July 25, 2025

Hegseth Purging Women From DoD Leadership (Source: The Atlantic)
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth seem to be on a mission to erase women from the top ranks of the U.S. armed forces. Last week, they took another step along this path by removing the first female head of the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. Trump and Hegseth have been on a firing spree throughout the military, especially when it comes to removing women from senior positions. The administration wants military women to know their place. (7/23)

Cosmic Heavyweights Collide. LIGO Detects Largest/Fastest Spinning Black Holes (Source: SciTech Daily)
A gravitational wave has revealed the biggest black-hole merger ever recorded—so massive and extreme, it defies current astrophysical models. The clash formed a 225-solar-mass monster, possibly made from black holes that had already merged before. Einstein’s rules may need revisiting. (7/24)

Inside Project Kuiper's Florida Hub (Source: Amazon)
Amazon is continuing its full-scale deployment of Project Kuiper, a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network that will bring fast, reliable internet to customers and communities around the world. We recently opened a key piece of that infrastructure: a 100,000-square-foot payload processing facility at Kennedy Space Center that prepares satellites for their upcoming launches into orbit.

The facility was operational in time to support our first mission in April and subsequent launches with SpaceX and ULA, and we’ve already completed integration for our next launch on the manifest. At full capacity, the new site will be able to process more than 100 satellites per month and support three simultaneous launch campaigns, and construction is underway on a $19.5 million secondary support site that will help us move even faster. (7/24)

Iran's Rocket Launch Raises Alarm (Source: Newsweek)
Iran has successfully conducted a test of its latest Qased satellite launch rocket, marking its first such trial since a ceasefire ended a 12-day war with Israel in June—a conflict that also saw U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear-linked sites. The rocket launch comes amid heightened scrutiny of Iran's missile program and rising security threats in the Middle East. Iran's state news agency described the launch as an effort to "assess some emerging new technologies" and improve the performance of future satellite systems. (7/24)

The Cape's First Launch Marks 75 Years (Source: Florida Today)
It was "the wild, wild West of rocketry" back on July 24, 1950, when technicians inside a wooden tar-paper shack launched Cape Canaveral's first primitive rocket: Bumper 8, which had been assembled using a captured German V-2 missile. The experimental 56½-foot rocket's upper stage failed about 51,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean waters.

But Bumper 8 successfully accelerated America's Space Race and was "key to the DNA of the Cape," said Jamie Draper, director of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum. Seventy-five years and more than 8,000 missile and rocket launches later, Draper said Bumper 8 paved the way for the Cape to become America's premier gateway to space. (7/24)

Spain Wants the 30-Meter Telescope (Source: NASA Watch)
Spain is willing to offer up to €400 million to attract the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) to the Canary Islands island of La Palma. — Uh oh. If you are in a ‘Make America Great in Space Again’ mood then this a huge loss for American scientific prestige – an international #astronomy instrument leaving the U.S. (7/24)

Missing 40% of Matter Finally Discovered (Source: IFL Science)
The regular matter that makes us, planets, stars, and galaxies is about 5 percent of the matter-energy content of the universe. The rest is made of dark matter and dark energy, though we are not sure what they are. There is also uncertainty around the regular matter, since for a long time over one-third of it was not accounted for. Models had suggested that it would exist in the space between galaxies, and different groups using wildly different methods have now confirmed that it really is there. (7/24)

The Best Attraction in America is in Florida -- And It's Not a Theme Park (Source: Southern Living)
Today, America’s primary gateway to space delivers a lot more than rocket launches—though that’s certainly a big part of its appeal. With a heap of interactive exhibits, priceless artifacts, and opportunities to chat with real-life astronauts, it’s easy to see how NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex dominated TripAdvisor’s 2025 Travelers' Choice Awards: Best of the Best Things To Do rankings. (7/24)

NASA Seeks Industry Concepts for Lunar and Mars Communications (Source: NASA)
NASA is seeking proposals from U.S. companies about innovative Moon and Mars proximity relay communication and navigation capabilities as the agency aims to use private industry satellite communications services for emerging missions.

On July 7, NASA issued a Request for Proposals, soliciting advanced industry concepts to establish high-bandwidth, high-reliability communications infrastructure between the lunar surface and an Earth-based operations control center, along with concepts that establish a critical communications relay on the Martian surface and transfer data between Mars and the Earth. (7/24)

South Korea Plans a Lunar Base (Source: WIRED)
China, India, and Japan are not the only countries on the Asian continent looking to establish themselves in the fledgling space economy. South Korea also wants to be in the space race, and even plans for a presence beyond Earth’s orbit, with ambitions to create its own lunar base within 20 years.

At a public meeting held at the National Research Foundation of Korea on July 17, the South Korean AeroSpace Administration (KASA) released a roadmap proposing “five core missions, including low-Earth orbit and microgravity exploration, lunar exploration, and solar and space science missions,” The Korean Times has reported. KASA had already proposed placing a robotic lander on the lunar surface by 2032, but the new master plan is much more ambitious, including the development of a new lunar lander by 2040, as well as the construction of a lunar economic base by 2045. (7/24)

Lockheed Martin May Offer Orion as a Commercial Spacecraft (Sources: Space News, Aerospace America)
Lockheed Martin is exploring the possibility of offering the Orion spacecraft for commercial services, potentially opening it up for non-NASA missions. This could involve providing flights as "fixed-price commercial services" to other nations or organizations interested in deep space exploration, according to Aerospace America. Orion assembly and processing operations are currently based at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (7/25)

Starlink Suffers Network Outage (Source: Reuters)
Starlink users reported they couldn’t connect to SpaceX’s satellite internet service for a few hours on Thursday afternoon before service was eventually restored. Widespread Starlink outages, like the ones we reported on in 2022 and 2023, have been rare, and this appears to be the first one in 2025. (7/24)

Fired Space Force Officer Rewarded with Air Force's #2 Civilian Leadership Position (Source: Military.com)
A former Space Force officer who was booted from the service after making unfounded allegations that Marxism was spreading throughout the military has been confirmed by the Senate to be the Air Force's No. 2 civilian. In a 52-46 party-line vote Thursday, the Senate approved former Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier to become the under secretary of the Air Force. (7/24)

ESA is Building a Hypersonic Spaceplane (Source: Jalopnik)
The European Space Agency is throwing its weight behind a design effort for a hypersonic spaceplane, with hopes of getting the final idea airborne (and spaceborne) by 2031. The ESA is putting up funding for the Invictus research program, which wants to achieve one of the space industry's most coveted breakthroughs: The ability for a spacecraft to launch horizontally off a runway, like a normal plane, and then land back there all in one piece. There have been several attempts over the decades to build a so-called Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) vehicle, but thus far, none have succeeded. (7/24)

Honeywell Raises 2025 Forecasts (Source: Reuters)
Honeywell raised its annual forecasts after beating Wall Street expectations for second-quarter results on Thursday, buoyed by strong demand for its aerospace parts and maintenance services. A shortage of new jets has benefited the company that provides aircraft maintenance and repair services to airlines, which have been stuck with an older, cost-intensive fleet. But planemakers such as Boeing and Airbus are now trying to ramp production as supply chain issues ease, boosting demand for Honeywell's avionics and flight control systems, among other products. (7/24)

How NASA is Testing AI to Make Earth-Observing Satellites Smarter (Source: NASA)
A technology called Dynamic Targeting could enable spacecraft to decide, autonomously and within seconds, where to best make science observations from orbit.

In a recent test, NASA showed how artificial intelligence-based technology could help orbiting spacecraft provide more targeted and valuable science data. The technology enabled an Earth-observing satellite for the first time to look ahead along its orbital path, rapidly process and analyze imagery with onboard AI, and determine where to point an instrument. The whole process took less than 90 seconds, without any human involvement. (7/24)

The Elusive Aerospike Engine Is Finally Moving From Theory to Reality (Source: Popular Mechanics)
The aerospike engine—which uses air pressure to shape the downward force needed to launch a spacecraft—has been on the cusp of entering mainstream rocketry for decades. Now, a new company called Leap 71 is moving fast, designing a new aerospike engine and 3D printing it for testing all within a few weeks.

The successful test this past December paved the way for the company’s adoption of a reference design called the Noyron XRA-2E5, which could be tested no later than the end of 2026. (7/23)

Roketsan Signs Agreement with Indonesia, Unveils Space Launch Vehicle Designs (Source: Breaking Defense)
Turkish missile firm Roketsan today signed an agreement with Indonesia to transfer the production technology of its Cakir cruise missile to Jakarta, while also using the second day of Turkey’s IDEF event to unveil five new missile designs and a space launch vehicle.

During a ceremony held today, Roketsan and Indonesia inked the agreement on Cakir, but the two sides did not announce details of dollar figure or number of missiles, not lay out how the agreement would work in terms of whether Indonesia can produce the weapons in-country. (7/23)

Spire Global launches new Space-Based Intelligence Products for Defense Market (Source: Spire)
Spire Global announced the expansion of its Space Reconnaissance portfolio with new radio frequency (RF) geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) capabilities. Designed to support both U.S. and international missions, the enhanced offering delivers persistent monitoring, real-time geolocation, and multi-layered situational awareness. (7/24)

Ultra-Black Coating for Satellites Could Stop Them Spoiling Astronomy Pictures (Source: The Conversation)
Every night, as telescopes around the world open their domes to study the cosmos, astronomers are forced to contend with an unexpected form of pollution: bright white streaks slicing across their images. These luminous trails are caused by satellites. Specifically, the growing number of “megaconstellations” launched into low Earth orbit (LEO).

These mega-constellations consist of many, sometimes hundreds, of satellites. They are intended to work as a system, providing services such as global internet access. Commercial companies that operate mega-constellations include SpaceX, Amazon and OneWeb.

The streaks in astronomy images aren’t just cosmetic. They can corrupt sensitive astronomy data, generate false signals, and even trigger alerts for events that never happened. There may now be a partial solution to the luminous trails vexing astronomers. An ultra-black coating could be applied to the satellites themselves, dimming the trails that they leave in images. This material, called Vantablack 310, absorbs more than 99.99% of visible light. (7/24)

Why America Needs to Invest in Vandenberg’s Launch Cadence (Source: Space News)
As Vice President of the Western Region for the Space Force Association (SFA), I’m calling for urgent investment in policies and partnerships that will enable Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) to increase its launch cadence. This push comes as VSFB is experiencing a surge in launch activity and faces the need to modernize infrastructure to handle the increased pace.

The SFA is calling for a ramp-up in launch operations at VSFB, specifically targeting both Space Launch Complex (SLC)-4 and SLC-6. Congress has allocated funds for a "spaceport of the future" program, which includes upgrades like wider roads, improved airfields, and enhanced communication lines. The increased launch cadence is crucial for maintaining American dominance in space and ensuring national security, especially with the base's role in the Combined Space Operations Center and potential role in Space Command. (7/23)

Blue Origin’s First Blue Ring Mission To Demonstrate Space Domain Awareness with Scout Space Sensor (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin announced today an agreement with Scout Space to integrate one of its flagship next-generation space domain awareness (SDA) Owl sensors onboard the first mission of Blue Ring, our highly maneuverable multi-mission spacecraft for payload delivery, hosting, and infrastructure services. Blue Ring's first mission is expected to launch in spring 2026 with initial injection into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), with additional services performed in Geostationary Orbit (GEO). (7/24)

From Vision To Orbit: How Nations Can Lead The Next Space Economy (Source: Forbes)
With the global space economy projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, every region of the world is looking to unlock its share of this growth, using space to drive innovation, sustainability and national competitiveness. A thriving space economy begins with strategic leadership that is coordinated across government, industry and academia.

Governments set the foundation. In 2016, Luxembourg launched its SpaceResources.lu initiative, becoming the first nation to legislate ownership of space resources. This bold policy move attracted global investment and established Luxembourg as a leading hub for space commercialization. Once national leadership sets the course, the next essential step is building awareness, ensuring space is understood not as a distant concept but as a driver of daily life, innovation and national development. Click here. (7/17)