Tag: commercial

SpaceX withdraws from process to bring Starlink to South Africa

1:39 pm

In what appears to be directly related to the new South African law that will force the redistribution of private land holdings based on race, SpaceX this week withdrew from a meeting to discuss South Africa’s plan to license Starlink operations.

According to an Icasa spokeswoman, SpaceX notified Icasa on Wednesday evening that it would no longer participate in the oral presentations. The company had already made a written submission, which has not been withdrawn. It’s not clear why SpaceX decided to withdraw from the hearings – the company couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The withdrawal by SpaceX follows a post by Musk on his social media platform X that asked President Cyril Ramaphosa why the country has what he called “openly racist ownership laws”.

It is not surprising Musk had the company cancel its plans. Musk has more and more been learning about the corrupt and racist policies of the left, and since South Africa has been ruled for several decades by communists who have now decided to impose DEI quotas on land ownership that require a percentage of white-owned land to be confiscated to give to blacks, he has probably decided there are better places than South Africa to provide Starlink services.

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Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander gets commercial rover to replace NASA’s VIPER rover

11:51 am

Astrobotic’s commercial Griffin lunar lander has signed a deal with the space rover startup Venturi Astrolab to fly its FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) in place of NASA’s cancelled VIPER rover.

Last year NASA announced that it would be cancelling the VIPER lander that was set to travel aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 lander, just months after the company’s first attempt at a moonshot failed. Now, the company has secured a contract to transport a rover developed by California-based aerospace firm Venturi Astrolab. That rover, the FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform, or FLIP for short, will be deployed to the Nobile region of the lunar south pole. The mission is scheduled for the end of the year and NASA’s contract with Astrobotic has been modified for the mission to serve as large lander demonstration flight.

This deal has significant ramifications outside of Astrobotic’s effort to make money hauling payloads to the Moon. Astrolab is one of three companies with NASA design contracts to develop a manned lunar rover for its later Artemis manned missions. By flying this smaller version now and successfully operating it on the Moon Astrolab puts itself in a better position to win the larger final rover contract from NASA, beating out Intuitive Machines and Lunar Outpost.

Astrolab was clearly aiming for the VIPER slot when it unveiled FLIP in October 2024. As I predicted then:

FLIP was clearly designed to match the fit of NASA’s now canceled VIPER rover that was to be launched on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander. Griffin is still being prepped for its lunar mission to be launched in 2025, but no longer has that prime payload. It is very obvious that Astrolab is vying to make FLIP that prime payload.

Note however how private enterprise moves. NASA can’t get it done but the competition to win contracts and make profits has these private companies scrambling to make things happen, quickly and cheaply.

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German startup Atmos gets FAA approval to launch its orbital research capsule

8:37 am

The German startup Atmos Space Cargo has now gotten its FAA launch license for testing the re-entry capability of its first orbiting research capsule, dubbed Phoenix.

That payload review was the final regulatory step needed for the mission, Sebastian Klaus, chief executive and co-founder of Atmos, said in an interview. The company doesn’t need a separate FAA reentry license because the spacecraft is planned to reenter over international waters, he said, and there are no licensing requirements by Germany, where the company is based.

Phoenix is fully assembled and has completed environmental testing, although the company is continuing to update software for the vehicle. “Physically and from a testing point of view, the spacecraft is ready for launch,” he said.

The capsule will be deployed immediately after the Falcon 9’s upper stage completes its de-orbit burn, so that it can then test that re-entry capability using an “inflatable decelerator”, likely a larger heat shield that can be used to protect a larger capsule.

This mission will be the first in a series of flights to test that inflatable system. If successful, the capsule will then be made available for orbital manufacturing for return to Earth, similar to the American startup Varda and its capsule.

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Rocket Lab wins another multi-launch contract

9:26 am

Rocket Lab today announced it has won a four-launch contract with a Japanese company, the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS), to launch its Earth-imaging satellites.

The multi-launch contract, signed in July 2024 [but apparently not publicly announced till now], includes three dedicated missions for launch in 2025 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, with a fourth launch scheduled for 2026. Each mission will carry a single satellite to form part of iQPS’ planned constellation of 36 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites that are capable of collecting images through cloud and at night with a high resolution of less than a meter.

Rocket Lab previously completed one launch for iQPS in 2023, signing the contract and launching within four months.

Though the company has not yet announced officially the number of launches it hopes to fly in 2025, it appears the number will exceed the 14 orbital launches it completed in 2024. Before adding the three 2025 iQPS launches above, Rocket Lab had 18 Electron launches listed for 2025 at the rocketlaunch.live website, as well as the first launch of the company’s new Neutron rocket. Altogether that adds up to a total of 22 launches.

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SpaceX launches two high resolution Earth imaging reconnaissance satellites

8:34 pm

SpaceX tonight successfully launched Maxar’s last two of six high resolution Earth imaging reconnaissance satellites of its Worldview constellation, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX placed the entire Worldview constellation in orbit over three launches. The first stage on today’s launch completed its fourth flight, landing back at Cape Canaveral, while the rocket’s two fairing halves completed their 21st and 23rd flights respectively.

This was also SpaceX’s second launch today.

The 2025 launch race:

16 SpaceX
6 China
1 Blue Origin
1 India
1 Japan

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NASA calls for the private sector to launch VIPER to the Moon

10:55 am

As a follow-up of its August request for suggestions on how to save its cancelled VIPER rover mission to the Moon, NASA has now issued a request for actual proposals from the private sector for flying the mission, due on March 3, 2025.

The Announcement for Partnership Proposal contains proposal instructions and evaluation criteria for a new Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership. Responses are due Monday, March 3. After evaluating submissions, any selections by the agency will require respondents to submit a second, more detailed, proposal. NASA is expected to make a decision on the VIPER mission this summer.

…As part of an agreement, NASA would contribute the existing VIPER rover as-is. Potential partners would need to arrange for the integration and successful landing of the rover on the Moon, conduct a science/exploration campaign, and disseminate VIPER-generated science data. The partner may not disassemble the rover and use its instruments or parts separately from the VIPER mission. NASA’s selection approach will favor proposals that enable data from the mission’s science instruments to be shared openly with anyone who wishes to use it.

Expect a number of companies to tout their proposals in press releases in the coming weeks.

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Boeing writes off another half billion dollars due to Starliner

10:02 am

In filing an annual report to the SEC, Boeing revealed that has written off another half billion dollars due to Starliner delays and technical problems, bringing the total the company has lost on the capsule to more than two billion.

In the company’s 10-K annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Feb. 3, Boeing said it took $523 million in charges on Starliner in 2024. The company blamed the losses on “schedule delays and higher testing and certification costs as well as higher costs for post certification missions.”

Both Boeing and NASA remain utterly silent on the future of Starliner. It remains uncertified for operational manned flights, which means Boeing continues to earn nothing from it. Will it have to fly another manned mission on its own dime to get that certification? Or will NASA instead pay it to fly a cargo mission to ISS, as rumors have suggested, to prove the capsule is ready for manned flights?

No one knows. Nor do we know if Boeing will either sell off its space division or cancel Starliner entirely and thus free itself of the problem.

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Is SpaceX routinely stiffing its outside construction contractors in Boca Chica?

9:31 am

According to an article today in the San Antonio Express-News SpaceX has been routinely not paying its bills to construction contractors hired by it to build things in Boca Chica, and almost three dozen have had to file liens against the company to get their money.

A San Antonio Express-New review of Texas property records found at least 29 contractors — and six in San Antonio — have filed 77 liens against SpaceX since March 2022. Their total value is up from $2.5 million in May. Since then, SpaceX has settled at least six liens but gained another 44.

Though it’s unclear whether the money is owed by SpaceX, its general contractors or subcontractors, landowners are ultimately responsible for unpaid construction bills on their properties under Texas law. The liens are a legal mechanism for contractors and suppliers to secure their claims.

The article admits repeatedly that its information is incomplete, and that many of these liens might already be settled. It also admits that the failure to pay might not be by SpaceX, but as landowner with the most money, it is the biggest target capable of forcing payment by others.

It is also likely, with the amount of work and expansion that is going on at Boca Chica, such liens are somewhat expected, especially because they seem to be a relatively small amount compared to the billions that SpaceX is spending in the area.

Thus, though the article appears to suggest SpaceX is a deadbeat company, it also appears the article might also be part of the propaganda press’s effort to slander Elon Musk wherever it can.

Regardless, if SpaceX is behind in paying its bills, it needs to fix this issue now.

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