October 10, 2025

Florida/Texas Space Rivalry: UCF’s New Space Game Uniforms Pay Tribute to Hypersonic Travel (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
UCF’s latest version of its space-themed football uniforms for its annual space game features a nod to hypersonics and space propulsion research. The overall look, entitled “Mission IX: HyperSpace,” will debut on Nov. 7 when the Knights host Houston at Acrisure Bounce House Stadium. The focus of this theme is UCF’s HyperSpace Center, which collaborates with the United States Air Force to explore the technology that facilitates air travel at speeds ranging from Mach 6 to Mach 17. (10/8)

MIT Rejects Trump Administration Deal for Priority Federal Funding (Source: Washington Post)
MIT’s president turned down the Trump administration’s offer of priority access for federal funding Friday, publicly releasing a letter that emphasized the elite university’s values including free expression and “the core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”

Last week, the Trump administration offered nine universities a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” presented as an opportunity to receive competitive advantages from the federal government and from private donors for institutions that sign on. It was the latest attempt by the administration to force colleges into compliance with President Donald Trump’s ideological priorities, after months of federal research funding freezes and investigations into schools’ adherence to civil rights laws.

Editor's Note: According to MIT's research expenditure data from 2020, NASA funded ~$34.81 million in research at MIT, representing about 5% of MIT's total research expenditures. DoD contributed $131.83 million (17% of total research expenditures). (10/10)

Adapting Judaism to Spaceflight (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon had a question before going into space: How would he mark Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, from orbit? Sabbath begins Friday at sunset and ends Saturday after sunset. But astronauts circling the Earth see a sunrise and sunset about every 90 minutes. There was a precedent for his dilemma. Jewish WWII soldiers in the Arctic Circle, where the sun rises and stays up for a long time, were advised to mark Sabbath based on the closest habitable city. So someone at the North Pole would follow the time of Anchorage, Alaska. (10/8)

JD Vance Should Take the Moon Shot (Source: National Review)
The vice president might further advance his political future by attending to a policy area that he has so far neglected: outer space. While top politicians have often been ambivalent about making space a priority — even President Kennedy, whose Rice University address launched the original moon shot, cared only to the extent that it could showcase U.S. superiority over the Soviet Union — domestic and international circumstances make this the perfect time to champion the conquest of the final frontier.

Historically, vice presidents have been their bosses’ point men for space policy. Mike Pence performed this role admirably during Trump’s first administration as chairman of the National Space Council. By taking personal interest and exercising leadership, Pence contributed to several notable policy initiatives, including strengthening property rights to celestial resources, promoting the commercial space industry, and advancing long-term strategic interests. But these gains may erode for lack of an advocate. (10/10)

QUT to Advance Navigation Systems for Australia Lunar Rover (Source: Space Daily)
QUT's Center for Robotics will play a central role in keeping Australia's first lunar rover, known as Roo-ver, safely on course during its mission to the Moon. "QUT's world-class robotics expertise, especially in areas like robotic vision and navigation technologies, is a key capability we bring to the challenge of navigating on the Moon. There are no GPS satellites, the terrain is harsh and computing resources are limited." (10/1)

Far Side Lunar Mantle Cooler Than Near Side (Source: Space Daily)
The lunar far side may have a colder interior than the near side, according to an analysis of rock samples collected by China's Chang'e 6 mission. Retrieved from a vast crater, the samples reveal key differences in mantle temperature and composition between the two hemispheres. Chemical analyses showed it crystallized at roughly 1,100 degrees C, about 100 degrees C cooler than equivalent near-side samples. This suggests the far side mantle experienced lower formation temperatures. (10/1)

Rare Cleanroom Bacterium Survives by Playing Dead (Source: Space Daily)
A University of Houston team reports that a rare bacterium found in NASA spacecraft assembly clean rooms can evade detection by entering dormancy, effectively "playing dead" in a nutrient-poor environment. The microorganism, Tersicoccus phoenicis, turned up in two clean rooms more than a decade ago in Florida and French Guiana. These facilities undergo rigorous sterilization to protect spacecraft and planetary bodies from contamination. (10/9)

Lunar Mega Basin Signals Radioactive Ejecta and Reshapes Moon Origin Story (Source: Space Daily0
New analyses of the South Pole-Aitken basin recast the formation of the Moon's largest impact crater and what it reveals about lunar origins. The study outlines how the basin's geometry and chemistry point to a northward-moving impactor and a radioactive-rich ejecta deposit. Spanning more than 1,200 miles north to south and 1,000 miles east to west, the oblong basin formed from a glancing blow rather than a head-on strike. (10/9)

Isaacman Might Be Reconsidered to Lead NASA (Source: Bloomberg)
Jared Isaacman could get a second shot at becoming NASA administrator. Isaacman has reportedly met with President Trump multiple times  to discuss Isaacman’s vision for NASA, suggesting that Trump could consider renominating him. The move comes after Trump withdrew Isaacman’s nomination to lead the agency at the end of May. Isaacman was only days away from Senate confirmation when Trump revoked the nomination, an apparent byproduct of the falling out between Trump and Elon Musk. Neither the White House nor Isaacman have commented on the discussions. (10/10)

DoD Urged to Focus Funding on Hypersonics (Source: Space News)
A group of former senior U.S. defense officials is urging the Pentagon to dramatically expand investment in hypersonics. A report released Thursday by the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security urges the Pentagon to rapidly field both offensive hypersonic strike weapons and counter-hypersonic interceptors at a scale sufficient to achieve meaningful deterrence and, if necessary, defeat attacks from adversaries. The report warns that China and Russia are outpacing the United States in developing high-speed, maneuverable missiles that threaten to erode U.S. military deterrence. The report was written by a task force co-chaired by former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. (10/10)

New Zealand Space Strategy On Track (Source: Space News)
The New Zealand government says it is making good progress growing its space industry. The government released a strategy for its space and advanced aviation sectors a year ago, calling for them to double in size by 2030. In a speech this week at the New Zealand Aerospace Summit, Judith Collins, the country’s space minister, said the government was implementing various parts of that strategy, from regulatory reform to encouraging more investment in the industry. She said separate plans by the government to increase defense spending could also fuel the space sector through “targeted investments” in communications, reconnaissance and other systems. (10/10)

Momentus Wins Two NASA Contracts for Demo Missions (Source: Space News)
Momentus announced Thursday it won two NASA contracts to fly technology demonstration payloads. The contracts, with a combined value of $7.6 million, will fund the flights of an in-space manufacturing experiment and an advanced propulsion system on the company’s Vigoride spacecraft no earlier than October 2026. The company developed Vigoride as an orbital transfer vehicle and hosted payload platform but has not flown the vehicle since 2023, citing a cash crunch. The company’s next Vigoride mission is planned for February, with a DARPA in-space assembly payload as the prime customer. (10/10)

Starship Rolls Out for Next Test (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX is preparing for the next Starship test flight. SpaceX rolled out the Super Heavy booster for the Flight 11 mission to the pad on Wednesday, part of preparations for a launch scheduled for Monday evening from its Starbase facility in Texas. This will be the last launch of version 2 of Starship before the company moves to the more advanced version 3. Flight 11 will fly a profile similar to the Flight 10 mission in late August. (10/10)

Australia Considers More Military Space Investment (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Australian military is considering investing in space control capabilities. The country’s space and cyber attaché in Washington said in a webinar this week that the Australian Space Command has included space control among its four priorities that also include communications, space domain awareness and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The military has not disclosed further details about its space control plans but other documents note it would include “temporally assuring access and disrupting or denying an adversary use of the space domain, as required,” such as through jamming or spoofing. That capability would be available to allies as well. (10/10)

Record Space Investment for Third Quarter (Source: Reuters)
A space investment firm reported record funding for the industry in the third quarter. A report by Seraphim Space released Friday said there was $3.5 billion invested in space companies in the last quarter, a record. The figure was nearly double the funding in the same quarter a year ago. Seraphim said that investment is spread out among more companies than in the past, when it was concentrated in a few companies such as SpaceX. The report cited a surge in defense spending as a key reason for the growing investment. (10/10)

ESA Chief: Europe Needs Reusable Rockets to Catch Musk's SpaceX (Source: Space Daily)
Europe must quickly get its own reusable rocket launcher to catch up to SpaceX, European Space Agency director Josef Aschbacher says. "We have to really catch up and make sure that we come to the market with a reusable launcher relatively fast," Aschbacher said. "We are on the right path" to getting this done." ESA has announced a shortlist of five European aerospace companies bidding to build the continent's first reusable rocket launch system. That number will eventually be narrowed down to two, or even one. (10/10)

Inside UC San Diego’s Out-of-This-World Impact (Source: UCSD Today)
UC San Diego’s reach doesn’t stop at Earth’s atmosphere. Our astronauts have walked in space, our scientists have tested medicines in orbit and our astrophysicists have uncovered new planets and helped explain some of the universe’s biggest mysteries. These discoveries, powered largely by federal investment in science, make America stronger at home while pushing the limits of human exploration. (10/9)

Mars’ Crater Deposits Reveal a History of Shrinking Ice Volumes (Source: Okayama University)
For decades, scientists have been curious about how much water Mars once had and what led to its gradual transformation into the dry planet we see today. A new study sheds light on this mystery by looking deep inside Martian craters, which act like “ice archives” that store a frozen record of the planet’s past. These craters reveal that Mars went through repeated ice ages over hundreds of millions of years; however, with each cycle, the amount of remaining ice decreased steadily. (10/9)

Surge in Static Fires as China’s Space Sector Gains Momentum (Source: NSF)
As China’s launch cadence continues to accelerate, so too has the pace of engine testing in recent weeks. A growing number of commercial launch providers are edging closer to the maiden flights of new vehicles — several of which are still on track to debut before the end of the year. The number of launches from China has been progressively increasing month on month since the summer.

September closed with ten launches, the last of which was the country’s 60th of the year and the 100th mission for the Chang Zheng 2D. This vehicle has been in service since 1992 and has launched from all three of China’s inland launch centers. September’s launches followed the balance of 60% state and 40% commercial launches predicted at the start of the year, but this may shift as new vehicles become operational before the year is out. Operations at Wenchang were paused at the start of October when Typhoon Matmo made landfall in South China. (10/9)

Portugal-Based Critical Software Invests in Aerospacelab (Sources: Space News, SPACErePORT)
Critical Software, in partnership with Airbus Ventures, has invested in Aerospacelab. Aerospacelab is a strategic partner for Europe, accelerating access to space through rapid satellite development. Critical Software also recently made a strategic investment in Turion Space, a California company focused on space domain awareness, in-space servicing, and debris mitigation. (10/9)

Actually, We Are Going to Tell You the Odds of Recovering New Glenn’s Second Launch (Source: Ars Technica)
Blue Origin has a lot riding on this booster, named "Never Tell Me The Odds," which it will seek to recover and reuse. Despite the name of the booster, the company is quietly confident that it will successfully land the first stage on a drone ship named Jacklyn. Internally, engineers at Blue Origin believe there is about a 75 percent chance of success.

From the outside, that estimate seems on the high side. During the rocket's first flight in January, the first stage was lost after successfully boosting its payload to orbit. Blue Origin has provided few details about the propulsion issues that led to the loss of the first stage, which never got close to the drone ship. But it's clear that the company was unable to test many of the key aspects of controlling the rocket's flight through the atmosphere and stabilizing itself upon touchdown. A lot of software has to go right to nail the delicate landing dance.

Blue Origin's engineers, some of whom worked at SpaceX at the time, have the benefit of those learnings. But it is still a very, very difficult thing to do on the second flight of a new rocket. Editor's Note: One hopes that New Glenn landing will employ many lessons learned from Blue's suborbital experience with New Shepard and its history of successful landings. (10/8)

Embry‑Riddle Partners on Florida University Space Research Consortium (Source: ERAU)
Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University has joined the Florida University Space Research Consortium, a new state research entity launched by Space Florida, the state’s independent aerospace finance and development authority.

At its Nov. 7 meeting, the board of directors of Space Florida designated the Florida University Space Research Consortium as the state’s official research entity. The consortium will facilitate the awarding of NASA research grants in partnership with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The designation of the consortium came at the request of Embry‑Riddle, the University of Florida (UF) and the University of Central Florida (UCF). (10/7)

NATO ’s 5% Defense Spending Boost Ignites Space Investment (Source: Hakan KURT)
NATO ’s move to increase member defense budgets from 2% to 5% of GDP marks a new era for the space economy. With global defense spending exceeding $2 trillion annually, the opportunity for space infrastructure, satellite intelligence, and communication systems has never been larger. (10/6)

Astra’s Next Leap: Testing the Future of Rocket Propulsion (Source: LinkedIn)
Astra Space has completed a new hotfire test for its next-generation first-stage engine, marking a key milestone in the company’s push toward reliability and scalability in small launch systems. Astra’s propulsion team continues refining engine performance — improving combustion stability, reusability, and thrust-to-weight ratios critical for cost-effective access to orbit. (10/8)

One NASA Science Mission Saved From Trump’s Cuts, But Others Still in Limbo (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA has thrown a lifeline to scientists working on a mission to visit an asteroid that will make an unusually close flyby of the Earth in 2029, reversing the Trump administration's previous plan to shut it down. This mission, OSIRIS-APEX, was one of 19 operating NASA science missions the White House proposed canceling. "We were called for cancellation as part to the president's budget request, and we were reinstated and given a plan to move ahead in FY26 (Fiscal Year 2026) just two weeks ago," said Dani DellaGiustina. (10/8)