Weekly Space Report

By Natalia Godlewska (Chief Space News Editor)

Who attacked POLSA?

On March 2, Polish Space Agency (POLSA) fell victim to a cyberattack. This attack led to unauthorized access to POLSA’s IT infrastructure.

„There has been a cybersecurity incident at POLSA. The relevant services and institutions have been informed. An analysis of the situation is currently underway. To secure the data after the breach, POLSA’s network was immediately disconnected from the Internet. We will keep you informed.” POLSA announced on X.

To deal with the situation the agency disconnected for three days its systems from the internet to prevent breaches and mitigate further damage. Cybersecurity teams are currently working on identifying the perpetrators and strengthening POLSA’s digital defenses. This incident highlights the increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks and shows the urgent need to enhance security systems especially in crucial sectors.

ESA is back in the game

Decade of hard work finalized with successful launch of Ariane 6. European Space Agency (ESA) made an important statement for European spaceflight, by sending to space a French military satellite CSO-3 satellite. This satellite could play an important role in providing satellite imagery for Ukraine. Rocket developed by ArianeGroup and operated by Arianespace became is a significant milestone for building technological independence of the European space sector.

Athena mirroring Odysseus

After successful landing on Moon’s south pole on March 5, Athena lunar lander designed by Intuitive Machines sent us unsatisfying information. We received the image of spacecraft lying on its side. Athena was supposed to search for subsurface ice and operate the Grace Hopper drone designed to explore lunar craters, but sadly, due to its position, lander’s solar panels struggled to maintain power supply. This incident reminds us of Odysseus lander, which also landed on side in 2024. It means, that Intuitive Machines and NASA have to analyze the mission, to prevent past setbacks.

Starship failed again

Really good start, but quite bad ending, this way we can summarize SpaceX’s Starship’s 8 fight. Rocket on top of Super Heavy booster lifted from South Texas on March 6. After 2,5 minutes booster was separated from Starship’s upper stage as planned and was successfully caught by the arms of SpaceX’s launch tower. But less than 10 minutes into flight spacecraft began to show engine malfunction. Rocket started to tumble before losing connection with the livestream. Flight termination system triggered an explosion of spacecraft and covered the sky over Florida and over the Caribbean with falling debris. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the failure, but Elon Musk and SpaceX remain optimistic, pointing out, that setbacks are part of the learning process.