September 4, 2026

SpaceX Investments Put Boeing SLS Support at Risk (Source: Politico)
SpaceX’s plans to build a sprawling rocket complex in rural southern Louisiana will help the company make new inroads on Capitol Hill — and possibly weaken the traditional aerospace industry’s grip on the region. Lawmakers in America’s Gulf States have historically been strong supporters of the Boeing-built Space Launch System rocket, which NASA is using in its Artemis program to return humans to the lunar surface. The core stage of the rocket is built at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, and other work is done in Alabama and Mississippi.

But SpaceX’s growing presence in Louisiana could begin to splinter the coalition that backs the SLS rocket, according to two industry insiders and a local political veteran, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the issue. (9/4)

Space Force Gets New Commanding General (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force has a new commanding general. In a ceremony Thursday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Gen. Douglas Schiess took over as the U.S. Space Force's third chief of space operations, succeeding Gen. Chance Saltzman. In his first message to the force, Schiess portrayed his tenure as the next stage in the development of the Space Force, which was established in 2019 and has been moving from its initial focus on building a new military service toward preparing forces for combat. This phase, Schiess said, will require the Space Force to expand while improving how it develops, tests and operates new systems. His comments at the change-of-command ceremony signaled continuity with Saltzman, who during his tenure put greater emphasis on preparing guardians for warfare in space and on developing capabilities to protect U.S. satellites and counter adversaries' use of space systems. (9/4)

Space Force Using SBIRs to Pursue More Operational Technologies (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is using its latest round of small-business research contracts to pursue technologies that are closer to operational use. The service's newest Small Business Innovation Research solicitations, released this week, cover on-orbit logistics, satellite self-protection, cyber defense and artificial intelligence for missile warning and tracking. Three of the four are Direct-to-Phase 2 opportunities, which allow companies with sufficiently mature technology to bypass the initial feasibility-study phase of the SBIR process. This approach reflects a shift from the open-ended research projects that have sometimes fueled industry skepticism of the Pentagon's SBIR program. (9/4)

Germany's HyImpulse Raises $58 Million Ahead of Suborbital Launch (Source: Space News)
German launch company HyImpulse has raised additional funding ahead of a suborbital launch. HyImpulse announced Wednesday it raised more than 50 million euros ($58 million) in an extension of a Series A round from last October. The company said the additional funding will accelerate work on its SR75 suborbital rocket, slated to make its second launch later this year from SaxaVord Spaceport, and its SL1 small orbital launch vehicle under development. Both use hybrid propulsion with liquid oxygen and solid paraffin as propellants. HyImpulse is part of a tier of European launch companies continuing work on vehicles despite missing out on the European Launcher Challenge. (9/4)

Satellogic and SynMax Partner for Maritime Intelligence (Source: Space News)
Earth observation company Satellogic is partnering with SynMax to provide maritime intelligence. Under the agreement announced Thursday, Satellogic will provide data from its new Merlin constellation for maritime intelligence exclusively through SynMax's Theia platform. In June, the companies announced plans to develop AI-powered intelligence products for the Merlin constellation. Satellogic's Merlin constellation will acquire daily global imagery with a resolution of one meter along with Automatic Identification System (AIS) information. The first Merlin satellite is scheduled to launch in October with additional satellites reaching orbit in February and July.  (9/4)

NASA's Pandora Smallsat Begins Science Operations (Source: Space News)
A NASA astrophysics smallsat has started science operations. NASA announced recently that the Pandora spacecraft, launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission into sun-synchronous orbit in January, had completed commissioning and started collected science data. Pandora will observe exoplanets as they pass in front of their stars, enabling astronomers to better understand those planets' atmospheres. Pandora is also the first spacecraft mission in NASA's Astrophysics Pioneers program of low-cost missions, with a cost cap of $20 million. A project official said at last week's Small Satellite Conference that they have collected lessons learned during the development and operations of Pandora, such as how to manage risk, to help future Pioneers missions. (9/4)

Blue Origin, SpaceX, Starcloud, and Stoke Avoid International Summit at White House Direction (Source: Le Monde)
The French government said four American companies have pulled out of next week's International Space Summit, reportedly at the urging of the U.S. government. A spokesperson for France's ministry for higher education, research and space said that Blue Origin, SpaceX, Starcloud and Stoke Space no longer plan to attend the two-day event in Paris next week. The announcement came after reports that White House officials had recommended American companies not participate, arguing that doing so might endorse European space policy positions. The spokesperson said of the companies' withdrawals that it's "hard not to link it to the rumors of pressure." Philippe Baptiste, the French minister overseeing the conference, said on social media that American companies and government officials were more than welcome to attend: "we want you there." (9/4)

Amazon Leo Losing Engineers to TeraWave (Source: Bloomberg)
One Jeff Bezos company is luring satellite engineers away from another. Blue Origin has hired nearly 50 people who had been working on the Amazon Leo constellation. Many of those people are now working on TeraWave, Blue Origin's own constellation to provide broadband connectivity for enterprise users. Both companies are working on their constellations in the Seattle area, where there is high demand for engineers. (9/4)

How Can Starship Overfly Populated Areas? (Source: SPACErePORT)
Starship launches from Texas, and potentially soon from Louisiana, hope to fly over populated land masses in Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. How does the FAA allow that? Not by declaring the vehicle "high enough." There is no such altitude in the regulations. Under 14 CFR § 450.101, SpaceX must show that the entire flight keeps collective public risk below an expected 1×10⁻⁴ casualties and any individual's risk below 1×10⁻⁶ per launch, and must protect against a 'high-consequence' event in uncontrolled areas during every phase of flight.

SpaceX complies by shaping azimuth, trajectory and debris-disposal targeting so that a failure at any point puts the resulting footprint on water rather than on people, and by closing airspace and maritime areas where it can't. For an orbital launch the obligation runs from liftoff through "orbital insertion" — defined as a 70-nautical-mile perigee computed with drag. Note: "orbital insertion" not a threshold toward allowing overflight. Note: Starship's test flights to date have flown deliberately short of orbital insertion, on trajectories whose perigee stays inside the atmosphere so the vehicle reenters even if control is lost.

Flight heritage matters too: § 450.101(c)(3) allows demonstrated reliability in place of flight abort for high-consequence-event protection, and § 450.113(b) lets the FAA waive analysis for a phase based on flight history. The January and March 2025 Starship breakups, which scattered debris across Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas and triggered ground stops at four Florida airports, are the record that determination has to weigh. So the issue isn't altitude or orbital insertion. Rather, it's whether SpaceX can achieve the risk levels at every point of the ascent. The 2025 events make that more difficult to achieve. (9/4)

Mission Limitations on Starbase Louisiana? (Source: KeepTrack)
The Gulf is ringed by populated coastline, so ascending Starships must thread corridors between Florida, Cuba, and the Yucatan, over waters dense with oil and gas platforms, shrimping fleets, and some of the busiest north-south air routes in the hemisphere. The site sits near 29.7 degrees north, so its minimum direct inclination is about 30 degrees, essentially the Cape’s product line flown from the west.

At single-digit annual launch rates, this is a manageable coordination problem; the FAA and its counterparts handle it for Boca Chica now. At the hundreds or thousands of flights a year SpaceX is projecting, “airspace closure” stops being an event and becomes a permanent feature of Gulf geography, something the National Airspace System has never been asked to absorb anywhere. The FAA’s priority-airspace initiative exists precisely because the agency knows this, and designing those corridors will be its own multi-year fight among airlines, the energy industry, the fishing fleet, and two foreign governments. (9/1)

Blue Origin Explosion Detected and Measured with Infrasound Data (Source: Seismological Society of America)
When Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicle accidentally exploded during a static test fire in May 2026, the explosion generated low frequency soundwaves below the range of human hearing. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories used those infrasound signals to independently confirm the time and location of the explosion and estimate the yield of the blast, as they report in The Seismic Record. The results demonstrate how infrasound analysis could be useful in monitoring launch anomalies, also provides valuable information on the infrasound signals produced by liquid oxygen/ liquid methane propellant, increasingly used in heavy-lift space rockets. (9/1)

SpaceX Sweeteners: How Did Louisiana Lure Elon Musk’s Rocket Launch Site to Its Coast? (Source: Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana officials offered SpaceX what might be one of the largest single-project tax breaks in U.S. history to cinch a $100 billion deal to build its largest launch facility yet in coastal Vermilion Parish. State and local governments are giving SpaceX a tax incentive package valued at an estimated $27.5 billion, according to documents obtained in a public records request. They outline the state’s negotiations for what’s referred to as “Project Osprey” without using the company’s name or the proposed facility unveiled last week as Starbase Louisiana.

The majority of the tax break, nearly $23.8 billion, results from exempting the company from having to pay property taxes to Vermilion Parish authorities for 25 years. In exchange for granting the exemption, the Vermilion sheriff, school district and police jury will share a $25 million flat fee that SpaceX must pay each year, records show. The payment-in-leu-of-taxes deal includes a provision that could increase SpaceX’s yearly payments based on inflation.

SpaceX will also get state sales tax rebates valued at an estimated $3.6 billion over its initial 20-year term, according to state documents. The remainder will come from the state’s High Impact Jobs grant program, which pays for 22% of each employees’ compensation, and Louisiana Economic Development’s recruiting and workforce training services. SpaceX, which had a market value as of Friday in excess of $1.8 trillion, is owned by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person with a net worth of $865 billion. (9/2)

Oklahoma Spaceport Selected for Up to 100 Microgravity Test Flights (Source: KECO)
The Oklahoma Infinity One Spaceport at Burns Flat has been selected as the operations site for a new series of commercial microgravity missions that could include as many as 100 flights over two years. Astral Materials has selected Dawn Aerospace’s Aurora spaceplane as a high-cadence test platform to accelerate development of furnace technology designed to manufacture advanced materials in microgravity.

Under the agreement, an initial campaign of Aurora microgravity flights will be conducted from the Burns Flat facility. The missions will allow Astral Materials to repeatedly test and refine its technology, with Aurora designed for turnaround times of approximately four hours. Astral Materials is developing microgravity furnace hardware aimed at producing higher-quality semiconductor crystals and other advanced materials. Reducing the effects of gravity can limit convection and sedimentation during manufacturing, potentially producing crystals with fewer defects and greater consistency.

Dawn Aerospace says Aurora can support up to 100 flights per vehicle annually. The Burns Flat missions are not intended to replace longer-duration orbital research. Instead, Astral plans to use the Oklahoma flights to develop and mature its furnace systems before moving them into orbit. Dawn Aerospace is developing its U.S. operational base at the Infinity One Oklahoma Spaceport in partnership with the State of Oklahoma. Commercial flight operations from Burns Flat are currently planned to begin in 2028. (9/2)

Comets May Have Transported Water to a Young Planetary System (Source: Lund University)
Astronomers at Lund University in Sweden have found evidence of exocomets – comets in other solar systems – orbiting a young star similar to our Sun. The observations point to a possible mechanism for how water might be transported from the cold outer regions of the planetary system to regions where planets form. (9/2)

Construction of British Deep Space Radar to Begin in 2027, Complementing Florida and Australia Sites (Source: UK Defense Journal)
Construction of the British site for the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability will begin in April 2027 under a contract the United States Space Force signed with Northrop Grumman in August 2024, with planning permission sought in March this year and initial authority to operate already issued.

“The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) is a ground-based radar system that will provide 24/7, all-weather capabilities to detect, track, identify and characterise objects up to Geostationary Earth Orbit. DARC will require three permanent radar sites and a radar operations centre to provide 360-degree coverage: in Australia, the UK and the US. Construction of sites in Australia (Exmouth) and the US (IROC, Eglin) have been completed.” (9/3)

One Year In, U.S. Space Command Headquarters Relocation Moving Expeditiously to 'Rocket City, USA' (Source: War.gov)
On Sept. 2, 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced the relocation of U.S. Space Command's headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Since then, USSPACECOM's rapid footprint expansion in the region highlights the command's commitment to an expeditious transition while remaining laser-focused on its no-fail mission.

Today, more than 140 uniformed and civilian personnel assigned to the command's headquarters perform their jobs from three facilities across the Arsenal. This element represents approximately 10% of the organization's total manpower. USSPACECOM's presence in Alabama includes dedicated relocation support functions, but has also expanded to personnel who directly contribute to the combatant command's mission, which was previously carried out exclusively from Colorado Springs. (9/2)

Isaacman Outlines First Steps for Moon Base (Source: The Hill)
Isaacman hoped to launch parts of the base this year. But an explosion of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket delayed some of the deliveries to the surface of the moon. “I don’t really consider it much of a setback,” Isaacman said in an interview. “We’ve always been looking toward 2027. That’s where you get in a rhythm, that’s when you get into that monthly cadence of putting landers and rovers on the moon.”

NASA will drop rovers, drones and experiments on the south pole of the moon in the first series of the moon base missions. Isaacman said he hopes they’ll be ready by the time the U.S. returns astronauts to the moon. “By Artemis IV, when our astronauts land on the surface of the moon, they’re already going to have some of the infrastructure and rovers there waiting for them,” he noted. The moon base, Isaacman continued, will help NASA learn how to live away from Earth, and possibly later to Mars and other planets.

Referring to a new proliferation of spaceports, he said: “This is, I think, very analogous to the first stops on the rail line that led to some of our biggest cities or some of the first airports and seaports — a whole community and economy built around it,” he said. “I think we’re going to see the same with our spaceports.” Isaacman explained that NASA will launch several moon base missions next year, with the aim to launch Artemis IV in 2028, returning astronauts to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than half a century. (9/3)

Pair of Spacecraft Draw Closer to Mercury After Nearly Decade-Long Voyage (Source: AP)
Two Mercury-bound spacecraft left their mother ship behind on Thursday and headed down the home stretch of their nearly decade-long voyage to the solar system’s smallest and closest-to-the-sun planet. The linked European and Japanese spacecraft separated as planned from their cruiser, but controllers had to wait two anxious hours to receive confirmation via radio signals. The crucial operation was broadcast from the European Space Agency’s control center in Germany, more than 124 million miles (200 million kilometers) away. (9/3)

Why Doesn't Venus Have a Moon? A New Study May Have the Answer (Source: Phys.org)
Venus is one of the solar system's most unusual planets. It may sometimes be called "Earth's twin" because of its similar size and density, but it rotates on its axis in the opposite direction of most planets, has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead and lacks a moon. Why this terrestrial planet has no satellites has puzzled scientists for decades. Did it never manage to form one, or did it once have a moon that vanished over time? New research could help us get closer to solving the mystery. Spoiler alert! The paper does not provide a definitive answer, but it presents compelling scenarios for how a moon could have existed and leans toward one conclusion. (9/3)

India Launches Rocket in Boost to Space Ambitions After Failures (Source: Bloomberg)
India’s space program notched a much-needed success with a rocket launch on Friday, after two consecutive failures of another launcher that had long served as its workhorse rocket. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) lifted off from the country’s main spaceport at Sriharikota and reached the designated orbit 18 minutes later, according to the Indian Space Research Organization. (9/3)

Agencies Clarify Roles in Commercial ISR After Disputes (Source: Executive Gov)
The National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the US Space Force have resolved disputes over commercial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance acquisition authorities through agreements that clarify roles and responsibilities. Tensions arose with the Space Force's creation and its Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking program, which accelerated data delivery to combatant commands. The National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also work with US Space Command to protect commercial space assets. (9/2)

SES Extends Sovereign Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity Deal with Peruvian Navy (Source: Via Satellite)
SES has expanded its collaboration with Peru’s Navy to provide sovereign, multi-orbit satellite connectivity under a new government agreement. The deal underscores continued demand for resilient satellite communications supporting national maritime and defense requirements, while extending SES’s role in government connectivity across Latin America. (9/3)

SpaceX and Blue Origin Withdraw From Macron’s Paris Space Summit After Reported White House Pressure (Source: LeMonde)
SpaceX and Blue Origin are among four U.S. space companies withdrawing from a French space summit scheduled for Sept. 9-10, according to a French government official. The move follows a Politico report that the White House urged American space companies not to attend the event organized by President Emmanuel Macron. (3/9)

ArcSpace Plans 2027 In-Orbit Demonstration of Welding Technology (Source: European Spaceflight)
French startup ArcSpace plans to demonstrate its welding technology aboard a host spacecraft in 2027, marking a step toward in-orbit manufacturing capabilities. The test will assess the company’s ability to perform welding operations in space, an enabling technology for future spacecraft assembly, repair and infrastructure development. (9/3)

Rocket Readiness Delays First Private Mission to Venus (Source: Space.com)
The future of a privately backed robotic mission Venus seems about as cloudy as the planet itself at the moment. Scientists based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working with Rocket Lab to search for possible signs of life on Venus. The first step in that program is the Rocket Lab Mission to Venus, which will deploy a small, nose cone-like probe crafted to sample the Venusian atmosphere using a device called an autofluorescence nephelometer (AFN). But that undertaking, primarily fueled by private dollars, has been waylaid due to getting a needed booster flight-qualified. (9/3)

Galaxia Acquires Simera Sense Hyperspectral Imager for Commercial, Civil and Defense Earth-Observation Missions (Source: Space News)
Galaxia has acquired a hyperspectral imager from European optical payload company Simera Sense, expanding its capabilities for Earth-observation missions serving commercial, civil and defense customers. The transaction underscores the growing role of advanced optical payloads in delivering data across a broad range of applications. (9/3)

Isaacman: Commercial Space Won’t Solve Every NASA Problem (Source: Payload)
Isaacman argued that NASA’s mission extends beyond what commercial providers can address, pushing back on efforts to force every agency activity into a commercial model. He said NASA’s broader responsibilities warrant its status as an independent agency rather than placing it within the Department of Commerce. (9/3)

Space Force Raises Ceiling Value Of HADES Contract To $389 Million (Source: Defense Daily)
Less than a month after releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking engineering, development and operational support services for prototype and operational satellite ground systems, the Space Force this week raised the potential ceiling value of the program from $300 million to $389 million. The Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) in early August opened bidding for the Hybrid Architecture and Development for Experimental Systems (HADES) indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. (9/2)

China's Private, Reusable Pallas-1 Rocket Aces Debut Launch (Source: Space.com)
Another reusable Chinese rocket has taken to the skies. Pallas-1, a launcher developed by the Beijing-based company Galactic Energy, flew for the first time ever on Monday (Aug. 31), lifting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Everything went well on the mission, according to Galactic Energy. The company — which also operates Ceres-1, a small-satellite launcher with 23 flights under its belt to date — did not reveal what payloads, if any, Pallas-1 carried to orbit. (9/1)

Open Cosmos Wins UK Government Contract for ConnectedCosmos (Source: Via Satellite)
Open Cosmos has won a significant new contract from the U.K. government as the U.K. looks to build better sovereign connectivity architecture. It has been selected by the British Government Commercial Agency (GCA) as an officially certified and vetted partner to provide satellite connectivity via its ConnectedCosmos Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation. Open Cosmos announced the deal, Sept. 2.

The TacSys (Tactical Communication System) framework procurement vehicle has an estimated value of up to 8 billion pounds ($10.8 billion), mapped to a series of upcoming Ministry of Defence (MoD) contracts. Running until June 2034, TacSys will provide the framework through which innovative private sector technologies will be integrated into MoD-owned capabilities for the purpose of secure and resilient communications. Open Cosmos first announced the LEO constellation in January, when it received the award to Liechtenstein’s priority Ka-band spectrum filing previously held by Rivada. (9/2)

SpaceX Louisiana and the Math Behind On-Site Propellant Infrastructure (Source: Mach 33)
Starbase is quietly becoming a chemical plant. Linde started an air separation unit in Brownsville in early 2026; its release named no customer. In July a SpaceX affiliate broke ground on Starpipe, an eight-mile methane pipeline with a January 2027 in-service target in its Texas Railroad Commission filing. And now SpaceX announced a $100 billion launch campus in Louisiana: five launch complexes with two pads each, designed for thousands of launches a year, with propellant production and power generation on the site.

Buying a Starship flight's propellant at merchant rates and trucking it to the pad costs $1.70 million to $2.67 million per flight with the current rocket design. Making it on-site costs $203,000 to $221,000 per flight (excepting production facility cost), a cut of about 90%. Merchant supply means using cryogenic tanker trucks with more than 100 deliveries a day for a 100-launch annual cadence. This may be physically implausible. And at sites like the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, SpaceX is one of multiple high-intensity users of the same propellants, which is why NASA and the Space Force are exploring the development of an on-spaceport production capacity. (9/3)

September 3, 2026

Einstein Theory Prevails (Source: 1440)
A falling quantum object is subject to the effects of gravity, a new study found yesterday. The finding for the first time confirms a decades-old prediction by Albert Einstein, aligning with his broader theory of gravity. Physicists sought to probe whether Einstein’s equivalence principle—whereby objects undergo weightlessness in free fall—applies on a quantum level. To test the question, they used an apparatus that split a quantum wave associated with an atom into two paths, holding one still while projecting the other into free fall. After the experiment, interference between the waves allowed researchers to record a tiny difference in quantum phase aligning with calculations anticipated by Einstein’s theory of gravity. (9/3)

Scientists Find a Huge 10-Sided Wave Pattern Swirling in the Clouds Over Saturn’s South Pole (Source: AP)
Scientists have discovered an enormous 10-sided wave pattern in the icy ammonia clouds over Saturn’s south pole. The spinning, meandering decagon appears to be even bigger and more unstable than the hexagon of clouds around Saturn’s north pole that was spied by NASA’s twin Voyagers in the 1980s, the Spanish-led team reported Wednesday. (9/2)

Japan Sets Launch Date for Martian Moons Mission (Source: Douglas Messier)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch the Mars Moons Explorer (MMX) aboard an H3 rocket on Oct. 20 from the Tanegashima spaceport. The Japanese-led Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission will study Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos. In addition to extended scientific observation, the spacecraft is equipped to collect samples from Phobos and will deploy a Franco-German rover on its surface. (9/2)

Boeing Finishes Building Final Three O3b mPower Satellites (Source: Space News)
Boeing has completed the final three O3b mPower satellites for SES. The companies said Wednesday that the three satellites, designated F11, F12 and F13, have arrived at Cape Canaveral for launch on a Falcon 9 later this month. The delivery marks one of the final milestones for a contract that began with an order for an initial seven satellites in 2017. Launches got underway about five years later. The first six satellites suffered electrical issues, one factor in the SES decision to expand the constellation to 13 satellites. While SES prepares to add the final pieces to its O3b mPower network, the company has already begun laying the groundwork for a follow-on generation it calls meoSphere, using satellites built by K2 Space. (9/3)

NASA Adjusting Lunar Spacesuit Requirements (Source: Space News)
NASA is adjusting requirements for a lunar spacesuit to ensure it is ready in time for a 2028 landing. At a meeting this week of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, committee members said that NASA is shortening duration requirements for Axiom Space's AxEMU suit for the first Artemis landing missions, noting the original longer-duration requirements would not be needed on those first missions. The change is part of efforts to keep development of the suit on schedule for Artemis 4, planned for 2028. The panel said NASA has increased insight into suit development and holds meetings with Axiom six days a week. Suit development was also a factor in NASA's decision to obtain a Boeing 737 for use in reduced-gravity flight testing, as the plane will be able to briefly simulate lunar gravity to test spacesuit mobility. (9/3)

All.Space to Demo High-Rate Satellite Antenna Production for DIU (Source: Space News)
Satellite antenna manufacturer All.Space has signed an agreement with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit to demonstrate high-rate production. All.Space said this week it received an Other Transaction Agreement from the Defense Innovation Unit under a program aimed at bringing high-volume commercial manufacturing practices into the national security space supply chain. The value and duration of the agreement were not disclosed. DIU is paying All.Space to demonstrate that the terminals can be integrated, tested and qualified at substantially higher production rates. All.Space was acquired by satellite manufacturer York Space Systems in July. (9/3)

NASA Consolidates Launch Procurement (Source: Space News)
A new NASA office plans to consolidate launch procurements, which could lead to bulk buys of rockets. The Commercial Access to Space, or CAtS, office was created as part of an agency-wide reorganization earlier this year as part of the new Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate. The office will be responsible for all launch activities outside of human spaceflight, an official said at a recent conference. While plans are still in development, CAtS may oversee block buys of five to 20 rockets at a time, a change from NASA's traditional approach for procuring launches for individual missions. CAtS will also oversee agency rideshare launch opportunities.

Editor's Note: NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy Space Center, has been responsible for acquisition and program management of commercial launch services and uncrewed launch vehicles. I'm assuming CAtS will replace LSP. (9/3)

Samara Aerospace Wins NSF SBIR Funding for Attitude Control Tech (Source: Space News)
Samara Aerospace received an award from the National Science Foundation to improve attitude-control technologies. The $1.22 million SBIR Phase 2 contract will allow the company to subject its Multifunctional Structures for Attitude Control (MSAC) technology, which uses piezoelectric actuators in the hinges of deployable panels, to extensive ground tests. Next year, Samara plans to launch Hummingbird, a small satellite based on MSAC technology that the company is developing with funding from the Space Force's SpaceWERX innovation unit. (9/3)

Rocket Lab Launches Another Japanese Radar Imaging Satellite (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched another satellite for Japanese radar-imaging company Synspective on Wednesday. An Electron rocket lifted off from the company's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 8:01 a.m. Eastern, after a delay of nearly an hour because of high winds. The rocket successfully deployed into low Earth orbit the latest StriX satellite for Synspective. This was the 11th launch of a Synspective satellite on Electron while another Japanese radar-imaging company, iQPS, has launched nine satellites on Electron. The two companies have a combined 25 additional Electron launches under contract. (9/3)

Trump Administration Doesn't Want US Participation at International Space Summit (Source: Politico)
The White House has reportedly been pressuring American companies not to attend the International Space Summit in France next week. An official with the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy told representatives of several companies, including SpaceX, in a private call last week to skip the summit, reportedly because of Chinese participation in the event and a lack of coordination between France and the United States. U.S. government officials are still expected to attend, though, and the schedule shows that executives of several American companies will appear on panels or other conference events. (9/3)

New Horizon Instruments May Shut Down with Funding Shortfall (Source: Science)
Two space science instruments on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft could shut down next month because of a lack of funding. The instruments, which measure the solar wind in the distant reaches of the solar system, are supposed to be funded by NASA's heliophysics division, but the division has withheld the expected $2 million needed for operating the instruments for the last two fiscal years without explanation. That has prompted plans to shut the instruments down unless the funding is restored. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said he was aware of the issue and that he was "generally supportive of generating high-quality scientific returns for low-dollar spend," but stopped short of stating the funding would be restored. (9/3)

Group Wants Space Academy to Be Established on Florida’s Space Coast (Source: EDC of Florida's Space Coast)
The Economic Development Commission (EDC) is calling on NASA and the Presidential Commission on the U.S. Space Academy to establish the recently announced Federal Academy on Florida’s Space Coast. EDC President & CEO Lynda Weatherman cited the region’s unparalleled concentration of space infrastructure, military and civil space capabilities, commercial space activity, research institutions, and highly skilled workforce as strong arguments to select the region as its home. (9/1)

NASA Is About to Lose Its Way to Low Earth Orbit (Source: Phil McAlister)
Private citizens can fly to space on systems that have not been certified by NASA. They simply have to sign an “informed consent” waiver acknowledging the risks. The U.S. government has accepted this regulatory framework for years, across multiple Presidential administrations. Government astronauts are different. For NASA to send its astronauts to space, NASA requires a certified human transportation system.

Certification is an expensive, time-consuming, and labor-intensive process. Companies must provide NASA with enormous amounts of detailed analytical and test data demonstrating compliance with thousands of safety and reliability requirements. NASA then reviews the data and, if it determines that all requirements have been satisfied, certifies the system for NASA use. Today, only one system is certified to transport NASA astronauts to LEO:  SpaceX’s Falcon 9/Crew Dragon.

That is a problem because NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations program is counting on commercial space stations beginning operations around the same time. So how exactly does NASA intend to get its astronauts to Commercial LEO Destinations after the ISS retires? Apparently, it was too much to ask for NASA to have a cogent strategy for LEO. Or any strategy for that matter. Click here. (9/2)

The Spaceport Company Proposes Artificial Island for New Spaceport (Source: TSC)
The Spaceport Company (TSC), in response to the FAA's RFI for new spaceport options, submitted their idea for a "purpose-built artificial island, sited in U.S. territorial waters near an existing deep-water port." They suggest this is a "lower-cost, more environmentally sensitive, faster-to-permit alternative than conventional ‘mainland’ spaceport concepts." 

"Rather than requiring the control of large tracts of land, an artificial island launch pad needs only the footprint for the pad itself: approximately 40 acres per Starship-class Super Heavy pad and integration tower. Non-hazardous, low impact activities like vehicle processing, integration, and storage would remain onshore at existing industrial port infrastructure; completed vehicles would be transported vertically by barge to the offshore pad, fueled, and launched, with range control conducted from nearby vessels or the onshore support base." (9/2) 

In FAA RFI Response, Louisiana Residents Object to SpaceX Spaceport, Urge FAA to Enforce Environmental Regs (Source: Regulations.gov)
"We fell in love with the area. It was a peaceful place to escape the busy world and revert back to our Cajun Heritage of 'Living off of the Land'. At that time our retirement plans began to be drawn. We saved to buy a 'retirement boat' that would enable us to traverse the shallow waters to pursue shrimp, crabs, fish, and game. We began making renovations to our camp to better suit us for retirement. Then without warning the announcement came about SpaceX taking over Exxon property just ¼ of a mile from our camp. This was devastating to say the least. Our state officials passed multiple bills protecting the space industry but none of which protected our land, people, or culture."

"The FAA is now our only possible entity to enforce restrictions on the number of launches, environmental effects, and liabilities of these launches... I strongly ask for your consideration in not lifting any restrictions and or regulations that have been set to protect the people and land from harm. I am not against progress at all; however, progress needs guidelines, regulations, and restrictions to not disrupt the environment and the culture of any place. Please be the one to stand for the people!" ... "This is too much, and you're gonna push lifelong residents from the area. Buy them out, move them to better properties. But just don't come in and push people around who've lived there their whole lives."

"We put fresh seafood on a lot of peoples tables from locals to all over the world. We worry about contamination and other harm that could happen in the marshes and the waters in and by gulf shrimp hatchery happens in the Marsh canals close to the area. If it's destroyed we & all commercial fishermen will be out of business with no income and a huge investment tied to the dock. What will happen to us all when we can't even feed our families cause we won't have income coming In. We worry about all our wildlife also we hunt deer for meat for us and lots of other families. We just ask for truth on all this FAA should require a full environmental review & also wildlife & Fisheries to protect our seafood & animals. Please help Vermilion Parish people closest to this site to understand and be protected - put us on record please." (9/2)

FAA Seeks New Launch Sites to Support Projected Space Boom (Source: WFTV)
The FAA is preparing for a dramatic increase in U.S. space activity, projecting as many as 10,000 launches and reentries a year by 2035. That growth could put pressure on existing spaceports, particularly on Florida’s Space Coast. Dr. Ken Kremer of Space UpClose says Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station are already nearing their launch capacities and will need major infrastructure upgrades to handle a significant increase in operations.

According to the FAA, 83% of U.S. launches come from just three sites: Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center, and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The FAA is now seeking public input on potential new launch locations in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and offshore areas, while also examining why some existing spaceports are not being used more. Officials must consider everything from infrastructure and airspace to ensuring rockets stay over open water and away from populated areas, while making sure new sites have room to grow. (9/1)

Tropical Storms, Hurricanes and SpaceX's Coastal Spaceports (Source: WZTV)
As Tropical Storm Edouard affects parts of the Gulf Coast, the storm is also putting a spotlight on a question Louisiana may face in the coming years: How does severe weather affect a coastal rocket launch site? Coastal locations are useful for launches. But those benefits come with weather risks. After Hurricane Matthew passed near Florida’s Space Coast in 2016, NASA reported 86 mph winds near Launch Pad 39B. A damage survey found roof panels blown from several buildings, water intrusion and beach erosion near launch pads.

Those examples do not predict how a future Louisiana spaceport would perform during a storm. Each launch site has different engineering, construction standards, geography and emergency plans. As SpaceX’s Louisiana plans move forward, tropical-weather preparation is likely to be one of the key questions for a project designed to operate along the Gulf Coast. (9/2)

What Happens to Canadian Science in Orbit After the International Space Station is Decommissioned? (Source: SpaceQ)
The International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2030, and the central question everybody’s asking is: what’s next? The answer, at least outside of China, is commercially owned and operated space stations: ones that do much of what the ISS does, but with different approaches and structures.

Though NASA’s “Ignition” event in March did suggest it may be rethinking that approach, the agency ultimately announced in May that it would be sticking with its Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destinations program, and released a draft request for proposals (RFP) in July asking American companies how best to “ensure a seamless transition of activities” from the ISS to these new stations.

There is one caveat to that date. A NASA authorization bill approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in March would extend the station to Sept. 30, 2032, to avoid a gap in continuous human presence in orbit before commercial stations are ready. The bill is a long way from law: the full Senate has still to vote, the House will have its own say, and the two chambers would need to reconcile any differences between their versions before anything reaches the president. (9/1)

Are We Prepared for the Fallout of Finding Life Beyond Earth? (Source: UPI)
Finding extraterrestrial life in a microbial form is becoming more plausible. What will the response be back here on Earth if -- or when -- scientists discover extraterrestrial microbes? Will the international policy and security communities be prepared for the fallout? When you hear about extraterrestrial life, your mind may go to intelligent life, like the kind present in a lot of Hollywood science fiction. But even the confirmation of microbial life that originated somewhere other than on Earth -- which is much more likely -- would be a paradigm-shifting event. (9/1)

SpaceX Investors May be Overlooking a Major Risk: There’s No Replacing Elon Musk (Source: CNN)
Ahead of its June IPO, SpaceX described its CEO as the “driving force behind our growth, innovation, and operational success.” His loss, “whether due to death, disability, or otherwise … could significantly disrupt our management structure.”

While that’s fairly standard language for a regulatory filing, it is also a staggering understatement. The disclosure, known as a “key person risk,” nods to a dilemma at the heart of Elon Musk’s empire, a rockets-and-robots-and-satellites-and-AI behemoth with aspirations to “make life multi-planetary”: Musk may be a once-in-a-generation talent, but he is not immortal. (9/2)

ESA and ispace-EUROPE Mark Official Signing of Europe’s First Lunar Polar Ice Exploration Rover Mission (Source: ispace)
The European Space Agency and ispace-EUROPE, the Luxembourg-based European entity of ispace, marked the official signing of the Phase 2 agreement for MAGPIE, the Mission for Advanced Geophysics and Polar Ice Exploration. MAGPIE, Europe’s first lunar surface exploration mission scheduled to launch in 2029 on board ispace inc.’s Mission 4 ULTRA lunar lander, will investigate the Moon’s south polar region – focusing on the distribution and stability of water ice and other lunar volatiles, as well as the properties of the regolith. (9/2)

Russia’s Starlink Rival Suffers Orbital Misplacements, Decay (Source: Kyiv Post)
Russia’s attempt to rapidly develop an alternative to Starlink has suffered another setback after all 16 Rassvet satellites launched in July failed to reach their intended operational altitude. None of the satellites in the second batch, launched on July 19, had reached the anticipated altitude of 550 kilometers (342 miles) as of Aug. 31, according to satellite-tracking data. Many remained between 300 and 400 kilometers (186-249 miles), while some were experiencing orbital decay. At least two were reportedly heading toward reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. (9/1)

Dark Matter Discovery? (Source: BNL)
A new analysis from the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment has recorded a single particle interaction that researchers have great difficulty explaining with known background signals from normal matter. The result does not yet meet the statistical threshold required to claim a discovery, but is the most compelling hint of dark matter reported by the experiment to date.

LZ is an international collaboration of 250 scientists and engineers from 39 institutions. The detector is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and operates nearly one mile below ground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota. The experiment uses 10 tonnes of ultrapure liquid xenon to search for dark matter and is optimized to look for WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles. (9/1)

Rocket Lab’s Neutron ‘Hungry Hippo’ Fairing Completes Testing Ahead of Planned Year-End Debut (Source: NSF)
Rocket Lab says the payload fairing for its Neutron medium-lift rocket has completed testing, removing another development milestone as the company targets a first launch by year-end. The fairing is designed around Neutron’s reusable architecture and its distinctive hinged “Hungry Hippo” configuration. (9/2)

Rocket Lab Launches 11th Synspective Radar-Imaging Satellite on Electron (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched the 11th satellite for Japanese radar-imaging company Synspective, reinforcing the customer’s role as one of Electron’s largest users. The mission adds to Synspective’s Earth-observation constellation and highlights recurring demand for dedicated small-satellite launch services. (9/2)

French and German NewSpace Groups Urge EU to Publish Launch-Demand Forecast to Unlock Investment (Source: Space Intel Report)
French and German associations representing NewSpace companies are asking the European Commission to provide a clear assessment of European government launch demand in the coming years. The groups say greater visibility is needed to stimulate both government support and private investment in European launchers. (9/1)

US, China Arm for Space Warfare: Hunter Satellites and Orbital Weapons (Source: Economic Times)
China and the United States are equipping themselves for a potential new domain of conflict, developing hunter satellites and orbital weapons as military space operations rapidly evolve. The preparations signal that counterspace capabilities are becoming central to strategic competition between the two powers. (9/2)

Astroscale Selects Isar Aerospace to Launch ADRAS-J2 Orbital-Debris Removal Mission (Source: Payload)
Astroscale Japan has signed Isar Aerospace to launch ADRAS-J2 aboard a Spectrum rocket, targeting the capture and removal of a spent upper stage from orbit. Separately, NorthStar is leading FALCON, a new ESA-backed project focused on improving predictions of uncontrolled re-entries after recent debris incidents in Europe. (9/2)

Seraphim Launches New ETF to Target Pure-Play Space Investors (Source: Bloomberg)
Investors are being offered a new way to bet on space via a fund that focuses exclusively on a sector thrust into the limelight by the IPO of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Seraphim Space, a London-based investment company, is launching an exchange-traded fund which claims to provide pure exposure to the “New Space” economy by tracking companies building infrastructure, technology and services while giving less weight to defense and aerospace names. (9/1)

Marking 15 Years of CASIS Leadership and 1,000 ISS National Lab Payloads (Source: CASIS)
As CASIS marks 15 years as manager of the ISS National Laboratory, we're celebrating a major milestone: more than 1,000 ISS National Lab-sponsored payloads launched to the orbiting laboratory. From biotechnology and pharmaceuticals to advanced materials, Earth observation, and in-space manufacturing, these investigations showcase the breadth of innovation enabled through the ISS National Lab.

Over the past 15 years, researchers from academia, government, and industry have leveraged the unique space environment to advance discoveries that benefit life on Earth. Together, these efforts have led to more than 675 peer-reviewed publications and helped build a thriving research community that continues to push the boundaries of science and technology. (9/2)

Amid Trade War, Canada Poaches 48 Top US-Based Scientists (Source: Financial Times)
Canada has poached 48 US-based senior academics to join its top universities, in a sign of an exodus from elite higher education institutions that have come under attack by President Donald Trump’s administration. The academics, part of a group of 64 from around the world who were recruited through Canada’s C$1.7bn Global Impact+ Research Talent Initiative, include a number working in fields where funding has been slashed by the Trump administration.

“When people ask how Canada is responding to a changing world, point them to this moment,” industry minister Mélanie Joly said. “Point them to the researchers who have chosen Canada.” Robert Asselin, the chief executive of U15, an association of Canada’s leading research universities, said the recruitment drive “is a big deal”. “We’re talking about the best scholars in the world . . . choosing to come here to do their research. It speaks to the attractiveness of our leading research universities.”

Several European countries have announced additional funding to attract academics who want to leave the US, but none on the scale or with the success of Canada’s initiative. Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, said: “If the US continues to become less attractive to scholars, we risk losing not only individual researchers but the ideas, discoveries and innovations that depend on their work.” (9/2)

FAA Issues Final Environmental Assessment for SpaceX Starship Reentry Contingencies (Source: FAA)
The FAA announced a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) / Record of Decision (ROD) for SpaceX Starship Reentry Contingency Operations in the Pacific Ocean and Additional Starship Landing Trajectory. Under the Proposed Action, the FAA would modify SpaceX’s vehicle operator license to authorize the expansion of the previously evaluated Hawaii and Central Pacific Landing Area and Southeast Pacific Region Landing Area. A new Northern Pacific Contingency Landing Area would also be added for an Eastern Range to Starbase trajectory, along with temporary airspace closures associated with an additional Starship reentry trajectory to the Boca Chica Launch Site in Starbase, Texas. (9/2)

Why SpaceX Must Make Its Own Propellant (Source: Mach 33)
One flight needs ~5,250 tonnes of LOX and methane (~389 tanker loads). Merchant supply runs about $1.7–2.7M per flight; on-site production cuts that to ~$203k. The binding constraint isn’t cost—it’s trucks: at a few hundred flights a year, road delivery stops being workable. The brief walks through power price, supply limits, plant payback (~38 flights/year for a 3-year return), and how Louisiana’s announced campus fits that buildout. Click here. (9/1)

HyImpulse Extends Series A Funding Round by €50 Million (Source: European Spaceflight)
German launch services provider HyImpulse announced on 2 September that it had extended its Series A funding round by more than €50 million, bringing its total funding to date to €125 million. The company is currently preparing for the second flight of its suborbital SR75 rocket and the inaugural launch attempt of its larger SL1 rocket.

The company announced its initial €15 million Series A raise in October 2025. With this latest raise, HyImpulse has now secured more than €65 million in Series A equity funding. The extension was co-led by German early-stage venture capital firm JOIN Capital and Israeli aerospace and defence investor Ace Capital Partners, neither of which participated in the initial Series A raise. The new funding will be used to “accelerate development and commercialization of HyImpulse’s launch services portfolio.” (9/2)

Telesat Considers Space-to-Ground Optical Coms with Cailabs (Source: Via Satellite)
Telesat will consider adopting space-to-ground optical communications capabilities through a new strategic collaboration agreement with Cailabs. Under the agreement announced Tuesday, the companies will explore integrating Cailabs optical space-to-ground connectivity with Telsat Lightspeed for U.S. government and allied missions. (9/2)

Without New Landers or Rovers, it’s Helicopters or Bust for NASA’s Mars Program (Source: Ars Technica)
For the first time in more than 30 years, NASA has no firm plans to send any new landers or rovers to Mars. Instead, the agency’s near-term focus at the red planet is on aerial drones, a pioneering mode of exploration that didn’t seem realistic until a few years ago. The first real use of drones for science at Mars will come with the SkyFall mission, a fleet of three helicopters set for launch as soon as late 2028. SkyFall’s helicopters will ride to the red planet with NASA’s Space Reactor-1 “Freedom” mission, which has the primary objective of demonstrating nuclear electric propulsion in deep space.

The launch schedule is aggressive for SR-1 Freedom and SkyFall, projects that didn’t even exist in NASA’s portfolio six months ago. NASA’s plan for the SR-1 Freedom mission, estimated to cost $2.1 billion, calls for repurposing the core module of the canceled Gateway lunar space station into a testbed for nuclear electric propulsion. SkyFall will build on NASA’s success with the Ingenuity helicopter, an experimental vehicle that became the first rotorcraft to fly on another world in 2021. (9/1)

Raytheon Finishes $50M Expansion in Mississippi (Source: Plant Services)
Raytheon has completed a $50 million expansion of its electronic warfare and radar systems manufacturing facility in Forest, Miss. The expansion adds 17,000 square feet and is expected to create 100 high-skill jobs by 2028. The facility will produce Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band pods for the Navy and Australia, as well as other radar programs. (8/31)

September 2, 2026

Blue Origin to Develop Mars Telecomm Orbiter (Source: Space News)
NASA selected Blue Origin to build a Mars telecommunications orbiter. The agency said Tuesday it awarded a contract to Blue Origin valued at about $700 million for the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN), a spacecraft designed for launch in late 2028 that will serve as a communications relay in Mars orbit between other spacecraft there and Earth. NASA received funding for the mission in the budget reconciliation act last year, with restrictions on the companies that could bid on it. Blue Origin and Rocket Lab were the two companies most publicly interested in the mission. Blue Origin said its MTN orbiter will be based on its Blue Ring spacecraft. (9/2)

Sierra Space Signs Dream Chaser Customers (Source: Space News)
Sierra Space said it has signed national security and commercial customers to fly payloads on the first orbital mission of its Dream Chaser spaceplane. The company announced Wednesday that the inaugural flight will carry a mix of national security, civil and commercial payloads, but did not identify the customers, disclose contract values or provide details about the payloads.

Sierra Space originally developed Dream Chaser to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station, but has pivoted to other government and commercial uses of the spaceplane. The company has targeted late this year for a first flight, a schedule that depends on both the readiness of the spacecraft as well as its launch vehicle, ULA's Vulcan. (9/2)

SpaceX Launches Wednesday Starlink Mission From California (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites overnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, putting 27 Starlink satellites into orbit. SpaceX is now launching Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rockets only from Vandenberg as it prepares to start launching larger Starlink satellites on Starship vehicles from Texas and, later, Florida. (9/2)

All-Female ISS Spacewalk Conducted for Maintenance Tasks (Source: Space.com)
Astronauts conducted the fourth spacewalk outside the ISS in less than a month Tuesday. NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot spent six hours and 49 minutes outside the station conducting several maintenance tasks. That work included installing a new retroflector, used as a docking aid, on the port on the Harmony module, as well as replacing a high-definition camera and swabbing an area of the station's exterior to study any microorganisms there. The two also partially completed work installing jumper cables for electrical systems and preparing future work to replace the radiator on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument. NASA deferred the completion of that work and other tasks when Adenot reported a problem with a shoulder joint in her suit, apparently caused by cabling getting caught in the joint. (9/1)

BQP Developing Quantum-Inspired Tech for Space Object Identification (Source: Space News)
A startup working with the Space Force on "quantum-inspired" computing technologies has secured funding from IBM Ventures. BQP, formerly known as BosonQ Psi, said Wednesday that IBM Ventures made a strategic investment into the company, bringing the total raised by the startup to $8 million.

BQP announced its first federal contract in July, an award from the U.S. Space Force and SpaceWERX, to develop and validate a physics-constrained, quantum-assisted machine-learning application to improve the speed and accuracy of identifying unknown space objects. In addition to space, BQP develops optimization software for uncrewed aircraft and electric vehicle battery thermal management. (9/2)

Yank Technologies Wins Space Force SBIR Contract for Wireless Satellite Charging (Source: Space News)
Yank Technologies won a U.S. Space Force small-business contract to study the use of wireless charging for satellites. The company received a Phase 1 SBIR contract from SpaceWERX to assess the feasibility of wirelessly charging satellites without requiring a mechanical electrical connection between spacecraft. Yank Technologies develops long-range, high-power wireless charging systems and has used the technology for automotive, industrial and space applications, including NASA projects aimed at delivering power on the lunar surface. The Space Force contract covers technical analysis and data intended to establish whether the concept is feasible, with the work due in October. (9/2)

House Spending Bill Passage to Prevent October Government Shutdown (Source: Politico)
The House passed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown next month. The House approved a continuing resolution (CR) Tuesday that will fund the government at 2026 levels from the start of the 2027 fiscal year Oct. 1 through Dec. 11. The CR, previously approved by the Senate, also includes a provision preventing the enactment of an Office of Management and Budget proposed rule that would place political appointees in charge of approving federal research grants. (9/2)

Japan's First Astronaut Dies (Source: Collect Space)
The first Japanese citizen to go to space has died. Toyohiro Akiyama passed away last week at the age of 84, according to Japanese media reports. Akiyama was not a professional astronaut but instead a journalist working for the Tokyo Broadcasting System when he flew to the Mir space station in 1990 for a week-long stay. He was called by some the "space antihero" because of his initial unenthusiastic reports from space, caused by a serious case of space sickness; Akiyama, a chain smoker, also suffered from nicotine withdrawal. His accounts of the flight became most positive later in the mission. He left journalism several years after his return to become a farmer and teacher. (9/2)

York Space Systems Unveils VLEO Satellite Antenna (Source: Space News)
York Space Systems unveiled a new satellite platform designed to operate in very low Earth orbit. The new LX/V-class of satellites is intended to operate at roughly 300 kilometers, an altitude that offers improved sensing performance but creates technical challenges caused by the higher atmospheric drag at those altitudes. The spacecraft has an elongated body and narrow solar-array profile designed to reduce the area exposed to the upper atmosphere. York declined to identify specific customers for LX/V but said it already has contracts with national security customers whose missions it believes could be applicable to the new platform. (9/2)

RAND Study Raises Workforce Concerns for Space Force (Source: Space News)
A new study says the lack of a trained workforce could hinder the Space Force's ability to restore space capabilities after a conflict. The RAND Corp. report examined whether the space industrial base could reconstitute critical systems within 12 to 24 months during a prolonged conflict with a near-peer adversary. Researchers found that many of the workers needed to design, build, integrate and test spacecraft could not be hired or trained quickly enough after a conflict begins.

The study found that occupations relevant to the space industrial base have about 30,000 openings a year for technicians and technologists, compared with roughly 11,000 people receiving applicable credentials. Moreover, the space industry must compete with semiconductor manufacturers and other advanced industries for the same workers. The report recommends adding surge-planning requirements to future Space Force contracts, requiring suppliers to consider in advance how they would expand production during a crisis. (9/2)

Bill Progresses Through Congress to Streamline FCC Satellite Licensing (Source: Space News)
A House subcommittee advanced a bill designed to streamline the FCC satellite licensing process. The House Energy and Commerce Committee's communications and technology subcommittee favorably reported H.R. 8255, the Satellite and Telecommunications (SAT) Streamlining Act, on a voice vote Tuesday, sending the bill to the full committee. The bill sets deadlines for the FCC to act on satellite applications and modification requests, and includes a "deemed granted" provision that would automatically approve them if the FCC does not act on them in time.

The bill has broad industry support, but differs from a Senate bill that would require the FCC to place limits on what applications would be eligible for deemed-granted consideration. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee and a sponsor of the SAT Streamlining Act, said his committee was working on potential changes to the House bill. (9/2)

Poland's Creotech to Develop Space Weather Satellite Mission (Source: Space News)
Polish space technology company Creotech Instruments signed an ESA contract for a space weather satellite mission. The company announced a 13.9 million euro ($16 million) contract for the comprehensive implementation of the SAWA 2nd Space Weather nanosat mission, which will study the Earth's upper atmosphere and monitor the effects of solar activity on the space environment in LEO. The nanosat's launch is expected in early 2029, the company said. The project will be financed via Poland's contribution to the Space Weather and Space Safety Program. (9/2)

Noise and Vibration Impacts Anticipated at SpaceX's Louisiana Spaceport (Source: The Advocate)
SpaceX's planned Louisiana spaceport is expected to bring major changes to Vermilion Parish, including new jobs, housing and infrastructure. It could also bring something residents may be less prepared for: rocket launches loud enough to be heard — and possibly felt — far beyond the coast. SpaceX's Starship can produce noise levels approaching 140 decibels near the launch pad. For comparison, a commercial jet engine can produce roughly similar noise levels at close range. But predicting what Louisiana residents might hear or feel farther away is much more difficult.

Louisiana's coastal marshes present another major unknown. The complex mix of water, vegetation and sediment could affect how sound and vibration travel, making predictions difficult without site-specific research. "We need to ensure that we begin an environmental impact assessment so that we can compare the environment from before and after these rockets start launching."

Observations and studies of launches at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, have documented rocket noise traveling well beyond the immediate launch area. Some reports have suggested launch noise can be heard roughly 20 miles away, while low-frequency sound and vibration from larger launches may travel much farther under certain atmospheric conditions. (9/1)

Longer Wait, Higher Prices for Virgin Galactic Tourists (Source: Orange County Business Journal)
Virgin Galactic’s would-be space tourists will have to wait a bit longer and probably pay more before they take off into the wild blue yonder. The company said Aug. 12 that it is delaying the start of commercial service for its new Delta spaceship from the fourth quarter of this year to February 2027.

Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said that space flights at $750,000 were sold out and that there will be “higher price points” when ticket sales reopen in the fall. By comparison, seats were going for $450,000 each in 2023. The company says right now that the flights are “currently fully booked,” meaning some space riders may end up waiting several years before they go aloft. (8/31)

UCF Researchers Study a Centaur Transforming into a Comet (Source: UCF)
A team of researchers led by UCF Planetary Scientist Charles Schambeau captured an extraordinary glimpse of an ancient icy object that may be transforming into an active comet. The findings could help scientists better understand how primitive objects from the outer solar system transition over time, offering new clues about the origins and evolution of comets. (9/1)

LambdaVision Advances Space-Based Manufacturing with Its First Mission Beyond the ISS (Source: LamdaVision)
LambdaVision, a pre-clinical-stage biotech advancing on-Earth and microgravity bioprocesses, announced an upcoming mission with Helogen Corporation to deepen its knowledge of the space-based properties of the protein used in LambdaVision’s artificial retina. Scheduled to launch in October 2026, the mission will mark LambdaVision’s first flight beyond the International Space Station (ISS) and an essential next step in the company’s strategy to expand its microgravity research beyond the ISS and evaluate new platforms that could support its long-term commercial strategy in low-Earth orbit (LEO). (9/1)

UCF Brands Self as America's Space University (Source: UCF)
UCF now brands itself as "SpaceU" and has ramped up its involvement in space education and research. The university is the #1 supplier of talent to the nation’s aerospace and defense industries for six years in a row. Click here. (9/1)

SwRI-Led Modeling Identifies New Scenarios for Moon Formation (Source: SwRI)
New Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeling, conducted in collaboration with scientists at the University of Arizona, shows fundamental differences in how the Moon may have formed from the giant impact that created the Earth-Moon system. The new results used state-of-the-art computational techniques that factor in the material strength of the two colliding planets. These impact simulations could change how researchers understand Moon formation and may help constrain the timing of the event. (9/1)

Starfighters Space Plans Pathfinder for Payload Processing with Bionetics Corp. (9/2)
Starfighters Space has signed an MOU with Bionetics to integrate and process a series of pathfinder small payloads for air-launch and captive-carry missions aboard the company’s F-104 aircraft. Bionetics will work with Starfighters to prepare multiple classes of small payloads, including their pre-flight and post-flight assembly, testing, integration, and data retrieval at the Space Life Sciences Lab at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (9/2)

Space Battleship Yamato vs. the Starship Enterprise (Source: Space Review)
The Starship Enterprise is one of the best known science-fiction spaceships, but in Japan another vessel is just as famous. Dwayne Day examines the story of Space Battleship Yamato and explains how both it and the Enterprise illustrate how the US and Japan addressed their postwar legacies. Click here. (9/1)
 
Commercial Space is Not an Endless Field of Innovation: an Assessment of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Source: Space Review)
The growth of the commercial space industry is seen by some as a way to help the US government to do more with less. Charles Galbreath discusses how commercial space capabilities, while offering benefits, also have some problems that must not be overlooked. Click here. (9/1)
 
Space Has a Billionaire Problem, But it Also Has a Billionaire Solution (Source: Space Review)
Many in the public see space as primarily a playground for billionaires. Kelsie Goddard argues that while that reputation is not undeserved, the role of wealthy private actors in commercial space may signal a predictable stage of technological development rather than a dystopian one. Click here. (9/1)
 
Learning From a Satellite Servicing Mission’s Failure (Source: Space Review)
In mid-August, NASA announced it was calling off an effort to reboost the orbit of its Swift space telescope because of problems with the commercial spacecraft launched to reboost it. Jeff Foust reports on the lessons both the company and the agency learned from that effort that could apply to future missions. Click here. (9/1)
 
Little Building, Big Mystery (Source: Space Review)
What was a small building in a forgotten corner of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station used for decades ago? James Behling uncovers the mystery of facility number 49941 at the Cape. Click here. (9/1)

Florida Defense Grants Totaling $275K Go To Space Coast EDC for Space Base Support (Source: EOG)
Two grants from the Florida Defense Reinvestment Grant Program and the Florida Defense Support Commission Grant Program, totaling $275K, will go to the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast for two initiatives: 1) "to conduct a regional public awareness campaign focused on responsible drone use and protection of military missions near Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Patrick Space Force Base" and 2) "to advance infrastructure and resilience priorities that affect Brevard County, Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Base." (8/31)

Creotech Wins €13.9 million ESA Contract for Poland’s First Mission-as-a-Service Space-Weather Nanosat (Source: Economic Times)
Polish space technology company Creotech Instruments has signed a €13.9 million ($16 million) contract with the European Space Agency to comprehensively implement SAWA, Poland’s second space-weather nanosatellite mission. The project is also described as the country’s first “mission-as-a-service” initiative, expanding Poland’s role in European space programs. (9/1)

Launch Site and Facility Progress Ahead of East Coast Starship Debut (Source: NSF)
As SpaceX prepares to launch Starship Flight 14 in the coming weeks, work in Florida is expanding the Starship program so the company can fly from LC-39A and, eventually, SLC-37. The historic pad that once launched Saturn and Shuttle missions, and now supports Falcon, is expected to become SpaceX’s second active Starship launch site. Pad 1 at Starbase is not expected to return to service until later next year.

After about 18 months, the Gigabay’s exterior at Roberts Road is nearly complete. Only parts of the roof and the larger glass panels on the east side remain unfinished. The long haul now is installing the interior systems. Those include electrical, pneumatic, plumbing, and HVAC, as well as the transfer-aisle bridge cranes, one of which is already installed, as far as is known.

SLC-37A’s launch mount at Roberts Road is coming along as well. The major pieces of the first and second levels are in position and being welded together. The four sections of the top deck plate are nearby, and one already has the service-structure-side water manifold installed. A few more months of work remain before the mount is ready for rollout, but it is progressing well. (9/1)

ispace Reports 85% Sales Drop and Deeper Quarterly Loss but Maintains Full-Year Target (Source: Space Intel Report)
Japan’s ispace reported an 85% year-over-year decline in sales and a deeper operating loss for the three months ended June 30. The lunar infrastructure company said the deterioration was expected and does not change its ability to meet its full-year sales target. (9/1)

Intuitive Machines Books 2-Satellite Order for Unnamed Customer (Source: Via Satellite)
Intuitive Machines has secured a two-satellite order for an unnamed commercial customer. The order is for two IM 300 platforms, the same platform that has supported Space Development Agency missions. The company said that this award adds “a new market segment of customers” for this spacecraft platform, but did not share what type of application the satellite will serve.

The IM 300 platform is geared toward proliferated missions like the Space Development Agency’s constellation and designed for serial manufacturing. It will be built in the company’s satellite manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, California. (9/1)

Independent Safety Officials Say Orion Heat Shield Performed Well Despite Earlier Criticism (Source: Ars Technica)
Independent safety officials found that NASA’s Orion spacecraft heat shield performed well, despite earlier criticism of its behavior during testing or flight. The assessment also praised changes made by NASA leadership, providing support for the agency’s approach to addressing concerns surrounding the crewed exploration vehicle. (9/1)

MaiaSpace Completes Upper-Stage Validation Ahead of 2027 Orbital Debut (Source: Spacewatch Global)
MaiaSpace has completed another upper-stage validation campaign for its Maia launcher, advancing development ahead of the vehicle’s planned orbital debut in 2027. The milestone marks continued progress toward the launcher’s first flight and commercial introduction. (9/1)

SpaceX’s Plan to Bring Turbine-Blade Production In-House Hits Howmet; Analysts See a Buying Opportunity (Source: Aviation Week)
Howmet Aerospace shares fell after SpaceX said it plans to produce turbine blades internally, raising concerns about the supplier’s exposure to the launch company. Two Wall Street banks characterized the selloff as an opportunity to buy, framing the announcement as a limited impact to Howmet’s broader aerospace business. Editor's Note: SpaceX will use turbine engines for ground-based power generation, not for jetliners. Maybe they therefore can be made with less exacting specifications... meaning they wouldn't impact Howmet's jet engine turbine blade business. (9/1)

September 1, 2026

Space Force Faces Challenges Integrating Commercial Data (Source: Breaking Defense)
The US Space Force faces challenges in integrating commercial technology and data into daily operations, citing barriers such as requirements, classification and operational integration, according to Col. Tim Trimailo of the Space Systems Command's Commercial Space Office. A Government Accountability Office report highlights hesitancy within the Space Force to use commercial data due to concerns about licensing costs and long-term access. (8/31)

FAA and Japan Sign Commercial Space Licensing Agreement (Source: FAA)
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and a representative from Japan’s National Space Policy Secretariat (NSPS) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to establish and maintain a shared understanding of U.S. commercial space transportation regulations. The cooperation between the NSPS and the FAA will encourage the safety of commercial space transportation in both the United States and Japan.  

The FAA is committed to enabling a global safety standard for the commercial space transportation industry and has signed other agreements supporting consistent safety approaches with the Bahamas, New Zealand, Sweden, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. (9/1)

Northwood Space Expands California-Based Manufacturing Footprint (Source: Aviation Week)
Satellite ground services startup Northwood Space has opened a new 185,000-ft. 2 manufacturing facility in Torrance, California, as it looks to build hundreds of antennas annually and run three production lines to support its growing global network. (8/31)

Blue Origin Tops 4,500 Space Coast Jobs as New Glenn Buildout Accelerates (Source: Florida Today)
Blue Origin's growing footprint across Brevard County has surpassed 4,500 people, and a surge of rocket-related infrastructure construction projects will only expand that total moving forward, Senior Vice President of New Glenn Jordan Charles said. And "in case anybody's been living under a rock for the last three months," Charles said the site of the May 28 New Glenn rocket explosion is home to an around-the-clock rebuilding campaign at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

"It's a beehive of activity. We have over 1,000 people working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to restore that launch complex to an operationally ready state," Charles said. "And Blue Origin remains deeply committed to our goal of launching New Glenn at Launch Complex 36A by the end of this year," he said. Editor's Note: SpaceX is estimated to employ fewer than 2,000 on the Space Coast. (8/31)

FAA Executive Physician/Scientist Joins UCF Aerospace Medicine Team (Source: UCF)
He’s an experienced skydiver, private pilot and scuba diver whose hero since childhood has been moon-walker Neil Armstrong. And now Melchor Antuñano is a UCF Knight.

After 34 years with the FAA — the longest term for any senior executive in the agency’s history — Antuñano has joined the College of Medicine’s aerospace medicine team as a professor, and chief technologist and medical innovation officer. In these roles he’ll help design new procedures and technologies to keep astronauts, pilots and airplane passengers safer and help create a new UCF master’s degree in aerospace medicine and a residency program for aerospace medicine physicians. He’ll also teach across UCF colleges. (8/21)

Leonardo DRS Selected by Space Force to Advance Technology in Support of Advanced Space Superiority Solutions (Source: Leonardo DRS)
Leonardo DRS has been awarded an Other Transaction Agreement contract for Prototype by the U.S. Space Force to advance next-generation technology designed to further strengthen U.S. national defense capabilities. Leonardo DRS will further develop affordable and scalable sensor technology that helps defense systems detect, identify, track, and target fast-moving threats in challenging conditions in support of mission needs for U.S. space superiority and space control efforts. (9/1)

Scientists Discover Massive 'Thermal Anomaly' Beneath the Surface of Mars (Source: Space.com)
New research into the interior of Mars further emphasizes that the Red Planet is a world of two very different halves. Deep inside the southern hemisphere of Mars, the temperature is up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius) warmer than beneath the northern hemisphere, deepening the mystery of the strange dichotomy between the Red Planet's flattened north and craggy southern highlands. (9/1)

China's Galactic Energy Launches New Pallas-1 Rocket (Source: Space News)
A new Chinese rocket reached orbit on its inaugural launch late Monday. Galactic Energy's Pallas-1 rocket lifted off from the Dongfeng commercial innovation launch site within the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The second stage achieved orbit, although there was no payload reported to be on board and there was no attempt to recover the rocket's first stage, which is designed to be reusable. Pallas-1 is capable of delivering 5,000 to 7,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit, with Galactic Energy targeting launching batches of satellites for Chinese megaconstellations. The rocket is rated for at least 25 reuses of its first stage, which is designed to land vertically on legs. Galactic Energy said it will conduct landing tests on the next two to three launches before moving to regular landing and reuse of the first stage. (9/1)

Spain's PLD Space Raises $125 Million (Source: Space News)
Spanish launch company PLD Space has raised an additional $125 million. The company announced Tuesday an extension of a Series C funding round the company disclosed in March, led by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. with support from COFIDES, a Spanish public funds management company, and new investors Endeavor Catalyst and the Spain Oman Private Equity Fund. PLD Space has raised more than $550 million to date. The company says the additional funding will go toward production and test facilities for its Miura 5 small launch vehicle and support that rocket's shift to commercial operations. The company has yet to attempt a first flight of that small launch vehicle, and has not recently confirmed earlier statements it would launch the rocket by the end of the year. (9/1)

OHB Wins $1 Billion+ Contract for IRIS Satellites (Source: Space News)
OHB won a contract worth more than $1 billion to build medium Earth orbit satellites for Europe's IRIS² constellation. OHB said Monday it signed a contract with SES, which is responsible for the MEO shell of the constellation, to build 18 spacecraft. The contract is valued at nearly 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion). The satellites will weigh 2.6 tons each and provide 15 kilowatts of power, although the companies did not disclose details about the satellites' communications payloads, which SES will produce. SES already operates the O3b mPower constellation in MEO for broadband services, but that system uses satellites built by Boeing, an American company likely not eligible for awards for the IRIS² system. (9/1)

Planet to Launch Imaging Satellites on SpaceX Rideshare Mission From California (Source: Space News)
Planet will launch another set of imaging satellites next month. The company announced Monday it delivered its second Tanager hyperspectral imaging satellite, along with 18 SuperDove satellites, to Vandenberg Space Force Base for launch on the SpaceX Transporter-18 rideshare mission scheduled for next month. The SuperDoves contribute to Planet's daily Earth imagery, while Tanager-2 will double Planet's ability to provide hyperspectral imagery, used for applications such as detecting methane and carbon dioxide emissions. Government and commercial demand is picking up for hyperspectral datasets, a company executive said in a recent interview. (9/1)

Quindar Picked by Quantum for Mission Management (Source: Space News)
Quindar won a contract to provide mission management services for spacecraft developed by Quantum Space. Quindar said Tuesday it will handle mission management services for Quantum's Scout and Ranger spacecraft. Quantum Space is developing maneuverable spacecraft for missions including payload hosting, space domain awareness, satellite servicing and logistics, with its first Ranger spacecraft set to launch in mid-2027. Quindar previously won contracts with Starfish Space and Portal Space Systems to provide mission management services for their maneuverable spacecraft. (9/1)

Starcloud CEO Plans Side Mission to Alpha Centauri (Source: Space News)
The founder of an orbital data center startup is pursuing a side project: developing an interstellar probe. The Fermi Explorer Mission, from Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston, proposes to launch a small spacecraft that would undertake an 80,000-year journey to Alpha Centauri, about 4.4 light-years away. The spacecraft would use electric propulsion and a series of close approaches to the sun, called a "perihelion pump maneuver," to escape the sun. According to Fermi, an undisclosed experienced U.S. satellite bus maker has already submitted a proposal to complete the mission for less than $15 million. (9/1)

Turkey Signs Artemis Accords (Source: Space News)
Turkey is the latest country to sign the Artemis Accords. The country's minister of industry and technology signed the Accords at NASA Headquarters on Monday. Turkey is the 71st country to sign the Accords and the 12th so far this year. The Accords are designed to outline best practices in space exploration, and NASA intends to use them to coordinate international participation in its lunar base. Turkey is planning to launch its first lunar mission, an orbiter, next year. Turkey is also hosting next month's International Astronautical Congress, which will include a meeting of Artemis Accords signatories. (9/1)

Florida's Cecil Spaceport Gets State Grant for Rocket Test Facility (Source: Jax Today)
Cecil Spaceport near Jacksonville will receive $5 million for a rocket motor test stand. The grant comes from the Florida Department of Transportation’s Spaceport Improvement Program. The state and Jacksonville-area elected officials hope the dollars for the spaceport lead other aerospace companies to start or expand operations at the facility on Jacksonville’s Westside.

Over the last several years, local and state officials have been pushing to grow both Cecil Airport and Spaceport. City Council President Nick Howland and state. Rep. Wyman Duggan sponsored legislation at the local and state levels to require the airport authority to create an economic development plan for Cecil that includes the spaceport. (9/1)

SpaceX Petitions FCC to Block Viasat Satellite Authorization Over Starlink Interference Concerns (Source: SatNews)
On August 31, 2026, SpaceX submitted a petition to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting that regulators block or attach strict operational conditions to a proposed satellite deployment by geostationary (GSO) operator Viasat. SpaceX argued that Viasat’s planned radio frequency allocation and orbital configuration would create harmful electromagnetic interference across Starlink’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) megaconstellation. (8/31)

Powerful New Magnetic System Could Help Spacecraft Survive the Brutal Heat of Reentry (Source: Brighter Side)
Tokyo Metropolitan University researchers built a pulsed electromagnet system that can test magnetic aerobraking under shockwaves traveling about 7.7 kilometers per second. The system produced magnetic fields of 1.24 and 1.58 tesla, reaching roughly 1.7 and 2.1 times the strength of the permanent magnet used for comparison. Applying the magnetic field expanded the glowing shock layer by about 16%, supporting the idea that magnetic forces could someday help protect and slow spacecraft during atmospheric reentry. (8/30)

Retrieving Apollo Astronaut Poop Could Yield Valuable Science (Source: Space Daily)
Across Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17, astronauts discarded human waste and other material before leaving the Moon. The commonly cited total is 96 bags and containers. The oldest have been at Tranquility Base since July 1969, exposed to 57 years of vacuum, radiation and lunar day-night cycles.

The immediate question is irresistible: could anything in them still be alive? The careful answer is that probably nothing is, but nobody has tested the actual material. That gap is why researchers have identified an Apollo jettison bag as a serious recovery target. Even a completely sterile sample could measure how cells, DNA and other biological traces decay in a real extraterrestrial environment. (8/31)

Huntsville Discussed as Possible Home for New U.S. Space Academy (Source: AL.com)
There have been discussions about Huntsville being the site of the recently announced U.S. Space Academy, U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-AL, said Monday. Strong said after his Washington update there had been communications about Huntsville being the site of the academy, but stopped short of saying the Rocket City was on a short list and indicated he was unsure of the timeline of when an announcement would be made. (8/31)

NorthStar to Lead ESA Consortium on Uncontrolled Reentry (Source: Via Satellite)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected NorthStar Earth & Space to lead a study on uncontrolled atmospheric re-entry. NorthStar’s European subsidiary will lead a consortium for ESA’s Forecasting of Atmospheric Location and Chronology of Re-entry (FALCON) initiative, the company announced Monday. The consortium will assess the limitations of uncontrolled atmospheric re-entry predictions and develop a framework for generating precise, probability-based forecasts of re-entry time and location. NorthStar mentioned the uncontrolled reentry of a SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage over Poland in 2025 as an example of the impact of uncontrolled reentry. (8/31)

OHB Wins Contract to Build IRIS² Medium Earth Orbit Satellites (Source: Space News)
OHB has won a contract worth more than a billion dollars to build the satellites for the medium Earth orbit, or MEO, shell of a European constellation. OHB announced Aug. 31 it signed a contract with satellite operator SES to build 18 satellites for the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite, or IRIS², constellation. The contract, OHB said, is worth nearly 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion).

The satellites will comprise the MEO portion of the constellation, which also includes satellites in two low Earth orbit bands. SES, part of the SpaceRISE consortium developing the constellation for the European Commission, is responsible for the MEO shell as well as development of user terminals and creation of government control centers. (8/31)

Thales Alenia Space to Develop PRISMA Second-Generation Earth-Observation Satellite for Italy (Source: SpaceWatch Africa)
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a contract with OHB Italia for the development of the PRISMA Second Generation Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Scheduled for launch in 2031, the satellite will carry a hyperspectral instrument, built by Leonardo, featuring enhanced functional and resolution capabilities compared to the first generation.

A key challenge in hyperspectral technology is capturing images with high quality and spatial resolution, along with frequent revisit times and a high signal-to-noise ratio. The PRISMA Second Generation satellite will enable improved spatial resolution through enhanced agility of both the platform and the instrument, increasing spatial resolution to at least 10 meters, compared to the current 30 meters. Additionally, it will introduce new functional capabilities designed to meet the diverse requirements of both scientific and operational users. (8/31)

SES Awards OHB Nearly €1 Billion to Build 18 MEO Satellites for Europe’s IRIS² Secure Communications Constellation (Source: Space Intel Report)
SES has awarded German manufacturer OHB a contract worth nearly €1 billion to develop and build 18 medium-Earth-orbit satellites for the European Union’s IRIS² multi-orbit secure connectivity constellation. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2029, marking the start of the program’s long-awaited implementation phase. (8/31)

SLS Picks Up the Pace, Four Vehicles in Production (Source: NSF)
The NASA and contractor workforce continues to make progress ahead of next year’s Artemis III mission, with Solid Rocket Booster stacking continuing, while RS-25 engines are being installed on Core Stage 3. This is taking place while Michoud and Marshall teams advance tanks, engine sections, adapters, and long-lead parts for Artemis IV, V, and VI. The overlapping production line is the clearest hardware sign yet of the higher SLS cadence NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has been pressing the agency to deliver. (8/30)