March 5, 2025

Dark Matter, if it Exists, has a Strictly Limited Lifetime, New Study Says (Source: Earth.com)
Advanced instrumentation has now sparked renewed attempts to uncover possible signals from dark matter in the near infrared spectrum. After reviewing recently collected data, scientists are discussing results that appear to set new standards on how long certain dark matter particles can last. They used an infrared spectrograph, known as WINERED, which picks up subtle features in light that might reveal how dark matter decays.

Researchers are particularly keen on the near infrared band because some dark matter models point to that range as a possible hotspot. The Magellan Clay Telescope in Chile gathered significant infrared data from galaxies named Leo V and Tucana II. Their measurements pointed to no noticeable bursts at certain frequencies, which suggests that axionlike particle decay was not observed. The absence of any distinct signal implies that these particles, if they exist, might survive for more than 1025 seconds, which is many times the age of our cosmos. (3/5)

Commercial Images Program to Grow After Pilot Success (Source: Air & Space Forces)
The US Space Force is expanding the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking program after a successful pilot phase involving civilian satellite intelligence monitoring security during military operations. The program has been praised for filling gaps in coverage and supporting allies, and demand has surged, prompting efforts to secure more funding. (3/4)

Space Force Takes Incremental Approach with FORGE System (Source: DefenseScoop)
The Space Force is adopting an incremental approach for its Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution system, with updates planned annually, following the delivery of the first key component last year. The system will support the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared constellation and the Space-Based Infrared System, with major components being developed by RTX and BAE Systems. (3/4)

UK's Royal Society of Top Scientists Mulls Call to Oust Elon Musk (Source: Space Daily)
Britain's Royal Society will hold a crunch meeting on Monday following calls to expel technology billionaire Elon Musk, the world's richest man, from the prestigious institute of scientists. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society describes itself as a "fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists" and is a key voice in the global scientific community.

Past members have included Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Dorothy Hodgkin, Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Hawking. But after members raised concerns about Musk, the owner of SpaceX, Tesla and the social network X who was elected a fellow in 2018, the organization said it would discuss "the principles around public pronouncements and behaviors of fellows".

Nobel prize winners were among more than 3,000 people who signed an open letter last month saying Musk had broken the Society's code of conduct by promoting "unfounded conspiracy theories". Researchers say changes Musk made to X after his 2022 takeover of the site formerly known as Twitter have led to a spike in misinformation. (3/3)

China Advances Manned Lunar Program for 2030 Moon Landing (Source: Space Daily)
China is making steady strides toward its goal of landing astronauts on the moon by 2030, with research and development efforts progressing as scheduled, the China Manned Space Agency announced Monday. According to the agency's latest update, key elements of the lunar mission-including the Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket, the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft, the Lanyue lunar lander, the Wangyu lunar suit, and the Tansuo lunar rover-are in their initial prototype development stage, with design work proceeding on track. (3/4)

Rocket Lab Space Software Aids in Successful Lunar Landing for Firefly's Blue Ghost 1 Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket Lab has played a key role in the successful Moon landing of Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1, which touched down on March 2 at 8:34 a.m. UTC (3:34 a.m. ET). The mission relied on Rocket Lab's MAX Flight and MAX Ground Data Software suites to enable precise navigation, control, and telemetry throughout its descent and landing phases.

The Blue Ghost 1 lander's performance was bolstered by Rocket Lab's advanced software, which provides critical functions such as commanding, telemetry processing, autonomous sequencing, attitude determination, guidance, navigation, control, and fault protection. These capabilities ensured mission success across all operational phases, from launch to lunar touchdown. (3/4)

Launchers: Spaceport Infrastructure Insufficient for Coming Launch Surge (Source: Space News)
Executives with major launch companies say U.S. spaceports are not equipped to handle a surge of launch activity. At the Air & Space Forces Association's Warfare Conference this week, the CEOs of Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance and a SpaceX vice president said the industry must collectively prepare for a future where multiple daily launches are the norm, a tempo that  government-run launch ranges at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California cannot support.

They cited issues such as protocols that don't allow simultaneous launches by different providers at the Cape. They suggested federal launch ranges should conduct exercises simulating multiple daily launches to identify bottlenecks and called on the Space Force to work with launch companies to prioritize investments in spaceport infrastructure. (3/5)

NASA Picks Firefly to Launch INCUS Mission (Source: Space News)
NASA selected Firefly Aerospace to launch an Earth science mission. The agency said Tuesday it awarded a task order through its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare contract to Firefly for the launch of the Investigation of Convective Updrafts mission, no earlier than late 2026 on an Alpha rocket. INCUS will fly three smallsats in formation to study the creation of storms. Firefly is preparing for the Alpha launch of a Lockheed Martin satellite as soon as this month, the first of a projected five Alpha missions this year. (3/5)

ElevationSpace Picks Isar to Launch AOBA Mission (Source: Space News)
Isar Aerospace won a launch contract from a Japanese company. Microgravity services startup ElevationSpace signed a contract with Germany's Isar for the launch of AOBA, a 200-kilogram spacecraft designed to test a recoverable platform for space-based experiments and manufacturing. That satellite is planned to launch in the second half of 2026 on Isar's Spectrum rocket. Isar recently announced it completed testing of the first Spectrum rocket and needs only a launch license from Norwegian regulators before attempting a launch from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. (3/5)

Trump Mentions Mars and Golden Dome in SOTU Speech (Source: Space Policy Online)
President Donald Trump briefly mentioned Mars and Golden Dome in an address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. In the speech, Trump said "we're going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond." That is similar to comments from his inaugural address when he said astronauts would plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars, but did not offer a schedule or other details in either speech. He also asked Congress to fund "a state-of-the-art Golden Dome shield," a missile defense system previously called Iron Dome for America that will likely include a significant space-based component. (3/5)

Space Force Prepares for Workforce Reductions (Source: Defense News)
The Space Force is preparing for potential workforce reductions. Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of the service's Space Systems Command, said there's "a lot of concern" about potential firings of probationary civil servants and broader layoffs directed by the Office of Personnel Management. He said he is working to make sure affected employees are taken care of while redistributing work among the remaining staff. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman separately said he is worried about cuts to a service that is trying to grow, but added that the Space Force was designed to be "lean and agile." (3/5)

Astranis Transmits GPS Signals with GEO Broadband Payload (Source: Space News)
Astranis has successfully demonstrated it can transmit GPS signals using its geostationary broadband communications payload. The company announced Tuesday it demonstrated in the lab that its small GEO satellites can provide GPS signals as part of a Resilient GPS (R-GPS) program study. Astranis is competing with L3Harris and Sierra Space for the next phase of the program when the Space Force is expected to select a vendor to deploy eight R-GPS satellites by 2028, and ultimately up to 24 satellites. (3/5)

NASA Astronauts Caution Against Early ISS Deorbit (Source: Space News)
NASA astronauts on the ISS say it would be a mistake to deorbit the station early. In a call with reporters Tuesday, Suni Williams argued that the station is "in our prime" and that "right now was probably not the right time to call it quits." SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently called for deorbiting the station as soon as 2027 to focus on Mars, arguing that the station has "very little incremental utility." The astronauts said they had no information about Musk's earlier claims that he offered an early return of Williams and Butch Wilmore, who arrived on the station in June on a Starliner test flight, although Wilmore said he believed what Musk said was "absolutely factual." (3/5)

Raven Space Systems Gets NASA and AFRL Support for Solid Rocket Motor Nozzles (Source: Space News)
Additive-manufacturing startup Raven Space Systems has secured agreements with NASA and the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). The company is developing technologies to produce solid rocket motor nozzles and thermal protection systems using 3-D printing. The agreements with NASA and AFRL will support work to test and characterize printed solid rocket motor parts. The startup also has Air Force, NASA and the National Science Foundation contracts valued at more than $4 million to apply its patented microwave-assisted deposition process to aerospace and defense products. (3/5)

James Webb Spots Mysterious Object Crossing Space Between Stars (Source: Futurism)
NASA's groundbreaking James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a mysterious object that's freely floating through interstellar space. According to NASA, the "planetary-mass" object, dubbed SIMP 0136, is roughly 13 times the mass of Jupiter, and is located just 20 light-years from Earth. It's also spinning at a breakneck speed, completing a full rotation every 2.4 hours.

Thanks to the JWST's detailed infrared light observations, an international team of researchers detected signs of "complex atmospheric features," including possible cloud layers and temperature shifts in the object's atmosphere. (3/4)

Solar System is Teeming with 1 Million 'Alien Invaders' From Alpha Centauri (Source: Space.com)
One million alien visitors from another star system could already be lurking in the solar system. We aren't talking about "little green men" here, however — more "little (and not so little) gray rocks," asteroids from the triple star system Alpha Centauri. New research has indicated that, if Alpha Centauri ejects as much material as the solar system, then as many as one million space rocks larger than 328 feet (100 meters) wide could be lurking in the Oort Cloud, a band of icy material at the edge of our solar system.

Some of these alien visitors could even make their way into the inner solar system. The scientists behind the new finding suggest that the amount of material entering the solar system from Alpha Centauri will increase over the next 28,000 years as the neighboring star system makes its closest approach to our own. (3/5)

Canadian Officials Cancel Starlink Contract, Propose 100% Tariffs on Teslas (Source: Gizmodo)
On Tuesday, the Trump administration put into effect its long-threatened tariffs on consumer goods from both of those countries, with the President claiming that the tariffs were necessary to stem the tide of illegal immigrants flowing into the United States. In response, those countries have instituted many of their own retaliatory tariffs and economic punishments on American products, including some targeted at Trump’s political partner, DOGE douchebag Elon Musk.

On Tuesday, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario (Canada’s most populous province), announced the termination of a 100 million Canadian dollar (~$68 million American) contract with Musk’s satellite company, Starlink. Additionally, Ford said that American companies would be forbidden from bidding on the $30 billion worth of procurement contracts that are annually paid out by the province’s government. At the same time, a former high-ranking official has proposed instituting a blanket 100% tariff on Musk’s car company, Tesla. (3/5)