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- Issue 81 | Breaking Space News: Dec 16 - 21, 2025
Issue 81 | Breaking Space News: Dec 16 - 21, 2025
Trump Signs Executive Order on American Space Superiority as NASA Safety Panel Urges Reassessment of Artemis Plans. This Week in Space News: Wildfire Smoke Is Altering Earth’s Climate in Unexpected Ways, Webb’s Latest Findings Include a Lemon‐Shaped Exoplanet, and a Black Hole Moving at 3.54 Million Km/H. Plus: Jared Isaacman Becomes NASA’s New Administrator, a Starlink Satellite Is Hurtling Toward Earth, Chinese, European and Japanese Launch Updates, a Flat‐Satellite Design Demo, a Reconfigurable‐Expandable Habitat Concept, the First Wheelchair User to Reach Space, and More.
Lagrangian Despatch
December 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 49 minutes
Explorer, welcome back!🚀
The defense and commercial space sector had some notable movements. Also don’t miss some breathtaking images.
Click the link below to read the unclipped publication. ↓
Let’s jump in.
IMAGES
Haze in the Indo-Gangetic Plain : MODIS, NASA
This satellite view taken by MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA's Aqua satellite, captures dense smoke spreading across the Indo‑Gangetic Plain during the 2025 post‑harvest burning season, when farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and neighboring states ignite leftover rice stubble.
Each year from October to December, when winds are weak and the atmosphere becomes stagnant, these fires contribute to extensive haze that mixes with industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust, domestic heating and cooking, fireworks, and dust, often pushing air pollution far beyond World Health Organization guidelines. While the overall seasonal pattern in 2025 resembled previous years, scientists observed a notable shift in the daily timing of fires, with more ignitions occurring later in the afternoon and evening. This change reduces detection by satellites that pass earlier in the day, creating blind spots in monitoring efforts and complicating assessments of air‑quality impacts across northern India. (Credit: NASA)
Oval Siberian Lagoons : OLI (Operational Land Imager), Landsat 8
This Landsat 8 image captures a chain of frozen coastal lagoons near the remote village of Billings on Russia’s Chukchi Peninsula, where the landscape forms an unexpected “snowman” shape when viewed from orbit. The Operational Land Imager recorded the scene on June 16, 2025, showing elongated, oval lagoons separated from the Arctic Ocean by a narrow sandspit.
Even in June, one of the region’s warmest months, the lagoons remain ice‑covered, with additional sea ice lining the coast. Billings, established in the 1930s as a Soviet supply outpost, sits at the center of this stark environment. The snowman‑like pattern is entirely natural, shaped by the interaction of coastal processes, persistent cold, and the region’s shallow inshore waters. (Credit: NASA)
Syrtis Major Region : High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has captured its 100,000th image using the HiRISE camera, marking nearly two decades of continuous monitoring of the Martian surface. HiRISE, central to the mission’s scientific output, provides high‑resolution views of impact craters, dunes, ice deposits, and potential landing sites, enabling long‑term tracking of surface changes.
The milestone image shows the Syrtis Major region, a region about 50 miles/80 kilometers southeast of Jezero Crater, which NASA’s Perseverance rover is exploring. highlighting mesas and wind‑shaped dunes. Over its mission, MRO has supplied extensive geological data that informs studies of Mars’ climate history and supports planning for future exploration, including human missions. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
A sequence of HiRISE highlights from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, featuring its 100,000th image of the plains and dunes in Syrtis Major. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
Solar Wind ‘U-Turn’ : Parker Solar Probe
This video from NASA’s from the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe shows a rare “U‑turn” in the solar wind, captured during the spacecraft’s close approach to the Sun in December 2024. This phenomenon occurs in the Sun’s upper atmosphere and is called an inflow. The footage reveals streams of charged particles reversing direction and flowing back toward the Sun, an effect linked to magnetic field lines that were torn apart during a coronal mass ejection and later reconnected. As these reconnected loops contract, they pull nearby plasma inward, creating inflows that Parker was able to observe at close range for the first time.
The video provides direct evidence of how magnetic restructuring shapes the solar wind and influences the behavior of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These observations help refine models of solar activity and improve understanding of the processes that drive space weather throughout the inner solar system. (Credit: NASA)
The process that creates inflows begins with a solar eruption known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). CMEs are often triggered by twisted magnetic field lines from the Sun that explosively snap and realign in a process called magnetic reconnection. This magnetic explosion kicks out a burst of charged particles and magnetic fields — the CME. (Credit: NASA)
As the CME travels outward from the Sun, the CME expands. Eventually, it pushes through solar magnetic field lines to escape into space. (Credit: NASA)
The magnetic field of lines torn open by the CME rejoin to form new magnetic loops that get squeezed together. (Credit: NASA)
In some cases, the compressed magnetic field lines tear apart. This forms separate magnetic loops, some of which travel outward from the Sun and others that connect back to the Sun. As these loops contract back into the Sun, they drag down blobs of nearby solar material, forming inflows. (Credit: NASA)
Brightest Yet Blue Cosmic Outburst, A Black Hole Shreds a Star : Gemini Observatory
This composite image shows the record‑breaking Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (LFBOT) the brightest event of its kind ever observed.
LFBOTs are rare, short‑lived flashes of blue light that fade within days, and were once thought to be unusual supernovae. Analysis of the brightest LFBOT to-date, named AT 2024wpp and discovered last year, shows that they’re not. A team led by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, concluded that they are caused by an extreme tidal disruption, where a black hole of up to 100 times the mass of our Sun completely shreds its massive star companion within days, releasing an intense burst of energy unlike any normal stellar explosion. LFBOTs got their name because they are bright, they’re visible over distances of hundreds of millions to billions of light years, and last for only a few days. They produce high-energy light ranging from the blue end of the optical spectrum through ultraviolet and X-ray.
Multi‑wavelength observations from the Flamingos-2 instrument on the International Gemini Observatory and other facilities reveal the transient as a bright point on the outskirts of its host galaxy, located 1.1 billion light‑years away. The image combines X‑ray, ultraviolet, optical, and near‑infrared data to highlight the structure of the host galaxy and pinpoint the transient’s location. (Credit: International Gemini Observatory/ CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA /NASA/ESA/Hubble/Swift/CXC/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO))
This composite image features X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared data of the luminous fast blue optical transient (LFBOT) named AT 2024wpp. The transient is the bright spot at the upper right edge of its host galaxy, which is 1.1 billion light-years from Earth. (Credit: International Gemini Observatory/ CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/NASA/ESA/Hubble/Swift/CXC/ ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO))
This graphic illustrates AT 2024wpp, the most luminous fast blue optical transient (FBOT) observed to date, along with the leading explanation for its extraordinary energy output. (Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Margutti/P. Marenfeld)
SCIENCE
Wildfire Smoke Found to Create New Upper‑Atmosphere Aerosols That Alter Earth’s Energy Balance, May Be Altering Earth’s Climate in Unexpected Ways
16 December, 2025
Scientists are uncovering new atmospheric effects driven by the rising intensity of wildfires, with recent research showing that smoke lofted by pyrocumulonimbus storms can fundamentally alter the upper troposphere. During a high‑altitude sampling campaign, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences measured five‑day‑old wildfire smoke nearly nine miles above Earth’s surface and found unusually large, chemically aged particles that persist far longer than expected. These particles, formed as smoke plumes evolve during long residence times aloft, appear to exert a measurable cooling influence by scattering sunlight, yet they are absent from most climate models.
Additional analysis shows that extreme fires can inject smoke up to ten miles high, where it can linger for weeks or months, undergoing transformations that create entirely new aerosol particles unlike those typically formed near the surface. These particles grow larger as they mix with other atmospheric compounds, increasing their ability to scatter sunlight and persist for long periods at high altitude. Because most climate models assume smaller, shorter‑lived aerosols in this region, they may underestimate the cooling influence of extreme‑fire smoke. The emerging picture suggests that smoke lofted into the upper atmosphere by extreme wildfires plays a larger role in Earth’s radiative balance than models currently capture, pointing to the need for updated aerosol‑climate representations. The researchers flew NASA’s ER‑2 to record unprecedented data on a smoke plume lofted into the upper troposphere by a June 2022 New Mexico wildfire. The study was published in Science Advances.
Global Launch Activity Highlights China’s Rapid Cadence, Europe’s Ariane 6 Progress, and Japan’s H3 Setback
A Long March 4B launches the Ziyuan‑3 (04) remote‑sensing satellite on Dec. 16 (UTC), 2025, rising over the snow‑covered hills near the Taiyuan spaceport. (Credit: CASC)
16 December, 2025
China, Europe, and Japan each saw major launch activity in the past week. China conducted two launches in quick succession, beginning with a Kuaizhou‑11 mission carrying the DEAR‑5 experimental cargo spacecraft for commercial firm AZSpace and state-owned China Academy of Space Technology’s (CAST) Xiwang‑5 (Phase II) technology demonstrator.
DEAR‑5, based on the B300‑L platform, is hosting 34 research payloads intended to operate for a year, while Xiwang‑5 remains only partially described by CAST, which characterized it as technically complex with multiple large system interfaces. Both spacecraft entered low Earth orbit at roughly 504 by 525 kilometers. The flight marked the third outing of the Kuaizhou‑11, operated by Expace (a spin-off of the state-owned missile and defense contractor China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC)), following one failure in 2020 and a successful mission in 2022.
Days later, a Long March 4B from Taiyuan deployed the Ziyuan‑3 (04) remote‑sensing satellite (built by CAST, which is also a subsidiary of CASC), part of China’s civil Earth‑observation infrastructure, equipped with stereo and multispectral imaging systems and a laser altimeter. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) stated that the satellite will support national resource monitoring and land‑use planning. These missions contributed to China’s 85th and 86th orbital attempts of 2025, far exceeding its previous annual record.
17 December, 2025
Europe, meanwhile, advanced its own navigation infrastructure with the first Galileo launch aboard an Ariane 6. The Ariane 62 configuration, with two boosters, lifted off from Kourou in French Guiana on December 17, placing satellites SAT‑33 and SAT‑34 into medium Earth orbit after a nearly four‑hour flight, at an altitude of approximately 22,922 km. ESA and Arianespace emphasized that the mission strengthens Europe’s autonomous access to space and the resilience of the Galileo constellation, which in three months will include 29 active satellites. The flight also marked the fifth operational mission of Ariane 6, a vehicle Europe is positioning as its primary heavy‑lift launcher.
22 December, 2025
Japan faced a setback during the same period. The H3 rocket, intended as the country’s new flagship launcher, suffered a second‑stage ignition failure during its December 22 mission, preventing deployment of the Michibiki‑5 (QZS‑5) navigation satellite into its planned orbit. JAXA confirmed the anomaly and established a task force to investigate, noting this is the second failure in seven H3 flights and the second involving the upper stage. The loss delays expansion of Japan’s Quasi‑Zenith Satellite System, which is designed to enhance regional positioning accuracy.
James Webb Telescope's Latest Findings: New Clues About Dark Matter, a Lemon-Shaped Exoplanet, and a Black Hole Moving at 3.54 Million km/h
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is beginning to expose structures and phenomena that challenge long‑standing assumptions about how the universe formed and evolves.
New analyses of Webb’s deep‑field observations suggest that early galaxies, some seen within the first 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang, display elongated, filament‑like shapes that differ from the rounder profiles predicted by standard cold dark matter models. These smooth, extended structures may trace underlying dark‑matter filaments, offering a potential observational handle on a substance that remains invisible to telescopes and interacts only weakly with light.
Understanding why these early galaxies look so stretched requires comparing Webb’s images with simulations of how the first structures formed. For years, astronomers have assumed that the first stars and galaxies formed as cool, pristine gas settled along an invisible, cosmic web of dark‑matter filaments. But even the most advanced cold‑dark‑matter simulations cannot reproduce the extreme elongation Webb is now revealing. To explore the mismatch, researchers tested alternative dark‑matter models—such as warm dark matter and “wave” dark matter models tied to sterile neutrinos and ultralight axions—each of which predicts different small‑scale behavior. Wave‑dark‑matter simulations are especially computationally demanding because they must capture tiny, wave‑like patterns (quantum-like interference patterns) in the dark matter while also modeling gas. If ultralight axions dominate, their wave behavior could smooth out small‑scale structure for a time, naturally producing the long, gentle filaments that Webb is now detecting in the early universe.
Axions and sterile neutrinos are hypothetical dark‑matter particles—axions behaving like ultralight waves that smooth out small‑scale structure, and sterile neutrinos acting as slightly warmer, faster‑moving particles that suppress early clustering.
Researchers argue that such morphology could help discriminate between competing dark‑matter candidates, including ultralight or warm‑dark‑matter scenarios, though the data remain preliminary and open to multiple interpretations.
This animation depicts an unusual exoplanet orbiting a distant pulsar—a rapidly spinning neutron star that emits radio pulses. At roughly a million miles from its host, the planet is pulled into a lemon‑like shape by the pulsar’s strong tidal forces. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))
This illustration depicts the exoplanet PSR J2322‑2650b (left) orbiting a rapidly rotating pulsar (right). The pulsar’s strong gravity distorts the Jupiter‑mass planet into an unusual, elongated shape.
(Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))
Meanwhile, Webb’s spectroscopic capabilities are revealing planetary systems that defy established formation pathways. One of the most unusual findings is PSR J2322‑2650b, a Jupiter‑mass exoplanet orbiting a rapidly spinning pulsar. Webb data show an atmosphere dominated by helium and carbon, with signatures of soot‑like clouds and conditions that may allow carbon to condense into diamonds deep within the planet.
A pulsar sends out narrow beams of electromagnetic radiation that sweep across space at regular intervals, from milliseconds to seconds. We detect these flashes only when the beam happens to point toward Earth, similar to a rotating lighthouse.
The planet’s extreme proximity to its host star, 1 million miles (Earth’s distance from the Sun is about 100 million miles), distorts it into a lemon‑like shape, and its chemistry diverges sharply from expectations for gas giants, which typically contain hydrogen‑rich atmospheres. A year on the planet lasts only about 7.8 hours. Scientists note that no current model explains how such a world could form or survive in this environment.
In this artist’s rendering, the exoplanet PSR J2322‑2650b is shown distorted into a lemon‑like form by the strong gravitational pull of the pulsar it orbits. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))
This illustration shows a supermassive black hole that has been expelled from its host galaxy after interacting with two other black holes. As it moves through intergalactic space, it compresses thin gas ahead of it, triggering the formation of hot, blue stars. The concept is based on Hubble observations of a 200,000‑light‑year trail of stars left in the black hole’s wake. (Credit: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI))
Webb’s sensitivity is also enabling the confirmation of rare, large‑scale dynamical events. Observations have verified the first known runaway supermassive black hole, a 10‑million‑solar‑mass object racing through the “Cosmic Owl” galaxy system at roughly 2.2 million miles per hour/3.54 million km/h. The black hole drives a galaxy‑sized bow shock ahead of it and leaves a 200,000‑light‑year trail of gas and star formation in its wake. Astronomers attribute the ejection to a violent gravitational interaction, likely a multi‑black‑hole merger, powerful enough to dislodge the galaxy’s central engine. The detection provides direct evidence that such events occur and may influence galaxy evolution more dramatically than previously assumed.
NASA Safety Panel Urges Reassessment of Artemis Plans and Contracting Practices
19 December, 2025
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) is urging the agency to reassess both its Artemis lunar‑landing strategy and its handling of recent human‑spaceflight incidents. In its latest meeting on December 19, the panel reiterated long‑standing concerns about Artemis 3, noting that the mission bundles several first‑time operations, including crewed use of SpaceX’s Starship lander, docking in lunar orbit, and a south‑polar landing, without a clear plan to manage the combined technical and safety risks. Panel members said these challenges have accumulated to a “notable” level and suggested NASA may need to revisit mission objectives and overall architecture under new leadership.
ASAP also highlighted broader issues in NASA’s contracting approach. Reviews of Commercial Crew, the Human Landing System, and Starliner found uneven oversight and overreliance on contractor assurances, reflecting declining internal technical capacity and fragmented governance.
A third recommendation focused on NASA’s response to the flawed 2024 Starliner test flight, arguing that the agency’s failure to classify the event as a mishap or close call created prolonged uncertainty in decision‑making and risk management.
GOVERNANCE
Trump Signs Executive Order on American Space Superiority With New Lunar and Space Policy Directives
President Donald Trump, pictured among NASA hardware during SpaceX’s first crewed launch in May 2020, has announced broad new objectives for the U.S. space program. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
18 December, 2025
President Trump has issued a sweeping executive order titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” outlining an expansive civil, commercial, and national‑security agenda for U.S. space activities. The order directs NASA to return astronauts to the Moon by 2028 and begin establishing elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030. It also calls for deploying nuclear reactors on the lunar surface and in orbit by the end of the decade, expanding U.S. capabilities in space‑based power systems.
“The United States must therefore pursue a space policy that will extend the reach of human discovery, secure the Nation's vital economic and security interests, unleash commercial development and lay the foundation for a new space age,..
The directive frames space as critical infrastructure and emphasizes countering threats to U.S. assets, strengthening space‑domain awareness, and accelerating commercial integration into government missions. It also highlights the need for streamlined procurement and greater use of fixed‑price contracting to speed program execution.
The order arrives amid broader concerns about global competition in space and coincides with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s call for faster program timelines.
Jared Isaacman Takes Over as NASA Administrator With Focus on Accelerating Artemis and Lunar Program Timelines
Jared Isaacman official portrait. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
18 December, 2025
The U.S. Senate confirmed Jared Isaacman as NASA’s new administrator in a 67–30 vote on Dec. 17, ending more than a year of interim leadership at the agency. Isaacman, a private astronaut and founder of Shift4, was sworn in the following day during a low‑profile ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his first town hall with employees, he emphasized accelerating major programs, arguing NASA must reduce “bureaucratic drag” to keep pace with China’s rapid space developments.
Isaacman highlighted President Trump’s new “Ensuring American Space Superiority” executive order, which calls for a human lunar return by 2028 and initial lunar outpost elements by 2030. He identified Artemis 2 as his immediate priority and said he will look for opportunities to advance later missions, including Artemis 3. Isaacman acknowledged a steep learning curve and plans to visit all NASA centers while meeting commercial and international partners to assess program bottlenecks.
SpaceX Starlink Satellite Begins Uncontrolled Descent After Partial Breakup in Low Earth Orbit
18 December, 2025
A SpaceX Starlink satellite suffered an in‑orbit anomaly on December 17, leading to a loss of communications and a partial breakup that released “a small number of trackable low‑relative‑velocity objects,” according to the company. The spacecraft, operating at about 418 kilometers, experienced venting of its propulsion tank and a rapid 4‑kilometer drop in its semi‑major axis, suggesting a possible tank rupture or related failure. SpaceX said the satellite remains largely intact but is now tumbling and descending toward Earth, where it is expected to fully burn up in the atmosphere within weeks. The current V2 Starlink satellite version weighs approximately 1,760 lbs/800 kilograms at launch.
The incident adds to ongoing concerns about congestion and debris‑management practices in low Earth orbit, given the scale of the Starlink constellation. SpaceX stated that the satellite’s trajectory remains below the International Space Station and poses no risk to crewed operations, and it is coordinating tracking efforts with NASA and the U.S. Space Force.
MILITARY
Niantic Spatial and Vantor Develop Unified Air‑to‑Ground Visual Positioning for GPS‑Denied Navigation
Credit: Niantic Spatial
16 December, 2025
Niantic Spatial and Vantor have formed a partnership to develop a unified visual‑positioning system intended to support air and ground‑based navigation in GPS‑denied environments. The effort combines Niantic’s ground‑level Visual Positioning System, which aligns camera feeds with a geospatial model, with Vantor’s Raptor software for aerial localization. The companies frame the work as a response to growing operational vulnerabilities created by GPS outages, spoofing, and jamming, which can degrade situational awareness for autonomous systems and human operators alike.
The integrated system aims to create a shared coordinate framework that allows drones, vehicles, and mixed‑reality devices to maintain accurate positioning without satellite signals. Field testing is planned for early 2026. While the companies emphasize the system’s potential for defense and public‑sector use, the approach also reflects a broader industry trend toward sensor‑based navigation as reliance on GPS becomes increasingly fragile in contested or congested environments.
Digantara Funding, ICEYE–Rheinmetall SAR Contract, SDA Awards, and Astrobotic Suborbital Vehicle Contracts: Expanding Defense Use of Commercial Space
Infrared missile‑tracking payloads, dedicated SAR constellations, wide‑field early‑warning satellites, proliferated LEO architectures and reusable suborbital test vehicles: Commercial space companies continue to deepen their role in defense programs positioning themselves as suppliers of defense‑relevant capabilities, as governments expand demand for space‑based sensing, tracking, and reconnaissance.
16 December, 2025
India‑based Digantara is among the latest entrants expanding beyond its original space situational awareness (SSA) focus. The company raised $50 million in Series B funding to accelerate its transition into missile‑tracking and broader space intelligence services. Digantara, which operates ground‑based sensors and recently launched its first space‑based tracking satellite, plans to develop a prototype infrared missile‑tracking spacecraft in the Unites States, within 18 months, targeting a 2027 launch. The company has opened a U.S. office in Colorado Springs to support this work and was selected for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s SHIELD contracting vehicle, reflecting growing demand for space‑based detection systems. The funding will also support expansion of its SSA constellation, with 15 satellites planned for launch in 2026–27.
Credit: ICEYE
18 December, 2025
In Europe, Germany has awarded a €1.7 billion ($1.9B) contract to a new joint venture between arms manufacturer, Rheinmetall and Finnish SAR operator ICEYE to provide exclusive access to a dedicated synthetic aperture radar (SAR) reconnaissance constellation. The program, SAR Space System for Persistent Operational Tracking Stage 1’ also known as SPOCK 1, will run through 2030 and supply high‑revisit, all‑weather imaging capacity to support German Armed Forces operations, including the ‘Lithuania Brigade’ and NATO’s eastern flank. The constellation is intended for persistent monitoring of areas where optical systems are limited by cloud cover or darkness.
ICEYE will supply its SAR satellite technology and Rheinmetall will integrate mission systems, ground infrastructure, and data delivery. Commissioned by the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), the joint venture, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions, which is based in Neuss, marks one of Europe’s largest recent investments in sovereign space‑based intelligence capabilities.
19 December, 2025
The U.S. is also expanding its missile‑warning and tracking architecture. The Space Development Agency has awarded $3.5 billion across Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris, and Rocket Lab to build 72 satellites for Tranche 3 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture’s Tracking Layer, to be deployed in 2029.
Lockheed Martin received a firm fixed-priced Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement with a total potential value of $1.1 billion to provide 18 missile warning, tracking, and defense (MWTD) space vehicles (SVs).
Rocket Lab USA is being awarded a total potential value of $805 million.
Northrop Grumman is being awarded a total potential value of $764 million to provide 18 missile warning/missile tracking (MW/MT) SVs.
L3Harris Technologies is being awarded a total potential value of $843 million.
Each contractor will produce 18 spacecraft equipped with wide‑field‑of‑view infrared sensors designed to detect and track advanced missile threats, including hypersonic systems. The satellites will operate in low Earth orbit as part of a proliferated constellation intended to increase resilience, reduce single‑point vulnerabilities, and provide continuous global coverage. Tranche 3 builds on earlier SDA deployments and is central to the agency’s strategy of rapid, iterative capability upgrades.
Astrobotic received $17.5 million in government contracts to advance new iterations of its Xodiac suborbital vehicle (left) and the larger Xogdor platform. (Credit: Astrobotic)
19 December, 2025
Space robotics company, Astrobotic has secured $17.5 million in NASA and U.S. military contracts to advance a new generation of reusable suborbital vehicles, expanding programs it acquired from Masten Space Systems in 2022. The funding supports development of Xodiac‑C and Xodiac‑B, two low‑altitude vertical‑takeoff‑and‑landing vehicles, and upgrades to Xogdor, a higher‑altitude platform designed to exceed 100 kilometers. NASA awarded $1.6 million for Xodiac‑C, which will test entry, descent, and landing systems and accommodate larger payloads than its predecessor. A $1.9 million Space Force and AFRL award will fund Xodiac‑B, intended as a testbed for rotating detonation rocket engines.
The largest award, a $14 million NASA SBIR Phase 3 contract, will accelerate Xogdor’s development for microgravity research, planetary landing tests, and potential national‑security applications. Astrobotic plans initial operations between 2026 and 2028 and is exploring additional test sites, including Norway’s Andøya Spaceport and Edwards Air Force Base, to support higher‑cadence flight operations
HawkEye 360 Acquires Innovative Signal Analysis to Expand RF Signal‑Processing Capabilities
18 December, 2025
Geospatial intelligence provider, HawkEye 360 has acquired Innovative Signal Analysis (ISA), a Texas‑based developer of high‑performance signal‑processing technologies, in a move the company says will expand its ability to detect and characterize complex radio‑frequency activity. ISA brings advanced algorithms, edge and cloud‑based processing tools, and engineering expertise that will be integrated into HawkEye 360’s RF data platform, with the subsidiary continuing to operate under its own name. The acquisition is supported by $150 million in Series E preferred equity and debt financing, co‑led by NightDragon and Center15 Capital, with additional debt from Silicon Valley Bank and Pinegrove Ventures.
HawkEye 360 states that combining its space‑based RF collection with ISA’s real‑time processing capabilities will accelerate data delivery, improve performance in congested RF environments, and broaden mission support for government and international customers. The company frames the acquisition as a step toward a more unified, scalable signal‑processing platform
DiskSat Technology Demo Explores New Flat Satellite Design in NASA and Space Force Rocket Lab Mission
Rocket Lab’s Electron lifted off from Launch Complex 2 in Wallops Island, Virginia, on Dec. 18, 2025, at 12:03 a.m. EST, carrying NASA’s DiskSat technology demonstration to orbit. The mission will evaluate a new small‑spacecraft platform intended to expand the capabilities of current compact satellites. (Credit: NASA/Garon Clark)
18 December, 2025
NASA and the U.S. Space Force have launched a joint technology demonstration to evaluate a new small‑satellite architecture known as DiskSat, a flat, disk‑shaped spacecraft designed by The Aerospace Corporation to test whether alternative form factors can expand the capabilities of traditional CubeSats. Four DiskSats were deployed to 550‑kilometer low Earth orbit aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia, on Dec. 18. The mission, part of the Space Force’s STP‑S30 campaign, aims to validate both the spacecraft bus and a new dispenser mechanism that can release multiple plate‑shaped satellites sequentially in orbit.
DiskSats are shown stacked inside a small‑launch‑vehicle fairing. Designed as high‑power, high‑aperture alternatives to CubeSats, they launch in compact stacks but separate one by one in orbit to prevent recontact. (Credit: The Aerospace Corporation)
NASA describes DiskSat as an effort to explore whether a flat, wide surface area can provide higher power generation and more payload volume than CubeSats of similar mass, potentially enabling more demanding science and technology missions at lower cost. Engineers will assess structural performance, power systems, thermal behavior, and communications as the satellites operate independently in orbit. The agency frames the demonstration as part of its broader push to diversify small‑spacecraft platforms and reduce barriers to access for future missions.
For the Space Force, the launch contributes to ongoing experimentation under the Space Test Program, which evaluates emerging commercial and government‑developed spacecraft designs for potential defense applications. The DiskSat mission also marked a milestone for Rocket Lab, which continues to expand Electron’s role in U.S. government launches and has increased its annual cadence with this flight.
COMMERCIAL
EraDrive Raises Seed Funding for Satellite Autonomy as Hungarian 4iG Invests in Axiom Space’s Commercial Station Development
EraDrive’s founding team sits in the front row, pictured with a rendering of the first production version of the company’s autonomy hardware‑software system. (Credit: EraDrive)
16 December, 2025
EraDrive, a Stanford‑affiliated startup focused on on‑orbit autonomy, has raised $5.3 million in seed funding to advance a hardware‑software module designed to give satellites real‑time perception and decision‑making capabilities. The round was led by Haystack Ventures with participation from Point Nine, Harpoon Ventures, Brave Capital, 2100 Ventures, and Entropy Industrial Capital.
EraDrive’s module combines optical sensors, onboard compute, timing, communications, and flight software into a compact payload intended to support non‑cooperative rendezvous, inspection, formation flying, and collision‑avoidance missions. The company frames its approach as analogous to terrestrial autonomous‑vehicle systems, enabling spacecraft to “see, decide, and act” with minimal ground intervention. Its founders previously tested formation‑flying algorithms on NASA’s Starling mission. EraDrive argues that widespread adoption of its kits could also support autonomous space‑traffic coordination by aggregating vision data across satellites, creating a networked situational‑awareness layer.
Axiom Commercial Space Station concept. (Credit: Axiom Space)
21 December, 2025
In parallel, Hungary’s 4iG Space and Defence has committed to a $100 million investment in U.S. commercial space‑station developer Axiom Space, marking the first time a Hungarian company has taken an ownership stake in a major American space‑infrastructure provider. The investment will be executed in two tranches, $30 million by the end of 2025 and $70 million by March 2026, and is intended to secure long‑term participation in low‑Earth‑orbit research and commercial station development.
Axiom is currently building modules that will attach to the International Space Station before forming an independent commercial station. 4iG has described the partnership as strategically significant for Hungary’s emerging space sector and aligned with broader efforts to expand its presence in defense and space‑technology markets.
Max Space Unveils Thunderbird - A Reconfigurable Expandable Commercial Space Station Concept Designed for Single Falcon 9 Launch
This animation shows Max Space’s concept Thunderbird, a commercial space station built around a single expandable module that can launch on a Falcon 9 and expand in orbit. (Credit: Max Space)
17 December, 2025
Max Space has outlined plans for Thunderbird Station, a commercial space station built around a single expandable module that can launch on a Falcon 9 and expand in orbit to 350 cubic meters, roughly one‑third the volume of the ISS. The company, which revealed its expandable‑module technology in 2024, initially intended to supply modules to other station developers but shifted strategy after NASA revised its Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program to support multiple funded Space Act Agreements. Max Space argues its approach offers more predictable safety margins and scalability than inflatable designs.
Thunderbird Station is designed for a four‑person crew and uses a reconfigurable “morphic interior structure” to support habitation and in‑space manufacturing. Former NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and former NASA scientist Kartik Sheth have joined the team to guide habitat design and program alignment. A prototype mission, Mission Evolution, is scheduled for 2027 to test debris shielding and life‑support systems. The company sees applications ranging from ISS‑continuity research to semiconductor and fiber‑optic manufacturing, with potential extensions to lunar and Mars missions.
Southern Launch and Lux Aeterna Partner on Orbital Re‑Entry Operations for Reusable Satellites at Australia’s Koonibba Test Range
A rendering of Lux Aerterna’s Delphi-1 reusable satellite upon re-entry. (Credit: Lux Aerterna)
18 December, 2025
Australian launch and return service provider, Southern Launch has signed an agreement with U.S.‑based reusable satellite platform developer, Lux Aeterna to conduct orbital re‑entries of reusable satellites at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia. The deal covers two missions using Lux Aeterna’s Delphi platform, with the first re‑entry targeted for 2027 and a second planned for 2028. Lux Aeterna is developing a reusable satellite bus designed to withstand atmospheric re‑entry and support missions ranging from technology demonstrations to hypersonic testing, in‑orbit servicing, and materials research.
Southern Launch will provide end‑to‑end range services, including regulatory approvals, air and maritime coordination, and recovery operations. Both organizations frame the partnership as a step toward enabling circular space manufacturing, where spacecraft and payloads can be routinely returned from orbit for reuse or analysis. The agreement also strengthens Australia’s position in the emerging market for controlled satellite recovery, with Koonibba positioned as a dedicated site for future re‑entry operations.
Blue Origin’s NS‑37 Mission Carries Six Passengers Including First Wheelchair User to Space on New Shepard Suborbital Flight
Michaela “Michi” Benthaus celebrates following her flight to space aboard Blue Origin’s NS‑37 mission on December 20. (Credit: Blue Origin webcast)
20 December, 2025
Blue Origin’s NS‑37 mission carried six passengers on a brief suborbital flight from West Texas on 20 December 2025, marking the first time a wheelchair user has reached space. Aerospace engineer Michaela “Michi” Benthaus, who works at the European Space Agency and has used a wheelchair since a 2018 spinal‑cord injury, joined the crew after an earlier launch attempt was scrubbed due to a pre‑flight systems issue. The New Shepard vehicle lifted off at 9:15 a.m. EST, reaching above the Kármán line before returning safely to Earth.
Blue Origin described the flight as part of its ongoing effort to expand access to suborbital missions, though the company provided limited detail on the technical issue that delayed the first attempt. The mission was the 37th New Shepard flight and the 16th to carry humans, continuing Blue Origin’s cadence of commercial suborbital operations.
Despatch Out. 👽🛸
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