May 7, 2025

Space Manufacturing Poised for Commercial Breakthrough (Source: WIRED)
The microgravity environment of Earth's orbit offers unique manufacturing opportunities that could lead to higher-quality products, such as purer silicon wafers and advanced pharmaceuticals. And thanks to more cost-effective rocket launch and retrieval systems, this new frontier in manufacturing could be one step closer to becoming reality. (5/6)

Japan's Resilience Lander Enters Lunar Orbit (Source: Space News)
Japanese lunar lander Resilience has entered orbit around the moon ahead of a landing attempt next month. The lander's developer, ispace, said the vehicle entered orbit Tuesday after a nine-minute burn by its main thruster. Resilience launched in January, flying a low-energy trajectory to minimize propulsion requirements. The spacecraft is scheduled to land in the Mare Frigoris region of the moon June 5, carrying a small rover and other payloads. (5/7)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites From Florida (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Tuesday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, placing 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the 470th for the Falcon 9. (5/7)

South Korea Aims For ESA Collaboration (Source: ChosunBiz)
South Korea is seeking closer ties to the European Space Agency as a hedge against changing American policies. Officials with the Korean space agency KASA met with their ESA counterparts last month and discussed South Korea becoming a "non-member" ESA state like Canada, which has a cooperating state agreement with ESA. Korean officials said that working with ESA is a way to diversify its international cooperation efforts that have focused on working with NASA, given uncertainties about the future of U.S. space exploration policy. (5/7)

Virts Considers Senate Run for Cornyn's Texas Seat (Source: New York Times)
A former NASA astronaut is considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Terry Virts is weighing a run for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat currently held by Republican John Cornyn in Texas. Virts has reportedly talked with other Texas Democrats about a possible run in 2026, with Cornyn facing a strong challenge in the Republican primary. (5/7)

France's Safran Defense & Space Opens New Headquarters in Virginia (Source: Safran)
Safran Defense & Space announces the grand opening of its new U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The event marks a significant milestone in Safran DSI’s commitment to expanding its footprint in the United States and unlocks a new chapter in bringing world-class technological innovations to the forefront of American defense and space sectors.

The Arlington headquarters will serve as a hub for Safran DSI’s expanding portfolio of high-tech capabilities, including electro-optical and infrared systems, resilient navigation, geospatial artificial intelligence, power and propulsion, and space technologies. (5/6)

Saltzman: Space Force Needs More Money (Source: Space News)
The top officer of the Space Force told House appropriators that his service needs more funding as its activities grow. At a hearing Tuesday, Gen. Chance Saltzman highlighted what he described as a concerning trend of flat budgets coupled with growing responsibilities. The Space Force received $28.7 billion in fiscal year 2025, $300 million less than 2024, even as Saltzman said the service is being asked to take on new roles and increased activity.

The White House proposed overall defense spending in 2026 of $892.6 billion, the same as 2025, but would add $113.3 billion if Congress passes a separate $150 billion Republican-led reconciliation bill. Both Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee criticized that approach, arguing it undermines the regular appropriations process. (5/7)

India Tightens Satellite Security (Source: Space News)
India is tightening security and data compliance rules for satellite connectivity, creating problems for companies seeking to enter the market. The country's Department of Telecommunications announced 29 additional regulations Monday, citing national security interests. They also apply to companies that already hold licenses for providing space-based communication services directly to users.

The new policy requires companies to maintain user records in India and source 20% of their ground infrastructure equipment from India within five years. The new rules pose challenges for OneWeb, which has a license to operate in India but does not have a spectrum allocation yet, as well as SpaceX's Starlink, which has yet to receive a license. Analysts with Novaspace said they don't expect SpaceX to secure regulatory approvals to operate in India this year. (5/7)

FAA Approves SpaceX Plan for Up to 25 Annual Starship/Super-Heavy Launches/Landings at Texas Site (Source: Space News)
The FAA has given environmental approval for a five-fold increase in Starship's launch rate in Texas. The FAA released Tuesday the final environmental assessment that concluded there would not be significant impacts by increasing the limit on Starship launches from the Starbase site from five per year to 25. The FAA said it received more than 12,300 public comments about the environmental assessment, and in public meetings many opposed the increase because of fears of adverse environmental effects. (5/7)

Space Force Picks SciTec for $259 Million Missile Warning Contract (Source: Space News)
The Space Force awarded a contract to develop a ground system for missile-warning satellites. New Jersey-based software specialist SciTec won the $259 million contract Tuesday for part of the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) program, which seeks to build a government-owned ground system for missile warning satellite command and control. SciTec won a $272 million contract in 2022 for another part of FORGE, for data processing applications supporting both legacy Space-Based Infrared System and Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared systems. (5/7)

Starlink Outpaces Launches: SpaceX Enters New Era of Profitability (Source: Space News)
According to a new analysis from Novaspace, SpaceX generated an estimated $11.8 billion in revenue in 2024, with Starlink overtaking its space transportation division for the first time. The company’s long-awaited profitability milestone is being driven by the steady maturation of its connectivity business and a launch model now optimized for reuse.

While not unexpected, the milestone confirms a structural shift in the company’s revenue base. “This shift, from space transportation builder to multi-market operator, is unlocking new revenue streams and reshaping the competitive dynamics in the entire space industry.” Its financial growth has been accelerated by a distribution model that pairs direct sales with strategic partnerships, and a constellation deployment cadence enabled by low-cost access to orbit. (5/6)

New Report Values the Space Industry at $944B by 2033 (Source: Payload)
The space industry has grown rapidly in recent years, and a new report from Novaspace suggests that things are just getting started. The report predicted that the global space economy will reach $944B by 2033. The growth will be primarily driven by the increased adoption of downstream technologies such as AI and cloud computing, which make space data more accessible to businesses. In 2024, the global space economy was valued at $596B—meaning if their prediction is true, the industry will grow by 1.5 times in fewer than 10 years. Click here. (5/6)

It's Been 64 Years Since New Hampshire's Alan Shepard Became First American in Space (Source: WMUR)
On May 5, 1961, Shepard, of Derry, traveled aboard the Mercury capsule Freedom 7. He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal from President John F. Kennedy upon his return. Shepard was a graduate of Pinkerton Academy before attending the U.S. Naval Academy. He returned to space as commander of Apollo 14 on Feb. 5, 1971, becoming one of the few people to ever walk on the moon. (5/7)

NASA’s Webb Lifts Veil on Common but Mysterious Type of Exoplanet (Source: NASA)
Though they don’t orbit around our Sun, sub-Neptunes are the most common type of exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system, that have been observed in our galaxy. These small, gassy planets are shrouded in mystery…and often, a lot of haze. Now, by observing exoplanet TOI-421 b, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is helping scientists understand sub-Neptunes in a way that was not possible prior to the telescope’s launch. (5/5)

Trump’s Brain Drain at NASA Leaves the Agency Spaced Out (Source: Daily Beast)
The budget-cutters called astrophysicist Dr. Kartik Sheth and his colleagues in the chief scientist’s suite at NASA “low-hanging fruit,” which meant they were among the first to lose their jobs after President Trump signed a raft of executive orders to downsize the federal government. Sheth still has a hard time believing what has happened. He was highly touted as a role model, featured on NASA’s website talking to young people about galaxy formation and black holes, and as an invited speaker to share science discoveries at schools and institutions across the nation.

Everybody reporting to the chief scientist—an advisory position reporting in turn to the NASA administrator—was ordered out in 30 days. “When we asked what to do with ongoing projects, they just said to leave them—‘don’t worry, you don’t need to finish,’” Sheth told The Daily Beast. “We also were not allowed to move to other positions in the Agency even though we had significant experience and expertise in many facets of mission critical work.”

The guard rails are gone as NASA braces for what’s expected to be a 20 percent cut across the board and an even deeper cut of 50 percent to its space programs—even as its next administrator, billionaire Musk buddy and two-time SpaceX astronaut Jared Isaacson, promises America will establish a human presence on the moon and reach Mars in the foreseeable future. These cuts are seen, internally, as a veritable death knell for the agency’s work—and America’s ambitions in space science. (5/5)

NASA Backs Trump Budget Blueprint with $6B Cut to Agency (Source: Fox News)
Despite the multibillion-dollar slash, a senior official at the space agency told Fox News Digital that the reduction in funding is actually beneficial for efficiency and exploration. "The reductions in the President's blueprint budget counterintuitively represent an opportunity to truly innovate in how we conduct our space missions," senior NASA official Ryan Whitley [a Trump appointee] said.

Aligning with the Trump administration’s movement to improve government efficiency, the White House clarified that the budget "refocuses [NASA] funding on beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars." With a heavy reduction in federal funding, it is most likely that outside contractors and companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX will most likely play a bigger role in launching rockets and exploring space. (5/6)

Tariffs, Timelines, and Tensions: Canada Needs Homegrown Launch Options (Source: SpaceQ)
The session’s name was ‘The Exponential Impact of Domestic Space Access on Canada’s Commercial Space Industry’. It was one of the last panel discussions scheduled at the Canadian Space Launch Conference (CSLC), which was held at Ottawa’s Canada Aviation & Space Museum on April 29, 2025. However, this session’s actual conversation underscored a more urgent theme: the critical need for Canada to build and launch its own rockets.

“At the last minute we got a letter from SpaceX imposing a 25% tariff on our launch, which doesn’t make sense,” said Arad Gharagozli. “SpaceX isn’t importing this spacecraft into the United States, so why would there be a tariff on it? But it’s SpaceX: What are you going to do about it?” Faced with this unjustified 25% price hike, Galaxia looked around for a launch alternative.

His takeaway from the SpaceX price hike? “I don’t think anyone in this room is really arguing with the fact that we do require sovereign capabilities,” concluded Gharagozli. (5/5)

Is America Ready for an Era of Space Warfare? (Source: Brookings)
For technological, political, and practical reasons, space has yet to be weaponized like the other domains of warfare. Now, however, Space Force General Chance Saltzman has said that the Space Force will do whatever it takes to militarily dominate space. Russia and China are likewise building combat capabilities that could be used to attack U.S. satellites. Regardless of one’s beliefs on the wisdom and outcomes of fighting a war in space, it is clear that a new era, in which the United States organizes, trains, and equips for space combat, has arrived. Click here. (5/5)

3D Printing Shakes Up the Space Industry (Source: Washington Post)
When Rocket Lab unveiled the Rutherford engine at the 31st Space Symposium in Colorado, it looked like any other space engine. It wasn’t. Rocket Lab manufactured the Rutherford via additive manufacturing. Now several other companies — Elementum 3D, Beehive Industries and Ursa Major, to name a few — all manufacture engine parts with a 3D printer.

“If we’re talking about a slam-dunk application for 3D printing, it’s rocket engines,” says Jacob Nuechterlein, founder and president of Elementum 3D in Colorado. Nuechterlein credits the 3D-printing process for making it easier to produce complex, intricate elements.

For instance, rocket engines make use of regenerative cooling where cryofuels — liquefied fuels held at very low temperatures perfect for use in orbit — are pumped through channels embedded in the walls of the engine to cool down the nozzle before the fuel itself is pumped back into the combustion chamber and ignited. A 3D printer can help make those cooling channels much tighter, which enables the engine to perform better without restricting the flow of fuel. (5/6)

Scientists Chased a Falling Spacecraft with a Plane to Understand Satellite Air Pollution (Source: Space.com)
In early September last year, a team of European scientists boarded a rented business jet on Easter Island to trace the atmospheric reentry of Salsa, one of the European Space Agency's (ESA) four identical Cluster satellites. The aircraft was fitted with 26 cameras to capture the brief occurrence in different wavelengths of light. Their measurements will help scientists better understand how satellite air pollution affects Earth's atmosphere.

The satellite burn-up, a meteor-like event lasting less than 50 seconds, took place above the Pacific Ocean shortly before noon local time on Sept. 8, 2024. Bright daylight complicated the observations and prevented the use of more powerful instruments, which would have provided more detailed views. Still, the team managed to gain new insights into satellite incineration, something that is little understood and hard to study. (5/5)

The U.S. is Risking its Economic and Defense Leadership in Low Earth Orbit (Source: Space News)
Recent changes, especially the imminent decommissioning of the ISS, the drop in ISS cargo missions caused by NASA budget shifts, and the resulting loss of access to these private facilities, threaten to cause the U.S. to cede the space-based industrial economy and possibly the military high ground to our adversaries.

Today’s space entrepreneurs are entirely dependent on NASA’s ISS cargo missions to get certain R&D payloads to space. Unfortunately, budget constraints forced NASA to reduce the number of planned U.S. cargo missions from four or five per year to three. So, while NASA is focused on ensuring that there is no gap between the end of the ISS and the start of private space station operations, a different kind of gap has already formed — an ISS access gap caused by too few cargo missions.

I believe that the threat to the commercial LEO economy is real and immediate, but also avoidable with more cargo launches to the ISS. On the current course, this generation of small business space entrepreneurs, and their customers and investors, will be wiped out. If that happens, then it could take another 20 years or more before entrepreneurs and private capital are ready to try again. (5/6)

Satellite View of Forest Biomass Reveals Hidden Carbon Trends (Source: Earth.com)
Developed as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Climate Change Initiative, the updated forest carbon maps mark a major step forward, with scientists from Aberystwyth University playing a key role in their scientific development and validation.

The long-term record, which will soon include data from the Biomass satellite itself, combines measurements from multiple missions such as Envisat, Copernicus Sentinel-1, Japan’s ALOS PALSAR, and NASA’s ICESat and GEDI lidar sensors.

The revised dataset corrects long-standing underestimates in dense, carbon-rich areas, thanks in part to international collaboration with partners like the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Updates to the algorithm used to retrieve biomass data have made the results more reliable, especially in capturing trends across the globe’s major forest regions. (5/4)

Elon Musk’s Most Alarming Power Grab (Source: The Atlantic)
Musk first announced his intention to build a space-based internet, which he would eventually call Starlink, in January 2015. He had plans to settle Mars, then the moons of Jupiter, and maybe asteroids too. All those space colonies would have to be connected via satellite-based communication; Starlink itself might one day be adapted for this use. Indeed, Starlink’s terms of service ask customers to affirm that they “recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities.”

Musk is clearly imagining a future in which neither his network nor his will can be restrained by the people of this world. Musk’s ability to deliver this crucial service—which includes the ability to coordinate action in conflict zones—has given him unprecedented geopolitical leverage for a private citizen. Reportedly, Pentagon officials have already had to go hat in hand to Musk after he threatened to restrict Starlink’s service to Ukraine’s troops. “This is someone who can flip a switch and decide the outcome of a war.”

The U.S. government, like other nations, would have good reasons to avoid full dependence on Musk’s company for access to the space-based internet. The Pentagon’s leaders know this is a problem, or at least they once did. During the end of the Biden administration, the U.S. Space Force published a new strategy that ordered policy makers to avoid overreliance on any single company. But that was before the Defense Department came under the control of Trump, whose victorious campaign received more than $250 million in support from Musk. (5/5)

Musk Clashes with Neighbors in Exclusive Austin Suburb (Sources: New York Times, Tech Crunch)
Elon Musk may have a sizable fan base, but residents of the upscale Austin suburb of West Lake Hills, Texas, are unimpressed by their celebrity neighbor. Instead, a $6 million home Musk purchased in 2022 has become the center of a battle after his team erected an unauthorized 16-foot chain-link fence, installed a metal gate, and mounted outward-facing cameras.

“I call that place Fort Knox,” says Paul Hemmer, a Tesla owner and retired real estate agent who lives across the street and serves as president of the neighborhood homeowners association. Musk’s security personnel, many visibly armed, and their vehicles have disrupted the tranquil street, and the prospect of his return from Washington has some worried over more than Musk’s failure to obtain construction permits.

“If you follow him at all in the news, he’s always guilty of building stuff and then asking for permission later,” Hemmer complained in a planning meeting. For Hemmer, the billionaire’s proximity may come at the steepest price. Musk’s security team once reported him to police, claiming he was naked in the street. Hemmer, who has flown drones over Musk’s house looking for ordinance violations, countered he was on his own property in his underwear. (5/4)

'Absolute Bullsh*t': South Texans Bash Their New Neighbors — Starbase (Source: My San Antonio)
The residents of Starbase — the vast majority of whom are SpaceX employees — have successfully voted to make Starbase the newest city in Texas. For many Rio Grande Valley locals, news of the company town’s incorporation has been met with a mix of vitriol, disdain or indifference verging on pessimism.

While the last few dozen Starbase residents cast their ballots Saturday, nearby, a coterie of Valley residents staged a protest against Starbase, SpaceX and some SpaceX-related legislation that is currently pending in Austin. Groups have protested the industrialization of coastal Cameron County for years, going back to late 2014, when the Port of Brownsville first announced that several billion-dollar liquefied natural gas companies were looking to build export terminals along the Brownsville Ship Channel.

Now, skyscraping construction cranes, tall towers and other signs of large-scale industrial developments dot not only Texas 4, where Starbase is located, but also Texas 48, the windswept, sand-littered highway connecting Port Isabel to Brownsville proper. Rebekah Hinojosa said the incorporation of Starbase will only expedite the headlong development and industrialization of the launch site, which she fears will cut off the public’s access to Boca Chica Beach. (5/5)