January 15, 2026

Turion Acquires Tychee to Accelerate Autonomous Space Operations and Mission Engineering (Source: Space News)
Turion Space Corp. has completed the acquisition of Tychee Research Group, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in high-speed, high-fidelity astrodynamics and advanced mission engineering. Tychee’s flagship product, the Tychee Mission Planning Library (TMPL), is a high performance astronautics software library built to support the full space system lifecycle. (1/13)

Orbion: Thruster Demand Exceeds Industry-Wide Production Capacity and We’re Expanding (Source: Space Intel Report)
Small satellite Hall-effect electric thruster manufacturer Orbion Space Technology is ramping production from its Michigan site after concluding that demand currently exceeds supply as the number of Hall-effect thruster providers has narrowed. Orbion said it has recently delivered 33 of its Aurora propulsion modules to York Space Systems for an unspecified military application. York is a major provider of satellites to the US Space Development Agency (SDA) multi-layered missile defense/missile warning network. (1/13)

An Inland Launch Imperative (Source: SPACErePORT)
At a space industrial base meeting last week there was emerging consensus that inland vertical-launch spaceports are becoming a requirement for the US. As medium- and heavy-lift rockets consume the limited capacity at our coastal spaceports, it makes sense that some smaller rockets find a home at inland sites.

The FAA is already in discussions toward permitting certain orbital mission profiles at inland spaceports with sufficient unoccupied property downrange. And the demand for such spaceport diversity goes beyond commercial. Coastal spaceports are vulnerable from multiple perspectives; they're easy military targets and can become unusable with hurricanes, earthquakes, and sea level rise. This, together with the alternative for offshore launch platforms, will be a topic during a Merrick-led discussion during the Global Spaceport Alliance summit at Space Week in Orlando. (1/15)

Utah Legislature Moves to Allow Closed Meetings of Spaceport Exploration Committee (Source: SPACErePORT)
The Utah state legislature is considering a bill introduced on Jan. 14 that would allow the Spaceport Exploration Committee to hold closed (non-public) meetings. This is to allow the discussion of "trade secret" information with potential spaceport users. The bill also expands the committee's scope to include re-entry options for a Utah spaceport.

The Utah Spaceport Exploration Committee, formed in 2025 by state legislation (SB0062), is a multi-member group of legislators, officials, academics, and industry leaders studying the feasibility, location, and economic viability of establishing a spaceport in Utah for activities like satellite launches and commercial spaceflight. (1/14)

Spaceport Way is Now State Road 321 (Source: FDOT)
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has officially designated Space Commerce Way in Brevard County as State Road (S.R.) 321, welcoming the corridor into the state roadway system as the latest action in a series of major transportation investments powering the premier Spaceport on the planet. Click here. (1/13)

Astronauts Splash Down Off San Diego (Source: Space News)
Four astronauts are back on Earth after a medical issue accelerated their return. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour splashed down off the coast from San Diego, California, at 3:41 a.m. Eastern, more than 10 hours after undocking from the station. The spacecraft returned the four members of the Crew-11 mission after five and a half months on the station. NASA announced last week it would bring Crew-11 home more than a month earlier than planned after one of the astronauts suffered an unspecified medical incident. All four crewmembers appeared to be in good health as they were taken out of the capsule after splashdown. (1/15)

Hydrosat Raises $60 Million for Satellite Fleet (Source: Space News)
Thermal imagery startup Hydrosat raised $60 million to expand its satellite fleet. Hydrosat, founded in 2017, operates two thermal-infrared satellites and provides customers with imagery and data products that reveal water stress in agriculture. The company will use the funding to deploy additional satellites as well as expand its presence in key regions such as Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, India and Latin America. (1/15)

ThinkOrbital Raises Undisclosed Sum (Source: Space News)
Space infrastructure startup ThinkOrbital has raised a seed round of funding to advance in-space inspection technologies, including an in-space X-ray imaging system and broader efforts in autonomous construction and servicing technologies. The technology could support inspection systems, robotic tooling, welding and assembly in commercial and government missions. The company plans to test the technology on two demonstration missions scheduled for March and October. (1/15)

India's Aule Space Raises $2 Million for Satellite Servicing (Source: Space News)
An Indian startup is entering the satellite servicing market. Aule Space announced Thursday it raised $2 million for a “jetpack” spacecraft that can attach to GEO satellites to extend their lives. Aule Space plans to differentiate itself from others in the field on cost, noting its advantages from operating in India as well as avoiding costly lidar and radar sensors in favor of computer vision technologies to approach and dock with spacecraft. The funding will support ground testing for a demonstration mission planned for next year. (1/15)

ESA Comet Mission Jumps to Earlier Launch Slot (Source: Space News)
An ESA mission to visit a comet will launch earlier thanks to delays with another mission. Comet Interceptor, which will make a high-speed flyby of a long-period comet, was scheduled to launch in 2029 on the same Ariane 6 as Ariel, an ESA exoplanet mission. Delays with Ariel, though, have pushed its launch to 2031, so ESA has approved an alternative plan to allow Comet Interceptor to fly as a co-passenger on an Ariane 64 launch of a commercial communications satellite. That launch could take place as soon as August 2028, a project scientist said at a planetary science meeting Wednesday. The alternative launch will also allow the mission to carry additional propellant.  Comet Interceptor is designed to loiter near the Earth for up to several years until the right comet is discovered to visit. (1/15)

China Launches Algerian Satellite on Long March 2C (Source: Xinhua)
China launched an Algerian remote sensing satellite overnight. A Long March 2C lifted off at 11:01 p.m. Eastern Wednesday from the Jiuquan spaceport. It placed into orbit the AlSat-3A Algerian satellite that will be used for civil remote sensing. (1/15)

Mitsubishi Now a Customer on Starlab Space Station (Source: Starlab Space)
Mitsubishi has signed on to be a customer of the Starlab commercial space station. The Starlab Space joint venture announced this week that Mitsubishi agreed to pre-purchase capacity on Starlab. Mitsubishi is already one of the partners on the joint venture and is increasing its investment in Starlab Space. The companies declined to disclose the size of that investment or the value of the contract for capacity on the station. (1/15)

James Webb Space Telescope's Mysterious 'Little Red Dots' May Be Black Holes in Disguise (Source: Space.com)
Ancient galaxies colloquially known as "little red dots" have proven a mystery ever since astronomers discovered them three years ago. Now, a new study finds the strange features of little red dots might be explained by supermassive black holes in disguise during their youth. With the help the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers first discovered the mysterious specks of light known as little red dots at the end of 2022. They only existed for a short time in the cosmos, first appearing in the universe less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang and almost completely disappearing after 2 billion years.

Researchers investigated 12 ancient galaxies to get a better sense of the nature of little red dots. The earliest of these galaxies existed when the universe was only about 840 million years old. Their analysis suggested that little red dots "are simply too luminous and too compact to be explained by a large number of stars. If they were purely made up of stars, they would be the densest galaxies in the universe." (1/14)

French Parliament Uses Renewal of ESA’s Paris HQ Agreement to Raise the Alarm About German, Italian Space Spending (Source: Space Intel Report)
A French parliamentary committee used the occasion of the ratification of the law governing the installation of European Space Agency’s headquarters in Paris to portray increased German space investment as a provocation that undermines European space collaboration. The French National Assembly’s Committee on European Affairs passed the renewal of ESA’s tax-free status and other advantages with no opposition on Jan. 14. France contributed €3.6 billion to ESA (16% of the budget), placing it second behind Germany, with Italy contributing €3.46 billion (also 16%). (1/14)

France Explores Sending Eutelsat Terminals to Iran Amid Internet Blackout (Source: Reuters)
France is looking into sending Eutelsat satellite terminals to Iran to help citizens after Iranian authorities imposed a blackout of internet services in a bid to quell the country's most violent domestic unrest in decades. "We are exploring all options, and the one you have mentioned is among them," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday in the lower house after a lawmaker asked whether France would send Eutelsat gear to Iran. (1/14)

Astroscale UK Awarded ESA Contract to Develop World-First In-Orbit Refurbishment and Upgrading Service (Source: Satellite Evolution Group)
Astroscale UK has been awarded a EUR 399,000 Phase A contract by ESA to lead the design of the In-Orbit Refurbishment and Upgrading Service (IRUS), a mission concept that will enable satellites to be upgraded, repaired, and extended while in orbit. This initiative supports ESA’s Space Safety Program, reinforcing Europe’s commitment to reducing orbital risks and ensuring safe operations for future generations. (1/13)

Orbital Robotics Reaches Out with a Plan to Build Robotic Arms That Use AI (Source: Geekwire)
A space startup founded by veterans of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is recruiting partners in its quest to build robotic arms powered by artificial intelligence. Founded in late 2024, Orbital Robotics is still in its infancy — but it has already raised about $310,000 in funding. Orbital Robotics CEO Aaron Borger told GeekWire that the company is working with a stealthy space venture on an orbital rendezvous project for the U.S. Space Force, with a series of missions scheduled in the next year and a half. (1/14)

Quantum Camera Startup Plans Satellite and Telescope Constellations (Source: Space Daily)
Diffraqtion, a space startup spun out of MIT and the University of Maryland, has closed a pre-seed funding round to advance satellite constellations and telescope systems powered by a novel quantum camera. The received a DARPA SBIR Direct-to-Phase 2 contract that supports space situational awareness capabilities, bringing the total between dilutive and non-dilutive funding to $4.2 million. The company has developed a first-of-its-kind quantum camera that enables satellites and telescopes to see farther and process visual information much faster than conventional systems. The technology is designed to deliver up to 20 times higher resolution and 1,000 times faster processing than traditional cameras and processors, enabling ultra-high-resolution imaging at a fraction of the cost of today's satellites and ground-based observatories. (1/14)

Space Coast-Based Integrated Launch Solutions to Support Midland TX Vertical Launch (Source: SPACErePORT)
During a January 5 meeting of the Midland Development Corp., in support of plans for a vertical-launch capability at the Midland International Air & Space Port, a contract with Space Coast-based Integrated Launch Solutions was approved for spaceport licensing support services, including risk assessments and gap analyses. The Midland vertical-launch effort is proceeding in anticipation of a $5 million grant from the Texas Space Commission, and the ILS contract would be reimbursable (and could grow) under the state grant. (1/14)

EU Raises Concern Over Starlink’s Spectrum Expansion (Source: Mach 33)
The European Union publicly expressed concern over the potential expansion of SpaceX’s Starlink into the 2 GHz mobile satellite spectrum currently held by Viasat and EchoStar and set to expire in May 2027. EU officials emphasized that renewals will not be automatic and linked spectrum allocation to broader strategic priorities around communications sovereignty.

Investors should view this as an emerging regulatory risk that could constrain Starlink’s ability to secure key spectrum assets in Europe. Heightened scrutiny in Brussels may slow Starlink’s rollout timing or increase compliance costs, especially compared with competitors with different licensing footprints. The outcome of this spectrum reallocation could influence regional market share dynamics between Starlink, EchoStar/Viasat and potential Chinese entrants. (1/14)

Voyager Secures Patent For Microgravity Manufacturing Of Optical Communications Materials (Source: Mach 33)
Voyager Technologies announced it has been awarded a patent covering a microgravity manufacturing process that enables production of larger, ultra-pure optical crystals for high-performance communications systems. The patented method uses long-duration microgravity to prevent defects common in Earth-based crystal growth, allowing precise wavelength matching and reduced signal noise. Voyager disclosed that the process targets applications spanning data centers, fiber networks, and space-based optical systems, with validation flights planned to the International Space Station in spring 2026 through a grant from the ISS National Laboratory. Research partners include NJIT, NYU, and the Universities Space Research Association. (1/13)

Lunar Engineering Gets Attention at Orlando AIAA SciTech Conference (Source: SPACErePORT)
The AIAA's annual SciTech Forum was held January 12-16 in Orlando, attracting a large audience of international aerospace engineers, scientists, and students. The event's focus spanned several aerospace disciplines, with many technical papers delivered on topics important to NASA's Artemis plans. I reviewed a couple dozen papers specifically targeting lunar base development, covering issues like power systems, lunar regolith processing (for construction, roads, etc.), habitat heating, surface transportation infrastructure, tunnel boring, tower development, and habitat architecture.

For example, a paper from University of Arizona faculty and students proposed a lunar service hub to store, recharge, and warm surface rovers, instruments, and other vehicles through the lunar night. "The service hub would consist of inflatables and reinforced using RCUs or ‘smart sandbags’ and one or more towers integrated with solar panels for power generation, lighting, an integrated computing server, a data backup server, and communication antennas and receivers to permit short-range high-bandwidth communications." (1/14)

NASA Adapts Dragonfly for Long Descent, Thick Air of Titan (Source: Aerospace America)
NASA and its contractors are accustomed to designing spacecraft that can survive any number of harsh conditions on celestial bodies, from freezing temperatures to abrasive dust. Even so, the engineers and technicians developing the Dragonfly rotorcraft have faced particular challenges. That’s because this octocopter, roughly the size of a Mini Cooper, is bound for Saturn’s moon Titan, an environment drastically different from any the agency has attempted to operate on. Ahead of the targeted 2028 launch, the Dragonfly mission team has made a number of changes to the spacecraft’s original design, including ones to address a lengthy anticipated descent through the moon’s thick atmosphere. (1/12)

More Than 2 Dozen New Rockets Could Launch in 2026 (Source: Douglas Messier)
As many as 26 new launch vehicles could make their debuts in 2026. The launch vehicles are being developed by companies and space agencies in 10 countries. They range from Relativity Space’s heavy-lift Terran R rocket designed to launch up to 33,500 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO) to TLON Space’s Aventura I booster capable of placing a mere 25 kg into orbit. Sixteen boosters are being designed for partial or full reuse. (1/14)

Argentina Enters the Spaceport/Launcher Ring (Source: Douglas Messier)
TLON Space’s Aventura I is a two-stage nanosatellite launcher designed to place 25 kg into LEO. If successful, it will be the first orbital launch by and from Argentina. TLON Space had planned to launch the booster on its first orbital flight from the Malacara Space Port in November 2025. However, that launch was delayed by weather and launch restrictions until mid- to late February. TLON Space is planning six to seven launches over an 18-month period. The company has completed 10 suborbital flights leading up to the first orbital launch (1/14)

Space Sector, Formula 1 Share Key Similarities (Source: Aerospace America)
Strict schedules, extensive regulations and advanced technical skill sets: These are among the commonalities between the space sector and Formula 1 racing, Arbi Karapetian said at today’s keynote session. Karapetian, now the director of innovation and technology at Formula 1, spent nearly 25 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His roles included manager of the flight electronics section, and deputy manager of the payload and small spacecraft mechanical engineering section. (1/13)

Planetary Scientist Urges Development of Spacecraft That Could Divert a ‘Planet Killer’ Comet (Source: Aerospace America)
Former NASA chief scientist Jim Green delivered a warning and a proposed solution about the growing number of fast-moving, erratic comets being identified by astronomers. “The problem is we’ve assumed they won’t hit Earth,” he said. “And that is a mistake!” Of chief concern is the Oort Cloud, a field of debris, rocks and ice at the edge of the solar system. Occasionally, a large chunk of debris gets knocked off course by gravity disturbances, sending a comet toward the sun — and potentially Earth. One of the biggest risks posed by comets is they move much faster than asteroids, Green said.

Green and his coauthors recommend that NASA begin developing a kinetic impactor spacecraft that would be launched toward the L2 Lagrange Point, a gravitationally stable spot about 1.5 kilometers from Earth where the spacecraft could loiter without expending large amounts of fuel. If a comet or other object were on a trajectory to collide with Earth, the craft would depart L2 “on a rapid intercept trajectory designed to achieve high closing velocity with the minimum practical warning time.” (1/13)

Industry, Academia Must Pivot Following Government Spending Changes (Source: Aerospace America)
Getting U.S. government funding for aerospace research today means connecting the work to major military and space missions, such as the Golden Dome missile defense initiative or NASA’s Artemis lunar program, Tim Lieuwen said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of dust in the air, there’s a lot of concern” about changes to federal spending over the past year, said Lieuwen, executive vice president for research at Georgia Tech. He cited budget and staffing cuts made by the U.S. DOGE Service.

To cope, he added, researchers should seek to align their efforts with the Trump administration’s acquisition reform plans. “Let’s be good listeners,” Lieuwen said. “Acquisition reform is certainly a very real and legitimate thing to do, and so let’s figure out how we can align it to support that.” He said research universities, facing reduced public standing, should seek to connect their work in artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing and other emerging areas with real-world developments.

Editor's Note: Golden Dome presents a challenge in this regard. The project is driving huge shifts in funding, procurement activity, R&D, and corporate attention. But does it have staying power after Trump's second term? It is regarded as infeasible by many, and could easily be overcome by other geopolitical and military priorities resulting from recent and anticipated US foreign policy adventures. (1/13)

Berkeley Scientists Set to Home In on 100 Signals From Seti at Home (Source: Space Daily)
For 21 years, between 1999 and 2020, millions of people worldwide loaned UC Berkeley scientists their computers to search for signs of advanced civilizations in our galaxy. The project - called SETI@home, generated a loyal following eager to participate in one of the most popular crowd-sourced projects in the early days of the internet. They downloaded the SETI@home software to their home computers and allowed it to analyze data recorded at the now-defunct Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to find unusual radio signals from space. All told, these computations produced 12 billion detections - "momentary blips of energy at a particular frequency coming from a particular point in the sky," (1/12)

Europe Approves EPS Sterna Polar Microsatellite Network (Source: Space Daily)
The EUMETSAT Council has formally endorsed the EUMETSAT Polar System Sterna (EPS Sterna), clearing the way for a new constellation of polar orbiting microsatellites that will deliver frequent microwave measurements of atmospheric temperature, humidity and cloud properties. The decision confirms EPS Sterna as a mandatory program for EUMETSAT and authorizes full scale activities targeting the launch of the first satellites in 2029. EPS Sterna data are projected to generate at least 30 billion euros in economic value for Europe over the lifetime of the program. (1/12)

New Orbital Mapping System Targets Earth Moon Libration Traffic (Source: Space Daily)
As lunar exploration intensifies, the cislunar space is experiencing increasing congestion. Traditional two body Keplerian elements, which have long been the standard for Earth orbiting objects, prove insufficient for accurately describing the complex orbits near the Earth Moon Lagrange points due to the chaotic and non integrable nature of three body dynamics. This fundamental deficiency has hindered the development of an effective space situational awareness framework for this strategically vital region. A research team from Japan's National University of Defense Technology has developed a parameterization method for orbits near collinear libration points that enables systematic cataloging and robust identification of cislunar objects. (1/14)

Fueling Research in Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (Source: Space Daily)
Going to the moon was one thing; going to Mars will be quite another. The distance alone is intimidating. While the moon is 238,855 miles away, the distance to Mars is between 33 million and 249 million miles. The propulsion systems that got us to the moon just will not work. Taylor Hampson at the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is well aware of the problem. It is one of the many reasons he is excited about his NASA-sponsored research into nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP).

The technique uses nuclear energy to heat a propellant, like hydrogen, to an extremely high temperature and expel it through a nozzle. The resultant thrust can significantly reduce travel times to Mars, compared to chemical rockets. "You can get double the efficiency, or more, from a nuclear propulsion engine with the same thrust. Besides, being in microgravity is not ideal for astronauts, so you want to get them there faster, which is a strong motivation for using nuclear propulsion over the chemical equivalents," Hampson says.

Growing up on Florida's Space Coast and watching space shuttle launches stoked Hampson's early interest in science. Loving many other subjects, including history and math, it was not until his senior year that Hampson cast his lot into the engineering category. While space exploration got him hooked on aerospace engineering, Hampson was also intrigued by the possibility of nuclear engineering as a way to a greener future. (1/14)

Blue Origin and Nimbus Validate Fuel Cells for Lunar Life Support (Source: Space Daily)
In a key step toward sustaining crews on future lunar missions, Nimbus Power Systems has completed a campaign of shock and vibration tests on its advanced, gravity independent fuel cell hardware in cooperation with Blue Origin. The tests reproduced the harsh launch and ascent environments expected for NASA Artemis crewed missions, and the fuel cell met all specified performance targets while maintaining structural integrity and operating parameters throughout the runs.

Fuel cells generate electricity, heat and potable water through controlled reactions between oxygen and hydrogen, making them a core technology for long duration crewed spaceflight. Nimbus has developed a proprietary water management approach that removes product water using a blend of capillary and hydraulic forces that do not depend on gravity, allowing the system to function reliably in microgravity and partial gravity conditions. (1/14)

Raytheon Invests $1B in Patriot Supply Chain as EU Demand Grows (Source: Breaking Defense)
Raytheon is making a strategic investment of over $1 billion to secure materials and strengthen its Patriot supply chain. This proactive move is intended to stabilize production, minimize lead times, and support anticipated demand, particularly from European countries responding to the ongoing threat from Russia. The company's confidence in the market has led it to commit resources in advance of orders, ensuring readiness for both current and future contracts. (1/13)

Satellite Makers Call for Clear Demand Signal From SDA (Source: Space News)
Companies are raising concerns regarding the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture awards model, noting that small companies may not be able to maintain production lines when awards are uncertain. Gen. Michael Guetlein says recent reforms aim to create demand signals that are "consistent across several years, not just one year at a time." (1/13)
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Sierra Space Ahead of Schedule on SDA Satellite Structures (Source: Defense Post)
Sierra Space is months ahead of schedule in building satellite structures for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 2 Tracking Layer. The company's contract covers 18 satellites, with the first nine structures already completed. (1/13)

MAVEN Likely Lost Above Mars (Source: Space News)
NASA says it is "very unlikely" it will be able to recover a Mars orbiter that stopped communicating with the Earth last month. Speaking at a planetary science meeting Tuesday, Louise Prockter, director of NASA's planetary science division, said efforts to restore contact with the MAVEN spacecraft will resume as soon as Friday. That's when a solar conjunction that interferes with communications with Mars ends, but prospects for recovery are slim. NASA lost contact with MAVEN in early December and a fragment of telemetry recovered from the spacecraft indicates it is spinning and not in its nominal orbit. MAVEN has been at Mars since September 2014 studying the Martian upper atmosphere and also serving as a communications relay for rovers on the surface. (1/14)

SkyFi Raises $12.7 Million for Imagery Services (Source: Space News)
Geospatial data company SkyFi has raised $12.7 million. The company operates a geospatial marketplace that brings together imagery and analytics from more than 50 providers, including optical, hyperspectral and radar satellite imagery. The company plans to pursue new partnerships with satellite operators to expand its on-demand data offerings, adding depth to the marketplace as more commercial constellations come online. SkyFi positions itself as a distribution and procurement layer, simplifying access to imagery that has traditionally been sold through bespoke contracts. (1/14)

Firefly Upgrades Alpha Rocket (Source: Space News)
Firefly Aerospace will upgrade its Alpha launch vehicle to improve quality and reliability. The company unveiled plans Tuesday for a Block 2 version of Alpha with stretched first and second stages and other improvements. The design features "a focus on enhanced safety, quality and reliability," CEO Jason Kim said in a statement. Alpha has launched six times to date, but only two have placed their payloads into their planned orbits. The most recent launch, last April, failed to reach orbit, and the stage that was to be used on the next launch was destroyed in a static-fire test mishap in September. The last launch of the current Block 1 version of Alpha is scheduled for the "coming weeks" from Vandenberg Space Force Base, after which the company will start using Alpha Block 2. (1/14)

NOAA Satellites' Role in National Security (Source: Space News)
A House Science Committee hearing Tuesday examined the role NOAA weather satellites play in national security. At the hearing, U.S. Air Force and Navy witnesses discussed their heavy reliance on datasets and weather models provided by NOAA and said their agencies are working closely to ensure NOAA's next-generation constellations satisfy military requirements. The White House proposed steep cuts to NOAA for 2026, including canceling instruments planned for the next-generation GeoXO weather satellite program. A minibus appropriations bill released last week would restore NOAA funding to 2025 levels, but it's not yet clear how that funding would impact GeoXO or other NOAA programs. (1/14)

China Launches Two Missions on Tuesday (Source: Space News)
China conducted its first two launches of the year on Tuesday. A Long March 6A lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and placed into an unusual retrograde orbit the Yaogan-50 (01) satellite. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said the satellite will be used for civil applications, but Yaogan is thought to be a series of remote sensing satellites with military applications, including spacecraft with synthetic aperture radar, optical and signals intelligence payloads. A Long March 8A lifted off from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site, putting another set of Guowang megaconstellation satellites into orbit. There are now 145 operational Guowang satellites in orbit, with its operator planning to have 400 satellites in orbit by 2027. (1/14)

ESA and ClearSpace Partner on Proximity-Operations Mission (Source: Space News)
ESA and space servicing startup ClearSpace are partnering on a mission to test key technologies. The PRELUDE mission, announced Monday, involves two small spacecraft designed to test close-proximity operations and could eventually enable satellite life extension, repair and removal in orbit. PRELUDE aims to validate autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations in real flight conditions. The mission is projected to launch in 2027 and operate for 7 to 12 months. (1/14)

Indian Satellite Delivered Some Data After Failed Launch (Source: The Print)
One of the payloads on a failed Indian launch did manage to provide some data. The Kestrel Initial Demonstration, or KID, spacecraft was a reentry capsule developed by a European company, Orbital Paradigm, as a first flight test of their technologies. KID was one of several secondary payloads on the PSLV launch of an Indian imaging satellite late Sunday that failed to reach orbit because of a malfunction in the rocket's third stage. Orbital Paradigm said that the capsule was able to separate from the upper stage and transmit data for a few minutes. The company said it is still analyzing the data but considers the flight met a minimum threshold of success. (1/13)

Intuitive Machines Completes Lanteris Acquisition (Source: Intuitive Machines)
Intuitive Machines has completed its acquisition of satellite manufacturer Lanteris Space Systems. The company said Tuesday it completed the transaction announced in November to acquire Lanteris, formerly known as Maxar Space Systems, for $800 million in cash and stock. Intuitive Machines, best known as a developer of lunar landers, said that buying Lanteris is part of its efforts to become "a multi-domain, end-to-end solutions provider" that can compete for future Space Development Agency and Golden Dome contracts. Chris Johnson, president of Lanteris, will remain in that position now that the sale is complete. (1/14)