Moonshot #34

SpaceX Dodges FAA Delays, Firefly Preps for Lunar Delivery, and Astrobotic’s Mission Debrief.

Hello Continuum readers and Celestial Citizens,

Welcome back to Moonshot where we will give a bi-weekly rundown of all the private sector space news. If you haven’t already, consider becoming a paid subscriber ($6/month) so you can get past that pesky paywall and read the full Moonshot post!

The uncrewed Starliner capsule lands back on Earth at White Sands Space Harbor on Friday, September 2nd. Credit: NASA

Boeing – We don’t need to say it, because you already know: it’s been a rough year for Boeing. The Starliner saga has accentuated the cold hard fact that the aerospace company has become less focused on human spaceflight in the last decade, since accepting the Crew Flight Test (CFT) contract with NASA. While NASA continues to placate the public when it comes to Starliner – claiming that the agency and Boeing will fix and “move forward” with the vehicle now that it’s returned from its first troubled flight – other aerospace analysts see a world where Boeing cuts its losses and walks away. Fortunately for NASA, Boeing’s competitors have and will continue to rise to the occasion.

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This edition of Moonshot is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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Raytheon – Virginia-based Raytheon Technologies landed a $51.7 million contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop antennas for military aircraft, capable of receiving satellite communications. The US government is particularly focused on using these antennas to tap into commercial constellations like Starlink and OneWeb. This focus is reflected in the title of the AFRL program, which is known as Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI). The objective certainly makes sense; after all, when life gives you lemonade 6,000 Starlink satellites, why not make lemonade use those existing satellites to your advantage?

Blue Origin – Make way for New Shepherd: Blue Origin’s suborbital vehicle completed a successful flight on August 29th, carrying six people to an altitude of 105.3 kilometers before floating back to safety with its (now operational) parachutes. On the flight was Rob Ferl, a NASA-funded researcher from the University of Florida, who conducted experiments using plants as part of a study on cell transition from Earth to microgravity. Now, the company looks ahead to New Glenn, a rocket aiming to reach orbit next month, if Blue Origin can get it ready in time.

Verizon & Skylo – Following Apple’s lead with satellite SOS services, Verizon is partnering with Skylo to deliver satellite connectivity to compatible Android phones. Verizon customers with Google-made phones like the Pixel Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 will soon be able to access Skylo’s partner L-band geostationary satellites. The feature is intended to provide support to Android-users in case of an emergency, when cell service is not available and “irrespective of price plan,” according to the telecommunications company. In addition to its partnership with Skylo, Verizon is an investor in AST SpaceMobile, a satellite maker developing a direct-to-smartphone satellite architecture. 

SpaceX – Launching AST SpaceMobile’s first five commercial satellites will be SpaceX, currently scheduled for a September launch window. That said, SpaceX’s workhorse, the Falcon 9 rocket, had its schedule turned upside down after a fiery booster landing led to the FAA grounding the vehicle for an investigation. Luckily for the firm, the federal agency was quick to give the rocket the greenlight to fly even with its investigation still open, as the booster anomaly “was purely a recovery issue and posed no threat to the primary mission or public safety,” according to a SpaceX head. Elon Musk might have the FAA in the palm of his hand, but he certainly does not have the Brazilian Supreme Court. After Musk neglected to assign a legal representative to his social media company X in Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, decided to hit the billionaire where it hurt: Starlink. In an effort to cover the $3 million in fines accrued by the lack of social media regulation, Brazil froze Starlink’s local assets until Musk eventually agreed to block access to X in the country. 

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This edition of Moonshot is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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The Blue Ghost lander undergoes final testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Credit: Firefly Aerospace

Firefly – Before it heads to Cape Canaveral for launch later this year, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander must make it through environmental testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. The lander, which was ordered under the US space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, includes 10 NASA payloads, which will perform science experiments on the Moon. For this reason, it only makes sense that the agency needs to perform testing at one of its own facilities. That said, Firefly has done its due diligence with its inaugural Moon lander, completing “nearly 100 lander leg drop tests” and a demonstration of the spacecraft’s identification of a safe landing site on a faux one-acre moonscape at the company’s Rocket Ranch. Considering Firefly’s own preparation and NASA’s doubling down, we’d say that Blue Ghost Mission 1 is in a good position to succeed.