March 9, 2025

Italy's Co-Ruling League Takes Aim at Eutelsat, Says Starlink Better (Source: Reuters)
Italy's co-ruling League party is pushing Rome to pick U.S. company Starlink over French-led operator Eutelsat in talks to obtain systems for secure satellite communications, saying Starlink's technology is more advanced. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government aims to guarantee encrypted communications between the government, diplomats and defense officials operating in risky areas. (3/7)

FCC Allows a Power Boost for SpaceX’s Direct-to-Smartphone Service (Source: Space News)
SpaceX secured permission March 7 to provide direct-to-smartphone satellite services at higher power levels to improve connectivity beyond the reach of cell towers across the United States. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it is allowing SpaceX to emit more power into spectrum bands adjacent to its partner T-Mobile’s frequencies, provided it does not interfere with other networks following concerns from rival telcos. (3/7)

How USAF and USSF’s Force Generation Models Overlap: ‘You Can’t Part Time Warfare’ (Source: Air & Space Forces)
How Airmen and Guardians prepare for and perform operations may be very different, but the Air Force and Space Force’s models for generating those forces aren’t all that dissimilar in their focus on readiness and teamwork, leaders said. It also doesn’t hurt that their names are nearly identical—Air Force Force Generation (AFFORGEN) and Space Force Generation (SPAFORGEN). (3/6)

NASA Receives Some Data Before Intuitive Machines Ends Lunar Mission (Source: NASA)
As part of the company’s second Moon delivery for NASA under the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the IM-2 mission included a drill to bring lunar soil to the surface and a mass spectrometer to look for the presence of volatiles, or gases, that could one day help provide fuel or breathable oxygen to future Artemis explorers.

Among the data collected, NASA’s PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1) suite, which includes the lunar drill known as TRIDENT (The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain), successfully demonstrated the hardware’s full range of motion in the harsh environment of space. The Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) as part of the PRIME-1 suite of instruments, detected elements likely due to the gases emitted from the lander’s propulsion system.

“While this mission didn’t achieve all of its objectives for NASA, the work that went into the payload development is already informing other agency and commercial efforts,” said Clayton Turner. (3/7)

New 'Starman' Documentary Shines Light on NASA JPL Legend Gentry Lee (Source: Space.com)
Gentry Lee, the certified Hall of Famer engineer from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and distinguished science fiction author, is getting his time in the spotlight in a new documentary on his life launching at the SXSW 2025 Film Festival in Austin this weekend. (3/8)

Looming Cuts – But A Mostly Silent Space Community (Source: NASA Watch)
After 6 weeks of chaos most of the space advocacy and industry lobbying community are going along with whatever happens to the NASA and its contractor community. No approval or disapproval. Just BAAAH like sheep. Yes, I am talking about you: Aerospace Industries Association, American Astronautical Society, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, Commercial Spaceflight Federation, National Space Club, Space For Humanity, Club for the Future, Space Foundation, Space Frontier Foundation, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Space Force Association, Women in Aerospace, etc. (3/8)

Forget Concorde Radian Will Be 11 Times Faster (Source: Luxury Launches)
Seattle-based aerospace company Radian Aerospace is preparing to revolutionize long-distance travel with its groundbreaking spaceplane, the Radian One. This single-stage-to-orbit vehicle promises to transform how we travel across the globe and access low Earth orbit, combining the convenience of aircraft with the capabilities of spacecraft.

The Radian One’s headline-grabbing specification is its astonishing top speed of approximately 18,000 mph (Mach 22.5), making it over ten times faster than the iconic Concorde, which cruised at about 1,350 mph. (3/9)

Potentially Habitable Super-earth Discovered Just 20 Light-years Away (Source: Daily Galaxy)
Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth just 20 light-years away, orbiting a Sun-like star in the habitable zone—where liquid water might exist. Could this be one of our best chances to study an Earth-like world up close? The newly confirmed planet is the third discovered in the HD 20794 system, but what sets HD 20794 d apart is its position within the habitable zone. (3/8)

NASA’s Rover Discovers Bizarre Martian Rocks That Defy Explanation (Source: Daily Galaxy)
NASA’s Perseverance rover has stumbled upon a collection of mysterious Martian rocks, sparking new questions about the Red Planet’s past. These high-aluminum rocks, rich in kaolinite, suggest that Mars was once far warmer and wetter than previously believed—potentially even hospitable to life. If confirmed, this finding could reshape our understanding of Mars’ history and its potential to have once supported microbial organisms. (3/8)

South Africa Rejects Musk Claim Starlink Can't Operate There Because He's Not Black (Source: Reuters)
South Africa on Friday rejected a claim by multibillionaire Elon Musk that his Starlink satellite company could not operate in the country because he is not Black, and its telecoms regulator said Starlink had not applied for a license. In his latest rebuke of the country where he was born and went to school, Musk wrote on X, which he also owns: "Starlink is not allowed to operate in South Africa, because I'm not black". (3/7)

New Theory Says Gravity May Come From Entropy—Which Could Lead to a Unified Theory of Physics (Source: Popular Mechanics)
A new theory suggests that gravity could possibly be the result of entropy. If true, this would mean that everything in the universe would fall apart if it all remained unchanged. This theory tries to reconcile Einstein’s theory of general relativity (which sees gravity as a warping of spacetime) with quantum theory (which views the universe as being made of extremely small objects that can exist in particle or wave form). (3/7)

China’s Progress on ‘Game-Changing’ Space Technology Raises US Concerns About Closing Gap (Source: South China Morning Post)
China is making progress on potentially “game-changing” space technology, fueling American concerns that the gap between the two sides is narrowing, according to a US Space Force official. The comments follow the launch in January of China’s Shijian-25 satellite, which tested technologies that allow refueling in orbit and to extend the life of spacecraft, according to state media reports. (3/9)

How Las Cruces Lost the Spaceport America Cup (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
For seven years, the world’s largest annual college-level rocket competition drew thousands of visitors to Las Cruces and to New Mexico’s taxpayer-built spaceport in Sierra County — except during the COVID-19 pandemic — for a week of exhibitions, rocket launches and ceremonies that filled the convention center and promoted Spaceport America’s vertical launch facility.

But this year, the nonprofit Experimental Sounding Rocket Association, which has organized the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition since 2006, has permanently moved the competition to Midland, Texas. The Spaceport America Cup, as the event was known since it moved from Utah to New Mexico in 2017, is no more.

Over 120 teams from universities in dozens of countries and 34 states participated in the event last June, with 1,800 participating in person. The competition also drew researchers harvesting data from payloads attached to rockets flying up to 30,000 feet. Aerospace companies seized opportunities to recruit engineering talent among the contestants. (3/9)

Fuel Leak Blamed for Falcon 9 booster Loss After Landing (Source: Space News)
A Falcon 9 booster that was destroyed after landing March 2 suffered a fuel leak during its flight that triggered a fire. SpaceX officials speaking at two briefings March 7 about upcoming launches for NASA provided new details about the incident on the March 2 launch of a set of Starlink satellites which caused the booster to topple after landing on a droneship.

Denton Gibson, launch director for the mission for NASA LSP, confirmed at the briefing that NASA did its own independent evaluation of the incident, offering a “fresh set of eyes” to ensure there are no issues with the upcoming launch. “We’ve gone through that process and we’ve gotten comfortable,” he said. (3/8)