August 5, 2025

Australia's NBN Picks Kuiper for Broadband Service (Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
An Australian state-owned company has selected Amazon to provide broadband services for rural customers. NBN Co. announced Tuesday it picked Amazon’s Project Kuiper LEO constellation to replace its existing Sky Muster GEO satellites that offer broadband services to 300,000 customers out of range of terrestrial networks. The Sky Muster satellites will be phased out in the early 2030s, although NBN will start using Kuiper as soon as mid-2026. NBN did not disclose financial terms of the contract or why it selected Kuiper over Starlink, which has more than 200,000 customers in Australia. (8/5)

Kazakh Cosmonaut Passes (Source: Collect Space)
A Kazakh cosmonaut who flew to the International Space Station with the first commercial space tourist has died. Talgat Musabayev died at the age of 74, the president of Kazakhstan announced Monday. Musabayev, selected as a cosmonaut by the former Soviet Union in 1990, flew to the Mir space station in 1994 and 1998. He went to the ISS in 2001 on a short-duration mission that included space tourist Dennis Tito. Musabayev went on to lead the Kazakh space agency, Kascosmos, from 2007 until his death. (8/5)

Where is the Dream? (Source: Space Review)
Space is typically portrayed negatively in movies and TV shows. Dwayne Day explores how depictions of space have evolved and what it means for public support for spaceflight. Click here. (8/5)
 
“God is in Control”: A Field Report From the Ark Encounter’s “Astronaut Encounter” (Source: Space Review)
Last month, three current and former NASA astronauts spoke at an event at a Young Earth Creationist theme park in Kentucky. Deana Weibel describes the event and its implications for science and subjectivity. Click here. (8/5)
 
A NASA-ISRO Joint Radar Satellite Finally Launches (Source: Space Review)
India launched last week an Earth science mission jointly developed with NASA. Ajey Lele discusses the importance of the NISAR mission to Earth science and international cooperation. Click here. (8/5)
 
Why Science at NASA? (Source: Space Review)
NASA is facing significant budget cuts to its science programs in the administration’s 2026 budget proposal. Ajay Kothari argues NASA science needs funding to help answer what may be humanity’s biggest question: are we alone? Click here. (8/5)
 
Commercial Space at the National Air and Space Museum (Source: Space Review)
The National Air and Space Museum recently opened a renovated section that includes its Milestones of Flight Hall. Jeff Foust pays a visit to that hall and another gallery that features a mix of commercial space and other artifacts. Click here. (8/5)

Lockheed Martin Plans Missile Intercept Demo in 2028 (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin said it is preparing to demonstrate a space-based missile interceptor in 2028. The company said Monday it plans to conduct an orbital demonstration of space-based interceptors by 2028, aligning with President Trump’s timeline for establishing initial Golden Dome capabilities. The company declined to say if its space-based interceptor concept would rely on kinetic “hit-to-kill” technology or directed-energy systems using high-powered lasers, wanting to wait for the government to first disclose its architectural requirements for Golden Dome. The appeal of space-based interceptors lies in their potential to engage missile threats during the critical boost phase, immediately after launch. (8/5)

Call to Normalize Space for Warfighters, and Speed Threat Identification (Source: Space News)
Military space operators worldwide need to more quickly identify aggressive actions on orbit and more closely integrate with other domains to deter threats. That was the message from a conference last month, where military leaders from several nations discussed the growing importance of space capabilities. They argued that space needs to be “demystified and normalized” by using similar terminology as air, land and sea domains, as well as develop a doctrine for space and training exercises. A U.K. Strategic Defense Review has called out space as a separate domain with air, land, sea and cyber for the first time. (8/5)

Skyrota Gains UK Launch License (Source: Space News)
Skyrora has secured a launch license from British regulators for a suborbital rocket, but may not be able to launch until next year. The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority issued  a license to Skyrora Monday for its Skylark L suborbital rocket, allowing the company to perform launches from SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands. Skyrora launched Skylark L once in 2022 from Iceland, but the rocket malfunctioned moments after liftoff. Skyrora hoped to launch Skylark L this year from SaxaVord but has been told none of the pads there are available currently, likely pushing the launch into next year. Skylark L is intended to test technologies for the Skylark XL small orbital launch vehicle. (8/5)

Rocket Lab Launches Japanese Radar Satellite (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched a satellite early Tuesday for Japanese radar imaging company iQPS. An Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 12:10 a.m. Eastern, deploying the QPS-SAR-12 into low Earth orbit nearly an hour later. The launch was the fifth by Rocket Lab overall for iQPS and the fourth this year, with four more iQPS launches scheduled through the rest of this year and into 2026. Rocket Lab has conducted 11 Electron launches  this year and has plans to perform more than 20 launches in 2025. (8/5)

Sphere Corp.’s Stock Soars on $1 Billion Contract with SpaceX (Source: Business Korea)
Sphere Corp. saw a surge in its stock price following news of a 10-year long-term supply contract with SpaceX, the U.S. private space launch company led by Elon Musk. Securities analysts note that Sphere's supplied products are also exempt from tariff impacts, making them even more noteworthy. Sphere has signed a contract to supply special alloys such as nickel and superalloys to SpaceX for 10 years until 2036. The contract can be extended for up to three years upon SpaceX’s request after the contract period expires. (8/4)

Dhurva to Launch Satellite on SpaceX Rocket (Source: Times of India)
Indian spacetech firm Dhruva Space is set to launch its first commercial satellite mission, LEAP-1, in the third quarter of 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission brings together payloads from Australian firms Akula Tech and Esper Satellites, hosted on Dhruva's indigenously developed P-30 satellite platform. (8/4)

Media Council Upholds Complaint Against RNZ Over Inaccurate Rocket Lab Report (Source: Business Scoop)
The NZ Media Council has upheld a complaint by Rocket Lab Ltd against Radio New Zealand (RNZ), ruling that a May 2025 article inaccurately linked the aerospace company to Ukraine’s war effort, breaching journalistic standards of accuracy, fairness, and balance.

The article, titled “Rocket Lab-launched satellites to help Ukraine in war against Russia,” claimed that satellites launched by Rocket Lab for Japanese company iQPS would be used to support Ukraine’s military intelligence. Rocket Lab strongly refuted this, stating the claim was false and damaging, and that neither they nor iQPS had any involvement in supplying military capabilities to Ukraine. (8/4)

Duffy to Announce Nuclear Reactor on the Moon (Source: Politico)
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will announce expedited plans this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, the first major action by the former Fox News host as the interim NASA administrator. NASA has discussed building a reactor on the lunar surface, but this would set a more definitive timeline — according to documents obtained by POLITICO — and come just as the agency faces a massive budget cut. The move also underscores how Duffy, who faced pushback from lawmakers about handling two jobs, wants to play a role in NASA policymaking. (8/4)

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Moon Mission Ends (Source: NASA)
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer ended its mission to the Moon on July 31. Despite extensive efforts, mission operators were unable to establish two-way communications after losing contact with the spacecraft the day following its Feb. 26 launch.

The mission aimed to produce high-resolution maps of water on the Moon’s surface and determine what form the water is in, how much is there, and how it changes over time. The maps would have supported future robotic and human exploration of the Moon as well as commercial interests while also contributing to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system. (8/4)

Eoptic and Starris Establish Strategic Partnership to Develop Multispectral Satellite Imaging Payloads (Source: Space News)
Eoptic Inc. and Starris: Optimax Space Systems announce a partnering agreement to build end-to-end satellite imaging payloads that leverage the knowledge and space heritage of both companies — Eoptic’s expertise in imaging science and advanced onboard processing and Starris’s leadership in precision optics and scalable manufacturing for responsive space. (8/4)

Poland’s SpaceForest Completes Qualification of PERUN Rocket Engine (Source: European Spaceflight)
Polish rocket builder SpaceForest has completed the final hot fire test of its SF-1000 rocket engine. The company is now preparing for the next test flight of its 11.5-metre suborbital PERUN rocket, which will be powered by the newly qualified engine. The launch is expected before the end of 2025.

SpaceForest completed an initial hot fire test of its redesigned SF-1000 rocket engine at the end of 2024, followed by the first full-duration test in February 2025. However, the most recent test appeared to feature a component not present in the earlier campaigns, with the company deliberately obscuring the engine nozzle in the released video, something it had not done with footage from previous tests. (8/4)

Long March 12 Launches first Guowang Satellites Developed by Private Firm (Source: Space News)
China launched its third batch of Guowang megaconstellation satellites in eight days on Monday, marking a significant milestone as it was the first time a commercial satellite manufacturer was involved in the mission. The launch, using a Long March 12 rocket, is part of a broader effort to establish a sovereign space internet and expand China's satellite broadband network. (8/4)

Proba-3 Demonstrates Formation Flying for Future Missions (Source: The Conversation)
The brightest part of the Sun is so bright that it blocks the faint light from the corona, so it is invisible to most of the instruments astronomers use. The exception is when the Moon blocks the Sun, casting a shadow on the Earth during an eclipse. But as an astronomer, I know eclipses are rare, they last only a few minutes, and they are visible only on narrow paths across the Earth. So, researchers have to work hard to get their equipment to the right place to capture these short, infrequent events.

Scientists at the European Space Agency have built and launched a new probe designed specifically to create artificial eclipses. This probe, called Proba-3, works just like a real solar eclipse. One spacecraft, which is roughly circular when viewed from the front, orbits closer to the Sun, and its job is to block the bright parts of the Sun, acting as the Moon would in a real eclipse. It casts a shadow on a second probe that has a camera capable of photographing the resulting artificial eclipse.

Having two separate spacecraft flying independently but in such a way that one casts a shadow on the other is a challenging task. But future missions depend on scientists figuring out how to make this precision choreography technology work, and so Proba-3 is a test. This technology is helping to pave the way for future missions that could include satellites that dock with and deorbit dead satellites or powerful telescopes with instruments located far from their main mirrors. (8/4)

Is the Dream Chaser Spaceplane Ever Going to Launch into Orbit? (Source: Ars Technica)
When will Sierra Space's winged vehicle, Dream Chaser, finally take flight? Unfortunately, it's still not clear. Almost certainly, however, it won't be this year. The Dream Chaser space plane has now been under development for more than two decades, and it has a huge cult following because its winged shape mimics the iconic Space Shuttle. However, during a recent news briefing, a senior NASA official would only say this about a launch date: "We will be ready for them when they're ready to fly."

The comments came from Dana Weigel, who is the program manager for the International Space Station. Sierra Space has a contract with NASA to deliver cargo to the space station, and its first flight is intended to visit the space station. Weigel was asked about Dream Chaser at a news briefing Friday, following the successful launch of the Crew-11 mission.

"They're in final assembly," she said of Sierra Space. "They're doing a lot of tests, and they're doing what I call final certification work. Some of the big key areas that they're focused on is the software certification. You've got to test end-to-end all the different software functions. So that's a big focus area for them. And then they're still working on certification in the prop system." (8/4)

Solar Power Plant Repurposed to Hunt Asteroids at Night (Source: New Atlas)
What if there was a way to get some useful work out of a solar plant when the stars are out? That was the question Sandusky wanted to answer when he began his tests at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The only research plant of its kind in the United States, it consists of a 200-foot-high (61-m) concrete tower flanked by 218 mirrors mounted on heliostats that automatically track the sun and concentrate its rays on the tower target. Those heliostats can do more than track the sun. They can also be programmed to track other objects and that means that Sandusky could make them do something clever.

Sandusky took one of the heliostats and had it track the night sky like a telescope and projected the reflected energy onto optical instruments on the tower. This energy amounted to only a femtowatt of power, but by oscillating the heliostat back and forth over a one-minute cycle, he created conditions suitable for asteroid detection. (8/3)

Scientists Just Recreated the Universe's First Ever Molecules (Source: Live Science)
For the first time, researchers have recreated the universe's first ever molecules by mimicking the conditions of the early universe. Just after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, the universe was subject to extremely high temperatures. A few seconds later, though, temperatures decreased enough for hydrogen and helium to form as the first ever elements. Hundreds of thousands of years after those elements formed, temperatures became cool enough for their atoms to combine with electrons in a variety of different configurations, forging molecules.

According to the researchers, a helium hydride ion — or HeH+ — became the first ever molecule. The ion is needed to form molecular hydrogen, now the most abundant molecule in the universe. Both helium hydride ions and molecular hydrogen were critical to the development of the first stars hundreds of millions of years later, the researchers said. (8/4)

Harvard Scientist Suggests What Looks Like a Comet Might be Alien Technology (Source: Herald Mail)
A trio of researchers led by Avi Loeb, a controversial astrophysicist from Harvard University, are positing a very different theory: What if 3I/ATLAS isn't just some random space rock that arrived in our solar system by happenstance but an intelligently controlled alien spacecraft? Even the authors of the research paper positing the wild idea aren't fully sold on it, but – hey – extraterrestrial visitors are always fun to think about. (8/3)

New AI Approach Could Pin Down Binary Star System Properties Quickly (Source: Space.com)
Binaries are systems of two stars revolving around a mutual center of mass. Their motion is governed by Kepler’s harmonic law, which connects three important quantities: the sizes of each orbit, the time it takes for them to orbit, called the orbital period, and the total mass of the system.

The more massive the star in a binary pair, the closer to the center it is and the slower it revolves about the center. Even with eclipsing binaries, measuring the properties of stars is no easy task. Stars are deformed as they rotate and pull on each other in a binary system. They interact, they irradiate one another, they can have spots and magnetic fields, and they can be tilted this way or that.

To study them, astronomers use complex models that have many knobs and switches. As an input, the models take parameters – for example, a star’s shape and size, its orbital properties, or how much light it emits – to predict how an observer would see such an eclipsing binary system. (8/4)

NASA’s New Radar Just Pulled Off Something Impossible on Earth (Source: SciTech Daily)
During a close Mars flyby, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft tested its radar system, REASON, for the first time in space. The radar’s flawless performance thrilled scientists, as it successfully bounced signals off the Martian surface—proving it’s ready to scan Europa’s ice shell for signs of a hidden ocean. The 60GB of data gathered not only confirmed the hardware’s reliability but also gave researchers an early opportunity to fine-tune their analytical tools before Clipper reaches Jupiter’s icy moon in 2030. (8/4)

Huntsville and Orlando to Share Work on $9.5 Billion Cruise Missile Production (Source: AL.com)
Lockheed Martin facilities in Alabama and Florida are taking part in a mammoth $9.5 billion contract to increase production of two of the U.S. military’s most capable cruise missiles. The Pentagon last month announced the contract to increase delivery of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). Work will be performed at Troy AL and Orlando FL, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2033. The contract involves foreign military sales (FMS) to Poland, Netherlands, Japan, and Finland, according to the Pentagon. (8/4)

The Search for Biosignatures in the Milky Way (Source: Astronomy)
To find gases that might indicate life on exoplanets, researchers are interested in rocky, Earth-sized exoplanets that lie in their host stars’ habitable zones. Though no such planets have yet been detected around Sun-like stars, some have been found orbiting less luminous stars called M dwarfs.

These planets have several observational advantages. They orbit very close to their stars, in some cases completing one round trip in one or two days, allowing for more frequent observations to search for atmospheres. And because their stars are smaller and cooler, any life-indicating gases will absorb a higher fraction of their star’s light and have a better chance of showing up in JWST’s infrared spectra. (8/1)

JWST Reveals Four Distinct CO₂ Types on Saturn’s Moons (Source: Universe Today)
Researchers identified four types of trapped CO₂ on the moons, with CO₂ on Dione and Rhea being supplied from Saturn’s E-ring. Moving outward, the researchers concluded that CO₂ is produced from organics on Phoebe, which then transfers to the dark regions of Iapetus and Hyperion. Finally, the researchers discovered trapped CO₂ within water ice on Iapetus and Hyperion. To complement these intriguing findings, the researchers note how they could extend to the Galilean moons of Jupiter. (7/29)

Burloak and MDA Advance Additive Manufacturing for Space (Source: Space News)
The transition from experimental additive manufacture (AM) parts to full-scale production has required significant investment in process validation. Companies like Burloak Technologies, Canada’s largest metal additive contract manufacturer, work extensively with space companies to prove that printed metal parts can meet the stringent requirements of spaceflight.

As demand for satellite constellations surges, MDA Space is ramping up production to have the capacity to deliver two MDA AURORA satellites per day. This expansion, fueled by major contracts like Telesat Lightspeed and Globalstar’s next-gen LEO constellation, is pushing Burloak to scale its vertically integrated AM and post-processing capabilities to unprecedented levels to remain in-step with its partner. (8/4)

Firefly Aerospace Lifts IPO Range That Would Value Company at More Than $6 Billion (Source: CNBC)
Firefly Aerospace has lifted the share price range for its upcoming initial public offering in a move that would value the space technology company at more than $6 billion. The lunar lander and rocket maker said in a filing Monday that it expects to price shares in its upcoming IPO between $41 and $43 apiece. (8/4)

SpaceX's Cellular Starlink Expands to Support IoT Devices (Source: PC Mag)
SpaceX’s cellular Starlink system isn’t just for phones in cellular dead zones. In New Zealand, the satellite technology now covers IoT devices, starting with equipment to monitor beehives. In December, New Zealand mobile carrier One NZ was the first to start offering cellular Starlink service to consumers, about a month before T-Mobile kicked off its own beta in the US. 

On Tuesday, SpaceX and One NZ notified the US Federal Communications Commission about their plan to use more radio spectrum to increase capacity for satellite connectivity. Specifically, One NZ plans on using the 2500 to 2515MHz and 2620 to 2635MHz radio bands in New Zealand. The carrier had only been tapping the 1780 to 1785MHz and 1875 to 1880MHz spectrum to send and receive data from orbiting Starlink satellites. (7/30)

Space Hurricanes are Real (Source: Space.com)
Behold, the space hurricane. Just like its terrestrial namesake, it spins in vast spirals and has a calm, eye-like center. But instead of clouds and rain, these electromagnetic tempests are made of plasma, charged particles whipped into motion by Earth's magnetic field. Now, a new study reveals that space hurricanes can mimic the effects of a geomagnetic storm, shaking Earth's magnetic field and scrambling GPS signals even when space weather appears calm. (8/4)