April 27, 2025

Russian Satellite at Center of Nuclear Weapons Allegations is Spinning Out of Control, Analysts Say (Source: Guardian)
A secretive Russian satellite in space that US officials believe is connected to a nuclear anti-satellite weapons program has appeared to be spinning uncontrollably, suggesting it may no longer be functioning. The Cosmos 2553 satellite, launched by Russia weeks before invading Ukraine in 2022, has had various bouts of what appears to be errant spinning over the past year, according to Doppler radar data from space-tracking firm LeoLabs and optical data from Slingshot Aerospace.

Believed to be a radar satellite for Russian intelligence as well as a radiation testing platform, the satellite last year became the center of US allegations that Russia for years has been developing a nuclear weapon capable of destroying entire satellite networks, such as SpaceX’s vast Starlink internet system that Ukrainian troops have been using. (4/26)

Hegseth Dismisses Members of Key DoD Advisory Boards (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has discharged members of Pentagon advisory boards on defense policy and military technology, adding to the upheaval during his time at the Pentagon, current and former officials said. In a memo explaining the dismissals at the Defense Policy Board, the Defense Science Board and other advisory panels, Hegseth wrote that the Pentagon requires “fresh thinking to drive bold changes.” (4/25)

Satellite Scans of the Deepest Lunar Craters Reveal Alarming Results for Future Moon Colonies (Source: Daily Galaxy)
A new analysis of satellite scans from the deepest lunar craters has led to some surprising and chilling results that could dramatically impact future moon colonization plans. Researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and their partners have re-examined data from the ShadowCam aboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) and have revised earlier estimates of water ice deposits found in the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). The scans reveal significantly fewer ice deposits than initially believed, which could pose a challenge for future lunar colonies that rely on local resources. (4/26)

Astrotech Wins Space Force Contract to Expand Processing Capacity at California Spaceport (Source: USSF)
The Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) awarded a $77.5 million National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Space Vehicle (SV) Processing Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) contract to Astrotech Space Operations (ASO) to expand commercial SV processing capacity for NSSL missions at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California by 2028. (4/25)

NASA Administrator Was Once Arrested, Accused of Passing Bad Checks to Casinos (Source: Reuters)
President Donald Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, was arrested on fraud charges in 2010 and faced lawsuits in two states for writing $2 million in bad checks to casinos, according to government records and court filings.
Isaacman is a billionaire pilot and astronaut who founded the Shift4 Payments company as a teenager and commanded the first civilian space crew in 2021 aboard a SpaceX capsule. (4/25)

California Fraudster Duped Investors with Lies About Space Business (Source: Mercury News)
Ramesh Nathan told investors his Bay Area spacecraft company had seven offices around the world, employed more than 15,000 people, and generated $30 billion in profit in a single quarter. But, according to the indictment that just led to his fraud conviction, the company had no offices, no workers and no revenue. A jury on Thursday found Nathan, 43, found guilty of fraud and money laundering after an eight-day trial.

In 2016 and 2017, and possibly earlier, Nathan took about $50,000 from six investors, including U.S. military veterans, his indictment said. He reeled them in with false promises that his San Francisco-based Relativity Research Fund was involved in development of interstellar space travel technology, prototype spacecraft, combustion-free propulsion systems, cutting-edge robotics, and other innovations, the indictment said. (4/25)

Reaction Dynamics Wins Million-Dollar Investment (Source: SpaceQ)
Canadian launch and propulsion startup Reaction Dynamics (RDX) scored a big win last week. Not just figuratively, but literally: after competing in several rounds of Tim Draper’s startup pitch reality show, Meet The Drapers, Reaction Dynamics emerged triumphant in the finals, with a million-dollar investment from Draper’s venture capital firm. (4/25)

Colorado Springs-Based Space Foundation Teams Up with International Space University (Source: The Gazette)
As space industry leaders sounded a call to action this month to address growing gaps in the United States space workforce, some industry giants are already leading the charge. Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation, through its Space Workforce for Tomorrow initiative, and International Space University, headquartered near Strasbourg, France, have teamed up to advance space education and address workforce needs in the American space industry, according to a joint news release this week. (4/25)

Tesla Takedown Group Takes Victory Lap and Aims for Starlink and SpaceX (Source: Teslarati)
The Tesla Takedown movement has taken a victory lap following the release of the electric vehicle maker’s first quarter 2025 earnings. With the group feeling encouraged by its results with the EV maker, Tesla Takedown is now setting its sights at Elon Musk’s other ventures, such as Starlink and SpaceX. Because high-speed and reliable satellite internet for people in remote areas and the most affordable spaceflight provider for the United States need to be damaged, it seems.

Despite its name, Tesla Takedown is really more like an anti-Elon Musk group. Thus, it was no surprise that in a statement, the group noted that it is now setting its sights on Musk’s other ventures. As per Tesla Takedown, it is already making preparations for similar efforts against the CEO’s other ventures, such as SpaceX and Starlink. “Tesla Takedown has already started laying the groundwork to expand Tesla Takedown efforts to target other Musk businesses including SpaceX, Starlink, X and xAI,” the Tesla Takedown group noted. (4/25)

Booz Allen, Meta Test ‘Space Llama’ AI System On Space Station (Source: Aviation Week)
Booz Allen Hamilton and Meta have deployed their “Space Llama” artificial intelligence (AI) system to the International Space Station (ISS). A test of Space Llama 3.2, conducted on April 24, verified the system as “fully functional” and showed it had a Technology Readiness Level of 8. (4/25)

Space Perspective's Balloon Dreams Deflate (Source: Travel Weekly)
Space Perspective, a space tour operator that planned to use a high-altitude balloon to send people to the edge of space, appears to have ceased operations after being evicted from a Florida airport. According to court records, the company owed $90,295 in unpaid rent to the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority, which oversees Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, where Space Perspective leased three properties, including a hangar.

After failing to pay rent, the company was evicted in March. Although Space Perspective's website remains operational and appears to still accept bookings, the company's telephone number has been disconnected and the company has not posted on its social media pages since December. Interim CEO Michael Savage did not respond to Travel Weekly inquiries. (4/25)

Weapons of War are Launching From Cape Canaveral for the First Time Since 1988 (Source: Ars Technica)
The Army's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon fired out of a canister on a road-mobile trailer shortly after sunrise on Florida's Space Coast, then headed east over the Atlantic Ocean propelled by a solid-fueled rocket booster. This missile launch and a similar one in December are the first tests of land-based offensive weapons at Cape Canaveral since 1988, when the military last tested Pershing ballistic missiles there. The launch range in Florida continues to support offshore tests of submarine-launched Trident missiles, and now is a center for hypersonic missile testing. (4/25)

Musk Sat in on Job Interview for Air Force’s Top Civilian (Source: Breaking Defense)
SpaceX founder Elon Musk was present at President Donald Trump’s interview of his Air Force Secretary nominee Troy Meink, confirmed Meink in written responses to Sen. Elizabeth Warren obtained by Breaking Defense.

Musk was “one of many” people present at the meeting and only Trump directed questions toward the nominee, Meink stated. However, the disclosure could raise further concerns about Meink’s ties to SpaceX and Musk after Reuters reported in February — citing seven people familiar with the matter — that Musk had recommended Meink for the job after Meink helped push a multi-billion dollar satellite contract toward SpaceX. (4/25)

New Study: There Are Lots of Icy Super-Earths (Source: Ars Technica)
What does the "typical" exosolar system look like? We know it's not likely to look like our own Solar System, given that our familiar planets don't include entire classes of planets (Hot Jupiters! Mini-Neptunes!) that we've found elsewhere. And our discovery methods have been heavily biased toward planets that orbit close to their host star, so we don't really have a strong sense of what might be lurking in more distant orbits.

A new study released on Thursday describes a search for what are called "microlensing" events, where a planet acts as a gravitational lens that magnifies the star it's orbiting, causing it to brighten briefly. These events are difficult to capture, but can potentially indicate the presence of planets in more distant orbits. The researchers behind the new work find indications that there's a significant population of rocky super-Earths that are traveling in orbits similar to that of Jupiter and Saturn. (4/25)

New Analysis Casts Doubt on 'Biosignatures' Found on Planet K2-18b (Source: NPR)
Astronomers have been poring over last week's claim of the detection of life-associated gases in the atmosphere of a distant planet named K2-18b — "the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system," as a University of Cambridge press release put it. But already, one independent check suggests the announcement was overhyped.

Jake Taylor of the University of Oxford, who studies the atmospheres of far-away planets with the James Webb Space Telescope, did a quick reanalysis of the starlight filtering through K2-18b's atmosphere. He used a simple method to look for the tell-tale signals of gas molecules of any kind.

He was "agnostic" in his approach, and did not look specifically for the exciting sulfur-based gases that, on Earth, are primarily associated with life-forms such as marine microbes. "I wanted to not 'assume' what molecules would be in the atmosphere," Taylor told NPR in an email. "I directly analyzed the transmission spectrum that they analyzed, in order to have a similar comparison." The results he got suggested that there's too much noise in the data to draw any conclusions. (4/25)

China Reveals the Foreign Scientists Awarded Rare Lunar Samples (Source: Science)
Seven institutions in six countries will gain access to tiny shares of the lunar material. Notably, two institutions in the United States are getting samples, even though Chinese researchers have not been able to access NASA’s Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by the U.S. Congress. CNSA issued a call for proposals from internationally led groups to use the Chang’e-5 samples in August 2023, drawing two dozen applications from 11 countries and international organizations. (4/24)

Firefly Aerospace to Launch Lockheed Martin LM400 Tech Demo Satellite on Alpha Rocket From California (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A perfect storm of range restrictions and suboptimal weather seems to finally be clearing for Firefly Aerospace. After delaying the flight of their sixth Alpha rocket for more than a month, the company announced a new launch window, which opens on Sunday. Onboard the rocket, designated FLTA006 by Firefly Aerospace, is a technology demonstration for Lockheed Martin’s LM400 satellite bus. (4/26)

Blue Origin Test Fires Second Stage and Continues Preparations for New Glenn’s Second Flight (Source: NSF)
Blue Origin recently test-fired the second stage for New Glenn’s second flight, while other preparations for this and other future flights are underway at the company’s facilities in Florida. The second stage’s test firing is one of a number of steps that must be completed before the rocket’s second flight, currently thought to be around the middle of this year. The second stage, also known as Glenn Stage 2 (GS2), was erected at Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport on April 21. (4/25)