May 12, 2025

Rocket Lab Plans Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab said its deal to acquire optical communications supplier Mynaric is a key part of its efforts to eventually operate its own constellation. In an earnings call last week, Rocket Lab executives said that a deal announced in March to acquire Mynaric is "progressing well" as Mynaric goes through a restructuring process under German law. Rocket Lab plans to continue offering Mynaric's technology to other customers but will also integrate it into its own plans for a satellite constellation, arguing that optical intersatellite links are a vital technology for such a system. While Rocket Lab continues to express interest in ultimately having its own constellation, it has provided few details about when it would be deployed and what services it would offer. (5/12)

Canada's MDA Can Repurpose Canadarm if Lunar Gateway is Canceled (Source: Space News)
Canada's MDA Space sees opportunities to repurpose technology for the Canadarm3 robotic arm if it, and the lunar Gateway, are canceled. Company executives said in a call last week that they are continuing work on Canadarm3 for the Gateway under a contract awarded last year by the Canadian Space Agency despite a White House budget proposal earlier this month that seeks to cancel Gateway. The company believes that, even if Gateway is canceled, NASA will work with other space agencies to find ways to reuse those systems in Artemis. MDA Space is also using Canadarm3 technologies for its own commercial line of robotic arms it is offering to commercial space station developers and others. (5/12)

Smaller GEO Satellites Are the Future (Source: Space News)
The future of geostationary orbit communications satellites may feature smaller spacecraft. A new generation of smaller, more nimble communications satellites is emerging, offering faster deployment, lower costs and greater flexibility that traditional larger GEO satellites. Just six commercial communications satellites were ordered for GEO in 2024, the lowest annual tally in two decades, and half were 1,000 kilograms or smaller. Lower cost, quicker build times and adaptability make small GEOs attractive for niche markets, rapid deployment needs and specific regional or governmental applications such as secure communications and national broadband access. (5/12)

China Launches Military Satellites (Source: Xhinua)
China launched a trio of military satellites Sunday. A Long March 6 rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and placed into orbit the three Yaogan-40 (02) satellites. Chinese media said the satellites will perform "electromagnetic environment detection and related technical tests," but the satellites are believed to have military applications such as signals intelligence. (5/12)

India's Military Hurries Development of Recon Satellites (Source: Mint)
The Indian military is asking companies to accelerate work on a series of reconnaissance satellites. Ananth Technologies, Centum Electronics and Alpha Design Technologies received contracts last year to develop 31 surveillance satellites that, at the time, were to be completed by the end of 2028. Those companies have now been asked to speed up that development, with a new goal of having the satellites done by the end of 2026. The Indian government has released few details about the capabilities of the satellites, part of a $3 billion initiative called Space-Based Surveillance-3 that also includes government-developed satellites. The request to accelerate work came shortly before the recent tensions between India and Pakistan. (5/12)

Interlune Gains Customers for Lunar Helium-3 (Source: Geekwire)
Interlune has announced its first customers for helium-3 it proposes to extract from the moon. The company said last week that the U.S. Department of Energy agreed to purchase three liters of helium-3 no later than April 2029 "at approximately today’s commercial market price" of about $3,000 per liter. Maybell Quantum, a quantum computing company, also agreed to purchase "thousands" of liters of helium-3 from Interlune between 2029 and 2035. The startup separately announced a partnership with an industrial equipment manufacturer, Vermeer Corp., to develop an excavator that would collect up to 100 metric tons of lunar regolith per hour, from which helium-3 would be extracted. (5/12)

Texas' Midland Spaceport Touts Aerospace Jobs Created (Source: MDC)
The landlocked Midland International Air & Space Port in Texas says over 200 jobs are resulting from the Midland Development Corp.'s recruitment of four aerospace companies to the facility: AST SpaceMobile, Starfighters International, Firehawk Aerospace, and Castelion Corp. Click here. (5/11)

Virgin Galactic Official Encourages Florida Tech Grads (Source: Florida Today)
After assembling model rockets as a kid in rural Pennsylvania and dreaming of becoming an astronomer, Mike Moses embarked on a distinguished 17-year NASA career centered on human spaceflight — where he oversaw the final 12 space shuttle missions from Kennedy Space Center. Today, Moses is guiding development of Virgin Galactic's next-generation Delta-class rocket planes. These sleek spacecraft may start transporting private astronauts on flights soaring more than 50 miles above Earth's surface by fall 2026 from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Moses — who earned a Florida Tech master’s degree in space sciences in 1991 — delivered the College of Engineering and Science commencement speech at the Clemente Center to a crowd of graduates and their relatives and well-wishers. (5/11)

NASA Celebrated This Employee's Story of Resilience, Then Tried to Scrub it From the Internet. Then Fired Her (Source: Space.com)
Rose Ferreira has had it anything but easy. The trajectory of her life has been so turbulent, in fact, that NASA, her previous employer, published a feature article about her determination on its website. That story chronicles her journey from a poverty-stricken childhood in the Caribbean and years living unhoused, to pursuing her education and rising to become a NASA intern, which ultimately led to working at the space agency full-time. In January, that article vanished from NASA's website.

As an onslaught of executive orders and directives signed by President Trump sent federal agencies into a frenzy of program cancellations and mass layoffs, NASA's acting administrator Janet Petro began aligning the agency with the White House's new laws of the land. That included eliminating any office or program associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives. NASA promptly began firing employees affiliated with such efforts. The agency also started systematically purging its websites of any instances highlighting diversity and inclusion.

No one from NASA contacted Ferreira in any official capacity to inform her about what was going on, either before the article was taken down or after it was quietly put back online. Pneumonia prevented her from returning to her job at NASA for another few weeks — and when she did, it wasn't easy. She said she immediately knew what was happening when she walked into her weekly one-on-one with her supervisor; the meeting had an unexpected attendee, an HR representative. She was told she was being let go because she wasn't fulfilling her position's responsibilities, "effective immediately." (5/12)

General Atomics Wins Space Force Optical Comm Contract (Source: SatNews)
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems has secured a contract from the US Space Force for Phase 2 of the Enterprise Space Terminal program, aiming to enhance optical communications for Defense Department space platforms. The project focuses on resilient, high-capacity communication beyond low Earth orbit. (5/11)

FCC Gives Clues That Next Starship Launch From Texas is Soon (Source: WCCF Tech)
Over the past few weeks, two Coast Guard notices have indicated that Flight 9 will fly soon. The latest of these lists a launch period starting from May 20th, and an email sent by the FCC to SpaceX mentions May 19th to indicate that Starship will fly again soon. (5/10)

RIX to Support Cryogenic Cooling for Radio Astronomy Observatory (Source: RIX)
The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) is excited to announce a collaboration with RIX Industries to explore innovative cryogenic cooling solutions for the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), a transformative radio astronomy project poised to redefine our understanding of the universe.

The ngVLA, envisioned as an array of up to 263 antennas spread across North America, will significantly surpass the capabilities of the current U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA). To achieve its ambitious scientific goals while maintaining operational efficiency, NSF NRAO is prioritizing advancements in cryogenic cooling systems, which are critical for maintaining optimal performance of sensitive radio receivers. (5/12)

Germany is Building Spy Satellites to Help Ukraine Watch Russia Without the US (Source: Euromaidan)
Rheinmetall and Finnish satellite manufacturer ICEYE signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to form a joint venture focused on satellite production, including continued support for Ukraine’s defense needs. While the US remains a key intelligence provider to Kyiv, European officials view that support as increasingly unreliable. In March 2025, the Trump administration paused military aid and satellite data to Ukraine, reinforcing Europe’s push for independent space-based capabilities. (5/10)

Early Galaxies May Contribute to the 'Afterglow' of the Universe (Source: Phys.org)
The "afterglow" of the universe is an important piece of evidence for the Big Bang. This background radiation also provides important answers to the question of how the first galaxies were able to form. Researchers at the Universities of Bonn, Prague and Nanjing calculate that the strength of this radiation has probably been overestimated up to now. If the results prove to be accurate, it would call into question the theoretical foundation of the standard model of cosmology. (5/9)

NASA Is Increasing Employee Location Tracking (Source: NASA Watch)
It would seem that DOGE is tracking NASA employees as they come – and go – at NASA Headquarters. And if they are doing it there then you can expect that this will be done across the agency. And that is the plan.

According to sources there is a new DOGE-imposed requirement across NASA. The exact timing of its implementation is not clear. Presently, to enter a NASA facility you need to use a PIV (Personal Identity Verification) card – a smart card with a computer chip in it. DOGE is telling NASA to implement additional tracking of employees for efficiency purposes and that employees will need to use the PIV card to exit a facility as well. In other words its a virtual time card. (5/10)

New Mexico's Spaceport America Looks Up and Into the Future (Source: Space.com)
Already home to an array of commercial space industry tenants, such as Virgin Galactic, SpinLaunch, Up Aerospace, and Prismatic, Spaceport America is a "rocket-friendly environment of 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace, low population density, a 12,000-foot by 200-foot runway, vertical launch complexes, and about 340 days of sunshine and low humidity," the organization boasts on its website.

Scott McLaughlin is an engineer, drawing upon a past of design and business marketing to help determine how best to grow Spaceport America, an inland spot in southern New Mexico desert that offers 18,000 acres adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range. Space.com caught up with McLaughlin in an exclusive interview. Click here. (5/11)

'Ludicrous' Increase in Starship Launches is Frustrating South Texans (Source: Houston Chronicle)
"The FAA must send SpaceX back to 'square one' and demand SpaceX complete a new and full Environmental Impact Statement," Christopher Basaldú said. "SpaceX has been polluting the land and the water and lying about it for years. For the FAA to pretend that this has 'no significant environmental impact' is ludicrous." Moriba Jah, a professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin, said he thought the FAA assessment "wasn't good enough" and unnecessarily increases the launches out of Texas.

"I'm all for technology, and I'm all for space exploration and utilization of space for humanity's benefit. There's a right way to do it and a dumb way to do it," Jah told Chron. "I feel that we're just doing the dumb way, which is just trying to accelerate making these things happen, versus pacing ourselves and having a successful conversation with the environment so that we can make environmentally informed and sustainable decisions."

To Jah, the right launch cadence is one where "we make some decisions that are inclusive in terms of who we bring to the table to have a voice in those decisions, and we experiment and see what the response from the environment is." (5/10)