October 9, 2025

DLR's ATHEAt Flight Experiment Achieves Hypersonic Milestone Over Norway (Source: Space Daily)
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has successfully launched its ATHEAt flight experiment from Andoya, Norway, marking a major advance in reusable space transportation technology. The sounding rocket lifted off on 6 October, flying for approximately four minutes and surpassing Mach 9 - conditions comparable to atmospheric re-entry. The rocket climbed beyond 30 kilometers in altitude, with onboard sensors capturing data on aerothermal loads and structural performance. (10/9)

Space Ocean and Space Nukes Forge Alliance to Develop Deep Space Power Systems (Source: Space Daily)
Space Ocean Corp. signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Space Nuclear Power Corp. (Space Nukes) to explore the integration of advanced nuclear reactor technology into future deep-space missions. The collaboration centers on testing Space Nukes' 10-kilowatt nuclear reactor aboard Space Ocean's ALV-N satellite. Upon meeting key performance milestones, Space Nukes will become a core supplier of compact fission systems for Space Ocean's lunar and planetary missions.

Editor's Note: There is a shortage of facilities at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport sited for nuclear payload processing, while there are several companies and programs aimed at sending nuclear powered spacecraft or nuclear power generators into space. (10/9)

Raytheon and Anduril Achieve Breakthrough Test in Advanced Rocket Propulsion (Source: Space Daily)
Raytheon and Anduril have completed a successful static fire test of an advanced solid rocket motor under contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate. The tested propulsion system featured a Highly Loaded Grain (HLG) rocket motor, one of the most challenging designs in the field. Editor's Note: HLG motors us ~90% of the propulsive stage's internal volume for propellant, as opposed to 80-85% for non-HLG motors. This requires advances in thermal management, grain design, and high-tolerance casings. (10/9)

Rocket Lab Widens iQPS Partnership with Three More Dedicated Electron Launches (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket Lab has signed a new multi-launch agreement with Japan's Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS), adding three dedicated Electron missions from New Zealand beginning in 2026 and making Rocket Lab the primary launch provider for the QPS-SAR constellation. The additional flights lift iQPS's upcoming Electron manifest to seven, on top of four already booked. Each mission will deploy a single SAR satellite. (10/9)

Trump Jeopardizing US Role as Scientific Leader: Nobel Officials (Source: Space Daily)
Donald Trump's assault on science could threaten the United States' position as the world's leading research nation and have knock-on effects worldwide, Nobel Prize officials in Sweden said. Since taking office in January, the US president has cut billions of dollars in funding, attacked universities' academic freedoms and overseen mass layoffs of scientists across federal agencies. Next week, the Nobel Prizes will be announced in Stockholm and Oslo, and chances are high that researchers working in the United States will take home some of the prestigious awards. (10/9)

University of Mississippi Law School Launches First Fully Online Air and Space Law Master's Degree (Source: Space Daily)
The University of Mississippi School of Law has introduced the nation's first fully online Master of Science in Air and Space Law, designed to equip professionals for leadership roles in the fast-growing aerospace sector. Created in collaboration with instructional design firm iDesign, the program delivers a comprehensive legal foundation for those working in aviation, commercial space, and emerging air mobility industries. (10/9)

Space Force Sees Surge in Foreign Military Sales (Source: Aviation Week)
The US Space Force has seen a significant increase in foreign military sales cases over the past four years, with projections indicating $10 billion to $12 billion in demand for space-related sales by 2030. The sales have expanded beyond GPS user equipment to other areas of the Space Force's portfolio. (10/8)   
 
Space Force Launches Billion-Dollar Working Capital Fund (Source: Space News)
The US Space Force's newly announced working capital fund is projected to exceed $1 billion to streamline military agencies' access to commercial space services. Operating under the Air Force Working Capital Fund, this initiative uses a revolving fund model, allowing customers to pay for services and reinvesting revenues to sustain the fund. The program began with a $120 million deposit and anticipates managing over $1.2 billion each year, providing a scalable financial platform to support evolving commercial space requirements. (10/8)

Stoke Raises $510 Million for Fully Reusable Rocket (Source: Space News)
Launch vehicle developer Stoke Space announced Wednesday it raised $510 million, bringing the total it raised to nearly $1 billion. The Series D round was led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund, which invests in companies developing “critical technologies relevant to the national interest,” with other new and existing investors participating. The company had closed a $260 million Series C round nine months ago. Stoke said it will use the funding to accelerate development of Nova, a medium-lift vehicle whose first and second stages are intended to be reused. Stoke secured a National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 contract for Nova earlier this year, but the company has not announced a date for the vehicle’s first launch. (10/9)

AST and Verizon Agree to Space-Based Network Arrangement (Source: Space News)
AST SpaceMobile said Wednesday that Verizon had signed a definitive agreement to use its planned space-based cellular network. The deal enables Verizon to provide direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity to its customers from some point in 2026, building on a strategic partnership announced in May 2024 that included plans for a $100 million investment in AST. AST signed a similar definitive revenue-sharing agreement with AT&T last year. Shares in AST closed up 8% Wednesday as investors’ concerns about the competitive threat posed by SpaceX’s D2D ambitions eased. (10/9)

European Defense Spending and Golden Dome May Reshape Commercial Space (Source: Space News)
A wave of defense spending in Europe and renewed military investment in the United States are reshaping the commercial space industry. Investors and executives said those two trends, both linked to policies by the Trump administration, have changed the outlook for space companies this year. European investments are focused on surveillance, communications infrastructure and military space projects designed to ensure strategic autonomy, while the U.S. trends are linked to the Golden Dome missile defense system. Executives say there are now more investors interested in space companies as a result.

Editor's Note: Looks like European nations are wisely using dual-use space investments to meet their defense-spending obligations to NATO. (10/9)

Space Force Creates Fund to Ease Access to Commercial Space Services (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force has established a working capital fund with a projected value of more than $1 billion to help facilitate military agencies’ access to commercial space services. Space Systems Command said Wednesday that the Enterprise Space Activity Group (ESAG) was established at the start of the month under the Air Force Working Capital Fund. ESAG will help military users purchase services such as commercial satellite communications outside of annual appropriations cycles. The new fund began operations with an initial $120 million deposit and is expected to handle more than $1.2 billion annually. (10/9)

Space Force Picks Muon Space to Demo Satellite Earth Observation, Weather Forecasting (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force awarded a contract to Muon Space to demonstrate how its satellites can be used in weather forecasting. Space Systems Command announced Wednesday it awarded Muon Space a Phase 3 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) fixed price Other Transaction Authority agreement, a type of public-private partnership deal used by the government to tap commercially available technologies, valued at $44.6 million. The award covers in-orbit demonstrations of the company’s environmental monitoring technology in support of military applications such as weather forecasting. Muon will launch three satellites for the Space Systems Command’s prototype demonstration. (10/9)

Blue Origin Launches Suborbital Tourist Flight at Texas Site (Source: Space News)
Blue Origin launched six people on a suborbital spaceflight Wednesday. The company’s New Shepard vehicle lifted off at 9:40 a.m. Eastern from its West Texas site on the NS-36 flight, landing 10 minutes later. The six people on board included one repeat customer, Clint Kelly III, who previously flew on New Shepard in 2022. This was the eighth flight of New Shepard this year, and a company executive said last month that Blue Origin plans to move to weekly flights over the next two years as it introduces additional vehicles capable of higher flight rates. (10/9)

Arianespace Sets November 4 for Next Ariane 6 Launch (Source: Arianespace)
Arianespace set an early November date for the next Ariane 6 launch. The company said this week the launch of the Sentinel-1D radar imaging satellite is planned for Nov. 4 from French Guiana. The launch will be the third for the Ariane 6 this year and fourth overall for the vehicle. Arianespace said last month it plans four Ariane 6 launches this year, down from earlier projections of five. (10/9)

ArianeGroup CEO Exits (Source: Alstom)
The CEO of the prime contractor for the Ariane 6 plans to step down to take a job outside the space industry. ArianeGroup announced Wednesday that Martin Sion had informed the company he would not seek to extend his contract as CEO, which is scheduled to expire in March 2026. Neither the company nor Sion provided further explanation, but French train manufacturer Alstom announced Thursday that Sion would join the company as CEO in April. (10/9)

Study Looks at Mars Crew Personality Types (Source: Space.com)
Mars missions will need a wide range of personality types, a new study argues. Researchers, in a paper published Wednesday, used computer simulations to learn how people with different personality traits would work together on a long-duration mission to Mars. The simulation used “agents” with different personality traits to simulate astronauts on the mission. Researchers said crews with different combinations of traits did better than those who were all similar to one another. (10/9)

Blue Origin Transports New Glenn Booster to Launch Site Ahead of Mars-Bound Mission (Source: Spaceflight Now)
Blue Origin is one step closer to its second ever launch of its New Glenn rocket. On Wednesday morning, teams rolled the 189-foot-tall booster from its facilities near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to begin its journey out to LC-36. The booster, named ‘Never Tell Me the Odds,’ a nod to the famous line from Star Wars, will be used during the upcoming launch of NASA’s Mars-bound Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. A launch date hasn’t been announced, but it’s likely in early November. (10/8)

Sabca Secures €85 Million Ariane 6 Operational Phase Contract (Source: European Spaceflight)
ArianeGroup has awarded an €85 million contract to Belgian aerospace and defence company Sabca for the production of Thrust Vector Control (TVC) systems for 27 Ariane 6 rockets. Sabca and ArianeGroup signed an initial contract for the production of the first batch of Ariane 6 TVC systems in July 2020. The TVC systems allow both the Vulcain 2.1 core-stage engine and the Vinci upper-stage engine to be steered. (10/8)

Study Finds No Benefit to NASA's Reliance on Industry for Spacecraft Development (Source: Futurism)
For decades, NASA has increasingly leaned on corporate contractors to develop its spacecraft. Triumphs have included SpaceX’s Dragon vehicles, which can now reliably shuttle astronauts to the ISS and beyond. The widely parroted idea is that players in the free market will be able to operate more efficiently than NASA’s own stock of engineers, who masterminded the agency’s triumphs of decades past, like the Apollo Moon missions and the Space Shuttle.

But are corporations actually more efficient at realizing NASA’s goals? A recent paper in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets set out to settle the score. For proponents of corporate partnerships with NASA, the results are embarrassing: the paper found that the contractors were just as inefficient as the government.

Unfortunately, the paper may be falling on deaf ears. Since rising to office, the Trump administration, with a helping hand from Elon Musk, has gutted some 20 percent of NASA’s staff, including over 2,000 senior staffers with “core mission” experience. Musk’s SpaceX, meanwhile, has been handed the keys to the proverbial kingdom. (10/7)

Giant Asteroid Struck North Sea, Unleashing 330-Feet Tsunami (Source: SciTech Daily)
For decades, scientists have debated the origin of the Silverpit Crater in the southern North Sea. New evidence now shows that the structure was created by the impact of an asteroid or comet roughly 43 to 46 million years ago. (10/7)

Defense to ‘Anchor’ Exploding Satellite Market Over Next Decade (Source: Breaking Defense)
The number of satellites projected to be launched over the next decade will dwarf the number of those now on orbit — but even though the bulk of those new birds will be owned by commercial and civil government entities, it is the defense sector that will “anchor” the market through 2034, according to a new analysis. NovaSpace’s report states, “more than 43,000 satellites will launch over the next decade, reshaping competition across orbits and applications and fueling a $665 billion market in manufacturing and launch services.” (10/7)

We Finally Know How The Lights Switched on at The Dawn of Time (Source: Science Alert)
We may finally know what first lit up the cosmic dawn in the early Universe. According to data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, the origins of the free-flying photons in the early cosmic dawn were small dwarf galaxies that flared to life, clearing the fog of murky hydrogen that filled intergalactic space. (10/5)

Planning Commission Recommends County Approval of Virginia Spaceport Rezoning (Source: SPACErePORT)
The Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority received preliminary approval on Wednesday for their request to have two large parcels near the Wallops Island spaceport rezoned to support space launch operations and launch-related manufacturing (likely for Rocket Lab and/or Firefly Aerospace). The request will now go to the county commission for final approval.

One audience member strongly urged Virginia Space to increase their focus on "rocket tourism" and efforts to attract and cater to the large number of regional residents who would want to visit the area for launch viewing. (10/8)

Iceye Eyes New Funding Round Valued at $2.5B Amid Security Tailwinds (Source: Mach 33)
European radar imaging startup Iceye is reportedly considering a fresh funding round at a $2.5 billion valuation, reflecting elevated demand from defense customers across Europe and the Middle East. The firm has launched 54 satellites to date and is scaling toward a target output of 150 satellites annually.

If executed, the raise would provide critical growth capital for scaling manufacturing, R&D, and international expansion. Given the defense orientation of its customer base, Iceye is well positioned to capture cross‑border contracts. Investors will watch execution risk closely, including satellite yield, margins, and geopolitical exposure tied to sensitive imaging capabilities. (10/8)

Verizon Taps AST SpaceMobile to Extend Connectivity via Satellites in 2026 (Source: Mach 33)
Verizon and AST SpaceMobile have struck a commercial agreement to leverage AST’s direct-to-device (D2D) satellite infrastructure beginning in 2026, enabling Verizon’s 850 MHz low-band spectrum to reach remote and underserved U.S. areas. The deal builds on their 2024 strategic partnership and represents a broad expansion of Verizon’s terrestrial network footprint into orbital layers.

The move gives AST deep access to Verizon’s infrastructure and customers without bearing the full commercial risk of market rollout. For Verizon, it represents a hedge and competitive lever against rivals deploying DTC from space like T-Mobile/Starlink and AT&T via AST also. The announcement triggered a double-digit surge in AST’s share price (now up 100% in the last month), reflecting investor confidence in the company’s ability to monetize satellite DTC services. (10/8)

U.S. Government Shutdown Drags On, NASA Operations Largely Halted, Backpay Threatened (Sources: Mach 33, Axios)
The U.S. Senate again failed to pass a continuing resolution, extending the federal government shutdown with no immediate path to reopening. Approximately 15,000 of NASA’s 18,000 civil servants have been furloughed, leaving only about 3,100 exempt employees to maintain critical functions such as ISS mission control and Artemis program safety operations. The FCC and FAA remain similarly impacted, halting most licensing and regulatory activity. Bill Nye and The Planetary Society organized a “Save NASA Science” rally in Washington to highlight the disruption to ongoing research.

The prolonged funding lapse increases the likelihood of delays in new contracts, grants, and regulatory approvals across NASA, the FCC, and the FAA, raising execution and timing risk for aerospace firms reliant on government partnerships. Extended disruption could also compound schedule slippages for major programs such as Artemis II, new satellite authorizations, and FAA launch licensing, potentially affecting commercial operators’ revenue timelines and investor confidence.

And unlike previous shutdowns, the furloughed federal workers may not be compensated for their forced time off, according to a draft White House memo. If the White House acts on that legal analysis, it would dramatically escalate President Trump's pressure on Senate Democrats to end the week-old shutdown by denying back pay to as many as 750,000 federal workers after the shutdown. (10/8)

OBR CTM and SATIM Partner to Enhance Maritime Situational Awareness (Source: SATIM)
Poland's Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy Centrum Techniki Morskiej S.A. (OBR CTM) and SATIM announced a strategic partnership that is focused on bringing a more complete and reliable maritime picture for Polish Ministry of Defense end users and international partners. Through this partnership, SATIM, a Polish defense-tech startup pioneering AI-based analysis of satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, will focus on integrating its advanced detection and classification software OREC into Digital Baltic. (10/8)