June 11, 2025

Alaska's Poker Flat Seeks FAA Spaceport Status (Source: Alaska Beacon)
A sounding rocket range in Alaska is seeking to become a full-fledged spaceport. The University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute, which operates the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, announced Tuesday a partnership with Alaska Aerospace Corporation. That agreement includes applying for an FAA spaceport license for Poker Flats, which today is used for launches of sounding rockets for research. That would allow the facility to launch larger rockets and host commercial missions. Alaska Aerospace operates launch facilities on Kodiak Island that have been used by several small launch vehicles. (6/11)

PUNCH Observes Solar Eruptions (Source: NASA)
A new NASA space science mission has witnessed its first solar eruptions. NASA released Tuesday images of a coronal mass ejection observed by the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH, mission.  The images show that the four PUNCH spacecraft, launched in March, are working well as they drift in their orbits into their final formation. Once in those final orbits, the PUNCH spacecraft are designed to monitor space weather conditions in three dimensions in the inner solar system. (6/11)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Mission From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Tuesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 9:05 a.m. Eastern and deployed 23 Starlink satellites, 13 with direct-to-cell payloads, on the Starlink 12-24 mission. SpaceX has now launched more than 270 Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capabilities so far this year. (6/11)

Out of the String Theory Swampland (Source: Space Daily)
String theory has long been touted as physicists' best candidate for describing the fundamental nature of the universe, with elementary particles and forces described as vibrations of tiny threads of energy. But in the early 21st century, it was realized that most of the versions of reality described by string theory's equations cannot match up with observations of our own universe.

In particular, conventional string theory's predictions are incompatible with the observation of dark energy, which appears to be causing our universe's expansion to speed up, and with viable theories of quantum gravity, instead predicting a vast 'swampland' of impossible universes. Now, a new analysis by FQxI physicist Eduardo Guendelman, of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel, shows that an exotic subset of string models-in which the tension of strings is generated dynamically-could provide an escape route out of the string theory swampland. (6/11)

Discovery of Giant Planet Orbiting Tiny Star Challenges Theories on Planet Formation (Source: Space Daily)
Star TOI-6894 is just like many in our galaxy, a small red dwarf, and only ~20% of the mass of our Sun. Like many small stars, it is not expected to provide suitable conditions for the formation and hosting of a large planet. However, an international team of astronomers have found the unmistakable signature of a giant planet, called TOI-6894b, orbiting this tiny star. This system has been discovered as part of a large-scale investigation of TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data, looking for giant planets around low-mass stars. (6/11)

AIA Supports Additional NASA Funding (Source: Yellowhammer)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, has introduced a legislative directive to add approximately $10 billion that would restore NASA funding as part of the budget reconciliation process, including funding for the Artemis program and the International Space Station. "As industry continues to push into new frontiers and outpace our competitors in space, this effort shows Congress is dedicated to moving forward with mission-critical programs and maintaining our space leadership," says AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning. (6/9)

Air Force Weather Moves Operations to Amazon Cloud (Source: Defense News)
Air Force Weather is nearing completion of a digital transformation that began in 2017, migrating operations to the cloud and contracting Amazon for services. This move, involving a shift of high-performance computing to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, aims to enhance security and efficiency by processing 80 terabytes of data daily. The transition is expected to increase demand for weather products, presenting funding challenges amid budget constraints and workforce reductions. (6/10)

House Bill Would Increase Space Force Funding (Source: Space News)
A House spending bill would increase funding for the Space Force. The House Appropriations Committee released Monday a draft of its fiscal year 2026 defense bill, which keeps overall defense spending flat at $831.5 billion as proposed by the White House. However, the bill increases the Space Force's budget by about 10% from the White House proposal of $26 billion. The bill includes a significant increase for research, development, testing and evaluation and a smaller bump for procurement, partially offset by reductions in personnel and in operations and maintenance. The committee will mark up the bill this week. (6/10)

Xplore Releases First Hyperspectral Imagery From 6-U Cubesat (Source: Space News)
Xplore has released hyperspectral imagery from its first satellite. XCUBE-1, a six-unit cubesat launched in December, provides imagery with a resolution of five meters per pixel over a range of spectral bands, the company announced Tuesday. Xplore envisions defense and intelligence, agriculture, forestry and other applications for that hyperspectral imagery, as well as the ability to observe other satellites and space debris. XCUBE-1 is the first satellite in a planned constellation. (6/10)

Protest in Ohio for NASA Budget (Source: WKYC)
A group is planning a protest against NASA's budget cuts in Cleveland next week. The group Stand Up for Science will host a rally next Saturday in a park in downtown Cleveland to protest proposed budget cuts for NASA. The fiscal year 2026 budget would, if enacted, reduce the workforce at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland by 40% and threaten programs at the center like the lunar Gateway. (6/10)

Quantum Space Raises $40 Million (Source: Space News)
Quantum Space has raised $40 million as the company pivots towards national security applications of its spacecraft. The company said Tuesday it raised the money as an extension of a Series A round with support from several investors. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate work on Ranger, a spacecraft it describes as a highly maneuverable platform capable of hosting payloads and performing satellite refueling. Quantum Space once envisioned Ranger as part of a cislunar architecture, but now is focused on applications such as supporting the Golden Dome missile defense system. The first Ranger is slated to launch in late 2026 on a test flight. (6/10)

Chinese Satellites Perform Proximity Maneuvering (Source: Space News)
Two Chinese Shijian satellites appear to be maneuvering towards each other in a potential satellite refueling demonstration. China's Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 spacecraft, designed for servicing and refueling, were within about two degrees of longitude, or roughly 1,500 kilometers, of each other in geostationary orbit Monday. Shijian-25 was launched in January to test on-orbit refueling and mission extension technologies, while Shijian-21 was launched in October 2021. The two spacecraft are expected to dock, with Shijian-25 possibly refueling Shijian-21. American surveillance satellites USA 270 and USA 271, part of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, are in the vicinity to observe the expected operations. (6/10)

Quebec Supports Launch Startup Reaction Dynamics with $7.3 Million (Source: Space News)
The government of Quebec is providing funding to a Canadian launch startup. The provincial government said Monday it would award $10 million Canadian ($7.3 million) to Reaction Dynamics, working with Canadian software and engineering services firm Maya HTT. The companies will use the funding to qualify a hybrid propulsion system and establish a testing facility. That propulsion system would be used on Aurora, a small launch vehicle Reaction Dynamics is developing with a first orbital launch slated for 2027 or 2028. The award, Quebec Premier François Legault said, would ensure that the work is done entirely within Quebec. (6/10)

EU Unconditionally Clears SES's $3.1 Billion Bid for Intelsat (Source: Channel News Asia)
The European Commission said on Tuesday it had unconditionally approved the proposed acquisition of Intelsat by SES, confirming a story Reuters exclusively reported earlier this month. The $3.1-billion bid made by the European satellite company for its rival will create a major European player to rival Elon Musk's Space X-owned Starlink. (6/11)

Titan's Weird Wobble Just Got Even Stranger (Source: Space.com)
For years, scientists have been intrigued by a weird "wobble" in the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Now, new research is revealing clues about Titan's strange atmospheric tilt, but it's also raising new mysteries. Scientists thought the direction of the tilt would be influenced by either Saturn's gravity or the position of the sun, as is often the case in planetary systems — meaning it would change as Titan orbited Saturn and the sun.

But observations show that the tilt direction doesn't move. Instead, it stays pointed the same way in space, as if unaffected by those external forces. If solar heating or Saturn's gravity were controlling the tilt, it should move over time. Instead, the tilt seems locked in place, suggesting that some other, still-unknown process is at work. (6/10)

Whitesides Says Budget Proposal Shows the Administration Does Not Value NASA Science (Source: Space News)
A leading Democratic member of the House Science Committee says the proposed steep cuts in NASA’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal show that the administration does not appear to appreciate the link between research and competitiveness. “I think that there may be a misunderstanding on the part of the administration of the underlying utility of these different scientific pursuits to the full-scale range of the American economy and our leadership,” he said. (6/10)