January 17, 2025

New Apple Patent Hints at Bigger Satellite Ambitions (Source: PC Magazine)
Apple has secured a new patent that hints at its ambitions to roll out more robust satellite communications for future iPhones. The patent, granted on Wednesday, focuses on one of the challenges facing satellite communications: A device like a smartphone can struggle to maintain a connection, given that orbiting satellites stay are in the sky briefly before falling out of view.

As Patently Apple reports, the company's patent proposes a “handover procedure,” ensuring that one communication beam from an orbiting satellite will smoothly transition to a second beam from a separate satellite. Thus, each satellite functions as a “transparent network relay node,” enabling groups of smartphones to remain connected, Apple wrote in the filing. (1/15)

A Crumbling Exoplanet Spills its Guts (Source: Science News)
For the first time, astronomers have taken a direct look at an exoplanet’s insides. An exoplanet about 800 light-years away is spilling its guts into space, and new observations with the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, have let astronomers read the entrails, astronomers report this week at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

The planet, a Neptune-sized world called K2 22b, was discovered in 2015. The planet sits scorchingly close to its star, completing an orbit in just nine hours. It is too small to be detected itself, but it periodically emits clouds of opaque dust that form a cometlike tail, blocking less than 1 percent of the host star’s light.

Astronomers soon realized that the dust was probably cooled magma from the planet’s interior. That trail of planet viscera offered a unique opportunity to figure out the chemical composition of an exoplanet’s mantle. Getting insight into any planet’s mantle, even the Earth’s, is challenging, says study coauthor Jason Wright of Penn State. (1/16)

ESA’s Budget Shrinks as Germany, Italy, and UK Cut Funding (Source: Payload)
ESA’s annual budget fell for the first time in four years after Germany, Italy, and the UK cut their contributions by a combined €430.1M ($440.3M) YoY, the agency announced yesterday. The €7.68B ($7.86B) budget for 2025 comes in €110M ($112.6M) shy of last year’s spending limit. But ESA’s director general Josef Aschbacher sounded confident the reduced budget wouldn’t get in the way of the agency’s bold plans for 2025. (1/10)

Trump's Space Policy Won't Catch Europe Off Guard, ESA Chief Says (Source: Space.com)
The head of the European Space Agency says that ESA is ready for any changes in NASA's direction that may come as a result of the incoming new administration in the United States. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher held an annual press briefing on Jan. 9, detailing the agency's plans and budget for the coming years as well as plans to ramp up Europe's independent access to space with new rockets. In the immediate future, however, ESA may need to react to changes in policy and direction of its key space partner, NASA.

Aschbacher was asked during the briefing about the alliance of President-elect Donald Trump, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Jared Isaacman, nominated to become the new NASA administrator, and specifically about potential changes to the United States' moon exploration strategy. "What I can say is that we are certainly prepared for any scenarios that might come to the table," Aschbacher said. (1/16)

What's Next for the 2 Private Landers SpaceX Just Launched Toward the Moon? (Source: Space.com)
Two newly launched private moon landers have long roads ahead of them. Early on Tuesday morning (Jan. 15), a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sent Blue Ghost and Resilience — lunar landers built by Firefly Aerospace and the Tokyo-based company ispace, respectively — into the final frontier from Florida's Space Coast. Neither spacecraft is headed to the moon just yet, however. Here's a rundown of what they'll be doing in the coming weeks.

Blue Ghost will spend the next 25 days in Earth orbit, undergoing a variety of systems checks and gathering data with some of its 10 science and technology instruments — NASA gear that earned their spots onboard thanks to the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The entire mission, from launch to lunar sunset, is expected to last about 60 Earth days.

Resilience's mission will be more than twice that long, if all goes according to plan. The ispace lander is taking a very circuitous, energy-efficient path to lunar orbit; it's expected to reach that destination four months from now. (There is also a big milestone before that: a flyby of the moon, which Resilience will make in about a month.) ispace will then spend another two weeks or so gearing up for the landing attempt, which will take place in the Mare Frigoris ("Sea of Cold") region of the moon's northern hemisphere. (1/15)

James Webb Space Telescope Sees Little Red Dots Feeding Black Holes (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers may have "saved cosmology" by gathering the largest sample yet of some of the most ancient galaxies ever seen, the so-called "little red dots" observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The team behind this research found the majority of the ancient galaxies in their sample — which existed earlier than 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang — seem to host rapidly feeding, or "accreting," supermassive black holes.

The research should put an end to claims that the JWST has "broken cosmology" with its detection of shockingly bright early galaxies that seemed to contain more stars than would be expected so early in the universe's history. Instead, this new survey suggests that much of the light from these little red dots comes from the turbulent conditions generated by the feasting cosmic titans at their hearts. (1/15)

Isaacman Shifts Focus To Blue Origin (Source: inkl)
Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payments platform company Shift4, has recently made headlines for his evolving relationships within the space industry. Previously known for his close ties to SpaceX, Isaacman has now been announced as President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead NASA. Isaacman's shift in alliances is evident as he is now seen collaborating with Blue Origin, a company that could potentially pose a significant challenge to SpaceX if its New Glenn launch vehicle achieves success in the competitive launch market. (1/13)

Supermassive Black Hole Caught "Turning On" in Real-Time (Source: Big Think)
Out in the Universe, galaxies everywhere contain supermassive black holes at their centers, where they occasionally feed on matter, creating quasars and active galactic nuclei. Because these “active periods” typically last for tens-to-hundreds of millions of years, we’ve never seen an active galaxy “turn on” or “turn off” in real-time before. But in 2018, galaxy 1ES 1927+654 suddenly brightened, and in the aftermath, a new jet was launched from its supermassive black hole. Astronomers are now working out just what happened. (1/14)

Galaxy Cores May be Giant Fuzzy Dark Stars (Source: Universe Today)
A fuzzy form of dark matter may clump up to become the cores of galaxies, according to new research. The traditional dark matter hypothesis, that it’s some form of cold, massive particle that hardly ever interacts with itself or with normal matter, has some difficulties. In particular, it can’t quite explain the dense cores of galaxies. Cold, heavy dark matter tends to produce extremely dense cores, far denser than what we observe.

But dark matter might be something else. Recently astronomers have hypothesized that dark matter might instead be incredibly light, far lighter than any known particle. This “fuzzy” dark matter would allow the quantum wave nature of the particles to manifest on macroscopic – even galactic – scales, allowing them to form large, diffuse clumps known as “dark stars.” Dark stars can be incredibly huge, stretching for thousands of light-years, while still having relatively low density. This would match observations of galaxy cores, which makes this an intriguing hypothesis to follow. (1/14)

Supermassive Black Hole Spotted 12.9 Billion Light-Years From Earth — and it's Shooting a Beam of Energy Right At Us (Source: Live Science)
Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole that's shooting a giant energy beam directly at Earth. The cosmic juggernaut, which is about as massive as 700 million suns, is taking aim at us from a galaxy in the early universe, up to 800 million years after the Big Bang — making this the most distant "blazar" ever found. (1/14)

Strange Multi-Planet System Proves Not All Hot Jupiter Exoplanets are Lonely Giants (Source: Space.com)
The discovery of an extraordinary multi-planet system has demonstrated that so-called "hot Jupiter" planets may not be lonely giants after all. The findings could force scientists to revise their models of how planets form and how planetary systems evolve. The system with this unexpected structure is centered around the K-type star WASP-132, located around 403 light-years away in the constellation of Lupus. Its inhabitants are the hot Jupiter (WASP-132b), a newly discovered inner super-Earth (WASP-132c) and an outer distant ice giant planet (WASP-132d). (1/15)

Starship Breakup Affects Air Traffic (Sources: CNN, SPACErePORT)
The disintegration of SpaceX’s Starship rocket is certainly delaying commercial flights in Florida. The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport are being delayed an average of an hour due to a “rocket launch anomaly.” A separate FAA alert says flights are delayed due to “debris.” The flight tracking site Flightradar24 shows several planes rerouting or holding near the area where Starship was destroyed. If a mishap is due to the rocket company's negligence (e.g., failing to follow safety protocols) they could potentially be held liable for resulting aviation delays. (1/17)

Starship Explodes But Super Heavy Booster Caught Again (Source: Space News)
A SpaceX Starship vehicle broke apart on its latest test flight Thursday, dealing a setback to the company. The Starship/Super Heavy vehicle lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase facility at Boca Chica, Texas, at 5:37 p.m. Eastern on the seventh test flight of the system. The Super Heavy booster was able to return to the launch site for a "catch" by the launch tower, repeating a feat first accomplished on a flight in October.

However, SpaceX lost contact with the Starship upper stage nearly eight and a half minutes after liftoff, after telemetry showed that several of its Raptor engines had shut down. SpaceX later confirmed the vehicle was lost, and videos on social media showed debris from the vehicle falling through the skies above the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. Dozens of airline flights in the region had to be rerouted to avoid the debris, which did not cause damage. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said a propellant leak likely triggered a fire in the vehicle. (1/17)

SDA Chief on Administrative Leave During Investigation (Source: Space News)
The head of the Space Force's Space Development Agency (SDA) has been placed on administrative leave. The Department of the Air Force has removed Derek Tournear from his position as director of SDA Thursday pending the results of an investigation, but the department did not elaborate on the nature of the investigation. Sources claimed the investigation into Tournear may be linked to complaints from contractors about SDA’s unconventional procurement methods and alleged improper sharing of proprietary information. Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, will step in as acting director of the SDA during the investigation. (1/17) 

NRO's Meink Nominated to SECAF (Source: Space News)
The incoming Trump administration will nominate an NRO official to be Secretary of the Air Force. Trump has selected Troy Meink, principal deputy director of the NRO, to be the next Secretary of the Air Force, pending Senate confirmation. Meink is a senior intelligence official with extensive space and defense experience, and his selection indicates a strong emphasis on space capabilities for the incoming administration. Meink has championed the agency’s shift toward a more distributed satellite architecture, a strategy aimed at making space-based intelligence capabilities more resilient to potential threats. SpaceX's Elon Musk reportedly advocated for Meink. (1/17)

Sierra Space NavSat Design Passes Review (Source: Space News)
Sierra Space has passed an early review of an alternative navigation satellite design. The company said Thursday the satellite it is designing for the Resilient Global Positioning System (R-GPS) program passed a system requirements review. Sierra Space is one of four companies selected for the R-GPS program to bolster the existing GPS satellite constellation with a fleet of smaller and more affordable satellites. The other three companies are Astranis, Axient and L3Harris. The Space Force plans to select up to two companies in 2026 to produce eight satellites, scheduled for launch by 2028. (1/17)

Space Weather Programs Expected to be Preserved in New Administration (Source: Space News)
Government officials expect the incoming Trump administration to preserve space weather programs. Efforts to better understand the sun, produce timely warnings of heightened geomagnetic activity and mitigate their terrestrial impact have been reinforced by the last several administrations. Officials at the American Meteorological Society annual meeting this week said they expect that trend to continue in the next Trump administration. Space weather experts do anticipate some changes, including a shift of national space weather activities toward providing timely alerts and warnings to the Defense Department and increasing the resilience of military systems. (1/17)

Voyager Space Restructured and Renamed (Source: Space News)
Voyager Space is changing its name to better reflect a focus on national security and defense markets. The company announced Thursday it has renamed itself Voyager Technologies and is restructuring its operations into three business segments: Defense and National Security, Space Solutions, and Starlab Space Stations. The changes, company executives said, are intended to highlight its work on national security capabilities, including missile propulsion, advanced navigation, and sensing solutions. (1/17)

China Launches Pakistani Satellite (Source: Space News)
China launched a Pakistani remote sensing satellite Thursday night. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off at 11:07 p.m. Eastern from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It placed into orbit PRSC-EO1, the first of a series of three optical remote sensing satellites for Pakistan. These satellites will provide data for the fields of land mapping, agriculture classification and assessment, urban and rural planning, environmental monitoring, natural disaster monitoring and management, surveying, natural resources protection and others uses, according to Pakistan's space agency, SUPARCO. (1/17)

Xplore Launches First Satellite of Constellation (Source: Space News)
Xplore has launched the first satellite of a planned 12-spacecraft constellation. The company's XCUBE-1 6U cubesat was among the payloads on the Transporter-12 rideshare mission Tuesday. Xplore says the spacecraft will supply data for space domain awareness, precision agriculture, forestry management, astronomy and other applications. The company is working on a constellation with a focus on collecting hyperspectral data. (1/17)

Hague and Williams Conduct ISS Spacewalk for Repairs (Source: Space.com)
Two NASA astronauts conducted repairs outside the International Space Station Thursday. Astronauts Nick Hague and Suni Williams spent six hours outside the station on a spacewalk, repairing an astrophysics instrument called NICER and replacing a rate gyro assembly used to control the station's attitude. They also replaced a reflector that is part of a docking system used for visiting vehicles and inspected the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument ahead of future repairs of it. The spacewalk was the first in more than a year by NASA astronauts after suit problems postponed spacewalks planned for mid-2024. (1/17)

Calvelli Laments Delayed GPS Ground System (Source: Breaking Defense)
The departing head of space acquisition at the Pentagon says his biggest regret is not getting a long-delayed GPS ground system completed. Frank Calvelli, outgoing assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, said he had hoped to get the Operational Control System (OCX) program completed in 2024, but the long-delayed effort has slipped into late 2025. OCX is needed to take full advantage of new capabilities on GPS 3 satellites. (1/17)

South Korea Seeks ESA Collaboration (Source: Chosun Ilbo)
South Korea's space agency held talks with ESA about cooperation on various programs. A meeting this week between ESA and Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) officials discussed potential partnerships in Earth and space science as well as navigation and space weather. That could include cooperation on ESA's planned Vigil mission to study the sun from the Earth-sun L-5 Lagrange point and a proposed KASA mission to carry out similar studies from the Earth-sun L-4 point. (1/17)

Second SAR Satellite Advances Space42’s Hybrid Connectivity and Imagery Vision (Source: Space News)
Emirati operator Space42 said Jan. 15 it has established communications with its recently launched Foresight-2 satellite, the second synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payload for the hybrid imaging and connectivity provider. Provided by Finnish SAR operator Iceye, Foresight-2 was one of 131 payloads SpaceX sent to sun-synchronous orbit Jan. 14 on a Falcon 9 rocket. (1/15)

What if Life on Venus is Just Life From Earth? (Source: Space.com)
Some scientists argue that the particles ejected from asteroid impacts could get unfathomably far — like, all the way to another planet far. And, as if that weren't interesting enough, one crew is also thinking about what this ejecta can hold. Earth ejecta, for instance, could hold Earth life. "We're trying to figure out how much mass is reaching Venus from Earth, and how many cells can that mass carry," said Emma Guinan. (1/16)

Small Satellite Architectures Get New Boosts From SDA, NRO (Source: Air & Space Forces)
The Pentagon’s efforts to launch and connect hundreds of satellites in orbit got two separate boosts Jan. 9, courtesy of the Space Development Agency and National Reconnaissance Office. First came a major milestone for SDA’s low-Earth orbit constellation, called the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. Contractor York Space Systems announced one of its data transport satellites had established a laser communication link with a missile warning/tracking satellite built by another vendor, SpaceX.

Shortly after York’s announcement, the National Reconnaissance Office successfully launched its seventh batch of satellites for a new proliferated constellation. The launch took place late Jan. 9 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The NRO has remained tight-lipped, as it usually is, about its constellation, only noting that it serves to bolster the agency’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. (1/10)

What is the US Space Force Doing in Greenland? (Source: Space.com)
The Danish territory of Greenland and its strategic importance for the U.S. and NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) have been making headlines recently. Largely lost in the media furor, however, are the reasons why Greenland is vital for North American security. One of those reasons concerns the role of a crucial military installation on the world's largest island: Pituffik Space Base.

"The Department of Defense has unveiled a new Arctic strategy, underscoring the region's critical importance to our national security and that of our allies," U.S. Space Force Chief Master Sgt. John Bentivegna said when he visited Pituffik in November 2024.

Pituffik (pronounced bee-doo-FEEK) sits on Greenland's northwest coast, 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) north of the Arctic Circle. That's already a strategic location, and it's likely to become even more important as the Arctic warms and allows more shipping traffic, mining and other commercial activity, experts say. (1/10)

NGA Picks 13 Companies for Imagery and Analysis (Source: Space News)
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) selected 13 companies for a $200 million contract for commercial satellite imagery and analysis. Under the Luno B contract, the selected companies will compete for individual task orders for commercial satellite imagery analysis and insights over the next five years. The contract follows a $290 million Luno A procurement announced in September and represents the intelligence community's growing embrace of commercial space technology.  Ten of the 13 companies selected for Luno B are also part of Luno A. (1/16)

Concerns About Hubble Cuts (Source: Space News)
Potential budget cuts to the Hubble Space Telescope could impact its science and increase the risk of problems. At an American Astronomical Society conference this week, officials with the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates Hubble, outlined how they are addressing cuts of potentially more than 20% in Hubble operations in the next few years as part of a NASA senior review of astrophysics missions. That could result in reduced support for some Hubble instruments, sharp reductions in grant funding and "increased mission risk" as staff running the telescope is cut. The institute has already reduced spending on grants and public outreach to accommodate planned reductions in 2025. (1/16)

UAE's Space42 Launches SAR Satellite on Transporter-12 (Source: Space News)
Emirati operator Space42 launched its second synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite on a rideshare mission. The company said its Foresight-2 satellite, built by Finnish company Iceye, was operating well after launch on the Transporter-12 rideshare mission Tuesday. Space42, created last year by the merger of satellite operator Yahsat and geospatial artificial intelligence provider Bayanat, has a deal with Iceye for at least five SAR satellites, the first of which was launched last year. (1/16)

Slingshot Wins Space Force Phase-2 SBIR for AI GPS Threat Analysis (Source: Space News)
Slingshot Aerospace won a Space Force contract to detect interference with GPS signals. The Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research contract, awarded through the Space Force's SpaceWERX innovation arm, will focus on the use of artificial intelligence tools to identify potential threats to GPS signals. Slingshot is adapting an AI model called Agatha, developed to identify unusual behavior in satellite constellations, to distinguish between accidental interference and deliberate jamming or spoofing attempts. (1/16)

Melroy Wins Rotary Space Award (Source: NASA)
Outgoing NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy is the winner of the 2025 National Space Trophy. The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation announced this week it is giving the award to Melroy, to be awarded at an event in Houston in April. Melroy is departing NASA after three and a half years as deputy administrator. She previously was a NASA astronaut who flew on three shuttle missions, and is just one of two women to command a shuttle mission. (1/16)