January 12, 2026

India PSLV Launch Fails (Source: Space News)
India’s PSLV rocket failed in its return-to-flight mission late Sunday. The rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at 11:48 p.m. Eastern carrying a hyperspectral imaging satellite for the Indian government and 15 other payloads. The third stage of the rocket appeared to suffer a loss of attitude control near the end of its burn. The Indian space agency ISRO later confirmed that the vehicle and its payloads failed to reach orbit. The launch was the first for the PSLV since a failure in May 2025, also involving the rocket’s third stage. ISRO did not disclose the cause of that failure or steps it took to resolve the problem. (1/12)

SpaceX Launches Rideshare Mission on Sunday From California (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched a trio of NASA astrophysics smallsats on a rideshare mission early Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:44 a.mm. Eastern Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a rideshare mission dubbed “Twilight” by the company. The 40 spacecraft on the launch included Pandora, a NASA smallsat mission with a telescope to characterize exoplanet atmospheres. Also on board were two NASA cubesats, one to study solar storms on certain classes of stars that may have habitable exoplanets and another to monitor X-ray flares from active galaxies as well as gamma-ray bursts. The rideshare mission included communications, radio-frequency monitoring and radar imaging satellites from several companies.

The launch also included hosted payloads from a German wildfire-monitoring company. OroraTech flew four sensors as hosted payloads installed on satellites from Kepler Communications. The sensors will take advantage of optical data links on the Kepler satellites to enable data collected by the sensors to be delivered in minutes. OroraTech aims to have 100 thermal instruments in low Earth orbit by the end of 2027, forming a laser-linked, always-on network capable of delivering near-real-time thermal imaging of Earth. (1/12)

Momentus to Flight Test 3D Printed Fuel Tank on Vigoride 7 (Source: Space Daily)
Momentus Inc. has developed an additively manufactured metal fuel tank that will undergo flight testing on the companys Vigoride-7 Orbital Service Vehicle in orbit. The tank, produced in collaboration with Velo3D, is intended as a space-rated component for use on future missions.

The tank was designed by Momentus and manufactured using Velo3Ds metal 3D printing systems. The companies used Velo3Ds integrated print preparation, hardware, and quality assurance tools to build optimized internal features and geometries that are difficult to produce with traditional manufacturing. Momentus is targeting use of this approach to supply fuel tanks for commercial and government spacecraft, a hardware class that is typically high cost and subject to long lead times. (1/6)

Asteroid Metals Harden Under Extreme Particle Blasts (Source: Space Daily)
Physicists at the University of Oxford have contributed to a study showing that iron-rich asteroids can withstand much higher energy inputs than expected without breaking apart, a result that affects assessments of planetary defence strategies against hazardous objects. The work, published in Nature Communications, indicates that under rapid, intense heating these bodies can even become tougher as internal stresses develop.

Recent missions such as NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which changed the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos in 2022, demonstrate that redirecting an asteroid is technically possible. To make such interventions reliable, however, researchers need to know how asteroid materials behave under the fast, extreme loading conditions produced by impacts or radiation, rather than the slow, destructive tests commonly used in laboratories. (1/9)

Airbus Awarded Eutelsat Contract for Further 340 Low Earth Orbit OneWeb Satellites (Source: Airbus)
Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract by Eutelsat to build a further 340 OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Together with the previous batch of 100 satellites procured in December 2024, the total number of satellites ordered by Eutelsat amounts to 440. These new satellites will ensure operational continuity of the OneWeb constellation. The satellites will be manufactured at Airbus Defence and Space’s Toulouse facility on a newly installed production line, with delivery from the end of 2026. This is a further step for European sovereignty. (1/12)

GRU Space Opens Bookings for Planned Lunar Hotel (Source: Payload)
If you want to vacation on the Moon, you’ll need a lot of money—and patience. Galactic Resources Utilization (GRU) Space announced today it would open applications for aspiring Moon tourists, who can place a $1M deposit to reserve a spot in the company’s planned lunar hotel. But they’ll have to wait to pack their bags. The facility aims to open its airlocks as early as 2032.

Meet GRU: GRU Space is a Y Combinator-backed startup founded in 2025 by recent University of California, Berkeley graduate, Skyler Chan. The company has received backing from investors in SpaceX and Anduril, and was also selected as part of Nvidia’s “Inception Program for Startups”. (1/12)

This Year Must Bring Greater Collaboration Against Orbital Congestion (Source: Space News)
The problem of overcrowding orbits and increasing space debris has never been more urgent. International organizations, policy makers, regulators, space operators and researchers are recognizing how critical this issue is and how it could impact all space services and operations, including, but not limited to, satellite broadband, global navigation satellite systems, scientific research and space missions. (1/12)

Bulgarian Government Formally Backs EnduroSat’s New Space Center for Dedicated Institutional Support (Source: Spacewatch Global)
EnduroSat’s new Space Center, launched in late 2025 to scale the production of 200-500kg class satellites, has received a significant backing from the Bulgarian government. In a formal Memorandum of Understanding, the Bulgarian Council of Ministers designated the facility’s research and development capabilities as a priority investment project, providing a framework for dedicated institutional support. (1/12)

Kepler Network to Link OroraTech Sensors for Earth Monitoring (Source: Space News)
OroraTech has entered a multi-year partnership with Kepler to supply thermal sensors for Kepler’s new optical communications constellation. The first four SAFIRE Gen4 sensors under the agreement launched Jan. 11 aboard a Falcon 9, flying as part of the constellation’s initial deployment. (1/11)

FAA Expands UAS Test Site Network for First Time Since 2016 (Source: General Aviation)
The FAA has designated two new Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Test Sites, located in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and under the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. These are the first additions to the national test site network since 2016, bringing the total number of operational sites to nine. According to FAA officials, the expansion of the test site program is designed to accelerate the safe integration of drones into the National Airspace System (NAS) by focusing on several critical technical challenges. Editor's Note: This is an opportunity previously identified as a priority for Florida. Click here. (1/11)