January 8, 2025

NASA Considers Cost-Saving Options for Mars Sample Return (Source: Space News)
NASA will study two alternative options for its Mars Sample Return (MSR) program in an effort to reduce cost and schedule overruns. NASA announced Tuesday it will examine one option, which will leverage JPL's "sky crane" technology, previously used for landing the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, to land a spacecraft that would pick up the samples Perseverance has collected and launch them into orbit for return to Earth.

A second option would instead use a commercial "heavy lander" from a company such as Blue Origin or SpaceX. NASA estimates those alternatives would cost between $5.8 billion and $7.7 billion, less than previous estimates of up to $11 billion for MSR, and could return samples as soon as 2035. NASA said the studies will last about a year and a half, but the agency needs Congress to provide at least $300 million in the current fiscal year. (1/8)

Sidus Space Offers LizzieSat Payload Technology Hosting (Source: Orbital Transports)
Sidus Space’s hosted payloads make use of their LizzieSat™ platforms, offering a route to space for your technologies to collect data and gain flight heritage. Eliminate the need to build, launch, and operate an independent satellite system. By integrating your payload onto the LizzieSat spacecraft, you can fulfill distinct requirements in government, scientific, and commercial sectors, including but not limited to, communications, space situational awareness, Earth observation, national defense, and remote sensing. (1/8)

Ligado Sues Inmarsat Over Spectrum Deal (Source: Space News)
Ligado Networks is suing Inmarsat for allegedly breaching their long-standing L-band spectrum partnership. Ligado, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week, said it is seeking financial damages and restitution for more than $1.7 billion paid to Inmarsat under their 2007 cooperation agreement. The company alleges that Inmarsat failed to upgrade satellite terminals to avoid interfering with Ligado's network, delaying and ultimately restricting FCC approval for Ligado's plans to provide 5G terrestrial services. Viasat, which acquired Inmarsat last year, said the lawsuit has "absolutely no legal merit." (1/8)

China Offers Details on Megaconstellation (Source: Space News)
China has disclosed few details about the first satellites of a megaconstellation launched last month. A Long March 5B launched the first 10 satellites for its Guowang ("national net") megaconstellation last month, but Chinese agencies and companies have not released any details about the satellites or even formally confirmed they are part of Guowang. The use of the powerful Long March 5B has prompted speculation that the satellites may be equipped with more than just communications payloads. The lack of transparency also has implications for space traffic management as low Earth orbit gets increasingly crowded. (1/8)

Anduril Wins $14.3 Million From Pentagon for Solid Rocket Motor Production (Source: Space News)
Anduril Industries won a Pentagon contract to expand solid rocket motor production. The $14.3 million contract, awarded under the Defense Production Act on Tuesday, will support facility modernization and manufacturing improvements at Anduril's Mississippi plant. California-based Anduril, which acquired solid rocket motor manufacturer Adranos in June 2023, is an emerging player in a sector traditionally dominated by a handful of contractors, and its rise comes amid concerns about the health of the industrial base for producing solid rocket motors for defense and space applications. (1/8)

D-Orbit to Test Pale Blue Water Thruster (Source: Space News)
Satellite propulsion company Pale Blue has signed an agreement with D-Orbit to test a thruster using water as propellant. The companies announced the deal Wednesday to conduct two demonstrations of the Pale Blue 1U+ Water Ion Thruster on D-Orbit orbital transfer vehicle missions later this year. Pale Blue first tested its thruster technology in orbit in 2023. Water propellants offer the advantages of safety, availability and ease of handling, if they perform as advertised in orbit. (1/8)

Narayanan to Lead ISRO (Source: The Hindu)
The Indian government has named a new head of its space agency ISRO. V. Narayanan will take over as chairman of ISRO next week, succeeding S. Somanath, who is completing his three-year term at the helm of the agency. Narayanan, who joined ISRO in 1984, has worked on several major launch vehicle and satellite propulsion projects, including cryogenic engines for the upper stage of the GSLV rocket. He has been director of ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre since 2018. (1/8)

Fidelity Reduces Relativity Valuation (Source: Ars Technica)
Fidelity has sharply reduced the valuation of its stake in launch vehicle company Relativity Space. Fidelity, which held shares in Relativity from three funding rounds, had valued the company last March at $19 per share, but in its latest report had cut its estimate of the share price to less than $1, which would imply Relativity's valuation had dropped from $4.5 billion to around $100 million. Relativity says its work on the Terran R reusable launch vehicle remains on track and did not comment on Fidelity's valuation of the company. Relativity is reportedly getting financial support from an unnamed "Silicon Valley engineer and multibillionaire" who is considering a larger investment in the company. (1/8)

Lunar Landers Ready for Launch (Source: NASA)
Two lunar landers will launch next week. NASA announced Tuesday that a Falcon 9 will launch Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost 1 lander on Jan. 15 at 1:11 a.m. Eastern. The lander is carrying 10 NASA science and technology payloads through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The launch will also deploy the Resilience lander for Japanese company ispace. (1/8)

Slovenia Joins ESA (Source: Slovenian Times)
Slovenia has officially become the newest member of the European Space Agency. The country formally acceded to the ESA Convention on Jan. 1, making it ESA's 23rd member state. Slovenia started cooperating with ESA in 2009 and signed a series of agreements since then that paved the way for full membership. The country is working to establish its own national space agency as well. (1/8)

How Pluto Captured Charon (Source: Space.com)
Pluto and its largest moon may have come together with a "kiss." A study published this week concluded that Pluto captured that moon, Charon, billions of years ago when Charon made a gentle collision with Pluto. The structural strength of the two objects kept them from breaking apart, and Charon instead remained in contact with Pluto for 10 to 15 hours before rotational forces pulled them apart, locking Charon into an orbit around Pluto. Scientists said this "kiss and capture" model might explain other worlds in the distant Kuiper Belt of icy objects that have large moons. (1/7)

New Rocket, New Spacecraft and New Moon Landers on Tap for 2025 (Source: Phys.org)
The Space Coast is set for another busy year in 2025 with new moon missions, new spacecraft and the debut of a new rocket. Meanwhile, NASA could see billionaire Jared Isaacman confirmed as its new administrator while prep continues for the Artemis II human spaceflight to orbit the moon in 2026. The Space Coast launch total in 2025 could climb past 100 with the continued frenetic pace set by SpaceX, an increase from United Launch Alliance and the debut of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

Among the missions are at least four human spaceflights, including one with a new SpaceX Crew Dragon, three commercial lunar landers and the debut of Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spacecraft on a cargo mission to the International Space Station (NASA's plans to deorbit it after 2030). One company, Axiom Space, has a plan to send up modules to the ISS that will then be able to detach and become its own commercial space station by 2028, but another company, Vast, has plans for a free-flying station this year.

Vast announced a deal with SpaceX to launch its small station called Haven-1 atop a Falcon 9 into low-Earth orbit as soon as this year. The module has a habitable area about the size of a moving truck. Crewed missions using SpaceX Dragon capsules would follow. Meanwhile, under Isaacman, NASA's Artemis program could shift from the current plans that rely on the SLS rocket carrying Orion. Until then, at KSC, work will continue in 2025 to finish construction of the larger mobile launcher 2 designed to support larger SLS versions with their first launch not slated until Artemis IV no earlier than 2028. (1/6)

Cape Canaveral Spaceport Breaks Records, Remains Busiest Spaceport in the World in 2024 (Source: Space Daily)
Space Launch Delta 45 continued to "set the pace for space" at the world's busiest spaceport in 2024. The SLD 45 team, composed of military and civilian Guardians and Airmen at Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, enabled 93 launches from the Eastern Range in 2024.Operations at the Eastern Range are expected to continue pushing boundaries with an even higher volume of launches anticipated to occur in 2025.

Collectively, this team, comprised of total force personnel, surged to deliver 1389 orbital assets into a critical warfighting domain. Their dedicated efforts on the Eastern Range enabled the U.S. to break the world record for annual space launches for the second year in a row. Previously, the U.S. set the world record for space launches in 2023 with 108 successful launches nationwide, breaking a record held by the Soviet Union since 1982. (1/3)

Ligado Files for Bankruptcy After Stalled Wireless Expansion (Source: MSN)
Wireless network company Ligado Networks LLC filed for bankruptcy in Delaware late on Sunday, seeking to cut $7.8 billion in debt after U.S. government agencies blocked its planned expansion into land-based 5G wireless services.

Ligado had invested heavily in plans to expand its mobile 5G network into a new spectrum that uses lower frequency radio waves after receiving a U.S. Federal Communications Commission permit in 2020. But the U.S. Department of Defense blocked the planned expansion, saying Ligado's wireless signals would interfere with military global positioning system (GPS) receivers. (1/6)

To Integrate Commercial Space Services, Share Spectrum! (Source: Space News)
The global space race is intensifying, with countries like China and Russia making significant strides in their space capabilities. Fortunately, commercial entrepreneurs are also in the race, driving a dramatic transformation of the space industry. This burgeoning space economy, fueled by private investment and technological advancements, holds immense potential to empower tomorrow’s warfighters.

Leaders throughout the United States and partner nations are developing commercial integration strategies. To fully realize these strategies, the U.S. needs to invest more than just dollars — it must adopt a forward-thinking approach to spectrum management that encourages collaboration between federal agencies and commercial satellite operators. (1/6)

Toyota is ‘Exploring Rockets’ with Nearly $45 Million Investment in Japanese Launch Startup (Source: CNBC)
Toyota Motor is exploring the development and production of orbital rockets, Chairman Akio Toyoda said Monday. The automaker is investing 7 billion yen ($44.4 million) into Interstellar Technologies Inc., a startup developing orbital launch vehicles. “We are exploring rockets too, because the future of mobility shouldn’t be limited to just earth or just one car company, for that matter,” Toyoda said during a news conference for CES. (1/6)

Turion To Build Multi-Payload Satellites For U.S. Space Force (Source: Aviation Week)
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Turion Space Corp. a $32.6 million firm-fixed-price contract to build and demonstrate three multi-payload satellites, to launch within the next three years. Turion is a non-Earth imaging and in-space mobility company headquartered in Irvine, California. (1/6)  

ISRO is Outsourcing Rocket Manufacturing to Private Industries (Source: News Nine)
Last year, ISRO convened a stakeholder meeting to find avenues for outsourcing the manufacturing of its mightiest rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM-3), and the technology for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), ISRO’s newest and smallest launch vehicle rocket, aimed at the microsatellite and nanosatellite market, was designed from the start for transfer to private industries.

Now additional details on the progress of technology transfer and privatization of manufacturing has been revealed in the annual report of New Space India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO. NSIL has signed a contract with a consortium formed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro with the former being the lead partner, for manufacturing five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs), ISRO’s workhorse rocket with a nearly flawless record. These rockets will be provided every six months according to the contract. (1/7)

Satellites Can Now Identify Methane ‘Super-Emitters’ (Source: WIRED)
In 2024, two new satellites were launched to find methane super-emitters from space: the Environmental Defense Fund’s MethaneSAT took off in March 2024; and Carbon Mapper, launched later last year as a public-private partnership. Methane is a super-powered greenhouse gas. Pound-for-pound, methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first two decades after release. Over the past two centuries, its concentration has more than doubled, a much faster increase than for carbon dioxide. Methane concentrations are rising more quickly than at any time since record-keeping began.

The good news is that a tiny fraction of sites are responsible for much of that pollution. Emissions of methane are dominated by so-called super-emitters: 5 percent of facilities yield more than half of all methane emissions in a given oil and gas field or industry. Quench those emissions and we’ll dent global methane pollution substantially. MethaneSAT and Carbon Mapper circle the Earth north-south in a polar orbit. As the planet turns below them—like a basketball spinning on your finger—they see a different band of potential emitting sites in each pass.

MethaneSAT has a wider field of view than Carbon Mapper. The pixels it images are 15,000 square miles, about the size of Montana’s Glacier National Park. It will be good at identifying methane hot spots. Carbon Mapper, in contrast, is like the zoom on your camera. It will distinguish individual sources at the scale of a football field, attributing methane plumes to single sources (and single owners) on the ground. (1/7)

Dark Energy Camera Captures Thousands of Galaxies in Stunning Image (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers have captured a breathtaking new image of thousands of galaxies, thanks to the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation's Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Focused on the Antlia Cluster — a dense assembly of galaxies within the Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster located around 130 million light-years from Earth — the image captures only a small portion of the 230 galaxies that make up the cluster, revealing a diverse array of galaxy types within as well as thousands of background galaxies beyond. (1/5)