November 25, 2025

FAA Moves Toward Increased Flight Rate for Starship (Source: Space News)
The FAA is a step closer to approving an increased flight rate for SpaceX's Starship vehicle. The agency released last week a revised environmental assessment that examined the impacts from performing 25 launches annually of Starship/Super Heavy from Boca Chica, Texas, along with up to 25 landings each of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. The document does not include a formal recommendation but notes that its assessment found "no significant environmental changes" from an increased flight rate. SpaceX is currently limited to five launches and landings a year from Boca Chica. The FAA will make a final determination after a public comment period closes in mid-January. (11/25)

European Officials Seek Improved Approach for Orbital Debris (Source: Space News)
European officials called for regulatory and technology improvements to deal with orbital debris. In a panel at Space Tech Expo Europe last week, industry and government experts said an increase in both the number of active satellites and debris objects is complicating satellite operations, such as orbit-raising maneuvers. They recommended improvements in tracking debris and rules to limit the lifetime of satellites in orbit after the end of their missions. They also recommended incentives for operators who show responsible behavior versus penalties for bad behavior. (11/25)

Rocket Lab Launches Electrons From Virginia and New Zealand (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched two Electrons less than 24 hours apart Sunday. One Electron lifted off at 1 a.m. Eastern from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a suborbital mission for an undisclosed customer. It was the second flight of the HASTE variant of Electron the company introduced last year for hypersonics testing. A second Electron launched at 10:55 p.m. Eastern from New Zealand carrying a third set of satellites for Kinéis, a French company developing an IoT constellation. This was the first time Rocket Lab performed two Electron launches within 24 hours. (11/25)

China Launches Radar Imaging Satellites (Source: Space News)
China launched a pair of radar imaging satellites Sunday. A Long March 2C lifted off at 6:39 p.m. Eastern from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and placed the SuperView Neo-2 03 and 04 satellites into orbit. The satellites will be used by China Siwei Surveying and Mapping Technology Co., Ltd., to provide synthetic aperture radar imagery at a resolution of 50 centimeters. (11/25)

SpaceX conducted a pair of Starlink launches Sunday and Monday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:25 a.m. Eastern Sunday, deploying 20 Starlink satellites, 13 with direct-to-cell payloads. That launch was the 400th liftoff of a Falcon 9. Another Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 5:02 a.m. Eastern Monday carrying 23 Starlink satellites, 12 with direct-to-call payloads. The booster used for Monday's launch was turned around in less than two weeks, a new company record. (11/25)

How Amateur Radio is Connecting Astronauts in Space with Kids on Earth (Source: Space.com)
It is now four decades ago that astronaut Owen Garriott, callsign W5LFL, pioneered amateur radio communication from space. He was a crewmember on the space shuttle program's STS-9 mission. During that space shuttle flight in 1983, Garriott became the first-ever person in space to communicate with amateur radio operators on the ground.

Frank Bauer, also known as KA3HDO in callsign lingo, is ARISS-USA Executive Director and serves as international chair of the group. "We are performing 60-100 'educational connections' with astronauts and cosmonauts on ISS a year," Bauer told Space.com. Educational connections are astronaut on-board contacts in formal and informal educational settings. These can include formal schools, virtual or home schools, scouts, boys and girls clubs, libraries, etc., Bauer explained. (11/24)

Curiosity Cracked Open a Rock on Mars And Found a Big Surprise (Source: Science Alert)
A rock on Mars spilled a surprising yellow treasure after Curiosity accidentally cracked through its unremarkable exterior. When the rover rolled its 899-kilogram (1,982-pound) body over the rock back in May, the rock broke open, revealing yellow crystals of elemental sulfur: brimstone. Although sulfates are fairly common on Mars, this represents the first time sulfur has been found on the red planet in its pure elemental form.

What's even more exciting is that the Gediz Vallis Channel, where Curiosity found the rock, is littered with rocks that look suspiciously similar to the sulfur rock before it got fortuitously crushed – suggesting that, somehow, elemental sulfur may be abundant there in some places. "Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert," said Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in July. "It shouldn't be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting." (11/24)

Russia Sends Stinky Cargo to ISS (Source: Space News)
The ISS crew had to close the hatch to a newly arrived Russian cargo spacecraft after noticing an "unexpected odor" from it. The Progress MS-29 spacecraft docked with the station's Poisk module at 9:31 a.m. Eastern Saturday, two days after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. However, when cosmonauts opened the hatch to the spacecraft they reported seeing droplets of an unidentified fluid as well as a strong odor. They closed the hatch while controllers turned on scrubbers to remove any contaminants from the station's air supply. ISS operations are otherwise unaffected by the incident, NASA said Sunday. (11/25)

Musk Has Pledged to Settle Mars. A Prize-Winning Book Offers a Reality Check (Source: CNN)
The promise of starting life anew on Mars may appear alluring, even feasible, as the climate crisis intensifies and space and rocket technology advances. But the reality would be dreadful, according to one book that argues that Elon Musk’s intention to settle the red planet within the next 30 years is doomed to failure.

Written by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?” won the 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize and was published in November 2023. The husband-and-wife authors investigate what life would actually be like in the unforgiving environment of the red planet and clear up any misconceptions about what it might involve.

"Musk is saying that in the next 30 years, we’re going to have a million people on Mars. No way that you could scale up to a million people on Mars without something catastrophic happening, either in terms of it turns out we can’t have babies up there, and moms and babies are dying or getting cancer. If you want to do this, it’s got to be the slow work of generations to build up to a point where we could be self-sustaining on Mars. It’s such a harsh environment requiring complicated equipment to keep you alive, and I just can’t see that happening on Mars in the near term." (11/22)

Boeing Cuts Almost 700 Jobs At Missouri Defense, Space & Security Division (Source: Simple Flying)
In a move mirroring that of Airbus Defense and Space, Boeing has issued notices of layoffs to 692 workers at its Defense, Space & Security division. Boeing has been struggling recently with the Boeing 737 MAX fallout and its space sector - including its Starliner space capsule. The space sector is proving challenging for established companies like Boeing as new entrants like SpaceX are upending market segments. According to Reuters, the nearly 700 layoffs are "part of the debt-heavy US planemaker's plan to cut 17,000 jobs or 10% of its global workforce." (11/21)

SSC Focuses on Recruiting, Commercial Integration (Source: Via Satellite)
Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, who leads US Space Systems Command, highlights workforce challenges, especially in cybersecurity. Garrant discusses efforts to integrate commercial capabilities, noting the importance of the Commercial Space Office and SpaceWerx in filling technical gaps. He also emphasizes the critical role of Space Force in secure communications, particularly in the Pacific region. (11/22)

Uruguay Closer to Sending Satellites Into Space From Rocha: “You Will Be Able to Continue Walking on the Beach” (Source: Busqueda)
The Air Force leaders in charge of the project believe that the environmental impact of the satellite port will be similar to that of the traffic that circulates on Route 9. The chosen location is close to a beach resort in Rocha. The company that proposed the project is Argentine and the one that promotes it from the State is the Uruguayan Air Force (FAU), which imagines that by 2026 it will be a launch port for nano and microsatellites that will be a reference in the region and generate a new source of income for the country. (11/14)

SpaceX: Cellular Starlink Service Is Ready to Go (Source: PC Magazine)
After dozens of rocket launches, SpaceX now has enough satellites in Earth’s orbit to offer commercial services for its cellular Starlink system. The company today launched another batch of 12 "direct to cell" Starlink satellites into space, bringing the total to over 320, and effectively completing the first stage of the satellite network. Monday’s launch also signals that SpaceX has enough direct-to-cell satellites circling the globe to offer robust coverage without any gaps. Since January, it's been launching cellular Starlink satellites to use them as orbiting cell towers that can beam data to phones on the ground. (11/25)

Hubble Reveals Edge-On Spiral Galaxy with Unique Structure (Source: Space Daily)
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking view of UGC 10043, a spiral galaxy located approximately 150 million light-years away in the Serpens constellation. This galaxy is seen edge-on, revealing a sharp silhouette of its disk rather than the familiar spiral arm pattern. From this vantage point, UGC 10043's disk appears as a distinct line with thick, dark dust lanes that obscure the light of the stars. If viewed from above, these dust formations would likely highlight the galaxy's spiral arms. (11/25)

Atomic-6 Partners with Starpath Robotics for Lunar Power Tower Development (Source: Space Daily)
Atomic-6 has entered into a development contract with Starpath Robotics to design and build a deployable composite boom for Starpath's advanced solar power generation system. This collaboration brings together Atomic-6's innovative composite manufacturing techniques and Starpath's vision for lunar infrastructure development.

Starpath Robotics is working to establish robotic mining operations on the Moon, aiming to produce hundreds of tons of liquid oxygen annually for use in refueling and space industry applications. Long-term plans include scaling up production to tens of thousands of tons annually to support broader space exploration initiatives. Atomic-6's Space Mast technology, offering a 15% increase in specific strength compared to traditional composites, is a key enabler of this initiative. The company's experience with high-performance composites, demonstrated in USAF STTR projects and its Light Wing solar arrays, positions it as a critical partner in this lunar endeavor. (11/25)

China Details Plans for Manned Lunar Landing by 2030 (Source: Space Daily)
China has revealed additional insights into its manned lunar mission, targeting a moon landing by 2030, through a video presentation at the Human Space Symposium. The animation, released by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), showcases key mission aspects, including a lunar rover exploring the moon's surface and outlining a three-day exploration route centered around the landing zone. The mission aims to achieve critical advancements such as enabling manned Earth-Moon travel, short-term lunar surface habitation, and joint human-robot exploration.

Tasks include lunar landing, surface mobility, sample collection, scientific research, and a safe return to Earth. Key components of the mission involve the Lanyue lunar lander and the Mengzhou manned spacecraft. The Lanyue will be launched first aboard China's new heavy-lift Long March-10 rocket, awaiting Mengzhou's arrival in space. Once in lunar orbit, the two vehicles will dock, allowing astronauts to transfer to Lanyue for descent to the moon's surface.

After their lunar exploration activities, the crew will return to orbit via Lanyue's ascent stage, re-dock with Mengzhou, and begin the journey back to Earth. CMSA plans to conduct pre-crewed flight tests and manned lunar missions to advance lunar science, resource exploration, and technology development. The agency also aims to facilitate large-scale experiments in areas such as lunar science, lunar-based research, and the utilization of lunar resources. (11/25)

Making Mars' Moons: Supercomputers Offer 'Disruptive' New Explanation (Source: Space Daily)
A NASA study using a series of supercomputer simulations reveals a potential new solution to a longstanding Martian mystery: How did Mars get its moons? The first step, the findings say, may have involved the destruction of an asteroid. The research team, led by Jacob Kegerreis, a postdoctoral research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, found that an asteroid passing near Mars could have been disrupted - a nice way of saying "ripped apart" - by the Red Planet's strong gravitational pull.

The team's simulations show the resulting rocky fragments being strewn into a variety of orbits around Mars. More than half the fragments would have escaped the Mars system, but others would've stayed in orbit. Tugged by the gravity of both Mars and the Sun, in the simulations some of the remaining asteroid pieces are set on paths to collide with one another, every encounter further grinding them down and spreading more debris. (11/21)

Carbon Mapper Reports Initial Methane Mitigation Success From Tanager-1 Satellite (Source: Space Daily)
Carbon Mapper has shared data on more than 300 methane and CO2 plume detections, representing the first wave of findings from its Tanager-1 satellite launched in August. Developed by Planet Labs PBC and supported by the Carbon Mapper Coalition - a public-private initiative that includes Planet Labs and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Tanager-1 provides detailed emissions tracking, enabling targeted efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. This data release already includes a significant success story of emissions mitigation.

On October 9, the satellite identified a major methane plume in the Texas Permian Basin, traced back to a gathering pipeline. Carbon Mapper alerted relevant state and federal authorities, who informed the operator. Immediate voluntary repairs were made, leading to the elimination of the leak. Subsequent satellite checks verified the absence of the methane plume. (11/16)

US Finalizes Awards to BAE Systems, Rocket Lab for Semiconductor Chips (Source: Reuters)
The U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday it is finalizing nearly $60 million in government subsidies for BAE Systems to build chips used in jets and satellites, and for Rocket Lab to build compound semiconductors used in satellites and spacecraft. The department is finalizing $35.5 million to BAE to quadruple production in New Hampshire for key semiconductor chips used in F-35 fighter jets and commercial satellites. The investment will cut the company’s planned modernization timeline in half, Commerce said.

The Commerce Department is also finalizing $23.9 million for Rocket Lab unit SolAero Technologies, which the government said would boost the company's production of solar cells by 50% over the next three years. Rocket Lab is one of two U.S. firms specializing in the production of highly efficient, radiation resistant compound semiconductors called space-grade solar cells. (11/25)

Colorado Springs Named Permanent Home for 250 Delta 15 Space Force Guardians (Source: The Gazette)
The Air Force announced last week 250 Space Force guardians with Delta 15, dedicated to protecting and defending operations in space, will be permanently based in Colorado Springs at Schriever Space Force Base. A Space Force delta is similar to an Air Force wing and in this case houses command and control, intelligence and reconnaissance and cyber squadrons. (11/25)

Greater Transparency Will Enhance Space Governance (Source: The Strategist)
To solve the ongoing difficulties in framing new rules for space governance, states must revitalise existing measures and consider them in international space policy debates. In particular, they should look at The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC). The HCoC commits states to openness and transparency in space activities, helps codify responsible behaviors and, in doing so, constrains irresponsible ones.

Space governance has been under considerable stress for a while now. Growing space security threats in the form of anti-satellite weapons, cyber and electronic warfare in space have demonstrated the weaknesses of the existing outer space regime. These contemporary challenges are not effectively addressed by existing measures, which points to the urgent need for new regulations. Major powers have struggled to agree on regulation, and the war in Ukraine has made it worse.

Established in 2002, the HCoC is primarily designed to limit ballistic missile proliferation and includes only good-faith commitments to specific types of responsible behavior. But it does contain commitments related to civil space activities, which are useful in bolstering international space governance. (11/25)

How Terry Kilgore Helped Transform Virginia Into a Commercial Space Hub (Source: Cardinal News)
Once known for its tranquil shores and subtle charm, Wallops Island in Virginia is now poised to become a cornerstone of modern space exploration. The impending 2025 launch of Rocket Lab’s Neutron reusable rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) signals not only a technological milestone but also the realization of a bold vision that positions Virginia as a rising leader in the commercial space industry.

Behind this transformation is an unlikely champion: Terry Kilgore, a rural legislator from southwestern Virginia, whose forward-thinking legislative efforts over two decades catalyzed the state’s ascent in aerospace innovation. Kilgore’s work demonstrates how grassroots leadership can impact industries far beyond its origins, including creating what may become the only major domestic competitor to SpaceX in the United States.

In 2007, Kilgore championed a landmark bill granting liability immunity to commercial space companies operating in Virginia. This legislation, alongside targeted tax incentives, created a favorable climate for private investment. Kilgore later in 2019 spearheaded a resolution urging NASA to conduct an environmental impact study on permitting reusable rocket landings at Wallops. This critical step would eventually enable companies like Rocket Lab to base operations there. (11/25)

Start Thinking About Space Tourism, Travel Agents Told (Source: Travel Weekly)
Travel Counsellors agents have been advised to speak to clients about the prospect of space tourism as part of their approach to planning for the future. Tom Cheesewright, a consultant and author, delivered a keynote speech at the homeworking agency’s annual conference in which he outlined how the travel industry might look in 30 years’ time.

“In 2054, will space tourism not just be for the billionaire few, but for the masses? Maybe,” he said. Going on to refer to the Concorde era, he predicted supersonic travel would likely return in a “few years’ time” to provide a luxury means of reaching a destination fast. (11/25)

ISRO to Launch European Space Agency’s Proba-3 Mission on December 4 (Source: The Hindu)
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission will be launched on ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on December 4. According to ESA, Proba-3 is the world’s first precision formation flying mission. The mission will demonstrate formation flying in the context of a large-scale science experiment. Holding position to a precision of a single millimeter, one Proba-3 spacecraft will line up in front of the other, around 150 m away, to cast its shadow precisely onto the other. (11/23)

Gaganyaan's Unmanned Mission May Go to Space in March 2025 (Source: CNBC)
Gaganyaan, one of India's ambitious space projects, may take off with an unmanned mission as early as March next year. To monitor the unmanned mission, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning to send ships carrying scientists to be stationed at various observation points in the Pacific Ocean as well as the North Atlantic Ocean. Its success will further pave the way for Gaganyaan’s manned mission, set for launch in 2026. At present, four astronauts are already training for the three-day mission, which will require them to go to space to orbit 400 km and later return by landing in Indian seawater. (11/25)

Larry Page, Google Co-Founder, Said He'd Leave His Fortune To Elon Musk Over Charity Because Of His Plans 'To Go To Mars To Back Up Humanity' (Source: Benzinga)
In 2014, during an interview with Charlie Rose at the TED Conference, Google cofounder Larry Page made headlines with an unusual revelation. Page didn't point to traditional charitable foundations or heirs when asked about his thoughts on legacy and philanthropy. Instead, he floated the idea of leaving his wealth to Elon Musk, the tech visionary behind Tesla and SpaceX. Page's reasoning? Musk's bold mission to colonize Mars and "back up humanity." (11/24)