July 14, 2026

The Space Race Comes to Latin America (Source: Americas Quarterly)
Why would Ecuador, of all places, be a focus in Latin America’s new space race? A new private spaceport is planned there for vertical launches and horizontal vehicle recovery at one of three potential sites. The Guayaquil area is strategic because it sits just two degrees south of the equator, meaning rockets launched there can carry more payload at a lower cost.

Compared to many other countries that sit directly on the equator—a list that includes Congo, Somalia, Uganda and Indonesia, as well as Colombia and Brazil—Ecuador, with its dollarized economy and business-friendly government, looks attractive despite its security challenges.

Space is an important theater in the strategic rivalry between China and the United States, with both superpowers vying in Latin America for allies and key geography such as the Southern Cone region, whose clear skies are ideal for tracking satellites. Meanwhile, Latin American governments are determined to be not just a battleground in a new Cold War, but key protagonists in the space industry’s growth and governance. (7/14)

Pentagon Wants Space-Based Solar Power, Potential Investors Want a Committed Customer (Source: Breaking Defense)
The military sees major potential for Silicon Valley and venture capital to help deploy space-based solar power. However, while VCs are funding lighter, more efficient power technologies, they hesitate to back massive orbital energy projects without DoD first committing to be an anchor customer. The DoD wants to beam solar energy wirelessly from space to remote, austere locations on Earth, or directly to other orbital assets. (7/14)

NASA SunRISE Smallsat Shifts From Vulcan to Falcon Heavy for Rideshare (Source: NASA)
A NASA smallsat mission is shifting launch vehicles. NASA announced Monday that the SunRISE mission, previously set to launch as a rideshare payload on a U.S. Space Force flight of a Vulcan Centaur, will instead fly on a Falcon Heavy as a rideshare on another Space Force mission. NASA did not disclose a new launch date for the mission, which was previously planned to launch this summer. NASA did not give a reason for the shift, but the Vulcan has not flown since a February mission that encountered an anomaly with one of its solid rocket boosters. SunRISE, or Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment, features six smallsats flying just above geosynchronous orbit that will monitor radio bursts from the sun's corona. (7/14)

Scolese Retires From NRO (Source: NRO)
Chris Scolese has formally retired as NRO director. The agency said Monday that Scolese's last day as director was last Friday, concluding a nearly seven-year tenure as the NRO's first Senate-confirmed leader. The White House has nominated Roger Mason to be his successor, with a confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee scheduled for today. Principal Deputy Director Bill Adkins will serve as acting director until Mason is confirmed. (7/14)

Sugar Cloud Found in Space (Source: New York Times)
Astronomers have discovered the galaxy has a sweet tooth. Observations of a cloud of gas and dust near the Milky Way's center turned up evidence of erythrulose, a sugar molecule found in raspberries. It's the first time a sugar molecule has been seen in interstellar space, and adds to evidence that sugar molecules were delivered to the early Earth from asteroid and comet impacts, providing key compounds for life to form. (7/14)

ESA Plans Poland Space Center (Source: Space News)
ESA will develop a new space center in Poland focused on civil security and resilience. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and ESA's director general Josef Aschbacher announced the new facility during a press conference Monday in Warsaw. The center will contribute to the implementation of ESA's growing activities in security and resilience. Poland has sharply increased its contributions to ESA and is boosting its expenditure on space-related programs while supporting a growing space industry in the country. (7/14)

UK Space Strategy Update Will Provided Whole-of-Government Attention to Space (Source: Space News)
The British government is preparing to release a new space strategy that will provide a whole-of-government approach to space. At a conference last week, Rebecca Evernden, director of the U.K. Space Agency, said the strategy, set for release "in the coming weeks," would provide guidance for civil, commercial and national security space activities, grounding them on the goals of economic growth and national security. The strategy will have four key focus areas: satellite communications, launch, space domain awareness and space sustainability, and in-space servicing and manufacturing. A new defense investment plan released last month pledged more than £3 billion ($4 billion) in additional spending on satellite communications and space-based ISR through 2030. (7/14)

Defense Spending Raises Europe's Space Economy (Source: Space News)
Increased defense spending is helping Europe's space economy. A study released Monday by ESA found that European government space spending jumped 12% to 13.5 billion euros ($15.4 billion) in 2025 even as government spending worldwide slumped. The United States represented 58% of global government space budgets in 2025, with China ranked second at 15% followed by Europe at 11%. The report also noted that European space companies are at a disadvantage in capturing the increased defense spending, as many governments there do not give preferences to domestic industry even as the United States and China lock out foreign suppliers. (7/14)

SpaceX Conducts Bi-Coastal Starlink Launches on Monday and Tuesday (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX conducted a pair of Starlink launches overnight. One Falcon 9 lifted off Monday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, putting 27 Starlink satellites into orbit. A second Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida Tuesday, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The Florida launch was the 600th flight of a Falcon 9 to use a previously flown booster. (7/14)

NASA’s Hubble Discovers First of Star Cluster’s Missing Black Holes (Source: NASA)
The massive globular star cluster Omega Centauri has puzzled astronomers for decades. It should be filled with black holes left behind by exploding stars, yet evidence for them is scarce. Now, astronomers using archival data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and supportive observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have finally located their first stellar-mass black hole in this cluster.  (7/13)

Jackal, Puma Spacecraft to Chase Each Other Victus Haze Demo (Source: Breaking Defense)
With the first, threshold-setting missions for the Space Force’s Victus Haze demonstration now complete, space firms Rocket Lab and True Anomaly will undertake several sets of maneuvers over the next six months in a celestial game of tag — trading roles as chaser and chased, according to executives from both companies.

The point of the game is to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), which involve close maneuvers around a target satellite to either surveil it, as is the primary goal of Victus Haze; help it, for exampling by refueling; or, in the case of on-orbit combat, hurt it. Victus Haze is the second of several Victus demos planned under the service’s Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program. (7/13)

China's Rocket Recovery Validates New Approach with Net-Capture System (Source: Aerospace Global News)
China has successfully recovered the first stage of its Long March-10B rocket using a sea-based net capture system, demonstrating a different approach to reusable launch vehicles as countries race to reduce the cost of access to space. The maiden flight of the Long March-10B lifted off from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site on 10 July, placing its payload into orbit before the rocket’s first stage returned under powered flight and was captured by a purpose-built recovery vessel in the South China Sea.

Chinese state media described it as the world’s first successful net-based recovery of an orbital-class launch vehicle. The recovery makes China one of only a handful of nations to demonstrate controlled recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster. More significantly, it introduces an engineering approach that differs from the landing-leg systems pioneered by SpaceX and later adopted by Blue Origin. (7/14)

Reditus Readies First Launch of its Re-Entry Vehicle/Hypersonic Target (Source: Breaking Defense)
Atlanta-bases startup Reditus Space has completed construction of its reusable re-entry vehicle for microgravity research, which also is being developed for DoD use as a hypersonics test bed — and, potentially, target vehicle. The spacecraft, called ENOS, can carry payloads for military testers wanting to evaluate how a specific system or technology functions in a hypersonic environment — or instead serve as a Mach 25+ target vehicle for interceptors both above and within the atmosphere. (7/13)

Northrop Grumman Sets Launch Date For Robotic Servicing Spacecraft (Source: Aviation Week)
Northrop Grumman expects to launch its in-space robotic servicer no earlier than July 21. The Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV), a spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics that is about the size of a minivan, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (7/14)

Sejba Named to Advisory Role at Florida Tech (Source: Florida Tech)
Retired U.S. Space Force Maj. Gen. Timothy Sejba, a past STARCOM commander and former Special Assistant to the Vice Chief of Space Operations, will bring his extensive military and space leadership experience to Florida Tech in the new role of Military Affairs Advisor to the President. (7/6)

The Implications of Dual-Use for Protecting Space Assets (Source: Via Satellite)
For many years Europe organized space around clear distinctions. Civil programs were separated from defense. Commercial companies served institutional customers. Governments developed sovereign capabilities while industry provided technology and services. The concept of dual-use existed, but it remained politically uncomfortable. The separation itself was often seen as a strength. Today, that separation is becoming increasingly artificial. Not because governments deliberately decided to abandon it, but because reality has moved faster than policy.

Satellites are only one element within a much broader system that includes launch services, sensors, ground stations, communications networks, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, software, user terminals and the people operating them. Modern space architectures are assembled rather than owned. A government may operate sovereign satellites while relying on commercial launch services. It may own sensors but use commercial cloud infrastructure. It may develop sovereign command-and-control capabilities while purchasing commercial imagery or communications. (7/13)

Saudi Arabia Strengthens China Partnership in Space (Source: Saudi Gazette)
The Minister of Communications and Information Technology met with government leaders and major technology companies in China to strengthen partnerships in artificial intelligence and the space sector. The two sides discussed expanding cooperation in artificial intelligence, the digital economy, technology transfer, and talent exchange programs. They also explored opportunities to expand the presence of major Chinese technology companies in Saudi Arabia. (7/14)

Debris Cloud Discovered in High-Traffic Orbit (Source: Space.com)
Tiny pieces of space junk only 2 inches in size are cluttering a valuable orbital region where some of the costliest satellites reside, a new study has found. Researchers from the University of Warwick in the U.K. found that the geostationary orbit — a region of space at the altitude of 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) — is full of dangerous, previously unseen bits of space junk that could destroy satellites. (7/13)

Spinifex Space Teams With Australian Test Ranges (Source: Payload)
Spinifex Space was established Monday to provide end-to-end suborbital launch campaigns, private range access, and test and evaluation (T&E) infrastructure from facilities in southwestern Queensland, Australia. Spinifex says its team spun out of Black Sky Industries, an Australian developer and supplier of solid rocket propellant and solid rocket motors

Spinifex itself does not build rockets. Instead, its products are the land and the licenses required for flight. Spinifex operates out of two primary facilities: Black Sands Test Range provides multiple T&E facilities for energetics, kinetic effector, and hypersonic vehicle test programs; and Outback Space Port at the MAXQ facility supports suborbital vertical launch and horizontal launch test campaigns, spanning more than 3M acres of southwestern Queensland. (7/14)

SpaceX Stock Falls 4.2% in Back-to-Back Session, Tests $135 IPO Price (Source: StartupHub)
SpaceX (SPCX) fell 4.24% on July 13 to $139.14, its second straight session of losses, on volume of 70.5 million shares. The stock now sits 3% above the $135 IPO price floor. (7/13)

South Korea's Flexell Space Raises $20 Million (Source: Space News)
Flexell Space, a South Korean developer of next-generation highly efficient solar cells, completed a $20 million funding round. Completed approximately two years after the company’s founding, the investment reflects strong confidence from leading Korean investors. The company originated as an in-house venture of Hanwha Systems. (7/13)

L3Harris And Sierra Space Receive $1.75 Billion For SDA Tranche 3, Tracking Layer (Source: Defense Daily)
L3Harris Technologies [LHX] is receiving $955 million and Sierra Space $798 million rapid prototyping contracts for an expedited launch of Tranche 3, Tracking Layer satellites by the end of 2028, the Space Development Agency (SDA) said. Under the Accelerated Missile Defense Tranche 3 (AMDT3) awards, L3Harris is to build 18 "Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS)-like missile defense variant" space vehicles (SVs) across two orbital planes. Sierra Space is under contract for “18 Missile Warning/Missile Tracking variant SVs across two orbital planes.” (7/13)

Netherlands Adopts Mandate for Its New Space Agency (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Netherlands has formalized the mandate of its rebranded space agency, adding the Ministry of Defense to its steering committee for the first time. The formation of the new agency was announced on 3 March, with the Netherlands Space Office becoming the Netherlands Space Agency (NLSA). Following the renaming in March, the governance agreement and mandate for the new agency were officially signed on 12 June and published in the Government Gazette on 6 July. (7/13)

Final NASA Space Shuttle Crew Reflects Under Atlantis 15 Years Later (Source: Florida Today)
The final four shuttle astronauts returned to Kennedy Space Center this past weekend and addressed a crowd underneath their ride, Space Shuttle Atlantis, reflecting on that last flight of the space shuttle era 15 years ago. (7/13)

Rocket Lab Reaches Full Duration Neutron Engine Test Before Maiden Flight (Source: Simply Wall Street)
For investors watching Rocket Lab, the Neutron program sits at the center of the company's move beyond small satellite launches into heavier payloads and reuse. The successful full duration AVac engine test adds a new data point alongside missions such as the Space Force's VICTUS HAZE, which highlighted the company's role in responsive launch services.

As Neutron moves closer to its first mission, the risk profile for NasdaqGS:RKLB continues to depend on execution in larger, reusable rockets and on how quickly this capability can be brought to market. Readers may want to track further test milestones, customer announcements, and any updates on Neutron's launch timeline as indicators of how the broader story is progressing. (7/14)

Extant Aerospace Expands on Space Coast (Source: EDC of Florida's Space Coast)
Founded in 1962 as Symetrics Engineering, Extant Aerospace has built a legacy of more than six decades of innovation, advanced manufacturing, and workforce excellence, manufacturing, repairing, and supporting more than 5,000 part numbers and assemblies across a wide range of commercial aerospace and defense platforms.

The company's new Melbourne facility represents an investment of more than $75 million and will include over 376,000 square feet of operational space, with an additional 120,000 square feet planned for future expansion. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to support the company's growth from more than 250 employees today to more than 450 high-quality jobs. (7/14)

July 13, 2026

Europe Faces Shortages Amid Space Militarization Race (Source: Fortune)
Europe is facing significant challenges in the space militarization race, primarily due to a shortage of heavy launchers. While the US, Russia and China have heavily invested in space capabilities, Europe has struggled with limited budgets and misaligned interests. The Andøya Spaceport in Norway represents a potential solution, but has yet to achieve notable success. The stream of political leaders visiting the Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway shows its vital importance: it may be Europe’s best shot at catching up in the race to militarize space while breaking free from dependence on SpaceX.

Launching satellites into orbit “is a capability that is important for Norway, for the EU, for Europe,” said Ketil Olsen, the chief executive officer of Andøya Space and formerly a Norwegian vice admiral. “For us it’s about strategic autonomy, it’s about sovereignty, and it’s about European independence.” (7/13)

Florida's City Labs Demos Trickle Nuclear Power System for Orbital Electronics (Source: Space News)
A Florida startup launched what it says is the first commercial nuclear-powered payload. City Labs said its Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) cubesat, launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission last week, is the first in-orbit demonstration of the company's NanoTritium betavoltaic power system. While the satellite itself uses conventional solar power, its NanoTritium system uses the radioactive decay of tritium to produce tiny amounts of power, measured in microwatts. That would be suitable for some low-power electronics that need to operate continuously for years. BOHR was the first spacecraft to go through processes to approve the launch of commercial missions with nuclear payloads. (7/12)

Reditus Space Completes Reentry Vehicle to Host Research Payloads (Source: Space News)
Reditus Space has completed its first reentry vehicle. The company said Monday that its ENOS spacecraft is complete and shipped for launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission later this year. ENOS will spend two months in orbit testing vehicle systems and hosting microgravity research payloads before reentering and splashing down off the Florida coast. Reditus is one of several companies working on reentry vehicles, but the company's design maximizes the amount of payload it returns to Earth, with the goal of making the spacecraft completely recoverable and reusable. (7/13)

China Plans Methalox Version of Long March 10 (Source: Space News)
China is planning a new version of its Long March 10 rocket that will use methane and liquid oxygen exclusively. Chinese officials said after the successful launch of the first Long March 10B, including recovery of the first stage, that they are working on a Long March 10C, whose first and second stages will use methane and liquid oxygen. The Long March 10B uses that propellant combination in its first stage while the upper stage uses kerosene rather than methane. The Long March 10C will use a larger first stage and potentially exceed the 25,000-kilogram payload capacity of the Long March 5B. (7/13)

NASA Begins Stacking Rocket Ahead of 2027 Artemis III Mission (Source: Space.com)
The assembly of NASA's next Artemis rocket is well underway, with the recent arrival of one of the launch vehicle's solid fuel booster sections to the agency's integration facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The bottom segment of the left-hand solid rocket booster (SRB) that will help launch Artemis III was transported to KSC's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) this week, according to a NASA social media post. It's one of two SRBs that will be affixed to either side of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which together provide a combined 7.2 million pounds of force — more than 75% of the rocket's power at liftoff. (7/13)

July 12, 2026

What Is The Oldest Artificial Satellite Still Orbiting Earth? (Source: Slashgear)
The oldest one still orbiting Earth went up in 1958 and was actually the second successful satellite put into service by the United States. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory built Vanguard 1 for the International Geophysical Year, an 18-month multinational Earth study. Vanguard 1's mission was to collect scientific data on Earth's atmosphere and how space would affect satellites.

It was also designed to demonstrate new technology, becoming the first orbital satellite powered by solar cells. The batteries on Vanguard 1 only lasted 20 days, but the solar cells continued to provide power until 1964. This marked a major milestone in the early days of U.S. space exploration and an important stage in the evolution of solar energy. (7/8)

NASA is Creating a Fifth State of Matter on the ISS (Source: Live Science)
A new upgrade to the International Space Station's (ISS) quantum laboratory is enabling NASA to probe the behavior of atoms further than ever before, the space agency has announced.

Combining the ISS's newly upgraded "Cold Atom Laboratory" with the near zero-gravity of low Earth orbit, scientists are attempting to understand the properties of so-called "ultracold" atoms in an environment impossible to replicate on Earth. The aim of the mission is to study how clouds of atoms behave at temperatures close to absolute zero (minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius) — the coldest possible temperature in the universe, where atoms lose all their energy of motion. (7/10)

Researchers Design Crash-Resistant Locator Beacons for Nuclear Spacecraft (Source: Aerospace America)
Nuclear fission has emerged as an attractive option for propelling deep space missions to Mars and beyond. However, launching such spacecraft from Earth poses a potential safety risk — and a group of Chinese researchers believes it may have a solution. Researchers described their concept for a “Micro Black Box,” or MBB, that combines a satellite locator beacon and a flight data recorder.

This 4.5-kilogram device, they wrote, would allow space agencies to quickly track down nuclear materials lost in such incidents before the substances leak into the wider environment or harm people. And they are confident of its impact resistance because they have been firing prototypes into dirt and water using a piece of recoil-less weaponry called a Davis gun. (7/9)

Rocket Lab's Approach to Fairing Reuse (Source: Motley Fool)
Rocket Lab's approach, built for its upcoming medium-lift Neutron rocket, is different. The two fairing halves are hinged to the top of the first stage and never detach. Once the rocket climbs high enough, the halves swing open like a set of jaws -- the reason engineers nicknamed it the Hungry Hippo -- release the second stage and payload, then snap shut again in about 1.5 seconds. (7/11)

Could Permanent Magnets Protect Astronauts From Solar Storms? (Source: Phys.org)
Shielding astronauts from the deadly radiation they face is a central challenge for any designer of a deep-space crewed mission. Even relatively low levels of exposure over long periods can lead to everything from central nervous system damage to cancer. But current solutions, such as passive water shells or active superconducting magnets, have their own limitations.

To get around those, a team of researchers from Italy and Germany looks at the feasibility of using a permanent magnet (and its associated permanent magnetic field) to potentially block some of that radiation without the costs of competing technologies. They require continuous cryogenic cooling and a constant power supply for both the cooling system and the magnets themselves. (7/11)

National Space Intelligence Center Welcomes New Commander Amid Growing Threats (Source: Dayton Daily News)
The National Space Intelligence Center welcomed its third commander Thursday, July 9, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Col. Patrick Hamlin, a former squadron commander at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (also at Wright-Patterson), took command of the NSIC during a change-of-command ceremony at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. (7/9)

In-Space Manufacturers Chart the Path to an Industrial Future (Source: Aerospace America)
Six companies gathered at an ISS National Laboratory technical session at ASCEND 2026 to describe their progress in in-space manufacturing, commercial space station development, and the computing and logistics infrastructure that will underpin a low Earth orbit (LEO) economy. Taken together, their presentations reflected an ecosystem still being built — but one with real hardware, real data, and real customers. Click here. (7/9)

AT&T May Be Left Out of the Starlink Deal Everyone Wants (Source: The Street)
For decades, the U.S. wireless market has operated like a private club. Three companies own the national networks, and everybody else, from Mint Mobile to your cable company’s phone plan, pays rent to get on them. That rent flows through a mobile virtual network operator agreement, known in the industry as an MVNO. The host carrier collects wholesale fees, and the renter gets nationwide coverage without spending tens of billions of dollars on spectrum and cell towers.

The unwritten rule of the club is simple. You rent to partners, never to predators. That rule is now being stress-tested by SpaceX. Wall Street has started handicapping which of the three landlords blinks first. On July 8, Wells Fargo gave its answer. The bank initiated coverage of AT&T with an underweight rating and an $18 price target, calling the carrier the least likely of the big three to cut a deal with SpaceX’s Starlink, and the most exposed if the satellite giant decides to compete head-on instead. (7/9)

SpaceX Announces Date for 13th Starship Launch (Source: KRGV)
SpaceX has set a date for its next target launch of Starship from Starbase in Texas. The target date for the 13th flight test is Thursday, July 16. As part of the test, SpaceX will set up a safety zone perimeter in coordination with law enforcement. That will include temporary closures of Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach. The 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. (7/11)

Startup Auriga Space Plans to Catapult Satellites Into Space (Source: Forbes)
Auriga Space which is developing a linear electromagnetic accelerator to catapult rockets to high altitudes, where their engines kick in to bring them to orbit. It essentially replaces the typical first stage of a rocket. Auriga has raised more than $12 million from investors and Department of Defense grants. Earlier this month, the company announced that it’s going to market with its Prometheus accelerator–not for bringing payloads into space, but for testing materials at hypersonic speeds. Axiom Materials has signed on as a pilot customer.

Auriga is also developing its technology for defense purposes, such as anti-drone weapons. And in the long run, Auriga aims to build a multi-kilometer accelerator that can deliver small satellites into orbit. (7/10)

Churn at Vaya Space with Workforce Layoffs (Source: SPACErePORT)
Space Coast-based Vaya has been developing hybrid-fuel rocket motor technology as the basis for its Dauntless launch vehicle that will launch from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, sharing Launch Complex 13 with Phantom Space, but also pursuing offshore and inland launch sites. The company recently has pivoted toward military missile motor production, having won DoD SBIR work for hypersonic propulsion. Last month the company laid off over a dozen engineering and leadership personnel. (7/10)

Scientists Sounding the Alarm Over Hidden Objects Threatening Critical Satellites (Source: The Debrief)
For many years, scientists have been tracking even the tiniest fragments of space debris orbiting our planet to keep tabs on whether these small leftovers from decades of spaceflight might become a problem, whether for astronauts or for populations here on Earth. Now, in new research, scientists say they have uncovered dozens of previously undetected fragments of space debris orbiting high above Earth, revealing a hidden population of tiny objects that some liken to a “potential minefield” in space that could pose a growing hazard to some of the world’s most important satellites.

Close to 80 percent of these newly detected objects had been absent from catalogs available to the public that track such debris, meaning that there could be even more unrecognized leftovers from past space missions circling the Earth than experts realize. (7/9)

LEGO Reveals Hubble Space Telescope Icons Set Coming August 1 (Source: CollectSpace)
The Hubble Space Telescope has been revealing the building blocks of the cosmos for more than 35 years. Now, it is its turn to be made up of toy bricks. The LEGO Icons Hubble Space Telescope is a 1,252-piece kit aimed at adult LEGO fans. Set to be released on Aug. 1 for $139.99, the set creates a desktop model roughly to scale with the included astronaut minifigure. (7/10)

The High Financial Stakes Behind the Modern Super Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles (Source: SpaceQ)
“It is too early to tell if the SHL launch vehicle will result in a boom for an audacious space race or a bust for a space economy where existing and more agile rockets succeed,” concludes an Aerospace Corp. report on super-heavy-lift launchers, including Starship and New Glenn.

If these oversized rockets prove financially viable, they might catalyze new markets that impact everyday life. To ensure their cargo holds stay full, rocket builders are relying heavily on the deployment of vast satellite internet networks. Amazon has already secured up to 27 launches on Blue Origin’s New Glenn for its internet constellation. Meanwhile, SpaceX has tied the future of Starship to an ambitious expansion of its space network. The company is planning a constellation of up to one million satellites to operate enormous orbital data centers.

The report compares this strategy to the shipping and commercial aviation industries. Ultra-large container ships successfully lowered the cost of moving ocean freight because they integrated perfectly into standardized global supply chains across land, rail, and sea. By contrast, the Airbus A380 jumbo jet struggled because its enormous size introduced unexpected operational complexities and costs. Point-to-point air travel replaced the hub-and-spoke model, leaving the giant planes with few profitable routes. (7/10)

SpaceX Brands Data Center Satellites As Starmind (Source: Aviation Week)
SpaceX plans to operate its future data center satellites under the name Starmind. The company detailed its plans for the data center constellation in late January in a regulatory filing, saying it may deploy as many as 1 million satellites into low Earth orbit as part of the project. (7/10)

SpaceX Launches Friday Starlink Mission From California (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites Friday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base using its second most-flown Falcon 9 first stage booster. The Starlink 17-48 mission added another 24 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation. SpaceX currently has more than 10,700 spacecraft within its constellation. (7/11)

The Space Industry is Weighing Ambitious Hiring Against Heritage (Source: Space News)
But now a growing swell of young ventures is attracting millions of dollars to pioneer some of the most ambitious space markets — some with little or even no prior space experience. Take Orbital, a Los Angeles-based startup founded by electric scooter entrepreneur Euwyn Poon earlier this year. The company recently raised $5 million for plans to deploy more than 100,000 orbital data centers. Poon has no space experience, though he plans to assemble a team of experts from SpaceX and others who have built and flown spacecraft at scale.

“Hiring from legacy companies is indeed a key way to acquire heritage indirectly,” said Gabriel Deville, a manager at research firm Novaspace. Deville pointed to how Blue Origin hired extensively out of United Launch Alliance and other legacy space companies to acquire knowledge, while former SpaceX engineers have seeded many others.

“Still, acquiring talent is only the first step of developing a company’s own knowledge base, before the slow process of development and production leading to heritage and credibility,” he said. Heritage is widely regarded as key for most space markets, Analysys Mason principal analyst Dallas Kasaboski said, especially if hardware is involved and particularly for the high-stakes launch sector. (7/10)

Space Capitalism Needs More Than a Bull Market (Source: Space News)
By most measures, commercial space is thriving. Washington produced a flurry of activity over the past year: two major executive orders, a raft of directives, and “space superiority” elevated to official doctrine. More recently, Wall Street answered in kind when SpaceX went public in the largest initial offering in history. The public and private sectors agree that the commercial space age has arrived.

But there are still major barriers to space capitalism. Despite capital owners’ confidence and the government’s directives, the rules of the game are not settled. Policy changes mean little until and unless they result in durable institutional change. And market optimism is no substitute for long-term strategic thinking.

Consider the policy record. Last August’s executive order streamlines licensing for launch and reentry. That’s genuinely good. It clears regulatory underbrush, lowering costs at the margin. However, we need legislation, not executive discretion, to secure lasting gains. December’s order did well to emphasize space as a strategic imperative. But that was already obvious to anyone paying attention. The binding constraints — especially security of celestial property rights and ambitions to develop the space industrial base — haven’t moved much. (7/10)

Supreme Court Ruling on Mail-in Ballots Ensures Astronauts Can Vote From Space  — or Anywhere Else (Source: Space.com)
A new ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court protecting voter rights could extend to astronauts living and working in space and training internationally, their families, and the multitude of NASA workers who travel to support their missions.

On Monday (June 29), the Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots can be counted toward a total vote even if they arrive after election day, as long as they are postmarked by election day. The ruling followed efforts by the Trump Administration to place restrictions on mail-in voting. In a new statement, the nonpartisan activist organization Astronauts for America spoke out in support of the Supreme Court's decision, which supports absentee voting. (7/10)

Earth Observation Satellites Pass Telecom in European Space Industry Sales (Source: Space News)
European space industry sales rebounded in 2025 after a contraction in 2024, Eurospace reported in its latest Facts and Figures report, presented July 7. The growth is driven in large part by military acquisition of Earth observation satellites, which are now the largest revenue-producing space sector for the continent. (7/10)

NASA Selects Seven Companies To Enhance Mobility On Mars (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA has selected seven companies eligible for contract awards to advance robotic surface mobility on Mars under the Mars Exploration Program's Science Transport and Robotic Innovation for Deployment and Exploration (STRIDE) initiative. Under STRIDE, the agency seeks to support the development of innovative robotic mobility systems that may enable future Mars missions to access more challenging terrain, travel greater distances, and investigate scientifically valuable regions that are difficult to reach with current mobility systems.

The STRIDE awards have a total potential value of approximately $17 million with a period of work targeted to begin in Fall of 2026. Contract awardees are: AeroVironment, Arlington, Virginia; Astrobotic, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Venturi Astrolab (Astrolab), Hawthorne, California; Ground Control Robotics, Atlanta, Georgia; Honeybee Robotics, Longmont, Colorado; Intuitive Machines, Houston, Texas; and MEI Technologies, Webster, Texas. (7/10)

An Orbiting Disco Ball Gave Einstein’s Theory its Most Precise Test Yet (Source: Ars Technica)
Measuring how much the Earth twists spacetime as it rotates has been much more challenging because our pale blue dot of a planet is millions of times lighter than a typical black hole and rotates rather slowly. But now, a team of astronomers reports the most accurate measurement of the terrestrial Lense-Thirring effect to date. Their work brings our uncertainty down from a few percentage points to just 0.2 percent. And they did it with a satellite that looks like a cross between a golf ball and a disco globe. (7/10)

ESA’s First Chemical Propulsion Lab Now Operational (Source: ESA)
ESA has officially kicked off testing at its new Chemical Propulsion Laboratory (CPL). The CPL is ESA’s first dedicated facility for testing small propulsion systems for space missions. The CPL is a combined green propellant chemistry lab and engine test cell that will support the growing need for safe and accessible propulsion testing infrastructure and training. Designed specifically for propulsion systems used on small satellites and other small missions rather than large launch vehicle engines, the facility offers rapid-turnaround testing in a safe and regulated environment. (7/8)

Starship Booster 20 Completes Record Duration Static Fire (Source: NSF)
SpaceX ignited all 33 engines on Booster 20 for a record 24 seconds. With the static fire completed, SpaceX is pushing hard to fly Flight 13 as soon as possible, with notices popping up for next week and the week after. Booster 20 is now expected to rollback, before both the booster and Ship 40 head out to the launch site to join forces for launch.

The previous record duration for a Superheavy Booster static fire was on August 11, 2022, when Booster 7 static-fired a single engine for 20 seconds. That static fire was without a water deluge system and was used to test the brand-new autogenous pressurization system. Going straight to a 33-engine static fire on only the second Block 3 booster shows the confidence SpaceX now has in its hardware and software for the booster and the launch pad. (7/10)

JAXA Successfully Lands Test Rocket for Future Reuse (Source: Jiji.com)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, successfully landed a small test rocket on Saturday, with the goal of reusing rockets in the future. At its Noshiro testing center in northeastern Japan, the RV-X test rocket slowly landed after rising about 11 meters and moving horizontally while maintaining a vertical position during its 40-second flight. JAXA found no major issues with the test rocket after the landing. (7/11)

Gaganyaan: The Mission That Could Change How the World Sees India’s Space Ambitions (Source: WION)
India is preparing to launch its first human spaceflight that could place India among a select group of nations that have independently sent humans into space. So far, only the United States, Russia and China have achieved that milestone. While a rocket carrying a satellite only needs to protect a machine, a spacecraft carrying astronauts has to ensure human lives remain safe. Having a significance far beyond the launch pad, Gaganyaan is a test of whether India can move from mastering robotic missions to building the much more demanding ecosystem required to keep humans alive beyond Earth.

The mission, approved by the Union Cabinet in 2018 with an initial budget of ₹9,023 crore, aims to send Indian astronauts into a low Earth orbit of around 400 kilometers and bring them back safely. The spacecraft will be launched using India’s heaviest operational rocket, the human-rated Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3), after extensive testing and validation. (7/10)

Starlink Deployments on Record Pace (Source: The Verge)
SpaceX is currently ahead of last year’s record-setting pace for Starlink satellite deployments. SpaceX launched 1,589 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit in the first half of 2026, compared to 1,489 satellites deployed at the same point in 2025. To put these numbers into perspective, Amazon’s fledgling Leo service has only deployed about 400 satellites over the last 15 months, en route to a total planned constellation of 3,232 satellites. In other words, SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket is capable of deploying one Leo-sized space internet constellation every year. (7/9)

Fire Damages NASA Langley Waste-to-Energy Facility in Virginia (Source: WAVY)
An overnight two-alarm fire damaged the NASA Steam Plant in Hampton, and officials are still investigating to determine its cause. “We will not have a definitive answer today, but we hope that there may be more information to report on Friday,” the Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue said Thursday afternoon. The roof of the steam plant was burned through and will most likely have to be replaced, and the cranes were badly damaged, though it is not known at this point whether they will have to be completely replaced.

The Hampton/NASA Steam Plant is an award-winning facility that serves Hampton residents, the City of Poquoson, five federal installations, and the private sector. Completed in 1980 in a partnership with the federal government, the plant burns municipal trash to generate steam, and has conserved millions of gallons of fuel oil, acres of landfill space, and saved the city millions of dollars in disposal costs. (7/9)

ESA Calls for Ideas to Give Space Robots Embodied Intelligence (Source: ESA)
Launched on 30 June 2026 through the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP), the campaign invites researchers and industry to submit early-stage concepts, feasibility studies, enabling technologies and mission concepts that bring embodied intelligence to autonomous space robotics. The campaign targets three scenarios where this kind of autonomy is needed.

The first is autonomous exploration: long-traverse science missions, surveys of permanently shadowed regions, and opportunistic science that requires a robot to spot something interesting and act on it without waiting for instructions. The second is fully autonomous in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), covering everything from prospecting and excavating regolith to coordinating teams of specialized robots building surface infrastructure. The third is support for long-term human presence, where robots work alongside astronauts – inspecting habitats, maintaining life-support systems, and operating safely in close proximity to people. (7/10)

Russian Fregat Upper Stage Delivered to Vostochny Spaceport (Source: TASS)
Roscosmos announced that the Fregat upper stage has been airlifted to the Vostochny spaceport for subsequent testing. An AN-124-100 aircraft transported the Fregat to Vostochny’s airport, after which it will be moved to the spacecraft assembly and testing facility. There, it will be installed at its designated workstation for further evaluation. (7/10)

On the Brink: Ukraine War Weakening Russia's Space Program Along with Economy (Source: SPACErePORT)
Russia’s war in Ukraine has significantly weakened its civil space program. Western sanctions have cut Roscosmos off from critical electronics, manufacturing equipment, and commercial customers. Reduced revenues and wartime budget priorities have delayed programs such as GLONASS modernization, lunar exploration, and scientific missions.

The war has accelerated Russia’s technological isolation and reduced its role in the global space market. Cooperation with Europe on projects such as ExoMars has ended, Soyuz launches from French Guiana have stopped, and Russia has become more dependent on domestic suppliers and partners such as China. While Moscow continues to invest in military space capabilities supporting the war, its civil space ambitions and commercial competitiveness have declined sharply.

The broader economic effects of the war have placed additional pressure on Russia’s industrial base. Defense spending has drawn resources away from civilian sectors, while sanctions have limited access to advanced technologies, foreign investment, and global markets. Although energy revenues and wartime production have helped sustain the economy in the short term, the conflict has contributed to inflation, labor shortages, reduced productivity, and long-term challenges to Russia’s ability to modernize high-technology industries such as aerospace. (7/11)

Ketcham Retires From Space Florida (Source: SPACErePORT)
After 18 years with Space Florida and more than 45 years contributing to America's space program on the Space Coast, Dale Ketcham has retired from Space Florida. As Vice President for Government and Community Relations, Ketcham played a pivotal role in helping transform Florida from a government-led launch center into the nation's premier commercial spaceport, while supporting the state's transition into a national leader in aerospace industry development.

His career spanned positions with Rockwell International, the U.S. Congress, Enterprise Florida, the University of Central Florida, and ultimately Space Florida, where was a recognized voice for the commercial space industry. Ketcham indicated he intends to remain engaged in advancing Florida's space future. (7/11)

July 11, 2026

FCC Approves Giant Mirror Satellite Designed To Beam Sunlight to Earth After Dark (Source: TechSpot)
Remember the California startup that was developing a constellation of satellites with giant Mylar mirrors to beam sunlight back to Earth after dark? Despite the plan generating a slew of controversy, those satellites have passed another hurdle toward becoming a reality after the FCC approved them.

Back in July 2025, Reflect Orbital submitted an application to launch Eärendil-1, a demonstration satellite designed to test whether sunlight can be redirected from orbit onto specific locations on Earth. The FCC has now granted the satellite permission to operate its radio equipment. The regulator also rejected calls to block the project over its enormous reflective surface, arguing that the mirror itself falls outside the FCC's authority because the agency primarily regulates communications spectrum. (7/10)

Taffing the Moon Base: How Many Astronauts Should Live in NASA’s Lunar Outpost? (Source: Space.com)
The success of NASA's future moon base depends in large part on mission design, which should allow astronauts to work together well in a way independent from psychological training, a new study asserts. The goal of the study was to identify "specific conditions" for mission success and to look for any "red flags" that may stand in the way, said lead investigator Anamaria Berea. The study team considered scenarios for how many astronauts would be on the moon base and how often resupply missions would occur.

In an "initial case," for example, the assumed mission duration was three months, with a single resupply run at Month 2 with food, water, air and a fresh group of astronauts. Using a complex probability analysis known as a Monte Carlo simulation, the model astronauts in this scenario showed a productivity rate of about 20% against their expected tasks, "which is acceptable for a typical manufacturing process," the authors noted. "The worst-case scenario consists of four astronauts on the moon at one time, only one month resupply window between Earth and moon, and moderate to high adverse environmental probabilities."

NASA tracks productivity a little differently on the International Space Station (ISS). The agency uses a metric called "utilization," which largely refers to the amount of crew time and number of scientific investigations that are performed on the space station during an increment or expedition. As of 2014, the ISS program suggested that ideal utilization should be 35 hours per crew per week when there are three people working on the U.S. part of the space station, and 68.5 hours if there are four or more. (The Russian side of the ISS works largely independently in this respect.) (7/8)

Huge Galactic Structure Is 23 Million Light-Years Long, And We Can't Comprehend It (Source: Science Alert)
There are plenty of mind-bendingly large structures in our Universe. But when it comes to galaxies, two discoveries over the past five years have given the word 'massive' a whole new meaning. Case in point, one of the biggest structures of galactic origin detected by humans in radio waves: Porphyrion.

Named after the king of giants in Greek mythology, Porphyrion is 7.5 billion light-years away, so it's not exactly in our galactic neighborhood. It was first detected in 2024, when researchers picked up radio signals from a pair of jets being blasted out by the black hole presumably at the galaxy's center. (7/11)

US’ New Weapon Can Blast Enemy Satellites with Beams of Electromagnetic Radiation (Source: Interesting Engineering)
The U.S. Space Force has got a new capability to make enemy satellites almost inactive and disrupt their signals without physically damaging them. Meadowlands is a critical upgrade to the Counter Communications System (CCS) 10.2 and it can detect, deny, disrupt, and degrade adversary’s use of the electromagnetic spectrum  — such as radio waves. The electromagnetic warfare’s system reversible and non-reversible capabilities further secures the invisible frontline on the electromagnetic spectrum. (7/9)

The EU Wants to Control Your Speed Via Satellite (Source: The Drive)
It has been a wild couple of weeks for the Big Brother news beat—wild enough that a particularly alarming item managed to slip beneath just about everybody‘s radar. According to the Daily Mail, the European Commission wants the power to force cars to obey speed limits with help from GPS.

European cars already leave the factory with speed monitoring systems installed, and no, I don’t just mean speedometers. Starting in 2024, the EU mandated that all new cars come equipped with a GPS-based system that tracks the current speed limit and alerts the driver audibly if it is exceeded. These “Intelligent Speed Assist” systems are often installed on cars sold outside the EU as well, though the warning component is often optional or disabled. (7/9)

We Should Establish an Inland Spaceport in the American West (Source: Christian Keil)
All US spaceports today are coastal — meaning they're within ~12 nautical miles of international waters, or <60 seconds downrange for a ship/sub-based missile. In peacetime, this allows for easy surveillance, both of national security rocket launches and the sites themselves. But in wartime our launch sites might not survive the first minute of a major conflict.

Part 1 of the solution is to do what China has done: establish inland launch sites that are further from international borders and therefore easier to defend. Part 2 of the solution is to do the *opposite* of what China has done: America should not fly experimental missions over land, or drop rockets full of hypergolic fuel onto rural villages. Inland launch sites should only be used for reusable rockets that have a track record of success.

America needs a launch pad in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, or Montana, and landing pads ~500 km north and/or east. We already have similar infrastructure that exists today (White Sands, UTTR, NTTR, Spaceport America). Adding one more such site would secure our access to space even on a very bad day. (7/9)

Blue Origin Files Plans for New Construction on Space Coast (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Blue Origin plans new storage and manufacturing structures on 11 acres in Brevard County as part of continued expansion, despite recent setbacks. The aerospace company is working with the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority to establish outdoor storage and manufacturing, eyeing the former Space Perspective location at the Space Coast Regional Airport. (7/9)

NASA Small Satellite Could Make Global Positioning More Precise (Source: NASA)
A NASA satellite the size of a suitcase, which aims to merge different observing systems and lead to more accurate mapping of Earth, launched July 7 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard SpaceX’s Transport-17 mission.

This novel CubeSat, known as the Geodetic Reference Instrument Transponder for Small Satellites, or GRITSS, will demonstrate the feasibility of a new technique for connecting three independent observing systems: the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) stations, which use radio telescopes; GPS receivers, which use navigation satellites; and Satellite Laser Ranging, which relies on lasers to measure a distance from the ground to a retroreflector in space. (7/9)

Scientists Say Some Black Holes Are Born From Other Black Holes (Source: Gizmodo)
Since LIGO’s Nobel-winning discovery of gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime—the U.S.-based detector has been picking up on hundreds of signals from black hole mergers. And, after a decade of studying gravitational waves, researchers believe a significant fraction of black holes may come from cosmic chain reactions.

A recent paper describes an analysis of 155 pairs of binary black holes, identified by LIGO and its sisters, Virgo and KAGRA, in Italy and Japan, respectively. According to the study, about 14% of merging black holes may be what’s called “second-generation black holes,” or black holes that form from previous mergers of two smaller black holes. This “hierarchical” backstory is vastly different from the textbook version of how black holes emerge from the explosive death of a star. (7/9)

Democratic Texas AG Candidate Claims $110m in Gants for Elon Musk’s Starlink ‘sure Looks’ Like Corruption (Source: The Guardian)
The Texas Democrat nominee to become the state’s attorney general has said he will investigate SpaceX if elected, saying it “sure looks like” corruption was involved in a deal he said handed the world’s richest person $110 million of taxpayers’ money dedicated to providing internet access in remote areas. Nathan Johnson called for greater legislative scrutiny of state grants funneled to SpaceX for its Starlink satellite program. He said the award by Texas Republicans of 99% of the available grant funds to a company led by billionaire Musk, a Donald Trump ally, was lopsided.

“I am not declaring that corruption was at work in this instance. I am saying that it sure looks like it,” Johnson, a state senator, told the Dallas News. “Public confidence in the bidding process has been undermined.” During his primary campaign, Johnson promised to overhaul the office of the Texas attorney general, a position currently held by Ken Paxton, the scandal-ridden hardline Republican recently nominated by his party to run for the US Senate in November’s midterms.

He has said he will work closely with the state comptroller to audit how government contracts are awarded. The Starlink grants, signed off by the Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, after his office reportedly revised rules to favor low-Earth-orbit satellite providers in bids to provide rural internet access, have become a particular source of controversy. (7/10)

ICEYE Establishes National Headquarters in Portugal and Germany (Source: Spacewatch Global)
ICEYE has established two new European offices in Portugal and Germany, appointing Rui Costa and Philipp Herkelmann as the respective CEOs of ICEYE Portugal and ICEYE Germany. This comes just weeks after the company's expansion of its wildfire intelligence capabilities to Canada, aiming to cement its position as a global wildfire intelligence provider, following its EUR 450 million Series F funding round raise. (7/10)

NASA Sure Seems to be Asking an Awful Lot of Private Space Stations (Source: Ars Technica)
So what do the private companies—the key players are Axiom Space, Vast Space, Voyager, Blue Origin, and possibly SpaceX—think about the new document? There are two main feelings: relief and concern. The relief is easy to explain. A government-sponsored core module was widely disliked and seen as an effort by NASA JSC, which operates the ISS, to remain in the business of operating a space station. Now that worry is gone.

But there are multiple reasons for concern. One is lost time. The private companies expected phase two to begin at least a year or two ago, and they are struggling to raise funding and support growing workforces in the interim. NASA rules for human safety in orbit will drive the designs the private companies ultimately build. So companies really need to know exactly what NASA wants, and how much it is willing to pay to move forward. (7/10)

China Unveils Members of State-Backed Commercial Space Consortium (Source: Space News)
A Chinese government body has published a national commercial space consortium membership list. The published roster gives investors, prime contractors, and suppliers a clearer read on which firms China’s state apparatus is formally positioning as “established players” in commercial space. Consortium membership can signal near-term access to government-backed coordination, partnership pathways, and priority engagement across program opportunities. (7/10)

FCC Approves Reflect Orbital Demo Satellite to Test Redirecting Sunlight (Source: Via Satellite)
The FCC issued approval for startup Reflect Orbital to launch a demonstration satellite that will test a solar reflector in orbit that’s designed to reflect sunlight back to Earth. The company is preparing to launch a Earendil-1 satellite with “deployable, highly specular thin-film reflector” designed to redirect sunlight from orbit to specific locations on Earth. Reflect Orbital said it expects the mission to launch later this year, and it will be the first of several test missions. (7/10)

Japan's ElevationSpace Looks to Europe Space Cargo Unlimited for Reentry (Source: Space News)
Japanese startup ElevationSpace signed an agreement with a European company for its reentry vehicle. ElevationSpace said Thursday it will work with Space Cargo Unlimited to study how to fly that company's microgravity experiment platforms on its spacecraft. ElevationSpace is developing ELS-R, a free-flyer spacecraft with a reentry capsule to conduct microgravity research and manufacturing, as well as a version intended to return experiments from space stations. ElevationSpace recently raised $40 million ahead of a test flight of ELS-R in 2027. A company executive said at a conference Thursday that he believes there is room for his company's vehicle alongside SpaceX's much larger Starfall reentry vehicle. (7/10)

Limited Public Shares Make SpaceX Stock Volatile (Source: Space News)
Volatility is the name of the game when it comes to SpaceX stock. Only a small amount of SpaceX stock is available for public trading, making the shares susceptible to big swings as insiders remain subject to lockups. Some expect volatility to remain part of the company's stock market story in the short term, particularly because of an unusually large retail allocation that brings in buyers more likely to chase the IPO's momentum, or retreat quickly on negative headlines. (7/10)

Pulse Space Wins $40 Million Space Force Contract for Laser Tech (Source: Space News)
Pulse Space, a startup developing laser technology designed to transmit power and data between spacecraft, won a $40 million Space Force contract. The award will support development of its laser-based technology but the company did not specify what military applications will be demonstrated under this agreement. Pulse Space is developing laser systems that can wirelessly transmit electrical power and data between spacecraft, technology that could support space networks by allowing satellites to share power and communicate through optical links. (7/10)

Xona Partners to Prep LEO Constellation (Source: Space News)
Navigation satellite startup Xona Space Systems has announced partnerships with companies developing equipment compatible with its planned constellation. Xona unveiled the Pulsar Verified program Thursday, giving companies a technical path to validate the compatibility of receivers and simulation equipment with Xona's Pulsar constellation. Xona has been working for years with industry partners including the largest commercial manufacturers of Global Navigation Satellite System chipsets to ensure their equipment can work with the Pulsar low Earth orbit system. Xona plans to begin in-space beta testing later this year after the launch of six satellites. (7/10)

July 10, 2026

Space Force Acquisition Branch Plans Hiring Push (Source: FNN)
The top civilian overseeing the Space Force’s acquisition branch says the command aims to hire 100 employees each month as it rebuilds following last year’s civilian purge. “We’re doing a full-court press,” Natalie Riedel, executive director of Space Systems Command, said in a release Wednesday. “It’s an aggressive goal, but we have to get there.” The Space Force has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce and its contractor support. Civilians make up about one-third of the Pentagon’s smallest service, more than in any other branch of the military. (7/9)

Consortium Unites Florida Universities to Promote Space Research (Source: FSRC)
The Florida Space Research Consortium (FSRC) brings together Florida’s leading research universities to better align the state’s academic strengths with its central role in space. By connecting expertise across institutions and linking it more directly to Florida’s space infrastructure, the Consortium strengthens the state’s ability to contribute to — and help shape — civil, commercial and national security space activities.
 
It provides a clearer, more coordinated way for partners across government, industry, and academia to engage with the full breadth of capabilities at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida A&M University, Florida Institute of Technology, Florida International University, Florida State University, UCF, the University of Florida and the University of South Florida. Click here. (7/9)

ISS Test Finds That Moon Dust Could be Effective as a Lunar Building Material (Source: Brighterside News)
Building material samples from the University of Delaware spent six months bolted to the outside of the International Space Station, exposed to vacuum, radiation and constant temperature swings. When they came back, some were stronger than matching samples kept on Earth. The team is working with geopolymers, a cement-like material that can be made by chemically binding clay-rich powders into a solid. In this case, the powders were simulated lunar and Martian regolith, stand-ins for the dusty surface material found on those worlds. (7/7)

China Recovers Long March 10B First Stage (Source: Douglas Messier)
China became the second nation to recover an orbital class rocket for reuse on Friday Long March 10B first stage was caught by wires on an sea-based platform. The rocket lifted off on its inaugural flight at 12:15 p.m. local time. The first stage landed on the platform a short time later. This was a flight test of the rocket; it’s not clear whether it was carrying a payload.

It was China’s third attempt to land the first stage of a rocket. The first stage of LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 rocket came very close to a successful landing on Dec. 3, 2025. Twenty days later a Long March 12A rocket’s first stage failed during its descent. Long March 10B is a medium-lift launch vehicle capable of placing 16,000 kg in a 200-km high orbit or 11,000 kg into a 900 km high orbit. (7/10)

US Air Force Picks Longshot to Test Hypersonic Tech with Ground-Based Launcher (Source: Interesting Engineering)
Longshot announced on July 8 that it has joined the U.S. Air Force’s new AEDC Velocity Alliance. This gives the kinetic space launch startup a chance to help modernize America’s hypersonic testing infrastructure. The Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) and the Air Force Test Center created the consortium to boost the nation’s testing abilities for next-generation defense technologies. The kinetic launch startup will help the Air Force expand hypersonic testing using a reusable accelerator designed to cut costs and increase test frequency. (7/9)

Russia Tries to Jam Starlink Systems to Counter Ukrainian Drones (Source: Reuters)
Russian forces are trying to counter Ukrainian "mid-strike" drone attacks by camouflaging cargoes and installing powerful jamming systems to disrupt Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet system, Ukrainian drone commanders and pilots told ​Reuters. Kyiv's development of "mid-strike" drones that can hit targets dozens of kilometers behind front lines accurately and cheaply, and are often flown via Starlink, has transformed the war ‌in Ukraine. (7/8)

Environmental Groups Urge FCC to Pause Orbital Data Center Applications (Source: Space.com)
Environmental and scientific organizations are banding together to demand federal environmental reviews of space-based data center projects, which plan to put more than a million new satellites in Earth orbit over the coming years. "Allowing a million orbiting data centers with no environmental review isn’t just irresponsible — it’s reckless," Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said in a statement. (7/9)

ArianeGroup Tests Upgraded Ariane 6 Upper Stage Rocket Engine (Source: European Spaceflight)
Details of a previously unannounced test campaign involving an upgraded Ariane 6 rocket engine have emerged in the 2025 annual accounts of ArianeGroup SAS, the group’s French entity. The filings describe the testing of a 200-kilonewton version of the rocket’s Vinci upper stage engine at DLR’s Lampoldshausen facility in Germany. The upgrade increases the engine’s thrust by around 11%, from 180 kilonewtons. The testing was “conducted throughout the year” and included a long-duration test in October that lasted 570 seconds. (7/9)

DoD, Silicon Valley Now are Betting on Solar Power Beaming (Source: Breaking Defense)
“While we have been informally researching the topic for a few years, Space Operational Energy is a growing focus for us,” an Air Force spokesperson said. “We hope to host industry days and create avenues for collaboration with industry partners in the near future.” The Pentagon’s renewed interest in such a capability is being buoyed by research over the past five years that has brought some of the underlying technologies to fruition, as well as its war on Iran, which showed how US adversaries can easily target Earth-based fuel logistics tails.

In May, the Air Force contracted Virginia-based startup Overview Energy for a year-long study on the use cases in which space-based solar power could supply electricity “in constrained and contested logistics environments.” (7/9)

Pentagon Accelerates Directed-Energy (Sources: Aviation Week)
The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin and nLIGHT Defense contracts to transition high-energy laser weapon systems into field-ready, production-oriented platforms to defeat drones and cruise missiles. Separately, the Space Force funded Pulse Space’s $40 million effort for laser-based power beaming and orbital tracking. The Space Force also finalized an acquisition-structure reform creating nine mission-area portfolio acquisition executives. (7/9)

Auxilium Biotechnologies Demonstrates Scalable Bioprinting of Multiple Organ Tissues on ISS (Source: Payload)
Auxilium Biotechnologies said it has created multiple types of organ tissues aboard the International Space Station, a milestone toward scalable in-orbit bioprinting. The company positioned the results as enabling future bioprinting use cases in space, building toward broader orbital manufacturing and medical applications. (7/9)

China Announces Plan to Build Early-Warning System for Dangerous Asteroids (Source: Space.com)
China has announced that it wants to develop a "space-ground" asteroid early-warning network, while providing few details on what it could look like. But recent papers and presentations to the United Nations provide clues as to what the country has in mind for planetary defense. (7/9)

Boys Club: Isaacman Flew Acting AG Blanche in Controversial DC Mall Flyover (Source: CBS)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew private military jets over Washington, D.C., in a July 4 flyover with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as a passenger — despite safety objections from the FAA. In an unusual move, a senior adviser to the NASA administrator petitioned the FAA on behalf of Isaacman's private jet company, JDI Holdings, to participate in the aerial demonstrations over the National Mall during the America 250 celebrations in Washington. (7/8)

Embry‑Riddle Professor Takes on Key U.S. Role in International Astronomy Organization (Source: ERAU)
Dr. Terry Oswalt, professor in the Department of Physical Sciences at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University, has been elected to represent the United States in the International Astronomical Union (IAU), an organization often described as the “United Nations of Astronomy.” Oswalt will serve a three-year term on the U.S. National Committee (USNC) for the IAU, the body responsible for coordinating U.S. participation in the international organization that helps shape collaboration among astronomers worldwide. (7/1)

Space Force Completes Procurement Reorganization (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force has completed the largest acquisition-organization overhaul since the service’s creation, replacing its prior structure with nine mission-focused Portfolio Acquisition Executives. The executives will oversee buying, integration, and modernization of military space capabilities. (7/9)

Shotwell Donates $325 Million to "Trump Accounts" (Source: Business Insider)
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to thank SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell for her and her husband's stock donation to Trump Accounts, which he said was worth $325 million. "Thank you to the brilliant and highly respected Gwynne Shotwell, and her husband, Robert, for their extreme generosity in helping children to attain the ever magnificent American dream!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

A Trump Account (officially a 530A IRA) is a federally established, tax-advantaged investment account for U.S. citizens under age 18. Designed to build long-term wealth, the U.S. Treasury seeds eligible children's accounts with a $ $1,000 pilot deposit. (7/9)

Wally Funk, a Texas Aviation Pioneer and Former Record Holder, Dies at 87 (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Texas resident, icon of the aviation world, and former record holder Wally Funk died on Wednesday evening in Grapevine, Texas. She was 87 years old. Born on Feb. 1, 1939 in Las Vegas, Funk had several "firsts" under her belt. She served as the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board; the first female civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and the first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector. She reportedly trained more than 3,000 people to fly and logged thousands of flight hours over her lifetime.

Funk was also one of NASA's First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATs, or the "Mercury 13") in the 1960s. Unfortunately, none of the 13 women ever went to space with NASA. Funk applied to be an astronaut multiple times and was rejected. However, Funk eventually achieved her dream of reaching space in 2021. She was an "honored guest" on Jeff Bezos-founded spaceflight company Blue Origin's first passenger spaceflight ever, out of Van Horn, Texas. (7/9)

Astronomers Scrutinize Exoplanet That Survived the Death of its Star (Source: Reuters)
Researchers now have made detailed observations of a Jupiter-like exoplanet that has lived on for billions of years after the death of its sun-like star. It's located 81 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco. WD 1856  b, is about eight times greater than that of Jupiter, our solar system's largest planet. Its atmospheric temperature — about 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 degrees Celsius) — is unexpectedly ​warm. (7/9)

Vantor Offers Regularly Refreshed Whole-Earth 3D Maps (Source: Space Daily)
Vantor, the American Earth-observation company formerly known as Maxar, is now rebuilding chosen stretches of the planet as three-dimensional models and delivering them within a day of imaging — a commercial first, the company says, and one aimed as much at autonomous machines as at the analysts and militaries who have always been its customers. The service, called WorldView 3D, went live on July 1. It draws on a fleet of 10 satellites imaging Earth’s surface at 12-inch (30-centimeter) resolution.  (7/9)

MDA Space Acquiring 70% Stake in French Earth Observation Company CLS (Sources: Globe and Mail, Via Satellite)
MDA Space announced July 8 it would acquire 70% of Collecte Localisation Satellites, or CLS, for 567 million euros ($648 million) in cash. The acquisition complements MDA Space’s EO business from the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Radarsat constellation. MDA Space is also preparing to launch the next-generation, Chorus constellation, which is currently expected to launch in late 2026. (7/9)

Eight NATO Allies to Create New Satellite Mega-Constellation (Source: Breaking Defense)
Eight NATO countries plan to link their military satellites into a “mega-constellation” to enable “high-speed communications, intelligence and missile tracking,” the alliance announced on Tuesday at its Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, in a move that joins a number of other a new initiatives aimed at improving NATO space capabilities.

Connecting multiple national satellites will “overcome the cost, time and coverage limitations of single-nation satellite fleets,” a NATO press release said. The new network, called the Hybrid Alliance Layered Operations in Space (HALO), initially will involve Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey. (7/8)

Starlink to Private Jet Owners: Our Prices Are Doubling (Source: PC Mag)
Starlink is doubling the monthly cost of internet service for private and business jet operators. On Tuesday, SpaceX updated the Starlink.com support page for its Business Aviation plans. The company used to charge $10,000 per month for the Aviation Jet Unlimited tier. However, the tier, now called Aviation Global Unlimited, will now cost $20,000. (7/8)

Bridenstine Questions Artemis Lunar Lander Plans (Source: Space.com)
The former head of NASA is questioning the agency's plans to return astronauts to the moon, asking whether the crewed landers selected for the Artemis program are the right vehicles to get the job done. Jim Bridenstine voiced skepticism about the architecture of NASA's Artemis moon landers, both of which are trailing in development compared to the Orion spacecraft with which they're being designed to fly. "The architecture is extraordinarily complicated," Bridenstine said. He compared the Artemis plan unfavorably to NASA's approach during the Apollo program, which he argued was much less complex. (7/8)

New Entrant to DoD's Launch Competition Isn't a Launcher (Source: Ars Technica)
The addition of Impulse Space to DoD's Phase 3 launch contract was something of a surprise. The company specializes in building spacecraft for in-space operations, rather than launching from Earth. “I think it’s fair to say that Phase 3 did not contemplate this,” said Eric Romo, president and chief operating officer of Impulse Space, in an interview. “However, the Space Force has been really clear that they’ve got a lot of demands for high-energy launch, especially at GEO, and they don’t have a lot of supply.”

Phase 3 refers to the third iteration of the military’s launch program, known as National Security Space Launch Phase 3. It allows companies to bid on “task orders” for launches between the period of 2025 and 2029. Launches typically take place one to three years after a contract is awarded. To further complicate things, there are two lanes of this program.  (7/8)

July 9, 2026

Golden Dome Generates Potential Spinoff Opportunities (Source: Space News)
The proposed Golden Dome missile-defense system has companies looking for new business opportunities. The prospect of deploying hundreds or even thousands of satellites for missile warning, tracking, communications and even interception missions has prompted companies to search for opportunities beyond the spacecraft themselves. That includes areas such as satellite refueling, orbital transportation, communications relay networks and in-space servicing, as companies argue those services will be essential to Golden Dome's satellite constellations. However, the Pentagon, which has disclosed few details about the Golden Dome architecture, has not indicated its interest in those other services. (7/9)

SpaceX Sets Booster Reuse Record After Thursday Launch From Florida (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX set a booster reuse record on its latest Starlink mission. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 5:25 am Eastern Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the 36th flight of this Falcon 9 booster, designated B1067, which made its first flight five years ago. (7/9)

Starlink Now Used to Track Pets (Source: Space News)
The latest application for Starlink is dog tracking. Pet technology company Fi launched a dog tracker Wednesday that uses T-Mobile's Starlink-enabled T-Satellite service to remain connected across the United States, even outside the telco's terrestrial network. The company said Fi Ultra marks the first consumer product outside smartphones to ship with Starlink Direct-to-Cell as a core feature. The company expects a "meaningful share" of its customer base to upgrade to the Starlink-enabled tracker, especially those in rural regions or who travel in remote areas. (7/8)

Cosmic Rays Could Help Detect Orbital Nukes (Source: Science News)
Cosmic rays could help detect orbiting nuclear weapons. A study published this week discussed how a satellite could determine if another satellite had a nuclear weapon by approaching it with a neutron detector. A surge of neutrons would be a telltale sign that the spacecraft had a nuclear weapon, as cosmic rays would interact with the bomb's fissile material creating the neutrons. Experts caution, though, that the satellite with detectors would have to come very close to the spacecraft to detect the neutron, which would raise concerns. (7/9)

Australian Beach Debris Likely From Launch Vehicles (Source: New York Times)
Spherical tanks that washed ashore on an Australian beach likely came from a launch vehicle. The metallic tanks, about a meter across, washed ashore over the weekend on beaches in Queensland. The Australian Space Agency said it concluded the tanks are pressure vessels from a launch vehicle. It added it believes it has identified the source of the tanks but did not disclose it, saying it was in discussions with international authorities to confirm the source of the tanks. (7/9)

Loft Orbital Books Multiple Launches Aboard MaiaSpace Rockets (Source: European Spaceflight)
US-based satellite operator Loft Orbital has signed a multi-launch agreement with ArianeGroup subsidiary MaiaSpace. Although the announcement provided few details, it did share that the first flight was expected in 2028. (7/9)

New Singapore Space Agency Seeks to Build Up the Country’s Space Industry (Source: Space News)
Singapore's new space agency has signed a cooperative agreement with Japan. At the Spacetide conference this week, the National Space Agency of Singapore (NSAS) signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Japanese space agency JAXA covering potential joint work in areas ranging from space technology to industry development. The agreement is the first signed by NSAS since it began operations April 1. The agency has several mandates, which include growing the country's space industry and developing a national space law. (7/8)

New Horizons Wakes Up 6 Billion Miles Beyond Jupiter (Source: Space.com)
NASA's New Horizons probe has woken up in good health nearly 6 billion miles away beyond Pluto after spending nearly a year in hibernation. Traveling such vast distances between our solar system's most remote objects means New Horizons often cruises for months at a time with little to do other than passively collect data. During these periods, the probe goes into a hibernation mode in which its instruments still collect data, but most other systems power down. (7/8)

Starlink Halts New Sign-ups in Seven Counties as Capacity Exhausted (Source: Business Daily Africa)
Starlink has suspended new customer sign-ups in seven countries including Nairobi, Kiambu, Mombasa, and Machakos after surging demand exhausted available network capacity, signaling mounting pressure on its rapidly expanding connectivity services. (7/8)

Payloads Used to Dictate the Terms of Launch. That’s Finally Changing (Source: Ars Technica)
It wasn’t easy to find anyone outside of SpaceX clamoring for a rocket like Starship just 10 years ago. Today, the space industry can’t wait for Starship to finally deliver. With a payload capacity of more than 100 metric tons (220,000 pounds) to low-Earth orbit, SpaceX’s new rocket is changing the thinking of just about everyone in the space industry. With the unrealized but potentially game-changing benefits of refueling, Starship could carry the same amount of payload to higher orbits, the Moon, or Mars.

Some US satellite manufacturers are adapting for the substantial capacity of the world’s most powerful rocket. This is a reversal of how things usually go in the balance of supply and demand between launch vehicles and satellite operators. Rocket designs have long engineered their vehicles to match trends in the satellite industry. They designed for their customers’ needs, or at least for what their customers were telling them they needed. But in 2026, a new era of abundant super-heavy-lift launch promises to unlock entirely new applications for satellites. (7/9)

Oklahoma's Infinity One Spaceport: Heritage in Motion (Source: Global Spaceport Alliance)
Like many first-generation commercial spaceports, Oklahoma’s facility arrived ahead of the market. The early 2000s brought optimism about commercial spaceflight, but vehicles, regulatory frameworks, and sustainable business models lagged behind early enthusiasm. For years, the spaceport symbolized potential not yet realized, underscoring the gap between infrastructure and market readiness.

Today, that story is shifting. Recently rebranded as Infinity One Oklahoma Spaceport, the site is aligning itself with the realities and growth of the NewSpace era. The name reflects the “Infinity One” flight corridor, a strategic pathway enabling high-inclination orbital access, a clear reminder that geography still matters in spaceflight. More importantly, it signals a transition from aspiration to action. Click here. (7/7)

World's First Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine to Surge Production (Source: Interesting Engineering)
Houston-based Venus Aerospace has raised $91 million in Series B funding to expand production of its rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE), a propulsion technology that could reshape future hypersonic weapons, reusable launch systems and high-speed aircraft. The investment comes a little over a year after the company completed what it describes as the first U.S. flight of a high-thrust RDRE, validating an engine concept that aerospace engineers have pursued for decades. Venus will use the fresh capital to move the technology from flight testing toward full-rate manufacturing for defense and space customers. (7/8)

Exploration Company Expands to Houston (Source: Douglas Messier)
The Exploration Company (TEC) has opened a Rapid Innovation lab in Houston, Texas and acquired a spacecraft propulsion company as it continues to develop its Nyx crew and cargo vehicles to serve space stations in Earth orbit. A full-scale mockup of the company’s Nyx crew capsule sits at the center of the new lab, which is located near NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

TEC aims to provide crew and cargo services to commercial space stations now in development in the United States. The Franco-German company is planning to launch a Nyx cargo freighter to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2028. TEC recently completed a parachute drop test with a Nyx capsule in the Mojave Desert. The test focused the transition from drogue parachutes to the main parachutes that bring the vehicle safely to the ground. (7/9)

Unseenlabs Announces its Second Generation of Satellite for RF Detection Dedicated to Multi-domain Awareness (Source: Unseenlabs)
Unseenlabs announces the deployment of its new generation of satellites (Gen 2), scaling up its space-based radio frequency (RF) detection capabilities from focused maritime domain awareness to broader multi-domain awareness including maritime, land and space. This new generation expands Unseenlabs’ ability to provide actionable data and intelligence services, supporting customers worldwide to make informed decisions in increasingly complex operational and geopolitical environments. (7/8)

Sweden and Oman Compete for Small-Launch Traffic (Source: Space News)
It has been an interesting couple of weeks for spaceport geopolitics. Spaceports, considered the second bottleneck for space access after launchers, have been increasingly debated at the ESA level. The question is a sophisticated one: Does Europe need to finance multiple spaceports, with different sizes and characteristics, to create a system in which Kourou can be complemented by smaller, decentralized spaceports?

On the commercial side, however, the question seems to have a different tone. With the exception of PLD Space, private and smaller launcher operators seem to have already decided to invest in the smaller bets. U.S. company Firefly Aerospace is targeting the first launch of its Alpha rocket from Esrange in Sweden, in 2028. And again, both Germany’s HyImpulse and France’s Latitude signed agreements to use Oman's Etlaq Spaceport.

There is a fair amount of wishful thinking in all this. None of these companies have flown an orbital rocket yet, and signing MoUs is not the same as reaching orbit. Still, it would be interesting and slightly worrying if, after so much bureaucratic debate over “spaceports yes” or “spaceports no,” Oman takes the lead on something Europe could have arranged by itself. (7/8)

Venus Aerospace Raises $91 Million for Hypersonic Engine Development (Source: Space News)
Hypersonic propulsion startup Venus Aerospace has raised $91 million. The company said the new capital will fund engine development and manufacturing as it seeks to scale production of its rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) from flight testing toward operational deployment. The reusable, throttleable engine is intended for a range of missions, including munitions, space launch vehicles, orbital transfer vehicles and lunar landers. (7/8)

Italy's D-Orbit to Support Japan's ArkEdge with Launch Logistics (Source: Space News)
Italian space logistics specialist D-Orbit will provide a series of launches aboard its ION Satellite Carrier for Japanese startup ArkEdge Space. D-Orbit will send ArkEdge satellites to sun-synchronous orbit in 2027 and 2028 on an undisclosed number of missions, the companies announced Tuesday. D-Orbit's ION has completed 23 missions with the most recent ION launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission Tuesday. (7/8)

The Government’s Options to Address Strained Spaceports (Source: Space News)
Industry officials are offering a range of options to deal with strained launch sites. The concepts range from additional funding for spaceport infrastructure improvements to more cooperation among government agencies in dealing with launch site upgrades. The ideas are, in many cases, not new but are getting more attention after the Blue Origin New Glenn pad explosion in May. (7/8)

Apolink Deploys 3U Cubesat to Test S-Band Intersatellite Links (Source: Space News)
Among the payloads on Transporter-17 was the first satellite for data-relay startup Apolink. The 3U cubesat will test intersatellite links in S-band using a novel experimental license from the FCC. That license allows Apolink's cubesat to receive S-band signals from designated partner satellites on an unprotected and non-interference basis, before storing and forwarding them to approved ground stations. The IPoS-TDsM, or Interoperability Protocol over Satellite – Technology Demonstration Mission, is designed to close low-power links at distances of up to about 150 kilometers during line-of-sight passes. (7/8)

Orbit Fab Gets New CEO, New Investment for In-Orbit Fueling (Source: Space News)
Satellite refueling company Orbit Fab has a new CEO and additional funding as it moves from technology development to commercial operations. The company announced Tuesday it hired Peter Shaper, a former CEO of satellite services companies CapRock Communications and Speedcast, while lead investor Stride Capital is providing more than $25 million in interim financing as it works closing a Series B round.

Shaper said he is tasked with taking Orbit Fab's technology to refuel satellites in orbit, with three demo missions planned in the next 18 to 24 months, and turning it into a commercial service with the U.S. government as a likely initial customer. (7/8)

Space Systems Command Awards SES 5-Year Blanket Purchase Agreement (Source: Via Satellite)
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) has awarded SES Space and Defense a five-year blanket purchase agreement (BPA) for global Ku-band connectivity, including a number of managed connectivity services. (7/8)

VSFB Announces ‘Spaceport of the Future' Industry Day to Drive Large-Scale Infrastructure Modernization (Source: USSF)
Space Launch Delta 30 is scheduled to host a "Spaceport of the Future" Industry Day  on July 29 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Industry Day aims to align government and industry partners on a large-scale infrastructure recapitalization effort designed to transform the base into a high-capacity spaceport.

The Industry Day will gather executive-level decision-makers, site leads, and organizations specializing in large-scale infrastructure, power grid expansion, environmental planning, logistics, and venture capital. Topics of discussion will include streamlining contract procurement timelines, exploring public-private collaboration models, and implementing shared-use infrastructure strategies. (7/6)

Blue Origin Reportedly Raising $10B at $130B Valuation (Source: Tech Crunch)
Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space rocket company Blue Origin is raising $10 billion at a $130 billion pre-money valuation from Coatue Asset Management, Bezos himself, and other large investors. Coatue is expected to invest about $4 billion in the round, which would be Blue Origin’s first external fundraise. Bezos is said to be committing $2 billion, and the other investors will account for the remaining funds, according to the report. (7/8)

AST SpaceMobile Adds Three More BlueBird Satellites to LEO (Source: Space News)
AST SpaceMobile has deployed three additional BlueBird satellites into low Earth orbit, moving ahead of its plan to build a space-based cellular broadband network. The company is targeting deployment of 45 to 60 satellites by the end of the year as it scales capacity in-orbit. (7/8)

Component Anomaly Delays Thaicom 9, Affecting Other Astranis Satellites Too (Source: Space Intel Report)
Thaicom says its Thaicom 9 satellite—previously scheduled for launch in 2024—has been delayed to March 2027 following a power system anomaly identified on one of the four other Astranis Space Technologies micro-GEO satellites that were sharing a SpaceX launch. The issue drives a multi-satellite schedule slip for the cluster. (7/8)

CesiumAstro Files FCC Application for 737-Satellite “Synchronicity” Reconfigurable Connectivity Constellation (Source: Via Satellite)
CesiumAstro submitted an FCC filing for a 737-satellite constellation called Synchronicity to provide reconfigurable connectivity to fixed and mobile satellite users. CesiumAstro, which is based in Austin, Texas, builds software-defined radios and phased arrays and processor systems, and has moved into end-to-end missions. Last year the company announced its Element reconfigurable satellite platform, but this is the first indication it plans to launch its own constellation. (7/7)