July 11, 2026

Rare Pegasus Mission to Launch NASA's Swift Rescue at Kwajalein (Source: NASA)
Engineers completed installation of Katalyst Space’s LINK robotic servicing spacecraft into a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket on Tuesday, June 9, at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch is anticipated later this month. NASA contracted Katalyst to build and launch LINK to raise the altitude of the agency’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Recent solar activity has caused Swift's orbit to decay faster than anticipated.

Based on the orbital and programmatic needs of the mission, Katalyst selected the air-launched Pegasus XL as the best means of reaching the observatory in time to perform the boost maneuver. Northrop Grumman will launch the rocket using Stargazer, its modified L-1011 aircraft. Northrop Grumman engineers will attach Pegasus XL to Stargazer, which will carry it from NASA Wallops to Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, for launch. (6/10)

NASA Chief Defends Selection of All-Male Crew for Artemis III Mission (Source: CBS)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, responding to questions about the agency's selection of an all-male crew for the Artemis III mission, said the astronauts were chosen based solely on their experience, skill sets and availability. Isaacman wrote on the social media platform X that "I have seen reactions ranging from disappointment to outrage."

One such response on Reddit called the crew announcement "massively upsetting." "Women represent 50 percent of the population," the post read. "They deserve at least one seat on every mission from a government run agency." Isaacman said he had "personally been to space twice with 50 percent female crews. My closest advisors and some of the smartest engineers I know are women. In our latest NASA leadership organization, nearly 50 percent of the center directors and mission directorate leadership are women." (6/10)

Elizabeth Warren Warns Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO May Screw Retirees, Must Be Delayed (Source: New York Magazine)
Not everyone thinks the SpaceX public stock debut is something to celebrate. Senator Elizabeth Warren, for one, is hoping to convince the Securities and Exchange Commission to (temporarily) scrap the whole thing. Warren writes to the SEC that she has “extreme concern[s]” about the upcoming SpaceX IPO that comes down to three main points. First, the fact that the company is offering stock at approximately 100 times 2025 revenue, which does not appear to have any basis in reality.

“The idea of having Elon negotiate with Elon and decide that the value of this company is some astronomical number makes market analysts laugh — or maybe cry.”) Second, that the governance structure of the public company will basically make Musk unfireable (while leaving investors with “significantly fewer rights than those traditionally offered to purchasers of public shares”). And third, that because of the rewriting of rules that were created after the dot-com crash — rewritten by index providers expressly for the benefit of SpaceX — millions of Americans will be forced to own shares of the company through their retirement accounts. (6/10)

Everglades University Offers Bachelor's Degree in Space Studies (Source: Everglades University)
Florida's Everglades University has established an on-campus/online Bachelor's Degree for students Interested in shaping the future of the rapidly expanding space industry. "Our bachelor’s in Space Studies prepares students to work at the intersection of science, business, policy, and innovation in today’s evolving space sector... You’ll explore topics ranging from space policy, ethics, and international law to satellite communications, sustainability, and space entrepreneurship. A capstone experience allows you to apply what you’ve learned to real-world challenges in the space sector." (6/10)

Port Canaveral Plans New Basin for Growing Space Operations (Source: Fox 35)
Port Canaveral is working on plans for a new basin dedicated to space operations as companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and smaller startups compete for limited space along Florida’s Space Coast. The port has become a key hub for recovering rocket boosters and handling vessels tied to commercial space launches. However, officials say the growth of the industry has created congestion among space, cruise and cargo operations.

Space Florida and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station are working on plans for a basin near the port that would be reserved for space operations. Officials say the project would give space companies a dedicated place to operate while reducing competition with cruise and cargo ships. Florida officials say the state must be prepared to support the transportation of 5,000 metric tons of cargo into space annually by 2035. Space Florida also says the industry is creating high-paying jobs. The average aerospace salary in Florida is about $119,000, roughly double the average salary for other workers in the state. (6/3)

Pakistan Launched 6 Spy Satellites, Can Be Used to Keep Eye on India (Source: Times of India)
Pakistan has boosted its space surveillance power manifold by launching a series of six earth observation (EO) satellites in the last one and a half years. These EO or spy satellites can be used by Pakistan to keep an eye on India’s borders, troop deployment and military assets. Though the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) was set up in 1961, Pakistan launched its first satellite only in 1990. Even the payloads launched in the last several decades with the help of foreign launchers were less than a dozen. However between Jan 2025 and April 2026, Pakistan surprisingly launched six EO satellites, mostly with the help of Chinese rockets. (6/11)

Four Russian Military Satellites Came Within 13 Km of an Iceye Radar Satellite That Supplies Ukraine With Battlefield Imagery - ‘Legitimate Targets,’ Moscow Said in 2022 (Source: Meduza)
Last month, four Russian military satellites — Kosmos-2610, Kosmos-2611, Kosmos-2612, and Kosmos-2613 — altered their orbits and moved toward ICEYE-X36, a radar satellite that has been supplying data to Ukraine’s military since 2022, according to a May 22 report by the analytics firm Integrity ISR. The dangerous maneuvers came several months after the Finnish-American satellite operator ICEYE and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry signed a new cooperation agreement. Under its terms, Ukraine’s armed forces received expanded access to high-quality radar satellite imagery. (6/9)

Spire To Pursue Space-Based Missile Warning in Partnership With German Defense Firm (Source: Space News)
Spire Global signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Diehl Defence, a leading German air defense and guided missile systems integrator, to pursue satellite-based early warning and intelligence systems. The strategic partnership, announced at the ILA Berlin Airshow, focuses on countering ballistic and hypersonic threats. It aims to provide the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) and broader European defense frameworks with sovereign space and reconnaissance capabilities. (6/10)

Two Years Later, We’re Finally Learning How a Transformers-Inspired Rover Fared on the Moon (Source: Gizmodo)
On January 19, 2024, a tiny, spherical rover called SORA-Q arrived on the Moon and unfurled itself into two halves to deploy wheels on each side. The miniature-sized robot, which could fit snugly into your palms, rolled around the lunar surface for nearly two hours, capturing images and relaying data back to Earth. Its short-lived stint will help inform the design of a fleet of tiny explorers capable of fitting into cramped areas that are otherwise inaccessible to their larger counterparts.

A new study details the results from SORA-Q’s time on the Moon, highlighting the challenges encountered during the mission, as well as lessons learned for future designs of small-sized space robots. The study suggests that small rovers could act as helpful sidekicks for more flexible, robust, and cost-effective missions to the Moon and other celestial bodies. To help create the transformable lunar robot, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) partnered with researchers from Doshisha University, Sony, and TakaraTomy. The Japanese toy company Tomy may not have much experience with space exploration, but it is known for creating the earliest Transformer toys in the early 80s. (6/10)

Let’s Destroy American Science (Source; NASA Watch)
The Federal Government recently issued “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance” which, if implemented, would gut the way that American science has been evaluated and conducted for the better part of a century. At a time when the avowed stance of the Administration to pursue “Gold Standard Science“ and assert global leadership in science and technology this regulation would infect it with politics, fatally hamper its ability to thrive, and turn it into lead instead of gold. Click here. (6/10) https://nasawatch.com/policy/lets-destroy-american-science/

Galaxy-Killing Wind Discovered in the Early Universe (Source: Phys.org)
Astronomers have discovered a "galaxy-killing wind" that may explain why there are far more massive "dead" galaxies than expected in the early universe. This wind, powered by cosmic collisions between galaxies, could quickly blow away all the fuel for new stars, leaving a galaxy on the brink of death and helping to solve one of the biggest mysteries in modern astrophysics. (6/10)

Musk's Age of Impunity (Source: Axios)
Elon Musk is on the verge of financial immortality: The world's richest man — and potentially its first trillionaire — has built a sovereign corporate kingdom that is too systemic to fail. And yet, on the eve of SpaceX's monster IPO, its CEO was hunkered down in his digital fiefdom stoking far-right culture wars with an impunity unmatched in modern corporate history. (6/11)

House Budget Meets Space Force Request, But Without Reconciliation Bump (Source: Space News)
House appropriators unveiled a budget that provides $55.5 billion for the Space Force but without additional funding once proposed in a separate package. The draft legislation, released by the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee ahead of a markup Thursday, funds the Pentagon at the level requested by the administration through the regular appropriations process. However, it excludes roughly $350 billion in additional defense spending that administration officials have proposed funding through a separate budget reconciliation bill.

Senators said earlier this week another budget reconciliation bill was unlikely to pass this year. That could affect Golden Dome, for which the administration sought $17.5 billion through reconciliation in fiscal year 2027 but would get less than $400 million in the House bill. Despite excluding reconciliation spending, the House bill still represents a substantial increase for the Space Force. (6/11)

Thales Alenia and Airbus to Build Radar Imaging Satellites for ESA (Source: Space News)
Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space won contracts to build next-generation radar imaging satellites. ESA signed contracts Wednesday with the companies for the Sentinel-1 Next Generation (NG) program, a pair of radar-imaging satellites that will be part of the Copernicus Earth observation program. Thales, the prime contractor, said its contract was worth 700 million euros ($807 million) for the first tranche of the program, with Airbus serving as a subcontractor to provide the radar imaging payloads.

The satellites will build upon the existing Sentinel-1 spacecraft with new capabilities such as improved resolution. The first Sentinel-1 NG spacecraft is expected to launch in 2034. ESA separately approved for development Arrakihs, a small astrophysics mission with a cost cap of 175 million euros. Arrakihs, designed to study galactic evolution, will launch by the end of 2030. (6/11)

SpaceX IPO Shares Oversubscribed (Source: Bloomberg)
Demand for SpaceX shares in its impending initial public offering is far outstripping supply. Institutional investors seeking to buy shares in the IPO have requested more than four times the 555.6 million shares SpaceX plans to sell at $135 per share. The IPO will raise about $75 billion for SpaceX and value the company at nearly $1.8 trillion, with shares expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday. (6/11)

China Launches Classified Long March 5 Mission (Source: Space News)
China launched a classified satellite early Thursday. A Long March 5 lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island, placing the Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-25 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The spacecraft will be mainly used to carry out multi-band and high-speed communication technology validation tests, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said, although Western analysts note that line of satellites appear to be used for classified missions such as signals intelligence, early warning missions and satellite inspection activities. (6/11)

NOAA's SOLAR-1 Space Weather Satellite Online (Source: NOAA)
A NOAA space weather satellite has started regular operations. NOAA said Wednesday that its SOLAR-1 had formally started operational service. SOLAR-1, or Space weather Observations at L1 to Advance Readiness-1, was previously known as Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 and launched last September along with two NASA missions to the Earth-sun L-1 Lagrange point. SOLAR-1 will provide early warning of space weather events, taking over for aging spacecraft at the L-1 location. (6/11)

Stoke Completes Stage 1 Testing/Qualification at Washington State Facility (Source: Stoke Space)
Over the past three weeks at our Moses Lake Test Site (MLTS), the Stoke team successfully completed Stage 1 proto-qualification testing for Nova. This campaign verified 46 structural test objectives across the vehicle, while also exercising critical fluid systems, avionics, software, ground systems, and operations procedures. This is a major step toward flight. (6/8)

Starlink Rival Qianfan Hits Satellite Milestone, But is it Too Slow and Costly? (Source: SCMP)
China’s Qianfan network has hit a national milestone by placing over 200 broadband satellites in orbit, but there are concerns its deployment could be too slow and costly. Despite the quickening pace, the Starlink challenger’s roll-out still lags behind official targets. “If the company can’t ramp up its launch schedule, the project might just fall through,” said one anonymous source.

Hu Haiying, chief commander of the Qianfan satellite system, said the goals of the project had been adjusted and it now aimed to have 324 satellites up and running by July. Each satellite costs over 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) to manufacture, according to Hu, who also heads the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ microsatellite academy in Shanghai. That price tag makes Qianfan a luxury compared to its US rival. For roughly the same weight, SpaceX built its first-generation Starlink satellites for just $250,000 each. (6/10)

NASA Picks First European Astronaut for Artemis Mission (Source: DW)
NASA has tapped Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano to pilot the Artemis III mission, making him the first European to be a part of the US space agency's key human spaceflight campaign. Parmitano will be the second non-US member involved in the Artemis program after the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen flew on Artemis II. The 49-year-old was selected as an astronaut by the ESA in 2009. His track record includes two completed missions on board the ISS. Parmitano, who trained at the Italian Air Force Academy and worked as a test pilot, also completed complex spacewalks. (6/10)

NASA Webb Finds Strongest Evidence Yet for ‘Black Hole Stars’ (Source: NASA)
The complex puzzle known as little red dots has become more complete since their initial discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022. Now a particular little red dot’s spectrum is helping connect many of the pieces. By carefully analyzing the dot’s spectrum captured by Webb — the deepest spectrum to date of a little red dot — the research team has identified multiple lines of evidence, all of which support the interpretation that GLIMPSE-17775 is a supermassive black hole enveloped in a dense cocoon of partially ionized gas, a model referred to as the BH* (black hole star) scenario.

“I think part of the scientific community is converging on a singular picture — that little red dots can be explained by black hole star models. But none of the previous little red dots have all of the pieces of evidence in the same place,” said Kokorev, lead author of the study. “With GLIMPSE-17775 we can test these models because of how deep and amazing this source’s spectrum is.” (6/10)

UK Startup Applied Atomics to Enter US Market with Focus on Military Space Mobility (Source: Space News)
Applied Atomics has raised $4 million in pre-seed funding led by Oxford Science Enterprises. The startup is developing a multimode satellite propulsion system and expanding into the U.S. defense sector, with its initial software payload preparing to launch in 2026. Applied Atomics builds technology that combines chemical and electric propulsion using a single propellant. This allows satellites to perform quick, high-thrust maneuvers while maintaining high fuel efficiency. (6/10)

Thruster Breakthrough? New 2-in-1 Propulsion System is About to Get an In-Space Test (Source: Space.com)
It's hard to fit everything on a small satellite, especially the fuel, but a new propulsion system could make it easier. Instead of having separate fuel for chemical thrusters and electrical thrusters, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study suggests that a single propellant can power both kinds of systems. And this idea will get an in-space test soon, if all goes according to plan. (6/10)

Symphony Space Unveils Adagio-XL ODC Sat (Source: Payload)
Symphony Space is getting into the orbital data center (ODC) game. The startup, which unveiled its hosted payload satellite in March, announced a more powerful concept today—called Adagio-XL—targeting the ODC market. Symphony is aiming to launch Adagio-XL in late 2029. While the sat has the same 1,200 kg payload capacity as Adagio, its main upgrade is generating 100 kW of power—200 kW on later iterations—a dramatic increase from Adagio’s 12 kW. The platform also includes increased radiative technology to help dissipate heat from power hungry GPU payloads. (6/10)

Italy Bets on Space as a Pillar of Industrial Policy (Source: Decode 39)
Italy is launching a nationwide initiative to showcase its aerospace sector as the government seeks to strengthen the country’s position in the rapidly expanding space economy, backed by rising revenues, exports and public investment. The launch of the Stati Generali dello Spazio (Space General Assembly), presented Tuesday at the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, comes as Rome increasingly frames space as a strategic sector tied to industrial competitiveness, technological sovereignty and security.

Italy is positioning space as a core component of its industrial policy. The government sees the sector as a driver of growth, innovation and high-skilled employment. Rome is seeking a larger role in both European and international space initiatives. Public investments are being paired with efforts to expand the country’s industrial ecosystem, from large companies to startups. The initiative, promoted by the Parliamentary Intergroup on Space, will bring together industry, universities, research centers, startups and local institutions through 20 events across 16 Italian regions that host aerospace industrial districts. (6/9)

Swiss Space Companies Want to Liftoff - But There's a Big Problem (Source: BlueWin)
Switzerland has a long tradition in space travel. It was one of the founding countries of the European Space Agency ESA in 1975. The best-known representative is the former Ruag Space, which now operates under the name Beyond Gravity. Among other things, the company manufactures the tips of the European Ariane launch vehicles. There are also numerous suppliers. These include the propulsion specialist Maxon, which has a significant space business, and the French-speaking Swiss supplier Apco. These companies tend to belong to the established space industry.

Since the mid-2010s, the number of start-ups in the space sector has increased significantly. While five to ten companies were founded each year in the 1990s and 2000s, the number is now just under 20 per year, according to the "Swiss Space Ecosystem Report 2024". Switzerland is particularly strong in the hardware sector. One example is the company DPhi Space, which is working on data centers in space. Clearspace, which develops technologies for the removal of space debris, has also recently achieved greater prominence.

What the Swiss space industry still lacks most is visibility among the wider public, Nanja Strecker, head of the start-up incubator ESA BIC Switzerland, told the news agency AWP. SpaceX's IPO could change this, as it "should increase the visibility and attractiveness of the entire space sector and thus also give the Swiss industry a tailwind", said Raiffeisen chief economist Fredy Hasenmaile. According to Strecker, a certain spirit of optimism can already be felt in the space sector itself. However, she does not yet see it spilling over into the public discourse. (6/9)

Mitsubishi Electric Awarded Subsidy to Develop Flexible Space Mobility Technology under JAXA’s Space Strategy Fund (Source: Business Wire)
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has been awarded a subsidy for the Development of Inter-Orbit Transportation Vehicles (OTVs) under the Technology for Realizing Flexible Mobility in Space program, which is being financed by the 2nd Phase of the Space Strategy Fund managed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The company was previously selected as a representative organization for the project and will develop OTVs in that capacity. (6/9)

India to Transfer LVM3 Rocket to Private Sector (Source: India Today)
India’s heaviest rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3), which powered the historic Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing mission, is set to enter a new phase as the government initiates the process of transferring the rocket’s technology and operations to the private sector. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), the government’s nodal agency for promoting private participation in the space sector, has issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) inviting Indian companies to take over the end-to-end realization, operation and commercialization of the LVM3 launch vehicle. (6/10)

NRO Awards BlackSky Multi-Million Dollar Modification To Accelerate Development Of AROS Satellite (Source: Defense Daily)
BlackSky Technology on Tuesday said the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) awarded the company a contract modification to speed development of its AROS multi-spectral, broad area Earth observation satellites that will be a commercial alternative to current foundation imagery suppliers. (6/10)

Space Force Contracts Viasat, Intelsat for First of New Anti-Jam Communication Sats (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force today announced contracts to Viasat and Intelsat for production of the first two operational satellites under its “Protected Tactical SATCOM – Global (PTS-G)” program aimed at developing a jam-resistant satellite communications fleet. The two awards, collectively worth $437.7 million, cover manufacturing, integration, and test, launch, and on-orbit checkout of the two satellites collectively dubbed “Swarm-1,” according to Space Systems Command (SSC). (6/10)

How an E-Scooter Founder Raised $5 Million to Build Space Data Centers (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX has changed the venture industry’s perspective on long-term, capital-intensive space so much that a talented founder with no space experience can fund a space data center company. Orbital founder and CEO Euwyn Poon previously founded e-scooter company Spin in 2017 and sold it to Ford a year later. When he was ready to start a new company, a16z’s Speedrun was eager to get on board, according to partner Andrew Chen, who told TechCrunch that Poon worked through several ideas before landing on space data centers.

Orbital, like many of it competitors, is betting on SpaceX figuring out its Starship rocket and offering it to commercial customers. “We will get to full scale when Starship comes online,” Poon explained. The price of the Falcon 9, the current state of the art, “makes this not economically feasible.”

For now, Poon and company — which includes about a dozen folks in Los Angeles, with experience at Amazon LEO, SpaceX, and Northrop Grumman — are working toward a demo flight that will see the company fly an Nvidia Blackwell chip on a partner’s satellite to test Orbital’s radiation shielding and thermal management tech. Orbital’s goal is to deploy 10,000 satellites that provide a distributed gigawatt of computing power. (6/9)

Biotech Startup Turns to Space to Manufacture Artificial Retinas (Source: CASIS)
LambdaVision’s artificial retinas could one day help restore vision in people with blindness from macular degeneration. However, manufacturing these delicate films on Earth presents challenges. The artificial retinas are made of hundreds of ultra-thin layers of a light-sensitive protein, and gravity-driven forces can cause uneven layering that leads to material waste and limits scalability.

To overcome this, the company leveraged the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, where sustained microgravity allows the thin films to form more evenly. Over multiple missions, LambdaVision worked with Commercial Service Provider Space Tango to develop an automated system for manufacturing artificial retinas in space. The result: thin films with improved uniformity, stability, and performance—while using fewer raw materials. (6/10)

Intelsat, Viasat Secure $437M Space Force Satellite Contract (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The US Space Force has awarded $437 million in contracts to Intelsat and Viasat to build the first two Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global satellites, part of the Protected Tactical SATCOM Family of Systems. The satellites, expected to launch in 2028, will provide secure communications for tactical warfighters, bridging the gap between military and commercial satellite communication needs. (6/9)

Proba-3 Formation Flying Solar Mission Back on Track (Source: ESA)
ESA's Proba-3 mission is back in service. ESA announced Tuesday that the two-spacecraft mission is ready to resume formation flying, using one spacecraft to block the disk of the sun as seen by the other spacecraft. One of the spacecraft malfunctioned in February, failing to respond to ground commands. Controllers restored contact a month later, using images from the other Proba-3 spacecraft to help diagnose the problem. Proba-3 is a mission to demonstrate precision formation flying, while also monitoring the sun's corona. (6/10)

LeoLabs Deploys Indo-Pacific Satellite Monitoring Radar (Source: Space News)
LeoLabs has deployed a mobile space-tracking radar in the Indo-Pacific region that is being used to monitor Chinese satellites and other spacecraft. The Scout-S system is tracking maneuvering spacecraft in low Earth orbit, including Chinese surveillance satellites and China’s reusable spaceplane, LeoLabs announced Wednesday. Scout-S is the first operational system in a planned family of transportable sensors that LeoLabs says can be rapidly deployed to locations where military operators need additional coverage, supplementing its network of fixed radars. (6/10)

Spaceport Congestion, Target Risks, Drive Interest in Offshore Platforms (Source:
Congested spaceports are driving new interest in sea-based launch. Long viewed as a technically difficult niche with a history of commercial failure, companies and defense officials are giving offshore launch a second look as they search for ways to expand United States launch capacity given strains at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg. National security concerns are also at play as officials warn that space launch sites could become targets in an armed conflict. Among the companies working on sea-based launch is Seagate Space, which has agreements with Firefly Aerospace and Lockheed Martin to examine launches from platforms Seagate is developing. (6/10)

China's Landspace Launches Two Satellites (Source: Xinhua)
A Chinese commercial rocket launched two satellites Tuesday. Landspace's Zhuque-2E rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan spaceport, placing into orbit the Spacesail DTC 01 and China Mobile 02. Both satellites are technology demonstrators for direct-to-device communications. (6/10)

India Delays Starlink Approval (Source: The Print)
SpaceX has hit a speed bump in its efforts to win approval to provide Starlink services in India. The Indian government reportedly has delayed final clearances for Starlink at the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs, based on reports that Starlink was used in the ongoing Middle East conflict despite not having a license to operate in Iran. That has raised concerns in India about SpaceX's ability to comply with Indian government security requirements. A SpaceX official dismissed the report as "unsubstantiated claims from anonymous sources" and said the company remains in "active and productive" talks with the Indian government. (6/10)

Concern Over Amazon Leo Astronomy Interference (Source: Sky & Telescope)
Amazon Leo satellites could interfere with astronomical observations. A study of the brightness of the more than 300 Amazon Leo satellites launched to date found they have an average magnitude of 6.3, well above the limit of 7.2 recommended by the International Astronomical Union to avoid interference with astronomy. In one quarter of the observations, the satellites were brighter than magnitude 6, which meant they could be seen by the naked eye in skies not affected by terrestrial light pollution. (6/10)

Has Sentient Plasma Life Visited Earth? (Source: Douglas Messier)
UAP whistleblower David Grusch was asked by Congress about what types of beings are operating unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs, aka UFOs) that have been sighted in our skies and oceans. “It’s a continuum from corporeal bipedal type life to what I would consider sentient plasma life. But, there are several [species] that the U.S. government is aware of,” Grusch replied.

Grusch didn’t elaborate, and there were no follow-up questions on the subject. That sums up the whole problem with UAPs and aliens in a nutshell. There are lots of claims, but no irrefutable evidence or an admission from the government that these things really do exist. (6/10)

June 10, 2026

Space Club Invites Nominations for 2026 News and Communications Awards, Plus Space Worker Hall of Fame (Source: NSCFL)
The National Space Club Florida Committee invites nominations for the 2026 Kolcum News & Communications awards, Space Worker Hall of Fame, andSpace Educator Awards. The deadline is Friday, July 10.

The Space Worker Hall of Fame Awards honor workers in space launch technology, spaceflight support, human spaceflight advancement, and spaceflight advocacy and education. The Kolcum News & Communications Awards honor news media and communications professionals for excellence in telling the space story. The Space Educator Award honors one STEM educator who has made significant contributions to inspiring students to pursue their dreams of being part of the U.S. space program in Florida through engagement, impact, and community activities. Click here. (6/10)

Federal Science Agencies Face "Generational Loss" with Workforce Cuts (Source: FNN)
Amid the Trump administration’s workforce overhauls, some federal science agencies appear to be bearing the brunt of the changes, according to new research from the Partnership for Public Service. Federal workforce reductions, cuts to resources, and plans to increase political influence in the grantmaking process are all leading to declines in scientific development and innovation, said Max Stier, the nonprofit’s president and CEO. The effects, Stier said, will be felt for decades to come. “We’re talking about a generational loss here,” Stier said. (6/9)

Can Germany and France Collaborate in Space? (Source: Space News)
Maj. Gen. Wolfgang Ohl confirmed German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ recent announcement that Germany is interested in taking a leading role in creating and accelerating a European space command. Germany had already proposed a pan-European alliance, which it offered to coordinate, when it published its Space Safety and Security Strategy. And Germany is seeking alliances with other German-speaking countries — possibly already anticipating resistance from France.

Germany’s advance in space leadership signals a possible shift in the European balance of power, from France toward Germany. Brig. Gen. Jürgen Schrödl, said: “It is clear that the nations bringing the most to the table will also want to contribute ideas and help shape the discussion.” In other words, those putting the most resources expect to lead the conversation.

France’s position: Will France accept German leadership? Nicolas Moulin-Fournier, chief product officer at French startup Look Up Space, may have offered some insight during SmallSat: “The French military forces already have a complete set of assets, from telecom to military systems, and there is definitely deep expertise within the French armed forces. It makes sense to split efforts, coordinate, work together and share information. Under which leadership, I don’t know.” (6/10)

New Astroscale Initiative Looks to Improve Data for Spacecraft Reentry Studies (Source: Via Satellite)
Astroscale is leading a new initiative to improve the study of spacecraft reentry and atmospheric impact, while protecting sensitive data for commercial operators. The company will lead the Atmospheric Impact of Reentered Spacecraft (AIRS) initiative, a collaboration between industry and academia, with Planet Labs and the U.K.’s University of Southampton as founding participants. Astroscale announced ARIS on Tuesday. (6/10)

Houston's Created Its Own Problem: The Unnecessary Fight To Snatch Up The Discovery Space Shuttle Continues (Source: Jalopnik)
The story has become so much more than just moving a space shuttle from Virginia to Texas. Unfortunately embroiled in this "custody battle" is the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, home to the space shuttle Discovery for the last 15 years. The Smithsonian was a top selection and the only non-negotiable destination for one of the space shuttle orbiters when the program ended. The museum already had one of NASA's orbiters, Space Shuttle Enterprise, on display. The Enterprise would be given to another institution so that the Smithsonian could receive the Discovery.

Houston will have you believe they were a top contender for receiving one of those shuttles, even dubbing it the "Houston Shuttle Snub." But it wasn't a snub, because the official report breaking down the selection process says it was far from. Houston was ranked 10 of the 29 entries. By the final count, it landed seventh, with one of its lowest-scoring categories having to do with attracting visitors, especially internationally.

When each of the space orbiters' new homes were selected, NASA then transferred ownership to those facilities. The Smithsonian is the rightful owner and keeper of Space Shuttle Discovery. Neither Houston, nor NASA have the ability to just take it off the museum floor. And considering Discovery is 58 feet tall and 122 feet long, with a wingspan of 78 feet and a weight of 86 tons, it's not something you can just move without attracting some attention, either. The $86 million of tax payer money set aside for the move likely won't cut it as retired engineers from the program estimated the bill would be closer to the hundreds of millions of dollars. (6/9)

U.S. Using GPS to Tell Spies What to Do (Source: BoingBoing)
A roomful of smart people did the math and determined that a Russian satellite has been jamming GPS signals over Europe. But it's not the only new of orbital shenanigans to hit the wire this week. In conversation with information security expert Steven Murdoch, the folks at 404 Media discovered that the United States could be directing covert operations using data hidden inside of the GPS signals that the rest of us use to navigate to Starbucks.

He noted that the military has "specialized receivers that have the ability to have keys loaded into them" and "presumably have the ability to decrypt these special messages." Murdoch described how this "forgotten 176-bit slot in the world's most successful navigation signal turned out to be its quietest and most consequential broadcast." (6/8)

An Invisible Forever Chemical Rain is Falling Across the Planet (Source: Science Daily)
A surprising study suggests that chemicals introduced to protect the ozone layer may have unintentionally created a growing global pollution problem. Researchers found that refrigerants and certain anesthetic gases have generated more than 335,000 tonnes of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a highly persistent "forever chemical," that has been deposited across Earth's surface since 2000. The pollutant is now showing up everywhere from rainwater to remote Arctic ice, and scientists expect levels to keep rising. (6/9)

Ocean Miles Deep May Have Once Covered Region of Mars New Rover Will Land In (Source: AutoEvolution)
Europe’s first dedicated Mars rover, the Rosalind Franklin, is about two years away from departing our planet and heading over to the Red one to have a look at its mysteries. Rosalind Franklin carries the name of a British chemist who specialized in the inner workings of DNA, and, as such, it will dedicate its life to confirming the existence, past or present, of life on Mars. And it's supposed to do so by digging deeper into the planet's crust than anything before it.

That will be possible thanks to a massive drill that will allow it to punch holes 6.6 feet (two meters) deep into the planet's crust so that it can collect the samples that have been protected from radiation and extreme temperatures and thus come with the highest chance of containing proof of life's existence. The rover will collect the samples from a region of Mars called Oxia Planum, a clay-rich, ancient plain on Mars, located just north of the equator. Not just a plain, it seems, but one that some four billion years in the past might have been covered by a vast ocean measuring several miles deep. (6/8)

Bezos Challenges Musk’s Starlink in Africa with First Satellite Gateway in Kenya (Source: Business Insider Africa)
Amazon is moving to challenge Starlink in Africa by seeking approval to build its first satellite gateway in Kenya, deepening competition in the region’s fast-growing broadband market. The facility would connect Amazon’s low-Earth orbit satellite network to terrestrial internet infrastructure, improving speed and reducing latency. Kenya’s strong tech ecosystem and Starlink’s rapid growth have made the country a key battleground for satellite internet providers. (6/9)

SpaceX Coming for AT&T and Verizon Now, T-Mobile Later (Source: PhoneArena)
SpaceX may not be directly targeting AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon's wireless oligopoly just yet, but the broadband arena is a different story. For the longest time, SpaceX was viewed as something of a niche player, but the company is shedding that label now. While market share stats and subscriber numbers may not indicate that yet, the recent duress on shares of Comcast, Charter, AT&T, and Verizon tell a different story.

Analyst Peter Supino views the company as a serious threat to established players. Starlink was once seen as a last resort for rural audiences with no other options. But as the tech improves, the user base is exploding, with the company routinely doubling its subscriber count year-over-year. Musk hasn't shied away from asserting confidence in the company's ability to eventually surpass traditional internet and wireless companies. Starlink's satellites cover a large area, so the cost of adding new households is incredibly low compared to legacy internet companies that have to lay down physical infrastructure first. (6/9)

US Firm’s Reusable Launch System Goes Beyond Mach 4 Speed Twice, Key for Suborbital Missions (Source: Interesting Engineering)
A Washington-based firm has flown reusable launch system exceeding Mach 4. The rocket-free reusable launch opens path to affordable, repeatable and scalable hypersonic and suborbital missions. General Hypersonics conducted two launches exceeding Mach 4 from the same reusable launch system, with the second launch occurring approximately 90 minutes after the first.

The company claimed that the achievement sets another ram-accelerated mass-to-velocity milestone and advances the company’s goal of making high-cadence hypersonic and suborbital launch operations affordable and repeatable. “What changes the conversation is this: we took a reusable launch system beyond Mach 4 twice before lunch,” said Mark Russell.

The company completed both launches from the same reusable platform in approximately 90 minutes. Both launches were conducted using manual loading procedures, with automated loading systems currently under development to further improve turnaround times and increase launch cadence. General Hypersonics plans to increase automation within its launch operations and move beyond high-speed testing toward routine suborbital missions. (6/7)

Another Price Hike: Starlink Adds $10 'Monthly Kit Fee' for New Users (Source: PC Mag)
The cost of Starlink is going up for new users. The satellite internet service has quietly introduced a "monthly kit fee" that adds $ 10 per month to a Starlink Residential subscription. Users spotted the new fee on Monday. It applies to the standard Starlink dish that SpaceX sends with a new Residential subscription and appears to be rolling out globally, popping up on Starlink.com for new customers in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Australia, and Mexico. (6/9)

He Blew the Whistle on DOGE. Then His Brakes Were Cut (Source: WIRED)
In April 2025, Dan Berulis, an IT staffer at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), filed a Congressional whistleblower complaint with an extraordinary and urgent claim: Musk-led DOGE had seemingly compromised the agency’s data and appeared to be exfiltrating it out of the NLRB entirely. Additionally, Berulis claimed that mere minutes after DOGE members had accessed the agency’s data, there appeared to be login attempts from an IP address in Russia.

At the time, DOGE teams were sweeping across government, firing federal workers and accessing sensitive data and technical systems with no oversight and little transparency. After Berulis went public with his name and claims, a threatening note had been taped to his door, including photos of him walking his dog that appeared to have been taken by a drone. In a new defamation lawsuit, Berulis alleges that Musk himself made him a target of further violence by falsely stating that Berulis’ whistleblower claim against DOGE was fake.

The complaint was initially filed under seal because Berulis maintains a security clearance that requires prepublication review. Five days after the story went live, Berulis got in his car to visit to his uncle, opting to take local roads instead of the major highway nearby. Within about five minutes of leaving his house, Berulis realized something was wrong. As he approached a stop sign at an intersection, his car wouldn’t slow down. He ran off the road and into the sign. When he examined his car, he found something that terrified him: His brake lines had been cut. (6/2)

Two Companies Dominating Launch, with a Dozen Others Barely Making a Dent (Source: Douglas Messier)
As we approach the northern summer and the midpoint of the year, the global launch industry has two clear leaders and a dozen providers that have barely launched at all. The 132 orbital launches are running slight ahead of the same period in 2025. SpaceX completed 67 launches and placed 1,689 payloads into orbit through June 8. Elon Musk’s company accounted for 50.76 percent of 132 orbital attempts globally and 80.09 percent of 2,109 payloads successfully placed into orbit.

The majority of SpaceX’s launches carried the company’s own satellites. Fifty-four Falcon 9 rockets carried 1,440 Starlink satellites into orbit, which amounted to 68.28 percent of all payloads that reached space this year. SpaceX has launched 12,212 Starlink satellites since 2018. SpaceX accounted for 67 of 82 launches conducted by U.S. companies. That amounts to 81.7 percent of the total. The figures do not include SpaceX’s suborbital Starship launch in May or Rocket Lab’s two suborbital HASTE launches earlier this year.

The government-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has conducted 26 launches and orbited 144 payloads. The company accounted for 19.7 percent of all launches and 6.82 percent of all payloads this year. Rocket Lab is a distant third with seven Electron launches that orbited 16 payloads. The company accounted for 5.3 percent of launches and 0.76 percent of payloads. The company also launched two suborbital HASTE rockets. (6/9)

NASA Names Artemis III Astronauts (Source: New York Times)
NASA named on Tuesday the next four astronauts to take humans one step closer to returning to the moon as part of the Artemis III mission: Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio, the mission specialists; Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, the pilot; and Randy Bresnik, the commander. Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, told reporters that he was “extremely confident” in the Artemis program timeline. “We’re going to return to the moon before the end of 2028,” he said.

It is rare for NASA missions to feature all men. The last time there was a crew of four men for a NASA mission was in 2023. Jeremy Parsons, the Artemis program manager, offered a rosy update of the program’s progress and a description of the mission. He said the Blue Origin lander will launch first, followed by the crew in an Orion capsule on top of the Space Launch System rocket. Orion and the Blue Origin lander will dock in orbit for several days of operations while connected.

After those undock, SpaceX’s Starship will launch and dock with Orion for a day together. The mission will last about two weeks, ending with the crew splashing down in Orion. Blue Origin's New Glenn explosion damaged the only launchpad Blue Origin has available to fly New Glenn. The repairs present a problem for the accelerated timeline NASA is aiming for with its Artemis program: If New Glenn has nowhere to launch from by the time Artemis III is ready to fly, NASA could decide to push back the mission. (6/9)

June 9, 2026

Electra Unveils Turbo-Electric Airliner Concept Under NASA Technology Program (Source: AeroTime)
Electra has unveiled a turbo-electric airliner concept developed under NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability (AACES) 2050 program, showing a future 100-plus-seat aircraft that uses a double-bubble fuselage and electrically driven tail fans.

The Manassas, Virginia-based company said the concept could deliver up to a 17% efficiency improvement beyond gains expected by 2050 from advances in structures, engines and aerodynamics. The aircraft is a research concept intended to study how electrification, advanced aerodynamics and improved integration between the airframe and propulsion systems could shape future commercial aircraft. (6/8)

BryceTech Crowns Its First Start-Up Space Winner (Source: Aerospace America)
Finalists of BryceTech’s first-ever Start-Up Space Pitch Competition took the ASCEND stage twice – first to pitch their technology and market strategy before a panel of space and technology investors and then to share their vision with the broader ASCEND community. The winning firm was Exobiosphere, a Houston and Luxembourg-based space bio company that automates biological research in space. Exobiosphere aims to change how lifesaving therapies are discovered both on Earth and in orbit.

Its automated, high-throughput miniaturized laboratory can run up to 2,000 experiments at once on human-rated platforms and free flyers, giving scientists the statistical power they need to uncover new treatments faster and with greater confidence. Exobiosphere’s early customers – leading academics and hospitals like Cedars-Sinai – are using the platform to push the frontiers of space-based research, from stem cell studies to organoid models. (6/8)

Drug Development is Heading to Lower Earth Orbit (Source: CNBC)
Last year, space and defense technology company Redwire formed a dedicated subsidiary, SpaceMD, to commercialize pharmaceutical products developed in space. It has spent years developing orbital bioprinting but sees its most commercial opportunity in creating ways to administer drugs to patients. The most successful technology is the PIL-BOX, a new drug formulation technology. SpaceMD has already flown 54 PIL-BOX units – specialized, automated micro-laboratories designed to crystallize proteins in orbit – and has tested 37 drug compounds.

Space pharma originated with Merck. In 2014, it conducted crystal growth experiments on the ISS to better understand how the lack of gravity influences medicines, including its best-selling cancer drug Keytruda. Varda is betting on continuous orbital production and has developed 300-kilogram autonomous manufacturing satellites equipped with specialized re-entry pods. The active ingredients in drugs are so highly concentrated that Varda can generate significant value from relatively small loads.

BioOrbit is exploring a scalable system for crystallizing and manufacturing complex biologic drugs in space to enable at-home cancer treatments. It recently poached two high-level executives from Redwire. The aerospace industry established a robust supply chain for going to space, but only a narrow, expensive chain for returning. Existing spacecraft built for human re-entry, like SpaceX’s Dragon, are high-end, expensive vehicles engineered for safety. They are not economically viable for high-cadence, low-cost commercial manufacturing logistics. (6/9)

Users, Not Hardware, Will Drive Growth for the Next Era of Space Healthcare (Source: Aerospace America)
The center of gravity in the space economy is shifting from hardware to users. That was the message from Voyager Technologies’ director of International and Science Development, Manwei Chan. Chan argued that after decades focused on rockets, satellites, and space stations, the next era will be defined by who uses that infrastructure and why – especially in healthcare, where microgravity can unlock new science and business models.

“The next generation of space utilization is about the users, as opposed to the infrastructure,” Chan said, describing Voyager’s push to build a global science park network that lowers barriers for researchers and startups to access space-enabled R&D. The session brought together founders, economists, and investors to explore how to turn space-based health research into a scalable market – spotlighting pioneering start-ups, new commercial stations, and a healthcare investor intent on answering the question at the heart of adoption: who will pay, and for what? (6/8)

Eutelsat and Voimatel Partner to Expand LEO Satellite Connectivity Across Finland (Source: SatNews)
Global satellite operator Eutelsat Group has formalized a strategic distribution partnership with Finnish network infrastructure and service provider Voimatel to deploy low Earth orbit satellite connectivity services throughout Finland. This collaboration marks a significant expansion of high-speed, low-latency satellite broadband availability across the Nordic region, particularly targeting underserved corporate, industrial, and public sector organizations operating in geographically remote environments. (6/8)

Irish Company Secures €1 Million Contract with European Space Agency (Source: Irish Times)
Irish company Pilot Photonics has secured a €1 million contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for “space-proofing” satellite infrastructure. Pilot Photonics is a spin-out company of Dublin City University (DCU), headquartered in their Glasnevin campus with a team of 25 employees. Enterprise Ireland are shareholders in the company and have invested in their most recent round. The company develops integrated photonic chips, which use light rather than electrical signals to generate and carry information. (6/8)

USSF Seeking Small, Medium-Launch Providers At Vandenberg (Source: Aviation Week)
The U.S. Space Force is looking for launch providers that are interested in using a proposed Space Launch Complex-9 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Space Force is opening up an undeveloped site at its Western Range to support small- and medium-lift launch missions as the line to hitch a ride to space continues to lengthen. The service released a request for information (RFI) on June 8 to gauge interest from providers to develop the facility. (6/8)

Virgin Galactic’s Shares Take Wild Ride (Source: Orange County Business Journal)
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic, which aims to restart commercial flights later this year, saw its stock price swing wildly during a two-week stretch. After the shares closed at $2.47 on May 20, the craziness began over the next nine trading sessions, culminating in a more than threefold increase to $8.90 on June 1. Trading volume that day reached 286 million shares, about 15 times the daily average.

By June 3, shares of the company had plunged 50% to $4.29 for a market cap of $448 million. The trigger for the rise may have been news that Rich Huang’s RichRich Capital had taken a 5.3% stake in the company. Huang is an American investor whose company is based in Miami, according to filings.

Another trigger for the climb may have been the infamous short squeeze, in which traders who had bet the stock would fall scrambled to cover their positions when it rose. A reason for the sudden drop may be the Virgin Galactic filing on June 2 that it would issue new common stock to noteholders, diluting existing shareholders. The drop could also be linked to the industry becoming overheated, as evidenced by the Procure Space EFT Index doubling over the past year.  (6/8)

How Elon Musk’s Friendship With the FCC Smooths the Way for SpaceX’s IPO (Source: New York Times)
In the past year, Brendan Carr, the Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has approved thousands of satellite launches for SpaceX’s broadband satellite business, Starlink. Elon Musk recommended Mr. Carr to Mr. Trump as an ideal leader for the agency. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Carr got the job. Since then, the F.C.C. chairman has lavished praise on Mr. Musk, repeatedly expressing his admiration for the tech mogul. He has greenlighted a satellite request from SpaceX and changed some of the agency’s rules to benefit the company.

Mr. Carr’s stance on SpaceX and Mr. Musk stands out from his behavior with other companies that the F.C.C. oversees. He started an investigation into the satellite company EchoStar, a SpaceX rival, after Mr. Musk’s company complained about it. He targeted the television networks ABC and NBC over their coverage of Mr. Trump, threatening to take away their broadcast licenses. And he threatened to block media and telecom deals over their diversity, equity and inclusion policies, opening investigations into Disney and Comcast. (6/8)

Texas Changed the Rules. SpaceX's Investors May Pay the Price (Source: Austin American-Statesman)
Ahead of SpaceX’s hotly anticipated initial public offering slated for Friday, the coverage has mostly focused on Elon Musk, his supervoting shares and the company’s record valuation. But dual-class voting and trillion-dollar valuations are commonplace on Wall Street. What is novel sits in SpaceX’s bylaws — a document almost no one reads — and it would rewrite the bargain between a public company and its shareholders. Article X of SpaceX’s bylaws bars investors who believe the company has misled them from suing as a group.

There are no class actions: every claim must be brought alone. And for the securities fraud claims that matter most, Article X forces investors out of open court and into private arbitration, where the bar to class actions is hardest to challenge. Remove investors’ ability to band together, and meritorious fraud claims never get filed. SpaceX’s IPO filing concedes this point: for smaller claims, it warns, the costs of arbitrating without a class action “could exceed the potential recovery.”

The class action also does something arbitration cannot. A securities class action airs a company’s alleged misconduct in open court. Article X is possible only because SpaceX reincorporated from Delaware to Texas in 2024. The SEC removed the federal check on arbitration provisions last fall. But Delaware, where most public companies are incorporated, still bars forced shareholder arbitration. Texas does not. Competition among states for corporate charters, once an academic concern, now decides what protections an ordinary investor gets. (6/9)

SpaceX's 'Puny Free Float' is Sparking Concerns About Greater Stock Volatility (Source: Business Insider)
SpaceX will make its trading debut on Friday following what's expected to be the biggest IPO ever by a long shot. The company is aiming to raise $75 billion by selling stock at $135 a share, taking its valuation to around $1.75 trillion. But for an IPO with such eye-popping numbers being tossed around, SpaceX is issuing a relatively tiny amount of stock to the public this week.

That small "float"—which describes the portion of shares available to trade, with the rest being held by early investors and insiders—has prompted concerns about intense volatility in early trades. Most companies that trade on major indexes have about 80% of their stock available for public trading, according to Nasdaq. SpaceX's free float is projected to be dramatically lower, with roughly 4% of shares doled out to investors. Recent IPOs before SpaceX have also trended lower, with nearly a third of companies that went public in 2025 having free float lower than 30%. (6/8)

Falcon 9 Booster Breaks Reuse Record (Source: Ars Technica)
A little more than five years ago, a shiny white Falcon 9 rocket made its debut flight, boosting a Cargo Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Over the next year, it would launch a pair of astronaut missions and a handful of commercial spacecraft.

But since then, this first stage booster, designated B 1067, has mostly flown Starlink missions. It has launched them one after another, always returning safely to a drone ship before undergoing refurbishment and flying again. Sometimes it has flown twice in a single month. On Monday morning, B 1067 once again took to the skies, launching 29 Starlink Internet satellites into low-Earth orbit from Florida. Upon landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, the vehicle completed its 35th mission overall, retaining its title as fleet leader for SpaceX.

The successful launch brings SpaceX closer to its most recently stated goal of qualifying its Falcon 9 first stage vehicles to support 40 missions each. Since that goal was outlined more than two years ago and the company has continued flying its experienced boosters safely across dozens of missions, SpaceX may be intending to push past 40 missions. (6/8)

Iceye Raises $1.6 Billion (Source: Space News)
Iceye, a Finnish company that builds and operates radar imaging satellites, announced Tuesday a funding round worth more than one billion euros ($1.16 billion). The company announced a Series F funding round Tuesday that includes 450 million euros in primary placements with several investors, with the rest coming from secondary placements of stock. The new round values the company at more than 10 billion euros. The company operates a constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellites and also sells satellites to governments. Iceye said the funding will allow it to scale up work with other governments worldwide while doubling satellite production to 100 per year. (6/9)

Germany's Isar Aerospace Raises $312 Million for Spectrum Rockets and Launch Sites (Source: Space News)
German launch company Isar Aerospace raised 270 million euros, also for global expansion. The company plans to use the funding to expand production of its Spectrum small launch vehicle while working to launch the rocket from new sites worldwide. The company launches from Andøya in Norway and announced a letter of intent last month to consider launching from a Canadian site. Isar also said it has rescheduled the second launch of Spectrum to between June 15 to 21 after technical and range issues postponed launch attempts earlier this year. (6/9)

BlackSky Wins NRO Contract Modification for Wide-Area Imaging Sat (Source: Space News)
BlackSky won a modification to an NRO contract to accelerate development of broad-area imaging satellites. The company said Tuesday it received the modification that puts the company on a "direct path" toward a multi-spectral, large-area mapping spacecraft in 2028. BlackSky announced in 2025 plans for satellites called AROS that would take imagery over wide areas, complementing its Gen-3 high-resolution imaging satellites. BlackSky did not disclose the value of the NRO contract modification, nor is the company saying how many AROS satellites it plans to deploy. (6/9)

China Picks Four Launchers for Commercial Cargo Program (Source: Space News)
The Chinese government has selected four Chinese launch companies for a commercial cargo transportation program. Launch firms Galactic Energy, CAS Space, OrienSpace and Landspace were shortlisted to launch the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft, following the launch of a prototype of the supply vessel in March. The full-scale Qingzhou cargo spacecraft, one of two low-cost space station resupply spacecraft being developed to support the Tiangong space station, is tentatively scheduled for launch in January 2027. The announcement of the shortlisted companies did not disclose when a final provider for the launch would be announced. (6/9)

NASA May Seek Artemis Funding Bump (Source: Politico)
NASA may be looking for additional funding for Artemis. NASA has reportedly been in talks with congressional staff about supplemental funding, perhaps through a budget reconciliation bill, that could provide the agency with up to several billion dollars. The money would support accelerating the development of crewed lunar landers needed for Artemis by Blue Origin and SpaceX, an effort complicated by the New Glenn explosion. Congressional sources, though, noted doubts that a supplemental spending bill could pass in the coming months. (6/9)

Czech Astronaut Added to Vast ISS Mission (Source: Vast)
A Czech astronaut will go to the International Space Station on a Vast private astronaut mission. Vast said Monday it will work with the European Space Agency to send Aleš Svoboda to the ISS as the pilot on Vast's private astronaut mission in 2027. Svoboda is one of 12 reserve astronauts selected by ESA in 2022 for short-term flight opportunities such as this. Vast announced last week that veteran ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet of France will command that mission. (6/9)

Meteorite That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs Also Created Hydrothermal System (Source: Scientific American)
The meteorite which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs also created an underground environment suited to supporting new life, and new research suggests it lasted for millions of years longer than previously suspected. The finding has surprised the international team of researchers behind it, who came to their conclusions by pairing sophisticated new analysis of samples taken from the Chicxulub crater in Mexico with computer modelling of the geological effects of the meteorite 66 million years ago.

The research casts new light on how life may have first been incubated in hydrothermal systems in the earliest chapters of the Earth’s history, and could help direct the search for life on other planets. The immense heat brought together fractured rocks and hot water underground, creating a hydrothermal system beneath the crater. The researchers provide evidence that the system persisted for at least eight million years, around four times longer than previous estimates. (6/9)

What the ‘Dean of Valuation’ Thinks Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Really Worth (Source: Wall Street Journal)
NYU Stern School of Business professor Aswath Damodaran, widely known as “Dean of Valuation,” breaks down SpaceX’s mega IPO and its three businesses. SpaceX aims to sell shares in its anticipated public offering this week at a valuation of around $1.77 trillion. That value could go even higher once it begins trading. The question investors will have to answer for themselves: Is it really worth that much? NYU’s Aswath Damodaran is skeptical of the outlook for the company’s artificial-intelligence unit. (6/7)

How SpaceX Became Embedded in America’s War Machine (Source: Wall Street Journal)
SpaceX’s years of courting the national-security establishment are paying off. The U.S. government is SpaceX’s largest single client, which the 24-year-old company identified as “Customer A” in securities filings ahead of its planned initial public offering. Revenue from the government, which totaled around $4 billion in 2025, is set to sharply climb over the next few years. Pledges to quickly deploy technology and ties cultivated with Pentagon have helped land new contracts totaling billions of dollars. (6/7)

Quantum Space to Go Public Via SPAC Merger with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. (Source: Quantum Space)
Quantum Space, a company building the next generation of advanced maneuverable spacecraft to disrupt the orbital economy, and Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. VI, a special purpose acquisition company, announced that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement under which Quantum Space will become a publicly traded company. (6/7)   

WRC-27: the Next Arena for U.S.-China Space Competition (Sources: Space News, Via Satellite)
For anyone who wasn’t sure whether China was in it to win the space race and dominate the rapidly growing space economy, its filings in December for 200,000 more satellites should dispel all doubts. Beijing is seeking to position itself as a leader in low Earth orbit satellite constellations, electronic warfare and the space race more broadly. But the next battleground in this race is a regulatory conference, not the launchpad.

WRC-27, a quadrennial global telecom regulatory summit, will be hosted by the Chinese government in Shanghai. The U.S. delegation, which includes both multiple federal agencies and a large private sector contingent, has a lot of work to do to develop a national position, win over allies, and push for reform of the WRC process itself. In the lead-up to WRC-27, the U.S. needs to get moving on developing national positions on key agenda items, said Kim Baum at Astranis.

The location of WRC-27 in Shanghai, China, is already posing barriers to U.S. participation, given fears about American visitors potentially falling victim to hacking, said Baum. She said U.S. participation at previous regional preparatory meetings had been “incredibly limited” by security concerns. (6/8)

Yesterday’s Future: Space Settlement and Castles in the Sky (Source: Space Review)
Fifty years ago this month, an issue of National Geographic introduced many people to the concept of space settlements. Dwayne Day examines what it predicted for the faraway future of 2026 and why those visions fell short. Click here. (6/9)
 
America’s Most Exposed Power Projection Platforms: Why United States Space Force Installations Must Be Treated as Warfighting Infrastructure (Source: Space Review)
Unlike other military services, the Space Force largely operates from permanent bases in the United States and allied nations rather than having forward-deployed bases. David Hanson argues that this means the military needs to pay more attention to securing those bases from cyber and physical attacks. Click here. (6/9)
 
The Vagueness of the Outer Space Treaty Was a Strategically Calculated Move (Source: Space Review)
One of the complaints about the Outer Space Treaty is that many of its provisions are vague and subject to wide-ranging interpretations. Aditya Raj discusses why that was intentional. Click here. (6/9)
 
The First Alien Intelligence May Not Be Alive (Source: Space Review)
Astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence have largely focused on biological life. David Falls explains why the first evidence of intelligence we might detect beyond Earth may not be biological in nature. Click here. (6/9)

NASA Astronauts Will Drive These New Electric Rovers On The Moon (Source: Autoblog)
The two finalists for the lunar rover contracts are Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, which were awarded $219 million and $220 million, respectively, to build and deliver the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles (LTVs). Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover and Astrolab’s CLV-1 (Crewed Lunar Vehicle) look similar as both clearly take inspiration from side-by-side vehicles. Each vehicle tips the scales at around a ton—not that light for our planet, but light enough on the Moon where 1 ton feels like 333 pounds—and is designed to carry two astronauts.

The rest of the specs won’t blow anyone away, as the top speed is 6 miles per hour for the Pegasus and 9 miles per hour for the CLV-1 on a flat lunar surface, and the rovers can tackle 20-degree inclines on the surface of the Moon. As you can imagine, both rovers are all-electric and can be driven either by astronauts onboard or remotely operated from Earth; if need be, they can also navigate autonomously.

There are some differences between them. Astrolab’s CLV-1, which is adapted from the company’s FLEX architecture, can transport astronauts, carry supplies, and support remote operations. It also comes in a compact stowed configuration that helps NASA save space during transportation. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus, which is a lighter, mission-ready evolution of its Eagle rover designed to meet NASA’s updated crewed LTV requirements, incorporates Apollo‑heritage technologies and is powered by GM batteries that enable a driving range of 560 miles. (6/9)

Strange Stars Look Suspiciously Like They've Been Eating Planets (Source: Science Alert)
If someone turns up with crumbs on their chin, it's natural to wonder where the cookies went. Astronomers have found themselves asking that same question about a handful of very strange stars. Among thousands of stars studied by astronomers, six red dwarfs stood out for carrying traces of a strange element in their atmospheres.

In normal circumstances, this element should long ago have been annihilated deep within the stars' interiors. Its presence here suggests that these six stars have been raiding the cookie jar – if the cookie jar were full of Earth-like planets. (6/8)

Air Force, Space Force Seek to Hire Thousands of Civilian Employees, Reversing DOGE Cuts (Source: Dayton Daily News)
The Air Force and the Space Force are back in hiring mode. The Air Force fiscal year 2027 budget request funds an increase of 4,115 civilian “full time equivalents” job positions, while the Space Force FY27 budget request funds about 1,912 additional civilian positions. Some 70% of the requested civilian positions in the budget request seek to fill vacancies created by DOGE, which sought to cut waste across the federal government. (6/8)

RTX Invests $100M to Upgrade R.I. Missile Defense Facility (Source: Defense Post)
RTX has committed $100 million to expand its Raytheon facility in Rhode Island, responding to the increasing need for advanced air and missile defense systems. This significant investment is aimed at accelerating both radar testing and missile interceptor production, ensuring that the US Army and allies can receive these critical defense technologies more rapidly. (6/9)

NYC Pensions Boss Says SpaceX’s Disregard for Shareholders Has ‘No Precedent’ (Source: Bloomberg)
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine says the unprecedented control that Elon Musk will have over SpaceX represents a new level of disregard for regular shareholders’ rights. “I understand that we are in an era of founders wanting more control,” Levine said in an interview. But what Musk is planning with SpaceX “is way beyond what we’ve seen.” Levine oversees about $300 billion in both actively and passively managed portfolios in New York city’s public pension funds.

He says it would be “very complicated” to exclude SpaceX. “We’ve never divested from a single company,” he said. “We’ve done sector-based exclusion only,” so blacklisting SpaceX “would be unprecedented for us and it is not simple.” Instead, Levine says he plans to push for a more democratic corporate governance process from within. Musk can’t be allowed to “disempower” shareholders, he said, adding that investment professionals in New York have told him they want him to “keep fighting on this.” (6/9)

Indonesian ISPs and Satellite Operators Ask Regulators to Assure That Global Constellations Follow the Rules (Source: Space Intel Report)
Indonesian government and industry officials repeatedly stressed the need for sovereign space capacity as part of a development plan to 2045 that they said should include Indonesia-built telecommunications and Earth observation satellites and a domestic launch service. They also urged that a national consensus develop that requires global LEO operators to abide by the same regulations as those imposed on Indonesian companies. In telecommunications, Indonesian officials are preparing a national ecosystem to assure a domestic satellite manufacturing capability. (6/9)

Starlink India Launch Hits Security Roadblock Before SpaceX IPO (Source: Bloomberg)
India has effectively frozen approvals for Elon Musk’s space-based internet service Starlink to begin commercial operations, due to concerns over the use of its satellite terminals in the Iran war, according to people familiar with the matter.

Security agencies under India’s Ministry of Home Affairs have withheld the final clearances Starlink needs to launch, the people said, requesting not to be identified discussing information that is private. Reports that Starlink terminals were in use during the Middle East conflict despite the service not being licensed in Iran have heightened fears in New Delhi about its ability to control a US-based operator during geopolitical tensions, they said. (6/9)

Is America Ready for a Nuclear Explosion in Space? (Source: The Hill)
Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of U.S. Space Command, recently made waves when he publicly discussed a major threat that America’s newest military branch recently war-gamed — that of an adversary detonating a nuclear weapon in space. At first blush, the scenario seems far-fetched. In truth, though, it is a real possibility. More than a year ago, House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) raised the alarm that Russia could place a space-based nuclear device into orbit. That possibility was later confirmed by the Pentagon.

The White House grasps the danger. A December 2025 Executive Order on Space Superiority directs the country’s relevant agencies to create “a space security strategy that accounts for United States interests in, from, and to space” and “a technology plan for detecting, characterizing, and countering potential adversary placement of nuclear weapons in space.” That strategy, moreover, is expected as soon as June 16. (6/9)

Green Propulsion Deal Pairs Two European Satellite Firms for 2027 LEO Mission (Source: Journal of Space Commerce)
Arkadia Space and Reflex Aerospace have signed a commercial agreement to integrate Arkadia’s green propulsion system into an upcoming Reflex satellite mission targeting a Q2 2027 launch. Under the agreement, Arkadia Space will supply a complete hydrogen peroxide-based propulsion system to support orbital maneuvers and end-of-life deorbiting for a low Earth orbit satellite with an approximate launch mass of 440 pounds. The mission is scheduled to fly on SpaceX’s Transporter-20 rideshare program. (6/9)

Why the International Space Station Keeps Leaking (Source: Axios)
NASA's decision to order ISS astronauts to prep for a hasty departure Friday was the latest — and most dramatic — episode in a years-long saga tied to mysterious leaks in a Russian module. The ISS is nearing the end of its expected lifespan, but it's still invaluable for America's crewed spaceflight and scientific ambitions. The leak rate in the Zvezda module's transfer tunnel doubled to roughly 2 pounds of air per day.

Russian cosmonauts prepared for an extensive repair that required using a saw to access cracks blamed for the leaks. Out of concern that the sawing method could temporarily destabilize the module, NASA ordered U.S.-led astronauts to enter the Crew Dragon and prepare for an emergency evacuation. Russia decided to halt the repair in favor of further data analysis. The crew was given the "all clear" and returned to normal operations. (6/8)

Space Telescopes Are Now Overwhelmed by Satellite Trails (Source: Universe Today)
A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv from researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center, reports that 73.3% of images the agency’s new SPHEREx space telescope collected between May and September of last year were contaminated by at least one artificial satellite trail. And it’s only going to get worse from here. Typically this type of light pollution is primarily associated with ground telescopes. But, SPHEREx is an orbital satellite, traveling along an orbit that is 700km above the Earth’s surface. Apparently even that wasn’t enough to escape from the light trails. (6/8)

FCC Kicks Off Review of Amazon/Globalstar Deal (Source: Via Satellite)
The FCC has kicked off its review process for Amazon’s acquisition of Globalstar, seeking comment on the deal by July 6. Amazon moved in April to acquire Globalstar in a $10.8 billion deal, including Globalstar’s satellite operations, infrastructure, and spectrum. According to Amazon’s formal application to the FCC for the license transfer, Globalstar will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon and retain its corporate identity and operate as an affiliate to Amazon Leo. (6/8)

KSAT to Lead European Pollution-Focused Poseidon EO Mission (Source: Via Satellite)
KSAT will lead a European satellite mission called Poseidon focused on tracking pollution, under an award announced Monday. The project intends to use optical and radar-based satellite technology to improve detecting oil spills in sea ice and identifying pollutants released by ships at sea. It is a three-year project, funded with 5 million euro ($5.8 million) from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe R&D program.

The mission’s full name is Pollution Observation from Space: Environmental Imagery for Detections in the Oceans & Nearshore, known as Poseidon. Norway-based KSAT will lead and coordinate the project with partners from Norway, the Maldives, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, South Korea and Greece. This is the first EC Horizon Europe project that KSAT will lead. (6/8)

Elon Musk Shows Detailed Design of AI Data Center Satellite (Source: Bloomberg)
Elon Musk unveiled a more detailed look at an initial version of an AI data center satellite SpaceX plans to build, providing fresh insight into the ambitious project driving the company’s highly anticipated initial public offering. During a 30-minute video shared on his social media website X, SpaceX’s chief executive officer laid out his plans for the future, including the continued development of its Starship rocket and the joint Terafab facility with Tesla that aims to manufacture computer chips in the US. (6/8)

SpaceX IPO Demands Trust in Musk’s Entangled Empire (Source: Bloomberg)
The boundaries between Elon Musk’s companies are growing increasingly blurred through shared capital, talent and infrastructure. Investors must decide what that ecosystem is worth. SpaceX’s initial public offering is a bet on Elon Musk’s most audacious vision yet: an industrial empire combining hardware, software and artificial intelligence that brings rocket launches, satellites and computing resources into one sprawling conglomerate. (6/8)

July 8, 2026

Mars Radiation Risks (Source: Space Daily)
Mars has no global magnetic field and an atmosphere with about one per cent of Earth’s surface pressure, so the surface sits exposed to galactic cosmic rays and the occasional storm of particles from the Sun. We know roughly how much, because the Curiosity rover carried a detector through the trip and across the surface. According to the measurements published by the RAD team in the journal Science, the round-trip transit alone would deliver about 0.66 sieverts under current propulsion and ordinary solar conditions, and a full mission with around 500 days on the surface would bring the total close to one sievert.

A dose of one sievert is associated with roughly a five per cent increase in lifetime fatal cancer risk. NASA’s current career limit is 600 millisieverts and the European Space Agency’s is 1,000. By either standard, a conventional Mars mission consumes a large fraction of an astronaut’s lifetime radiation allowance, and may exceed NASA’s. The exact figure would depend on shielding, propulsion, trajectory and the solar cycle, but the scale of the problem is not in doubt. (6/7)

Mars Dust Risks (Source: Space Daily)
Martian dust is often only a few micrometres across, a small fraction of the width of a human hair, fine enough to lodge deep in the lungs and pass into the bloodstream. A 2025 review catalogued what that dust carries: perchlorates, which can disrupt the thyroid and the production of blood cells; silica, the cause of silicosis in miners and stoneworkers on Earth; iron oxides; and trace toxic metals whose amounts are still debated. Researchers note that inhaling only a few milligrams would exceed a safe daily dose by Earth standards.

The dust is also electrostatically charged, so it clings to suits and rides back inside, the same problem the Apollo crews met with lunar dust, which left them coughing with what they called lunar hay fever after only a few days. Mars crews will be outside far more often, for far longer. Keeping the dust out, through filters, airlocks, suitports and constant cleaning, becomes a permanent housekeeping operation. It is unglamorous, repetitive and central to staying healthy. (6/7)

NASA to Select New Headquarters Washington DC Location by End of Year (Source: Space News)
NASA plans to find a new headquarters building by the end of this year while remaining in the Washington area. "The current NASA Headquarters lease expires in August 2028, and the agency already has evaluated multiple options including leasing or purchasing within the District of Columbia. Through a request for information published in November, NASA began process. (6/7)

June 7, 2026

Space Unicorn Herd Grows (Source: Space News)
Sky-high valuations, emerging technologies and eager investors have created a new breed of startups that their financial backers see as central to the next phase of the space economy. A new analysis by SpaceNews counts 30 privately held space companies with unicorn status, meaning they are valued at $1 billion or more. Roughly two-thirds achieved that status since the beginning of 2025. Notably, more than half of those that became unicorns since January were founded within the past five years. (6/7)

NASA Interested in Hubble Reboost if Costs Can Be Reduced (Source: Space News)
NASA is open to reboosting the Hubble Space Telescope, provided its operating costs can be lowered to justify the investment. Because it was built in a different era, maintaining the 35-year-old observatory is highly expensive, and NASA requires a leaner budget before committing to extending its mission. The agency is using the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory as a test case. NASA contracted Katalyst Space to dock with and boost the decaying satellite, which provides a more affordable model for potentially rescuing Hubble. (6/6)

Could Meteor Storms Harm NASA's Future Moon Missions? (Source: Space.com)
Meteor showers are among the most beautiful phenomena to brighten Earth's sky, but could the fast moving space rocks that accompany major events threaten or delay future Artemis moon missions as NASA and its partners plan for a lunar landing attempt? NASA estimates that approximately 48.5 tons (44,000 kilograms) of naturally occurring space debris falls into Earth's atmosphere each day. If a major meteor shower outburst or storm is forecast during a mission or crew activity, the mission would be delayed or the crew kept inside until the outburst or storm is over. (6/6)

Today’s Kids Would Rather be YouTubers Than Astronauts (Source: 1440)
While the other children in your kindergarten class might have wanted to be firefighters or astronauts when they grew up, modern kids are different. Lego conducted a study that found children were more likely to say they wanted to be a YouTuber when they grew up than an astronaut. (6/7)

Putting the Pieces Together for Galileo Second Generation (Source: ESA)
The second generation of Galileo satellites are marching steadily towards completion. Many of the satellite components have been built and tested and are now being assembled into the satellites that will fly in space in the coming years. Two families of second generation satellites are being built: one by Airbus Defence and Space and one by Thales Alenia Space. These two families will be fully interoperable with one another and with the current Galileo satellites while enabling new services and capabilities for Europe’s satellite navigation constellation. (6/5)

Russia Says Its Starlink Rival ‘Rassvet’ Will Launch Commercially in 2027 (Source: Kyiv Post)
Russia plans to launch a commercial satellite internet service “Rassvet” by next year, CEO of Iks Holding Alexei Shelobkov said at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Friday, describing it as a domestic alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink. The company developing the system, Bureau 1440, says it launched its first 16 low-orbit Rassvet satellites in March 2026, and plans to reach up to 900 satellites by 2035. (6/5)

Stop Letting China Exploit NASA Research (Source: Washington Examiner)
NASA says it explores and innovates “for the benefit of humanity,” but that should not mean the United States explores scientific frontiers on behalf of its enemies. The U.S. must do more to prevent sensitive research from being given away to China and other adversaries. It can start by strengthening a law that is already on the books.

In 2011, Congress passed the Wolf Amendment, a recurring provision in NASA’s appropriations acts, prohibits the agency from using federal funds for bilateral cooperation with China or Chinese-owned companies unless Congress authorizes it and the FBI certifies that the activity poses no national security risk. A recent report by the U.S. House Select Committee on China found that enforcement of the Wolf Amendment has been lackluster at best.

The committee identified “hundreds of co-authored publications demonstrating bilateral research relationships with Chinese entities that acknowledge NASA support or funding.” “Research supported by NASA and other U.S. federal agencies has in several instances involved collaborations with institutions that are part of China’s defense research and industrial base,” the committee noted. (6/6)

Date is Set for Bigger Booster, More Powerful Ariane 6 (Source: ESA)
The next Ariane 6 rocket launch is set for liftoff on 17 June 2026 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana and it will be even more powerful than before due to the rocket being equipped with boosters based on the upgraded P160C motor. Ariane 6 is the latest generation of Europe’s largest and most powerful rocket. It’s next flight, VA269, will fly with four boosters based on the P160C motor, offering 14 tonnes more solid propellant per booster, compared to the P120C motors used so far. The Ariane 6 will launch 36 satellites for Amazon Leo the third flight for the communications constellation. (6/5)

The Moons of Uranus May Hold the Key to Finding Missing Planets (Source: WIRED)
Current models suggest that at some point after their formation, the giant planets went through a phase of such extreme instability that one or even two bodies the size of Uranus or Neptune were ejected into interstellar space. If that scenario occurred, we may find clues in the most unexpected places in the solar system, such as the moons of Jupiter and, especially, those of Uranus. A recent article analyzed 122 possible scenarios to assess how the satellite systems of the "left behind" planets would have reacted.

The researchers concluded that it would be extremely difficult to explain the current characteristics of Uranus' moons without some episode of violent instability. And that type of instability only appears in models where more giant planets existed than we see today. Most likely, the authors point out, the moons of Uranus were destabilized at least twice in the past: First by the impact that tilted the planet, and then by close encounters between giant planets during the instability. That chaos, fueled by the presence of one or more planets that were later ejected, would have destroyed and rebuilt the system of moons to what we see today. (6/6)

Qianfan Reaches 200 Satellites (Source: China In Space)
The Qianfan mega-constellation, sometimes referred to as SpaceSail, is operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies Co. aiming to provide space-based internet connectivity services in China and abroad in places including Brazil, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, and via airlines, as soon as the end of this year. As of December 2025, the deployment aims should have 324 satellites launched in 20261, another 324 in 2027, and 4,000 in 2028 and 2029, followed by 5,000 in 2030, with 15,000 total satellites approved to operate. (6/5)

Proposed U.S. Grant Funding Rules Spark Worry, Backlash in Astronomy (Source: Sky & Telescope)
The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a 412-page document rewriting how federal grants should be issued and overseen across all agencies. The changes to the procedures, which were previously altered in 2024 to make the grants process clearer, were sweeping, touching on areas from international collaboration to academic publication costs. But the through line is made explicit: to align federal grant-making with “administration policies and priorities set by the President."

Immediately, it has sparked backlash from astronomers and planetary scientists, who see grave challenges for science if the rules come to fruition. The proposal “threatens the entire space enterprise,” says Meredith MacGregor (Johns Hopkins University). Many of the suggested changes “sound minor but would completely mess up how we do science.” (6/5)

Leaf Space Partners with D-Orbit and EnduroSat to Test Connectivity Service (Source: Space News)
Italian ground segment operator Leaf Space unveiled a new space connectivity service May 27. The technology, named TreeNet, aims to make space communications more seamless by treating individual satellites as nodes in an interconnected communications network. The company also announced partnerships and launch timelines to bring the project to fruition. (6/5)

German Research Focuses on Regolith Melting for 3D Printing (Source: DLR)
Exploring the Moon will require infrastructure such as habitats and roads. Transporting materials for this from Earth would be extremely costly, so it would be considerably simpler to use lunar regolith – loose, fragmented dust and rocks on the Moon’s surface – instead. Current research is focused on melting lunar regolith and using it in a process similar to 3D printing. The advantage of this method would be that only the technological equipment need be transported to the Moon; the energy required for melting could be generated using solar panels.

For the experiment conducted by Germany's Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, a system was developed that can melt regolith under vacuum conditions using laser radiation across a diameter of approximately ten millimeters. During parabolic flights, researchers aim to investigate how vacuum and varying gravity levels affect the melting process. The experiment will also investigate whether and how the melting process could contaminate the laser optics and thus render them unusable. (6/6)

Europe is Rearming Together — Except in Space (Source: Space News)
It's time for European nations to embrace smaller, more flexible military coalitions in space, according to RAND Europe Space Hub analyst Aleix Nadal. He argues that Europe, independently of broader international coalitions, "lacks the operational mechanisms and integrated command structures needed to compete, deter and, if necessary, fight in a contested orbital environment."

"Operationally, the irony is striking," Nadal wrote. "Even as European countries pursue greater defense autonomy elsewhere, their most advanced space cooperation continues to occur within U.S.-led frameworks such as Operation Olympic Defender and the Combined Space Operations initiative." Nadal argues that Europe shouldn't withdraw from broader military and security alliances, but that it needs to build up a stronger European pillar of its own, ensuring sovereignty and minitateral cooperation within the continent. (6/6)

SETI Updates Rules for Evaluating ETs (Source: Douglas Messier)
The IAA SETI Committee announced today updated rules for evaluating and revealing the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence. Acknowledging that any credible detection of extraterrestrial technology would be a transformative event for humanity, the new Declaration establishes a rigorous framework for verification, transparency and global risk communication.

At the heart of the new rules is a reaffirmation of a core scientific principle: “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Under the revised protocols, no public announcement should be made until a signal or artifact has been rigorously authenticated by independent organizations using different instrumentation. “We do not shout “alien” the moment we see a strange blip,” Garrett added. “The scientific method demands we check, check again, and then ask others to check.” (6/6)

Port Canaveral Juggles Requisite Space Duties Amid Cruise Juggernaut (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The cruise business remains king at Port Canaveral, but the burgeoning space industry has muscled its way into the duties performed by the port authority. Despite the port having already passed a 2019 resolution of support of that industry, several commercial launch providers lobbied to have it added to the port’s charter, a move that was ensconced into law in 2024. Now the port is required to hold regular public hearings on it.

SpaceX and Blue Origin have been busy at the port, but they are still a relatively small portion of business. “They don’t pay the bills around here,” said Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray. For fiscal 2025, the port hit a record of nearly $220 million in operating revenue, with about $182 million credited to cruise-related operations including parking. Cargo, which includes space, came to $24.5 million. Of that, SpaceX and Blue Origin combined to shell out more than $4.2 million, a big jump from previous years, but still only 2% of total revenue.

While still small, it is a growing footprint. Space-related cargo revenue was only just under $3 million in 2024, a little over $1.7 million in 2023 and over $1.3 million in 2022. As it has grown, the port has had to come to an especially smooth relationship with the most active launch company, SpaceX. SpaceX had 90 boosters transported and offloaded on the port’s north cargo terminals by the authority’s three mobile harbor cranes. SpaceX also recovered 192 fairings that also had to move through the port. (6/6)

It’s Possible That SpaceX Could Collapse Spectacularly (Source: Futurism)
The Financial Times‘ Richard Waters asks whether SpaceX will be able to justify its unprecedented valuation five or ten years from now. Even for Musk, it’s an aggressive price-to-earnings ratio that could blow up in his face if investors start to lose faith. The conversation surrounding plans for shorting SpaceX is hitting a fever pitch, setting the stage for what could be a wild stock market ride.

Adding to the drama is that now that SpaceX has transformed into an AI company, analysts are becoming antsy that the massive IPO, alongside OpenAI and Anthropic’s, could place even more strain on an already bloated Wall Street. Could its stock market debut be the straw that broke the camel’s back, bursting the bubble by dissipating all of that pent-up excitement?

If Musk’s EV maker Tesla is anything to go by, SpaceX’s business fundamentals likely won’t be a major factor. Tesla’s sky-high valuation has long been propped up by promises of a humanoid robot and autonomous driving-filled future, while the company’s actual revenue has lagged far behind. (6/5)

Second Insourcing Wave Starts At JSC (Source: NASA Watch)
The second contractor insourcing wave at NASA has started at JSC. MCC staff contractors were recently insourced. Now many more JSC contractors are going to be converted in flight ops, exploration, and engineering. Job postings in July will be open to all applicants. No telework will be allowed. (6/5)

NASA Concludes Antenna Mishap Investigation (Source: NASA)
On Sep. 16, 2025, the DSS‑14 antenna over‑rotated while actively tracking the Juno mission, placing excessive stress on cabling and associated structural supports. Water lines tied to the antenna’s fire‑suppression system also were damaged, causing significant flooding in the facility. There were no injuries. The board found the mishap primarily stemmed from software weaknesses, human error, and an undetected failure in the antenna’s hydraulic limit system.

NASA has completed the investigation into the damage sustained at the 70-meter radio-frequency antenna, known as the Deep Space Station 14, at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California. The agency has classified the event as a Type A mishap based on the total cost of damages. The antenna will remain offline to complete repairs and previously scheduled upgrades. (6/5)
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NASA's X-59 Goes Supersonic (Source: Orion News)
NASA's X-59 reached Mach 1.1 over Edwards Air Force Base — the first supersonic pass of an aircraft specifically designed to produce no conventional sonic boom. Concorde generated ~105 PldB at ground level — comparable to a thunderclap. The X-59 is targeting 75 PLdB. The difference sounds small. It isn't. At 75 PLdB, you'd describe what you heard as a car door closing on the next street.

That 30 PLdB reduction is encoded in every line of the airframe: a 29-metre fuselage that prevents shock waves from merging on their way to the ground, an engine mounted on top to isolate intake shocks from the wing surfaces, a cockpit with no windscreen because glass would break the contour the acoustics require. The flight matters not because it broke a record -- but because it starts a regulatory clock.

The FAA has banned supersonic flight over U.S. land since 1973. Not based on a noise standard, but as a blanket speed prohibition. The X-59's community overflight surveys — planned for later in 2026 — will generate the first empirical data capable of replacing that ban with an actual noise limit. Yesterday was the first day of the evidence base needed to change it. (6/6)

Hypersonicc Dark Eagle, Tested at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Enters Service (Source: @spacestories)
The US military has moved a weapon out of the lab that sounds almost unfair. It's called Dark Eagle, the Army's Long-Range Mach 5 hypersonic weapon, and it is being fielded in 2026. It is capable of maneuvering on the way down so it can't be intercepted like a normal missile. In a joint Army-Navy test from Cape Canaveral in March 2026, the missile launched and flew above Mach 5 successfully.

Reports indicate a single Dark Eagle battery could strike targets as far as Beijing from Guam, or Moscow from Europe, arriving faster than most defenses can respond. The first operational missiles are headed to a unit based in the Pacific Northwest. (6/6)