Space Commerce Week

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A weekly newsletter published to the community highlighting the news of the week and letting you know who our podcast guest is that week. We will look ahead to the coming week to see what's happening and let you know. www.exterrajsc.com

  1. 3d ago

    A New Framework for Nuclear Power and Propulsion in Space, and NASA Solicits Proposals for Commercial Space Stations

    NASA and the Department of Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding that sets a framework for joint work on space nuclear power and propulsion. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed the agreement Oct. 8 in Washington. The signing took place at a science summit hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The agreement covers advanced research, fuel production, testing, launch integration and operations. NASA called safety the central pillar of that work. Isaacman said nuclear power will let the agency go farther, operate longer and field more capable spacecraft and instruments than it has before. He described it as the start of a nuclear era for NASA. What is not locked down is a dollar figure. NASA didn’t state funding levels, and it didn’t say which agency will handle which tasks. The memorandum builds on a December 2025 executive order that directs NASA to develop a launch-ready lunar surface reactor by 2030. NASA says it and the Energy Department are making steady progress toward that goal. Two programs carry most of the load. Space Reactor-1 Freedom is scheduled to launch in 2028, and NASA says it will move nuclear propulsion from laboratory research to deep-space operations. Lunar Reactor-1 is a fission surface power system meant to keep the planned Moon Base running through the lunar night. NASA hasn’t given a launch date for that one. The agreement also covers radioisotope power. NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft, bound for Saturn’s moon Titan, will use a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator and 24 lightweight radioisotope heater units. NASA’s mission page lists the launch as no earlier than July 2028. The two agencies also plan to supply 24 similar heater units for the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin Mars rover. For suppliers of reactor components, nuclear fuel and radiation-tolerant hardware, the document spells out the work areas the two agencies plan to share. It doesn’t yet spell out the budgets behind them. The agreement takes effect Nov. 1. -0- Voyager Technologies says its Griffin-1 lunar lander has completed acceptance testing, clearing the spacecraft for the next phase of launch preparation. Griffin Mission One is what Voyager calls an infrastructure-class lander. It was developed by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, which Voyager acquired this summer, through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The testing verified the lander’s systems performance. The mission will carry 10 payloads from six countries to the moon’s south pole. That manifest includes payloads from NASA, the European Space Agency and commercial customers. Voyager Chairman and CEO Dylan Taylor said that when Griffin touches down, it will be the largest commercial payload delivery to the moon to date. He described the company’s role as building the transportation layer for a lunar economy, meaning the logistics, access and systems needed for sustained operations there. Voyager Executive Vice President John Thornton said every payload on the manifest represents a customer and a capability. Griffin-1 is now part of NASA’s Moon Base Phase One objectives. Voyager says the lander is designed to deliver rovers, science instruments and other infrastructure, including future power systems. For payload developers and component suppliers, that makes Griffin a delivery route tied directly to the agency’s lunar surface plans. Griffin-1 is heading back to Voyager’s Lunar Systems headquarters in Pittsburgh for final preparations. From there, it ships to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Voyager says the launch is planned for later this year, but it hasn’t announced a date. -0- NASA has awarded two Small Business Innovation Research Phase One contracts to Yank Technologies to develop wireless power hardware for robots on the moon and Mars. Yank is a Brooklyn-based developer of wireless charging systems. The company’s pitch starts with a problem every lunar surface system shares. Regolith, the fine dust on the lunar surface, builds up on the metal terminals of electrical connectors. And because regolith is a strong insulator, it can interfere with power transfer. Yank calls that a significant mission risk. The first award covers a modular, kilowatt-class wireless power system for NASA robotic vehicles and equipment. It moves power without physical contact, so there’s no exposed connector for dust to foul. The company says it’s designed to keep working when the transmitter and receiver aren’t precisely lined up, and to adjust for different power levels and positions. The second award covers a high-power-density converter that changes alternating current to direct current. Yank says it delivers kilowatt-class power in a smaller, lighter package. It also monitors its own voltage, current and component temperature to detect wear while it’s running. CEO Josh Yank said the contracts expand the company’s wireless power work for NASA, with an emphasis on modularity and scalability for lunar and planetary surfaces. The company says both systems are intended for a range of vehicles, payloads and science equipment. The power interface is a small part with a large footprint. Any rover, payload or instrument that has to plug in on the lunar surface faces the same dust problem. Yank didn’t disclose the value of the awards, and it gave no timeline for either project. The Federal Communications Commission’s Space Bureau has extended to Jan. 5 the deadline for Reflect Orbital to post a surety bond for its Earendil-1 satellite. Earendil-1 is a single satellite designed to deploy and test a steerable sunlight reflector. The bureau licensed it July 9, and the original grant required the bond by Aug. 10. Jennifer Gilsenan, acting chief of the Space Bureau, signed the order. It adds 150 days to the deadline, for a total of 180 days from the grant. Reflect Orbital had asked for a 90-day deferral, or a permanent deferral as an alternative. The bureau turned down the permanent option, citing the commission’s pending move to new Part 100 licensing rules. The amount of the bond was not disclosed. The bureau said the bond is meant to push operators to launch quickly or surrender their authorizations early, so they don’t warehouse spectrum and orbital slots. It said Reflect Orbital’s plan to launch within several months of the grant reduces that concern. The bureau also said it’s granted the same 150-day deferral to other operators with small systems and near-term launches, including an August grant to Impulse Space. There was no objection to Reflect Orbital’s request for an extension. But this action doesn’t settle two other challenges to the license, and both remain pending. Earthjustice filed an application for review on behalf of Dark Sky International, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Environment America and the American Bird Conservancy. An individual filed a separate petition for reconsideration. The FCC says it addressed an earlier petition to deny from the American Astronomical Society in the original grant. Earendil-1 is authorized to operate at an altitude of about 388 miles in an orbit inclined 88 degrees. The license runs two years from the date the company certifies the satellite is operating in orbit, and Reflect Orbital has to launch and begin operations by July 9, 2032. For operators of small satellite systems, the order shows a consistent pattern. The bureau is granting 150-day bond deferrals for near-term launches while the Part 100 rules are pending. Reflect Orbital’s bond is now due Jan. 5. No launch date has been suggested by Reflect Orbital -0- NASA has released its final request for proposals for commercial space stations in low Earth orbit. The solicitation asks companies to design, build, test, certify and operate commercial destinations, with end-to-end destination and transportation services for human spaceflight. The contract structure matters here. NASA plans to award firm-fixed-price, multi-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts covering development, certification and services. The agency will pick two or more companies for early development. A competitive task order would follow for final design, test and evaluation, certification and services, and that could go to one company or several. Under a fixed-price structure, the contractor carries the cost risk. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the opportunity is significant, but the economics have to work. He said NASA wants credible plans, strong technical execution and companies prepared to invest in destinations that serve NASA while also building customers and markets of their own. Isaacman tied the solicitation to the National Space Policy and to keeping a sustained American presence in low Earth orbit after the International Space Station retires. He said commercial stations could give NASA a place for research, technology development and crew training, while freeing up agency resources for missions to the moon and Mars. The final request follows NASA’s Ignition event earlier this year. The agency issued two requests for information in March, released a draft request for proposals in July, and then held an industry day and one-on-one meetings with companies. For suppliers, the down-select is the date to watch. The companies NASA picks for early development will set which supply chains get the work. Proposals are due Dec. 8. NASA expects to award contracts in spring 2027. -0- Those commercial stations will need paying customers, and one program is working to build that pipeline now. The ISS National Laboratory’s Orbital Edge Accelerator pairs flight access with private investment for startups at the pre-seed and seed stages. On The Journal of Space Commerce podcast, I spoke with ISS National Lab Chief Economist Sven Eenmaa about how the program works. This year, the second for the program, the co

  2. Oct 11

    A 15,000 Satellite D2D Constellation, and a Microgravity Drug Lab

    The FCC has authorized SpaceX to deploy and operate a constellation of 15,000 satellites built to deliver service directly to ordinary mobile phones. The order, released Tuesday by the FCC’s Space Bureau and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, grants SpaceX’s application in part and defers it in part. The satellites will fly in nine orbital shells, at altitudes between about 203 and 208 miles. In the United States, the network will provide Mobile Satellite Service and what the FCC calls Supplemental Coverage from Space, or S-C-S. Outside the country, it’ll offer mobile satellite and direct-to-cell service. Backhaul links to the ground will run in the Ka-, V-, E- and W-bands. Most of the U.S. spectrum comes from SpaceX’s purchase of EchoStar licenses. Regulators approved that two-step transaction May 12. Under this grant, SpaceX can’t begin operating in the former EchoStar bands until the second step of the deal closes. The one exception is testing during launch and early orbit. The order grants several rule waivers. S-C-S rules normally require a satellite operator to lease spectrum from a land-based wireless carrier. Regulators dropped that requirement, since SpaceX will hold the terrestrial licenses itself. The bureaus said making SpaceX lease spectrum from itself would be an unnecessary regulatory burden. In exchange, SpaceX has to meet interim 911 call-routing rules as if it were a wireless carrier. Regulators also cleared SpaceX to use 15 megahertz of spectrum, between 1,695 and 1,710 megahertz, for signals sent from phones up to the satellites. That band isn’t designated for S-C-S. In 27 protection zones around 47 federal earth stations, SpaceX can’t enable phone transmissions until it completes coordination with federal users. Within the U.S., SpaceX may also exceed current power limits that protect geostationary satellites until new sharing rules take effect. It must keep a 4-degree exclusion zone around the geostationary arc. That waiver drew objections. DIRECTV, SES, Eutelsat, WorldVu Satellites and Viasat opposed it as a risk to geostationary networks. The bureaus denied Viasat’s petition in part and deferred the rest. Blue Origin raised concerns about access to launch windows, given the constellation’s size and density. Regulators found SpaceX’s coordination commitments, including a trajectory screening tool, sufficient for now. DarkSky International asked for an environmental review. The bureaus declined, saying the action is categorically excluded under current rules. For geostationary operators and federal spectrum users, those waivers and protection zones set the terms they’ll operate under while new sharing rules are written. The bureaus deferred SpaceX’s request to operate in two Ka-band frequency ranges outside the U.S., along with a broader request for mobile satellite operations abroad between 1,429 and 2,690 megahertz. SpaceX has 30 days from the order’s release to decline the conditioned grant. It must post a surety bond by Nov. 4. Half the constellation, 7,500 satellites, must be in orbit and operating by Oct. 7, 2032, and the rest by Oct. 7, 2035. The 15-year license term begins when the first satellite reaches its authorized orbit. -0- NASA has selected three science instrument suites to fly to the Moon on commercial landers to study surface hazards, possible underground lava tubes and buried ice ahead of a planned crewed outpost. The selections come under NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon program, known as PRISM. The payloads will be delivered through Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or C-L-P-S, as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program, which supports Artemis. Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said the goal is to put science on the lunar surface first. She said that work will give future crews the information, resources and safety precautions they’ll need to survive the lunar night. The first suite is the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station for the South Pole. It’s an autonomous station built for long-term hazard monitoring. It’ll track falling micrometeoroids and the gases that drift into the Moon’s thin atmosphere, and it carries a seismometer. The second, called GIMLI, will be deployed at the Marius Hills Pit. It’ll scan beneath the surface to determine whether the pit opens into a large lava tube. NASA says spaces like that could shield future astronauts from extreme temperatures and radiation. The third, called DISCO, will measure ice in small, permanently shadowed pockets known as micro-cold traps. NASA says those will be the first direct measurements of that ice taken on the ground. DISCO will also study how rocket exhaust disturbs the surface and how stable the ground is for rovers and crews. Brad Bailey, who directs the Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office, said each PRISM selection strengthens NASA’s ability to deliver science to the lunar surface. For commercial lander companies, each selection adds to the pipeline of NASA payloads awaiting delivery. NASA hasn’t yet named the lander missions that will carry the three suites or said when they’ll fly. -0- A new forecast projects the global market for space sensors and actuators will grow from about $5.75 billion this year to a little over $9 billion by 2031. The forecast comes from MarketsandMarkets, a research firm based in Delray Beach, Florida. It projects compound annual growth of 9.5 percent over the five-year period. The firm attributes that growth to smaller components, artificial intelligence-driven control systems and radiation-hardened materials. It also cites growing private space ventures and public-private partnerships. By product type, the firm expects sensors to hold the largest share of the market, given their role in satellite positioning, propulsion control and robotic operations. Within sensors, it projects scientific instruments such as spectrometers will post the second-highest growth rate. By platform, the firm estimates interplanetary spacecraft and probes will hold the largest share, citing rising investment in planetary exploration. By customer, it ranks commercial buyers first this year, followed by government and defense. The firm projects the Middle East will be the fastest-growing regional market. It points to national space programs, new satellite missions and efforts to build local space technology capabilities. On the supply side, the firm found manufacturers are focusing on smaller, lighter and more energy-efficient systems for small satellites, low Earth orbit constellations and deep space missions. It says companies are also investing in digital engineering, additive manufacturing and test facilities to shorten production cycles. The full report covers market data from 2021 through 2031. A prototype spacecraft designed to beam power to another satellite is in orbit and being prepared for what its builder describes as the first optical power beaming between two free-flying spacecraft. The spacecraft, called Protostar, was built by Star Catcher Industries of Jacksonville, Florida. It flew last week on a SpaceX rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Once commissioning is complete, Protostar will release a CubeSat and track it. It’ll then beam measurable power to the CubeSat’s commercial-grade solar panels. Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Michael Snyder said the mission will produce operational data in real orbital conditions to support the build-out of the company’s commercial power grid in space. He said the team built and shipped the spacecraft in less than two years. Co-founder and CEO Andrew Rush said power availability limits the major applications driving the space economy, from national security intelligence to A-I computing in orbit and Earth observation. Star Catcher says it holds a world record for optical power beaming, set at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Late last year, it completed an on-orbit test of its spacecraft acquisition and tracking software. The company says it has raised $88 million to date, including a $65 million round announced in May. It also cites a $60 million Strategic Funding Increase award, or STRATFI, from the U.S. Space Force. Named investors include B Capital, Shield Capital, Cerberus Ventures and Initialized Capital. On the customer side, Star Catcher says it has signed 10 commercial power purchase agreements, with companies including Starcloud, Loft Orbital, Astro Digital and Aethero, plus more than 40 letters of intent. It’s also building a 100,000-square-foot headquarters in Jacksonville. Star Catcher hasn’t announced a date for the power beaming attempt, which follows commissioning. -0- B2) MICROGRAVITY DRUG LAB A space biotechnology company has signed on as the first announced customer for an orbital manufacturing service that flies experiments on a reusable return spacecraft. Exobiosphere will fly its Orbital High-Throughput System (OHTS), an automated drug-discovery lab, on the CarryAll spacecraft built by Outpost Technologies. The deal is the first for Outpost’s Space Factories service, which the company recently unveiled. It pairs the free-flying CarryAll vehicle with standard containers and common connections for power, thermal control, data and safety. Outpost reuses the spacecraft and containers from mission to mission. Only the innermost manufacturing module is built for each customer, and Exobiosphere’s lab is the first of those modules. Exobiosphere says it’ll use the lab for disease modeling, drug screening and returning samples to Earth for analysis. Outpost co-founder and CEO Jason Dunn said drugmakers are starting to treat microgravity as a place for scaled manufacturing of therapeutics, not only research. Exobiosphere co-founder and CEO Kyle Acierno (Ah-see-AIR-no) said demand from researchers and pharmaceutical companies to run experiments i

  3. Sep 20

    Federal regulators settle a fight over satellite interference, and States will Vie to Host the Space Academy

    The FCC’s Space Bureau has set a new interference threshold for satellite broadband sharing. It’s a lower signal limit — the one satellite operator SpaceX pushed for — over objections from rival operator SES. The update revises a dataset of geostationary satellite links, or GSO links, used to check whether new broadband satellites in lower orbits interfere with them. Those lower-orbit systems are called non-geostationary, or NGSO. The change stems from an April 30 order that replaced power limits dating back to the 1990s. Under the new framework, NGSO operators have two options: strike a coordination agreement with GSO networks, or prove they won’t cause unacceptable interference, using that shared dataset of links. The affected bands run from 10.7 to 12.7 gigahertz, 17.3 to 18.6 gigahertz, and 19.7 to 20.2 gigahertz. The Bureau built an initial set of 328 reference links back in April. It opened the dataset for public comment in May, and got nine comments, seven replies, and several ex parte filings. The most contested issue: the signal threshold for links without adaptive coding. SpaceX proposed capping that threshold at 9.5 decibels — a number DIRECTV said matched its own network design. Of 40 new links submitted by GSO operators, only three came in above that level, and each was tied to a satellite already past its design lifespan. SES pushed back, arguing some of its media-distribution links need a higher threshold — around 12.6 decibels — to stay reliable. In the end, the Bureau adopted that 9.5-decibel threshold. It also corrected some Hispasat link parameters and cleaned up outdated entries in the dataset. But it declined to revisit the broader selection criteria, saying that could introduce edge cases into the analysis. The revised notice takes effect 30 days after it’s published in the Federal Register. And the Bureau says it’ll take another look at the framework once operators have real-world experience from which to draw. -0- The Space Bureau wasn’t done with satellite paperwork this week. The FCC has opened a public comment period on Rocket Lab’s bid to acquire satellite fleet operator Iridium Communications. That deal also triggers a separate national security review, outside the Commission’s own docket. Under the agreement, signed June 28, a Rocket Lab subsidiary would merge into Iridium. Iridium would come out the other side as a wholly owned Rocket Lab unit. The FCC has set a deadline for comments and petitions on the docket of Oct. 15, with oppositions due by Oct. 30, and replies by Nov. 9. Separately, the companies have notified Team Telecom — the federal committee that reviews foreign participation in U.S. telecom. They say a network security agreement Iridium already holds with the government will keep applying once the deal closes. Iridium operates 66 low-Earth-orbit satellites, serving more than 2-and-a-half (2.55) million subscribers with mobile voice, data, maritime, and aviation connectivity. It also holds 8.725 megahertz of L-band spectrum, part of which supports government aircraft tracking. The filing would transfer several licenses to Rocket Lab: an international Section 214 authorization, one space station license, six earth station licenses, and a handful of experimental licenses. Rocket Lab operates launch pads in Virginia and New Zealand, plus manufacturing sites in Long Beach, California, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company says a combined operation would be better financed to speed up a next-generation Iridium constellation. Both companies say the deal doesn’t raise competition concerns. And they say Rocket Lab’s foreign ownership falls within Section 310 limits, so no waiver is needed. For now, the Space Bureau has simply accepted the applications for filing. It hasn’t ruled on the merger’s merits — that decision comes after the Nov. 9 reply deadline. -0- A presidential commission charged with designing a new national space academy has held its first meeting, and opened the door for states to bid on hosting the campus. President Trump created the commission through an Aug. 28 executive order, signed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. It gives the panel 120 days to recommend how to build the academy — and the workforce pipeline behind it. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman chaired the first session at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Members from across the federal government took part, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Ethan Klein. Staff from the Office of Management and Budget, the National Security Council, and the White House also sat in. The next morning, NASA published a Request for Information, asking governors — or their designees — to submit proposals for hosting the academy. Each state gets just one submission. NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson said site selection would shape the institution’s future. And Isaacman said the RFI gives states a chance to help build what he called a legacy institution. States need to detail site readiness, environmental and regulatory considerations, and the surrounding support ecosystem. NASA’s target timeline: break ground no later than 2027, temporarily host the first 300 students in 2028, and move into a permanent campus by 2031. State proposals are due by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 26. NOAA has set up a new contract to buy commercial satellite data from 14 companies over the next decade. The goal: strengthen weather and space weather forecasting. The contract is called Space-Based Environmental Monitoring, set up through NOAA’s Commercial Data Program. It took effect Sept. 1 and runs through Aug. 31, 2036 — a five-year base period plus a five-year option. The data breaks down into seven categories, and NOAA has named eligible suppliers for six of them. Two names show up again and again: Spire Global and Tomorrow.io, appearing across nearly every category, from GNSS radio occultation to microwave sounders to multispectral imagery. Other suppliers on the list include PlanetiQ, Muon Space, BAE Systems, Hydrosat, ICEYE US, and SpaceX. The seventh category — infrared sounders, which measure atmospheric temperature and moisture — still doesn’t have a vendor. NOAA Assistant Secretary Taylor Jordan said the agency wants to maximize the value of data coming from its commercial partners. The contract sits under NOAA’s ProTech 2.0 vehicle — an $8 billion shared-ceiling contract set up back in 2021 that also covers procurement for the National Weather Service and other NOAA offices. The Commercial Data Program itself runs under authority Congress granted through the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 and the PROSWIFT Act of 2020. And NOAA says it can add categories and vendors to the contract as its needs change over the next 10 years. -0- But the NOAA contract wasn’t the only reason Tomorrow.io showed up in the news this week. The company was confirmed as the customer behind a $187 million satellite contract that had gone undisclosed since March. Denver-based York Space Systems will build at least 20 spacecraft for the program, using its M-CLASS platform. York is sole prime on this phase — responsible for both building the satellites and integrating the payloads. Each spacecraft will carry five Tomorrow.io instruments: Gen-2 microwave sounders, GNSS radio occultation and reflectometry sensors, infrared and visible imaging, and space-based precipitation radar. Together, they’re designed to give forecasters a fuller read on the atmosphere, updated on a global scale. York Chief Technology Officer Michael Laczjok (LAYT-shih-kohk) said the M-CLASS platform was built for exactly this kind of mission. Tomorrow.io Chief Executive Shimon Elkabetz said the program needed a partner that could move fast on demanding payload requirements. York says it’s put more than $755 million into production capacity to build constellations at this scale. And that $187 million figure only covers DeepSky’s first phase — the companies haven’t said how many more spacecraft, or how much more funding, later phases will need. -0- The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration has selected Antares Nuclear for a $161 million Strategic Breakthrough award. The goal: advance nuclear power for spacecraft. The Torrance, California-based company says the award funds development of its R1-S reactor design. Antares plans to demonstrate that reactor on the ground first, then integrate it with a spacecraft for flight certification ahead of launch. The company will also operate a separate electricity-producing reactor, called Mark-1, at a ground-to-space test site. Testing is scheduled for 2027 and expected to run more than six months, paired with a nitrogen closed Brayton cycle power conversion system. Antares calls this the largest current Department of War contract in space nuclear power — though the company didn’t cite a comparison figure. Chief Executive Jordan Bramble said the Space Force partnership turns the company’s long-held focus on space into what he called a codified mission. The award builds on an earlier milestone. Back on June 4, Antares’ Mark-0 microreactor reached initial criticality at Idaho National Laboratory, under Department of Energy authorization. That made Antares the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under the DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program. The broader effort ties back to Executive Order 14369, “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” and the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power — both of which call for reactors in orbit as early as 2028, and on the lunar surface by 2030. Theme Stock Music “Interesting Facts” Licensed from Pond 5 You might also like: * Satellite Leasing Deal Sets $300 Million Framework for Or

  4. Sep 6

    The United States Space Academy, and Recharging Satellites in Orbit

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order late last week creating the United States Space Academy, a planned institution to train engineers, technicians, operators and astronauts for the nation’s space programs. The president signed the order at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, during the same event where he presented the Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. The order establishes a Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, chaired by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, with Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson serving as executive director. Two White House officials, Michael Kratsios and Kevin Hassett, will serve as vice chairs. At a news conference following the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Sunday, Isaacman said the academy is intended to help staff the workforce NASA will need for its coming lunar and orbital plans. “So I think when you when you look at what is envisioned with the the Space Academy, which will be under NASA, you can see that’s by design from the get go with the the commission that’s been established for it, that this will be where potentially, you know, hundreds of new NASA civil servants come in to join, join the space agency every year,” Isaacman said. “And they would also have the option to perhaps go into the Space Force or elsewhere.” The commission has 120 days to deliver a report to the president addressing the academy’s governance, service obligations for graduates, a physical location and any legislative requirements. It’s the third major space policy action from the administration in nine months, following an “Ensuring American Space Superiority” order signed in December and a National Space Transportation Policy memorandum signed Aug. 20. -0- The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Aug. 28 to begin a series of recurring reviews of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next-generation weather satellite program. The bipartisan request, signed by Chairman Brian Babin, a Republican from Texas, and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California, covers NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations program, known as GeoXO, and the agency’s satellite-management partnership with NASA. GeoXO is intended to replace the current GOES-R satellite series, which supports severe weather forecasting, hurricane and tornado warnings, and wildfire detection. NOAA has restructured the program, reducing the planned constellation from six satellites to four. The committee’s letter states that change is expected to lower the program’s life-cycle cost from $19.6 billion to $12 billion, though the cost and schedule effects have not been finalized. Lawmakers asked GAO to evaluate how the reduced satellite count affects a targeted 2032 launch window, data continuity during the transition from GOES to GeoXO, and the program’s ability to sustain two operational satellites plus one spare. No timeline was given for GAO’s response. -0- The U.S. Space Force has awarded a three-month Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase One contract to Yank Technologies to study wirelessly recharging satellites while they remain in orbit. SpaceWERX, the Space Force’s innovation arm, granted the $75,000 contract to the Brooklyn, New York-based company. Founder and CEO Joshua Yankowitz said the company is due to deliver technical feasibility data to the Space Force in October, and that a positive result could lead to a follow-on contract worth about $1.2 million to build a working unit. Yankowitz said the technology is meant to complement, not replace, propellant refueling and robotic servicing already under development across the industry. “You could think about us as typically creating hotspots. With the Army, when the war fighter goes within the combat vehicle, the transmitter’s in the seat, the receiver’s on the tactical uniform, and it just charges — you don’t have to worry about it,” Yankowizt said. “With satellites, it’s really about collaborating with on-orbit servicing providers. There’s a lot of emphasis right now on propellant refueling, but the more physical contact you make with a satellite, the more things that could go wrong. You could think of us as another tool in that toolset, especially for a satellite that’s experienced damage or has a survivability issue — you could think about us as the interconnect that’s high-reliability, less prone to failure, because you don’t have that physical interconnect requirement.” The underlying architecture carries over from work the company has done for NASA and the Army, with the biggest changes coming in materials and component qualification rather than the core design. “There’s a good amount of carryover on the fundamentals of wireless power, even across different industry verticals. So really it’s more the qualification of the components than the topology that’s different,” Yankowizt said. “Definitely the most congruent is the stuff we’re doing with NASA — the lunar surface has a lot of applicability in terms of getting ready for that operating condition, compared to on-orbit servicing. The architectures are very similar, from the converter side, the coil side — it’s primarily material selection and qualification. That’s the main difference between one environment and another.” The theory behind the technology is something called “Resonant Induction” ... the basic principal is related to some now-common household technology. “So that’s kind of like the cousin to charging pads or induction. So some of the key things that we do that are different are we excite the coils at a certain frequency band to increase that charging distance, as well as have very efficient coils to extend that distance. However, that alone is not enough. One of the core competencies of what we do that we’re leveraging across all the other industry verticals we operate in is the ability to operate for very dynamic, what’s called dynamic load conditions or unpredictable load conditions. So for example, we don’t really care if it’s a robotic vehicle moving here on Earth to a rover on the moon, we could characterize for that environment as well as the power levels required for that respective asset,” he said. Yankowitz said the company has received a little over $3 million in new NASA contracts for lunar-surface power interfacing over the past year, separate from this Space Force award. Lunar Outpost has selected a long-range lidar sensor from AEye Incorporated to help guide the Pegasus Lunar Terrain Vehicle, the rover NASA astronauts will use to cross the moon’s surface as part of the Artemis program. AEye, based in Pleasanton, Calif., builds software-defined lidar sensors mainly for the automotive, defense and industrial markets. Lunar Outpost, based in Golden, Colo., is developing Pegasus under a NASA contract to transport crews at the moon’s South Pole. Neither company disclosed the dollar value of the sensor deal, describing it only as a multi-million-dollar transaction; it’s separate from the roughly $220 million NASA award Lunar Outpost received in May to advance the Pegasus design. AEye Chairman and CEO Matt Fisch said space mobility represents a new market for the company and called the lunar environment the most demanding proving ground any sensor can face. The sensor, called Apollo, can detect objects at ranges up to one kilometer. Lunar Outpost said it chose the sensor for its ruggedness against the lunar vacuum, temperature swings and vibration — conditions that can’t be fixed in the field — along with a compact size that fits the rover’s mass and volume limits. -0- Sierra Space revealed Tuesday that its Dream Chaser spaceplane will carry payloads for undisclosed national security and commercial customers on its debut flight. The Louisville, Colo.-based company said the mission will also carry NASA cargo under the agency’s Cargo Resupply Services program. Sierra Space did not disclose contract values or specify whether the arrangements are signed contracts, letters of intent or another form of agreement. Sierra Space CEO Dan Jablonsky said the mission reflects a new operational model in which a single platform serves national security, civil and commercial customers at once. Dan Polis, the company’s senior vice president of engineering for Dream Chaser, credited the vehicle’s deployable wings, hypersonic flight control system and autonomous reentry capability as being critical to the mission. Sierra Space said environmental testing, command and telemetry validation, and post-landing recovery rehearsals are complete. The spaceplane will launch from Kennedy Space Center, conduct multiday orbital operations, and land on a runway at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The company gave no launch date and said it is still finalizing the mission’s full payload manifest. -0- NASA has awarded a $700 million contract to Blue Origin to build a dedicated, high-speed communications relay network at Mars. The firm-fixed-price contract covers the design, development, launch and operation of a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter as part of NASA’s Mars Telecommunications Network. Blue Origin must deliver the spacecraft no later than Dec. 31, 2028, and NASA expects the network to be operational at Mars by 2030. Congress funded the project through the Working Families Tax Cut Act as part of NASA’s Moon to Mars strategy, according to Blue Origin. The orbiter is based on Blue Ring, Blue Origin’s multipurpose spacecraft platform in production at the company’s facility in Huntsville, Ala. The vehicle uses hybrid solar-electric and chemical propulsion and is designed to carry multiple payloads, relaying science data, imagery, navigation information and mission communications for spacecraft on and around Mars. Blue

  5. Aug 30

    A New National Commercial Space Transportation Policy, and SpaceX Sets Its Sights on the Gulf Coast

    President Donald Trump has signed a new national policy for commercial space transportation, directing federal agencies to expand launch infrastructure and prioritize commercial providers for government missions. The memorandum, titled “The National Space Transportation Policy,” replaces a policy directive issued in 2013. It sets a goal of supporting more than 1,000 orbital launches and reentries a year by 2030, though it includes no funding figures and no penalty for missed deadlines. The policy directs the secretary of war and the NASA administrator to run federal launch ranges in a way that accommodates both government and commercial users. It also codifies a “Buy American” preference, directing agencies to launch federal payloads only on U.S.-manufactured vehicles, with limited exceptions. Several provisions carry fixed deadlines. The secretary of war has 180 days to publish new range scheduling criteria. The Commerce Department and Federal Communications Commission have the same window to report on spectrum access for launch activity, a task they’ll repeat every two years. The Interior Department has 90 days to identify federal land for an additional reentry site. The next fixed deadlines fall in 90 and 120 days. -0- Louisiana and SpaceX on Tuesday announced plans to build a spaceport designed to launch the company’s Starship rocket thousands of times a year from the state’s Gulf Coast. SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell announced the project alongside Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Susan Bourgeois, secretary of Louisiana Economic Development. The facility, called Starbase, Louisiana, is designed from what the company calls a clean-sheet approach, with 10 Starship launch pads, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities and its own propellant production. “By starting with a clean sheet design, we’re planning to build a self-sustaining spaceport with its own propellant production, power generation, deep water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities, and probably an airport,” Shotwell said. “And thanks to the abundant resources here in Louisiana, we have ready access to the natural gas that fuels these rockets to get to orbit.” Company and state officials offered differing figures for how many jobs the project will create. SpaceX has committed to at least 3,000 permanent positions, but Shotwell said in her remarks the number could run well beyond that. you have a storied history of building large complex infrastructure projects, will be at scale, and we’re looking to you for help,” she said. “As part of our commitment to the state, we expect to create at least 3,000 permanent jobs. Elon said 10. Based on our experience in Starbase, Texas, it’s probably closer to 10 than three. And like, as I said, and likely far more.” Shotwell pointed to hiring patterns at the company’s existing Starbase, Texas, site, where she said 60% to 80% of new hires are local residents — a pattern she said SpaceX intends to repeat in Louisiana. According to the company, initial civil work on the site could begin as soon as next year, with the first launch as soon as 2029. -0- The Federal Communications Commission has opened a public comment period on how to secure spectrum access for the nation’s launch and reentry operations. The agency issued the notice under docket ET 13-115, with comments due Sept. 14 and reply comments due Sept. 24. Three bands set aside for commercial launch and reentry activity total 215 megahertz of spectrum, but that allocation is secondary to other federal and non-federal users, requiring coordination before every launch. The commission is asking how launch activity might grow over the next two years, the following three to five years and beyond five years. Roughly 200 launch activities occur annually in the United States under the current allocation, created under the Launch Communications Act of 2024. The notice also seeks comment on a petition filed by the Commercial Space Federation asking the commission to update spectrum-sharing rules in three additional frequency bands. Comments can be filed electronically through the commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System. Andrew Ware of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is the point of contact for additional information. -0- SkyFi is adding an artificial intelligence system to its Earth-imagery platform that answers customer questions directly, without requiring users to search satellite archives or specify technical parameters themselves. The tool, called Rowan, went live this week inside SkyFi’s existing web and mobile platform. The company aggregates imagery from more than 300 satellite and aerial sources into a single catalog. Rowan is designed to handle the full workflow in one conversation: searching the archive, tasking new satellite captures, running analytics and returning priced options a customer can buy without leaving the chat. SkyFi Chief Executive Luke Fischer said the system is built to guide customers toward specific requirements rather than fill in gaps on its own. He cited data centers as a current example. “Maybe a prompt is like, hey, what type of imagery and resolution works best so I can get the best view of this data center. Now compare side by side, you know, from two months ago to current day and you can get those imagery, you know, requests, solve for you all in this, this very nice sequence. So now you can start to paint the picture, then you can apply analytics, you know, building detection, you can run analytics and again, in the same ecosystem that customers are getting used to operating in, meaning these LLM like environments where you’re getting answers now. Cause really, you know, with Rowan, imagery is great,” Fischer said. “It’ll always tell a story, but it’s about these answers in the context for somebody to make a decision like, is this data center on track? Yes or no. Is the data center, you know, have power generation? Cause you can now see that for the big turbine engines that power a lot of these, you know, for this. And now in the future too, you know, as thermal satellites, you know, become more proliferated. Now you can apply these unique, you know, imagery types and data sets to really get a full picture, but it’s all in the same environments. So for example, if you’re using platforms, you don’t have to download imagery from one platform and upload it to another LLM. It’s all powered on Rowan. And again, this is about speed. You know, speed of information for commercial customers usually means money. And that’s where, you know, I think this industry has lacked on those answers.” Fischer said most of the errors the company has seen during testing trace back to vague prompts rather than the underlying imagery data. Rowan draws on the same catalog SkyFi has built since the company’s founding in late 2021, and Fischer said the system is designed to recommend among more than 300 imagery sources and partners without steering customers toward SkyFi’s own margins. “Rowan will prompt you as you go, and it’s going to show you the price, it’s going to, you know, recommend differentiating or different capabilities, smaller, ais bigger ais, you know, it really will will help educate that user to refine it. So they’re not, you know, I’ll say inadvertently buying a very expensive image where, you know, maybe it’ll even recommend like, hey, there’s an image taken yesterday, that’s an archive image, and it’s, you know, fraction of the price. And that may be the mission, may solve that mission or that problem set for the customers for it,” Fischer said. “So, you know, we’re, we’re source agnostic at SkyFi, you know, and that’s been the mission and will be the mission forever is, you know, it’s really about solving those those customers, but there’s enough prompting, you know, with Rowan itself, as we’ve been testing it for a long, long time, you know, to make sure we’re not inadvertently, you know, given a customer something that doesn’t fit their mission.” Rowan is available now at no additional cost inside the platform. Government and enterprise customers must request a demo, a restriction Fischer said reflects existing contract requirements rather than a change specific to Rowan. -0- NASA has awarded approximately $10.5 million to seven organizations to build state-based pipelines of skilled technical workers for the aerospace industry. The agency’s Office of STEM Engagement announced the awards Aug. 19 under a new program called NASA Aerospace Skilled Technical Workforce Hubs. The money is structured as three-year cooperative agreements. The seven awardees include Space Florida, the Texas Space Commission, Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Southern Utah University, Antelope Valley Community College District in California, and a Colorado consortium hosted by Arapahoe Community College. Each hub is tasked with linking employers, community colleges and workforce agencies to move students into welding, electrical and machining jobs — occupations NASA says require advanced technical skills but not a bachelor’s degree. Space Florida said it received $1.5 million to launch a statewide effort called Project ORBIT, connecting education and industry across six sectors, including aerospace and advanced manufacturing. Rob Long, president and CEO of Space Florida, said there is overlap in workforce skills among those sectors and the share common skillsets. “In some respects, while we want to make sure that the aerospace industry is the primary focus, and that’s the intent here, we’re also realistic that we can move the needle at large and do what we can to connect students to where they’re at. It’s one of the reasons when we started the Space Forward Academy program initially even was we wanted to ta

  6. Jul 26

    The OSC Pitches a Single Certification for Novel Space Missions on Capitol Hill, and the FCC's New Part 100

    Office of Space Commerce Director Taylor Jordan testified before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s space subcommittee on July 15, defending a new framework called the Space Commerce Certification. The proposal is the Trump administration’s answer to a long‑standing problem: a growing number of commercial space activities don’t fall under any existing federal license. Currently, the FAA regulates launch and re‑entry, the FCC regulates radio frequency transmission, and the Department of Commerce regulates remote sensing. But satellite servicing, in‑space manufacturing, commercial space stations, and lunar operations don’t clearly belong to anyone. Taylor Jordan told lawmakers the gap isn’t just a paperwork problem, it’s a compliance issue under Article Six of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. That document requires the U.S. to authorize and supervise the activities of its non‑governmental actors in space. “Everything else is shoehorned into legacy processes never designed to handle them. U.S. regulations simply do not offer a clear path to “yes” for novel activities,” Jordan said. “Instead, they risk trapping our industry in an endless maze. executive.” Under the plan, the Office of Space Commerce would act as a single clearinghouse. Companies would submit one application, which OSC would then circulate to the Department of War, the FAA, the FCC, the State Department, and NASA for review. It wouldn’t strip any agency of its existing authority, but it could let the FAA or FCC waive parts of their own review if a mission already holds a Space Commerce Certification. Jordan outlined one of the core components of the framework: a presumption of approval for novel space activities, which he said would give investors the predictability they need and require the government to justify a “no” instead of forcing industry to beg for a “yes”. “A key pillar of our process is the presumption of approval. For novel space activities, regulatory ambiguity prevents the free flow of capital,” Jordan said. “This process would give investors the predictability they need that supports the growth of the industry. It would require the government to justify a no rather than forcing industry to beg for a yes.” But the plan drew pointed questions from both sides of the aisle, and not every lawmaker was convinced the agency is positioned to pull it off. Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren of California raised concerns about the agency’s funding level, noting that the White House requested just 11 million dollars for the Office of Space Commerce for fiscal year 2027, an 80 percent cut from the fiscal year 2026 appropriation. “Should we conclude from this budget request that the administration does not prioritize ensuring that the United States remains the world leader in commercial space?,” Lofgren said. “It’s not clear to me how the office of space commerce would be able to take on the added responsibilities we’re about to hear about today.” Republican Pete Sessions of Texas pressed Jordan on whether the government is trying to catch up with industry or holding it back. Jordan said the goal is to build a system that works alongside fast‑moving commercial activity. “So we are trying to catch up. But the truth of the matter is we will never catch up to what industry is doing and how fast they are going. Creating a system today that is modular is the best way to move forward because industry is going to do what industry does and that’s move fast and provide capabilities that the US federal government relies on,” Jordan said. “We need to give them the confidence and the clarity to keep doing what they do. Now we also need to catch up if you will allow me on the international front. We have today cobbled together our ability to respond to the Outer Space Treaty through existing regulations. And sure we meet the bare minimum requirements for our treaty obligations but we need to meet the moment and meet industry where they are. So to be clear we need to catch up because we are not meeting industry where they are at today.” For now, the certification framework remains voluntary and is still awaiting formal sign‑off from the White House. Jordan told the committee that once it’s approved, OSC plans to launch an initial pilot phase focused on mature technologies nearing operational status, and refine the process from there. -0- In-space logistics company Kall Morris is turning International Space Station experiment time into a playbook for debris‑removal and satellite‑servicing missions. The company’s REACCH system, short for Responsive Engaging Arms for Captive Care and Handling, ran more than 170 capture trials on the station using tentacle‑like arms with gecko‑inspired adhesive pads. Astronauts varied surface materials and motion through the campaign, building a dataset that would’ve been prohibitively expensive to collect with one‑off small satellites. Instead of wrapping a target, REACCH attaches to a surface and then pushes, allowing it to move unprepared objects larger than itself away from collision paths or toward controlled deorbit. The system is designed specifically for unprepared targets that weren’t built with capture interfaces, which sets it apart from servicing systems that require cooperative spacecraft. Kall Morris is now planning follow‑on tests beyond the station and positioning REACCH for life‑extension, relocation, and debris‑removal missions in low Earth orbit, where operators and insurers are looking for practical tools to manage congestion. -0- Relativity Space is expanding its Florida footprint with a new facility aimed at supporting production and testing for its next‑generation launch vehicle. The company plans to bring more of its large‑scale metal 3D printing closer to customers and the range, tightening the loop between design, manufacturing, and flight. State and local incentives are tied to jobs and capital investment, reflecting how launch‑adjacent manufacturing is being treated as industrial base, not just spaceport support. For suppliers, the new facility signals ongoing demand for materials and precision parts compatible with additive manufacturing, and for program managers it underscores Florida’s dual role as both launch site and production hub. Relativity says co‑locating these functions should accelerate development cycles, a priority as customers push for faster, more responsive launch options. -0- Redwire is adding capacity in Indiana with a new facility focused on advanced manufacturing for space infrastructure and microgravity‑related products. The site will give the company more room to scale hardware for stations, satellites, and in‑space manufacturing platforms that were stretching existing facilities. Officials are tying the project to regional workforce development, drawing on Midwestern manufacturing skills for aerospace‑grade production. For primes and integrators, an additional U.S. Redwire plant diversifies the source for critical components and reduces logistics risk as more platforms move to commercial operating models. As those platforms come online, program and supply chain teams will have a broader domestic base to tap when they structure multiyear contracts. The Federal Communications Commission approved a new Part 100 to unify satellite spectrum sharing rules and move away from case‑by‑case coordination under Part 25 at their July monthly meeting on Wednesday. In International Bureau Docket 25‑306, the agency outlines a power spectral flux density formula that would cap how much signal any non‑geostationary system can direct toward Earth or the geostationary arc in shared bands. The change is meant to scale a framework that was built for a handful of constellations into one that will accomodate dozens of broadband, direct‑to‑device, and servicing systems all competing for Ku‑, Ka‑, and V‑band access. During the commission’s July monthly meeting, FCC Space Bureau Acting Associate Division Chief of the Satellite Programs and Policy Division Brandon Padgett, outlined the provisions of the new Part 100. “This report in order would replace Part 25 of the Commission’s rules with Part 100. In doing so, it would delete unnecessary and outdated rules and organize the new rules in a manner that’s easier to understand. Additionally, it would create an application processing framework based on bright-line criteria presumed to be in the public interest, modify processing round procedures, and remove bond requirement for certain space stations,” Padgett said. “It would also create a new variable trajectory space station license category, extend license terms for most space and earth stations to 20 years, allow for a nationwide blanket licensing approach for earth stations, and require space station operators to share space situational awareness data. In addition, the item includes a further notice of proposed rulemaking that would seek comment on additional proposals and reforms intended to build upon the new Part 100.” There was no objection to the change on the three-member commission. Prior to the vote, Chairman Brendan Carr said the commission was making an unprecedented move. “We’re scrapping our old rules in their entirety and replacing them with better new ones. This kind of ambition shouldn’t be taken for granted. Regulators tend to tinker around the edges. They don’t throw away the rule book and rewrite it from scratch. They take years and decades to reform, not 18 months. The Space Bureau landed the rare trifecta on that, all while pushing through other game-changing reforms on spectrum sharing and spectrum abundance. There’s so much to like in the new Part 100 rules for one speed and predictability is built into the DNA,” Carr said. “The new rules establish bright lines and eliminate fuzzy standards. They keep licensing

  7. Jul 19

    The Major Question Remaining after the SpaceX Stock Rally, and Europe’s Hydrazine Clock

    SpaceX priced its initial public offering on June 11th and closed its Nasdaq debut at $161 a share, up 19% on day one and up another 20% the session after, making it the largest IPO in stock market history by several measures. After hitting a high of about $226 on June 26th, the stock has since settled to an average price of $175 per share, give or take a few dollars. [Paywall] The company trades under the ticker SPCX. Its registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission lists the offering mechanics in detail, but it does not break out revenue or costs by business line. Starlink’s subscription broadband and Starship’s heavy-lift development program are reported as a single entity, with no segment-level income statement separating the two. That matters because the businesses do not behave alike. Starlink is a maturing, recurring-revenue operation. Starship is still unprofitable and absorbing billions of dollars in capital expenditure with no near-term commercial payback. SpaceX has also disclosed that it builds its own solar array elements, Ka-band antenna components, and payload channel hardware in-house at its Washington state facility, a vertical integration decision that affects Starlink’s cost structure directly. Michael Potter, Co-founder of the Institute for Space Commerce, says that vertical integration strategy is a “superpower” or Elon Musk’s management approach. “I think there was a fetish in kind of Western aerospace that everything should be outsourced, that you have all sorts of subcontractors. And so, you know, the aerospace world was used to that. And Elon was maniacal about trying to get control vertically of everything from, you know, machining to, you know, getting control of those, you know, kind of raw materials, those inputs. And because of that, he was able to control not just the quality and not just the time, but most importantly, there’s this kind of unwieldy supply chain that many aerospace companies later become victims to.” Adding to the complexity, SpaceX closed its $60 billion acquisition of the artificial intelligence firm Cursor during the same 30-day window as the IPO. That deal will show up in near-term earnings as goodwill and integration cost, regardless of how the underlying technology eventually performs. Potter says that how it affects the company stock remains to be seen. “Once we get to this next quarterly results from SpaceX, so it looks like early August,vthen you’ll start to dig into the details of this. And the jury’s out, right? Like, hey, what does that acquisition mean? And is it gonna be truly accretive? And so I think the jury’s still out. I mean, all of us are intrigued. I mean, we’re all intrigued. But I think, and this is the problem about going from vision to execution. And this is (going to) be a difficult transition for the SpaceX executive team, which is now it’s about execution and the discipline that goes with that. And then just the micromanagement that the market is (going to) demand for that. And so I think that’ll be one of the first things that analysts look at.” Boeing and Lockheed Martin report their space, defense, and commercial units separately. SpaceX has not, at least in this filing. Analysts say any segment-specific margin figure circulating for Starlink or Starship individually should be treated as a modeled estimate, not a confirmed company number, until SpaceX’s first quarterly filings arrive. -0- Sierra Space says it can now build satellite solar arrays on an automated production line that removes most of the manual labor traditionally required for cell stringing, panel lamination, and harness integration. [Paywall] The company calls the process “zero-touch” manufacturing, applying surface-mount technology, the same automated placement and soldering method used in printed circuit board assembly, to a product that has historically been built by hand in small batches. Sierra Space says the line is intended to support its own Dream Chaser spaceplane and Large Integrated Flexible Environment habitat programs, and to serve as a production capability it can offer to outside customers through its Space Systems division. That division traces its manufacturing history to Sierra Nevada Corporation’s decades of solar array and power system work on NASA and Department of War missions, including GPS III, Mars 2020, MAVEN, and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite fleet. Sierra Space has not published unit-level cost data, and no independent filing has confirmed a contract award or qualification milestone tied to the automated line since the company’s original announcement in September 2023. Redwire Corporation’s Roll-Out Solar Array product line and Boeing’s Spectrolab solar cell business remain the established, hand-build incumbents in this segment, and both carry flight heritage and government qualification history that a new production process still has to compete against on a contract-by-contract basis. Industry analysts say the timing lines up with a broader shift in demand, as large low Earth orbit constellations move from custom, low-volume satellite builds toward high-volume, standardized production. -0- European satellite manufacturers are working against a regulatory deadline on hydrazine propellant, and the timeline for resolving it falls inside the design window for satellite buses already on the drawing board. [Paywall] The European Union classified hydrazine as carcinogenic under its chemical regulation known as REACH in 2011, and later placed it on the Annex 14 Authorization List, meaning companies cannot use it inside the European Union without a time-limited authorization from the European Commission. That authorization has to be renewed on a regulatory schedule, not a satellite program schedule. ArianeGroup manages most of the hydrazine loading and handling infrastructure in France and Germany, and any authorization decision runs through the company’s compliance posture. Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space, and OHB SE are the three satellite integrators most exposed, because their geostationary and constellation bus lines have historically specified hydrazine thrusters as the default system. Alternatives exist. Bradford Space’s Swedish subsidiary, ECAPS, has flown its ADN-based green propellant on Sweden’s Prisma mission and, according to public reporting, on Planet Labs’ SkySat constellation. Aerojet Rocketdyne, now part of L3Harris Technologies, developed a separate green propellant that flew on NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission in 2019. Neither alternative has been qualified across the full range of thruster classes European primes currently fly at volume, and requalifying a thruster for a new propellant chemistry can take several years and tens of millions of dollars. Program managers are increasingly building green propulsion options into new satellite procurement requirements as a hedge against the outcome of the next authorization review. -0- Four publicly traded companies hold overlapping, and in several categories dominant, positions across the component tier that every satellite communication payload depends on. [Paywall] L3Harris Technologies, Honeywell International, Comtech Telecommunications, and Teledyne Technologies supply the radio frequency amplifiers, waveguide assemblies, and ground terminal electronics used across both commercial and military satellite communication systems. L3Harris and Teledyne, through its Teledyne e2v and Teledyne Defense Electronics units, dominate traveling wave tube amplifiers and solid-state power amplifiers. Comtech supplies ground segment modems and troposcatter systems. Honeywell’s Aerospace Technologies segment supplies terminals and avionics that overlap with government satellite communication requirements. Once a prime integrator designs a payload around a specific amplifier or waveguide assembly, switching vendors mid-program typically means re-running thermal vacuum, radiation, and electromagnetic interference qualification testing, a process that commonly takes 12 to 24 months. Comtech carries a distinct financial risk profile. The company has disclosed debt covenant amendments and balance sheet restructuring in recent filings, separate from the technical qualification risk that applies to its three larger, more diversified peers. Honeywell, meanwhile, has disclosed plans to spin off its Aerospace business into an independent public company, a restructuring that could affect supply continuity for programs sourcing Honeywell components. Export control adds a structural layer here. All four companies’ satellite communication product lines fall under International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which limits how quickly a new entrant could qualify as an alternative source. Trade press coverage this year has noted growing Pentagon attention to space supply chain mapping generally, and this component tier is one concrete example of where that mapping effort is focused. -0- Four years after Boeing suspended its purchases of Russian titanium following the invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. government still has not placed the Russian producer VSMPO-AVISMA (SM-poh ah-vis-MAH) on its sanctions list, and the exposure that decision was meant to address has not fully left the supply chain. [Paywall] VSMPO-AVISMA is one of the two or three largest titanium producers in the world and historically supplied a large share of aerospace-grade titanium to Western manufacturers. Boeing confirmed in March of 2022 that it had stopped buying Russian titanium directly. Airbus, which relied more heavily on the Russian producer, moved more slowly, continuing existing contracts before announcing a phased diversification. Pure-play space companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, have not made comparable public statements about their own titanium sourcing. Industry analysts say

  8. Jul 12

    NASA’s IG Audits the Commercial Crew Program, and the SpaceX Lockup Deadline

    HEADLINES Blue Origin plans to return its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket to flight by the end of this year, following a pad-side anomaly during a hotfire test in late May at Launch Complex 36 in Florida. Pad cleanup and debris removal are complete, and reconstruction is underway. Blue Origin says it has finished the first two phases of a five-phase recovery plan and is now working through design and repair work tied to the new operations concept. -0- Axiom Space has shifted its legal headquarters from Delaware to Texas, aligning its corporate registration with its operational base in Houston. The move brings Axiom’s legal home in line with Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport, where the company has been based since its founding in 2016. Axiom reports roughly 700 employees, most of them in Texas. Its Houston Assembly Integration and Test Facility will handle final assembly of Axiom Station modules before launch to low Earth orbit. -0- NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines a firm-fixed-price contract worth up to approximately $148.3 million to deliver a production-line-qualified Nova-C lunar lander under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. It’s the sixth CLPS task order awarded to the Houston-based company. The contract is structured to qualify Nova-C for serial production, supporting a higher-volume pipeline of lunar deliveries for NASA and commercial customers. -0- And FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says the agency is nearing completion of reforms meant to speed up satellite and earth station licensing. The Space Modernization Order goes before the full Commission for a vote at the July 22 open meeting. -0- NASA’s Office of Inspector General says the space agency is now operationally dependent on a single company to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, with Boeing’s Starliner capsule unlikely to be certified for crewed flights before 2027. [Paywall] The audit, released June 30, found Boeing has not resolved helium leaks and thruster failures that have shown up repeatedly in testing. NASA officials had previously targeted fall 2026 for Starliner certification. The inspector general calls that timeline unrealistic, given unresolved technical issues and the fact that Starliner’s next flight will carry cargo, not crew. Investigators also questioned $127.9 million in milestone payments NASA made to Boeing for a future Starliner flight before the company had completed a single test flight. NASA has agreed with all six recommendations in the report, including holding further Boeing payments until certification is complete. SpaceX has flown twelve crewed missions to the station since earning its own certification in 2020. Boeing’s contract, once worth $4.2 billion, has been reduced to $3.7 billion after NASA removed two flights from the agreement last November. The inspector general says NASA will need to buy at least three additional crew flights, from either company, to keep the station staffed through its planned retirement in 2030. -0- A production bottleneck at a single Colorado supplier is limiting how many satellites the Space Development Agency and commercial constellation operators can get built over the next two years. [Paywall] Blue Canyon Technologies makes the reaction wheels and star trackers that let small satellites point precisely enough to be useful in orbit. Every unit must pass through thermal vacuum testing before certification, a process that can take more than a week per unit. Industry estimates ... not figures confirmed by the company ... put its annual production ceiling at 400 to 500 units. Demand from the Space Development Agency’s Tranche satellite programs, along with commercial operators including Planet Labs, Spire Global and HawkEye 360, is now running up against that ceiling. Lead times for reaction wheels and star trackers have stretched from six-to-nine months before 2022, to as long as eighteen months today, according to industry trade reporting. Blue Canyon is currently owned by RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies. But MDA Space recently announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire the company. The effects of that acquisition on the star tracker and reaction wheel supply chain remain to be seen. -0- SpaceX shares have climbed more than 40 percent since the company’s initial public offering, and Wall Street is now watching a lockup deadline that could test that gain. [Paywall] SpaceX priced its IPO at roughly $135 per share, raising more than $10 billion and giving the company a market valuation near $350 billion on its first day of trading. Standard lockup agreements typically bar early investors and employees from selling shares for 90 to 180 days after listing, which would place the first release window in September and a larger one in December. Analysts note that when lockup periods expire, the added supply of shares can pressure a stock’s price if buyer demand doesn’t keep pace. Smaller space-sector stocks, including Rocket Lab, Planet Labs and BlackSky Technology, often move in tandem with SpaceX because institutional funds hold them together in thematic portfolios. SpaceX’s exact lockup schedule has not been made public. Analysts point to a few factors that could offset any selling pressure, including index-fund buying if SpaceX is added to a major stock index, or a confirmed commercial Starship mission before the December window. -0- Space manufacturers are now waiting nearly twice as long for a critical rocket-grade metal, and supply chain analysts say the shortage could push back launch schedules already set for 2027. [Paywall] According to distributer data, Inconel 718, a nickel-chromium alloy used in combustion chambers, turbopumps and fasteners, is now quoting at 28 to 32 weeks for delivery, up from 12 to 16 weeks two years ago. Only a handful of major Western suppliers, including ATI and Special Metals, produce the alloy at scale. Sanctions have effectively removed a major Russian exporter from the market since 2022, and new capacity has not replaced it. Space programs compete for the same furnace and rolling-mill capacity used by commercial jet engine makers and the oil and gas industry, and space’s comparatively small order volumes put it at a disadvantage in that queue. Qualifying a new supplier or an alternate alloy typically takes 12 to 18 months, longer than many 2026 and 2027 production schedules allow. Programs across the industry are affected, including United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur and Blue Origin’s New Glenn. Analysts say companies that pre-position inventory, or pay expedite premiums of 20 to 40 percent, are better positioned to protect their launch dates. -0- Chinese export controls on two lesser-known elements are working their way into the solar panels and radio equipment aboard American satellites. [Paywall] China controls roughly 80 percent of the world’s refined gallium and 60 percent of its refined germanium, and Beijing has required export licenses for both since 2023, tightening the rules further in December 2024. Germanium forms the base layer of the triple-junction solar cells used on most satellites, while gallium is a key ingredient in gallium nitride, the material used in high-power radio components for satellite communications. The U.S. Geological Survey says the United States has no domestic germanium production and imports nearly all of what it uses. Qualifying an alternative supplier for space-grade components typically takes 12 to 24 months under military and civil specifications. Suppliers including Spectrolab, SolAero and Germany’s Azur Space make most of the West’s space-grade solar cells and are believed to carry exposure to Chinese-origin germanium at the substrate level, though individual company sourcing has not been independently confirmed. The same materials feed defense programs, including Space Development Agency satellite constellations and military communications systems, extending the supply risk beyond the commercial sector. -0- Worth a Second Read K2 Space Plans Seattle-Area Expansion to Support Large Satellite Production Planet, Isar Aerospace Align on First All-German Satellite Extending Secure Military Communications Worldwide Satellite Refueling Demo Aims to Advance Circular Economy in Orbit Exposing a Composite Structure Bottleneck [Paywall] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.exterrajsc.com/subscribe

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A weekly newsletter published to the community highlighting the news of the week and letting you know who our podcast guest is that week. We will look ahead to the coming week to see what's happening and let you know. www.exterrajsc.com

Information

  • Creator
    Ex Terra Media, LLC
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    89
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ex Terra Media, LLC
  • Show Website
    Space Commerce Week