March 23, 2025

Swedish Government Approves House on the Moon (Source: ispace)
On January 15, 2025, the house launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The moon landing is scheduled for early June 2025. Right now, it is traveling through space, approximately 1.1 million kilometers from Earth, safely aboard the Japanese company ispace’s spacecraft RESILIENCE. The Moonhouse is the culmination of a 25-year dream to place a red house with white corners on the moon. (3/21)

INNOSPACE Completes Launch Pad-Vehicle Interface Integrated System Test (Source: INNOSPACE)
INNOSPACE, a South Korean satellite launch service company, announced that the company has successfully completed the Launch Pad-Vehicle Interface Integrated System Test for the HANBIT-Nano launch vehicle. The company independently developed a new portable launch pad, a key infrastructure for the satellite launch, and conducted the test at Samwooeco, the partner company responsible for manufacturing the launch pad, located in Gwangyang, South Korea. (3/17)

Astra Appoints Missile Defense Pioneer Dr. Alan Weston to Lead Rocket Program (Source: Astra)
Astra announced today that Dr. Alan Weston has joined the company as Head of Launch Program, bringing decades of leadership in space launch, missile systems, and national defense to deliver the world’s most mobile and manufacturable launch system. Weston’s appointment is aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of Rocket 4, the company’s next-generation orbital launch vehicle. He will lead Astra’s launch engineering, operations, and production teams as the company prepares to return to flight and scale its launch services globally. (3/21)

Bellatrix Aerospace and Astroscale Japan Sign MOU to Strengthen Space Sustainability and In-Space Mobility (Source: Bellatrix)
Bellatrix Aerospace, a leading Indian space technology company specializing in propulsion systems, and Astroscale Japan, the market leader in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for its cutting-edge propulsion solutions. The collaboration will address opportunities within India’s growing space market and expand to developing international markets. (3/21)

GomSpace Has Reached an Agreement Regarding a Directed Share Issue of SEK 196 Million (Source: GomSpace)
Major investor Peter Hargreaves will buy 28 million new shares at SEK 7.00. The proceeds to the company will be SEK 196 million. Hargreaves will own 41.27 percent of the company after the transaction. The increase in ownership by Hargreaves will trigger a mandatory offering to purchase shares from other investors after completion of the transaction. The capital increase enables the company to seize opportunities arising from the recent surge in European defense budgets and spending. (3/18)

Botswana and Dragonfly Aerospace Celebrate the Successful Launch of BOTSAT-1 (Source: Dragonfly)
Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), in partnership with Dragonfly Aerospace, has successfully launched BOTSAT-1, Botswana’s first national satellite. The satellite was launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9—Transporter-13 rideshare mission on March 15, 2025, marking a historic achievement in Botswana’s journey to becoming a space-faring nation. (3/20)

Starship Raptor Rocket Engine Explodes In Massive Fireball During Test (Source: WCCF Tech)
A SpaceX Raptor engine has exploded on a test stand in Texas, shows footage from local media. The Raptor is responsible for powering SpaceX's Starship rocket, and the explosion came after an 184-second test run. SpaceX regularly tests its equipment to failure, but a Raptor test explosion is a rare event, particularly as the engine was a second-generation Raptor, which is in the production stage. The test run comes as SpaceX's progress with its Starship test program remains on hold in 2025 due to the second-generation spacecraft failing to meet its test objectives in all test flights this year so far. (3/21)

Lightning Triggered by Space Phenomena (Source: Newsweek)
Scientists have revealed a hidden trigger of lightning that could resolve a centuries-old weather mystery. Earth is struck by some 44 bolts of lightning each second, on average. Despite this, physicists have long been unsure exactly how most flashes get started. It is well-established that lightning occurs after clouds build up—and then dramatically release—electrical energy.

But a puzzle lies in how clouds' electric fields that are simply too weak to overcome the insulating properties or air can they cause the "initial breakdown event," which sparks off a powerful discharge. In a new study, researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico argue that this spark is often provided by cosmic ray showers. (3/21)

China Now Has a 'Kill Mesh' in Orbit, Space Force Says (Source: Space.com)
The United States is approaching a turning point in space security, and needs to step up its game before Russia and China close the gap in capabilities, a U.S. Space Force general said. Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein said, warning the Space Force needs to rethink how it defends the country's satellites. Space Force should shift its focus from managing spacecraft in support of defense infrastructure on the ground, to growing its ability to keep pace with the on-orbit weaponry being developed by the country's adversaries, Guetlein argued.

"We're seeing grappling arms in space capable of towing another satellite or holding it hostage," he warned. "We're also now starting to see our near peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellites," he added, stressing that propping up the Space Force would deter such aggression. The Chinese ISR capabilities are becoming very capable. They have gone from what we used to call a 'Kill Chain' to a 'Kill Mesh'," he said, describing an integrated network that intertwines ISR satellites with weapon systems. (3/21)

Securing Cyber and Space: How the United States Can Disrupt China’s Blockade Plans (Source: CSIS)
Recent military exercises and doctrine suggest the leading war plan for Beijing to compel Taiwan is a joint blockade. This plan envisions operations ranging from gray zone quarantines to more traditional protracted blockades that isolate Taipei and shift the balance of risk to U.S. and Japanese forces while setting conditions for follow-on military operations ranging from coercive firepower strikes to full-scale invasion.

A critical element of China’s strategy will be implemented in the cyber and space domains in peacetime. This demands sustained U.S. efforts to constrain China’s ability to harness commercial cyber and space resources before conflict begins. By targeting these networks—both physical and virtual—on which China depends for intelligence, communications, and operational reach, the United States and its allies can blunt Beijing’s coercive potential before a crisis erupts. (3/20)

Italy's Talks on Deploying Musk's Starlink Paused Amid Musk's Alignment with Trump (Source: ArcaMax)
Italy’s talks on deploying billionaire Elon Musk‘s Starlink in military and government applications are on hold, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said. “It appears to me everything has paused, also because the discussion has gone from Starlink to statements from and on the person,” Crosetto said.

“We’re not talking about the technical details. When the controversy quiets down, there will be a technical approach,” he said. “The main point remains: what is most useful and secure for the nation.” Italy has become more cautious about closing a €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) deal with Starlink in the wake of seismic changes in geopolitics brought about by the U.S. administration. (3/22)

Starlink’s Rapid Global Rollout CComplicated by Elon Musk’s Ties to Donald Trump (Source: Financial Times)
The SpaceX founder's foray into politics has begun to hamper its global expansion plans, as regulators in each country need to approve access to their markets. Musk's SpaceX is engaged in talks to rapidly bring the service to countries with 1bn potential new users, including holding negotiations with Turkey, Morocco and Bangladesh, while making progress towards regulatory approval in other vast markets such as India. Some politicians worry whether the SpaceX owner is a reliable partner. (3/23)

After Delays, ESA to Publish Launcher Challenge Call Next Week (Source: European Spaceflight)
During a press briefing following the 332nd ESA Council meeting, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher announced that the agency will publish a call for proposals for the European Launcher Challenge in the coming week. Announced in November 2023, the European Launcher Challenge is intended to support the development of sovereign launch capabilities and, ultimately, a successor to Ariane 6. While few specifics have been confirmed, early indications suggest the program will offer multiple awards of €150 million each. (3/22)

Abu Dhabi Researchers Develop Simulated Moon Dust (Source: NYU Abu Dhabi)
A team of researchers at the NYU Abu Dhabi Space Exploration Laboratory, led by Dimitra Atri, Ph.D., has developed a novel lunar soil simulant that closely replicates the properties of moon dust. Known as the Emirates Lunar Simulant, it will allow scientists to test instruments for the upcoming Emirates Lunar Mission and the UAE's future astronauts on the Moon. (3/20)