations for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch Friday, and other agency missions, the agency received a one-week extension on our initial submission.” (3/14)

Calibrating CubeSat Constellations Just Got Easier (Source: Phys.org)
CubeSats have trouble linking into broader constellations that allow them to be more effective at their observational or communication tasks. A team from the University of Albany thinks they might have solved that problem by using a customized calibration algorithm to ensure the right CubeSats link up together.

The system, called the Adaptive Calibration of CubeSat Radiometer Constellations (or ACCURACy), uses data from each of the CubeSats in a constellation. They pass along pertinent data, especially about their position and temperature. Then it decides which sets of CubeSats should be paired together for calibration and excludes ones that don't fit the right profile. (3/13)

Rocket Lab Launches Japanese SAR Satellite (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite from New Zealand for a Japanese company March 14, the first of eight such missions Rocket Lab has under contract with that customer. (3/14)

Commerce Seeks to Cut 20% of Staff—Without Using Layoffs (Source: GovExec)
The Commerce Department is seeking to slash its workforce by 20%, though it is proposing it get to that level of cuts without laying off any employees. If implemented, the proposal would reduce Commerce’s headcount by nearly 10,000 employees [including, presumably, from the agency's space commerce office]. (3/14)

Trump Moves to Close NOAA Facility That Helps Track Planet-Warming Pollution (Source: Washington Post)
The Trump administration is planning to cancel its lease at a government laboratory in Hawaii, a site where scientists support key observations of surging greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. The lab is connected to the Mauna Loa Observatory, where scientists gather data to produce the Keeling Curve, a chart on the daily status of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. (3/14)

New Horizons Needs a New Flyby Target. Vera Rubin Can Help (Source: Universe Today)
A team of planetary scientists proposes using VRO for a deep survey of objects along the trajectory of the New Horizons spacecraft. It's currently about 61 astronomical units away from Earth and is the only spacecraft transiting the Kuiper Belt. This "Deep Drilling" micro-survey will use about 30 hours of Rubin time across six 5-hour visits in about a year's time. It will begin in 2026 and should determine orbits for around 700 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). (3/14)

EU’s Big Starlink Headache is Time, Not Money (Source: Reuters)
As relations between Ukraine and the Trump administration sour, Kyiv has encountered a pressing problem: it relies on Starlink to help its military coordinate operations. The good news is that it wouldn’t break the bank to replace Elon Musk’s satellite operator with kit supplied by $3 billion Anglo-French rival Eutelsat. The bad news is that executing such a switch would be highly complex – and couldn’t happen overnight. (3/14)

NRO, MDA Pulled Out of Annual DC Satellite Conference Due to Travel Restrictions (Source: Breaking Defense)
This week’s Satellite 2025/GovMilSpace show appears to be the latest defense conference impacted by the Trump administration’s Feb. 26 executive order restricting “non-essential” travel by federal officials and the sweeping cost-cutting spree being spearheaded by DOGE. Officials from the National Reconnaissance Office and the Missile Defense Agency had planned to exhibit, but cancelled last minute following the executive order. (3/14)

Ill-Fated Moon Lander Unexpectedly Woke Up and Sent One Last Message (Source: Gizmodo)
Details newly revealed by Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines relay its Athena lander’s final moments and how the spacecraft briefly sputtered to life after powering down. Immediately after touchdown, the team accelerated payload operations, transmitting precious data before Athena’s batteries completely depleted, according to Steve Altemus. (3/14)

AST SpaceMobile and the Problem of Delivering Data From Space (Source: Fierce Network)
AST’s chief Abel Avellan said that the firm will be launching initial services with 45  of its BlueBird satellites. “We are building 53 now,” he said. “We have committed to 60 launches.” AST has launched six of these satellites so far. But analysts like Mobile Experts' Joe Madden aren’t convinced adding just a few dozen more will be enough to provide global coverage. We have previously heard that AST SpaceMobile will need at least 95 satellites up to provide global coverage. (3/4)

Collins Aerospace Lays Off 160 Workers in Iowa (Source: KWWL)
Collins Aerospace has laid off 160 workers from its operations in Cedar Rapids, according to a notice posted Friday on the Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act website. The company has laid off an estimated 248 employees statewide since September 2020. (3/14)

Finalists Selected in NASA Aeronautics Agriculture-Themed Competition (Source: NASA)
Eight finalist teams participating in the 2025 NASA Gateways to Blue Skies Competition have been selected to present to a panel of judges their design concepts for aviation solutions that can help the agriculture industry. (3/14)

Rubio Implements Musk-Driven Foreign Policy Against His Native South Africa (Sources: Jerusalem Post, AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said South Africa's ambassador to the US is no longer welcomed in the United States. He accused Ebrahim Rasool of "race-baiting" and claimed he hated both the United States and President Trump. Ties between the United States and South Africa have deteriorated since Trump cut US financial aid to the country. Trump has said that "South Africa is confiscating land" and that "certain classes of people" are being treated "very badly."

Trump appeared to be referencing a new law in South Africa that gives the government powers in some instances to expropriate land from people. Musk, a close Trump ally, has highlighted that law in recent social media posts and cast it as a threat to South Africa’s white minority. (3/15)

General Atomics Tech Set to Advance Radian Spaceplane (Source: Aerospace Testing International)
General Atomics and Radian Aerospace have partnered to advance Radian's spaceplane, including localization efforts in the United Arab Emirates, such as local manufacturing and technology transfer. "Electromechanical braking is just one way we're pushing the boundaries of efficiency and sustainability," said GA's Scott Sappenfield. (3/14)

Hegseth Calls DoD Climate Studies "Crap" and Cancels Them (Source: Reuters)
The U.S. military is canceling more than 90 studies, including some that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed as climate change "crap." Military and intelligence officials have over the past decade identified potential security threats from climate change that include natural disasters in densely populated coastal areas and damage to American military bases worldwide.

"The [Department of Defense] does not do climate change crap," Hegseth posted on X. A Pentagon study in 2018 found that nearly half of all U.S. military sites were threatened by weather linked to climate change. During the previous administration, led by President Joe Biden, the Pentagon had said it would include the risk of climate change in military simulations and war games.

Editor's Note: The migrant crisis over the past decade -- which drove President Trump's calls for a wall and has caused US troops to be sent to fortify the border with Mexico -- might be considered mild compared to the climate-driven migration possible over the next decade, with future migrants displaced on a global scale. The DoD understood this under previous administrations. (3/10)

Women In Defense Space Coast Chapter Accepting Scholarship Nominations (Source: WIDSC)
WIDSC established the Space Coast STEM Scholarship Fund in 2013 to encourage women in Florida to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related to national security and defense interests. Since its inception, WlDSC has awarded over $92,000 in scholarships and contributed to numerous STEM-related events in partnership with local businesses, non-profits, and Federal agencies such as U.S. Space Force. Click here. (3/14)

All Points Plans Twin Spacecraft Processing Facilities at Florida and California Spaceports (Source: Florida Today)
Expanding its geographic aims, All Points Logistics now hopes to construct a California spacecraft processing facility at bustling Vandenberg Space Force Base in tandem with the company's similar, massive $400 million-plus project at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

All Points Logistics, a Merritt Island aerospace-logistics company, employs about 300 workers spread across the country. Its Space Prep division wants large-scale complexes where technicians with commercial, civil and national defense missions can assemble, integrate, fuel and test satellites and spacecraft before they're transported to the launch pad.

"Once something's up in space and in orbit — and if it doesn't work — it's not like you can bring it back and fix it and send it back up again. It's a one-way ticket," All Points President and CEO Phil Monkress said. (3/3)

Are We Inside a Black Hole? Wonky Galaxy Movements Suggest It’s Possible (Source: Gizmodo)
One researcher’s analysis of Webb Space Telescope images could indicate that we’re all stuck in a black hole. “The main finding of the study is that the vast majority of the galaxies in the universe, as seen from Earth, rotate in the same direction,” explained Lior Shamir, an astronomer at Kansas State University and lead author of the study, in an email to Gizmodo. “That adds another observation that disagrees with the existing current cosmological model.” (3/14)

Could Black Holes Be Portals to a New Universe? Scientists Weigh In (Source: SciTech Daily)
A new study challenges the idea that black holes are cosmic endpoints. Instead, researchers suggest they transition into white holes, expelling matter and energy rather than trapping them forever. This discovery ties time itself to dark energy, hinting at a deeper cosmic connection between gravity, quantum mechanics, and the expansion of the universe. (3/13)

The FAA’s DOGE Troubles Are More Serious Than You Know (Source: The Atlantic)
Agency officials told me that many jobs with critical safety functions are indeed being sacrificed, with any possible replacements uncertain because of the government-wide hiring freeze. And records I reviewed show that employees classified as eligible for early retirement—and therefore allowed to walk off the job—include aviation-safety technicians and assistants, quality-assurance specialists, and engineers. Meanwhile, the buyouts reach far beyond air-traffic safety, affecting other core elements of the agency. Top officials in the finance, acquisitions, and compliance divisions have left or are expected to go. (3/9)

The New NASA Is Emerging (Source: NASA Watch)
According to sources there is a “plan” under formulation to remove nearly all NASA Headquarters functions and move them to various NASA field centers. There will be little left in Washington, DC. Oversight will now be distributed – not centralized. Human Spaceflight (SOMD) will reside at NASA JSC (where it already is for the most part). ESDMD (exploration) stuff will be split between JSC, KSC, and MSFC (again, not much change).

Science Mission Directorate (SMD) responsibilities will eventually go to GSFC. Armstrong would get Aeronautics programs and Technology development would be sent to LaRC. NASA Ames and Glenn will see some shrinkage and a possible effort to be closed (their real estate is valuable). Meanwhile JPL is a big TBD. Stay tuned. Things keep changing. (3/13)