Spaceflight

AST SpaceMobile plans to launch satellites for its direct-to-smartphone broadband constellation every one to two months starting in July, aiming to begin beta services for AT&T and Verizon in the United States before the end of the year.

Five launches across multiple providers have been contracted over the next six to nine months, the Texas-based venture announced May 12 during earnings results.

India’s GSLV rocket is slated to carry AST SpaceMobile’s first Block 2 BlueBird satellite, which the operator said is scheduled to ship from its Texas facility in June.

Avellan said in November that two Falcon 9 launches would likely follow the initial Indian launch, with later missions using Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets, whose larger fairings can accommodate up to eight Block 2 satellites per flight.

MDA Space received a contract valued at $1 billion Canadian ($715 million) in June 2024 from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for Phase C and D development of Canadarm3, Canada’s main contribution to the Gateway. The Canadian government announced its intent in 2019 to offer the robotic arm to NASA for the Gateway, and in return received seats on two Artemis missions, including the assignment of Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen to Artemis 2.

The company said that it estimates less than $900 million Canadian of that contract remains as part of an overall MDA Space backlog of $4.8 billion Canadian.

In the call, Greenley said the work on Canadarm3 might be repurposed in some way for other lunar activities if Congress goes along with the cancellation of the Gateway. “NASA has signaled its commitment to work with Artemis partners, which include the Canadian Space Agency, on expanding opportunities for meaningful collaboration on the moon and Mars and to repurpose components for use in other missions,” he said.

He added that leadership of space agencies involved in Artemis are “all in discussions about where can they use all these different elements to do good things on the moon and make sure that everyone’s contributions are recognized and useful.”

German launch services provider Exolaunch is working with non-U.S. customers to reclaim most of the tariffs they must pay to deploy their satellites via SpaceX.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 10% tariff on most imports entering the United States April 2, calculated based on the declared value of the goods. Some countries face even higher tariffs or additional trade restrictions.

Arad Gharagozli, CEO of Canada-based satellite startup Galaxia, said his company was recently hit with a 25% duty to ship its first spacecraft to California for a launch this June on a SpaceX rideshare mission.

He said the startup considered canceling the mission while seeking an alternative launch provider, before coming up empty.

“Given the short notice and significant implications of pulling out we decided to absorb the cost and go ahead with the launch,” Gharagozli added.

However, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offers a Duty Drawback program that allows operators to recover up to 99% of the duties paid on goods that are exported or re-exported, including satellites delivered for launch.

Jeanne Allarie, Exolaunch’s chief marketing officer, said the company is managing this process on behalf of Galaxia and other customers using its deployment dispenser for SpaceX’s upcoming Transporter-14 mission.

“It’s not a quick nor easy process, but given the amounts that we’re talking about, it is definitely worth it to our customers,” Allarie said.

The new tariffs also apply to foreign satellites launched from U.S. soil by United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and others.

They do not apply to Rocket Lab launches from New Zealand, despite the company being based in the U.S., as long as the satellite does not transit through the country. The tariffs would apply if the satellite is launched from Rocket Lab’s U.S. site at Wallops Island, Virginia.

In a May 9 statement, ispace U.S., the American subsidiary of Japan’s ispace, said it will use a new engine called VoidRunner for its Apex 1.0 lunar lander. That lander is being developed by ispace U.S. for a team led by Draper flying a mission that is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

The company previously planned to use an engine from Agile Space Industries called A2200, a bipropellant engine that produces about 2,200 newtons (500 pounds-force) of thrust. However, ispace U.S. said that after a review with Agile, the companies concluded the A2200 “would not be supplied within the originally planned procurement schedule.”

The Kosmos 482 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, now part of Kazakhstan, aboard a Molniya rocket on March 31, 1972. A short time later, the rocket's upper stage was supposed to propel the probe out of Earth orbit on an interplanetary journey toward Venus, where it would have become the third mission to land on the second planet from the Sun.

But the rocket failed, rendering it unable to escape the gravitational grip of Earth. The spacecraft separated into several pieces, and Russian engineers gave up on the mission. The main section of the Venus probe reentered the atmosphere in 1981, but for 53 years, the 3.3-foot-diameter (1-meter) segment of the spacecraft that was supposed to land on Venus remained in orbit around the Earth, its trajectory influenced only by the tenuous uppermost layers of the atmosphere.

The Aerospace Corporation's experts predict Kosmos 482 will fall to Earth some time nine hours before or after 1:54 am EDT (05:54 UTC) Saturday. The European Space Agency's forecast is centered on 3:12 am EDT (07:12 UTC) Saturday, plus or minus 13.7 hours.

The reentry windows will narrow over the next couple of days, but experts won't be able to pinpoint an exact time or location before the spherical spacecraft makes its final plunge.

Seven government departments issued a notice April 30 entitled “Regulations on the Management of Terminal Equipment Directly Connected to Satellite Services,” establishing the legal and technical groundwork for satellite connectivity aligned with national objectives.

The notice supports the development of direct-to-satellite communications, including infrastructure deployment, ecosystem cultivation, and broader integration. According to a Xinhua report, the regulations aim to promote the healthy development of satellite-connected terminal services while safeguarding national security and public interests.

The move takes place amid growing international competition and follows earlier developments in the U.S., with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last March approving the world’s first direct-to-smartphone regulatory framework.

While often described as direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services in Western industry, China’s new rules appear to refer more broadly to terminal equipment directly connected to satellites. This includes not only smartphones but also Internet of Things (IoT) modules, vehicle terminals and other connected devices.

The notice was jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Public Security, and relevant administrations for cybersecurity, radio, film and television, customs, and market regulations.