December 16, 2025

Japan Sent Origami to Space to Unfurl Possibilities for Outsized Antennas (Source: The Register)
Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is celebrating after the successful Sunday launch of its Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration No. 4, which is packed with 16 intriguing payloads. The aim of JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program is to test ideas proposed by researchers from academia and private industry. The space agency issues an open call for proposals, then conducts a competitive evaluation process to select payloads. Advancing Japan’s capabilities in space, and the competitiveness of the nation’s space industry, are major goals of the program. (12/15)

Musk’s Fortune Soars Above $600 Billion on New SpaceX Valuation (Source: Bloomberg)
Elon Musk’s wealth has reached a new high, topping $600 billion for the first time on the back of a new valuation for SpaceX. The world’s richest person is worth almost $638 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after SpaceX hit a valuation of about $800 billion in an insider share sale — a deal that makes the Starbase, Texas-based rocket maker the world’s most valuable private company. Musk is its founder and chief executive officer. (12/15)

The $4.3 Billion Space Telescope Trump Tried to Cancel is Now Complete (Source: Ars Technica)
A few weeks ago, technicians inside a cavernous clean room in Maryland made the final connection to complete assembly of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Parts of this new observatory, named for NASA’s first chief astronomer, recently completed a spate of tests to ensure it can survive the shaking and intense sound of a rocket launch. Engineers placed the core of the telescope inside a thermal vacuum chamber, where it withstood the airless conditions and extreme temperature swings it will see in space.

Then, on November 25, teams at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, joined the inner and outer portions of the Roman Space Telescope. With this milestone, NASA declared the observatory complete and on track for launch as soon as fall 2026. (12/16)

Southern Launch to Host INNOSPACE Missions From South Australian Spaceports (Source: Space Daily)
Southern Launch has signed a contract with South Korean launch service provider INNOSPACE to conduct space missions from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex and the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia. The agreement allows INNOSPACE to undertake a range of missions from Southern Launch sites, including orbital satellite launches and suborbital technology demonstration flights. Operations under the partnership are scheduled to begin in 2026 and are planned to continue for at least a decade, adding to South Australia's role in the global space launch sector. (12/16)

China Launches Egyptian Manufactured SPNEX Satellite for Climate Research (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The Egyptian Space Agency has announced the successful launch of the SPNEX satellite last Wednesday, December 10, 2025, marking the spacecraft's entry into its designated orbit and the initiation of its first signal transmissions. The launch, aboard China's Lijian-1 launch vehicle, represents a significant scientific milestone within Egypt’s nano-satellite development program, affirming the nation's capability and expertise to progress from satellite design and implementation to testing and full operational deployment in space. (12/16)

SpaceX Advances Starbase Upgrades (Source: NSF)
SpaceX continues rapid infrastructure improvements at its Starbase facility in South Texas, with demolition work progressing on the original Pad 1 while construction and testing advance on the newer Pad 2, along with a new ASU facility for on-site commodities. These efforts are aimed at supporting future versions of the Starship vehicle and increasing launch cadence. At Pad 1, crews are actively dismantling legacy structures to prepare for significant upgrades. Following the removal of the launch mount several weeks ago, demolition has focused on the massive water-cooled steel plate that previously sat beneath it. (12/16)

SpaceX, Orbital Data Centers, and the Journey to Mars (Source: Space Review)
After years of saying the company was not planning an initial public offering of stock, SpaceX now appears to be moving ahead with an IPO as soon as next year. Jeff Foust reports on what might be driving this change and how it could affect the company’s long-term ambitions of going to Mars. Click here. (12/16)
 
Huntsville and the Final Frontier (Source: Space Review)
One of the major space museums in the United States is the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Dwayne Day and James Kruggel offer a photo essay of the evolving museum. Click here. (12/16)
 
“Sovereign Capacity” of Private and Public Space Programs (Source: Space Review)
Countries are increasingly seeing the strategic value of space capabilities. Alexander Wallace Watson examines the ways countries can built up those capabilities in both the public and private sectors. Click here. (12/16)

Rocket Lab to Launch Second of Three Planned Electron Rockets This Week (Source: Spaceflight Now)
Rocket Lab is poised to close out 2025 with a trio of Electron rocket launches across its three pads in New Zealand and the United States. If all three launch, this would represent the most rapid sequence of Electron missions to date. The company launched the ‘RASISE and Shine’ mission for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Dec. 14. Next up, less than 48-hours later, is a mission from South Korea, which was originally set to fly on Dec. 11.

On Friday, Dec. 19, Rocket Lab is also scheduled to launch a mission from Launch Complex 2 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. The mission is referred to as ‘Avalanche’. Rocket Lab hasn’t officially commented on this mission publicly, but it’s believed to be a mission booked by the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. (12/15)

Astroscale Reports Higher Revenue, Reduced Operating Loss, Restates Faith in Commercial Satellite Life Extension (Source: Space Intel Report)
Satellite servicing and debris-removal company Astroscale reported a tripling of revenue and a sharp reduction in its operating loss for the three months ending Oct. 31 and said government policy in all three of its operating regions — Japan, the United States and Europe — is moving to adopt technologies where Astroscale has expertise. The company reported a positive gross profit of 23 million Japanese yen ($147,600) for a 0.9% gross margin, after a 4.3-billion-yen loss a year earlier. (12/15)

GomSpace to Provide RF Subsystem for Apolink LEO Relay Demonstrator (Source: Space News)
Palo Alto startup Apolink has picked GomSpace to build the radio frequency subsystem for its first relay cubesat, aiming to show how signals can be received from other low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft and forwarded to the ground. (12/15)

MetaSeismic Material Mitigates Vibration and Shock in NASA Marshall Testing (Source: Space News)
University of California spinoff MetaSeismic wasn’t focused on space applications when it began using an artificial intelligence platform to create materials to mitigate vibration and shock. But recent tests at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center showed that MetaSeismic material helped protect a key component during a simulated launch.

Tests conducted under a Space Act Agreement showed that a thin layer of MetaSeismic material dramatically reduced the force of vibration on a launch vehicle battery, according to a MetaSeismic news release. (12/15)

Private Capital Targets Mission-Critical Software Power and Platforms in New Space Economy (Source: Space Daily)
Axle Point Capital and Balerion Space Ventures are directing new private capital into companies that build core infrastructure for the expanding U.S. space and defense economy, from mission software and guidance systems to deployable microreactors and high-temperature reactors. Axle Point's first transaction is a strategic equity investment in Odyssey Space Research LLC, a flight software and engineering firm that supports NASA and defense programs, while Balerion has taken stakes in Antares Industries, Samara Aerospace, and Valar Atomics, three companies focused on spacecraft platforms and nuclear energy systems for defense and industrial users. (12/9)

Starlink Selects Israeli Chipmaker Xsight for V3 Satellite Network (Source: Calcalist)
Israeli semiconductor company Xsight Labs has been selected by Starlink to supply the core networking silicon for its next-generation V3 satellites, according to an announcement by the two companies. Starlink will use Xsight’s X2 programmable Ethernet switch as the high-speed networking core inside its V3 satellites, which are designed to deliver more than one terabit per second of fronthaul throughput, more than ten times the capacity of the current V2 Mini satellites, along with about 160 gigabits per second of uplink capacity. (12/14)

STMicro Has Shipped 5 Billion Chips for Starlink in Past Decade; That Could Double by 2027 (Source: Reuters)
STMicroelectronics has shipped more than 5 billion radio-frequency antenna chips to Elon Musk's SpaceX ​for the Starlink satellite network, and chips delivered under the ‌partnership in the next two years could double that number, a senior executive at ‌the chipmaker said. STMicro has supplied ​radio-frequency "front-end modules" or antenna elements to SpaceX since their collaboration began around 2015. Starlink operates in more than 150 markets ‍and has around ⁠8 million users, according to its website. (12/15)