November 5, 2026

Still Climbing: How Starfighters Space Is Giving the F-104 a New Mission (Source: Vintage Aviation News)
More than seven decades after the Lockheed F-104 first flew, the Starfighter is finding work testing technologies intended for the next generation of aerospace vehicles. At Starfighters Space, the aircraft’s speed, climb performance, and military systems provide a foundation for a business that combines airborne research with plans to enter the launch market. In an interview with Vintage Aviation News, CEO Tim Franta explained how the company is using its F-104 fleet today, outlined its developing “Wind Tunnel in the Sky” program, and described the steps ahead for its STARLAUNCH vehicles. For aviation enthusiasts who remember Starfighters as an airshow attraction, the operation has taken a different direction. Click here. (11/5)

DeSantis Could Replace Hegseth at DoD (Source: Tallahassee Democrat)
Could Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s next stop be the Pentagon? CBS News reports that DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, potentially taking over after DeSantis leaves the governor’s office in January. There is also speculation that Hegseth is being discussed as a possible appointment to the U.S. Senate seat that Republican Marsha Blackburn will vacate when she becomes Tennessee governor. (11/5)

Rep. Smith Wants More Pentagon Oversight as HASC Chair (Source: Military Times)
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., is prioritizing Pentagon oversight as he looks to return to the role of chair of the House Armed Services Committee. Smith criticized the Trump administration's national security approach, advocates for increased investment in low-cost munitions and questions the necessity of a $1 trillion-plus defense budget. (11/4)

Space Force Chief Eyes Growth in Components to Meet Operational Demand (Source: Air & Space Forces)
The Space Force wants to increase the size of its components to better support combatant commands in the coming years, according to Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess. “We’re going to add 2,800 Guardians and 2,000 civilians in fiscal 2027 if the budget comes through,” Schiess said. “A lot of that will go into our components.” (11/4)

Space Force Counting on Continued Bipartisan Support (Source: Space News)
The Space Force's top general says he is counting on continued bipartisan support amid a shift in control of Congress but warned of near-term budget issues. Gen. Douglas Schiess, chief of space operations, said lawmakers have supported the military's growing space requirements, even as questions remain about how much Congress will spend and which programs will receive funding. The administration requested $71 billion for the Space Force in fiscal year 2027, $12 billion of which would come through a reconciliation package whose future is in doubt. Schiess said that because the Space Force is funded through a continuing resolution (CR) that runs to Dec. 11, it cannot start new programs. The longer the CR remains in effect, he said, the harder it becomes to carry out the service's plans. (11/5)

Lofgren Wants to Chair Science Committee (Source: Space News)
A new Congress could affect NASA's plans as well. With Democrats taking control of Congress, some observers note that new leadership could scrutinize agency budgets, schedules for Artemis and the agency's work with SpaceX. Others, though, note both space exploration and space science have strong, bipartisan public support, although there are budget uncertainties as a CR funding the agency is likely to be extended into next year. On Wednesday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Science Committee, announced she will seek to become the chair of the committee in the next Congress. She said she would work to rebuild science programs across the federal government but did not explicitly discuss plans for NASA. (11/5)

DoD Backs $150 Million Loan for LeoLabs (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon is backing a $150 million loan to LeoLabs to help that company expand its space-tracking radar network. The financing from the Office of Strategic Capital would be matched by private co-investment, resulting in a $300 million capital infusion if the transaction closes. The money would be used to increase production and deployment of LeoLabs' multi-mission phased-array radars, including its transportable Scout systems, and expand its global sensing infrastructure. (11/5)

ITU Moves to Shrink Open Cosmos Constellation After Deadlines Missed (Source: Space News)
The ITU has limited the size of a constellation being developed by Open Cosmos after the company missed deployment deadlines. The company had Ka-band spectrum filings for up to 576 satellites, and planned to deploy a constellation of 192 satellites for broadband and narrowband services. The ITU agreed this week to extend the deadlines for one of the filings, covering 288 satellites, but reduced the number of satellites authorized to 52. It declined to extend a separate filing for another 288 satellites. Open Cosmos said the ruling still enables the company to press forward with deployment of its ConnectedCosmos constellation, but did not comment on how the filing cap would impact planned services. It said it has access to other spectrum filings that would allow it to expand the constellation to the 192 needed for global services. (11/5)

Redwire Wins $20 Million From DARPA for VLEO Satellites (Source: Space News)
Redwire won a $20 million contract from DARPA for another test of very low Earth orbit (VLEO) satellites. The new award will fund testing and experimentation involving a scaled-down version of Redwire's SabreSat spacecraft ahead of a full-scale mission intended to demonstrate an air-breathing electric propulsion system. The new contract adds a second flight mission to the program, bringing the value of two announced DARPA awards to $64 million. (11/5)

Former NASA Official to Lead Canada's Space Agency (Source: Space News)
A former NASA official is the new head of the Canadian Space Agency. The Canadian government announced late Wednesday it appointed Alex MacDonald as president of the agency. MacDonald worked for NASA for more than 15 years, including five as NASA's first chief economist, before leaving at the end of 2024. At a Canadian space conference earlier this year, MacDonald said NASA's plans to halt work on the lunar Gateway, for which Canada was to develop a robotic arm, provided an opportunity for Canada to pivot to lunar surface systems to support NASA's planned lunar base, which could open the door for Canadian astronauts to walk on the moon. (11/5)

ISS Spacewalkers Deploy Solar Array (Source: NASA)
Two astronauts have started another International Space Station spacewalk to deploy a solar array. NASA's Anil Menon and CSA's Joshua Kutryk started their spacewalk at 8:36 a.m. Eastern. The two will install the eighth and final IROSA solar array on the ISS that will augment the station's power systems. The two astronauts installed a similar array during a spacewalk last week. (11/5)

SyLEx Suborbital Rocket Launched by ArianeGroup (Source: Space News)
A sounding rocket developed by ArianeGroup performed its first operational launch. The SyLEx rocket launched Wednesday on a suborbital flight for the French defense procurement agency, testing technologies being developed for a new French ballistic missile. The single-stage solid-fuel rocket can carry up to 300 kilograms of payload on suborbital trajectories, and ArianeGroup is working on a two-stage version that can carry up to 600 kilograms to altitudes of 200 to 400 kilometers. (11/5)

Baseball Space Unicorns (Source: San Jose Giants)
The newest space unicorn in Silicon Valley is… a baseball team. The San Jose Giants, a minor-league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, announced this week it will play several games next season under an alternate name, the Silicon Valley Space Unicorns. The name is a nod to the startup culture of Silicon Valley along with the region's aerospace industry heritage. The term "unicorn" means, for a startup, a privately held company with a valuation of at least $1 billion. (11/5)

National Space Sustainability Competition for Students (Source: Space Foundation)
The National Space Sustainability Competition (NSSC) invites 6th–8th grade students to envision innovative solutions for one of space exploration's greatest challenges: sustainable energy in orbit. Sponsored by leading space industry partners, this competition challenges students to think critically and creatively about the growing need for generating, storing, and using sustainable energy in space. By developing new ideas and presenting them through models, mission briefings, and video pitches, students will explore how they can play a role in the future of space exploration. Click here. (11/5)

Musk Bet Big on Keeping Texas Red. What Happens to His Business Empire Now? (Source: CNN)
Elon Musk poured nearly half a billion dollars into the midterms to support Republican candidates, most to help Ken Paxton defeat Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race. Talarico won. But it was the other Democrat upsets in the state, for governor and attorney general, that could cause bigger problems for Musk and his Texas-based companies: rocket and AI company SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla. Not only will he likely face greater regulatory scrutiny, but both candidates took direct aim at Musk and his businesses while on the campaign trail.

“It’s less about the blue wave on the Senate or House side,” said tech analyst Daniel Ives, a SpaceX and Tesla bull, about what Tuesday’s election results mean for Musk. “It’s more with the Texas governor.” Democrat Nathan Johnson, who is replacing Paxton as Texas attorney general, said in July that, if elected, he would investigate whether SpaceX’s Starlink service was unfairly awarded grants designed to expand rural broadband. The internet service is SpaceX’s most profitable unit. And Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who unseated incumbent Greg Abbott, made opposition to data centers a major plank of her campaign.

She has vowed to put a moratorium on new data center construction. Both Tesla and SpaceX have banked their future success on their AI efforts. SpaceX is planning major investments in new data centers in the next year, including the massive Colossal 3 to be built just outside of Brownsville, Texas. Unlike a lot of artificial intelligence companies, SpaceX earns a profit from selling time on its servers and cloud platforms to other AI companies. Hinojosa’s proposed moratorium would be a critical blow to its plans. (11/5)

Voyager Awarded Interstellar Lab Mission Management Contract (Source: Voyager)
Voyager Technologies has entered into a contract with Interstellar Lab to host BioPod EDEN, the company’s autonomous plant growth payload, aboard the ISS. Voyager Technologies will provide end-to-end payload hosting for the middeck locker-class payload, including design and safety review support across NASA’s review phases; engineering and technical support; assembly, integration and testing; concept of operations and on-orbit activities; and return of the payload to the customer. (10/26)

AAC Clyde Space Expands Global Capacity to Accelerate its Next Phase of Growth (Source: AAC Clyde Space)
AAC Clyde Space is investing in the capacity, capabilities and global footprint needed to capture rising demand for space-based intelligence and deliver its next phase of growth. The expansion will strengthen the Group's ability to design, build and operate satellite missions at scale, bringing more of its end-to-end offering together across key markets. At the center of the investment is a new purpose-built cleanroom and office facility in Glasgow, UK, alongside new offices in London, UK, expanded facilities in Gothenburg, Sweden, and recently upgraded facilities in Fairfax, USA. (10/28)

Tesla and SpaceX Shares Drop After Elon Musk's Election Bet Backfires (Source: Business Insider)
It's looking like the election might become even more expensive for Elon Musk. Shares in Tesla and SpaceX fell around 5% at market open on Wednesday after the Democrats won a string of midterm victories in Texas, where both companies are based. Both Tesla and SpaceX pared back heavier overnight losses, with Musk's two public companies down as much as 6% and 7% premarket. (11/4)

Nathan Fielder’s ‘You Can See Everything’ Is Headed to Space (Source: Gizmodo)
Apparently, even astronauts aboard the International Space Station aren’t immune to FOMO over one of the year’s most talked-about movies. A24, the studio behind You Can See Everything, posted an image on Instagram Wednesday showing a scene from the film beneath what appears to be a cropped screenshot of an email with the subject line reading, “FWD: [EXTERNAL] NASA Request for Private Viewing.” (11/4)

New Texas Attorney General Said in July He Would Investigate SpaceX Broadband Grants (Source: Guardian)
The Texas Democrat elected to become the state’s attorney general had said he will investigate Elon Musk’s SpaceX company if elected, saying it “sure looks like” corruption was involved in a deal he said handed the world’s richest person $110m of taxpayers’ money. Nathan Johnson made the comment in an interview with the Dallas News on Friday, in which he called for greater legislative scrutiny of state grants funneled to SpaceX for its Starlink satellite program, which provides fast internet access for customers in remote areas. (7/10)

Elon Musk Thinks Data Centers in Space Could Be Cheaper Than Texas Turning Blue. Let’s Check That $5 Trillion-Per-Gigawatt Price Tag (Source: Barchart)
“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” tweeted Elon Musk after Democrats notched a historic sweep of Texas, the state that’s home to his SpaceX-Tesla empire. The tech magnate notoriously poured hundreds of millions into this year’s midterm elections, only to watch his handpicked candidates get blown out in race after race. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, has called for a moratorium on new AI data center construction and stricter permitting in a state that accounts for approximately 27% of planned U.S. data center power capacity.

A senior data center energy executive at Alphabet has estimated that space-based data centers could cost up to 100 times their terrestrial equivalents, a figure that prominent short seller Jim Chanos translates to roughly $5 trillion per gigawatt of compute. Even at one-tenth of that upper bound, the payback period stretches from under a year to approximately a decade — fundamentally undermining the near-term investment case that has powered SpaceX's valuation. (11/4)

Needle-Nose X-59 Jet Just Hit a Major Milestone (Source: New York Post)
NASA’s experimental X-59 QueSST jet celebrated its first year in flight with a trip to the Kennedy Space Center — recording 41 flights and a top speed that would cut long-haul flights times in half. The needle-nose jet, dubbed the “Son of Concorde,” is fast — designed to hit 925 mph, which is Mach 1.4, and fly at 55,000 feet in the air, more than twice as high and nearly twice as fast as conventional airline jets. (11/4)

NASA Announces X-70 "Fractal" Experimental Aircraft (Source: TWZ)
NASA just unveiled its latest X-plane, the X-70 Fractal, which Administrator Jared Isaacman had teased last week, at the UP.Summit at Kennedy Space Center. The aircraft is described as crewed and features rapidly reconfigurable flight control capabilities. According to NASA’s release it will “explore aircraft maneuverability in ways never before demonstrated in crewed flight. The aircraft can also accommodate up to 2,000 pounds of experimental payloads in internal and external locations, enabling a wide range of research and flight-testing opportunities.” (11/4)

Pharma Firms are Going to Earth’s Orbit in Search of New Cancer Drugs (Source: Guardian)
Roughly 300 miles above our heads, three washing machine-sized capsules are orbiting the Earth. Inside one of them, tiny crystals of a potential cancer drug are being grown in the weightlessness of space. The others are testing heat protection materials and navigation systems for when the capsules plunge back through Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. Together, they represent a small but significant step towards what some hope will become a lucrative new industry: manufacturing drugs and other materials in space.

The spacecraft belong to California-based Varda Space Industries. On 1 October, it launched two onboard the same rocket, followed by the third on 20 October. With a record three spacecraft now simultaneously in orbit for the first time, the company is edging closer to its ambition of operating a fleet of orbiting pharmaceutical factories. There are several reasons for wanting to manufacture certain materials in space, one of the most important being microgravity.

For pharmaceutical companies, this could open up new ways of formulating medicines, as the size, shape and arrangement of drug crystals can affect how easily drugs dissolve, how stable they are and how they can be administered. In some cases, this could enable drugs that currently require intravenous infusions to be reformulated into more convenient injections. (11/4)

Voting in Space: NASA Astronauts Cast Ballots From ISS (Source: Space.com)
The three Americans currently living off Earth just made sure their electoral voices were heard. Anil Menon told us today (Nov. 3) that he and fellow NASA astronauts Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins voted in the U.S. midterm elections from the ISS. "Yes, you can even vote from space! All three U.S. crew members had the privilege of voting from space station. We filled out an electronic ballot and sent it securely to the election officials," Menon wrote. (11/3)

Musk Goes Full Bond Villain (Source: WowWhatWhy)
A couple of years ago, right after Elon Musk helped Donald Trump win the presidency and got set to cash in on his investment, we noted that, down to his love of spaceships, he had all of the hallmarks of a classic James Bond villain. Even his backstory would be easy to craft: A South African who left his native country right before the end of apartheid to move to Canada and the US, two countries that, along with European powers, helped to bring an end to white rule in his homeland. And then he bides his time until he can use his immense wealth to sow chaos in Western democracies and exact his revenge on them so that the Afrikaners may rise again.

Just like in any good Bond movie, the antagonist employs cutting edge technology — for example, a social media company that he uses to promote white nationalist voices and spread misinformation to elevate a lunatic to the US presidency. But even we couldn’t quite envision how fully Musk would embrace his role as a villain. The billionaire’s influence extends far beyond trying to buy himself a compliant president and Congress. He has also taken it upon himself to decide who should live and whom to let die in the war Russia is waging against Ukraine. (10/25)

Russia’s Starlink Rival Is Already Getting a Secret Upgrade After Its Last Satellites Ran Into Trouble (Source: United 24)
Russia appears to be quietly developing a new generation of satellites for its planned Starlink-style communications network after problems emerged with the Rassvet-3 spacecraft already launched into orbit, according to Defense Express on November 3. A Russian filing with the International Telecommunication Union has revealed a new network designated RASSVET-4, potentially providing the first public indication of a previously undisclosed Rassvet-4 satellite. (11/3)

Germany Arrests Suspected Mastermind of Starlink Station Arson in Poland (Source: TVP World)
German police have arrested a Turkish man suspected of ordering an arson attack on a Starlink ground station in Poland that Polish authorities believe was directed by Russian intelligence. Investigators say he instructed two other Turkish nationals to carry out the attack. Those two were arrested in Germany in mid-October. Prosecutors believe the aim was to disrupt Starlink’s data traffic and internet communications in Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries. The network also supports communications in Ukraine. (11/3)

As Space Exploration Evolved, NASA Adapted Its Business Model (Source: NJIT)
By modifying its technology and strategies as well as its organizational structure, the agency adapted its business model to align with shifts in mission goals for space travel, according to new research. NASA adapted structurally when its practices dramatically transformed. Core components of their adaptation included making the technical parts of a project more modular — able to work independently within complex systems — and mirroring that modularity in their organizational structure. Such changes have the additional benefit of creating entrepreneurial opportunities, which could increase the agency's value, the authors wrote. (11/3)

Intuitive Machines Selected to Provide Spacecraft Platform and Mission Solutions for NASA's FALCON-RADAR Earth Science Mission (Source: Intuitive Machines)
Intuitive Machines announced that it has been selected by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to provide the spacecraft platform and system-level integration for FALCON-RADAR, an Earth observation mission that will study clouds and convection from space. (11/3)

Polaris Aerospace Re-Emerges with Canadian Launch Vehicle Plans (Source: SpaceQ)
Polaris Aerospace, the Montreal startup a court order pushed out of the federal Launch the North challenge in January, said Thursday it will test a new liquid rocket engine this winter as it moves forward as a launch vehicle developer. The company also added Maritime Launch Services founder Stephen Matier as a strategic adviser.

Polaris Aerospace says it is developing “scalable, ITAR-free, orbital launch vehicles,” meaning free of U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations export controls. Work on a proprietary engine built for mass production is “well underway,” alongside a new vehicle design and manufacturing plan meant to build larger orbital rockets “in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional aerospace programs.” (11/3)

CSA is Requesting Information on Lunar Microreactor Capabilities (Source: SpaceQ)
In a request for information (RFI) posted Oct. 27, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) asked Canadian companies, universities, utilities and labs what they could contribute to a lunar microreactor, a small nuclear reactor that would power operations on the Moon.

The CSA defines a microreactor as a compact fission reactor supplying up to 100 kilowatts of electricity (kWe) on the lunar surface. Its planning envelope, which the agency stresses is not a requirement, is lower, at roughly 20 to 80 kWe of continuous power for a decade or more, at polar or other sites that could be in or near permanently shadowed regions. (11/3)

Statisticians are Enhancing the Search for Life Beyond Earth (Source: Physics World)
There are growing signs that humanity’s best bet for detecting extraterrestrial life could be statistics. We know of 6366 exoplanets outside our solar system, and there are more than 8100 further potential candidates, both in our galaxy and even beyond it. To help solve the problem of how best to confidently detect signs of life, some scientists are now turning their attention towards cutting-edge machine learning (ML) and statistical techniques to broaden our notions of the most promising types of signals to look for. In doing so, they hope to boost our ability to interpret the vast amounts scientific data captured by telescopes and space probes. (11/3)

Goldman Sachs and Apollo Seek Buyers for Portions of SpaceX’s $40 Billion AI-Chip Financing Deal (Source: Defense Daily)
Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global Management are in talks with investors to sell portions of a roughly $40 billion financing deal for SpaceX’s AI chips, according to the reports. The effort would distribute pieces of a major funding package across Wall Street investors. (11/4)

Trace Hydrogen Chloride Above Martian Fissures Points to Possible Ongoing Volcanism (Source: Live Science)
The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter detected hydrogen chloride above fissures on Alba Mons, a vast Martian volcano. The finding suggests volcanic activity may persist beneath the surface and raises the possibility that heat-driven environments resembling Earth’s hydrothermal systems could help scientists investigate Mars’ potential to support life. (11/4)

ULA to Bring Vulcan Payload Fairing Production In-House, Seeking Vertical-Integration Savings (Source: Via Satellite)
United Launch Alliance is moving payload fairing manufacturing for its Vulcan rocket in-house, following SpaceX’s practice of producing fairings at its Hawthorne, California, plant. The shift gives ULA greater control over a critical launch-vehicle component and may reduce costs through vertical integration. “In addition to the fairings, other composite structures including the heat shields, payload attach fittings and the inter-stage adapters would also be made by ULA as part of this agreement,” ULA said. The production likely will be in Decatur, Alabama.

Beyond Gravity said that it has built fairings for ULA for more than 20 years and that, since 2017, has leased 400,000 square feet of space at ULA’s Decatur, Alabama, site for fairing manufacture. “More than 300 Alabama-based Beyond Gravity employees will be offered employment and have the opportunity to join the ULA team once the agreement closes,” the alliance said. “The first ULA produced fairing is scheduled to fly on a mission in 2027.”

SETI Researchers Use Game Theory To Refine When and Where They Search for Signals From Extraterrestrial Civilizations (Source: Universe Today)
A new approach models whether extraterrestrial civilizations might time contact around predictable events, and focuses searches on planets whose transits could make them detectable to observers. The work applies game theory to help narrow SETI targets and decide when listening may be most effective. (11/4)

Pentagon Backs LeoLabs Radar Expansion With $150 Million Loan Commitment (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon has committed $150 million in financing to support LeoLabs’ radar expansion. The announcement identifies a substantial defense-backed investment in the company’s space radar infrastructure, though the available report provides no details on the expansion’s scope, locations or schedule. (11/4)

Space Industries Inaugurates €20M Stellar Hub in Italy for Serial Satellite Production (Source: Smallsat News)
Italy's Space Industries inaugurated Stellar Hub, its new satellite manufacturing and environmental qualification center outside Turin. Backed by a private investment of more than €20 million ($21.8 million) from parent company Comat, the facility establishes a dedicated site for the assembly, integration, and serial production of satellites weighing up to 600 kilograms. Space Industries designed the factory to transition satellite production from bespoke assembly to standardized manufacturing. (11/4)

UK Space Agency Launches In-Orbit Manufacturing Research Competition (Source: Advance)
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is launching a Contracts for Innovation competition to fund approximately two In-Orbit Manufacturing (IOM) Maturation Research & Development Projects. With a closing date of 27 November and an estimated value of £1.4 million, the contract ends 15 June 2027. The competition will support the research, development and maturation of an In-Orbit Manufacturing process and associated payload. (11/4)

Orbital Matter, EnduroSat Announce an In-Space Manufacturing Mission in 2028 (Source: Payload)
Following off the success of its latest demo, in-space manufacturing startup Orbital Matter announced today that it would partner with EnduroSat for another mission in 2028, this time to deploy a 5 kW solar array with the help of Orbital Matter’s 3D printing capabilities. The demo aims to validate a new method to create large structures in orbit. Instead of folding bulky solar arrays into tight configurations to fit into launch vehicles, the companies plan to 3D print support structures in space to facilitate large solar-array deployments. (11/4)

US Space Force Guardians Will Join Army Rangers, Navy SEALS, and Other Special Forces in a New Tampa-Based Command (Source: Business Insider)
The US Space Force has activated a new command dedicated to supporting special operations forces. It's the military's first new service component for US Special Operations Command since the Marines joined with Marine Special Operations Command in 2006. US Space Forces Special Operations Command, or SPACEFOR-SOC, was formally activated on October 7. Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, Space Forces Special Operations Command will train and equip Space Force Guardians to regional special operations commands around the world. (11/3)

SpaceX Selects Qualcomm For Starlink Mobile Terrestrial 5G Nationwide Rollout (Source: Mach 33)
On November 4, Qualcomm said SpaceX selected its Dragonwing QRU100 radio and QDU100 baseband platforms, plus Layer 1 software, for Starlink Mobile's U.S. terrestrial 5G base stations. The multi-year deal covers tens of thousands of Massive MIMO sites starting in 2027; terms were undisclosed, per Qualcomm. (11/4)

SpaceX Reportedly In Talks To Buy Boost Mobile Or Use Its Network (Source: Mach 33)
On November 2, The Washington Post reported that SpaceX had held talks to buy EchoStar's Boost Mobile or use its network, which Boost leases from AT&T and T-Mobile, so those carriers may need to consent. Elon met EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen in October, per the report, which Reuters carried. SpaceX hasn't confirmed. (11/4)

Norway Signs NOK 450M Satellite Deal With Marlink Requiring Starlink For Military And Police (Source: Mach 33)
On November 4, Teknisk Ukeblad reported that Norway's Defense Materiel Agency awarded Marlink a satellite framework deal worth up to NOK 450M that requires Starlink access. It covers the Armed Forces, police, PST and NSM and leaves room for Starshield later, per NTB. (11/4)

NASA Observatory Reenters (Source: Tech Times)
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory completed its uncontrolled atmospheric reentry early Wednesday morning, ending a 22-year mission that produced the most comprehensive catalog of gamma-ray bursts ever assembled — and leaving a gap in rapid-response high-energy astronomy that no current satellite can fully close. Swift burned up over the Pacific on November 4. (11/4)

Simera Sense and Spacemanic to Collaborate on a New Complete Dual-Use Mission Solution (Source: Space News)
Czech company Spacemanic and Belgian optical leader Simera Sense are teaming up to deliver a new dual-use satellite solution that can compete with bigger and heavier satellites. Simera Sense xScape200 Dual-Use (DU) camera is integrated into Spacemanic 16U CubeSat platform, bringing high-resolution imaging capabilities to a lightweight, compact spacecraft designed for repeatable deployment and constellation growth. The xScape200 DU combines a compact 12U form factor, low SWaP, and standardized integration to give commercial and defense organizations high-resolution, dual-use imaging capabilities without the need for a larger spacecraft, increased launch costs, or power-intensive mission architectures. (11/3)

Trump Proclaims "Freedom in Space" on Election Day (Source: Douglas Messier)
President Donald Trump issued the following declaration as Americans went to the polls on Tuesday because…hey, why the hell not?... "It is America’s destiny to explore and expand our frontiers beyond Earth to the farthest depths of space. Today, my Administration reaffirms that our solar system and all of outer space beyond Earth are the province of all humans, and that our Nation will lead the way in the exploration, development, use, and settlement of these new frontiers — forging an interplanetary civilization founded on the enduring and inalienable rights of freedom and individual liberty.

"From the intrepid Apollo 11 astronauts who took humanity’s first steps on the Moon to the pioneering rovers that explored the surface of Mars, the United States has always blazed a trail into the great unknown, shattering boundaries and pushing mankind to extraordinary new heights. Behind each triumph are generations of astronauts, scientists, engineers, and workers whose tireless dedication and unmatched ingenuity turn impossible dreams into reality.

"Under my leadership, the United States is once again writing a bold new chapter in space exploration. This past April, the Artemis II mission successfully carried astronauts around the Moon and farther from Earth than any human had ever traveled before. This historic voyage is only the beginning. Next summer, Artemis III will undertake one of the most complex and consequential test flight campaigns in the history of our Nation’s space program." (11/3)

Orbital Matter 3D-Printed the First Rigid Beam in the Vacuum of Space (Source: Tech Crunch)
A satellite built by the German startup Orbital Matter 3D-printed a half-meter long beam out of a custom plastic material, in what executives called a first for a free-flying spacecraft in orbit, and a step toward constructing large structures in space. The company’s small satellite, Replicator 2, was launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission this summer, with four of the company’s 3D printers onboard. Each printer can create a rigid, cylindrical beam by extruding coils of resin that are cured by an ultraviolet light, which the company analogizes to cement and water. (11/3)

SpaceX Building AI Datacenters at Rocket Sites (Source: SemiAnalysis)
SpaceX now expects to host about 13 GW of AI datacenter capacity in 2027, up from the 10 GW Elon Musk had projected. Analysts say they have already identified more than 9 GW at specific sites, with about 3.6 GW under construction. They estimate the 2027 total would roughly equal all the datacenter capacity Google built from 1999 to 2026. Part of that capacity will sit at SpaceX’s space sites: two datacenters are going up at Starbase, Texas, where the ground went from cleared to vertical steel in about a month, and a datacenter (possibly leased to outside customers) is likely planned at the 10-GW “TeraFab” chip-fab project in Grimes County, Texas.

At the Colossus 2 complex near Memphis, SpaceX is setting speed records, with retrofits finished in as little as 91 days and new buildings in four to five months. The analysts credit Tesla-built modular electrical and mechanical equipment, along with power arranged as construction proceeds (including from turbine jet engines). SemiAnalysis tracks more than 8 GW of on-site generation for SpaceX, plus a battery storage installation nearing 6 GWh at Colossus 2, which it calls the largest in the U.S. It also notes a new 500-kV grid connection from TVA, the regional utility, and a binding 2027 cap on turbine output at the nearby Southaven, Mississippi power plant. The Starbase site may draw multiple gigawatts from gas turbines and pipelines, with new fiber running through the Port of Brownsville. (11/3)

November 4, 2026

Blue Origin Developing Off-Spaceport Umbilical Test Facility on Space Coast at Former SpaceX Site (Source: SPACErePORT)
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp explicitly confirmed on November 4 that a large "mystery structure" spotted at the company's Cidco Road site in Cocoa is an umbilical test facility. The facility is being built to conduct parallel testing alongside the construction of new umbilical pad extensions at the launch site, ensuring system readiness. Blue Origin Manufacturing LLC acquired the 20-acre heavy industrial property in February for $11.5 million. The property features a 110-foot-tall, 10,000-square-foot high bay and was previously used by SpaceX for early Starship prototype development. (11/4)

NASA Outlines Artemis IV Starship Refueling Architecture as Launch Estimates Vary (Source: SatNews)
NASA has outlined the operational order of operations for fueling SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) in Earth orbit ahead of Artemis IV, the program’s scheduled first crewed lunar landing. Presented during an agency briefing in late October 2026, the updated flight sequence illustrates the multi-phase choreography required to stage and gas up the upper-stage lander in space before it departs for the Moon.

The operational blueprint arrives amid ongoing debate over how many preliminary tanker flights will be necessary to execute a crewed lunar sortie. While a 2021 GAO audit estimated that the lunar architecture could require up to 16 launches, recent panel assessments presented higher estimates. Charlie Precourt, a member of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), cautioned that fueling the lander could require as many as 22 launches. Elon Musk disputed that projection, stating the actual number of refueling flights will be closer to six or eight.

The disparity reflects varying engineering assumptions regarding Starship payload capacity, propellant boil-off rates during orbital loiter, and the operational efficiency of cryogenic fluid transfer between vehicles in low Earth orbit. NASA’s concept shows multiple Starship tanker variants will lift off from Earth to deliver liquid methane and liquid oxygen to a dedicated propellant depot loitering in low Earth orbit. Once the depot tanks are filled, the uncrewed Starship HLS upper stage will launch, dock with the orbital depot to receive its full propellant load, and initiate its trans-lunar injection burn toward lunar orbit. (11/3)

Globalstar Questions Supplier Relationship With Rocket Lab When Iridium Acquisition Closes (Source: Via Satellite)
Globalstar asked the FCC to take a close look at how its relationship with supplier Rocket Lab could be impacted after Rocket Lab acquires Globalstar competitor Iridium. Globalstar submitted an FCC filing in the agency’s review of the Rocket Lab/Iridium acquisition, detailing what it called repeated attempts by Iridium to “capture” its licensed mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum through regulatory filings, and raising questions about the competitive implications of the deal. (11/3)

Space Force Weighs Proliferated Cislunar Satellite Constellation (Source: Air & Space Forces)
The Space Force is considering launching up to five satellites to cislunar space as soon as 2029 to help lay the foundation for a future proliferated constellation between Earth and the moon. In a Nov. 2 industry notice, the service said it is “notionally interested” in launching a handful of satellites to inform a future acquisition strategy for a Cislunar Space System to operate beyond geosynchronous orbit. The spacecraft should be ready to launch by late 2029 for initial operations by 2031. (11/2)

Starfish Space's First Otter Spacecraft Fails in Orbit (Source: Space News)
Starfish Space's first Otter spacecraft has failed in orbit just weeks after its launch. The satellite servicing company said Tuesday that it lost contact with the Otter spacecraft, launched Oct. 1 on a rideshare mission. The company concluded that the fault protection system on the spacecraft bus turned off the radio and kept it from reestablishing communications, and that the Otter is "not recoverable." The spacecraft was flying a mission for NASA called Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability (SSPICY), where it planned to approach several other space objects and potentially dock with one as a demonstration of its satellite servicing capabilities. Starfish said it is working with Astro Digital, which produced the bus, to correct the problem on several other Otter spacecraft in production. (11/4)

China's Star Vision to Develop AI-Enabled Constellation for Oman (Source: Space News)
Chinese company Star Vision signed agreements to develop an "AI-enabled" satellite constellation for the government of Oman. The agreement with Omani company Oman Lens was signed Monday in Beijing during a state visit by the sultan of Oman. Star Vision says the deal covers 20 satellites for space computing, although reports in Omani media state that the satellite agreement covers two phases beginning with seven satellites, with a second phase contingent on the success of the first. The constellation deal builds on the OL-1 Omani remote sensing and AI demo satellite, developed in part by Star Vision, with an onboard AI processing payload, that launched two years ago. (11/4)

Astrolab Expands From Lunar Rovers Toward Power and Comms (Source: Space News)
Lunar rover developer Astrolab is expanding into power and communications. The company announced Wednesday the Lunar Utility Module for Industrial Services (LUMIS), which will include a vertical solar array and batteries along with local and direct-to-Earth communications. LUMIS is designed to be deployed on the moon by Astrolab's FLEX cargo rover. A network of LUMIS nodes could provide power and communications for NASA's lunar base as well as commercial users. The company plans to fly an initial LUMIS demonstration node, capable of producing 2 kilowatts of power, on a commercial Starship lander mission as soon as 2028. (11/4)

Voyager Acquisition of Astrobotic Going Well (Source: Space News)
Voyager Technologies is pleased so far with its acquisition of lunar lander company Astrobotic. In an earnings call Tuesday, Voyager executives said the acquisition this summer "meaningfully expanded" its lunar capabilities. Astrobotic provided $31 million in revenue to Voyager in the third quarter, more than expected, although executives said that was primarily a shift in timing of planned revenue from the fourth quarter. The Griffin-1 lander Astrobotic developed is being prepared for launch, although officials on the call did not give a specific launch date or commit to flying the mission by the end of the year as previously planned. Voyager executives also said on the call they felt confident about the position of Starlab Space, the commercial space station joint venture that Voyager owns a majority stake in, for NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations competition. (11/4)

Voice Commands Now Can Operate Satellites (Source: Space News)
Controllers successfully operated a satellite in orbit using only voice commands. In July, Oslo-based amateur radio operators sent a voice command to the European Space Agency's three-year-old CubeSat OPS-SAT PRETTY. Engineers say that while operating satellites with voice commands is unlikely to become a standard practice, there is potential for training satellites to recognize and respond to the "unstructured and unpredictable" patterns of the human voice versus just predefined patterns and formats in radio signals. (11/4)

Midterm Swing Means Changes Likely for DoD and NASA Space (Sources: Space News, Washington Post)
Democrats will have control of both houses of Congress next year after sweeping wins in midterm elections Tuesday. Democrats will have at least 54 seats in the Senate and 228 in the House, with a number of races yet to be called. Democratic control of Congress could have implications for both NASA's space science and exploration programs as well as plans to increase military space spending and fund the Golden Dome missile defense system. (11/4)

A Critical Two Years for Golden Dome (Source: Space News)
The next two years will be critical for Golden Dome and other military space programs. When President Trump unveiled Golden Dome in May 2025, he said it should be fully operational before his term ends in January 2029. The Pentagon has since laid out a more limited near-term objective, with initial capabilities targeted for 2028, including work on space-based interceptors. By 2028, the Pentagon also expects to have made significant progress shifting surveillance missions traditionally performed by aircraft into space, while the Space Development Agency completes deployment of the first generations of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a network of communications and missile-tracking satellites linked by lasers in LEO. (11/4)

2028 Will be Key Year for Artemis (Source: Space News)
2028 will be a critical year for NASA's space exploration ambitions. The agency continues to plan to have the first Artemis crewed landing in 2028 even as the architecture for those missions is adjusted. NASA is also expecting to launch a nuclear propulsion demonstration mission in late 2028, although NASA has provided limited details about progress on the mission and its schedule. Multiple robotic lunar lander missions are also scheduled for 2028, even as companies struggle to launch and successfully land such spacecraft. (11/4)

NOAA Budget Key to Commercial Weather Satellite Providers (Source: Space News)
Companies offering commercial weather services are waiting to see what NOAA's budgets will look like over the next two years for buying such services. Although NOAA's Commercial Data Program (CDP) budget has grown in recent years, industry executives say a substantial increase in the administration's 2028 budget request is needed to persuade investors to finance additional commercial weather satellites. Recent comments by NOAA officials have raised hopes among industry leaders that funding will increase. NOAA selected 14 companies in September for its Space-Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) IDIQ contract, with a ceiling of $2.35 billion over 10 years. (11/4)

This Space Company Is Betting Its Future on a Propellant Available Everywhere (Source: Ars Technica)
Robert, Ryan and Kirby Carlisle are engineers who worked at SpaceX during the Falcon 9 era, seeing the revolution in the global launch industry from the inside. The brothers launched rockets, refurbished rockets, and sold rockets. But when it came time for them to leave SpaceX and start their own space company—a lifetime dream for the Carlisle brothers—they chose not to build rockets. Rather, they focused on spacecraft.

In late 2022, the three Carlisles founded Argo Space to build infrastructure in space. Their vision was not just in-space transportation but also removing the need to use propellants from Earth to move around the heavens. They chose water, which is potentially harvestable on the Moon and found all over the Solar System, as a means of propulsion. (11/3)

DIU Looks to Award Deorbit Demonstration Contract Next Month (Source: Defense Daily)
The Pentagon is to make a downselect decision next month for a company's orbital demonstration under the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)/Space Development Agency (SDA) Deorbit-as-a-Service (DaaS) program after a preliminary design review on Nov. 16. In August, DIU and SDA said they had awarded D-Orbit, Firefly Aerospace and Katalyst Space $8.4 million in contracts for DaaS. The goal is to have a prototype de-orbiting system in space by mid-2028. (11/3)

Federal Watchdogs File Project Meridian Lawsuit (Source: Defense Daily)
The two most prominent defense industry board members of the Pentagon's Project Meridian are SpaceX [SPCX] founder and CEO Elon Musk and Anduril Industries' co-founder Palmer Luckey. A federal watchdogs' lawsuit filed against the Pentagon on Monday suggests that DoD will be more inclined to steer contracts to SpaceX, Anduril, and other companies with executives on the Project Meridian board. Co-defendants on the lawsuit are Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael. (11/3)

Space-Grown Brain Tumor Models Mimic Advanced Glioblastoma More Closely (Source: Beyond LEO)
Miniature brain tumors grown for 40 days on the International Space Station turned out to resemble advanced human glioblastoma more closely than the same kind of models grown on Earth. Researchers used three-dimensional organoids made from glioblastoma (GBM) cells and innate immune cells. These are laboratory models of a tumor, not treatments, and no patient was involved. Their value lies in giving researchers a more realistic stand-in for a cancer that is notoriously hard to study and to treat. (11/2)

AT&T and AST SpaceMobile Switch a Phone Connection From Ground Network to Satellite (Source: Beyond LEO)
AT&T and AST SpaceMobile say they have passed a phone connection from a ground-based cellular network to a satellite network that talks directly to handsets, in what they believe is the first successful handoff of its kind in the industry. The test took place outside Granite Falls, Washington, at 8:15 a.m. PT on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, using ground-based technology from Ericsson and Nokia. (11/2)

Europe Looks at Post-ISS Options (Source: Space News)
Europe is examining its options for life after the International Space Station. The agency has outlined three possible paths: relying largely on commercial space stations developed by others, using those commercial platforms while contributing European infrastructure and transportation, or pursuing a European-led orbital outpost. ESA has made progress on all three, including agreements with commercial space station developers and awarding study contracts to examine the feasibility of a European-led station. Member states are expected to debate those plans at an intermediate ministerial meeting in Rome in mid-December. (11/3)

Cygnus Cargo Mission to ISS will Honor James Lovell (Source: Collect Space)
The next Cygnus mission to the ISS will be named after James Lovell. Northrop Grumman said last week that the Cygnus spacecraft for its NG-25 mission to the ISS, scheduled to launch later this month on a Falcon 9, will be named the S.S. James A. Lovell after the former NASA astronaut who died last year. Lovell is best known as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, but also flew on Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8. The announcement continues a company tradition of naming Cygnus spacecraft primarily after deceased astronauts. (11/3)

Rocket Lab Launches Another Japanese SAR Satellite From New Zealand (Source: Space News)
An Electron launched a Japanese radar-imaging satellite Monday on the rocket's last double-digit launch. The Electron lifted off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 11:41 a.m. Eastern and placed into orbit the QPS-SAR-20 satellite for Japanese company iQPS. This was the 10th launch for iQPS with eight more Electron launches under contract. The next Electron launch will be the 100th for the vehicle since its introduction in 2017. That launch, also for iQPS, is scheduled for no earlier than Nov. 14. (11/3)

China's Kinetica-2 Rocket Launches Qianfan Satellites (Source: Xinhua)
A commercial Chinese rocket launched a set of Qianfan satellites Monday. The Lijian-2, or Kinetica-2, lifted off from the Dongfeng commercial launch complex at Jiuquan at 7:15 p.m. Eastern. It carried 18 satellites for the Spacesail constellation. This was the second flight of the rocket, which is capable of placing up to 8 metric tons into sun-synchronous orbit. (11/3)

Amazon Anticipates Accelerated Leo Deployment with Rockets Returning to Service (Source: Space News)
Amazon is betting that the deployment of its broadband constellation will soon accelerate. The company has launched less than 400 Amazon Leo satellites because of delays and setbacks with the Ariane 6, New Glenn and Vulcan Centaur rockets. The company is expecting that deployment pace to speed up as New Glenn and Vulcan return to flight, with Vulcan launching a set of Amazon Leo satellites as soon as Nov. 13. Analysts say 2027 could be an "inflection point" for Amazon Leo if those vehicles can increase their flight rates. (11/3)

Space Force Should Move Faster on New Surveillance Satellites (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is not moving quickly enough on a program to develop a new series of space surveillance satellites, industry claims. At a conference last week, companies criticized the Space Force for its management of the Geosynchronous Reconnaissance and Surveillance program, known as RG-XX, where the service aims to replace a small fleet of expensive, custom-built surveillance satellites with a larger network of commercially derived spacecraft operating in geosynchronous orbit. Companies say the first orders under the program may be considerably smaller than industry had hoped, reducing the economies of scale they had expected. They also criticized the pace of the program, with the Space Force expected to order the next RG-XX satellites in 2027 for delivery in 2030. (11/3)

Vantor Can Deliver Imagery Within 7 Minutes of Request (Source: Space News)
Vantor says it has demonstrated the ability to deliver satellite imagery to Ukrainian troops within just seven minutes of a request. The company completed a demonstration in which imagery was delivered directly to a handheld tablet on the battlefield seven minutes after the satellite was tasked, the geospatial intelligence company said last week. The company has previously reported delivery times of approximately 12 to 15 minutes under favorable conditions, although imagery can take several hours to reach users depending on circumstances. (11/3)

Future Intel Sat Designs May Cater to AI Users (Source: Space News)
Intelligence agencies may design future satellites around the needs of AI rather than human analysts. Didi Kuo, principal deputy director for geospatial intelligence at the NRO, said advances in AI could challenge longstanding assumptions about the image quality required from intelligence satellites. The NRO, which builds and operates U.S. intelligence satellites, has demanding image-quality requirements intended to support human analysts that affect the design and cost of satellites. Designing around AI needs could alter those designs, resulting in cost savings. (11/3)

Computer Glitch and Gyro Fault Likely Doomed Mars Orbiter (Source: Space News)
A combination of a computer glitch and a faulty gyro likely caused the demise of a NASA Mars orbiter last year. NASA lost contact with the MAVEN spacecraft last December and declared the mission over in June after failing to restore contact. The final report of an anomaly review board, recently released by NASA with no fanfare, said the most likely cause was a single-event upset in the spacecraft's flight computer or a software issue that caused the computer to reboot. When it rebooted, it relied on data from a gyro that had previously been turned off because of degrading performance. The gyro provided faulty information to the computer, causing it to fire thrusters and spin up. Investigators said they could not definitively prove this was the root cause of the failure but noted that other possibilities, like an impact from a micrometeoroid or debris, were far less likely. (11/3)

Saltzman Joins Voyager Board (Source: Space News)
The recently retired commanding general of the Space Force is joining a Voyager Technologies board. The company announced Monday that Chance Saltzman will chair its board of advisers, providing strategic advice on Voyager's space and defense programs, customer needs and the changing security environment. The appointment comes two months after Saltzman stepped down as chief of space operations, the Space Force's highest-ranking uniformed position. For Voyager, Saltzman's appointment comes as the firm expands into military space and defense markets. (11/3)

New X-Plane To Be Announced At Max Power Airshow (Source: TWZ)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says a new X-plane will be announced at the Max Power exhibition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this coming weekend. He insisted, however, that this is unrelated to an SR-71 Blackbird that mysteriously disappeared from public display earlier this year. Isaacman also deflected a direct question about that SR-71 and the possibility that it could fly again, quipping that “we’re just cleaning it, man.”

“Since I didn’t answer your question that you asked before, I will give you some insight that we will announce a new X-plane at it [Max Power], and it is not the one you’re thinking about,” the NASA director said in an ensuing discussion on the podcast about that event, which is set to kick off on Saturday. “I am gonna deliver on the promise there will be more X-planes.” (11/2)

Should Utah’s Spaceport Launch Rockets or Catch Them? Experts Are Split (Source: Deseret News)
Recent momentum has brought Utah's spaceport project nearer to reality. However, a core debate has emerged regarding its primary function: whether the facility should serve as a launch site, a recovery location or combination of both. The Legislature formed the Spaceport Exploration Committee aiming to assess the feasibility of a Utah-based facility that could play a potential role as a place to launch, land and even develop the next generation of space vehicles.

The committee completed its work last week, issuing a final report identifying two locations, Delta and Green River, for a potential new multimodal space facility and encouraging lawmakers to move forward with development efforts. Their report concludes that both launch and reentry services are feasible in Utah and identifies launch and reentry routes that meet FAA safety requirements at both preferred locations. But some industry experts and at least one committee member say Utah should set different priorities. They believe the most viable route for Utah to elevate its standing in the newspace sector is to focus on reentry and recovery and, for the time being, deprioritize the pursuit of a launch facility. (11/2)

Trump Vows to Protect Musk, Floats Pre-Emptive Staff Pardons (Source: Axios)
President Trump said Monday he'd move to protect Elon Musk if Democrats investigate the SpaceX and Tesla CEO after the midterm elections. He also suggested the possibility of pre-emptive pardons for staff and others around him if Democrats pursue investigations. Trump is positioning himself for a combative final two years in the White House, as polls increasingly point to the prospect of a significant blue wave. (11/2)

SpaceX’s Starfall Just Went From Secret to Storefront (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX has put up a dedicated commercial page for Starfall, its disk shaped reentry capsule, laying out for the first time what customers actually get when they book a flight. The page, live at spacex.com/starfall, pitches “affordable, routine access to microgravity” and invites companies to get in touch about flying manufacturing, research or testing payloads.

The specs are short and specific. Each Starfall mission carries up to 1,000 kg of payload, supplies 1 kW of power and connects through an Ethernet interface. Mission length is tailored to the customer, and the payload stays online the entire time through Starlink, which means researchers can pull data from an experiment while it is still in orbit instead of waiting for splashdown. (11/2)

China Publicly Discloses Plan for a Lunar Landing Within Three Years (Source: Ars Technica)
Chinese space officials confirmed this weekend that the Asian nation plans to land its astronauts on the Moon within three years. At the Seventh Manned Spaceflight Conference in Beijing, officials, including Wang Xiang, chief designer for the lunar exploration program, laid out the country’s most publicly detailed plans yet for a series of missions leading up to a crewed lunar landing “before 2030.” (11/3)

Space Force Cislunar Space System Under Consideration (Source: Defense Daily)
The U.S. Space Force is exploring a future Cislunar Space System (CSS) with plans to award up to five preliminary design study contracts for a constellation of up to five satellites operating beyond geosynchronous orbit. The spacecraft are targeted to be ready for launch by late 2029, with initial operational capability slated for 2031. The system will consist of up to five space vehicles, each carrying a payload of more than 2.2 tons and designed to serve as seed vehicles for a future proliferated cislunar network.

Key interest areas include space domain awareness (SDA), communications, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) between Earth and the Moon. The service is prioritizing existing commercial, non-developmental hardware, propulsion for station-keeping and orbital transfers, and artificial intelligence/compute capabilities for long-duration autonomous operations. (11/2)

What is Starshield? (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX is building and operating two satellite networks at the moment, Starlink and Starshield. What’s the difference between the two, and who uses them? Starshield is SpaceX’s network for serving national security customers. The company announced the program in December 2022, stating it would apply Starlink technology and SpaceX's launch capability to government needs, initially in three areas: Earth observation, communications and hosted payloads.

"They are using the same satellite buses," says Bleddyn Bowen, associate professor of astropolitics at Durham University in the U.K. “They look the same, but they have a lot more kit on them that allows them to do more things. They provide similar broadband internet, but with more secure hardware and software and hardened systems.” The company says it has won multi-billion-dollar, multiyear contracts from the U.S. military in 2026 for Starshield-related services. (11/2)

November 3, 2026

The Moon May Have Squeezed Earth’s First Continents Into Existence (Source: Science)
Simon Lock studies the time, some 4.5 billion years ago, when a Mars-size object struck Earth in a collision that formed the Moon, and set our planet spinning in days that were just a few hours long. Those short days also changed Earth’s shape. Rapid rotation squashed Earth into a flattened sphere, bulging at the equator. As the Moon moved away from Earth, the planet began to slow and its crust—freshly crystallized out of a magma ocean—came under immense strain. The resulting deformation may have driven melting and volcanism that helped produce the seeds of Earth’s first continents, setting the stage for the beginning of plate tectonics. (11/2)

UW Scientists Build Whole-Earth Simulation To Help Find Life on Other Planets (Source: U of Washington)
To date, astronomers have cataloged more than 6,000 planets beyond our solar system and are searching the atmospheres of the most promising worlds for chemicals that might be byproducts of life. Astrobiologists are particularly interested in atmospheres like Earth’s that trap enough heat to support liquid water on the planet’s surface, which scientists consider the key factor in determining whether a planet can support life as we know it.

But scientists also want to distinguish between habitable and inhabited worlds. To do that, they need to know what sorts of atmospheric conditions on a planet can be explained without life, so that they can identify planets with atmospheres that can only be explained by life’s influence. To provide that planetary baseline, University of Washington researchers built a complex virtual Earth with one crucial tweak: no life.

The researchers simulated the Earth’s geochemical systems for 5 billion years — from its formation 4.5 billion years ago through roughly 500 million years in the future. The simulation modeled the exchange of chemicals between the core, mantle, crust, surface and atmosphere over time. It accurately predicted 19 planetary properties like heat flow through the mantle, but left out the influence of life on those systems. The simulation can be generalized to predict how an atmosphere might evolve on any rocky planet, and can help pinpoint evidence of life in atmospheres that don’t fit the model. (11/2)

U.S. Space Academy Belongs in Colorado (Source: The Gazette)
The U.S. Space Academy — a new academy to train America’s future military and civilian space leaders — is looking for a home. Colorado is the obvious choice. And Colorado Springs is the right locale. Gov. Jared Polis, wisely leading the state’s pitch, understands why Colorado and Colorado Springs stand out. “We have the full picture to make this decision easy for the feds,” Polis said at a Colorado Springs news conference. (11/2)

Maritime Launch Services Gets Final Approval to List on the TSX (Source: SpaceQ)
Maritime Launch Services has won final approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange and its shares will begin trading on the exchange at the market open on Tuesday, Nov. 3, under the symbol MAXQ. The Halifax-based company and developer of Spaceport Nova Scotia received conditional approval in mid-October. Its shares will stop trading on Cboe Canada at the close on Monday. (11/2)

JAXA Backs Interstellar Zero Launcher (Source: Aviation Week)
Japanese launcher startup Interstellar Technologies has secured Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) backing for its Zero rocket program. The company said JAXA has selected it as part of its Acceleration of Commercial Rocket Launch Demonstration program, under the Space Strategic Fund. (11/3)

China Plans “Two Launches, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous” to Land Taikonauts on Moon (Source: Space Policy Online)
China is sharing more information about how it plans to land taikonauts on the Moon by 2030. Development of the Long March-10 rocket, Mengzhou crew spacecraft, and Lanyue lunar lander have been underway for some time, but how they expect to execute the landing is just being shared now.

The overall plan was explained at the 7th Manned Space Symposium in Beijing this weekend by Wang Xiang, chief designer of the lunar exploration program and reported by Chinese news outlets including Xinhua and CCTV and on social media.

They’ll use a “two launches, lunar orbit rendezvous” strategy where Mengzhou (“dream vessel”) and Lanyue (“embracing the Moon”) will be launched separately and dock in lunar orbit. Two of the three taikonauts will transfer from Mengzhou into Lanyue for the trip down to and back from the surface and transfer back into Mengzhou for the return to Earth. (11/2)

Hidden in Plain Sight in Ryugu and Meteorites (Source: Kanazawa University)
Asteroid Ryugu and some carbonaceous meteorites, which are thought to have similar origins in the early Solar System, are known as chemically “primitive” materials because they preserve the chemical composition of the early Solar System remarkably well. Yet these rocks also reacted extensively with water after they formed, transforming many of their original minerals into new ones. When rocks react with water, elements can dissolve into the fluid or move from one place to another, potentially altering the original chemical composition.

This seemingly contradictory combination — extensive reaction with water while preserving the chemical composition of the early Solar System — has long been one of the puzzles of cosmochemistry. A research team led by Kanazawa University and The University of Tokyo used powerful X-rays at the large-scale synchrotron facilities KEK-PF and SPring-8 to examine these extraterrestrial materials in detail. They identified a previously overlooked material that may provide an important clue to this long-standing puzzle. (11/2)

UAE Space Agency on Track for Asteroid Belt Mission in Q1 2028 (Source: WAM)
The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) is on track for launch in the first quarter of 2028, representing a long-term strategic investment in the UAE's space sector, developing national talent, strengthening space industries and creating new economic opportunities. The mission has made significant progress, including the development of the EMA Lander, designed, developed, assembled and tested entirely in the UAE in less than two years. (11/2)

As Picard, Patrick Steward Had Life-Changing Effects on Generations (Source: New York Times)
Patrick Stewart, who died on Wednesday, was many things to many people: a world-renowned actor, a knight of the realm, a patron of the arts, a tireless fighter for raising awareness of domestic abuse. And for millions, Mr. Stewart will chiefly be remembered as Jean-Luc Picard, the stoic, pacifist captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise who first appeared in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Mr. Stewart’s iconic character was also a source of inspiration for thousands of space scientists. (11/2)

Is the South Pole the Right Place for a Lunar Base? (Source: Space Review)
With its Moon Base program, NASA is increasingly focused on landing astronauts in the south polar regions of the Moon. Jeff Foust reports some people, ranging from astronauts to scientists, think the risks of landing there outweigh the benefits, at least for initial missions. Click here. (11/3)
 
The Space Code: How China Uses Culture to Build its Space Soft Power (Source: Space Review)
Chinese space programs once used revolutionary themes for their names, but have more recently turned to Chinese mythology. Krzysztof Karwowski examines the reasons for this naming approach. Click here. (11/3)
 
A Reusable Rocket Alone is Not a Resilient Launch System (Source: Space Review)
Much of the focus on launch has been developing reusable vehicles. Burak Oktenli argues that just as important as reusability is the ability of customers to easily change launch vehicles when something goes wrong. Click here. (11/3)
 
A Long-Distance Look at SPACEHAB (Source: Space Review)
For those who handled payload processing for SPACEHAB missions on the shuttle, the missions themselves were supposed to be break. James Behling recalls what happened on one mission when, by chance, he spotted something unusual. Click here. (11/3)
 
Slaying Snakes, Claiming Freedom: Susan Still Kilrain’s Unconventional Astronaut Career (Source: Space Review)
Susan Still Kilrain achieved many firsts in her career as a military test pilot and NASA astronaut. Emily Carney reviews an autobiography of the astronaut that discusses the challenges she overcame and why her astronaut career was relatively short. Click here. (11/3)

Europe Picks 8 Teams for to Build with Lunar Regolith (Source: ESA)
ESA and European Space Resources Innovation Center (ESRIC) selected 8 teams for Phase 2 of the 3rd Space Resources Challenge, "Building with Lunar Regolith". The teams were chosen from 38 submissions. Next, five of the eight teams will qualify for a field test at the LUNA facility of ESA and DLR in Cologne in summer 2027. Each of the five will receive a €50,000 ESA Cooperative Agreement to prepare its technology. The winner will receive a €500,000 ESA Cooperative Agreement to move towards commercialization and a possible in-space demonstration. The Luxembourg Space Agency offers an additional €500,000 prize. Only Luxembourgish companies are eligible to receive it. (11/2)

South Korea's Air Force to Participate in U.S.-Led Space War Game (Source: Yonhap)
The South Korean Air Force will take part in a U.S.-led multinational space war game for the first time this week, a tabletop exercise designed to strengthen joint operational capabilities in the space domain, officials said Monday. The Air Force is scheduled to participate in the war game, dubbed Partner to Win, from Monday through Friday (local time) in Florida, alongside the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Brazil and the United States, according to the armed service. (11/2)

New Zealand Global Space Company Won't Write Down Military Policy (Source: Southland App)
The brains behind a burgeoning Southland space company says workers would walk off the job if he went down a military route, but has no plans of drawing up a firm policy. SpaceOps runs a ground station at Awarua, south of Invercargill, plus Warkworth Space Center, north of Auckland. Its core business is hosting antennas for clients connecting to spacecraft, with big name users including aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin, Norway’s KSAT, and Italy’s Leaf Space.

But company chief executive and founder Robin McNeill has revealed there is no policy in place for accepting or undertaking work connected to military activity – despite the company being a subsidiary of regional development agency Great South. “We’ve got enough other things to do without spending ages developing a policy that we don’t need,” he said. McNeill is the brains behind SpaceOps and the 2024 recipient of the inaugural Prime Minister’s Space Prize for Professional Excellence. (11/1)

NASA Wants a Commercial Space Economy. Here’s How it Can Enable One (Source: Fortune)
Taken together, the ISS’s retirement and the squeeze on launch availability creates a real problem for many “new space” startups that built their venture business plans on continued cheap rides to orbit. For a startup space economy that scaled around frequent, inexpensive rideshare slots from one company, the challenge now is how soon the alternatives can deliver dependable access to orbit at comparable scale.

While developing new rockets and replacing the ISS present different operational hurdles, both run into the same underlying market gap: building for space is extraordinarily capital-intensive, and the industry lacks a discovery mechanism to turn existing global demand into the committed orders and upfront capital needed to bring new capacity online. Global government demand is not the issue. The main problem is pretending a self-sustaining commercial market exists when space companies are relying on the U.S. government to be the anchor tenant.

NASA doesn’t need a bigger budget; it needs to push for acquisition strategies that connect a station’s supply chain directly to its future customers and financing. First, the agency can streamline the supplier vetting process to incorporate suppliers from allied and partner nations from the get-go, cutting hardware and service costs immediately. More than just vendors, these companies and their governments are the very ecosystem partners—and commercial and sovereign tenants—that future stations will rely upon for revenue. Second, NASA should place a premium on binding, reciprocal commitments from those partners to use the stations once on orbit. Finally, the agency should consider partnering with market infrastructure providers who can underwrite those day-one supplier costs against committed customer revenues. (11/2)

SciTec Reaches a Major Space Force Missile-Warning Milestone (Source: Aerospace Colorado)
Boulder-based SciTec, a Firefly Aerospace company, announced an operational milestone for the U.S. Space Force's FORGE system. The latest integration incorporates data from a Wide Field of View sensor in geostationary orbit, expanding the system's missile-warning and tracking capabilities. FORGE uses AI and machine learning to process large volumes of sensor data and provide actionable information to Space Force operators. This demonstrates the growing importance of mission software, sensor integration, and data processing alongside traditional satellite hardware. (11/2)

Amentum Expands Defense and Space Operations in Colorado Springs (Source: Aerospace Colorado)
Amentum expanded its presence at Catalyst Campus in Colorado Springs, establishing a facility designed for secure collaboration on sensitive defense and space programs. The expansion supports work involving missile defense, artificial intelligence, cyber operations, and space mission support. (11/2)

Catalyst Accelerator Supports Five Emerging Space and Defense Startups (Source: Aerospace Colorado)
Catalyst Accelerator's first Investment Readiness Boot Camp concluded with a showcase for five early-stage companies developing space and space-supporting technologies. The program was designed to help pre-Series A companies prepare for investment and scale within the space and defense ecosystem. This is especially relevant to Colorado's startup community. Investment readiness, access to government customers, and connections with strategic partners can help smaller companies move from promising technology to sustainable businesses. (11/2)

Space Investment Summit held Oct. 30 in Golden, Colorado (Source: Aerospace Colorado)
The third annual Space Investment Summit was held Oct. 30 in Golden. Produced by @Space Venture Studio, this event focused on space-company formation and investment, with startup pitches, investor feedback, and industry discussion. The opening framing was provided by Aerospace Colorado Board Chair and Advanced Space CEO Bradley Cheetham as well as space economist Jeffrey Cleveland of the Colorado School of Mines. This event series brings together founders, investors, operators, and industry experts for a full day of startup pitches, fundraising insights, practical workshops, and networking focused on building successful space businesses. (11/2)

ESA to Support Industry-Led Reusable Booster Flight Demonstrations (Source: European Spaceflight)
The European Space Agency has announced plans to support industry-led flight demonstrations of reusable rocket first stages and boosters as part of a new phase of its Boosters for European Space Transportation (BEST!) initiative.

On 27 October, ESA published a call for its BEST!2 Flight Demonstrations initiative, which is intended to “accelerate the development and in-flight demonstration of reusable first-stage/booster technologies.” According to the notice, the activity will support system-level demonstrations addressing first-stage recovery and re-flight, aiming to reduce technical and operational risks and accelerate the introduction of these technologies into operational launch systems. (11/2)

Springs’ Space Future is Bright Without Space Command (Source: The Gazette)
While Colorado Springs navigates a changing space environment, and one without a major combatant command that used to call the city home, it is in a good position to benefit from increasing federal investments in national security space. During the 30th annual Economic Forum at the University of Colorado, business leaders shared how the city and the region are squarely ready and perhaps even benefiting from Space Command’s ongoing departure. (11/1)

Lawfare Against Elon Musk Could Affect the Artemis Program (Source: The Hill)
If the Democrats win one or both houses of Congress, Politico is reporting that on top of their agenda is to wage lawfare against Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and the world’s richest man. The gavels are warming up for a myriad of investigations into Musk and his businesses. Such a move could have profound effects on American space policy and politics, particularly the Artemis return to the moon program.

SpaceX is one of the businesses that the Democrats would like to delve into. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), a ranking member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, claims that the “The sheer number of conflicts of interest are astounding.” The problem is that the next two years are going to be crucial for the Artemis return to the moon program. (11/1)

The Growing Threats That Make the Space Force Essential (Source: Washington Examiner)
A Defense Intelligence Agency report released last week underlines the rapidly growing threat to U.S. interests in space. It offers yet another reminder of the Space Force’s rising importance. The War Department‘s intelligence service, the DIA, is responsible for operations and analysis related to national defense. So, while this new report employs careful analytical language, its assessment clearly relies upon extensive classified intelligence. The document focuses on China and Russia.

A Defense Intelligence Agency report released last week underlines the rapidly growing threat to U.S. interests in space. It offers yet another reminder of the Space Force’s rising importance. The War Department‘s intelligence service, the DIA, is responsible for operations and analysis related to national defense. So, while this new report employs careful analytical language, its assessment clearly relies upon extensive classified intelligence. The document focuses on China and Russia. (11/2)

Europe Space Chief Heads to Gulf as Bloc Looks Beyond US (Source: Reuters)
The head of the European Space Agency will meet officials in the ‌United Arab Emirates this week as Europe seeks new partners and aims to reduce its reliance on the United States for space exploration. The rise of Elon Musk's SpaceX has laid bare Europe's reliance on American space technology.

"Number one, we should strengthen our capability, become ​a stronger player in the global ecosystem, but one that uses its strength to still work with ​other partners," Josef Aschbacher, director general of the ESA, told Reuters. He will attend ⁠meetings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "We realized that in exploration, Europe is very exposed to the United States," Aschbacher ​added, saying that European political leaders had told him that the region needed "more autonomy and more strength". (11/2)

Midterm Election to Test Bipartisan Support for NASA (Source: Space News)
A change in party control of Congress after the midterm elections could challenge the longstanding bipartisan consensus behind civil space policy, putting NASA’s legislative and funding environment in focus. The outcome may shape how reliably the agency can pursue priorities across shifting political control. (11/2)

ESA Member States to Decide Future of Europe’s Human and Robotic Exploration Program (Source: Space News)
European Space Agency member states are scheduled to meet in Rome on Dec. 15 to decide the future of Europe’s human and robotic exploration program. The decision will set the direction for the agency’s exploration agenda as Europe looks beyond the International Space Station. (11/2)

NASA Says Computer Glitch and Faulty Gyro Likely Caused Loss of MAVEN Mars Orbiter (Source: Space News)
An agency investigation concluded that a computer glitch and a faulty gyro likely led to the loss of NASA’s MAVEN orbiter nearly a year ago. The finding identifies the probable technical causes of the spacecraft’s loss, though the provided report summary gives no further detail on the failure sequence or mission impact. (11/2)

Swiss Startup Stellar Alpina Unveils Monarch Orbiter and Morpho Lunar Lander (Source: Payload)
Stellar Alpina is introducing two spacecraft: Monarch, described as a high-performance orbiter, and Morpho, a lunar lander. The announcement puts the Swiss startup’s ambitions in both orbital and lunar transportation in focus, though the available details do not specify mission timelines, customers or technical capabilities. (11/2)

ispace Appoints Anas Al-Shuwayer to Lead Saudi Subsidiary (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The lunar exploration company has named Anas Al-Shuwayer to lead its Saudi subsidiary as it expands local partnerships and operations. The appointment signals a stronger on-the-ground presence in Saudi Arabia, though the available report does not detail the subsidiary’s remit, partnerships or specific exploration plans. (11/1)

November 2, 2026

Oklahoma Aims to Become Top Aerospace, Defense Hub (Source: Air Cargo Week)
Oklahoma is aiming to become a leading aerospace and defense hub by leveraging its established aviation base to attract investment in advanced manufacturing, drones and commercial space. The state boasts some 1,100 aerospace entities, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and has a $44 billion economic impact. The Oklahoma Advanced Space Initiative and the Infinity One spaceport are part of the state's strategy to extend its capabilities into new markets. (11/2)

Rocket Lab Backs Alaska Launch Pads with $22M Investment (Source: Advanced Television)
Rocket Lab is supporting the refurbishment and construction of two launch pads in Alaska with a $22 million investment from the US government. The first pad at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island is set for completion by January, while construction of the second will begin soon. This project aims to enhance Rocket Lab's capacity for missile defense testing under a $266 million US Air Force contract, as well as its regular Electron launches and development of the Neutron rocket. (11/2)

Hydrosat Announces Nyktòs Program to Provide Tactical ISR for Sovereign Customers From New Facility in Europe (Source: Hydrosat)
Hydrosat announced today its high-resolution mid-wave infrared (MWIR) program named Nyktòs. Nyktòs will deliver high-resolution thermal imaging for tactical ISR. The day-and-night imaging capability can be tasked by customers and is complementary to the wide-area monitoring provided by Hydrosat’s Osiris constellation. The development of the new capability will be supported by Hydrosat’s expanded technology and manufacturing footprint in Europe and is intended for sovereign mission applications for NATO and allied customers. (11/2)

Voyager 1 Completes Power-Saving Swap and Regains Contact After Two-Day Silence (Source: Beyond LEO)
Voyager 1 has come through two tests in quick succession. In September, engineers finished a months-long effort to stretch the spacecraft's shrinking power supply. Then, in October, the probe fell silent for two days before its signal returned on its own, before the team had sent any commands to troubleshoot. (11/2)

China Unveils Two AI Models Built on Fengyun Satellite Data for Typhoons and Storms (Source: Sky Nightly)
China has introduced two artificial intelligence models that draw on data from its Fengyun meteorological satellites to help forecasters track extreme weather, the state-run China Daily reported. One reads cloud images of typhoons. The other is meant to give short-term warnings of severe convective weather. (10/30)

GalaxySpace Test Satellite Takes a 5G Core Network and Onboard AI Into Orbit (Source: Beyond LEO)
A Chinese test satellite carrying a 5G base station, a mobile core network and onboard AI computing has reached its planned orbit, the state-run China Daily reported on 30 October 2026, describing the launch as recent. The satellite, PEGA-SUS1, also carries satellite-to-ground laser communication and microwave communication. China Daily said this is the first time in China that all of these systems have been carried together on a single technology verification satellite. (10/30)

United CEO Says Boom Supersonic Airliner Won't Be Ready This Decade (Source: Air Data News)
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby no longer expects Boom Supersonic 's Overture airliner to enter service before the end of the decade, casting doubt on a timeline that has already changed significantly since the airline became one of the project's first major customers. His assessment is significant because United was the first US airline to commit to the Overture. In 2021, the carrier announced an agreement for 15 aircraft, subject to safety, operating and sustainability requirements, with options for another 35. (11/2)

Eutelsat Q1 LEO Revenue Rises 30% to €70.9M as OneWeb Offsets Video Decline (Source: SatNews)
Eutelsat Group reported total first-quarter revenues of €286 million following the close of market trading on Oct. 29, 2026, driven by expanding low Earth orbit (LEO) operations that helped cushion ongoing declines across its legacy geostationary orbit (GEO) video business. (11/1)

Capacity Limits Approaching at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SPACErePORT)
Col. Chatman's briefing at UCF Space Week revealed that, from a real-estate perspective, we're not far from reaching a maximum capacity situation at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Chatman showed an updated chart identifying which launch pads are assigned to the various companies and programs at the spaceport. As SpaceX and Blue Origin gobble up available pads for their heavy-lift rockets, there are now only a few locations that can be assigned to new users, with some old unused pads no longer available due to "blast arcs" from nearby launch pads.

New smaller rockets might find a home south of LC-46, which used to be off-limits due to proximity to Port Canaveral. There are four small-medium launchers working their way to orbit, including Relativity (LC-16), Stoke (LC-14), and Phantom and Vaya (LC-13). Of these, Phantom and Vaya appear to be making less progress, so Stoke's plans for a second launch pad could displace them, as could Blue Origin's northward expansion. A bit further north, LC-20 is currently labeled for "DOW testing", which means missile testing and other stuff. This pad could be reassigned for a new small-medium orbital launcher (including Firefly or Rocket Lab?). And small air-launch rockets (Starfighters, etc.) would operate from the Launch & Landing Facility.

What about a new large rocket (like Cowboy Space)? Chatman's map shows an un-labeled site between LC-37 (SpaceX) and LC-40 (SpaceX) that might be for Starship, but might also accommodate a new large rocket. LC-48, between LC-41 (ULA) and LC-39A (SpaceX), is labeled as a "NASA Multi-User" pad and seems suitable for a new heavy-lifter or smaller rockets. Further north, NASA had planned long ago for an LC-39C that would be the northernmost pad on KSC. Whether that remains feasible I don't know, as it would surely prevent public access to the popular federally protected Playalinda beaches. Heavy-lift cadence is also a factor, with huge blast arcs potentially shutting down nearby pads more than just occasionally. (11/2)

Construction Underway on Kīhei Space Force Facility as South Maui Leader Calls for Resource Transparency (Source: Maui Now)
Construction is underway on the US Space Force’s new Secure Integration Support Laboratory (SISL) in Kīhei at Līpoa on Maui, formerly known as the Maui Research and Technology Park. The 56,000-square-foot, two-story facility has drawn both defense of its operational stability and community scrutiny regarding resource usage and impacts. Military officials say that the administrative, research, and collaborative workspace will not function as a commercial data center. The Department of the Air Force and the US Space Force maintain that they remain committed to open dialogue and environmental stewardship as construction progresses. (10/31)

Apple Maps Begins Blurring NASA, Space Force, and Air Force Bases (Source: Space Explored)
You’re not a real space or aviation nerd unless you’ve taken to a map service and zoomed on the historic NASA launch pads or your local Air Force Bases, just for fun, you know? However, a recent change to Apple Maps now has some of those locations blurred from view, blocking anyone from seeing fighters on tarmacs or rockets on launch pads. It probably makes sense as a reasonable security measure, why should some of the most sensitive locations to the United States be easily seen from commercial services on anyone’s phone?

What we have discovered are now blurred are a lot of NASA and US Space Force locations, including Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This change looks to have been rather recent, with no announcement by Apple for the change. On the contrary, Google Maps, has not blurred any of these military locations. It is presumed that Apple will continue to role out blurred map changes to more bases in the future. (10/30)

Military and Civil Satellites are Watching Fireballs to Help Keep Earth Safe From Space Rocks (Source: Space.com)
It came from outer space, exploding high above the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina. That April 1 event — an incoming meteor, also termed a bolide — was observed by both U.S. space-based military and civil sensors. Hush-hush U.S. government satellite sensors detected the speedy fireball cutting through our atmosphere. The object's brightness peaked at an altitude of nearly 60 miles (90.5 kilometers) over the South Atlantic.

That dazzling spectacle was also caught by NOAA's GOES-E and Europe's Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Imager-1 satellite. This skyfall show is among a number of recent episodes that spotlight the value of combining multi-sensor data to not only portray fireball dynamics but also to help appreciate human-caused space debris impacts, as well as strengthening planetary defense knowhow.

An April 2025 fireball over south-central Alaska yielded one of the most densely recorded "seismoacoustic" datasets ever obtained for a nature-made bolide en route to busting up. A network of 37 seismic stations, 16 single infrasound sensors, and four infrasound arrays recorded 30 ballistic and multiple fragmentation arrivals. All this was complemented by Doppler weather radar detections of falling meteorites and independent optical video observations. (11/1)

Chinese Reusable Rocket Developers Reach Structural and Propulsion Milestones (Source: Space News)
Two Chinese commercial launch companies, Deep Blue Aerospace and LandSpace, have achieved major hardware and production milestones as they push toward full reusability. Deep Blue Aerospace completed a 5-meter-diameter stainless-steel first-stage propellant tank for its upcoming Nebula-2 reusable rocket outside its base in Wuxi. LandSpace rolled out its 100th TQ-series methane-liquid rocket engine at its production facility in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, hitting a triple-digit manufacturing scale for its Zhuque-3 (ZQ-3) reusable launch vehicle. (10/30)

Golden Dome Uncertainty with Political Shifts in Congress (Source: Space News)
Companies are growing cautious about betting on the Pentagon's $185 billion Golden Dome missile defense initiative. Executives said last week that uncertainty over future congressional funding and unresolved acquisition challenges are making it difficult for companies to justify investments in manufacturing capacity and technologies. Golden Dome faces political risks because it has not secured broad bipartisan support and much of its initial funding came through budget reconciliation rather than the regular appropriations process. The comments highlight a challenge for Golden Dome as the Pentagon tries to turn a major national security initiative into a sustained industrial effort. (11/2)

Northwood Space Raises $375 Million for Ground Systems (Source: Space News)
Northwood Space raised $375 million to advance development of ground systems for satellites. The company announced its Series C round Monday led by Andreessen Horowitz and DFJ Growth, with participation from several other investors. The round values the company at $2 billion. Northwood's network combines antennas with software that schedules satellite contacts and routes data, allowing commercial and government operators to buy access to shared ground capacity. The funding will allow the company to scale up that network. Northwood says it is seeing strong government and commercial interest in its ground station network, but did not disclose how its business is divided between the two markets. (11/2)

China Gives Lunar Plan Details (Source: Space News)
China has provided more details about its plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030. Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China's human spaceflight program and chief designer of the lunar exploration program, set out the latest sequence of missions for the country's crewed lunar plans in a keynote at the 7th Manned Space Symposium on Saturday. The single-stick Long March 10A rocket will first launch the Mengzhou crew spacecraft on cargo missions to the Tiangong space station to accumulate data and demonstrate reliability.

The Lanyue lander will separately carry out a test flight on a tri-core, three-stage Long March 10 to land on and ascend from the lunar surface. Lanyue and Mengzhou will then launch on separate Long March 10 rockets and dock in lunar orbit in an uncrewed, full-system landing rehearsal mission. The outlined sequence appears to include no crewed lunar flyby or orbital test, suggesting the landing mission would be Mengzhou's first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit. (11/2)

Florida Spaceport Upgrades Progress Despite Near-Term Launch Downturn (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is pushing ahead with upgrades to Cape Canaveral's launch facilities despite a near-term downturn in launches. The Eastern Range has hosted 60 orbital launch attempts so far this year, well off the pace of 2025 when it had a record 109 orbital launches. Speaking at a conference last week, Space Force Col. Brian Chatman said the spaceport was continuing upgrade efforts, citing projections of more than 600 launches annually there by 2035. That work includes new infrastructure for the spaceport, such as propellant pipelines and power systems, and finding sites for new launch vehicles.

A chart he showed linked Blue Origin to Space Launch Complex 46, a site previously used by small launch vehicles and for missile testing. The Space Force put out a request for information about using that site for "super-heavy" launch vehicles but had not formally announced assigning the site to Blue Origin. Editor's Note: Blue Origin's near-term expansion seems to be focused on a new pad to the north of their existing one. LC-46 would come into play for them only if the Navy is able to relocate to the proposed LC-51. Meanwhile, Blue Origin had also been considering a launch facility in Puerto Rico, and their plan was provisionally approved by Puerto Rico officials. (10/31)