October 28, 2025

Slingshot Sells First Sensors in UK Deal as More Nations Seek Space-Tracking Sovereignty (Source: Space News)
Slingshot Aerospace is in talks with other countries to create or expand space-tracking capabilities after selling optical sensors to the United Kingdom, marking the California-based company’s first deal for the hardware behind its monitoring software. (10/28)

Thales to Build UHF Successor to France’s Aging Graves VHF Space-Surveillance Radar (Source: Space Intel Report)
The French arms procurement agency, DGA, has selected Thales to build the Aurore ground-based UHF-band radar to replace the aging, but remarkably cost effective, Graves bistatic VHF system in service since 2005. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Graves radar, capable of detecting satellites at up to 1,000 km in altitude, was originally conceived as an experimental project with a budget of 30 million euros. (10/28)

Avio Targets Up To 6 Vega-C Launches/Year; $465M Capital Raise, a Vega-C Win in the US, and US SRM Production (Sources: Space Intel Report, ACMI)
Rocket and tactical missile hardware builder Avio SpA continued its double-digit-growth track, reporting a 26% increase in revenue, a 25.9% increase in EBITDA and an 8% increase in backlog for the nine months ending Sept. 30 compared to a year ago. Avio outlined a 10-year growth path that will see a sharp increase in defense propulsion revenue from European and US customers.

Avio is also building a production facility in the United States. In October 2024, Avio USA announced a partnership with ACMI Properties to design a “several-hundred-acre” facility for solid rocket motor (SRM) production in the U.S. Multiple U.S. states were said to be under evaluation, and a location announcement was expected in the first half of 2025. Editor's Note: SRM production tends to be based in remote desert areas, but some Florida locations are compatible. (10/28)

SpaceX Chops Starlink Roam, Priority Plans by 80 Knots (Source: AIN)
Starlink satcom operator SpaceX is reducing the maximum speed allowed for Starlink Roam, Local Priority, and Global Priority service plans from 471 to 391 knots groundspeed. The company notified users of the 80-knot reduction in a recent update. (10/27)

ESA to Establish Presence in Tokyo to Strengthen Strategic Partnership with Japan (Source: ESA)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced it is establishing a new presence in Tokyo, Japan, its first in Asia. ESA will now have a staff member working in the heart of Tokyo’s thriving innovation hub X-NIHONBASHIi, reinforcing ESA’s long-standing and trusted partnership with Japan and working to deepen cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japan’s vibrant and rapidly growing space ecosystem, including its start-up sector. (10/28)

China Aims to Lead International Space Science with New Discoveries (Source: Space Daily)
China is rapidly evolving from a user of space technology into a key driver of global scientific discovery. Following the launch of a comprehensive space science plan for 2024-2050, China has marked important milestones such as pivotal experiments aboard its national space station and sustained momentum in planetary and deep space operations. Wang outlined advances including development of new science satellites and breakthroughs in space exploration missions. Click here. (10/25)

New Partnership Targets Seamless Lunar Refueling and Docking (Source: Space Daily)
ispace inc and OrbitAID Aerospace Private Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on sustainable lunar exploration. The agreement, announced during IAC2025 in Sydney, focuses on developing technology for seamless docking and refueling during lunar missions. OrbitAID will integrate its Standardized Interface for Docking and Refueling Payload (SIDRP) with ispace's lunar landers, aiming to demonstrate this capability on future missions. (10/27)

Space Sustainability Comes Down to Earth (Source: Space Review)
The space industry and others have been concerned for years about how the growing number of satellites could affect the sustainability of Earth orbit. Jeff Foust reports that some are also concerned about their effects on the Earth’s atmosphere. Click here. (10/27)
 
Is Starfleet Military or Scientific? Yes. (Source: Space Review)
In the Star Trek universe, Starfleet carries out both scientific and military roles, a source of tension. Dwayne Day explores that dichotomy and how it mirrors the history of the American space program. Click here. (10/27)
 
EUROSPACE and the European Spaceplane (Source: Space Review)
While the United States and Soviet Union raced to the Moon in the 1960s, European engineers worked on designs for reusable spaceplanes. Hans Dolfing examines details about several concepts. Click here. (10/27)
 
The P-Camera Experiment (Source: Space Review)
While many of the reconnaissance satellite programs from the Cold War era have been declassified, there remain a few mysteries. Dwayne Day discusses one case, an experiment to put another camera on a CORONA spacecraft. Click here. (10/27)

Europe Advances Asteroid Defense as GomSpace Secures Operational Support Contract (Source: Space Daily)
GomSpace has entered into an 8.4 million SEK agreement with SPACEBEL to implement the Juventas Operations segment for the ESA's Hera mission. The partnership will utilize HOOP Mission Control Center capabilities to enable autonomous management of the Juventas cubesat. The contract involves advanced operational support for Juventas during the cruise and asteroid exploration phases, through mission completion. The HERA-Juventas satellite and the Milani companion vehicle will begin surveying the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system from January to May 2027. (10/27)

Voyager to Acquire ExoTerra Resources (Source: Space News)
Voyager Technologies is acquiring satellite propulsion company ExoTerra Resources. Voyager announced the deal Monday, but did not disclose the value of the acquisition. ExoTerra, founded in 2011, has spent the last couple of years expanding its staff and moving into larger facilities to meet growing demand for satellite propulsion. ExoTerra first demonstrated its Halo Hall-effect thrusters in orbit on DARPA Blackjack satellites, and York Space Systems is using ExoTerra thrusters on satellites it is building for the Space Development Agency. Since becoming a public company in June, Voyager has been evaluating merger and acquisition opportunities, a company executive said in a recent interview. (10/28)

New Electric Propulsion Technology to Support European VLEO Communications Mission (Source: Space Daily)
ION-X has finalized a commercial agreement with Univity, previously Constellation Technologies and Operations, to supply HALO-MAX electric thrusters for the uniShape mission. The uniShape initiative serves as a preparatory stage for Univity's uniSky project, aiming to establish a Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellite constellation that delivers global high-speed 5G-NTN connectivity from space. (10/27)

Growing Orbital Congestion Risk Calls for VLEO Orbital Model (Source: Univity)
As more constellations populate Low Earth Orbit, debris mitigation is no longer an option. It’s a strategic necessity. Based on Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), UNIVITY drastically reduces debris generation by deploying its satellites at self-cleaning orbits. They are thus designed to naturally disintegrate within weeks or months after end of life, reducing the risk of generating new orbital debris. This environmentally responsible design, combined with the use of telecom operators’ 5G spectrum, enables high-performance, affordable and sustainable connectivity. It bridges the gap between terrestrial networks and universal access, without multiplying obsolete hardware in orbit. (10/28)

MTN StarEdge Horizon Routes Starlink to Avoid Public Internet (Source: Space News)
A networking company is using Starlink to enable companies to have links to remote sites without going through the public internet. MTN said its service would transfer data through a terrestrial backbone it leases from major carriers once data transmitted from a customer’s Starlink terminal reaches a SpaceX gateway. MTN says its StarEdge Horizon service avoids the extra latency often seen with standard virtual private networks, since data does not need to pass through encrypted software tunnels before reaching MTN servers or a customer’s cloud system. SpaceX has been steadily expanding Starlink’s appeal to enterprise and government customers since its initial focus on consumer broadband. (10/28)

Malaysia and Philippines Sign Artemis Accords (Source: Space News)
Two more countries have signed the Artemis Accords. Malaysia and the Philippines signed the Accords recently, the White House said in a fact sheet about President Trump’s visit to Malaysia. A total of 59 nations have signed the Accords since 2020, including seven so far this year and three this month. The document outlines norms of behavior for safe space exploration on topics from transparency to noninterference. (10/28)

Starlink Bandwidth Issues Impair Military Operations in Ukraine (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX is struggling to keep up with demand for Starlink services along the front lines in Ukraine. Troops there say the high demand for Starlink to support military operations means remotely operated vehicles, like rovers, get as little as 10 megabits per second of bandwidth. That makes it difficult to get the video needed to control the vehicles. Some have turned to terrestrial radio signals, including repeaters on tethered drones, as alternatives, but say that Starlink remains essential to military operations there. (10/28)

SpaceX Achieves Pad Turnaround Record with Starlink Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX set a record for pad turnaround time with a Starlink launch Monday evening. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:43 p.m. Eastern and placed 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch took place just less than 55 hours after the previous launch from the same Vandenberg pad, a record for the company as it continues efforts to increase the rate of Falcon launches from California and Florida. (10/28)

Kepler Hires Hadfield (Source: Kepler)
Kepler Communications has hired former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. The company said Monday that Hadfield will serve as an adviser as Kepler works to move into the market for human spaceflight communications. Hadfield will work with the company on communications needed for future commercial stations and vehicles as well as provide “general leadership” advice. Hadfield served as commander of the International Space Station during a five-month stay there over a decade ago. (10/28)

China-Argentina Telescope Work Halted During US Bailout (Source: Science)
Geopolitics has halted work on a radio telescope in Argentina. The China-Argentina Radio Telescope (CART), an antenna 40 meters in diameter, was on track to start operations later this year as the largest radio telescope in Latin America. But work to complete the telescope has been paused as Argentina’s government first held up imports of equipment from China and then imposed new conditions for the facility’s approval.

Scientists believe the roadblocks stem from efforts by the government to secure a bailout from the United States, whose terms require Argentina to suspend ties with China on “observational facilities.” Scientists argue that CART has no military applications and that Argentina’s defense ministry approved the telescope nearly a decade ago. (10/28)

New Leadership at American Space Museum (Source: ASM)
The American Space Museum and U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation, located in Titusville on Florida's Space Coast, welcomes new leadership. Gabriel Goddard Rothblatt is the new Executive Director and Mark Marquette is the new Museum Director. Programs now include bilingual STEAM Saturdays, exhibits that honor the people and artifacts that shaped the US space program, and a Space Memorabilia Store full of unique gift ideas. (10/28)

Space Procurement Must Embrace Wartime Urgency (Source: Space News)
The US must approach space as a warfighting domain with the same urgency President Franklin Roosevelt demanded during World War II, writes Gokul Subramanian of Anduril Industries. Subramanian points to last year's successful joint mission between Anduril and Apex Space as an example of the innovation possible when speed is prioritized. (10/27)

SpaceX: Starlink Speeds Have Increased 50% This Year (Source: PC Mag)
If you subscribe to Starlink, have you noticed faster internet speeds? SpaceX says download and upload rates for its satellite internet service have significantly improved since January. Over the weekend, SpaceX’s VP for Starlink Engineering shared a graph charting this year's speed increases. The graph shows that median download rates for Starlink were between 140Mbps and 160Mbps in January, but have since risen to 210 to 220Mbps—or about a 50% increase. (10/27)

Australia's HEO Robotics Aims to Push Spacecraft Imaging Deep Into the Final Frontier (Source: Space.com)
An Australian firm leading the way in providing images of spacecraft in low Earth orbit is making moves to expand its capabilities to higher orbits — and possibly, in the long run, to solar system destinations. HEO Robotics, has made a splash with sensational images of spacecraft in LEO that were taken by other spacecraft, or "non-Earth imaging" (NEI). Prominent examples include closeups of the ISS and China's Tiangong space station, as well as photos of ESA's ERS-2 satellite as it tumbled into Earth's atmosphere in February 2024. Such images are taken during calculated close approaches to spacecraft of interest by partner satellites. (10/27)

Yeast Demonstrates Survival Under Mars Conditions (Source: Space Daily)
Researchers from the Department of Biochemistry at the Indian Institute of Science and the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad have shown that baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) can endure the extreme conditions found on Mars. Their study exposed yeast cells to high-intensity shock waves, simulating meteorite impacts, and toxic perchlorate salts present in Martian soil. (10/25)

The Universe “Will End in a Big Crunch,” Physicists Warns (Source: SciTech Daily)
The universe is nearing the halfway point of what may be a 33-billion-year lifespan, according to new calculations by a Cornell physicist using updated dark energy data. The findings suggest that the cosmos will continue expanding for roughly another 11 billion years before reversing course, contracting back into a single point in a dramatic “big crunch.” (10/26)

Hubble Zooms In on a Galaxy That Maps the Universe’s Expansion (Source: SciTech Daily)
nown as NGC 3370, this elegant spiral galaxy lies about 90 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo (The Lion). Over the years, Hubble has revisited it many times, capturing increasingly detailed views of its sweeping arms and bright central region. What makes NGC 3370 so valuable to scientists? The galaxy contains two types of celestial objects that are essential for gauging cosmic distances: Cepheid variable stars and Type Ia supernovae. Both serve as reliable “standard candles,” allowing astronomers to calculate how far away other galaxies are with impressive accuracy. (10/27)

Where Does the Expanding Universe Begin? (Source: Big Think)
If we look out at the distant galaxies in the Universe, particularly at great distances, we find that they’re all receding away from us: strong evidence that the Universe is expanding. But here on local scales, including on Earth, in our Solar System, and across the Milky Way, we see no evidence for this expansion at all. So where does the expansion begin, and what scales does it actually have an effect on? The answer was already determined billions of years ago. Click here. (10/27)

Scientists Propose Quantum Network to Finally Detect Universe’s Mysterious Missing Substance (Source: SciTech Daily)
Researchers introduced a new approach to enhance the performance of quantum sensors by linking them in carefully engineered network configurations. These sensors operate according to the laws of quantum physics, allowing them to detect incredibly subtle signals that traditional sensors would miss. With this improvement, the precise detection of the delicate clues associated with dark matter may soon become achievable. (10/22)

JWST Finds a Planet That Shouldn’t Exist – and It’s Made Almost Entirely of Carbon (Source: SciTech Daily)
Researchers examined an exoplanet orbiting a millisecond pulsar and discovered that its atmosphere is composed almost entirely of pure carbon. The pulsar, PSR J2322-2650, belongs to a rare class known as “black widow” systems. These systems generate intense energy by siphoning material from a nearby companion star. In this case, the companion has likely been reduced to a “hot Jupiter” that completes an orbit around the neutron star every 7.8 hours. (10/26)

New Possible Volcanic Exomoon Orbiting Searing Hot Exoplanet (Source: EarthSky)
WASP-39b is a gas giant exoplanet – a hot Jupiter – orbiting a G-type star similar to our sun, about 700 light-years away from Earth. It orbits very close to its star, completing an orbit in only four days. This means it is extremely hot, with a dayside temperature of 1,430 degrees Fahrenheit. Astronomers discovered the planet in 2011. The findings are similar to that of another possible exomoon accompanying WASP-49b. Researchers said last year that this planet, also a hot Jupiter, might also have a volcanic exomoon.

Astronomers said in 2023 that they detected sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of WASP-39b. The James Webb Space Telescope was also used to make that detection. But is it really in the atmosphere, and where did it come from? The new study suggests that – similar to WASP-49b – the sulfur dioxide might originate from an orbiting exomoon. (10/26)

Dwarf Galaxies Tip the Scales in Favor of Dark Matter Over Modified Gravity (Source: Phys.org)
An international team of researchers has shed light on a decades-long debate about why galaxies spin faster than expected—and whether this behavior is caused by invisible dark matter or by a collapse of gravity on cosmic scales. The study analyzed stellar velocity data from 12 of the smallest and faintest galaxies in the universe to put rival theories to the test. It found that the galaxies' internal gravitational fields cannot be explained by visible matter alone, and that Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) predictions fail to reproduce the observed behavior. (10/27)

Black Hole Discovered in Nearby Segue 1 (Source: Phys.org)
Small and unassuming, Segue 1 is a nearby dwarf galaxy containing only a handful of stars—too few to provide the gravity needed to keep itself from scattering into space. Like other dwarf galaxies, it was long believed that gravity from a mysterious substance called dark matter was the main binding force. However, new research upends this assumption, challenging astronomers' understanding of dwarf galaxies. Instead of dark matter, a giant black hole at the heart of Segue 1 provides the needed glue, keeping stars tethered with its gravitational pull. (10/27)

No Space, No Time, No Particles: A Radical Vision of Quantum Reality (Source: New Scientist)
While this framework, in my opinion, makes a lot of logical sense, it takes us into unfamiliar territory. It’s not just observers that don’t exist – there are no particles either. And space and time? One implication of the original space-time framework is that observers in places where the curvature of space-time is different will experience time passing at different relative speeds. But the truth is that the time experienced by any moving object (even, say, an atom) will change with respect to objects in differing gravitational fields. These differences needn’t be recorded by observation, so we don’t need a special category of “observers”.

We should stop talking about “observers” and instead talk about entanglement. There is no “ultimate” observer – there are no observers at all. What really happens is that the system and observer (just another system) become entangled.

Here I take a more radical view: space and time don’t exist at all. Like “observers”, they are convenient labels – bookkeeping devices – but there are no physical entities corresponding to them. Therefore, quantising gravity doesn’t mean quantising space-time, it means quantising the gravitational field (upgrading Einstein’s c-numbers into q-numbers) in the same way that other fields are quantised. (10/27)

The Mach 9.6 X-43A ‘Hypersonic Scramjet’ Has a Message for the U.S. Air Force (Source: NatSec Journal)
NASA’s X-43A wasn’t a paper study—it was a 12-foot, hydrogen-fueled experimental jet that proved an air-breathing engine could fly at nearly ten times the speed of sound. It built on decades of X-plane risk-taking and scramjet groundwork, broke the speed record for air-breathers (Mach 6.8, then Mach 9.6), and then…stopped.

The cancellation wasn’t a scientific failure; it was timing, budgets, and shifting priorities toward space exploration and nearer-term military needs. Had it continued, the hydrocarbon-fueled X-43C could have chased “useful” hypersonics—cruise range, repeatability, and operable temperatures—bridging the gap between a stunning stunt and a fieldable capability. (10/26)