Aviation Week — Congress injected $110-120 million for NASA to further nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) research and development and $50 million for nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) efforts under the recently passed appropriations bill. New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has embraced nuclear propulsion and fission surface power as core to the agency’s mission.

Aviation Week — The SDA awarded a contract to Tukwila, Washington-based startup Starfish Space to deorbit at least one of the agency’s satellites in a mission targeted for 2027. The goal is to validate a commercial “deorbit-as-a-service” model for managing end-of-life disposal in LEO.

Air and Space Forces Magazine — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth exhorted the U.S. space industry to step up its efforts in a forceful Feb. 2 speech at Blue Origin in which he called for a new era of American “space dominance.” Hegseth’s remarks were part of his “Arsenal of Freedom” tour of American defense firms across the country, in which he has touted acquisition reforms made last fall

T-Minus Podcast — Satlyt is integrating its edge-computing framework with Aerospace’s DiskSat platform. “It has always been our plan for DiskSat to be transitioned to industry as quickly as possible,” said Deb Salvaggio, Aerospace’s Director of Technology Transfer. “DiskSat provides the kind of power and scalability that makes real-time computing in orbit possible, said Satlyt CEO Rama Afullo.

The National Law Review — Orbotic Systems plans to use Aerospace’s DiskSat form factor as a host spacecraft for a Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) sensor pathfinder, including integration studies for its WIND (Wind Ion Neutral Density) sensor. The effort is intended to support technical assessment and future mission planning related to VLEO operations.

DefenseScoop — The Department of the Air Force has established seven new portfolio acquisition executive (PAE) offices that will oversee capability development moving forward.

SpaceNews — NASA says it is continuing to prepare for a possible Artemis 2 launch as soon as February, but with remarkably little publicity by the agency for the first crewed flight to the moon in more than 50 years.

DefenseNews — Space Launch Delta 30 issued a request for information, seeking to establish infrastructure for heavy and super-heavy vertical launch vehicles to address critical gaps in launch capabilities at Vandenberg. If developed, SLC-14 would become the first dedicated super-heavy launch complex on the West Coast.

GovCon Wire — As executive vice president, Bullock will lead Aerospace’s customer-facing organizations, research and laboratory capabilities, engineering backplane, and technology investment activities.

Air and Space Forces Magazine — United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is slated to fly its second national security mission in February—nearly six months after its first operational launch and almost a year after it was certified to launch military payloads for the Space Force.