#WASHINGTON — Blue Origin expects to launch the first version of its Blue Moon lunar lander, a precursor to a future crewed lunar lander it is developing for #NASA, in 2025.

In an interview on the #CBS News program “60 Minutes” broadcast March 3, John Couluris, senior vice president of lunar permanence at Blue Origin, said the company was planning to launch the first “Mark 1” version of its Blue Moon lander in as soon as a year.

“This lander, we’re expecting to land on the moon between 12 to 16 months from today,” he said, referring to a full-sized mockup of the lander behind him. “That is what our team is aiming towards.”

#TAMPA, Fla. — U.S.-based Slingshot Aerospace is opening offices in the United Kingdom to expand its space traffic coordination and analysis business globally.

Melissa Quinn, previously head of the company’s Seradata space data analysis team, will lead the new international business division out of the Space Systems Operations Facility at Spaceport Cornwall, in southwest England.

Quinn joined Slingshot in June after two and a half years as head of Spaceport Cornwall, a space business cluster that also provided the runway for Virgin Orbit’s failed launch from the U.K. in January 2023

#WASHINGTON — Kurs Orbital, an Italian startup developing technology for in-space satellite servicing, announced March 7 it has secured $4 million in seed funding.

Based in Turin, Italy, Kurs was co-founded in 2021 by former director of Ukraine’s space agency Volodymyr Usov. The company relocated to Italy in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine and set up operations at the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Center.

The funding round was led by the European firm OTB Ventures. Other participants include Credo Ventures, Galaxia, In-Q-Tel and Inovo.

Usov, who is Kurs’ chief executive, said the seed funds will help to accelerate the development and commercialization of an interface module, called ARCap, that Kurs designed to facilitate in-orbit docking and maneuvers known as rendezvous and proximity operations.

#WASHINGTON — SpaceX is planning a more ambitious set of in-flight tests of its Starship vehicle on its next launch to demonstrate capabilities needed for launching satellites and going to the moon.

SpaceX said March 6 it was projecting a launch of Starship/Super Heavy vehicle on its third integrated test flight as soon as March 14. The company noted that date is pending regulatory approvals, although officials with the Federal Aviation Administration, which closed Feb. 26 the investigation into the second flight, said last month they expected to have an updated license ready in time to support a mid-March launch. #spacenews

#WASHINGTON — As NASA’s planetary science programs face reduced budgets this year and uncertain prospects for next year, advocates in Congress are banding together to build up support for them.

Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) announced March 6 that they were restarting a Planetary Science Caucus in Congress, serving as its co-chairs, with more than a dozen other members. The goal of the caucus is to educate other members and the public on the benefits of space exploration, in particular planetary science missions and related research.

#TYSONS, Va. — Despite #Russia’s troubles on the battlefield in #Ukraine and its relative decline as a space power, the head of United States Space Command warned against underestimating Moscow’s capabilities and intentions to challenge America’s dominance in the space domain.

“Russia’s struggles following their invasion of #Ukraine should not create a false sense of confidence that Moscow is fading in the space domain,” Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, said March 5 in remarks at the Potomac Officers Club 2024 Space Summit.

Whiting, who is responsible for U.S. military space operations, did not mention recent U.S. intelligence reports alleging that Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon. But he noted that #Moscow “will remain a formidable and less predictable challenge to the United States in key areas over the next decade, while still facing many hurdles of its own making.”

#TAMPA, Fla. — #Satellite operators are being called in to help keep Europe and Asia connected after subsea internet cables in the Red Sea were severed last week.

Four of around 15 submarine cables in the Red Sea have been affected, according to Hong Kong-based cable operator HGC Global Communications, which is helping reroute affected traffic.

Two of these come together at the area of the cut, the Washington Post reported citing a subsea cable expert at research company TeleGeography, meaning just three cables have been severed.

#WASHINGTON — An #infrared sensor satellite that #L3Harris designed for a future U.S. military constellation passed a preliminary review, positioning the company to compete in the Space Force program known as Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Missile Warning and Tracking.

The Space Force plans to deploy a network of satellites in MEO to detect and track hypersonic missiles.

For the first deployment of #satellites, known as Epoch 1, the Space Systems Command has already ordered six spacecraft from Millennium Space Systems. But the Space Force said as many as nine #satellites could be procured for Epoch 1. In the next phase of the program, Epoch 2, it could buy as many as 18 additional satellites.

#WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force is reviewing ideas from the private sector on how to augment the Global Positioning System constellation with smaller, lower-cost satellites.

The Space Force’s procurement arm, the Space Systems Command, last month issued a request for information probing the capabilities of the private sector to design a a more affordable #GPS #spacecraft that is also interoperable with existing GPS infrastructure.

A network of 31 GPS satellites 12,000 miles above Earth broadcast positioning, navigation and timing signals.

The military’s current GPS spacecraft are built by Lockheed Martin. The company last year delivered the 10th and final of the GPS III model produced under a 2008 contract.

#WASHINGTON — A #NASA safety panel says the agency is studying issues with the design of the side hatch of the Orion spacecraft that could affect its ability to be opened in an off-nominal situation.

During a Feb. 28 public meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), members said NASA has been looking at “a number of issues” with the Orion side hatch over the last six to nine months.

William Bray, the ASAP member who discussed the status of NASA’s exploration programs at the briefing, did not go into specifics about the hatch issue, only that it could affect “contingency operations” on the launch pad or after splashdown