October 16, 2025

AI Model Sharpens Solar Forecasts to Support Satellite Network Stability (Source: Space Daily)
Accurate solar radiation forecasting is crucial for the stability of photovoltaic power systems, yet current models often blur as prediction time increases. Addressing this challenge, researchers led by Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology have unveiled an AI-based solution called GAN-Solar, designed to generate sharper, more reliable forecasts for solar energy management.

The model harnesses the principle of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), which pit two neural networks against each other in a process likened to a contest between a "master painter" (the generator) and a "keen art critic" (the discriminator). The generator produces simulated future radiation maps from historical data, while the discriminator learns to detect whether the images are genuine or generated. (10/16)

Federal Hiring Freeze Remains, and Political Appointees to Vet Candidates (Source: FNN)
The federal hiring freeze that has been ongoing since President Donald Trump took office in January will now continue indefinitely, as the White House also makes a new push to have a heavier hand in agencies’ recruitment of federal employees. As has been the case since Jan. 20, executive branch agencies will continue to be mostly barred from creating new federal positions or filling any current vacancies.

And on top of maintaining the current freeze, the White House is setting new expectations for the way agencies handle their recruitment efforts. The President has tasked each agency with creating a “strategic hiring committee,” composed of senior officials and political appointees who will have to ensure that any hiring that does take place is focused on “agency needs, the national interest and administration priorities.” (10/16)

ESA Taps NanoAvionics to Build Large Cubesat for EU IOD IOV Mission (Source: Space Daily)
ESA, acting through ESTEC, has chosen Lithuania-based Kongsberg NanoAvionics to deliver a large cubesat platform for the European Union's in-orbit demonstration and validation program. Under the IHE1-5 Cubesat project, the company will provide a 12-16U spacecraft to host multiple European payloads for flight testing. NanoAvionics will handle end-to-end delivery, including spacecraft design, assembly, integration, testing, ground segment, and mission operations.

The platform is intended to accelerate market readiness by giving emerging technologies on-orbit performance data and flight heritage ahead of wider adoption across scientific, public, and commercial applications. ESA has pre-selected eight candidate payloads from more than 50 proposals for this rideshare mission. Final payload choices will follow a system definition review in the coming months, aligning technical maturity, interfaces, and mission constraints with the bus capabilities and schedule. (10/16)

Gilat Secures $42 Million in Multi-Orbit Platform Orders as In-Flight Connectivity Surges (Source: Space Daily)
Gilat Satellite Networks has received $42 million in new orders from a major global satellite operator for its SkyEdge IV multi-orbit platform. The systems will be delivered over the next year, expanding Gilat's role in powering broadband connectivity across GEO, MEO, and LEO networks. The company said the orders underscore the growing demand for flexible ground infrastructure to support next-generation satellite services. SkyEdge IV is designed for scalability and high efficiency, enabling operators to meet increasing data requirements in aviation, maritime, and enterprise sectors. (10/16)

SATLINE Boosts European Satellite Reach with New UK Data Center (Source: Space Daily)
SATLINE has launched a new United Kingdom data center to expand its satellite coverage and enhance broadcast, IPTV, and OTT performance across Europe. The new facility, equipped with two high-performance downlink antennas, enables faster and more resilient connectivity for clients in the satellite communications sector. The center's core function is to convert satellite RF signals into IP streams for storage or origination. This allows customers to distribute data through their own networks, CDNs, or private connections with ultra-low latency, improving both coverage and reliability across broadcast workflows. (10/16)

Space Ocean and Enduralock to Unify Orbital Docking Standards for In-Space Fluid and Power Transfer (Source: Space Daily)
Space Ocean Corp. has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Enduralock to integrate the company's OneLink system as a standardized docking interface for in-orbit fluid, power, and data transfer. The collaboration aims to establish a common connection framework across Space Ocean's future logistics and servicing platforms. Space Ocean plans to adopt Enduralock's passive male receive port, now available for Assembly, Integration and Test (AI&T), as a baseline component across its orbital infrastructure. The OneLink system enables secure transfer of energy and materials while supporting high axial loads, making it suitable for operations such as refueling, cargo exchange, and modular construction in orbit. (10/16)

STARCOM Holds Florida Summit (Source: Team Orlando)
The Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) hosted a leadership summit, bringing together 80 leaders from across the country to discuss training, readiness and the evolving priorities of the U.S. Space Force, at Central Florida Tech Grove, Sep. 24. The summit provided a forum for participants to share perspectives, exchange best practices and coordinate efforts across the command’s missions. Leaders evaluated current programs and identified opportunities to strengthen collaboration across the Space Force and its partners.

Editor's Note: STARCOM is in the process of relocating its headquarters from Colorado to Florida, with facilities under development at Patrick Space Force Base. Their target is to have Full Operational Capability in 2026 and to complete the relocation by end of 2027. The move will allow closer coordination with Central Florida's impressive simulation and training cluster. (10/16)

Pentagon Solicits Bids for $151B SHIELD Missile Defense (Source: Stars and Stripes)
The Pentagon is seeking proposals for the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, program, a $151 billion initiative. The program, part of the Golden Dome initiative, has attracted significant interest from companies, with over 1,500 inquiries in the initial phase. The SHIELD program would require ground- and space-based systems to protect the US from ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles, but experts have raised concerns about the feasibility and cost, with estimates ranging from $161 billion to trillions over 20 years. (10/15)

Raytheon Expands Massachusetts Facility (Source: Design and Development Today)
Raytheon has broken ground on a $53 million addition to its Andover, Mass., facility, expanding its Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor Production Facility. This project will accelerate the delivery of advanced defense systems and position the site as a key integration point for radar technologies supporting US and international customers. The expansion is expected to be completed by late 2026. (10/15)

Army to Focus on Counterspace Tech in FY27 Budget (Source: Defense Scoop)
The US Army plans to prioritize counterspace capabilities in budget requests starting in fiscal 2027, says Col. Peter Atkinson, the Army's principal space adviser. This move is part of the Army's broader effort to strengthen space operations, highlighted in the 2024 Space Vision. (10/15)

Axiom Changes Leadership (Source: Space News)
Commercial space station developer Axiom Space replaced its CEO Wednesday. The company announced that it had appointed Jonathan Cirtain as CEO, replacing Tejpaul Bhatia. The company described the move only as a “strategic leadership change to advance the company’s development of critical space infrastructure.” Bhatia, who joined Axiom in 2021 as chief revenue officer, was promoted to CEO in April. Cirtain is a former executive with nuclear technology company BWXT who joined IBX, the investment company whose portfolio includes Axiom Space, as president in May. (10/16)

SpaceX Launches DoD Satellites on Wednesday From California (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched a second set of Space Development Agency satellites Wednesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 7:06 p.m. Eastern and placed 21 Transport Layer Tranche 1 satellites built by Lockheed Martin into orbit. This is the second set of Transport Layer Tranche 1 satellites to launch after the first set launched a month ago. The Tranche 1 constellation will feature 10 planes of satellites, six for Transport Layer communications and four for Tracking Layer missile tracking applications. (10/16)

Beyond Gravity Considers Expansion on Space Coast for Solar Array Production (Source: Space News)
Beyond Gravity is weighing expanding solar array drive mechanism production in Florida to support Golden Dome and other U.S. space projects. The Swiss company said Wednesday it is expanding production of such mechanisms in Europe to meet demand for programs like the IRIS² secure broadband constellation. A U.S. production line would focus primarily on programs like Golden Dome and the Space Development Agency’s satellite constellations. (10/16)

Artemis Accords Turn Five, with 56 Nations (Source: Space News)
The Artemis Accords turned five years old this week. Monday marked the fifth anniversary of a ceremony where the United States and seven other nations became the first to sign the Accords, which outline norms of behavior for space exploration. A total of 56 nations have now signed the Accords, and representatives of 39 of them met at the International Astronautical Congress two weeks ago to discuss implementation issues. Those topics ranged from noninterference and safety zones to how to encourage more nations to participate, although at a press conference after the meeting officials provided few specifics. (10/16)

China Launches Guowang Constellation Satellites on Long March 8A (Source: Space News)
China launched another set of satellites for its Guowang broadband constellation Wednesday. A Long March 8A rocket lifted off at 9:33 p.m. Eastern from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center carrying the 12th set of Guowang satellites. Chinese officials did not disclose the number of satellites on board but previous Long March 8A launches for Guowang each carried nine satellites.

The national Guowang project, led by the state-owned China SatNet, will consist of nearly 13,000 satellites in low Earth orbit and is part of China’s response to Starlink. This launch will bring the constellation up to 95 satellites, with a near-term goal of having 400 satellites in orbit by 2027. This was the 600th launch of a rocket in the Long March family and comes just 22 months after the 500th launch. By contrast, it took China 37 years to perform the first 100 Long March launches. (10/16)

SpaceX Launches Thursday Starlink Mission From Florida (Source: Spaceflight Now)
A Falcon 9 launched more Starlink satellites early this morning. The rocket lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and put 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. This was the 130th Falcon 9 launch so far this year, with more than 90 of them devoted to Starlink. (10/16)

France and Germany Team on Satellite-Based Missile Warning System (Source: Reuters)
France and Germany have agreed to jointly develop a satellite-based missile warning system. The defense ministers of the two countries signed an implementation agreement Wednesday for a program called Odin’s Eye, which would use satellites to provide early warnings of missile launches. The program would support missile defense initiatives in Europe. (10/16)

Food Bank at Colorado Space Force Base Caters to Surge of Laid-Off Federal Workers (Source: Kyle Clark)
As of mid-October, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) is handling a surge 900+ unemployment claims from federal workers due to the ongoing government shutdown. Meanwhile, a food pantry at Buckley Space Force Base has seen its demand double. The Buckley Spouses Alliance (BSA) runs a volunteer-operated food pantry on the base. (10/16)

Dassault Expands on Space Coast (Source: EDC of FSC)
The Economic Development Commission proudly celebrates the opening of Dassault Aviation's major new maintenance facility on Florida's Space Coast. CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet Thierry Betbeze commemorated the grand opening. Falcons, Dassault's advanced business jets, are already arriving at the new MRO facility, creating hundreds of full-time, high-wage jobs in Brevard County. This new global MRO is projected to create 400 jobs, and the $115 million capital investment further strengthens Florida’s position as a hub for aerospace innovation. (10/15)

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Billionaires? (Source: University Times)
A quick Google search for “space tourism” loads several ultra-modern space tourism websites nestled between Wikipedia entries and news articles. At first glance, booking a seat on a rocket seems as easy as entering your credit card details. However, clicking on any one of these links reveals a sleek, high-budget website with impressive photos of stars, planets, and spacecraft, along with inspirational quotes. Noticeably missing is the price tag, with a lengthy interest form in its place. This message is clear: if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably cannot afford it. (10/14)

PLD Aims to Build One Engine Every Two Weeks by the End of 2025 (Source: European Spaceflight)
Spanish rocket builder PLD Space has revealed that it expects to be producing one TEPREL-C rocket engine every two weeks by the end of 2025. PLD Space is developing a 35.7-meter-tall, two-stage rocket called MIURA 5 that is designed to be capable of delivering payloads of up to 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit. The rocket will be launched from a new commercial launch facility on the grounds of the Guiana Space Center.

In a 14 October update, the company detailed several recent milestones as it prepares for the inaugural flight of its MIURA 5 rocket. It has completed the launch system’s Critical Design Review, confirming that it is ready for full-scale production. Additionally, PLD Space has finished the first phase of the Flight Safety Validation process with the French space agency CNES, a requirement for conducting operations from the Guiana Space Center.

Earlier this month, the company announced that it had begun hot-fire testing its TEPREL-C Vac rocket engine, which will power the MIURA 5 upper stage. Once this testing campaign is complete, PLD Space will be ready to begin producing one TEPREL-C engine every 14 days, a production rate it aims to achieve by the end of the year. (10/14)

Three CubeSats Successfully Deployed from "Kibo" (Source: JAXA)
On October 10, 2025, following 3 CubeSats were successfully deployed from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) "Kibo": YOTSUBA-KULOVER; e-kagaku-1; and BOTAN. Click here. (10/14)

Bill Nelson Thinks Musk Must Rethink His Mars Plan (Source: Independent)
The former three-term senator from Florida is adamant that humans are going to Mars. It’s not a matter of if, just a matter of when, he told The Independent Sunday in an exclusive interview at the non-profit Washington West Film Festival in Virginia. But he’s seeking a clearer vision of that mission to Mars from the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.

Musk has called the moon a “distraction” on the way to the Red Planet. But, Nelson says the billionaire X social media platform owner “has contradicted himself.” “Because he’s said the opposite, also,” the former astronaut said. Nelson says you can’t have Mars without the moon. Scientists need the research from the first phases of the Artemis program to get us to Mars. (10/14)

6 Things Starlink Does Better Than Regular Home Internet (Source: PC World)
It’s been a few months since I started using Starlink for home internet. And apart from some minor flaws and complaints—like weak upload speeds and the occasional global service outage—I have to admit it’s generally better than I expected it to be. One of the best things about Starlink is how normal it feels. Once you get it set up, it behaves just like regular internet: it’s fast, effective, and perfectly suitable for gaming and other latency-sensitive tasks. Click here. (10/15)

Not-So-Dark Matter? Mysterious Substance Might Leave Red and Blue 'Fingerprints' on Light (Source: Space.com)
A new theoretical study by scientists at the University of York in the U.K. suggests light passing through dark-matter-rich regions of space could pick up a faint tint — slightly red or blue, depending on the kind of dark matter it encounters. The effect would be extraordinarily subtle, far too weak for current telescopes to detect, but potentially measurable with the next generation of ultra-sensitive observatories, the researchers say. (10/15)

SpaceX’s Megarocket Finds Redemption After Explosive Failures. But Time May Be Running Out (Source: CNN)
The V2 test campaign began in January and was marked by a string of explosive, in-flight failures — with one vehicle exploding during a ground test and three others erupting into flames mid-flight — followed by a surprising redemption arc. Despite recent successes, however, SpaceX has a long way to go before Starship is ready to set out on an operational mission.

And the plans for this vehicle are nothing less than transformational: SpaceX CEO Elon wants Starship to carry humans to Mars for the first time. NASA also plans to use the vehicle to land astronauts on the moon as soon as 2027 amid a new space race with China — a goal that is putting SpaceX and Starship in the hot seat as the space agency’s deadline rapidly approaches.

With Version 2 set to retire, SpaceX has already teased the debut of Version 3, which is expected to carry out its first test launch later this year or early 2026. (10/14)

At Starbase, SpaceX is Taking Firefighting Into its Own Hands (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX is quietly standing up a volunteer fire department to serve the sprawling launch-and-manufacturing Starbase complex, tightening its control over emergency response at a site known for rapid — and sometimes explosive — rocket development. A certificate of formation filed with the Texas Secretary of State on June 30 shows the creation of what’s called the Starbase Volunteer Fire Department.

SpaceX has historically handled fires at Starbase, which was recently incorporated as its own Texas city, with a combination of an internal firefighting and emergency response team and help from local fire departments, such as the one in nearby Brownsville. It’s unclear what impact the new volunteer fire department will have on those external relationships. (10/14)

Foodie Frontiers Feed the Future of Space Exploration (Source: Binghamton)
A team of Binghamton students placed second in the xFoundry Horizons Challenge, hosted by xFoundry — a university-based innovation program — in collaboration with NASA. The nationwide competition challenges university teams to tackle critical technology gaps that will help humanity establish a sustained presence on the Moon by 2040 — and eventually reach Mars.

Teams selected a focus area from four categories: Safe and Sustainable Food, Portable, Off-Grid Artificial Intelligence, Peak Physical and Mental Performance, and Autonomous Health Diagnosis and Monitoring, then worked on a pitch to solve a key issue in the chosen area. The Binghamton team, known as the Foodie Frontiers, focused on creating an intelligent nutrition system. Their project combines AI, smart hardware and biosensing to enable adaptive meal planning in space and on Earth, even when resources or biological constraints are limited. (10/14)

NASA Acting Administrator Says Relocating Headquarters Location (Potentially to Florida) is Not Priority (Source: Spectrum News)
Earlier this year, members of Florida’s congressional delegation made a big push advocating to relocate NASA’s headquarters from Washington, D.C. to the Sunshine State. But, for now, the current head of the space agency says he has ‘more important issues’ to deal with than think about any potential move. Back in March, a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers introduced legislation in both the House and Senate called the CAPE Canaveral Act to transfer the headquarters of NASA to Brevard County.

“I’m in a place, though, where we’re in a race to get to the moon before the Chinese, and all effort has been to make that happen. So, I haven’t put one iota of mind space yet into where the headquarters should go, because I have other way more important issues that I’m navigating at NASA,” Duffy said. (10/14)

Debate Continues Over Moving Space Shuttle from D.C. to Houston (Source: Culture Map)
Texas’ two U.S. senators, Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, have called for the Space Shuttle Discovery to be relocated from the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, D.C., to the visitors center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. They say Houston is Discovery’s “rightful home” and note that provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act call for the shuttle to be moved to Houston.

Moving the shuttle to Houston would reverse a decision made in 2011, when NASA awarded shuttles to museums in California, Florida, and New York instead of Space Center Houston. At the time, Houston Mayor Annise Parker blamed "political calculations" for not including the home of the Johnson Space Center as a shuttle home, even though the astronauts who flew the shuttle lived and trained in Houston. (10/14)