August 31, 2025

Ohio Picks SpaceX's Starlink to Bring Internet to 31,000 Underserved Locations (Source: PC Mag)
While many US states are using federal funds to expand fiber networks, Ohio is turning to SpaceX’s Starlink to deliver high-speed broadband to 31,000 underserved locations. Starlink has emerged as the top provider for Ohio’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which is focused on using federal funds to close high-speed internet gaps across the US.

On Thursday, Ohio revealed it picked Starlink for 41% of the state’s underserved locations, far more than any other ISP. Coming in second, at 13%, is fiber provider Spectrum from Charter Communications. (8/29)

Jupiter-Sized Rogue Planet Detected Entering Our Solar System (Source: MSN)
Using the Pan-STARRS survey telescope on Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, researchers have found a giant rogue planet, possibly as massive as Jupiter, speeding toward the solar system. It is a transient discovery made possible by the combination of wide-sky monitoring and the capability of high-resolution spectroscopy.

Early orbital simulations suggest that the body is not gravitationally bound to any star and is traveling through the solar system for the first time. Its mass and velocity suggest it will have slight gravitational pulls on other planets or minor bodies. Scientists are conducting three-body simulations in order to establish possible perturbations.

Tracking it, however, is a challenge. Rogue planets are feeble, icy, and move against a dense stellar backdrop. The scientists are employing computer simulations that draw on nightly new astrometric observations, refining predictions for its closest approach. Whereas current models indicate minimal disruption, even a Jupiter-mass object passing by tens of astronomical units can deflect cometary orbits in the Oort Cloud. (8/27)

Habitable Planet Potential Increases in the Outer Galaxy (Source: Universe Today)
What can the Galactic Habitable Zone (GHZ), which is a galaxy’s region where complex life is hypothesized to be able to evolve, teach scientists about finding the correct stars that could have habitable planets? Researchers used a series of computer models to simulate how stellar migration could influence the location and parameters of the GHZ. The models included scenarios both with and without stellar migration to ascertain the statistical probabilities for terrestrial (rocky) planets forming around stars throughout the galaxy.

The researchers also used a chemical evolution model to ascertain the formation and evolution of our galaxy, specifically regarding its thickness. They found that stellar migration influences the formation of habitable planets within the outer regions of the galaxy. This is because stellar migration results in a redistribution of stars throughout the galaxy, with the team estimating a 5 times greater likelihood of stellar migration resulting in stars hosting habitable planets compared to a lack of stellar migration.

Additionally, the team found that gas giant planets could influence the formation of terrestrial planets within the inner regions of the galaxy. "Our findings are particularly relevant in the context of upcoming space missions, such as the ESA [European Space Agency] PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars (PLATO), the ESA Ariel space mission and Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE). These missions will deliver unprecedented data on planetary properties, orbital architectures, and atmospheric compositions.” (8/29)

Avio Signs Three New Launch Contracts with ESA (Source: Avio)
Avio announces the signing of three launch service contracts with ESA as part of the “Flight Ticket” initiative, jointly promoted by ESA and the European Commission. The program is designed to offer European companies and institutions the opportunity to test and validate new technologies in space. This significant milestone reinforces Avio’s strategic role in the European space industry and further strengthens its collaboration with ESA, the European Commission, and key stakeholders across the sector. (8/27)

Pixxel Launches Three More Fireflies with SpaceX (Source: Pixel)
India's Pixxel has launched three Firefly satellites aboard SpaceX’s NAOS Mission on Falcon 9. Building on the successful deployment of its first three Fireflies in January, Pixxel’s commercial constellation now stands at six operational satellites, giving humanity its first daily, high-detail hyperspectral look at any place on Earth. (8/27)

New Findings Reveal the Cause of Potentially Damaging Electrical Discharges on Satellites (Source: Los Alamos)
For the first time, researchers have found that the number of electrical discharges on a spacecraft directly correlates to the number of electrons in the surrounding environment—information that could help scientists better understand how to protect equipment in space. Spacecraft environment discharges (SEDs) are transient electrical breakdowns that can damage sensitive onboard electronics and communication systems. (8/27)

Cornyn: We can't let China win the new Space Race (Source: Houston Chronicle)
The architect of modern China, Deng Xiaoping, famously said, “Hide your strength and bide your time.” Decades ago, the Chinese Communist Party opened the floodgates to foreign investment, allowing the country to build a competitive economy and formidable military. Now Americans watch as China’s space ambitions accelerate at an alarming pace to establish a lunar base and put a man on the moon by 2030.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to read the tea leaves: China wants to win and won’t shy away from flouting the rules-based international order to do so. It’s up to America to beat them. (8/29)

New Zealand Defense Force Partakes in Space Conflict Testing (Source: RNZ)
The New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) has emerged from a US-led wargame testing how they could win a future conflict in space. The Schriever Wargames ran for two weeks at an Air Force base in Alabama. Ten countries, including all of the Five Eyes intelligence group partners, took part, setting up enemy and friendly cells that fight.

The US Space Force said it looked at how to cope with military space technologies not developed yet. The NZDF helped plan it. New Zealand joined the peak space security body led by the US, Operation Olympic Defender, late last year. (8/31)

Talks Resume on U.S. Space Command Headquarters Coming to Alabama (Source: WVTM)
Talks have resumed that the permanent location for U.S. Space Command headquarters will be in Alabama. Rep. Robert Aderholt said he's been told a possible announcement is coming from the White House on Tuesday afternoon. He said although it's still too early to speculate, he believes it's related to Space Command moving to Huntsville. (8/30)

Space Habitats Are Getting an Extreme Makeover (Source: Wall Street Journal)
From cork-lined walls to algae-tinted windows, the future of living and working in outer space looks less like a weightless tin can and more like a comfy cruise ship. These living quarters promise more room, more light and more color than before, while also protecting occupants from the dangers of radiation and orbiting debris that could rupture the hull of a spacecraft. (8/30)

Neurodiversity and the Development of Starship (Source: Michael Potter)
Beyond the engineering achievement itself, this success validates something deeper: SpaceX’s approach to iterative design and engineering—building, testing, learning, and repeating at speed. That same spirit of persistence and adaptation has long been championed by visionaries who often think differently, sometimes very differently, from established institutions.

The Starship milestone is not just a triumph of technology, but a reminder that disruptive progress rarely comes from bureaucracy or convention. It comes from environments and ecosystems willing to embrace failure, learn, and try again. And often, it comes from people whose minds work in ways not always welcomed or understood by traditional systems. (8/27)

America Wants To Beat China And Help China Beat Us – In Space (Source: NASA Watch)
How do these things make sense in the same universe? First the White House cuts NASA’s FY 2026 budget and guts Artemis – thus undermining NASA’s ability to compete with China. Meanwhile Congress also wants to beat China, increases NASA’s budget somewhat – but cuts critical things elsewhere. And now the White House wants to train vast numbers of Chinese students in American universities so as to better compete with us? Make up your mind folks. (8/29)

An Economic Strategy for American Space Supremacy (Source: Space News)
If war breaks out in space, can the United States count on the commercial companies that build, launch and operate its space infrastructure to put their prized assets on the line? We must acknowledge a difficult truth: the United States lacks a coherent, economically informed strategy for allocating responsibilities between the private and public sectors in space.

The way the United States does business in space may not cut it when military success is on the line, offering alternative ways of funding and procuring space assets in the future. The next few years’ policy choices will set our trajectory for decades. America’s space dominance isn’t guaranteed. But by applying rigorous economic thinking to the division of tasks between public and private sectors, we can build a space ecosystem that preserves our competitive edge and keeps the final frontier both profitable and peaceful. (8/30)

Starlink Growth Outpaces Launch Business as SpaceX to Spend Another $8 Million on Texas Starlink Facility (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
Plans for the latest growth — an 80,000 square-foot office expansion — appeared in a state database Wednesday. Already, Starlink is SpaceX’s biggest revenue source. Two years ago, Starlink’s estimated revenue of $4.2 billion topped SpaceX’s launch business for the first time, according to an industry analyst. Its 2024 revenue was expected to jump to between $6.9 billion and $8.1 billion, according to three industry estimates.

The increases have been accompanied by rapid growth in Bastrop County. Since construction began in late 2022, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows SpaceX has invested at least $43 million in infrastructure at the site about 20 miles from downtown Austin. The new project will add to the 700,000 square foot building that SpaceX began building last year. Once the latest addition is completed, the site will have structures encompassing more than 1.5 million-square feet. (8/29)

SpaceX Rocket Conducts Another Starlink Delivery From Vandenberg (Source: Noozhawk)
The West Coast’s fifth Falcon 9 rocket of August flew from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday night, continuing the busy year of launches. Filled with 24 Starlink satellites, SpaceX’s two-stage rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex-4. (8/29)

China’s Growing Space Diplomacy (Source: The Diplomat)
In recent years, China’s outer space diplomacy and exploration has grown exponentially, especially as China readies itself to send its first human astronaut to the moon before 2030. However, beyond the moon, China has grown its space engagements, which now span all sectors ranging from governmental to commercial, and from satellites to a new space station.

But rather than just focusing on its own development and advancement of space, the Chinese government has struck agreements, memoranda of understanding, and partnerships with countries all across the world. China is not only pursuing space exploration, but also assessing a key role for itself in space diplomacy and coordination. (8/30)

DoD Faces Dearth of Data From Planned NOAA Cuts (Source: Breaking Defense)
Planned Trump administration cuts to satellite programs at NOAA are likely to have negative knock-on effects to the Defense Department’s weather prediction capabilities, according to government and military officials. All the military services frequently draw on space-based weather data, as well as prediction models and services, provided by NOAA and other outside sources to plan operations and exercises — as the Space Force owns and operates only a handful of military weather satellites. (8/29)

NASA Awards $1.8B Space Ops, Systems Organization Contract (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA has awarded its $1.8 billion Contract for Organizing Spaceflight Mission Operations and Systems (COSMOS) to Ascend Aerospace and Technology LLC of Cape Canaveral, Florida, for space flight services in support of the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas. Aerodyne of Cape Canaveral and Jacobs Technology of Tennessee are Ascend's joint venture partners. (8/29)

NASA Employees Fear Worsening Conditions as New Trump Order Eliminates Their Right to Unionize (Source: Space.com)
The order affects several thousand engineers, scientists and technicians across every NASA center, and strips away long-standing union rights that were emplaced to protect more than half the agency's workforce. The move marks the largest rollback of labor protections for NASA's employees in history.

The scope of the change is exemplified by the situation at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, where the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association (GESTA) now finds itself unable to legally represent employees amidst an onslaught of program cuts, facility closures and early resignations. (8/30)

Huge Blob of Dark Matter Found in Our Galactic Neighborhood? (Source: Science)
It has a mass millions of times that of the Sun and spans hundreds of light-years. It’s so close by in the Galaxy it would loom larger in the sky than the Sun or Moon—if you could see it. But this immense cloud—identified by astronomers in a report last month—is made of utterly invisible dark matter. (8/29)

US Approves Potential Sale of Starlink Services to Ukraine (Source: Reuters)
The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of Starlink services and related equipment and Patriot air defense sustainment and related equipment to Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Friday. The transactions are worth $150 million and $179 million, respectively. On Thursday, the Pentagon announced U.S. approval for the sale of air-launched cruise missiles and related equipment to Ukraine for an estimated $825 million. (8/29)