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09 Jan 25. Europe space chief says cooperation intact despite Italy moves. The head of the European Space Agency dismissed concerns on Thursday that cooperation in Europe is dwindling as Italy charts its own course on rocket operations and weighs a potential agreement with Elon Musk’s Starlink on satellites. Italy’s Avio is due to take over operations of the Vega C rocket on behalf of ESA, pulling the Italian-built rocket away from Europe’s main launch operator, Arianespace. Meanwhile Rome is evaluating potential supply accords with Starlink, and Musk said on Monday that he was “ready to provide Italy the most secure and advanced connectivity!”.
“We are observing very carefully how much nationalisation takes place and how much European activity take place,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters.
“Space is becoming more and more strategic and important. It is also clear that investments in space are increasing… My job is to underline the benefit to European countries of participating in European programmes rather than national ones.” (Source: Reuters)
09 Jan 25. Intelsat, GCI Expand Alaska Partnership with Multi-Orbit Satellite Services. Intelsat, operator of one of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial networks, signed an expanded satellite services agreement with GCI, Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, that will soon deliver multi-orbit broadband services throughout the largest state in the U.S.
“Four years ago, Intelsat and GCI entered into an agreement that dramatically increased the size and speed of GCI’s geostationary satellite network in rural Alaska and cemented GCI as the state’s leader in satellite connectivity,” said Mike DeMarco, Chief Commercial Officer. “This new chapter of our partnership expands our agreement to include next-generation low-earth orbit satellite services and leverages the best of what Intelsat has to offer.”
GCI has delivered satellite-based connectivity for 35 years and has the largest footprint of satellite-delivered data, video and voice services in Alaska. The new deal with Intelsat ensures GCI will be able to meet the growing demands of customers including regional tribal health care providers, school districts, government agencies, and businesses. The agreement not only provides GCI continued access to reliable C-, Ku-, and Ka-band GEO service, which is already part of GCI’s satellite service portfolio, it also provides access to high-throughput LEO service managed by Intelsat.
“For over a decade, GCI and Intelsat have been working together to meet the evolving needs of GCI’s satellite customers and to bring the best technology to the table,” said GCI Senior VP of Corporate Development Billy Wailand. “Our expanded agreement will give GCI access to Intelsat’s broad portfolio of proven, high availability GEO services, next-generation LEO service, and deep expertise in managed satellite services.”
Delivering service in Alaska requires a comprehensive approach and a willingness to use “every tool in the toolkit.” For GCI, that toolkit includes fiber, microwave, as well as GEO and LEO satellite services. GCI will rely on wholesale satellite capacity as well as Intelsat’s fully managed solutions. Those managed services allow GCI to quickly bring their own solutions to market without the need to invest in additional satellite ground infrastructure to provide quality connectivity for end customers. (Source: ASD Network)
07 Jan 25. Rocket Lab Selected by Kratos to Deliver Hypersonic Test Launches for DoD with HASTE Rocket. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced it has been selected to be a member of the team, led by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS) (“Kratos”), awarded a five-year OTA contract for the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) 2.0 under Task Area 1. The total potential value of the MACH-TB 2.0 Contract Award over a five-year period is $1.45 bn. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) established MACH-TB to support OUSD’s National Hypersonic Initiative 2.0 by creating an affordable flight test bed to rapidly increase hypersonic flight test capacity. MACH-TB 2.0 will provide an affordable bridge between hypersonic ground tests and system level flight tests.
Kratos was awarded the prime role in Task Area 1 Systems Engineering, Integration, and Testing (SEIT), to include integrated subscale, full-scale, and air launch services to address the need to affordably increase hypersonic flight test cadence. Rocket Lab will join the Kratos-led team of subcontractors that will provide systems engineering, assembly, integration, and test (AI&T), mission planning and execution, and launch services.
Rocket Lab has already served the MACH-TB program, delivering multiple successful hypersonic test launches with the Company’s HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) rocket from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 in Wallops, Virginia. HASTE is a suborbital variant of Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle, which is the United States’ second most frequently launched orbital rocket annually.
HASTE includes much of the same innovative technology as Electron, including carbon fiber composite structures and 3D printed rocket engines, but has a modified upper Kick Stage tailored for hypersonic technology tests and a larger payload capacity of up to 700 kg / 1,540 lbs. Combined, Rocket Lab’s HASTE and Electron launch vehicles have deployed 200+ payloads from its United States and New Zealand launch sites to date.
Rocket Lab’s Vice President Global Launch Services, Brian Rogers, says: “We’re thrilled to be part of the Kratos-led team for the next iteration of the MACH-TB program and ready to serve the U.S. Department of Defense with even more high-cadence hypersonic technology with our HASTE launch vehicle. Our demonstrated ability to date to deliver successful HASTE launches that test these new technologies is testament to our dedication in advancing hypersonic innovation for the nation alongside our government and industry partners.” (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
06 Jan 25. Ovzon Participates in Major Initiative on Future Mobile Communication Solutions. Ovzon, together with a range of other leading companies, authorities, and organizations, will participate in a major initiative focusing on mobile communication solutions expected to be in use during the 2030s. The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) is investing 60 MSEK in the project SMART 6GSAT (Sustainable Mobile Autonomous and Resilient 6G SatCom), with KTH as the coordinator and project leader. The aim is to integrate traditional land-based mobile communication with satellite communication in 6G. The vision is for mobile communication services to be seamlessly accessible to anyone with a 6G device, anywhere and anytime. In addition to Ovzon, the industry consortium includes companies like Ericsson, Saab, Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), Eutelsat-OneWeb, Airbus, and Viasat, as well as authorities such as the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) and the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT). (Source: ASD Network)
03 Jan 25. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 sends up Thuraya 4 for the first launch of the new year. Success for SpaceX as Falcon 9 launched the Space42 Thuraya 4 mission to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 8:27 p.m. ET. This was the first launch for Falcon 9 in the new year, and was the 20th flight and recovery for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, and SpaceX’s 341st recovery of an orbital-class rocket. All photos by Satnews.
Successful separation and send off of Thruaya 4-NGS
Based on the all-electric Airbus Eurostar-Neo Platform, Thuraya 4-NGS will incorporate a large 12-meter L-band antenna and a payload with on-board processing providing advanced routing flexibility of up to 3200 channels with dynamic power allocation over a large number of spot beams.
Space 42’s Thuraya 4 mission is operated in conjunction with Yahsat, a global satellite company based in the United Arab Emirates. The Thuraya 4 is a communications satellite that will operate in geosynchronous orbit, about 23,000 miles above the Earth’s surface.
SpaceX Thuraya 4 mission now on for Friday
SpaceX is targeting Friday, January 3 for Falcon 9’s launch of the Space42 Thuraya 4 mission to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The four-hour window opens at 8:27 p.m. ET. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Saturday, January 4 at the same time.
SpaceX has delayed the launch of its Thuraya 4 mission from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida until Friday, the company announced on its website Thursday.
Space 42’s Thuraya 4 mission is operated in conjunction with Yahsat, a global satellite company based in the United Arab Emirates. The Thuraya 4 is a communications satellite that will operate in geosynchronous orbit, about 23,000 miles above the Earth’s surface.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This will be the 20th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched SES-22, ispace’s HAKUTO-R MISSION 1, Amazonas-6, CRS-27, Bandwagon-1, GSAT-20, and 13 Starlink missions. After stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. (Source: Satnews)
01 Jan 25. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket completes integrated launch vehicle hotfire. Blue Origin’s New Glenn has successfully completed an integrated launch vehicle hotfire test, the final major milestone on the firm’s road to first flight—NG-1 will carry a Blue Ring Pathfinder as its first manifested payload and will launch from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Blue Ring Pathfinder for New Glenn’s first mission, NG-1. Photo: Blue Origin.
The seven-engine hotfire lasted 24 seconds and marked the first time we operated the entire flight vehicle as an integrated system. The multi-day test campaign leading up to the hotfire included numerous inert functional and tanking tests. The integrated launch vehicle included the first and second stages of the NG-1 flight vehicle, and a payload test article comprised of manufacturing test demonstrator fairings, a high-capacity fixed adapter flight unit, and a 45,000 lb payload mass simulator.
One of the primary goals of the test campaign was to demonstrate day-of-launch operations in our NG-1 test configuration. Additionally, the team conducted several tests to validate vehicle and ground systems in the fully integrated, on-pad configuration. This data will be used to finalize day-of-launch timelines, confirm expected performance, and correlate our models to real-world test data.
“This is a monumental milestone and a glimpse of what’s just around the corner for New Glenn’s first launch,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. “Today’s success proves that our rigorous approach to testing–combined with our incredible tooling and design engineering–is working as intended.”
The tanking test included a full run-through of the terminal count sequence, testing the hand-off authority to and from the flight computer, and collecting fluid validation data.
The first stage (GS1) tanks were filled and pressed with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX), and the second stage (GS2) with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen–both to representative NG-1 set points.
The formal NG-1 Wet Dress Rehearsal demonstrated the final launch procedures leading into the hotfire engine run. All seven engines performed nominally, firing for 24 seconds, including at 100% thrust for 13 seconds.
The test also demonstrated New Glenn’s autogenous pressurization system, which self-generates gases to pressurize GS1’s propellant tanks.
This test campaign captured a number of firsts for the New Glenn launch system, including the first seven-engine operations, the first integrated GS1-GS2 tanking demonstration, the first LNG/LOX fill for GS1, as well as first chilled helium operations for GS2.
The campaign met all objectives and marks the final major test prior to launch.
Blue Origin has several New Glenn vehicles in production and a full customer manifest.
Customers include NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, several telecommunications providers, and a mix of U.S. government customers.
Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the U.S. Space Force for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program to meet emerging national security objectives. (Source: Satnews)
01 Jan 25. SpaceX launches Astranis: From One to Many Mission after a last second abort days earlier. On Sunday, December 29 at 12:00 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched four “MicroGEO” satellites for the company Astranis’ mission, Astranis: From One to Many to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. All photos provided by Satnews. This was SpaceX’s second attempt to launch the MicroGEO satellites for Astranis which ended in a last-second abort on December 21 as the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage engines ignited. In a post on the social media site X, Astranis vice president Christian Keil said SpaceX swapped out Falcon 9 rocket boosters for the flight. This was the seventh flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-8, Polaris Dawn, CRS-31, and three Starlink missions. (Source: Satnews)
02 Jan 25. 2025: Space industry trends + events expected in the New Year as predicted by SpaceFund. SpaceFund expects to make many exciting announcements during 2025 as we build on the continuing success of our existing portfolio of 21 space startup investments. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue our vital role in supporting, financing, and directing the most exciting new companies in this rapidly growing industry.
How We See the Universe
The space industry is gaining more momentum now than at any time in human history. Due to technological improvements, increased government space budgets, and a changing regulatory environment, we expect this trend to accelerate in 2025. Based on our industry-leading market intelligence and our deep network of space company executives, members of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and civil space agency contacts, we’ve collated some of our predictions for this coming solar orbit. While no one can predict the future, we do expect great things this year!
What to Watch in 2025 (TL;DR)
- Orbital flights of Starship, with a potential on-orbit fuel transfer demonstration between two Starship vehicles.
- Launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn (no earlier than January 6).
- More than 20 entities are targeting a maiden launch of a new vehicle in 2025.
- American political changes could have wide-ranging positive impacts on government, civil, and commercial space programs.
- Commercial space activity is now truly global, and we expect more countries to join the industry in 2025 with everything from new national and state-level space programs to new startup space companies.
- Favorable economic winds suggest more space company exits in 2025, which will fuel additional investment in the space startup sector.
- The space industry continues to mature as more middle-market companies see record growth and prepare for exits.
SpaceX
It’s going to be a fun year for SpaceX. We expect Starship to fly frequently and potentially even carry some customer payloads to orbit before the end of the year. We may see 20 or more launches of Starship before 2025 is over. Falcon launches will continue to increase in cadence due to demand for Starlink as well as government and commercial customers. SpaceX also expects to perform an in-space propellant transfer demonstration using two docked Starships in 2025 – a critical milestone that will allow SpaceX to refuel their Starship HLS vehicle for an uncrewed lunar landing demonstration in the following year.
Launch
Beyond SpaceX, 2025 will see more launches and more new launch vehicles attempt to reach orbit than any year in human history.
- Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket’s first test launch is expected imminently. In 2025, we expect at least a few more test launches of the heavy-lift vehicle.
- Arianespace’s Ariane 6 may have as many as 5 launches in 2025.
- Avio’s Vega-C rocket may fly as many as 4 times in 2025.
There are more than 20 entities that are targeting 2025 for the maiden flights of new launch vehicles and there is no way to know if any of them will be successful. For the record, no maiden flight of a new rocket has ever made it to orbit, so don’t hold your breath. ??
Summary by country: China (7), USA (4), UK (3), Germany (2), with Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Australia, and India each at 1.
- Blue Origin – New Glenn – USA
- Cyclone-4M – Yuzhnoye – Ukraine
- Gravity-2 – Orienspace – China
- Hera-II – Astraius – UK
- Hyperbola-3 – i-Space – China
- Irtysh – TsSKB Progress – Russia
- Kinetica 2 – CAS Space – China
- Maia – MaiaSpace – Europe
- Neutron – Rocket Lab – USA
- Nova – Stoke Space – USA
- Prime – Orbex – UK
- RFA One – Rocket Factory Augsburg – Germany
- Skyrora XL – Skyrora – UK
- SL1 – HyImpulse – Germany
- Zhuque-3 – LandSpace – China
- Daytona I – Phantom Space Corporation – USA
- Tianlong-3 – Space Pioneer – China
- Pallas-1 – Galactic Energy – China
- Long March 8A – China
- Eris Block 1 – Gilmour Space Technologies – Australia
- Skyroot – Vikram-1 – India
It’s important to note that while the launch industry is ‘sexy’ and garners a lot of eyeballs in the media, it represents less than 10% of the global space market. Back in 2019, SpaceFund predicted that the launch market would be over supplied with too many competing vehicles. Five years ago, we projected that about 20 companies would survive, and that many of those would be focused on national defense priorities of countries around the world. SpaceFund is currently tracking 183 launch companies in various stages of development. SpaceFund’s investment thesis continues to focus on what’s being launched, with a focus on space infrastructure, including everything from satellite components to space stations. (Source: Satnews)
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