June 30, 2025

ASI Awards New Lunar Habitat Contract to Thales Alenia Space (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Italian Space Agency has awarded Thales Alenia Space a contract for the preliminary design of its Multi-Purpose Habitat, which will serve as a base for astronauts on the lunar surface. The 25 July announcement included a proposed launch date of 2033.

In late 2020, ASI and NASA signed a joint statement of intent to cooperate on the development of crew habitation capabilities on the surface of the Moon as part of the Artemis program. This was followed by the signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement in June 2022, which assigned ASI the responsibility for conducting the preliminary design of the Multi-Purpose Habitation (MPH) module.

The MPH module will measure three meters in width and six meters in length, with a mass of approximately 15 tonnes. It will be equipped with wheels to allow precise positioning, enabling support for crewed missions at various locations on the lunar surface. The module will accommodate two astronauts for one mission per year, with each mission lasting between 7 and 30 days. (7/28)

Galileo Enhances Security Edge with New Authentication Service Led by GMV (Source: Space Daily)
The European Union Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA) has officially activated Galileo's new Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA), bolstering the system's capability to combat signal spoofing and data tampering. OSNMA functions by digitally signing navigation signals, allowing users to authenticate data as genuinely transmitted by Galileo. This advancement is especially vital for sensitive applications like financial timestamping and vehicle tachograph logging, where signal integrity is essential. (7/30)

Planet Expands Pelican Satellite Fleet with Launch of Two New Spacecraft (Source: Space Daily)
Planet Labs PBC has shipped its Pelican-3 and Pelican-4 satellites to Vandenberg Space Force Base in preparation for their upcoming launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The deployment marks a continued build-out of Planet's next-generation Earth observation fleet.

The company also announced that its satellite production line is now fully operational, with multiple Pelican and Tanager units currently under construction. With over 650 Earth imaging satellites launched to date, Planet says this milestone underscores its ability to manufacture large-scale constellations efficiently. (7/30)

York launches BARD Satellite to Advance Real Time Intersatellite Communications (Source: Space Daily)
York Space Systems has successfully launched its BARD mission, marking a key milestone in the evolution of next-generation satellite communications. The spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on July 23 and achieved full operational status with first-contact success and healthy systems on orbit.

Developed in collaboration with NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, BARD will flight-test the Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT). This innovative communications payload is designed to provide real-time interoperability between government and commercial relay networks - a crucial step in NASA's transition to a more commercially integrated communications infrastructure. (7/30)

Slingshot Unveils TALOS AI to Simulate and Support Strategic Space Operations (Source: Space Daily)
Slingshot Aerospace has introduced TALOS, an autonomous AI agent engineered to replicate realistic satellite behavior in both training and simulation environments. Named the Thinking Agent for Logical Operations and Strategy, TALOS enables advanced mission planning and decision-making for space operations.

Developed using Slingshot's proprietary behavior cloning technology, TALOS mimics complex spacecraft maneuvers, including tactical behavior patterns and orbital dogfighting. In simulated missions, TALOS evaluates its environment, weighs tactical options, and executes strategies in a physics-accurate orbital framework. (7/30)

Australian Launch Fails (Source: Space News)
The first flight of an Australian small launch vehicle didn’t get far off the pad. The Eris rocket, developed by Gilmour Space Technologies, lifted off from a company launch pad in north Queensland on Tuesday. The rocket, though barely cleared the launch tower when it faltered, hovering and drifting for several seconds before falling back to the ground 14 seconds after liftoff. Gilmore Space said that despite failing to get to orbit, the company still considered the launch useful in collecting data about the vehicle in flight. Eris is a small launch vehicle that can place a few hundred kilograms into low Earth orbit. Gilmour Space did not disclose plans for the next test flight. (7/30)

Eris Rocket Debut Signals New Chapter for Australia's Launch Ambitions (Source: Space Daily)
Gilmour Space Technologies has conducted the inaugural test launch of Eris, Australia's first domestically developed orbital rocket, marking a pivotal moment in the nation's path toward sovereign space access and small satellite launch services. The 23-meter-tall, 30-tonne Eris rocket utilized innovative hybrid propulsion to lift off from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland, achieving approximately 14 seconds of flight before an early termination. Despite the brief duration, the mission verified key systems and infrastructure developed by Gilmour Space. (7/30)

Chinese Lunar Soil Machine Developed to Build Bricks Using Sunlight (Source: Space Daily)
A Chinese research team has created a prototype machine that transforms moon soil into durable construction bricks using solar energy, marking a critical step toward building lunar structures from local materials.

Developed by the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) in Hefei, Anhui province, the system functions as a 3D printing device powered by concentrated solar heat. It employs a parabolic reflector to gather solar radiation, which is then funneled through fiber optic bundles. At the focus point, light intensity exceeds 3,000 times the standard level, reaching temperatures over 1,300 C to melt lunar regolith. (7/30)

Team Led by MDA Space to Define Future of Canadian Lunar Vehicle Program (Source: Space Daily)
MDA Space Ltd. (TSX: MDA) has been selected by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to lead a key early-phase study for Canada's proposed Lunar Utility Vehicle (LUV), the company announced. The effort will involve collaboration with university labs, combining space systems, rugged vehicle design, and autonomous navigation expertise.

This study marks an essential step toward defining Canada's role in lunar logistics. It will outline the mission architecture, assess viable technologies, and identify potential risks. These findings will form the basis for future development of mobility systems designed to operate on the Moon. (7/30)

NASA Picks Firefly Aerospace for Ambitious 2029 Lunar Rover and Instrument Delivery (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $176.7 million contract under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative to deliver two rovers and three instruments to the Moon's South Pole region by 2029. This mission marks the agency's first use of multiple rovers and diverse stationary instruments on a single delivery to study the composition and potential resources of permanently shadowed lunar areas.

Firefly will provide end-to-end payload delivery services as part of the Artemis campaign. Its Blue Ghost lander is scheduled to land in 2029 with scientific payloads developed in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the University of Bern. The mission aims to enhance understanding of the lunar surface and support long-term exploration objectives. (7/30)

Patronage Jobs: Trump Administration Shifts Rules to Promote Political Hiring (Source: FNN)
The Trump administration is detailing how it expects agencies to recruit more political appointees through the new “Schedule G” hiring category, while also reminding agencies that all non-career hires must be approved by the White House. The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday outlined how agencies should adopt the federal employment classification President Donald Trump created earlier this month.

Generally, the new Schedule G broadens agencies’ options for hiring political appointees, beyond the avenues already available to presidential administrations for picking their own staff members. In its guidance on Trump’s new hiring authority, OPM said agencies will have to run any Schedule G hires they want to make by the White House for review and approval. (7/29)

Astronaut Rubins Leaves NASA (Source: NASA)
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins has left the agency. NASA announced that Rubins retired from the astronaut corps on Monday and did not disclose hew future plans. She was a member of the astronaut class of 2009 and flew two long-duration missions to the International Space Station in 2016 and 2020, spending 300 days in space. A microbiologist, she was the first to sequence DNA in space. (7/30)

Britain's Royal Astronomer Now a Female (Source: The Guardian)
For the first time in the 350-year history of the position, Britain’s Astronomer Royal is a woman. Michele Dougherty, a space scientist at Imperial College London, was named Wednesday to the honorary post, succeeding the retiring Martin Rees. Dougherty has worked on the Cassini mission, detecting magnetic field variations that provided evidence of subsurface oceans on the Saturnian moon Enceladus, and is part ESA’s JUICE mission to the icy moons of Jupiter. The position of Astronomer Royal was created in 1675 to advise the king on topics like using the stars for maritime navigation. (7/30)

India/US Earth Science Mission Launched on GSLV Mark 2 (Source: Space News)
An Earth science mission jointly developed by NASA and the Indian space agency ISRO is in orbit after a launch this morning. A GSLV Mark 2 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 8:10 a.m. Eastern, deploying the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) spacecraft into sun-synchronous orbit nearly 19 minutes later. NISAR is a joint mission of the two space agencies, equipped with L- and S-band radars to measure changes in land and ice surfaces as well as to study vegetation. The radars will use an antenna 12 meters across that will be deployed starting in about 10 days. (7/30)

SpaceX Launches Tuesday Starlink Mission From Florida (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A Falcon 9 launched a set of Starlink satellites overnight. The Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Tuesday on the Group 10-29 mission. The upper stage placed 28 Starlink satellites into orbit while the first stage landed on a droneship to complete its 26th flight. (7/30)

China's iSpace to Continue Hyperbola-1 Launches (Source: Space News)
A Chinese company says it will continue to launch a small solid-fuel rocket after its successful return to flight. The Hyperbola-1 rocket launched early Tuesday, putting into orbit the HS-9 commercial remote sensing satellite. The launch was the first for the Hyperbola-1 since a failure in July 2024, and the vehicle has a record of four successes and four failures. After the launch, iSpace said it will continue launching Hyperbola-1, noting the event verified the reliability and stability of a new production batch. The company is also working on the Hyperbola-3 methane-liquid oxygen rocket, with iSpace recently progressing with plans to conduct a test flight of the launcher by the end of the year. (7/30)

Japan Unveils Space Domain Defense Guidelines (Source: Nippon.com)
Japan's Defense Ministry on Monday unveiled guidelines aimed at enhancing the country's defense capabilities in the space domain through cooperation between the public and private sectors. The guidelines outline the need to build capabilities for the real-time detection and tracking of adversarial ships and troops from space to quickly assess war situations. They also highlight the necessity of protecting SDF satellites from Chinese and Russian killer satellites. (7/28)

GPS Jamming Prompts Pentagon Tech Upgrade (Source: Air & Space Forces)
Jamming of GPS signals over Ukraine has reached satellites in low Earth orbit, affecting cubesats operated by The Aerospace Corporation. The jamming, caused by both Russian and Ukrainian signals, could create GPS dead zones. The Pentagon is addressing the issue by expanding the use of low-Earth-orbit satellites and developing anti-jamming technology, such as controlled reception pattern arrays. (7/28)

The First Soda in Space: When NASA Got Caught Up in the Cola Wars (Source: New York Times)
In space travel, the firsts are often what matter most: the first woman in orbit and the first man to walk on the moon, or, less famously, the first time astronauts grabbed a wobbling satellite with their hands. Yet in the 1980s, America’s two biggest soft drink companies raced for another milestone: to serve the first fizzy drink in orbit.

One of the greatest excesses of the cola wars happened as NASA was transitioning from the prestige-driven program of the Apollo years toward our modern era of commercial spaceflight, which has dominated by companies willing to land a Nokia 4G/LTE communications system on the moon, or launch a mannequin-driven Tesla Roadster into deep space. To the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, the commercially minded shuttle program was a perfect marketing opportunity.

Forty years on, a NASA astronaut remembers positive moments of the soft drink space race. “We did our job and it was kind of fun,” said Loren Acton, a space shuttle payload specialist. But others who faced the cola giants’ rivalry were less charitable. “Of all the things that were done on the shuttle, the one that caused the most aggravation was the goddamn cola war,” said James M. Beggs, the NASA administrator in the early 80s. (7/29)

Iran’s Plan to Abandon GPS is About Much More Than Technology (Source: Aljazeera)
The United States-Israeli attacks on Iran demonstrated not just new strategies of drone deployment and infiltration but also new vulnerabilities. During the 12-day conflict, Iran and vessels in the waters of the Gulf experienced repeated disruptions of GPS signal. Ehsan Chitsaz, deputy communications minister, said the government was developing a plan to switch transportation, agriculture and the internet from GPS to BeiDou.

Iran’s decision to explore adopting China’s navigation satellite system may appear at first glance to be merely a tactical maneuver. Yet, its implications are far more profound. This move is yet another indication of a major global realignment. For decades, the West, and the US in particular, have dominated the world’s technological infrastructure from computer operating systems and the internet to telecommunications and satellite networks.

Iran’s possible shift to BeiDou sends a clear message to other nations grappling with the delicate balance between technological convenience and strategic self-defence: The era of blind, naive dependence on US-controlled infrastructure is rapidly coming to an end. Nations can no longer afford to have their military capabilities and vital digital sovereignty tied to the satellite grid of a superpower they cannot trust. (7/29)

Canada Awards Study Contracts for Lunar Utility Rover (Source: Space News)
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) awarded initial study contracts July 29 for a lunar utility rover as part of the country’s push to deepen its role in the U.S.-led Artemis program. Canadian space system specialists Canadensys Aerospace Corporation, MDA Space and Mission Control were awarded contracts worth 14.6 million Canadian dollars ($10.6 million) in total to assess different options for the rover over the next 18 months, exploring capabilities across different sizes and mission scopes.

It is part of a 13-year, 1.2 billion Canadian dollar program Canada announced in 2023 to develop a utility rover for supporting human exploration of the moon. Led by Canada, with procurement requiring at least 60% domestic content initially and 80% in later phases, the rover is meant as a contribution to Artemis, in exchange for seats for Canadian astronauts on future missions under the U.S. program. (7/29)

BlackSky to Supply Satellite Imagery and Analytics for Latin American Security Operations (Source: Space Daily)
BlackSky Technology has secured a contract to provide its Gen-3 and Gen-2 satellite-based monitoring services to Latin American defense and intelligence agencies, supporting efforts against transnational organized crime. The contract delivers immediate On-Demand access to BlackSky's high-frequency, low-latency satellite imagery and analytics, enabling security forces to detect and respond to real-time anomalies such as irregular migration, or abnormal patterns in vehicle, aircraft, and maritime movements. (7/29)

Cascade Raises 59M to Develop Full Stack Satellite Communications Platform (Source: Space Daily)
Cascade Space has secured $5.9 million in seed funding to advance its development of a comprehensive satellite communication platform. The round saw investment from Nova Threshold, Undeterred Capital, Y Combinator, Night Capital, Olive Capital, Valkyrie Ventures, Karman Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Garage Capital, TRAC, Aurelia Foundry, Hawktail, MGV.VC, Pioneer Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, and others.

The capital will support the rollout of the Cascade Portal, an integrated solution for designing satellite communication systems. Cascade recently released its spacelink Python library as open-source, offering tools for communication system analysis that are integral to the Portal's capabilities. (7/25)

China Eyes Neptune for Groundbreaking Ice Giant Mission (Source: Space Daily)
China is preparing to push deeper into the solar system with an ambitious new phase in its deep space exploration program, including a Mars sample-return mission and a journey to Jupiter. Now, Chinese scientists are setting their sights even farther-toward the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. These remote, largely unexplored planets contain clues to the solar system's origins, according to Yang Mengfei. (7/25)

First Wildfire Images Reveal FireSat's Unmatched Detection Capabilities (Source: Space Daily)
Earth Fire Alliance, in partnership with Muon Space and Google Research, has released the first images captured by the FireSat Protoflight satellite. These visuals highlight the satellite's ability to detect wildfires in their earliest stages, including small blazes overlooked by current orbital systems, significantly enhancing response capabilities for fire-prone regions worldwide. Among the initial captures is a previously undetected roadside fire in Oregon, USA, showcasing FireSat's superior detection precision. The satellite's advanced technology enables it to identify fires as small as 5x5 meters. (7/25)

Millennium Space Systems Initiates On-Orbit Operations for NASA Space Weather Study (Source: Space Daily)
Boeing's Millennium Space Systems has started the on-orbit commissioning phase for NASA's Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) following their successful launch on July 23. The company designed, built, and tested the two identical TRACERS spacecraft at its El Segundo facility and is now managing mission operations from its internal Mission Operations Center. (7/25)

Discouraging The Next Generation From A Career In Space (Source: NASA Watch)
Joe Rothenberg, former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight and former Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, had this to say last night on LinkedIn: “What is happening at NASA has long term and potentially unrecoverable consequences to U.S. scientific and technology leadership in not only space but in technology that impacts our quality of life on Earth. Clearly the actions of the current Administration and NASA leadership have mortgaged America’s space and scientific research capabilities, well beyond the point of being able to be recovered by any potential restoration of funding by Congress. (7/28)

Sidus Space Raises $7.5 Million After Public Stock Offering (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced the closing of its previously announced best-efforts public offering of 7,143,000 shares of its Class A common stock. Each share of Class A common stock was sold at a public offering price of $1.05 per share for gross proceeds of approximately $7.5 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for (i) sales and marketing, (ii) operational costs, (iii) product development, (iv) manufacturing expansion and (v) working capital and other general corporate purposes. (7/29)

Space Force Kills Protected Satcom Program, Consolidates Effort (Source: Janes)
US Space Force (USSF) officials have quietly killed the Protected Tactical Satellite Communications – Resilient (PTS-R) program, as part of a service-wide restructuring of the entire Protected Anti-jam Tactical Satcom (PATS) family-of-systems (FoS) effort, with a larger focus on rapidly maturing anti-jamming capabilities for wideband satcom assets.

Service officials announced the cancellation of PTS-R in a July 2025 statement, arguing the decision to nix the effort was driven by a “focus on implementing faster and more robust capabilities … [and] prototypes into operation as quickly as possible”, USSF program leaders said. (7/29)

Space Force Taps Five Vendors For Protected Satcom Designs (Source: Aviation Week)
The U.S. Space Force has selected five companies to begin the process of building new space-based protected tactical satellite communications (satcom) capabilities. The service awarded Astranis, Boeing, Intelsat, Northrop Grumman and Viasat multiple firm, fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts. These companies will work on Protected Tactical Satcom-Global (PTS-G) concepts as part of a larger effort to enhance secure and resilient communications for tactical users in contested environments. (7/28)

Texas BEAD Data Reveals Heavy Bidding from Satellite Providers (Source: Broadband Breakfast)
Newly released data from Texas’s benefit of the bargain round revealed heavy involvement from the satellite industry. SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper collectively bid on 404,900 locations eligible for Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment funding in the Lone Star state. The duo’s bids represented over a quarter of the 1.45 million bids submitted by providers.

SpaceX alone submitted bids to serve 244,596 locations, making it an applicant for most, if not all, of Texas’s roughly 240,000 BEAD-eligible locations. The Elon Musk-backed satellite provider was the largest individual bidder in the state, beating out the next largest bidder by nearly 40,000 locations, according to a breakdown of state application data which surfaced Friday. (7/28)

Amazon and SpaceX Undercut Competition in Tennessee BEAD Bidding (Source: Broadband Breakfast)
SpaceX and Amazon didn’t just show up to Tennessee’s "Benefit of the Bargain" broadband grant round – they undercut the competition into oblivion. The state released data on the 541 applications it received under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program’s new funding round for public comment on Tuesday, offering one of the first looks at how the Trump administration’s June 6 policy overhaul may play out at the state level.

SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper flooded the Tennessee office with applications, submitting more than twice as many broadband grant applications as fiber builders, while requesting on average about 10 times less in funding - at least according the application areas. (7/23)

US Senator Urges SpaceX to Block Internet Access to Southeast Asian Scam Operations (Source The Diplomat)
A United States senator has urged SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to block Southeast Asia’s transnational criminal syndicates from using the company’s Starlink satellite internet service to run scams on American citizens.

According to a report by Reuters, Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) wrote to Musk to alert him to recent reports that Starlink is being used by online scamming compounds based in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Such syndicates “have apparently continued to use Starlink despite service rules permitting SpaceX to terminate access for fraudulent activity,” Hassan wrote in the letter to Musk, a copy of which was viewed by Reuters. She added that SpaceX “has a responsibility to block criminals from using the service to target Americans.” (7/29)

NordSpace to Launch First Rocket Out of St. Lawrence in August (Source: CBC)
One small step for NordSpace is one giant leap for Newfoundland and Labrador — as the aerospace company plans to launch Canada's first commercial rocket to space from the town of St. Lawrence next month. NordSpace founder and CEO, Rahul Goel, said the launch will be a test of the company's single-engine rocket system — a 16-meter-long rocket created using 3D-printed metal. (7/29)

Shuttle Discovery’s Texas Transfer Launches Cost Concerns (Source: Roll Call)
The Smithsonian Institution is resisting an effort from Texas lawmakers to transport the space shuttle Discovery from a Virginia museum to Houston, home of Mission Control, in a battle framed by the cost. Texas GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz included in the reconciliation law a provision that would authorize the relocation of the shuttle from its current display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum to a site near Houston’s Johnson Space Center, which Cornyn described in a statement as “righting this egregious wrong.”

The law provided $85 million for the move, at least $5 million of which would be used for transporting the shuttle. According to a Congressional Research Service report published last week, the Smithsonian estimated that transport of the shuttle would cost about $50 million to $55 million, and that the costs to prepare the museum for moving the orbiter and to construct a permanent display facility elsewhere would be about $325 million — much greater than the $85 million provided.  (7/29)

Smithsonian Air and Space Opens Halls for Milestone, Future Artifacts (Source: CollectSpace)
The National Air and Space Museum welcomed the public into five more of its renovated galleries on Monday (July 28), including two showcasing spaceflight artifacts. The new exhibitions shine modern light on returning displays and restore the museum's almost 50-year-old legacy of adding objects that made history but have yet to become historical.

Closed for the past three years, visitors can enter the building on the National Mall through the "Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall," which displays some of the Washington, D.C. museum's most iconic objects, including John Glenn's Mercury capsule "Friendship 7" and an Apollo lunar module. (7/28)

NASA Awards Barrios Technology $450 Million Contract (Source: Aviation Week)
Houston-based Barrios Technology, LLC has been awarded a $450 million contract to provide technical integration services for NASA’s human spaceflight programs. The contract, announced July 28, spans from Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2027, with four one-year options extending through 2031. (7/28)