December 7, 2025

Starlink Competition is Coming (It Might Never Catch Up) (Source: The Verge)
In addition to Amazon Leo, there are several private and government-backed entities trying to compete with Starlink. The Eutelsat OneWeb constellation of about 650 satellites has been operating in low Earth orbit for years, but it doesn’t sell directly to individual consumers. There’s lots of talk about the debt-laden service one day competing with Starlink, but it only ever amounts to talk. Likewise, China’s Spacesail Constellation (aka Qianfan/G60) has launched just 108 of the 648 satellites it had targeted by the end of 2025. Operational issues and a lack of reusable launch vehicles have hindered deployments that are supposed to yield a constellation of up 15,000 satellites by 2030.

Europe’s IRIS² constellation is also in the works, with plans to launch 290 satellites into LEO (with an additional 18 in medium Earth orbit) by 2030. But the sovereign space internet service is expected to be restricted to EU citizens, businesses, and government entities. As we roll into 2026, Amazon’s Leo space internet service is looking like the best near-term hope for consumers to break free from their Elon Musk dependency. But it’s going to take a few more years for the Leo constellation to grow into a viable Starlink competitor. And with no immediate exit strategy, I’ve subjected myself to what I’m calling an “ethical offset tax” by donating to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). Musk hates the CCDH, and that helps me sleep better at night no matter where I lay my head. (12/7)

Florida Space Day Planned for Feb. 3 in Tallahassee (Source: Space Florida)
Come join us for an out-of-this-world experience at The Florida Capitol for Space Day 2026! Get ready to immerse yourself in all things space-related with exciting exhibits, interactive activities, and inspiring talks from experts in the field. Whether you're a space enthusiast, a student looking to learn more, or just curious about the universe, this event is perfect for you. Don't miss out on this opportunity to celebrate all things space at Florida Space Day 2026! Click here. (12/7)

SpaceX Starship Entering New Territory (Source: Indian Defense Review)
With second-generation Starship hardware now retired, SpaceX is preparing for the debut of Starship V3. This new version, scheduled to fly in early 2026, introduces a wider airframe, increased fuel capacity, and the first configuration capable of performing orbital refueling—a breakthrough required for deep-space missions beyond low-Earth orbit. No agency or company has yet demonstrated cryogenic propellant transfer between spacecraft in space, but it remains central to the Artemis architecture.

Moving from these trial flights to a crew-rated, mission-ready vehicle will require more than engineering grit. It will demand precision, consistency, and mastery of in-orbit operations that are far more complex than getting to space in the first place. Whether Starship V3 will meet those demands is the next open question. The foundation is in place. The data from Flight 11 is in hand. But until orbital refueling is proven, and booster recovery becomes routine, the system’s long-term viability remains unproven. (12/3)

Alarm Over Hypersonic Missile Gap Fuels Startup Boom (Source: Wall Street Journal)
The Pentagon is getting serious about hypersonic weapons, a technology that has eluded the U.S. military for decades. It is looking to startups, with no experience but billions of dollars backing them, to fill an increasingly glaring hole in the national arsenal.

China and Russia both have stockpiles of these long-range, superfast, maneuverable weapons. The U.S. doesn’t, even though officials consider them essential to winning future conflicts. As the Defense Department belatedly looks to close that gap, private investment is pouring in, and startups—many of which haven’t built hypersonic systems at scale and haven’t flown at hypersonic speeds—are seeing their valuations soar. (12/5)

Invention Challenge Brings Student Engineers to NASA JPL (Source: NASA)
Teenagers wielding power tools and plywood demonstrated their engineering prowess at the annual Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Friday. Also in evidence: lots of small motors, 3D-printed gears, PVC pipe, and duct tape. First held at JPL in 1998, the event pits middle and high school teams against each other as they try to get handmade devices to accomplish a task that changes annually. For this year’s challenge, dubbed the “Bucket Brigade Contest,” teams needed to create devices capable of moving about 2 gallons (8 liters) of water from a holding reservoir into a bucket about 16 feet (5 meters) away in 60 seconds while satisfying a long list of rules. (12/5)

Scientists Capture 51 Images Showing Exoplanets Coming Together Around Other Stars (Source: Space.com)
Using observations from the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope, astronomers documented 51 budding exoplanetary systems after studying 161 nearby stars, offering an unprecedented glimpse at debris disks around stars beyond our solar system. These debris disks are formed by collisions between asteroids or comets that generate large amounts of dust and resemble our own solar system where asteroids collect in the inner belt and comets populate the distant Kuiper Belt. (12/5)

Shetland Spaceport Chief Calls for Government to 'Empower' Industry (Source: The Scotsman)
The head of the Shetland spaceport has called on government to “empower” the industry by ensuring the regulatory framework allows firms to thrive. Scott Hammond, CEO of SaxaVord, the first fully licensed vertical launch site in Europe, also said he hoped that in five to ten years’ time, the spaceport would be owned by a pension fund, pointing out that such an arrangement would recognize how the facility is “run of the mill infrastructure” and part of the “day to day lives” of people. (12/7)

Buzz Over an ‘Alien’ Interstellar Comet Shows How Way-Out Speculation Goes Viral (Source: Geekwire)
Is an interstellar spacecraft zooming through our solar system? That’s the big question for fans of unidentified flying objects — and for a researcher who analyzed the speculation over the interstellar comet known as 3I/ATLAS. Mert Bayar focused on 3I/ATLAS to track how social-media influencers use over-the-top speculation to fill in information gaps.

When 3I/ATLAS was spotted in July. The object’s trajectory suggested that it was only the third known celestial interloper coming into the solar system from far beyond. Even after astronomers built up evidence to classify it as a comet, 3I/ATLAS exhibited enough anomalous behavior to sustain speculation about alien technology. Exactly how was that speculation sustained? A key figure is Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb. Years before 3I/ATLAS was found, Loeb and a colleague raised the possibility that a previously sighted object known as ‘Oumuamua may be a probe sent by an alien civilization.

Loeb hit upon the alien-technology theme repeatedly in follow-up research papers and a book published in 2023. This year’s discovery of 3I/ATLAS gave a fresh boost to his speculative musings. To track how such musings influenced online discussions about 3I/ATLAS, Bayar used a media analytics platform called Brandwatch to analyze roughly 700,000 posts about the comet that were published on the X social-media channel between July 1 and Nov. 21. “Almost 280,000 of the 700,000 posts invoke aliens or ET technology — about 40% of the 3I/ATLAS conversation on X,” Bayar writes. (12/6)

SDA Back on Track to Award Satellite Contracts After Funds Went to Troop Shutdown Pay (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.

SDA had expected to award contracts in October and December for Tranche 3 of its missile warning and tracking satellite layer. A spokesperson for the agency told Air & Space Forces Magazine that while the Pentagon did shift some money appropriated for the effort to cover military payroll, “all funds have been restored and SDA is preparing to finalize selection(s) and make the award(s) public soon.” (12/5)

Musk Denies $800 Billion SpaceX Valuation Reports (Source: CNBC)
Elon Musk on Saturday dismissed media reports that SpaceX is raising funds at an $800 billion valuation, calling them inaccurate. “SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a post on X. (12/6)