June 2, 2025

Iridium and Syniverse to Enable Direct-to-Device Satellite Connectivity for MNOs Worldwide (Source: Space Daily)
Iridium Communications announced a strategic partnership with Syniverse, recognized as the world's most connected company, to accelerate the deployment of Iridium NTN DirectSM services through mobile network operators (MNOs) worldwide. This collaboration integrates Iridium NTN Direct into Syniverse's expansive global platform, allowing MNOs to effortlessly deliver continuous connectivity to their customers anywhere on the planet. (6/2)

State-by-State Impacts of NASA Science Spending (Source: Planetary Society)
NASA’s science investments benefit every state and 77% (335) of all congressional districts. In FY 2024 alone, NASA science committed $8.1 billion to recipients around the country. Click here for an interactive map. (6/2)

South Korea Approves Both Starlink and OneWeb (Source: Korea Times)
South Korea has granted approval to both OneWeb and Starlink to operate in the country. The country's science ministry said it approved agreements between OneWeb and two Korean companies, Hanwha Systems and KT Sat, as well as between SpaceX and a local subsidiary, Starlink Korea. Those agreements could allow the companies to start offering broadband services in South Korea as soon as this month.  (6/2)

China Expands Satellite Networks for Smart Connectivity (Source: Space Daily)
With the recent launch of four additional satellites, China is rapidly expanding its presence in low-Earth orbit to support growing demands for smart device connectivity through the Tianqi constellation. Following in the footsteps of SpaceX's Starlink, several Chinese aerospace companies are investing in satellite networks aimed at building critical digital infrastructure for the Internet of Things (IoT).

The Tianqi satellite constellation, developed and operated by Beijing-based GuoDianGaoKe Technology, now comprises 37 satellites. This global network supports smart cities, maritime monitoring, emergency communications, and environmental monitoring. (6/2)

Texas Legislature Gives New City of Starbase Authority to Shut Down Local Beach for SpaceX Launches (Source: Texas Tribune)
Texas lawmakers agreed to give the new city of Starbase the authority to periodically close down a South Texas beach, giving more power to municipal officials with close ties to SpaceX over the objections of local activists trying to preserve access to the beach.

After previous versions of the measure died earlier during the legislative session, a last-minute addition to a bill related to the Texas Space Commission successfully granted Starbase officials the authority to temporarily close down Boca Chica Beach for SpaceX launches. House Bill 5246 revises the power and duties of the Texas Space Commission and the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium. (6/1)

3D Map of Over 1 Million Black Holes Traces Where the Universe's Dark Matter Lies (Source: Space.com)
An enormous map of the universe has been assembled from the positions of almost 1.3 million quasars; some of these quasars existed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. By comparing this new map with what's known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB), scientists have been able to roughly verify the distribution and density of matter in the universe, providing more clues as to how large-scale structures in the universe have evolved throughout cosmic history. The map is based on a catalog of 1,295,502 quasar positions and redshifts. (5/19)

Italy's Spacewear Astronaut Equipment: Pioneering the Future of Wearable Space Technology (Source: SpaceInfo Club)
The Italian aerospace industry has long been at the forefront of innovation, with its expertise spanning satellite technology, propulsion systems, and astronaut gear. Among the rising stars in this sector is 'Spacewear Astronaut Equipment', an innovative Italian startup specializing in wearable technology for space exploration. With a focus on advanced textiles, ergonomic design, and integrated health-monitoring devices, Spacewear is redefining the future of astronaut apparel.

Unlike traditional astronaut gear, SFS2 was able to collect real-time biometric data directly onboard the ISS, an essential advancement in space medicine. This capability marks a critical departure from past experiments. One of the company’s most groundbreaking achievements is the SFS2 spacesuit, which recently made history as the only Italian experimental suit authorized for testing aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The suit successfully passed NASA’s and the ISS board’s rigorous review process and was tested during the Ax-3 mission by Axiom Space. (4/3)

2025 – A Great Year to Kick-off Space Elevators (Source: LinkedIn)
We believe 2025 could be the  year of “moving forward aggressively.” Our vision: Space Elevators are the Green Road to Space while they enable humanity's most important missions by moving massive tonnage to GEO and beyond. They accomplish this safely, routinely, inexpensively, and daily; they are environmentally neutral. (5/25)

NASA Discovers Phenomenon That Could Have Led to Water Loss on Mars (Source: Space Daily)
NASA scientists have discovered evidence that could help answer questions surrounding the history of water loss on Mars.
The new research comes after a decade of exploration by NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric Volatile Evolution) mission shows evidence of an escape process known as "sputtering," during which atoms are knocked out of the atmosphere by what are known as "charge particles," NASA said in a release. (5/29)

NASA Tests New Ways to Stick the Landing in Challenging Terrain (Source: Space Daily)
Advancing new hazard detection and precision landing technologies to help future space missions successfully achieve safe and soft landings is a critical area of space research and development, particularly for future crewed missions. To support this, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) is pursuing a regular cadence of flight testing on a variety of vehicles, helping researchers rapidly advance these critical systems for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. (6/2)

Starship: Dead End? (Source: Planet Earth and Beyond)
“We learn from failure!” Fair enough. Let’s look at the lessons we can glean from these results. Firstly, why did SpaceX try a new landing path for Super Heavy, even though they have successfully landed it multiple times? Well, weight. Starship weighs far too much, meaning its possible payload is vanishingly small, and its engines are being overstressed (hence the constant engine failures). SpaceX must make Starship lighter for it to even have a chance of being functional. The heaviest component of a rocket, particularly a self-landing one, is fuel.

Thanks to SpaceX not having any flight data, getting any serious information from this launch is basically impossible. They can hypothesize that the fixes to the fuel leaks and engine flashes from the previous flights might have worked, but without flight data, that will be hard to verify.

Again, the lesson here is that SpaceX somehow needs to make Starship significantly more robust and lighter by well over a hundred tonnes if it is to conduct even one successful mission, let alone achieve constant reuse — which, let’s be clear, is basically impossible. All flight 9 has proven is just how much of a dead end Starship is. (5/30)

Why Even Traveling Close To The Speed Of Light Is So Hard (Source: IFL Science)
When it comes to interstellar travel the barriers are scientific as well as technical. Most people are familiar with the problem of the speed of light in a vacuum serving as a cosmic speed limit, but physics also makes it frustratingly hard to even get close. One of Einstein’s predictions was that as objects approach the speed of light their mass increases.

Indeed, one way of explaining why light-speed travel is impossible is that mass would become infinite. Passengers on a spaceship won’t feel the effects of this additional mass – their limbs will not suddenly feel heavier as if their weight had increased – but further increases in velocity become progressively harder. Newton’s second law – that force equals mass times acceleration – means that the greater your mass the less acceleration you get for a constant force. (5/31)

Russia’s New Cosmos Satellite Orbiting Near US Spacecraft, Piques ASAT Fears (Source: Breaking Defense)
Russia’s newest satellite in its low Earth orbit (LEO) Cosmos series is in orbit near an unnamed US government satellite, according to US Space Command — further stoking suspicions that the Cosmos satellites are co-orbital anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons rather than simply neighborhood watch birds as Moscow claims. (5/30)

Terraforming Mars Isn’t Sci-Fi Anymore – Here’s What It Would Take (Source: SciTech Daily)
Making Mars habitable would mean raising its temperature and thickening its atmosphere. One possible first step involves using engineered microbes to begin producing oxygen through photosynthesis. Over time, this could help build up enough oxygen to support liquid water and, eventually, more complex life.

But before we leap too far ahead, the researchers caution that we must seriously consider the challenges. “Before we can assess whether warming Mars is worthwhile, relative to the alternative of leaving Mars as a pristine wilderness, we must confront the practical requirements, cost, and possible risks.” Click here. (5/31) https://scitechdaily.com/terraforming-mars-isnt-sci-fi-anymore-heres-what-it-would-take/

Testing a Robot That Could Drill Into Europa and Enceladus (Source: Ars Technica)
Europa and Enceladus are two ocean moons that scientists have concluded have liquid water oceans underneath their outer icy shells. The Europa Clipper mission should reach Europa around April of 2030. If it collects data hinting at the moon’s potential habitability, robotic lander missions could be the only way to confirm if there’s really life in there or not.

To make these lander missions happen, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory team has been working on a robot that could handle the search for life and already tested it on the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska. “At this point this is a pretty mature concept,” says Kevin Hand, a planetary scientist at JPL who led this effort. (5/30)

NASA Is [Was?] Planning to Build a Massive Telescope on the Moon’s Dark Side (Source: Daily Galaxy)
NASA is moving forward with an ambitious vision to place a radio telescope on the far side of the Moon, in a remote lunar crater completely shielded from Earth’s radio noise. The project could redefine space-based astronomy by allowing scientists to study ultra-long radio wavelengths blocked by Earth’s atmosphere and polluted by satellite interference. The proposed Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT), if fully funded, could be built as early as the 2030s. Editor's Note: LCRT is not explicitly canceled in the proposed NASA budget, but don't expect NASA's support for it to be sustained if the budget is approved. (5/31)

Kongsberg Investment Gives Credibility to SpinLaunch (Source: Sustainability Times)
SpinLaunch, a California-based startup, is poised to disrupt the satellite industry by deploying hundreds of pancake-like microsatellites into low-Earth orbit using a revolutionary centrifugal launch system that promises to cut costs and reduce environmental impact. A test launch system is in-place at Spaceport America.

The development of this innovative launch system is supported by substantial funding, with SpinLaunch recently securing an additional $12 million from Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace (KDA). This brings their total funding close to $150 million, underscoring the confidence investors have in their groundbreaking technology. The involvement of KDA’s NanoAvionics in building the first batch of 250 satellites further bolsters the project’s credibility, setting the stage for a successful launch in 2026. (5/27)

Wisconsin Parents Murdered After Son's SpaceX Job Lies (Source: ABC News)
A social media app's location tracking feature helped investigators crack a gruesome double murder case in Wisconsin, where a son killed his parents after his web of lies about college and a fake job at SpaceX began to unravel. (5/30)

University of Colorado, Boulder Plans Space Policy Center (Source: Space News)
The myriad policy issues that underscore the changing space landscape are to be embraced by a new research and study center in Colorado, established to focus on the role of the U.S. government, expanding growth of commercial space and the changing face of interactions between civilian and military factions.

The University of Colorado, Boulder, is preparing to announce the establishment of the Colorado Space Policy Center (CSPC). The university is contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to get the center, which will report to senior university administration, underway. (5/30)

Starbase, Texas' Newest City, Seeks $1.5 Million Loan From SpaceX (Source: Texas Tribune)
In an early sign that reaffirms just how entwined the South Texas city is with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the city is seeking a loan from the space company, not a bank. Known as a tax revenue anticipation note, Starbase is asking for a short-term loan of $1,550,000 from SpaceX, the space exploration company that employs the majority of the city's estimated 500 residents.

By negotiating directly with SpaceX in a private sale of the debt, the city will forgo the municipal bond marketplace and will not need approval by the Texas Attorney General's Office because the life of the loan won’t exceed a year. (5/30)

JPMorgan Hired NOAA’s Chief Scientist to Advise Clients on Navigating Climate Change (Source: CNBC)
Sarah Kapnick started her career in 2004 as an investment banking analyst, but was struck by how little climate change was being factored into financial decision making. She later became the chief science officer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Last year, JPMorgan hired Kapnick back into banking, where she’s advising clients on how to invest in climate change. (5/31)

Space Power Satellites at the Moon Could Keep a Lunar Base Warm (Source: Phys.org)
One of the many challenges for spacecraft operating on the moon is surviving the harsh, two-week-long lunar night. During this period, temperatures can plummet to below -170°C, making it extremely difficult to maintain power and thermal control. Without sunlight, solar panels become ineffective, forcing landers and rovers to rely on limited battery reserves or complex, often heavy, radioisotope heating systems.

These conditions severely restrict mission duration, increase design complexity, and limit the feasibility of establishing long-term operations. An innovative approach outlined in recent research suggests a radically different solution: using a constellation of space-based solar power (SBSP) satellites to beam energy continuously to the surface, regardless of the lunar day-night cycle. (5/29)