September 30, 2025

Blue Origin and Luxembourg Partner on Oasis-1 Mission to Map Lunar Resources (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin announced Project Oasis, a multi-phase initiative to identify key lunar resources from orbit, assess them on the ground, and harness them in situ. Oasis-1, alongside Luxembourg partners, is the first mission in the Oasis campaign. It will create the most detailed high-resolution maps to date of lunar water ice, Helium-3, radionuclides, rare earth elements, precious metals, and other materials crucial for humanity’s expansion into space for the benefit of Earth.

In partnership with Luxembourg and its national space agency, Project Oasis is being developed jointly by Blue Origin's Space Resources Center of Excellence (SRCE), the world's largest dedicated facility for space resources prospecting and utilization, and the company’s international office in Luxembourg. GOMSpace and ESRIC in Luxembourg are also supporting the project.

Project Oasis addresses a fundamental challenge in space development: the prohibitive cost of transporting materials from Earth. By producing propellant and construction materials from lunar resources, the program aims to reduce deep-space mission costs by up to 90% through in-space refueling, enable permanent lunar settlements with locally sourced building materials, establish strategic resource security for national space capabilities, and provide a platform for international collaboration to unlock the vast potential of space resources. (9/30)

NASA's Deep-Space Laser Comms Demo Ends (Source: The Register)
NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) demonstration has completed its final pass, although there is a chance the system might be reactivated in the second half of 2026. Carried aboard NASA's Psyche mission, DSOC demonstrated how data encoded in lasers could be reliably transmitted, received, and decoded. On September 2, the final communications pass was made from a distance of 2.34 AU (Astronomical Unit) or just under 350 million km (218 million miles). (9/30)

US Government Faces Brain Drain as 154,000 Federal Workers (~4,000 From NASA) Exit This Week (Source: Reuters)
More than 150,000 federal employees will leave the U.S. government payroll this week after accepting buyouts - the largest single-year exodus of civil servants in nearly 80 years, triggering what unions and governance experts warn is a damaging loss of institutional expertise. The official resignations begin on Tuesday for workers who opted into a deferred exit program that kept them on the payroll through September. The buyouts are a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s push to shrink the federal workforce, combining financial incentives with threats of dismissal for those who declined the offer.

Nearly 4,000 NASA employees took the two buyouts the Trump administration offered in January and April, said Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union that represents 8,000 NASA employees. "The agency is losing some of the most brilliant engineers and aeronautic scientists in the world, and they are not being replaced," Biggs said. (9/30)

Gemini’s Wing and a Prayer: Boilerplates and El Kabong (Source: Space Review)
In the final installment of the history of Gemini’s parafoil development, Dwayne Day examines how testing continued even after NASA abandoned plans to use it, work that included a creatively named test article. Click here. (9/30)
 
The Present and Future of NASA Human Spaceflight (Source: Space Review)
Last week NASA announced its newest class of astronauts, potentially the first for a post-International Space Station era at the agency. Jeff Foust reports that it came as NASA talked up the next major step in that future, the upcoming Artemis 2 mission. Click here. (9/30)
 
The Economic Reality of Lunar Competition: Beyond the Space Race Rhetoric (Source: Space Review)
Both lawmakers and NASA leadership have emphasized in recent weeks the need to accelerate  a human return to the Moon to arrive there before China. John Christie discusses how that focus on speed comes at the expense of sustainability. Click here. (9/30)
 
NASA Needs to Qualify, Not Certify. Commercial Space Stations (Source: Space Review)
NASA is revising its approach to supporting commercial space station development but still ultimately plans to certify such stations for use by NASA astronauts. Steve Hoeser argues that a better approach would be for NASA to “qualify” those stations rather than a formal certification. Click here. (9/30)
 
Last of the Dinosaurs: Admiral Nakhimov Sails Again Under Satellite Eyes (Source: Space Review)
A decades-old Soviet-era cruiser has taken to the seas again after extensive modifications. Dwayne Day discusses the changes to the ship and how they can now be tracked by commercial satellite imagery. Click here. (9/30)

Collision of Equal Sized Bodies May Explain Mercury's Unique Composition (Source: Space Daily)
A new study suggests that Mercury's unusual structure may have resulted from a grazing collision between two similar sized protoplanets, rather than a rare catastrophic impact with a much larger body. Mercury's dense metallic core makes up about 70% of its mass, while its rocky mantle remains unusually thin compared to other terrestrial planets. (9/25)

China Launches Experimental Satellites on Long March 2D (Source: Space News)
China launched a pair of experimental satellites. A Long March 2D lifted off at 11 p.m. Eastern Sunday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, placing into orbit the Shiyan-30 (01) and (02) satellites. Shiyan missions are usually described officially as for space environment detection and related technology experiments, but are believed to test new systems such as sensors, communications subsystems and environmental instruments. (9/30)

Kayhan Software Allows Realtime Situational Awareness (Source: Space News)
Kayhan Space has released free software designed to help researchers and developers visualize massive satellite catalogs. Built as an offshoot of the high-fidelity orbit propagator Kayhan developed for its commercial Satcat space traffic management platform, the Colorado-based venture said its browser-based sgp4.gl software library enables users to explore thousands of satellites and debris objects in realtime. The software has improved performance to deal with large satellite catalogs that can slow down other software. (9/30)

ESA Warns of Big Merger Consequences (Source: Reuters)
An ESA official offered a warning about a proposed European satellite joint venture. At a conference in Germany last week, Rolf Densing, director of operations at ESA, said he understood why Airbus, Leonardo and Thales were considering combining their space businesses to better compete with American firms. However, he said he was worried that the merger might leave Europe with just a single major satellite builder, which “is not too helpful” for ESA. The three companies continue to negotiate the terms of a joint venture. (9/30)

South Korea Picks SpaceX to Launch NavSat (Source: Chosun)
South Korea will launch its first navigation satellite with SpaceX. The Korea AeroSpace Administration and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said Tuesday they selected SpaceX to launch the KPS 1 satellite in 2029. KPS 1 is the first satellite of the Korea Positioning System, which will provide regional navigation services using satellites in geostationary and inclined geosynchronous orbits. (9/30)

Smoot Passes at 80 (Source: Physics World)
George Smoot, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering evidence for the Big Bang, has died at the age of 80. Smoot spent much of his career studying the cosmic microwave background, created by the Big Bang. He led the development of an instrument on NASA’s Cosmic Microwave Background Explorer, or COBE, spacecraft launched in 1989. COBE provided the strongest evidence yet for the cosmic microwave background, which earned him a share of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 with NASA’s John Mather, who also worked on the mission. (9/30)

Firefly First Stage Booster Destroyed in Ground Test (Source: Space News)
The booster that was to launch the return-to-flight mission of Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket was destroyed in a ground test Monday. Firefly said that the first stage, being tested at a company facility in Texas, “experienced an event that resulted in a loss of the stage.” The company didn’t elaborate, but video showed the booster exploding on a test stand. No one was injured in the mishap. The booster was being tested for the seventh launch of Alpha, planned for later this year, and the first since a launch failure in April. Shares in Firefly fell more than 10% in after-hours trading Monday after the company disclosed the incident. (9/30)

Senate Dems: NASA Violating Law in Implementing Trump 2026 Plans Without Authorization (Source: Space News)
A report by Senate Democrats alleges that NASA has been violating the law by attempting to implement elements of the administration’s 2026 budget proposal before Congress acts. The report by the Democratic staff of the Senate Commerce Committee, released Monday, cited anonymous whistleblowers and other sources who said that agency staff had been instructed to implement the major cuts in the fiscal year 2026 proposal even as House and Senate appropriations bills largely reject those measures. Others worried that the cuts, along with voluntary departures of agency employees, posed a safety risk. The report comes as the federal government faces a shutdown on Wednesday if Congress does not pass a stopgap funding bill, which could potentially lead to layoffs, rather than furloughs, of many government employees. (9/30)

Government Demand Spurs New Commercial Space Capabilities (Source: Space News)
Government demand continues to spur investment in commercial capabilities for a “circular space economy” that involves reuse of space assets. A panel at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) on Tuesday cited a steady increase in interest in satellite servicing and related capabilities from governments, particularly militaries. That demand, executives of several companies said, can help reduce costs and open up new commercial markets for those capabilities. (9/30)

China's Geovis Insighter Plans SSA Constellation (Source: Space News)
A Chinese company plans to establish a constellation of 144 space situational awareness (SSA) satellites in low Earth orbit. Geovis Insighter Technology Co. Ltd. said at the IAC that it plans to launch its first two satellites next April, with 12 in orbit by the end of next year as it builds out its constellation. Those initial satellites will be in 1,200-kilometer orbits to observe satellites in orbits from 300 to 2,000 kilometers. The company plans to collect SSA data to sell to commercial customers. (9/30)

Cosmic Shielding Develops Plasteel for Space Radiation Protection (Source: Space News)
A startup claims to have made progress toward increasing the computing power of spacecraft. Cosmic Shielding says it has developed a lightweight nanocomposite, called Plasteel, that it uses to build enclosures protecting advanced commercial processors from the intense radiation that bombards spacecraft. That would allow satellites to carry more advanced processors, including those that can perform AI applications, without worrying about the effects of radiation on them. The company demonstrated Plasteel on a smallsat mission, allowing a Nvidia graphics processing unit to operate in orbit as well as it does on the ground. (9/30)

Is the Future of Space Travel Only for the Super Rich? (Source: ABC.net)
When we think about space exploration, we often go back to the race to the moon between the US and Russia. Decades later, Australia plays a big part. We’ve seen billionaires battle it out in this 21st century space race, and  some of the world’s sharpest minds are in Sydney, to discuss the future of space research as part of the International Astronautical Congress… one of them being Dr John Horack, the Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy at The Ohio State University, who spoke with James O'Loghlin. Click here. (9/29)

IonQ Appoints General John W. “Jay” Raymond to Board of Directors (Source: IonQ)
IonQ announced the appointment of General John W. “Jay” Raymond to its Board of Directors. A globally recognized leader in space and national security operations, General Raymond most recently served as the first Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force. (9/29)

NASA’s Webb Telescope Studies Moon-Forming Disk Around Massive Planet (Source: NASA)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the first direct measurements of the chemical and physical properties of a potential moon-forming disk encircling a large exoplanet. The carbon-rich disk surrounding the world called CT Cha b, which is located 625 light-years away from Earth, is a possible construction yard for moons, although no moons are detected in the Webb data. (9/29)

Agency Watchdog Will See if DOGE-Led Projects Improved Efficiency (Source: FNN)
An agency watchdog is taking a closer look at some of the initiatives led by the Department of Government Efficiency and whether those projects are meeting their intended goals. The inspector general’s office for the General Services Administration, in a list of priority audits for fiscal 2026 released Thursday, said it will look at the impact of several DOGE-backed projects, including its mass termination of government leases. (9/25)

Northrop Grumman Hypersonic Navigation System Exceeds Rocket Test Milestones (Source: Space Daily)
Northrop Grumman's Advanced Hypersonic Technology Inertial Measurement Unit (AHT IMU) has surpassed expectations in its third major test, this time onboard a sounding rocket. The trial confirmed the unit's ability to withstand extreme g-forces, altitudes, and velocities beyond projected limits. The navigation system demonstrated reliable operation in GPS-denied environments, validating its role in enabling precision targeting at hypersonic speeds. The ruggedized IMU maintained functionality while capturing high-value inertial data in conditions typical of hypersonic and spaceflight. (9/29)

Teledyne Labtech and Bangor University Advance Welsh Space Cooling Technology (Source: Space Daily)
Teledyne Labtech is leading a Welsh effort to rethink thermal management for spacecraft electronics through the Advanced Thermal Management for Space Electronics project, developed with Bangor University and supported by Airbus Endeavr, a joint initiative between Airbus and the Welsh Government. The collaboration targets one of space engineering's hardest problems: moving heat in vacuum. The team is developing scalable, lightweight printed circuit board technology that uses synthetic graphite to conduct heat away from components while improving their ability to radiate energy into space. (9/29)

NASA Seeks Student Solutions for Lunar Lander Life Support Technologies (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has launched the 2026 Human Lander Challenge, inviting U.S.-based university students to propose fresh concepts for life support and environmental systems vital to long-duration spaceflight. The program, part of the Artemis campaign, focuses on advancing Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) technologies needed to sustain astronauts on the Moon and future missions to Mars.

The challenge seeks undergraduate and graduate teams to design systems-level solutions across four subtopics: noise control, sensor reduction in health monitoring hardware, potable water dispensing, and fluid transfer between lunar or Martian surface assets. Proposals must improve ECLSS reliability in areas such as air, water, and waste management. (9/29)

Wind Driven Rovers Show Promise for Low Cost Mars Missions (Source: Space Daily)
Recent tests suggest that swarms of spherical tumbleweed rovers could offer an affordable and efficient way to explore Mars. Experiments conducted in a wind tunnel and on natural terrain show that the wind powered design can move across a range of surfaces under Mars like conditions.

The five meter wide rovers are designed to roll with Martian winds, dispersing across the surface to collect simultaneous data on the planet's atmosphere and terrain. In their final phase, the robots would collapse into stationary research posts, supporting both long term science and future mission infrastructure. (9/26)

New Floating Launch Pad Tested at Sea (Source: The Spaceport Company)
The Spaceport Company (TSC) built and tested an entirely new type of floating launch pad. The “Tri-Sub” is a three-column, stabilized, semi-submersible vessel designed to enhance offshore operations for the aerospace and UAV industries. Named for its triangular column configuration, the Tri-Sub combines mobility, versatility, and cost-efficiency to address industry's desire for scalable and modular offshore autonomous vessels.

We built Tri-Sub in response to industry’s requests for a cheaper way to deploy telemetry stations at sea to enable signal reception downrange during orbital launch. It can also provide a charging / landing pad for drones, a ground receiver station for satellites, or a rocket launcher for national defense purposes. Or maybe something we haven’t thought of yet? (9//28)