[MUSIC PLAYING] Today is November 7th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazis, and this is T-minus. [MUSIC PLAYING] T-minus, 22nd to LOS, T-dred. Open aboard. [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] Fire. Planet has announced an eight-figure contract renewal with an international defense and intelligence customer. Four. KVR has selected Kreg Technologies as a subcontractor in support of NASA's Human Health and Performance Contract 2. Three. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has introduced his first federal budget, which includes $182.6 million Canadian, of course, over three years for the Defense Ministry to establish capability for space launches. Two. The launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V, carrying the VyF-SAT 3F-2 mission, is scrubbed for a second night in a row. One. The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency order that prohibits commercial space launches and re-entries during peak daytime hours. Zero. [MUSIC PLAYING] Lift off. [MUSIC PLAYING] Happy Friday, everyone. Well, after today's Intel briefing, our colleagues from nasaspaceflight.com will be bringing us the Space Traffic Report, rounding up the launch news from the last week. And spoiler, there have been a lot. And taking a look at what is on the schedule for the next seven days. And spoiler, that also may be all up in the air. But still, let's dive into the why on that first, shall we? [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Yes, indeed. So the US Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency order that prohibits commercial space launches and re-entries during peak daytime hours, limiting them to overnight only. This measure is part of a broader action to reduce the strain on the US national airspace system due to an ongoing US government shutdown and associated air traffic controller staffing issues. So let's break this whole complicated issue down as easily as we possibly can. This order is effective starting at 6 AM EST on Monday, November 10, 2025, and will remain in effect until the order is canceled. Commercial space launches and re-entries are only permitted between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM local time at the relevant launch site, meaning operations are banned during 6 AM and 10 PM. The FAA stated that the actions are proactive measures to alleviate building risk in the system as air traffic controllers continue to work without pay during the government shutdown. Space launches require, of course, the closing of large areas of aerospace, which in turn increases the workload for the already very busy air traffic controllers. This launch curfew is expected to significantly impact launch providers like SpaceX, which frequently conduct launches during various times of the day. Launches that require specific instantaneous launch windows for proper trajectory, such as missions to the International Space Station or interplanetary missions, may, as you might imagine, face delays or require rescheduling. And we are sure that there are quite a few launch providers and payload operators right now who are scrambling to rethink their schedules while this temporary measure is in place. And so we are sure also that the folks at ULA are scrambling to resolve a vent valve issue that's caused delays to their launch over the last few days to avoid this new measure. ULA's Atlas V was due to lift off on Wednesday, got pushed to Thursday, and then scrubbed for a second time. The company released a statement saying that, quote, "the launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V carrying the Viasat 3F2 mission for Viasat is scrubbed for tonight's launch attempt due to a reoccurrence of the issue with the Atlas V booster liquid oxygen tank vent valve. The team will evaluate the hardware and we will release a new launch date when available," end quote. It's always a valve, isn't it? Viasat has been waiting for the second satellite in the Viasat 3 series after the Viasat 3F1 launched by SpaceX in 2023 suffered an issue with its antenna, which both delayed the start of service and resulted in a significantly reduced capacity. And hopefully we will have an update for you on the launch next week. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has introduced his first federal budget, which includes $182.6 million Canadian dollars over three years for the Defense Ministry to establish capability for space launches. And that is $130 million US dollars for those of us on the side of the border. Details were slim on what the money would be used for exactly, but it does send a clear signal that Canada wants to grow. It's sovereign capabilities. Canada will also have a new Defense Investment Agency known as the DIA. And the government says the DIA will overhaul and streamline Canada's defense procurement, which may include new space assets in the coming years. And we will share more details on what this all looks like when more details are available. Earth Observation Company Planet has announced an eight-figure contract renewal with an unnamed international defense and intelligence customer for high-resolution imagery. This is a renewed agreement that will provide the customer with access to planets Pelican and SkySat assured tasking capabilities, which Planet says will enable critical, timely monitoring and intelligence gathering in key areas of interest. And KBR has selected Craig Technologies as a subcontractor in support of NASA's Human Health and Performance Contract II, also known as HHPC-II. Under this contract, Craig Technologies will provide support across the full spectrum of contract requirements, helping to ensure the health, safety, and performance of NASA's astronauts and workforce. NASA awarded the HHPC-II to KBR to provide services to the Human Health and Performance Directorate at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The contract, which begins on November 1st, includes a five-year base period with two potential option periods extending through 2035 with a total estimated value of $3.6 billion. And that, my friends, wraps up today's top five stories, and we're gonna dive deeper into the launch news with our partners at NSF. Shortly, of course, but before that, N2K Senior Producer Alice Carruth joins us now with a look at the other stories that we are keeping an eye on today. What do you have for us, Alice? - We've reached that time of year again, Maria, when financial updates are reported. Check out the latest updates from BlackSky, SES, and RedWire in today's selected reading section of our show notes. You'll also find links in there, covering hyperspace and Atmos Space Cargo's MOU, and Skys finding an announcement from NASA for climate monitoring in the stratosphere. Those links can also be found on our website, space.n2k.com. - Tomorrow, T-minus listeners, be sure to check your podcast feed for T-minus deep space. It's our special edition Saturday show, where we share an in-depth interview and dive a bit deeper into fascinating and timely topics with brilliant guests. And on T-minus deep space tomorrow, we have Jacob Horn discussing the new CMMC requirements that come into effect next week. And what's that, I hear you ask? Yeah, what is the CMMC requirement list? Well, if you work with the Department of Defense, or if you are looking to work with them, or the federal government in the United States in the future, well, this is a must listen for all of you. That is on T-minus deep space tomorrow. Do not miss it. (upbeat music) And now, since it's Friday, it is time for you to hear the space traffic report from our friends and partners at nasaspaceflight.com. (upbeat music) I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and this is your weekly space traffic report for T-minus space. It was a busy weekend space flight with launches from all around the world, starting with a launch of a Starlink mission on October 31st. Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2041 UTC, carrying 29 Starlink V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The first stage for this flight was booster B1063, which became the third booster to complete 29 flights as it touched down on the deck of SpaceX's drone ship, of course, I still love you. And with that, we've wrapped up the month of October, during which we had 25 launches. Unsurprisingly, SpaceX dominated a schedule with 15 launches, followed by the country of China, which launched eight missions. Looking at all of 2025 thus far, we ended October with 253 launches worldwide, close to the record 259 launches from last year, although that record has already been broken after the first few launches of November. The world is on track to hit over 300 launches by the end of the year, and it could be in fact, as many as 310 launches. SpaceX has already launched 139 Falcon 9 missions through the end of October, and they're currently on track for 167 launches by the end of the year, very close to the company's target of 170 launches. Moving into November, we had the launch of SpaceX's Bandwagon 4 mission on November 2nd, lifting off from Cape Canaveral at 509 UTC. This was the fourth mission for the Bandwagon Rideshare Program for which Falcon 9 lofted 18 payloads on this flight. As with most of SpaceX's rideshare missions, a number of satellites were contracted through a third party, in this case, ExoLaunch, which provided 13 payloads. Another satellite was provided by Star Cloud, which put NVIDIA GPUs into space to test space-based data centers. But probably the most anticipated passenger on this flight was Vasshaven demo satellite, built to test several systems and technologies for the company's upcoming space stations. Vast has already declared the mission successful. The booster supporting this mission was B-1091, which flew for a third time. Following stage separation, it returned to Florida for a landing at landing zone two at the Cape. With no more landing scheduled before SpaceX's lease of Launch Complex 13 expires, which encompasses the landing zone, we suspect that this may have marked the final landing at the site. But don't worry, return to launch site landings will continue as the company is still constructing new landing pads at the Cape. Later that day, we had a launch from India. At 1156 universal time, an LVM-3 took to the skies above the Satish Devon Space Center to launch a communication satellite for the Indian Navy. The medium lift rocket delivered the GSAT-7R into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The satellite will replace the existing GSAT-7, which launched in 2013 and has well surpassed its planned seven-year mission. Over in China, a Changjiang 7A lifted off from Wenchang on November 3rd. The rocket ignited its engines at 347 UTC to deliver an Earth observation satellite to medium Earth orbit. Due to the classified nature of the payload, we don't know much about it, but official reports describe its purpose as surveying national resources, hydrology and meteorology, as well as disaster management. We even had a European launch this week. On November 4th at 2102 universal time, Ariane 6 lifted off from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana to insert the Sentinel-1D satellite into a sun synchronous orbit. This latest addition to the Sentinel family will operate in tandem with its twin, Sentinel-1C, to observe our planet with its synthetic aperture radar, or SAR instrument. With this, it can peer through weather to study what's below in all conditions day and night. It'll be able to measure how the ground deforms from volcanic activity in earthquakes, map forests and monitor sea ice and glaciers, among many other things. Sentinel-1D was launched to replace the Sentinel-1A satellite, which has now logged 11 years in its planned seven-year mission. The day after, another synthetic aperture radar mission started off from New Zealand. Yeah, we really had launches from all around the world this week. Rocket Lab's Electron lifted off from the company's own launch complex on the Mejia Peninsula, carrying another SAR satellite from Japanese company IQPS. This was Rocket Lab's sixth mission for the company, and it has six more contracted at this time. Rocket Lab dubbed the mission the nation god navigates as a nod to the Japanese god of nation building, Yachihoko. Back in Florida, Falcon 9 ignited its engines to loft yet another batch of starlinks. Lifting off at 131 UTC on November 6th, this mission delivered 29 starlink V-2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The booster for this mission was B-1094, which ended its fifth flight by successfully touching down on the deck of droneship, just read the instructions. The next starlink mission took off from Vandenberg at 2113 Universal Time that same day, encapsulated at Falcon 9's fairing, where 28 more starlink V-2 mini satellites. SpaceX used booster B-1093 for this mission on its eighth flight. It landed successfully on the deck of, of course, I still love you, which was stationed in the Pacific. This week's three starlink missions brought the total number of starlink satellites launched up to 10,270. Of these, 1,381 of de-orbited and 7,559 are now in their operational orbit. Going into next week, the schedule is now highly uncertain due to the FAA limiting commercial launches as a result of the government shutdown. But there's a chance that we'll still get to see some exciting launches anyway. If all goes well, Blue Origin will launch its second new Glenn on November 9th before the FAA's rules go into effect. This launch will carry the two satellites for NASA's Escapade mission into space, where they'll be staged at Lagrange Point 2 ahead of their journey to Mars. Blue will attempt another booster landing on this mission, and the company's landing barge, Jack Lin, is already on its way to the landing location in the Atlantic. SpaceX had planned to launch its Transporter 15 ride-share mission from Vandenberg this week, as well as a few starlink missions from Florida. Some of these missions may still happen, but we don't know anything for sure at this moment. There's also a chance that ULA might sneak in the Atlas V launch of Viacet 3F2, which scrubbed a few times last week. We may also get a few launches from China, which obviously won't be subjected to the FAA rules, but if you wanna keep an eye on the latest schedule, your best bet will be our next spaceflight app and website. It's a great way to stay up to date, and it's completely free. I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and that's your weekly space traffic report. Now back to T-Minus Space. (upbeat music) - We will be right back. Welcome back. For our last story, it is Friday, so going into the weekend, I am gonna be shamelessly geeky and say that yesterday, I saw something that I have been waiting to see since September 28th, 1987. Lego finally unveiled pictures of their official Star Trek the next generation Enterprise D ship model complete with nine minifigs of the main cast and I geeked out like no Trekkie has ever geeked out before. Because for 399,99 of our American dollars, my fellow millennials and Gen Xers, you too can fulfill your youthful fantasies of finally having an official Lego version of the iconic Enterprise D 3,600 pieces in all with its 80s cruise ship room, fever dream wood paneled bridge, carpeted floor and fake plants throughout, although you'll have to provide those in your imagination because it's just the exterior, but that's good enough, isn't it? Because you too can imagine having thrilling conferences with your hyper competent team, Captain Picard with his cup of Earl Grey tea, Riker with his trombone, Data with his cat spot, Worf with his prune juice. It's probably a phaser, but I'm gonna go with prune juice. And yes, the set also includes Jordy with his engineering kit, Crusher with the medical tricorder, Deanna with her purple jumpsuit, Guy Nann with a drink that is green and Wesley with his iconic striped sweater and something that I'm going to assume is an exocomp in tiny Lego-e form. The free gift with purchase also gives you a mini-fig of the first spicy bejoren in Star Trek, that would be Rollerin, and the shuttlecraft Onizuka, named after real life hero and NASA astronaut, Ellison Onizuka, who perished in the Challenger disaster just a few years before Star Trek, the next generation went to air. And did I mention that when fully assembled, the saucer section does actually separate from the ship body if you so desire. It's the little things, isn't it? Now, if you don't know what the heck I am talking about, please don't worry, other Trekkies definitely do. So if you are shopping for them in your life, remember that this is actually, if you can believe it, the very first time an official Star Trek set has ever been made by Lego. Yeah, weird, right? So this set available for sale on November the 28th at 12 a.m. EST. Yes, later this month is gonna go like hotcakes. In the meantime, to paraphrase a certain favorite cling on of mine, perhaps today is a good day to die of excitement over this Lego set, figuratively speaking, of course. (upbeat music) And that is T-minus, brought to you by N2K Cyber Wire. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey and the show notes or send an email to space@n2k.com. We're proud that N2K Cyber Wire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector, from the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. N2K helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn, and stay informed. As the Nexus 4 Discovery and Connection, we bring you the people, the technology, and the ideas, shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn how at N2K.com. N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliott Peltzman and Tre Hester with original music by Elliott Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Eiben. Peter Kilpe is our publisher, and I am your host, Maria Varmazis. Thank you for listening. Have a lovely weekend. - T minus. (sounds of wind) (sounds of wind) [BLANK_AUDIO]
