January 19, 2025

Turkey and Axiom Space Ink Agreement to Strengthen Cooperation (Source: Daily Sabah)
Turkish Space Agency (TUA) and U.S.-based space infrastructure developer Axiom Space have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore supply chain opportunities for Türkiye's space industry, Industry and Technology Ministry announced on Saturday. The agreement aims to foster collaboration in areas such as space technology, aviation, textiles, material science, advanced manufacturing, communications and life sciences, the ministry said. (1/18)

An Interstellar Visitor May Have Changed the Course of 4 Solar System Planets (Source: Live Science)
A planet-size object that possibly once visited the solar system may have permanently changed our cosmic neighborhood by warping the orbits of the four outer planets, a new study suggests. The findings may shed light on why these planets' paths have certain peculiar features.

For decades, astronomers have debated how the solar system's planets formed. However, most hypotheses agree on the type of orbit the planets should have: circles that are arranged concentrically around the sun and lie on the same plane. (If you viewed them edge-on, you would see only a line.) However, none of the eight planets, including Earth, have perfectly circular orbits. Plus, the planets' paths don't lie precisely on the same plane.

Using computer models of the four outer planets, the team carried out 50,000 simulations of such flybys, each over 20 million years, while altering certain parameters of each visitor, including its mass, speed and how close it approached the sun. The researchers also expanded their search compared with previous studies by considering objects much smaller than stars — as tiny, in fact, as Jupiter. They also looked at situations with superclose passes. (1/19)

Isaacman Made Indisclosed Payments to Shift4 Relatives (Source: Payments Dive)
Shift4 Payments paid about $4.7 million to three people who were related to company executives and directors without disclosing that compensation in regulatory filings between 2021 and 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a website post last week. As a result, the federal agency entered a settlement with the payments processing company and fined it for not disclosing the payments before last year. The company is led by CEO and founder Jared Isaacman. (1/16)

New Measurement Confirms Universe is Expanding Too Fast for Current Models (Source: Phys.org)
The universe really seems to be expanding fast. Too fast, even. A new measurement confirms what previous—and highly debated—results had shown: The universe is expanding faster than predicted by theoretical models, and faster than can be explained by our current understanding of physics. This discrepancy between model and data became known as the Hubble tension. Now, results published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters provide even stronger support for the faster rate of expansion. (1/17)

Florida Landmark Keeps Retired Astronauts on the Payroll — and You Can Meet Them in Person (Source: Travel + Leisure)
For the generations of people that grew up watching shuttle launches on television or even in person, there’s little that's more magical than the thought of going to space. When the shuttle program ended in 2011, with it went the career astronaut, or so we thought at the time. But they’ve found a new home and purpose at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida.

What makes the visitor complex unique isn’t just witnessing the massive craft that took these men and women to space or seeing the flight suits up close. It’s that, on any given day, you can meet them and hear their stories firsthand.

Among them is Winston Scott, a veteran astronaut who traveled aboard the Endeavor and Columbia where he spent time living and working in space, and even participating in three space walks. He's one of approximately 40 retired astronauts paid to share stories from their time in space through daily programming over the course of several days. Scott now serves as the resident astronaut. (1/14)

India’s Antrix Corp. Seeks Favorable Order From US Supreme Court as US Business Interest Groups Take Side of Start-up Devas (Source: Indian Express)
The Antrix Corporation, a commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has asked the US Supreme Court to confirm a 2023 order of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that said foreign investors in an Indian start-up firm Devas Multimedia cannot pursue confirmation of a $1.2 bn compensation in the US for a failed satellite deal since Antrix has no business presence in the US.

Antrix Corp. filed a briefing document in the US Supreme Court on January 17 in a case where the US Supreme Court has allowed a hearing into a plea filed by foreign investors in Devas Multimedia seeking a reconsideration of the August 1, 2023, order of the appeal court. (1/19)

Space Perspective's Financial Turbulence: Airport Authority Seeks Eviction (Source: WKMG)
The future of the giant balloon that planned to take people to the edge of space from Brevard County is unknown after court records show the company behind the audacious plan was served an eviction notice on Friday. Records show that Space Perspective owes $90,295 in unpaid rent to Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority which oversees the Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville where they are headquartered. The space company has until Wednesday to evict vacate the premises, according to the eviction summons.

The company announced In October 2021 that secured $40 million in new funding, which was its target. In September 2024, Space Perspective company announced that it had already sold more than 1,800 tickets at $125,000 a pop after they completed its second uncrewed flight test from Titusville, sending its “Spaceship Neptune” vessel to an altitude of 100,000 feet and back in about six hours. Space Perspective’s X page has not has an update posted since December 5 and their Facebook page has been silent since December 12. (1/18)

Musk Has a China Problem': Beijing Says it Can Use Starlink Satellites to Track Stealth Jets (Source: Business Today)
Researchers from the Beijing Institute suggest Starlink satellites can detect stealth aircraft, potentially disrupting global aerial defense dynamics. Stealth planes cause subtle disturbances in satellite communications, known as fresnel zone disruptions, detectable with advanced analysis. Using a DJI drone, researchers simulated stealth aircraft, confirming the feasibility of detection via Starlink's dense satellite network. The dense Starlink constellation provides near-real-time detection capabilities, even in remote or oceanic regions, surpassing ground-based radar. (1/18)

BlackSky Wins 1-Year Extension for EOCL Contract with the NRO (Source: Via Satellite)
BlackSky Technology won a one-year extension with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) contract for its satellite imagery. BlackSky announced the extension on Jan. 14, reporting it came one year ahead of schedule. BlackSky was named to the EOCL contract along with Maxar and Planet in 2022, and it is the largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort, expanding how the NRO acquires commercial capabilities. (1/14)

'NASA’s Kessler Warning': Scientists Warn of Losing Internet, TV and Phones Forever (Source: Business Today)
Earth's orbit is congested with human-made objects, threatening space exploration and satellite technology as experts warn of a tipping point known as the Kessler Syndrome. With over 47,000 trackable pieces of debris and millions of smaller fragments, space infrastructure faces unprecedented dangers. A full-blown Kessler Syndrome could halt space exploration, disrupt global communications, and cause economic losses exceeding $3.6 trillion annually. (1/18)

Why Musk's SpaceX Has Grown Bigger, Faster And Cheaper Than Bezos' Blue Origin (Source: Forbes)
Blue Origin launched its first rocket into space on Thursday, 25 years after Bezos founded the company with the fortune he made from his e-commerce giant Amazon. SpaceX, which Musk started two years later, only took six years to reach space. Last year it successfully launched 133 rockets, accounting for over 85% of the payload mass put into orbit worldwide through the third quarter.

It’s the result of sharply contrasting approaches based partly on how they financed their companies. Bezos, who funded Blue Origin solely out of his fortune until recently, took a deliberate pace to developing his rocket technology. Musk, with a more limited bankroll to start that made failure an ever-present danger, adopted more of a classic Silicon Valley “fail fast and learn” approach. “Engineers work really hard at SpaceX and then they burn out. Blue Origin offers a lot more stability,” said Caleb Quilty, an analyst at Quilty Space. “Over the years it became clear that it was a little bit too stable.” (1/18)

MTSI Books $100M Space Force Contract for Space C2 Work (Source: GovCon Wire)
Modern Technology Solutions Inc. has received a potential five-year, $99.9 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to perform prototyping work and deliver processes for space command and control. The Department of Defense said Friday Space Systems Command awarded the sole-source, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract as part of the third phase of the Small Business Innovation Research Program. (1/13)

Move Over, Starlink, There's a New Satellite-to-Cell Service in Town (Source: New Atlas)
On January 8, 2024, using Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capabilities and via T-Mobile's network spectrum, Elon Musk's company was able to send and receive its very first text message from Earth to space and back with a regular, run-of-the-mill smartphone. Now China has that same technology, but maybe even a little bit better.

For the last two years, China Telecom, Huawei, and several other industry partners have been working on the Tiantong satellite project, including overcoming the challenges of maintaining stable cellular connections with weak signals. By integrating satellite antennas into mobile phones and merging communication protocols, researchers succeeded in creating the world's first smartphone capable of making direct satellite calls.

The team from the China Telecom Satellite Application Technology Research Institute (referred to as "Satellite Institute") was able to unify the satellite and ground networks into a system that could use existing SIM cards and phone numbers. (1/16)

China Plans to Blow Starlink Satellites in Orbit (Source: Times of India)
Chinese researchers have developed a strategy to disrupt Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's Starlink satellite network in wartime, using AI-powered simulations inspired by whales' hunting techniques.  The approach could allow China to neutralize the network's military advantages, which have been demonstrated in conflicts like Ukraine. (1/17)

World's Largest Telescope Threatened by Light Pollution From Renewable Energy Project (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers are sounding alarm bells as the world's most precious sky-observing location faces a risk of being blinded by light pollution due to a planned renewable energy project. The U.S. energy company AES Energy wants to build a large renewable hydrogen manufacturing complex in Chile, only a few kilometers from the summit of Mount Paranal, the site of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT). he observing potential of this astronomical powerhouse will be significantly curtailed if the hydrogen project, called INNA, receives a go ahead, Xavier Barcons, ESO's Director General, told Space.com. (1/18)

Major Telescope Makers Hit by Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Price Fixing (Source: Space.com)
Skywatchers who purchased telescopes from leading suppliers may be entitled to a payment from a $32 million class action settlement. The settlement is a result of a lengthy legal saga involving telescope manufacturers controlled by Chinese family firms Synta Technologies and Ningbo Sunny, which, according to allegations in available documents, actively conspired to monopolize and divide up the U.S. amateur telescope market to fix prices and push out competitors. (1/17)

Planet Hires Former Space Force Chief to its Board Amid Defense Push (Source: Space News)
San Francisco-based satellite imaging company Planet has appointed retired U.S. Space Force General John “Jay” Raymond to its board of directors, as the company seeks to expand its footprint in the defense and intelligence markets. Raymond, who served as the first Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force and is currently a senior managing director at private equity firm Cerberus, brings extensive military space expertise to Planet as it competes with established players like Maxar Intelligence and BlackSky for government contracts. (1/17)

Astronomers Use James Webb to Unveil a Planet Unlike Any Other in Our Solar System (Source: Daily Galaxy)
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered a planet so extraordinary it has defied all existing classifications. The planet, GJ 1214 b, is located a mere 48 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus and has become a focal point for groundbreaking research. Unlike anything found in our solar system, GJ 1214 b boasts a dense, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, earning it the nickname “super-Venus.”

This remarkable discovery provides a tantalizing glimpse into a previously unknown class of exoplanets, challenging long-standing theories about planetary formation, atmospheric composition, and the diversity of worlds that populate the cosmos. With its mysterious properties, GJ 1214 b offers astronomers an unprecedented opportunity to refine their understanding of how planets evolve and what conditions might exist on these exotic worlds. (1/18)

It Wasn’t a Meteorite: The European Space Agency Identified the Object That Flew Over Spain on Saturday (Source: Daily Galaxy)
Something pretty extraordinary happened over Spain on a Saturday night recently. What folks first thought was a meteorite turned out to be a fragment from a comet. This caught the eyes of scientists and sky-watchers alike, showing just how lively our solar system is and hinting at what it could mean for us here on Earth. They concluded it was a small piece of a comet based on its flight path angle of 10 degrees relative to horizontal and its striking blue color, thanks to high magnesium levels. (1/18)