China's CGST has returned the favour, using its Jilin-1 sats to image a Maxar Worldview Legion 2 satellite. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3oGA5_HVKJ...

This included visiting Lunar Outpost’s test site in Colorado to see their lunar rover prototypes in action (and getting to ride on one.)

Defense officials instructed to avoid mentioning ‘Golden Dome for America’ at major industry conference President Trump’s signature initiative goes unnamed at space and missile defense symposium

NASA’s proposed budget eyes human exploration of Mars A new emphasis on Mars exploration was clear from the very beginning of the second Trump administration. “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,”…

We played "Fact or fiction" about the space economy this week on Space Minds.

A new approach to space diplomacy: Hard-hitting calculations outweigh foreign-policy considerations When Canadian and European Space Agency leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work together in June, leaders focused their public remarks primarily on shared exploration goals and decades of…

"Since 2019, China has made the first landing on the far side of the moon, collected samples robotically from near and far sides, completed its own answer to GPS ..., landed a rover on Mars, constructed a modular space station that’s hosted a regular cadence of crews + science experiments"

Outrageous images of China's Shijian-26, an apparent new-gen Earth observation satellite, from Maxar. SSD of 1.9 cm. www.linkedin.com/posts/susann...

Pentagon to consider SpaceX alternative for Space Force satellite program The outcome of the review could impact the procurement of as many as 140 satellites for the Space Development Agency's Transport Layer Tranche 3 program

My fav Brian Wilson track.

From @jfoust.bsky.social in SpaceNews on Jan. 22:

NASA budget would cancel dozens of science missions, lay off thousands NASA released more details about its proposed fiscal year 2026 budget May 30, canceling dozens of science missions and cutting thousands of jobs.

@lorengrush.bsky.social Hey hey. Look at you in Scouting Life! Congrats!

The National Reconnaissance Office has privately warned its commercial satellite imagery providers of potential funding cuts that could slash as much as one-third from the previously projected $450 million commercial imagery budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

White House budget proposal would phase out SLS and Orion, scale back ISS operations The White House is proposing to phase out SLS and Orion spacecraft as well as reduce ISS operations in its fiscal year 2026 budget request.

It’s hard to explain the extent that “chicken jockey” from the Minecraft movie has infiltrated little league baseball.

Bill Nye on NASA budget cuts & key space issues In this week's episode of Space Minds, Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society sits down with host David Ariosto. The conversation starts with Bill's journey but quickly pivots to the proposed science budget cuts at NASA.

NOAA budget proposal would affect weather satellite, other space programs The White House’s budget proposal for NOAA would seek to make major changes in a weather satellite program as well as transfer other space programs.

NASA developing options for agency restructuring in “unsettling” environment COLORADO SPRINGS — NASA is developing options for restructuring and potentially downsizing the agency, with the final decisions to be left to the agency’s next leader. In an interview during the 40th Space Symposium April…

New SpaceMinds episode from Space Symposium: Krystal Azelton of @swfoundation.bsky.social on potential NASA cuts, space sustainability and the uncertain future of U.S. space leadership.

SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin win $13.5 billion in U.S. military launch contracts through 2029 The contracts, announced April 4 by the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command, are part of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 2 procurement

NASA terminating $420 million in contracts NASA is terminating $420 million in contracts the agency says are redundant or “misaligned” with its core priorities, but has provided few details about what is being cut.

New commentary from Rocket Lab's Peter Beck arguing NASA should immediately move to fund the commercial Mars Sample Return.

NASA confirms they are closing their Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist, and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, along with reducing their workforce.

Starship destroyed on second consecutive test flight SpaceX’s Starship vehicle suffered its second consecutive test flight failure March 6, tumbling in space before breakup up and reentering over the Caribbean.

Strong triple byline of former Pentagon officials on this commentary: former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Michael E. White, DOD's former principal director of hypersonics.

SpaceNews is officially on BlueSky. We're @spacenewsinc.bsky.social.

Just here to normalize handing out Valentine's Day cards at work

So many fantastic details in this story about a solar event that caused more than $500M in losses for corn farmers.

Your space-related Super Bowl ad.

Spokespersons for space, defense and intelligence agencies, including NASA, the Department of the Air Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, confirmed their civilian employees received the buyout offer and are complying with OPM guidance.

A good time to re-up this.

“A 2023 article from NASA’s history office about NASA’s 1978 astronaut class, which included the first female, Black and Asian-American astronauts, was accessible as recently as Jan. 25 but returned error messages by Jan. 29, according to The Internet Archive.”

With the White House aiming to end telework, these figures show 96 percent of NASA employees are telework-eligible and 12 percent are permanently remote.

In a bold forecast, venture firm Space Capital predicts both Boeing and Airbus will divest their space divisions in 2025.

Post-inauguration confusion at NASA. The agency updated its website to list Jim Free as acting administrator. But in a statement shortly after the inauguration, the White House announced Janet Petro would serve in that role. From @jfoust.bsky.social .

A primer of what to expect from the Trump administration with space. spacenews.com/trumps-secon...

Admirable that Ted Leo spells "lede" correctly here.

Last 24 hours in space: - First launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket - The upper stage on SpaceX's Starship fails - Air Force puts Space Development Agency leader Derek Tournear on leave - Trump names NRO official as Air Force secretary nominee - India docks two spacecraft in orbit

"Sources familiar with the selection process told SpaceNews that SpaceX founder Elon Musk ... advocated for Meink’s appointment."

Good news: New Glenn's upper stage reached orbit on its inaugural launch, the primary objective of the mission. Bad news: it appears the first stage was lost attempting to make a landing. spacenews.com/new-glenn-re...

Tom Vice, the chief executive of Sierra Space, which is best known for its work on the DreamChaser spaceplane, has retired.

Updated FAA advisory confirms a two-day slip in New Glenn's first launch to the early morning hours Wednesday.

A failure to account for 2024 being a leap year caused a two-day outage for Eutelsat's low Earth orbit OneWeb network.

SpaceX accounted for 88 of 93 launches from the Eastern Range in Florida and 46 of 47 launches from the Western Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

I had been assigned to cover the electric utility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. When the clock struck midnight, I was in a small windowless room with a photographer. Absolutely nothing happened.

Good for today.

For perspective on how fast the launch business changed: In 2019, there were 97 launches worldwide. Now SpaceX is talking about as many as 180 launches in 2025 themselves.

About 10 years ago, I was visiting Thule, the remote Air Force base in Greenland, saw a bright light in the sky and surprised, mentioned it looked like a plane was coming in. A general quickly corrected me. It was Venus.

This NYT piece on "Sput-nuke" reports that Russian satellite Cosmos 2553 carries a dummy warhead. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...