June 25, 2026

SpaceX Sheds $400bn in Market Value as Debut Rally Hits Reverse (Source: Financial Times)
SpaceX shed $400 billion in market value on Monday in a fresh bout of volatility for the rockets and AI company following its record-breaking Wall Street debut. The sharp reversal in SpaceX shares comes as US government bond yields have risen sharply on expectations the Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates in the coming months to tame inflation. Higher yields on ultra-low-risk Treasuries are caustic for richly valued tech groups such as SpaceX, which trades at more than 100 times its revenue last year. The $400bn hit to SpaceX’s market capitalization on Monday ranks as the second-biggest one-day loss suffered by any company. (6/22)

Rocket Factory Augsburg Details RFA ONE Upgrades and RFA TWO Plans (Source: European Spaceflight)
During an OHB Capital Markets Update in May, German launch services provider Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) outlined its planned path toward developing a fully reusable heavy-lift rocket called RFA TWO. RFA was founded as a spin-off of OHB, which still holds a 65% stake in the company. It is currently developing its RFA ONE rocket, which it plans to launch for the first time later this year. The rocket is designed to deliver payloads of up to 1,300 kilograms to low Earth orbit.

Block 2 will introduce a reusable first stage and an upgraded Helix rocket engine, increasing the vehicle’s payload capacity to 1.5 tonnes to low Earth orbit when flown in an expendable configuration. The upgraded RFA ONE variant is expected to stand 45 meters tall and enter service in 2028. Beyond RFA ONE, the company plans to scale significantly from the smaller launcher to a fully reusable heavy-lift vehicle. RFA TWO would be powered by 100-tonne-thrust Helix X engines and capable of carrying up to 15 tonnes to low Earth orbit in a fully reusable configuration. (6/24)

UCF Official Takes Role as State Department Space Advisor (Source: USDOS)
Dr. Greg Autry has been assigned as Senior Advisor for Space in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES). Dr. Autry brings a distinguished record of public service, academic leadership, and entrepreneurial innovation to this role and will play a pivotal part in advancing U.S. leadership in space.
 
Dr. Autry joins OES from the University of Central Florida, where he serves as Associate Provost for Space. A seasoned space policy expert, he has served on the NASA Agency Review Team, as NASA's White House Liaison, and has twice been nominated by the President to serve as NASA's Chief Financial Officer. (6/24)

FAA, Air Space Intelligence Sign $875M Modernization Deal (Source: ExecutiveBiz)
The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Air Space Intelligence an $875 million contract to modernize the National Airspace System over 12 years. Air Space Intelligence will deploy the Flow Management Data and Services and Strategic Management of Airspace, Routing and Trajectories platforms, aiming to improve efficiency and increase airspace capacity. (6/23)

Starlink to EU Commission: The US Respects ITU Priority Filings on Mobile Satellite Spectrum. You Should Too (Source: Space Intel Report)
SpaceX Starlink asked European regulators to justify their planned allocation of S-band mobile satellite spectrum given SpaceX’s pending $20-billion purchase of EchoStar’s S-band portfolio, which has global priority at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). At the D2D Policy Forum, David Goldman, SpaceX vice president for satellite policy, said Starlilnk was specifically told by US and other national regulators that they would not undertake national allocations of MSS spectrum. (6/23)

SpaceX Is Sitting on $100.8 Billion in Cash to Fund Starship and Starlink V3 (Source: Mach 33)
SpaceX held approximately $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19, 2026, up from $15.9 billion at the end of Q1 2026, per its IPO prospectus and subsequent filing. The jump came almost entirely from its June 12 Nasdaq IPO, which raised $85.7 billion, the largest in history. The balance gives SpaceX one of the deepest cash positions of any company entering a heavy capital-spending phase.

SpaceX needs that cushion to scale two programs at once. It has spent more than $15 billion on Starship to date, including $930 million in Q1 2026 alone, and Starship is the only vehicle capable of deploying its next-generation V3 Starlink satellites, which begin reaching orbit in the second half of 2026. Each Starship flight is expected to add more than 20 times the Starlink capacity of a current Falcon launch, with individual V3 satellites delivering about one terabit per second, per SpaceNews. Funding that buildout from cash on hand, rather than leaning further on external capital, is what the IPO proceeds were raised to do. (6/23)

SpaceX Starfall Could Unlock New Markets (Source: Mach 33)
On June 23, 2026, SpaceX flew the first demo of Starfall, an uncrewed, disk-shaped capsule that can return about 1,000 kg of payload from orbit. The combination of Starship and Starfall will dramatically reduce the cost of returning goods from space, the precursor to the in-space manufacturing and point-to-point cargo industries.

Starfall targets two markets no one has cracked at scale: in-space manufacturing (purer pharmaceuticals, exotic alloys, flawless semiconductor wafers, etc.) and point-to-point cargo through low Earth orbit. Built to be mass-producible and autonomous, Starfall extends SpaceX's vertical integration from launch all the way to recovery, entering it into competition with other specialized reentry capsule players, such as Varda. (6/23)

Could Cosmic Memory Explain Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Black Holes? (Source: Science Daily)
A new theory suggests the universe is constantly recording its own history in the fabric of spacetime. If correct, this cosmic memory could help solve some of the biggest puzzles in physics, from black holes to dark matter and the universe’s ultimate fate.

At its core is a simple but powerful claim: spacetime is not smooth, but discrete – made of tiny “cells”, which is what quantum mechanics suggests. Each cell can store a quantum imprint of every interaction, like the passage of a particle or even the influence of a force such as electromagnetism or nuclear interactions, that passes through. Each event leaves behind a tiny change in the local quantum state of the spacetime cell. (6/18)

We Must Ensure the Next War is Won, Not Lost, in Space. That Starts with Acquisition (Source: Breaking Defense)
Our ability to maintain our advantages in space while denying them to a sophisticated adversary has become a baseline requirement for everything we do in the maritime, air, ground, and cyber domains. But even as America’s space capabilities play a vital role in modern operations, that advantage is not guaranteed, and our comfortable and familiar bureaucratic behaviors are actively putting it at risk.

For decades, the national security enterprise relied on “exquisite” space systems: massive, multi-billion-dollar satellites that take years to design and build but are expected to survive passively in orbit for 15 years or more. In the world we face today, these platforms are exceptionally soft targets. If an adversary jams a legacy communications node or destroys a critical observation asset today, replacing that capability takes years. This is a systemic vulnerability we cannot afford.

We must normalize a new tier of space capabilities built upon highly resilient, rapid, and mass-proliferated orbital architectures. True space superiority requires systems capable of active orbital mobility that can maneuver on demand, inspect anomalies in real time, and actively service or physically safeguard our critical infrastructure under fire by firing back. If an adversary disrupts an asset, three more should be ready to launch or reposition immediately. (6/24)

NASA Names Sean Gallagher as Chief Information Officer (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected Sean Gallagher as the agency’s chief information officer (CIO). In this role, he is responsible for the agency’s entire portfolio of Information Technology products and services. Gallagher has been serving in an acting capacity since January and his permanent role is effective immediately. (6/23)

Stellar Explosion Visible in Night Sky (Source: Space.com)
A once-in-a-lifetime stellar eruption could occur at any time, potentially causing a 'new star' to appear in the night sky. If it does, the star system T Coronae Borealis could suddenly brighten to rival Polaris, the North Star. "Blaze Star" T. Coronae Borealis (T CrB) is a prime example of a recurring nova.

This thermonuclear explosion erupts from the atmosphere of a white dwarf star roughly once every 80 years, when it reaches a point of critical mass, having stripped vast quantities of material from a co-orbiting red giant. After each eruption, the white dwarf returns to vampirically feeding on its companion star, until ready to start the process anew. Recurring novas like T CrB are extremely rare, with only five known to exist within the entirety of the Milky Way, according to NASA. (6/23)

NASA’s Moon Plan Depends on 15 Starship Launches. There’s Just One Problem (Source: Gizmodo)
The report warns that Kennedy isn’t ready to support a high launch cadence for super heavy-lift rockets like Starship. “NASA’s launch infrastructure is dated and lacks the capacity to meet the growing demands of the agency and government and commercial partners,” it states. If NASA hopes to put astronauts back on the Moon before the decade is out, upgrading Kennedy’s aging infrastructure may prove just as critical as developing the spacecraft themselves. Otherwise, the agency’s lunar ambitions could end up bottlenecked not by vehicle readiness, but by the spaceport meant to launch them. (6/23)

Here's How Many Rovers NASA's Landed On Mars (And How Many Are Still Active) (Source: Jalopnik)
From the pint-sized Sojourner — the first rover to hit Mars' surface, in 1997 — to the markedly chonkier Perseverance that landed on the Red Planet in 2021, all five of NASA's rovers have served their NASA masters well. So what exactly have these high-tech (and presumably quite dusty) mobile science labs accomplished over the years? And what are the two remaining fully operational Mars rovers up to these days? Click here. (6/24)

Musk's Original 2001 Plan for Mars Wasn't a Colony — it Was a Tiny Greenhouse Called Mars Oasis, Meant to Grow Plants and Reignite Public Interest in Space (Source: Silicon Canals)
The most consequential Mars plan Elon Musk ever made was not Starship, not a million-person city, and not the colony rhetoric he is famous for now. It was a tabletop-sized greenhouse he never managed to launch. The mission was called Mars Oasis, and almost everything SpaceX became can be traced back to its failure. In 2001, a 30-year-old Musk was in Russia trying to buy a refurbished ICBM. He was not there to start a rocket company. He was there to bolt a small robotic greenhouse onto the top of a converted weapon and send it to another planet.

Beside everything that came later, the plan was almost disarmingly modest. A sealed chamber would land on the Martian surface, carry seeds or food crops, hydrate them inside a controlled enclosure, and send back a photograph of green life against red ground. That was the original emotional payload. Not Starship. Not a colony carved into the regolith. At the beginning, the plan was closer to a terrarium than an empire. (6/24)

Vast Signs Additional Partners for Commercial Space Station Microgravity Research (Source: Space News)
Commercial space station developer Vast has partnered with four new organizations to expand its microgravity research and manufacturing network aboard its upcoming Haven stations. They include: UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute, Auxilium Biotechnologies, LambdaVision, and BioOrbit. (6/24)

York Satellite Demonstrates Two-Way UHF Communications From Low Earth Orbit (Source: Space News)
York Space Systems said June 24 that a satellite it built for the U.S. Space Force successfully demonstrated two-way tactical communications using ultra-high-frequency (UHF) links from low Earth orbit. This was part of an experiment to test whether communications now provided by geostationary satellites can be delivered from low orbit. (6/24)

June 24, 2026

SpaceX Launches Starfall Test (and Probably Something Else) on Tuesday From Florida (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched a test flight of its Starfall reentry vehicle Tuesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:53 a.m. Eastern on what SpaceX called the Starfall Demo mission. The mission was designed to test the company's Starfall reentry vehicle, including demonstrating controlled flight in space and a reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX released few other details about the mission, including confirmation of a successful splashdown. The secretive nature of the launch and use of a droneship landing for the first stage despite the relatively small size of Starfall led to speculation that the launch also carried other, classified payloads. (6/24)

Sophia Space Picks Apex Bus for In-Space Computing (Source: Space News)
In-space computing company Sophia Space will use a satellite bus from Apex for its first mission. Sophia said Tuesday it plans to demonstrate its Thermal Integrated LEO Edge (TILE) compute module in 2027 in an Apex Nova bus. TILE is designed to enable passive computing alongside in-situ data processing, AI acceleration and edge computing for satellites, defense systems and commercial space stations. Sophia Space also raised $7 million in additional funding to accelerate that test flight, which had been scheduled for 2028. (6/24)

Loft Orbital Testing AI with JPL for Earth Science (Source: Space News)
Loft Orbital is working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to test the use of AI on spacecraft to improve Earth science monitoring. The company said Tuesday it signed an agreement with JPL to use the lab's AI software on its spacecraft, showing how it can be used to analyze imagery in real time onboard. That analysis can be used to autonomously identify areas of interest and transmit that information to other spacecraft for followup observations. Tests of the AI system started this month with additional tests planned for 2027 and 2028, as Loft deploys a 10-satellite system equipped with sensors and AI computing systems. (6/24)

Ireland's Ubotica Raises $11 Million for Satellite AI (Source: Space News)
Ubotica Technologies, an Irish company focused on artificial intelligence for spacecraft, has raised $11 million. The company said the funding round, led by Act Venture Capital and Greencode Ventures, will help it expand commercial sales of its maritime-intelligence platform. That platform, Live Maritime Intelligence (LMI), was unveiled in April and is designed to help satellites analyze data and take action in orbit. (6/24)

Satellogic and SynMax Developing AI for Imaging Satellites (Source: Space News)
Satellogic is partnering with analytics firm SynMax to develop AI-powered intelligence products for its imaging satellites. The companies said Tuesday that SynMax will integrate data collected by Satellogic's satellites with additional intelligence sources through its analytics platform, aiming to help customers detect changes, close coverage gaps and identify potential threats more quickly. Satellogic operates 18 Earth observation satellites and is preparing to begin deploying its next-generation Merlin constellation, which will provide daily global coverage at a resolution of one meter. (6/24)

New Zealand Joins NATO Responsive Launch Program (Source: Radio New Zealand)
New Zealand is joining a NATO responsive launch program. The New Zealand government said it had obtained observer status for Starlift, a NATO program to pool launch resources to be able to rapidly launch spacecraft during a crisis. The country's military said that joining Starlift was a "low-cost, low-risk step" to keep the country aligned with allies and keep open opportunities for future involvement. New Zealand's participation in Starlift would likely involve Rocket Lab, but officials provided no specifics. (6/24)

Japan's Rakuten Partners with AST SpaceMobile for Satellite Expansion (Source: Yomiuri Shimbun)
Japanese mobile operator Rakuten Mobile plans to partner with AST SpaceMobile. The companies are planning a joint venture that would fund multiple AST SpaceMobile satellites, using them to provide direct-to-device services to Rakuten Mobile customers. The companies did not disclose financial details of the partnership. (6/24)

Boeing Wins $2 Billion Contract for Space Force Commsats (Source: Space News)
Boeing won a contract worth up to $2 billion to build two next-generation military communications satellites for the U.S. Space Force. The contract announced Tuesday covers the design, development, production and testing of two satellites for the Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, the military's primary narrowband communications constellation operating in geostationary orbit.

Often described as a cellphone network in space, the system allows users equipped with relatively small terminals to communicate far beyond the reach of terrestrial networks. Lockheed Martin built the five MUOS satellites currently operating, and competed with Boeing for this contract. The new satellites are scheduled for delivery by 2035. (6/24)

BAE to Build Imaging Satellites for Vantor (Source: Space News)
BAE Systems will build new imaging spacecraft for Vantor. The companies announced Wednesday that BAE Systems will build two Vantage satellites, capable of providing imagery at a resolution of 20 centimeters. The Vantage satellites will enter service by the end of the decade. The award returns a familiar name to Vantor’s supply chain. Before its acquisition by BAE Systems in 2024, Ball Aerospace built DigitalGlobe’s Earth-observation satellites, including WorldView-1, WorldView-2 and WorldView-3. Ball supplied the spacecraft buses, imaging instruments and camera systems. DigitalGlobe later became part of Maxar, then split off to become Vantor. (6/24)

Germany's OHB Raises $557.6 Million in Stock Sale, Supporting RFA and Other Ventures (Source: Space News)
OHB is raising about half a billion euros in a stock sale to fund expansion and potential acquisitions. The company announced this week it would sell shares to raise 490.2 million euros ($557.6 million) after expenses. The stock sale will increase the number of shares available on the public markets; previously, nearly all the shares were owned by the Fuchs family that founded the company and private equity firm KKR. OHB said the capital raised from the sale would allow it to capitalize on growing opportunities, particularly on civil and defense space activities in Europe. The funds will also help Rocket Factory Augsburg, a launch startup that OHB owns 65% of, as it prepares for its first launch later this year and development of upgraded vehicles. (6/24)

SpaceConnect Association to Support Non Geostationary Satellite Operators (Source: Space News)
A new trade association seeks to help the NGSO satellite industry, but is missing its largest player. The SpaceConnect Association, announced Wednesday, was founded by Amazon along with Globalstar, Iridium and Telesat. The organization says that it will work to advance policies to help companies like those developing non-geostationary orbit satellite systems. That includes agenda items for next year's World Radio Communication Conference and concerns about the EU Space Act. Notably absent from the group is SpaceX, by far the largest NGSO satellite operator. The group said that SpaceX is welcome to join. (6/24)

Hegseth: $1.5 Trillion DoD Budget Crucial for US Economic Stability (Source: New York Post)
SecDef Pete Hegseth has emphasized the need for significant defense spending to maintain America's economic strength, supporting President Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget and highlighting efforts to pass a financial audit and reduce non-priority spending. "If America loses its unquestioned military edge, no amount of fiscal austerity can maintain this nation's economic health," Hegseth writes. (6/23)

A US Military Exercise in Space Got Underway with Barely Anyone Noticing (Source: Ars Technica)
Victus Haze is the US military’s latest responsive space mission. The Space Force announced plans for the mission in 2024 when it selected Rocket Lab and True Anomaly to build and launch two satellites into low-Earth orbit. At a high level, the idea was to launch a small satellite built by True Anomaly first, posing as a satellite from a potential adversary, like China or Russia. Rocket Lab was supposed to have a satellite on standby to go up and inspect True Anomaly’s spacecraft, ready to launch on short notice once military officials gave the order. The objective of the Victus Haze mission is to demonstrate how the military and its commercial partners might be able to quickly go up and assess a threat in orbit. (6/22)

Former SES Exec John-Paul Hemingway to Lead Vast’s Satellite Business (Source: Via Satellite)
SES’s former CCO John-Paul Hemingway has joined Vast to lead business development for Vast’s new satellite manufacturing business. Hemingway is now senior vice president of satellite business development and commercialization for Vast. (6/22)

California Startup Building Commercial GPS Alternative as Jamming Threats Grow (Source: AeroTime)
As GPS jamming and spoofing become a growing concern for aviation, defense and space operators, a California satellite startup is developing a low-Earth-orbit navigation network designed to provide a commercial backup that is harder to jam. Xona Space Systems is developing Pulsar, a positioning, navigation and timing constellation that differs from GPS because its satellites will operate much closer to Earth. The company says the system is designed to provide high-accuracy location and timing services, including centimeter-level positioning. (6/22)

ISS De-Orbit Raises Concerns About Ocean Health Impacts (Source: Space.com)
NASA's plan to deorbit the ISS has stirred up a wave of reaction by a leading ocean conservation organization. The Ocean Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-headquartered group with a mission to improve global ocean health and the human relationship with the sea via carefully chosen strategies and projects, says the planned deorbit of the ISS "raises serious concerns for ocean health that the space community has not adequately grappled with," according to Mark Spalding, president of the foundation.

"There is a troubling structural gap in international law that the ISS de-orbit throws into sharp relief." Under the Space Liability Convention of 1972, if space debris falls on another nation's territory or damages property, Spalding said, the launching nation owes compensation - absolutely and without needing to prove fault. "But no equivalent protection exists for the ocean," he said.

"As a result, when space agencies have control over where debris falls, they aim for the high seas, and in doing so, they incur no legal obligation to pay for cleanup or environmental remediation," said Spalding. "The ocean and its creatures deserve the same protection that international law affords to national territories." (6/23)

Hidden Dark Force May Slow Cosmic Structure Growth, Not Speed it Up (Source: Phys.org)
Dark matter is often portrayed as a cosmic loner, interacting with itself and the rest of the universe only through gravity. But what if dark matter particles also exert a hidden force on one another? A new study explored this possibility and uncovered an unexpected result. While an additional attractive force does help dark matter particles cluster together, it does not necessarily produce the extra growth of cosmic structure that intuition would suggest. In fact, the opposite is usually the case. (6/23)

Europa’s Surface is Almost Too Clean (Source: Space Daily)
Europa, the ice-covered moon of Jupiter, has a problem that turns out to be a clue. Almost nothing has left a lasting mark on it. In a Solar System that has been pelting its planets and moons with rock and ice for four and a half billion years, an old surface should be crowded with impact craters. Europa’s is nearly bare. That absence is the whole story. If the craters are not there, the simplest reason is that the surface has not been around long enough to collect them.

Something keeps wiping it clean. To keep remaking a surface, a moon needs a source of energy, and Europa has a powerful one. Its orbit around Jupiter is slightly stretched, held that way by a steady gravitational tug-of-war with the neighbouring moons Io and Ganymede. As Europa travels that orbit, Jupiter’s enormous gravity flexes it, and the constant flexing generates heat inside the moon. (6/23)

Einstein Probe Detects Mysterious X-Ray Transient That Doesn't Fit Any Known Class (Source: Phys.org)
Astronomers have reported the discovery of an unusual X-ray transient detected by the Einstein Probe that does not fit any known class of cosmic explosions. On March 5, 2024, a space telescope called the Einstein Probe—designed to scan the sky for sudden X-ray flashes—caught a brief, never-before-seen source called EP240305a. It produced two brief X-ray flares, one right after the other, separated by about 200 seconds of quiet.

Researchers quickly pointed several telescopes at this source to gather more data in X-rays, infrared, optical and radio wavelengths. They noticed that the X-rays faded rapidly over the following days, while radio observations faded much more slowly over weeks, revealing evidence of an evolving jet. A faint, fading near-infrared source was spotted at the location, and there was no detection at optical wavelengths. (6/23)

NASA Awards Solutions for Federal Enterprise Procurement Contracts (Source: NASA)
NASA will begin processing the awards of multiple contracts for the Solutions for Enterprise‑wide Procurement (SEWP) VI Government-wide Acquisition Contract. The contract provides streamlined access to commercial products and services, including hardware, software, cloud services, cybersecurity tools, engineering and consulting services, and data intensive mission support capabilities. Click here. (6/23)

Ukranian Mobile Operator Kyivstar: We Have 6 Million Users of Starlink Mobile D2D Using 2×5 MHz; No Interference Issues (Source: Space Intel Report)
Ukrainian mobile network operator Kyivstar said it booked more than 5 million unique users in the first three months of using Starlink Mobile’s direct-to-device (D2D) service, with more than 9 million messages transmitted. The 2x 5MHz spectrum available for the service can support up to 2 million SMS users per day, including during blackouts, with a standard usage of up to 300,000 users per day. (6/23)

ESA Details Next Steps for Agency’s Gateway Contributions (Source: European Spaceflight)
ESA has made initial decisions on the future of its contributions to NASA’s Gateway space station after NASA “paused” the program. The agency largely expects to proceed with developing most of its planned Gateway hardware while awaiting the results of studies on how best to repurpose each element. ESA committed to providing three primary contributions to Gateway: the Lunar I-Hab habitation module, the Lunar View logistics and refueling module, and the Lunar Link communications system.

Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration, said work to develop I-Hab would continue until its critical design review, the last major design phase before full-scale manufacturing begins. The agency will then assess whether it can be repurposed. On Lunar View, Neuenschwander explained that the agency would “slow down the pace of activities.” The agency intends to “keep the key technologies required in order to go towards deep space exploration.” (6/23)

India to Share Rocket Tech to Hasten Development of Space Firms (Source: Bloomberg)
India said it plans to share its technology involving the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the country’s most reliable rocket, to help speed up development of the local space industry. “We have released an expression of interest to transfer the technology of the PSLV rocket to the private sector,” Pawan Goenka, chairman of Indian National Space promotion and Authorization Centre, said in a recent interview. Only “companies that are majority owned and controlled by Indians” will qualify, he said. (6/22)

Military Expert Issues Warning About Australia’s Space Defenses (Source: News.com.au)
Chinese and Russian space weapons could leave Australia “deaf, dumb, and blind” at the beginning of a war, a military expert has warned. Dr Malcolm Davis from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said Australia’s enemies could target GPS satellites, leaving our forces unable to communicate and completely unaware of what’s happening on the battlefield. (6/23)

Australia Closer to Space Warfare as 16 Recruits Pass First Defense Space Command Training (Source: Nine.com)
Australia is one step closer to fighting the threat of space warfare as the first troops of a sophisticated new recruitment campaign earn their credentials. Sixteen recruits have graduated from the Defense Space Command’s inaugural training course as part of the government’s $10 billion investment into expanding the country’s capabilities over the next decade. (6/21)

Vandenberg Space Force Base Seeks Industry Partners to Revive Inactive Launch Complex (Source: EdHat)
The U.S. Space Force is looking for commercial partners to develop and operate a new small to medium rocket launch facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base, officials announced. Vandenberg has issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking launch service providers interested in financing, designing, constructing, and operating Space Launch Complex-9 (SLC-9), one of 11 currently inactive launch sites at the base. The selected company would enter into a real property use agreement to provide launch services for the Department of War, other federal agencies, and commercial customers. (6/22)

SpaceX Shares Eke Out a Gain to Snap Three Day Losing Streak (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX shares ended higher on Tuesday, snapping a three-day selloff that wiped out more than $600 billion from the Elon Musk-led rocket and satellite company’s market value. The stock gained 1% to close at $156.11 after a choppy session that saw shares slip as much as 4.8%, then jump 7.1% before paring much of that advance by market close. The volatility came amid a broad-based slide in technology and other high-momentum stocks after a selloff in Korean chipmakers stoked fears about the rally in companies involved in artificial intelligence. (6/23)

With Help From Florida's RS&H, Utah's Spaceport Ambitions Enter a New Phase (Source: Tech Buzz)
In a Senate Building at the State Capitol, a committee of policymakers, aerospace experts, transportation leaders, and economic development officials took a step that could reshape the state’s economic and aerospace future. The Utah Spaceport Exploration Committee, meeting for the ninth time since its creation under SB 62 in the 2025 legislative session, formally advanced into Phase Two of a state-commissioned study to identify where — and how — Utah might build a commercial spaceport. The answer, at least for now, comes down to two places: Delta and Green River.

Those two small, rural communities, separated by roughly 140 miles of high desert, survived a rigorous multi-criteria screening of seven candidate sites conducted by the committee’s consulting team, RS&H, a national aerospace infrastructure firm with six decades of spaceport work in its portfolio.

Founded in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1941, RS&H initially built its reputation designing military aviation facilities. By the 1960s, the firm had been selected to support NASA's piloted spaceflight infrastructure and U.S. Air Force missile programs. Over the decades, RS&H expanded into one of the country's leading aerospace infrastructure consultancies, working across airports, launch facilities, military installations, and commercial space projects. Today the company provides end-to-end spaceport consulting services. (6/19)

BRICS Space Agencies Meet in Bengaluru (Source: The Hindu)
The two day BRICS Heads of Space Agencies (HOSA) 2026 meet began on Tuesday in Bengaluru. India, as Chair of BRICS for 2026, is hosting HOSA and heads and senior representatives of the space agencies of the 11 BRICS member countries — Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates — are attending the meeting. The theme is ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’. (6/23)

Final Meetings Planned for Texas' Concho Valley Spaceport Feasibility Study (Supported by Florida's RS&H) (Source: Concho Valley Homepage)
The Concho Valley Council of Governments is set to host its final two spaceport feasibility study meetings soon in separate counties, offering residents an opportunity to ask questions about the region-wide evaluation. The meetings come months after CVCOG was awarded grant funding from the Texas Space Commission “to conduct a regional feasibility study examining the potential for inland spaceport development." The council selected Florida's RS&H to lead and conduct the study, with the first public meeting held in February. (6/22)

June 23, 2026

Satellogic Partners with SynMax to Build Intelligence Services Around Upcoming Merlin Constellation (Source: Space News)
Earth observation company Satellogic is partnering with analytics firm SynMax to develop AI-powered intelligence products built around the company’s new Merlin satellite constellation. The technology is aimed at defense and intelligence customers that want continuous monitoring rather than individual satellite images. (6/23)

New Model Could Help Scientists Home In on Habitable Exoplanets (Source: Space.com)
A new planetary habitability model could make the search for aliens more efficient by quickly identifying rocky worlds unlikely to sustain the atmospheres needed for life as we know it. The software, called the Smaller Than Earth Habitability Model (STEHM), allows astronomers to screen exoplanets before committing valuable telescope time to detailed observations. The model assesses whether a rocky planet can build and retain an atmosphere over billions of years — a prerequisite for life as we know it. (6/23)

Loft Orbital to Test AI Models on Spacecraft for Earth Observation (Source: Space News)
Loft Orbital is expanding its collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to test advanced artificial intelligence software directly on commercial spacecraft. By utilizing onboard computers rather than traditional ground processing, the agencies aim to improve Earth science monitoring and remote sensing. (6/23)

SpaceX Has Lofted More Satellites Than Everyone Else in History, Combined (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX just notched a remarkable launch-dominance milestone. Elon Musk's company has now lofted more spacecraft than the rest of humanity combined — and its lead is likely to grow over the coming months and years. Investor and former space-industry executive Christian Keil highlighted the achievement in a June 12 X post, which noted that SpaceX had launched 15,262 satellites as of that date. The combined total for all other companies and organizations since the dawn of the space age in 1957 was 15,138, according to Keil. (6/22)

NASA-Funded Studies Yield Advanced Aircraft Concepts For The 2050s (Source: Aviation Week)
In 2010, U.S. industry completed a series of studies that set NASA’s aeronautics research agenda for the next two decades: hybrid wing bodies, truss-braced wings, hybrid-electric propulsion and high-rate composites. As industry prepares to select technologies for a next-generation single-aisle airliner to enter service in the mid-2030s, NASA has shifted its focus to the horizon to identify concepts and technologies for aircraft entering service in 2050 and beyond. (6/23)

Faster, Higher, Farther – Experts Chart the Next Era of High-Speed Civil Flight (Source: AIAA)
Industry and government leaders describe a high-speed aviation sector that is technically close to commercial reality yet still constrained by economics, regulation, and environmental concerns. Across supersonic jets, rocket-powered point-to-point concepts and low-boom demonstrators, panelists arrived at a shared conclusion: the technology is largely ready. The questions now involve financing, markets, standards, and proof that high-speed travel can be economically viable while remaining environmentally and socially acceptable. (6/23)

ESA Selects Florida-Based NUVIEW’s ‘Moonraker’ Mission for Lunar Terrain Mapping with LiDAR (Sources: Spacewatch Global, Florida Politics)
ESA has selected NUVIEW's Moonraker mission for a Phase A study - a LiDAR spacecraft to generate high-resolution 3D terrain maps of the Moon's polar regions for future landing sites. NUVIEW is an Orlando company aiming to map every inch of Earth in 3D — and Leonardo DiCaprio is an investor. The lunar mapping study is led by the company’s German arm, NUVIEW GmbH.

“Moonraker is a direct extension of our commercial LiDAR architecture into lunar orbit,” said Katie Graumann, who the company lists as CEO of its German entity. “By adapting the systems we are deploying for Earth observation, we can provide reliable, mission-critical terrain data that helps reduce risk for future lunar landings and surface operations.” (6/22)

PLD, Rocket Factory Augsburg, MaiaSpace: 3 European Launcher Challenge players Update Their Inaugural Flight Plans (Source: Space Intel Report)
Three of the four startup launch service providers competing in the European Launcher Challenge (ELC) managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) — PLD Space, Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) and MaiaSpace provided updates on their development status. The ELC mandates that each rocket conduct at least one successor orbital launch by 2027, and then demonstrate its path toward producing a larger version of its rocket.

PLD Space (Spain) plans its inaugural MIURA 5 flight from its launch site in Kourou, with plans to initiate commercial operations in 2027. MaiaSpace (France) is readying its Maia mini-launcher with an "aero-spike" and a reusable first stage. The company is preparing to launch a "minimum viable product" configuration to reach space, aiming for a full first-stage booster recovery by 2028.

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) (Germany) is targeting a maiden test flight this summer for its RFA ONE rocket. The initial test flight, slated to carry several satellites coordinated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), will launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland. (6/22)

Melroy Joins Gilmour Board (Source: Gilmour Space)
Former NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy is joining the board of Gilmour Space. The Australian launch vehicle and satellite manufacturer announced Tuesday that Melroy, NASA's deputy administrator in the Biden administration and a former astronaut, was joining its board of directors. The company said they hoped Melroy would help the company as it seeks to expand internationally. Gilmour launched its first Eris rocket last year, which failed shortly after liftoff, and has not announced a date for its next launch attempt. (6/23)

3I/ATLAS is About 12 Billion Years Old (Source: Science)
An interstellar comet that passed through the solar system last year was extremely old. Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope, published Monday, showed that 3I/ATLAS formed about 12 billion years ago, or less than two billion years after the Big Bang. Scientists reached that conclusion based on the composition of the comet, including low amounts of a carbon isotope and presence of "semiheavy" water that forms in high-radiation regions common in the early universe. (6/23)

US Needs Space War Framework (Source: Space News)
A report finds that the U.S. military needs a framework for responding to hostile acts in space. A study by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, based on a January workshop, found that conflict in space is more complex than workshop participants expected due to the nature of the domain and a "lack of policy clarity." Participants concluded that the United States is already engaged in a sustained "gray-zone" competition with China in space and must prepare for conflict beyond simply protecting its satellite networks. The report argues that Washington needs a broader range of military response options, clearer rules for responding to hostile actions in space and greater investment in capabilities for space superiority. (6/23)

Rocket Lab Performs Responsive Launch From Virginia (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab performed an unannounced launch on short notice for a Space Force responsive space exercise. The Electron launch Friday at 6:19 a.m. Eastern was not announced in advance by the company or the Space Force and only confirmed on Monday, two days after a payload and upper stage from the launch appeared in a Space Force catalog. The launch took place less than 17 hours after the Space Force issued a formal launch order, beating the program's 24-hour requirement. The spacecraft launched by Rocket Lab, called Victus Haze Puma, is expected to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations with Jackal-004, a True Anomaly spacecraft already in orbit. (6/23)

NASA and Boeing Unsure of Starliner Return-to-Flight (Source: Space News)
NASA and Boeing are still uncertain when the Starliner spacecraft will make its next flight. At a meeting Monday of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, members said that NASA and Boeing are continuing to work through technical problems from Starliner's last flight two years ago, as well as implementing organizational changes recommended by an independent report released in February.

There is no scheduled launch date for Starliner-1, an uncrewed test flight that was previously expected to take place this year, and the panel's chair said the mission is now expected to launch sometime "in the next year or so." The panel said Boeing assured them of their commitment to the program, although NASA announced last month it plans to buy more SpaceX commercial crew flights because of Starliner delays. (6/23)

Executive Order Directs NASA to Focus on Quantum Innovation (Source: Space News)
A White House executive order on quantum technologies includes work for NASA. The "Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation" order, signed by President Trump Monday, gives NASA 120 days to submit a five-year plan for "developing and extending civilian quantum sensing and networking for space applications."

The order also directs the Pentagon to identify at least three next-generation quantum sensor projects within 60 days to prioritize for fielding by September 2028. That order, and a separate one on quantum cryptography, came the same day as U.S.-based quantum technology firm Infleqtion announced America's Quantum Space Initiative, an industry coalition aiming to advance demonstrations to operational capability. (6/23)

China's Spaceplane Releases Object in Orbit (Source: Space News)
A Chinese spaceplane has released an object in orbit. Space surveillance firm LeoLabs said Monday that its radars tracked the release of an object from the Shenlong spaceplane earlier that day. The spaceplane has been in low Earth orbit since its launch in February on its fourth mission. The detection of the object follows a pattern of China's spaceplane releasing subsatellites after reaching orbit. The spaceplane's second and third orbital missions included the main spacecraft appearing to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations with the released objects. (6/23)

China Launches Commsat on Long March 7A (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a communications test satellite Monday. A Long March 7A rocket lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport at 10:10 p.m. Eastern and placed in orbit the Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing 26A spacecraft. Chinese media said the satellite will be used for video and data communications and related testing. (6/23)

China Procurement Filing Suggests New 7-Meter Diameter Rocket in Development (Source: Space News)
China appears to be working on reusable rockets seven meters in diameter. Procurement filings by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation show the company is obtaining equipment needed to make stainless steel components for rockets seven meters across. The moves correlate with a development recommendation circulated in May 2023, in which a presentation slide suggested developing rockets of 5 meters, 7 meters and 10 meters in diameter. The smallest and largest diameters correspond to the Long March 10 and Long March 9, respectively, but there has been no public discussion of a rocket seven meters in diameter, which would be similar to Blue Origin's New Glenn. (6/23)

'Let's Not Fool the Public': Why Moon Art Should Be More Realistic in the Artemis Age (Source: Space.com)
The moon is in need of good and accurate artists! As NASA's Artemis program hits its stride, and in a few years "reboots" our moon with a human presence, there's an urgent need to guard against artistic misrepresentations of the lunar landscape, experts say. We've all seen those alluring lunar renderings of vehicles and astronauts bounding about while setting up equipment and putting in place a moon base.

"We are telling the public the moon is easy — it is not!" That's the matter-of-fact warning from Daniel Britt, the Pegasus Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida. He's also the director of the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science. (6/22)

Report: Kennedy Space Center Not Ready for Era of Super Heavy Rockets (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA’s infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center, the crown jewel of US spaceports, is aging and approaching its limit due to increased demand from private companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, a new NASA Inspector General report finds. "NASA’s launch infrastructure is dated and often does not provide the capacity to meet the growing demands of the agency and its partners," it states.

The report covers NASA’s launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. However, the most noteworthy information in the report concerns the Florida spaceport, where demand from SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicles is expected to stress NASA.
 
NASA only has a handful of launch pads at Kennedy. Launch Complex 39A is currently leased by SpaceX for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, and also houses a new launch facility that will soon support Starship launches. Launch Complex 39B is home to NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, and Launch Complex 39C has not been used due to its proximity to this pad. Finally, NASA has built a 10-acre site, Launch Complex 48, that it may lease to small launch vehicle companies. (6/22)

Starlink Denied Entry as Namibia Rebuffs 624 Appeals for License (Source: Bloomberg)
Namibia rejected more than 600 appeals against its decision to deny trillionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink a license to operate in the country, including a challenge brought by the satellite internet provider. Of the 624 reconsideration requests, only two met the jurisdictional threshold for review, the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia said Monday. Neither presented sufficient legal or factual grounds to change the original decision, it said. (6/22)

Northwood Unveils New Antenna, Expanded Network Capacity (Source: Payload)
Northwood Space unveiled a new satellite ground antenna today—called Prism—as part of an effort to significantly increase its ground station network capacity over the coming years. The new hardware comes amid Northwood’s rapid global expansion of its physical ground station footprint, and will allow the company to support more data downlinks over a wider range of frequencies. (6/22)

America is About to Cede Africa’s Space Industry to China (Source: Space News)
Africa's emerging space industry offers a strategic, high-leverage avenue for an "America First" foreign policy. By focusing on space technology, the U.S. can tap into an area where it still holds a decisive competitive advantage, securing long-term influence and economic partnerships across the continent.

If the Trump administration is serious about executing its “America First in Africa” policy and transforming American engagement on the continent, it needs to pivot foreign aid toward strategic, business-driven collaborations. Satellite data, telecommunications infrastructure, and Earth observation yield tangible, mutual benefits for American contractors and African nations.

 While ambitious, investing in launch infrastructure presents immense long-term value. High upfront costs for these sites and associated vehicle ecosystems make alternative replacement systems economically impractical, ensuring deep and lasting alliances. (6/22)

Austrian Space Forum Trains Six New Analog Astronauts for its Mars Mission Simulation (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) recently presented their Analog Astronaut Class of 2026, comprising six researchers (four women and two men) from six different European countries. They are currently undergoing intensive training for the AMADEE-27 Mars analog mission, which will be staged in the Monsaraz region of Portugal in early 2027. The crew, selected from across Europe, consists of specialists in medicine, physics, engineering, and research. (6/22)

Firefly Aerospace Expected to Secure $110 Million US EXIM Loan (Source: Reuters)
Rocket and spacecraft maker Firefly Aerospace (FLY.O), opens new tab is expected to secure a $110 million U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) loan that would help fund the company's expansion of spacecraft production facilities in Texas, according to a document ‌reviewed by Reuters. The bank's three board members are poised for a Tuesday morning vote on the loan, which is part of an EXIM initiative to help U.S. firms compete globally ​with foreign companies in artificial intelligence, space and other areas, according to the document. (6/23)

Could We Actually Terraform Mars? Scientists are Trying to Find Out (Source: Space.com)
Scientists are engaged in research with an eye toward transforming the cold climes of Mars into a far more habitable place for Earthlings in the future. One notion proposed is the dispersion of an aerosol meant to help warm up Mars' atmosphere. The idea is projected to be a first step toward terraforming the Red Planet. Also emerging recently as a new field of study is "applied astrobiology," which seeks to appraise what would be needed to create sustainable habitats and biospheres beyond Earth.

Scientists have drawn up a research blueprint for assessing the viability of warming the Red Planet, outlining what it might take to make Mars a place in space where life can thrive. Importantly, that roadmap does not presuppose that warming Mars is desirable. Rather, its purpose is to identify what is required for Mars to be warmed, what it would cost and what could go wrong. (6/22)

German Satellite Maker OHB Launches Share Sale with KKR (Source: Reuters)
German satellite maker OHB is launching ​a share sale with KKR to bring in new investors and ‌seek a higher valuation as interest in space stocks rises after Elon Musk's blockbuster SpaceX listing.
The combined offering would more than triple OHB's free float and imply a ​market value of 6.3 billion euros, positioning the company to ​capitalize on a surge in investor appetite for the ⁠sector.

OHB said it will issue up to 1.7 million new shares ​at 300 euros each, raising up to 510.7 million euros. KKR-owned ​Orchid Lux HoldCo will sell up to 1.23 million existing shares, according to a bookrunner for the deal. (6/22)

Seasoned Leadership Could Help Quantum Space’s IPO Take Off (Source: The Hill)
Quantum Space will initiate an IPO by merging with the special purpose acquisition company, Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. VI. The deal is supposed to close later this year. Quantum Space was founded several years ago with a proposed line of spacecraft called Ranger. Ranger would operate from low Earth orbit to cis-lunar space in a variety of roles.

Quantum Space is headquartered in Maryland, close to Washington, D.C., where most of its potential customers are located. It has a manufacturing plant in Hawthorne, California, an integration facility in Huntsville, and a new parts and large tanks manufacturing facility being built in Tulsa. Last month, Quantum Space named former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine as its CEO. Bridenstine brings a lot of education and experience to the role.

After leaving NASA, Bridenstine returned to his home in Tulsa, where he founded the Artemis Group, an aerospace-focused consulting and lobbying firm. Bridenstine’s education, experience and knowledge of space issues, as well as his contacts in Washington, will be important once Ranger becomes operational. (6/21)

SpaceX Declines for a Third Day After Announcing Bond Sale (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX shares slipped for a third straight day after the Elon Musk-led company said it is selling investment-grade bonds for the first time, part of what’s expected to be a massive borrowing spree to fund its artificial-intelligence ambitions. The stock fell as much as 13% Monday in New York, shedding more than $300 billion in market value and briefly dropping below the level it closed at on the first day of trading. The drop follows a retreat of more than 8% over Wednesday and Thursday. SpaceX shares were down another 7% in early trade on Monday.

SpaceX shareholders and potential investors should be aware that the end of lockup periods could cause further price declines. Lockup periods prevent early investors and employees who've been granted stock options from sell their shares right away. SpaceX shares have a staggered schedule for their lockup periods: 20% to 30% of shares will come off their lockup before the first earnings report in July or August. An additional 7% of the stock will be available after either 70, 90, 105, 120, or 135 days beyond the IPO date. A further 28% of the stock will leave its lockup period after the second-quarter report. The rest will be available 180 days after the IPO date. The traditional lockup period is 180 days. This staggered schedule is unusual. (6/22)

Financing the Final Frontier: Ledger or Lens? (Source: Space Review)
A recent $1.25 trillion cost estimate for Golden Dome caused some sticker shock. Bharath Gopalaswamy and Daniel Dant discuss how the total cost is less important than how the program, including its space-based elements, is financed. Click here. (6/22)
 
A History of the APAS Docking System (Source: Space Review)
A docking system developed for Apollo-Soyuz evolved over the years for use on Mir and the International Space Station. Maks Skiendzielewski charts the history of the APAS docking system. Click here. (6/22)
 
Yellow Fleets: Stranded Ships in Suez and the Persian Gulf (Source: Space Review)
The conflict in the Middle East has kept many ships trapped in the Persian Gulf for months. Dwayne Day and Harry Stranger describe a similar incident in the Suez Canal more than a half-century ago that was monitored by spy satellites. Click here. (6/22)
 
Space Autonomy Needs an Authority Architecture Before 2027 (Source: Space Review)
Threats to space assets mean a greater reliance on autonomy to protect them from attack. Burak Oktenli argues this means taking decisions now on what measures spacecraft can take autonomously and who will be responsible for their effects. Click here. (6/22)

June 22, 2026

‘Space Gun’ Startup Hopes to Offer Affordable Hypersonic Weapon Testing (Source: Aerospace America)
Executives at Longshot Space Technologies typically pitch the company as an alternative launch provider building a “space gun” to shoot payloads into orbit. However, upcoming tests of its launcher will further a different application: hypersonics testing. Longshot plans to build increasingly large multi-injection guns, or light gas guns. Depending on the size of these tube-shaped launchers, payloads could be fired at hypersonic speeds for military target practice or — theoretically — at high enough speeds to reach low-Earth orbit. (6/19)

SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket Just Had Its Invisible Pollution Studied For The First Time Ever (Source: BGR)
In February of 2025, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket caused a bit of a public stir when its engine failed, causing an uncontrolled re-entry back to Earth. It was supposed to land in the Pacific Ocean, but instead, parts of Europe were pelted with rocket debris. There was even large debris landing within town limits in Poland, putting people at risk. This allowed a unique study of the atmospheric pollution the Falcon 9 rocket caused.

As the rocket broke apart in the atmosphere, it released a plume of lithium vapor that drifted more than 1,000 miles across the European continent. Scientists used the event as a unique opportunity to study how re-entering spacecraft can introduce pollutants into the upper atmosphere and potentially alter its chemical composition.

Researchers detected lithium levels about 10 times higher than normal in the upper atmosphere for about 20 hours after the Falcon 9 rocket re-entered over Europe. By modeling atmospheric winds, they were able to trace the lithium plume back to the rocket's flight path, providing what they say is the first direct evidence of upper-atmosphere pollution caused by re-entering space debris. The study was published in Nature in 2026. (6/21)

Rocket Launches are Set to Skyrocket Soon at Vandenberg SFB (Source: KMPH)
Vandenberg Space Force Base on California's Central Coast has been a quiet outpost for decades, averaging less than 10 rocket launches per year for almost the past 50 years. But that has changed big time in the past couple of years, and last year was their busiest year ever: 66 rocket launches. That trend will continue, as the Air Force authorized up to 100 launches per year from Vandenberg last October. Most of those will be a mid-sized rocket from Space-X - the Falcon 9. But Vandenberg now has authorization for up to 5 much bigger Falcon Heavy launches. (6/20)

French Labor Unions Demand CNES Cancel ISS & Vast Space Flights (Source: Douglas Messier)
Four labor unions are calling for CNES to cancel plans to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and Vast Space’s commercial Haven-1 station as the French space agency faces €330 million in budget cuts.

“The surprise announcement of a contract (with a figure kept confidential) with the American start-up Vast—intended to support and finance a space tourism business model at the expense of the CNES’s [Corporate Social Responsibility] commitments, environmental concerns, science, and French industrial sovereignty—is unacceptable. Trade unions are demanding the cancellation of this arrangement and genuine consultation regarding the objectives and methods of French space exploration,” the CNES Joint Union Committee said in an announcement. (6/22)

Solid Rocket Motor Makers Open to Increased Production Commitments (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman said it and other companies are able to significantly increase production of solid rocket motors provided the government makes long-term procurement commitments. The Pentagon has warned that shortages of solid rocket motors could constrain plans to sharply increase missile production.

Manufacturers are responding to those concerns and are prepared to increase output, but annual appropriations and shorter-duration contracts make it difficult to make the long-term investments needed to support sustained growth. While the Pentagon has embraced multiyear authority for munitions contracts, Northrop noted that still depends on annual appropriations.

Editor's Note: Space Coast-based Vaya seeks to diversify its hybrid-motor space launch technology to address the need for missile motors. The company is designing versions of its hybrid motors for use in missiles. (6/22)

SpaceX Launches Sunday Starlink Mission From California (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:39 p.m. Eastern carrying 24 Starlink satellites. The launch was the 33rd flight of this Falcon 9 booster, two short of the company's current record for Falcon 9 booster reuse. (6/22)

Roman Telescope Arrives in Florida for Launch (Source: Spaceflight Now)
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has arrived in Florida for launch preparations. A barge carrying Roman arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Sunday, about a week after leaving Baltimore. Roman will undergo final preparations at KSC for its launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket currently scheduled for as soon as Aug. 30. (6/22)

Blue Origin May Use Former Space Perspective Facility at Space Coast Airport (Source: Florida Today)
Blue Origin is interested in taking over a building in Florida that had been used by a stratospheric ballooning company. Blue Origin is in talks to purchase the 200-meter-long structure at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville that had been used by Space Perspective to manufacture balloons. Space Perspective planned to fly capsules carrying tourists to altitudes of about 30 kilometers, but ran into financial problems last year. Airport officials did not disclose what Blue Origin was planning to use that building for. (6/22)

Northstar to Provide Space Surveillance for Canada's Military (Source: Northstar Earth and Space)
Northstar Earth and Space won a contract to provide space surveillance services for the Canadian military. The company announced last week an award from the Royal Canadian Air Force's 3 Canadian Space Division worth 40 million dollars Canadian ($28.2 million) to provide space surveillance capabilities for the next 12 months. The Montréal-based company announced plans in April to go public through a SPAC merger. (6/22)

Flyby Provides Details on Donaldjohanson Asteroid (Source: Scientific American)
Observations by a NASA spacecraft revealed the unusual nature of a main-belt asteroid. A paper published last week summarized observations made by NASA's Lucy spacecraft when it flew by the asteroid Donaldjohanson in April 2025. The asteroid has two lobes connected by a "neck" of material with few large craters. Planetary scientists believe Donaldjohanson formed about 155 million years ago from debris when a larger asteroid shattered in a collision. The lack of craters in the neck connecting the lobes may be linked to landslides as the asteroid's rotation period slowed. Lucy flew by Donaldjohanson on its way to study Trojan asteroids that lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit. (6/22)

ESA Astronaut Tests European Spacesuit Prototype Aboard ISS (Source: European Spaceflight)
ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot has tested a European intravehicular activity (IVA) spacesuit prototype aboard the ISS. In addition to testing in space, a second prototype has undergone a water survival test campaign in Marseille. The EuroSuit project was initiated by the French space agency CNES in December 2023, with its development led by a consortium that includes Spartan Space, the Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES), and sporting goods retailer Decathlon. (6/22)

Parker Solar Probe Flew Through Solar Corona and Found a Unpredicted Source of High-Energy Particles (Source: Space Daily)
When NASA’s Parker Solar Probe passed through the solar corona during perihelion encounters at the heliospheric current sheet, its instruments recorded energetic protons at energies far above what existing models of particle acceleration at that location could account for. The team identified magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet as the mechanism responsible. The proton energies detected were, in the study’s framing, approximately a thousand times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle that models of this process had predicted. (6/20)

Canada Acquires BAE Radar System to Monitor Arctic (Source: CBC)
In 2026, Canada finalized a $2.5-billion agreement with Australia and BAE Systems Australia for the acquisition of the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar system. Signed by Secretary of State Stephen Fuhr and Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, the deal reflects a collaborative approach under Canada's Defense Industrial Strategy. The agreement marks the first of two planned radar units, with the second to be located further north, and is part of a broader effort to improve Arctic surveillance and security. (6/21)

Microgravity Rounds the Heart (Source: Space Daily)
Spend long enough in orbit and your own body starts to change shape. With gravity no longer pulling on it in the usual way, an astronaut’s heart can grow slightly more spherical, and their spine can stretch enough that they return to Earth measurably taller than when they left. Both changes are real, both are temporary, and both come down to the same thing: a body built for gravity, briefly relieved of it. (6/21)

Selling Deeds for Moon Property (Source: Space Daily)
Dennis Hope walked into a county clerk’s office in 1980 and filed a claim of ownership over the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Io, and every other solid body in the solar system except Earth. He was broke, recently divorced, and driving a beat-up car when the idea hit him. Forty-five years later, his company Lunar Embassy has reportedly sold more than 2.5 million lunar deeds at around $20 to $30 an acre, to customers including three former U.S. presidents and a long list of Hollywood celebrities. Every one of those deeds is, under international law, worth precisely nothing. (6/19)

June 21, 2026

No One Wants AI Data Centers on Earth. Do They Make Sense in Space? (Source: CNBC)
Engineering and technical issues are being solved and SpaceX now has considerably more capital, but economically, the concept remains challenging even as rocket launches become cheaper, though Jeff Bezos and Google are also chasing it. Long-term, the best argument for data centers in space may be that the cost of building them on Earth is likely to go up over time — while land use, water use, and electricity use all remain points of tension with the public — and all while the cost of building in space may come down.

Some investors contend the company has no choice but to make the idea work if it hopes to justify its public market valuations over time. “The company comes down to data centers in space,” Duncan Davidson, a partner at Bullpen Capital, said on CNBC’s “The Exchange” the week before the IPO. “That is the big, long-term play.”

SpaceX is hardly alone in what has become a race to compute in space. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has voiced similar aspirations for his rocket and AI ventures, Blue Origin and Prometheus, respectively. In March, Blue Origin submitted plans to the FCC to launch 51,600 data center satellites into low Earth orbit. Alphabet’s search giant Google has entered the race through a collaboration with Earth observation satellite maker Planet Labs on Project Suncatcher, an orbital data center initiative. (6/21)

SpaceX's Starfall Disk Capsule Bets on Orbital Manufacturing Scale (Source: Tech Times)
SpaceX is preparing to fly its first Starfall prototype on Tuesday, June 23, in a low-profile demo that could upend the economics of an entire emerging industry. The disk-shaped reentry capsule is designed to return up to 1,000 kilograms of cargo from orbit. The company has said nothing publicly about the vehicle. What is known comes almost entirely from regulatory filings with the FAA and the FCC.

The significance of Tuesday's test reaches well beyond a single flight. Every orbital manufacturing company currently operating — including Varda Space Industries, which has built the market from scratch over six missions — uses SpaceX's own Falcon 9 rideshares to get their capsules to orbit. If Starfall works, SpaceX will be competing for the cargo return contracts of customers who already depend on it for launch.

Starfall is not a scaled-down Dragon. It abandons the conical geometry that has defined reentry capsules since Apollo and replaces it with a flat, circular disk — 3.1 meters in diameter and just 0.75 meters tall. The total dry mass is approximately 2,100 kilograms, split between a 1,400-kilogram aluminum top plate and a 700-kilogram carbon-fiber heat shield. Competitors in the space-return market currently bring back dozens of kilograms per mission. Starfall, at a minimum, represents a 30-fold increase in single-flight return capacity. (6/20)

Texas Supreme Court Denies Request to Save Beach From SpaceX (Source: Independent)
SpaceX can keep closing a Texas beach to launch rockets from the company’s nearby Starbase, according to the state’s Supreme Court. The state’s highest court rejected claims brought by environmental groups that barring public access to Boca Chica Beach violated the state’s constitution. Friday’s unanimous, 24-page opinion overruled an appeals court that had sided with environmental groups and reinstated a trial judge’s decision to throw out their lawsuit.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton, who intervened in the case, praised the ruling on social media. “Texas law allows for portions of a beach to be secured for Texans’ safety, which is exactly what’s needed to ensure SpaceX has a safe and operational launch site,” wrote Paxton, who defeated Republican Sen. John Cornyn in last month’s GOP Senate primary with the help of President Donald Trump. (6/21)

Astrobotic's Sale to Voyager to Allows Rapid Scale-Up (Source: Space News)
Lunar lander developer Astrobotic decided to sell to Voyager Technologies so it could quickly scale up to meet the projected demands of NASA’s lunar base initiative. John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said the decision to sell the company to Voyager came after concluding that it was the fastest approach to scaling up the company to meet NASA’s needs after the agency announced its lunar base plans at the Ignition event in March.

“The alternate path would have been raise some money, maybe try to go IPO after that. That probably takes 18 months all in,” he said. “With the partnership with Voyager, we basically have access to public markets imminently when we close. That gives us an ability to scale now.” (6/20)

Wright-Patt AFB Set to Grow More with New Space Force Facility (Source: WDTN)
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is already the single largest employer in the state, and now it is set to generate even more jobs through a massive new investment. The base will be the home of a newly announced $370 million Space Force intelligence facility. (6/19)

Keeping Track of Human Spaceflight Numbers (Source: Space Daily)
The total number of human beings who have left Earth’s atmosphere across the entire history of spaceflight is, by current estimates, approximately 700. NASA has contributed roughly 360 of these. The Soviet and subsequent Russian programs have contributed approximately 135. The European Space Agency, JAXA in Japan, the Canadian Space Agency, the Chinese taikonaut program, and several smaller national programs account for most of the rest. The 120 commercial civilians who have flown since 2021 represent approximately 17 percent of this cumulative total, almost none of them with the professional training that defined every previous generation of spacefarer. (6/20)

South Korea Seeks Site for Second Spaceport (Source: AJP)
South Korea will open a nationwide search for the site of a second spaceport, the country's space agency said, as it prepares for an expected surge in launches driven by reusable rockets. The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) announced Sunday it would invite bids from local governments until August 6 to host the facility, which is intended to support more than 10 reusable-rocket launches a year from the mid-to-late 2030s. The agency aims to complete the second center by 2034 on a site of about 5.6 million square meters, comparable in scale to the existing Naro Space Center, equipped with launch, landing and maintenance facilities for reusable vehicles. (6/21)

Arianespace Counts on Ariane 6 for Launch Industry Comeback (Source: Financial Times)
Ariane had a successful launch on Wednesday using its most powerful version yet to transport 36 satellites for the tech giant, showcasing the rocket’s precision and reliability. It hopes the flight will entice new customers and bolster its reputation as a homegrown option for Europe. The sceptics it wants to win back include governments in its own back yard that fund Ariane through the European Space Agency but have also used SpaceX rockets, which can be half the price.

SpaceX gained further ground as Ariane 6 production delays left the continent without a launcher for a year, forcing the EU in 2023 to pay the US company to send its Galileo satellite navigation system to space. Ariane 6 has successfully completed all its eight flights since its first mission in July 2024 after replacing its retired predecessor, a feat that executives are eager to highlight, given that SpaceX’s main launch vehicle, Falcon 9, managed just four flights in its first two years. (6/21)

Starlink Satellites are Doing a Lot More Than Providing Internet (Source: SlashGear)
Rogers Communications, a major Canadian media conglomerate, teamed up with Starlink to help spot these fires as quickly as possible, even in the most remote of regions. Starlink doesn't directly detect these wildfires, however it does connect specialized detection equipment, like Pano AI cameras, to authorities. These Pano AI devices take 360-degree pictures in short intervals and are programmed to look for signs of a fire, like smoke.

Swarm, which was acquired by Starlink in 2021, has been used by conservation organizations like Rainforest Connection, which monitors the Amazon for illegal logging operations. Using cutting-edge audio sensors, the sounds of wood cutting machines and engines are picked up in remote areas of the jungle, then transmitted over Starlink to nearby intervention teams. (6/20)

New Mexico Incentives Fuel BlackVe Expansion in Albuquerque (Source: KOB4)
New Mexico and Albuquerque will put more than $1.5 million into aerospace company BlackVe’s expansion, a project officials said will bring 152 high-paying jobs. BlackVe plans to expand its Albuquerque headquarters and add jobs over the next 10 years. The state will provide $1 million through the New Mexico Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) fund, and the City of Albuquerque will add $250,000 in local LEDA funds plus a 20-year Industrial Revenue Bond.

BlackVe also received up to $295,000 through the state’s Job Training Incentive Program to hire and train nine employees. Officials said the expansion is expected to create more than $228 million in total economic impact for New Mexico. They said BlackVe will receive the money as it meets construction and hiring benchmarks, and the city will act as fiscal agent. BlackVe, founded in 2024, makes multi-mission spacecraft and uses advanced production technology to speed up how satellites are designed, built and operated. (6/19)

Port Officials Concerned About LC-51 Development at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Hometown News)
The proposed Launch Complex 51 would occupy a 50-acre site with supporting infrastructure and buildings. Operations from Launch Complex 46 would move there to place them farther from Blue Origin’s Launch Complex 36 blast zone, where a recent catastrophic explosion damaged the pad. However, the new complex’s location could still affect port activity.

At the June Canaveral Port Authority meeting, Port Canaveral CEO John Murray said, “It will be the closest active launch facility to the port. So, we’re looking at launch-related safety and exclusion zones that could temporarily or intermittently restrict navigation.” Murray said the port’s concerns include potential impacts on commercial, cruise and military vessel traffic, as well as disruption to the Canaveral Sand Bypass project. No decision will be made until studies address local impacts, environmental concerns and wetlands issues. Editor's Note: Development of LC-51 would clear the way for Blue Origin to develop a second launch pad at the Cape, on property currently used by the Navy and Space Florida at LC-46. (6/19)

All-Male NASA Artemis Crew Creates Backlash as Priorities Shift (Source: Bloomberg)
When NASA unveiled the four-person crew of its Artemis III mission last week, it didn’t take long for the general public to notice a common feature of the group: all four astronauts were men. NASA said the selection was not political. But it triggered a wave of disappointment from former NASA officials, space industry insiders and enthusiasts invested in the agency’s effort to put US astronauts back on the moon for the first time in more than half a century — and their hope that one of them will be a woman.

“Do I think this was chosen maliciously? Obviously no,” Emily Calandrelli, a science author who flew to space with Blue Origin, wrote on Instagram. “Do I think those in the selection process had a bias and ultimately when there were four men selected no one in the room thought it was a ‘big enough’ issue to try to correct? Yes.” Whether deliberate or by coincidence, the irony of the omission was immediately glaring. (6/19)

Do We Need a Lunar Building Code to Build Moon Bases Safely? (Source: Space.com)
Here on Earth, centuries of accumulated engineering knowhow, hard-learned lessons, and societal evolution have shaped a robust framework of building standards that govern how we build and maintain buildings today. But now, as humanity prepares to put in place a "sustained presence" on the moon, how do we guarantee the safety and integrity of structures built in an environment for which no such tradition exists?

At the 26th Space Resources Roundtable held June 2-5 on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines, one expert says what's needed is a lunar building code, the development of specific design criteria for the moon. Both NASA and China's space agency are planning to build habitats, landing pads, equipment shelters, and tall towers on the moon. But all that construction could be off to a shaky start, suggests Nerma Caluk. Caluk said there's a need to leverage terrestrial building experiences. (6/20)

June 20, 2026

Kilowatts on the Moon (Source: Autonocion)
In a memo signed on July 31, 2025, then-acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy, who is also the Secretary of Transportation, ordered the agency to design, build, and launch a reactor putting out at least 100 kilowatts of electric power and ready to fly by the end of 2029. The deadline did not come from NASA’s engineers. It came from the top. The 100 kilowatt requirement was a big jump. The program had been targeting a 40-kilowatt class reactor, enough to run roughly 30 households. A 100-kilowatt reactor is closer to powering 80 homes.

Then the politics caught up. On December 18, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority” that put deploying reactors on the Moon and in orbit on the official priority list, including a lunar surface reactor ready for launch by 2030, alongside a goal of returning Americans to the Moon by 2028.

The January memorandum between NASA and the DOE is the paperwork that turns all of that into a joint program with money and responsibilities attached. The DOE handles the nuclear side, including supplying roughly 400 kilograms of high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel for ground tests and the flight reactor, according to SpaceNews. NASA runs and funds the program. (6/19)

What the Satellite Servicing Economy Can Borrow From Carbon Credits (Source: Space News)
Larger megaconstellations mean more hardware that's destined to inevitably reenter the Earth's atmosphere. To protect the environment and especially the ozone layer from the toll of mass-injection events, researcher Savanna McNamara proposes an orbital chemistry credit system, borrowing from the overall logic of the carbon credit system that's meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

McNamara argues that using a credit system to limit the number of reentries and compensating companies that extend the lifetime of their spacecraft would create a new economy centered around keeping space sustainable and mitigating the impact space activity has on Earth.

"This is not a tax, nor a prohibition; it’s an invitation by design," McNamara wrote. Operators who design around mass reentry will "participate as credit buyers or fund contributors rather than penalized actors. They’ll capitalize the very infrastructure that will eventually make their satellites serviceable cheaper, faster and with more competitive technology. Every participant in the system is contributing to a U.S. orbital servicing industry that did not previously exist." (6/19)

The Mars Delusion (Source: Noema)
For decades, space evangelists have promoted Martian settlement as an insurance policy, a “lifeboat” should human folly or a planet-killing asteroid bring about Earth’s 6th great extinction event. Some have viewed the ambition in more hazy terms, as a logical next step in our species’ evolutionary impulse to expand into uncharted territories. Others have seemed content to echo the less philosophical sentiments of Jeff Bezos, who said, in 2016: “We should, because it’s cool.”

Egged on by SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s conspicuous if zany advocacy, these advances have renewed optimism that humans will land on the Red Planet and potentially establish a permanent colony in the foreseeable future. In 2024, Musk, who has said he hopes to die on Mars, set out a timeline that seemed suspiciously aligned with his own probable lifespan: “Less than 5 years for uncrewed, less than 10 to land people, maybe a city in 20 years, but for sure in 30, civilization secured.”

Detractors might scoff at Musk’s ambition to die on Mars, but at least the dying part would be easy. The Martian air is 95% carbon dioxide. Breathing this air would suffocate the average human in a few seconds. The surface air pressure is six millibars, roughly equivalent to the pressure 22 miles above Earth. Were Musk to very inadvisably step out onto the Martian surface in his “Occupy Mars” T-shirt and sandals, all the water in his body would vaporize in an instant, making it difficult to predict what would kill him faster: asphyxiation or a kind of total bodily implosion. (6/18)

Friends in High Places: Texas Supreme Court Rejects Attempt to Block Beach Closures for SpaceX Launches (Source: Texas Tribune)
Siding with SpaceX and the General Land Office, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that environmental groups did not have a right to sue to preserve public access to a beach that has been closed during rocket launches. The unanimous ruling said a trial judge properly dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning the groups could not refile it with changes. The dispute began in 2021 when then environmental group SaveRGV sued the Texas General Land Office, Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and Cameron County, arguing Boca Chica Beach and State Highway 4 — the only access road — had been improperly closed for SpaceX launches. (6/19)

Where Might We Find Life in Our Solar System? (Source: National Geographic)
Humans have pondered the question of life beyond our planet for millennia. Only in the past few decades, however, has musing given way to observation. Mars was the obvious target for humanity’s first efforts in “boots on the ground” astrobiological exploration, but it is not our solar system’s only body of interest. Venus is something of an anti-­Mars, its mean surface temperature a scorching 464°C (867°F), maintained by a runaway greenhouse atmosphere. Some, however, propose that earlier in its history, Venus was more temperate, perhaps a potential abode for life. Click here. (6/19)

Saltzman Sports New Space Force Mess Dress Uniform (Source: Air and Space Forces)
When Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman addressed the graduating class of the Air Force Weapons School on June 13, he quietly put on display the new Space Force mess dress uniform. The new black-tie formal garb will begin wear tests this fall, a Department of the Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Volunteers for the wear tests recently completed fittings. (6/19)

The Exploration Company Unveils Storm High Thrust Engine (Source: The Exploration Company)
Storm is The Exploration Company’s (TEC) high thrust rocket engine program, designed to advance Europe’s capabilities in modern propulsion through disciplined, hardware driven development. Built around a full-flow staged combustion cycle and fueled by liquid oxygen and bio-methane, Storm will deliver up to 180t of sea-level thrust. It is designed for reusable launcher concepts and forms a practical foundation for future heavy European launch systems. (6/19)

ESA Names Belgian Jean-Luc Trullemans as New Strategy Director (Source: Belga)
Belgian Jean-Luc Trullemans is set to become the new Director of Strategy, Legal and External Affairs at ESA. The appointment was announced by Vanessa Matz, the minister responsible for Belgium's space portfolio. According to Matz, Trullemans' appointment to the agency's top management reflects the important role Belgium plays within ESA. Last year, Belgium committed 1.109 billion euros in funding for ESA over the coming years, making it the agency's sixth-largest contributor. (6/18)

Space Force Official Visits Maui to Assess Infrastructure for Space Surveillance (Source: USSF)
The Space Base Delta 1 commander, U.S. Space Force Col. Kenneth Klock conducted a site visit to Maui June 8-9 to meet with leadership from the 15th Space Surveillance Squadron, assess infrastructure requirements, and observe mission operations at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex. Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, SBD 1 provides installation support and real property management for Space Force operations on Maui, including facilities supporting the operations of 15th SPSS and research for the Air Force Research Laboratory. (6/18)

NASA Chief Bought Millions in SpaceX-Linked Stock Before IPO, While Pushing SpaceX's Agenda (Source: Sludge)
In 2021, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman brokered a deal making his Shift4 company the official payment processor for SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service. In May he bought up to $50 million in stock in Shift4 Payment—just weeks before SpaceX went public in the largest IPO in history. Isaacman oversees SpaceX’s NASA contracts and has been leading a federal push to develop the nuclear technology that SpaceX says it needs to colonize Mars.

Isaacman made two separate purchases of Shift4 Class A common stock on May 11 and May 12, each worth between $5 million and $25 million, according to a periodic transaction report filed with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) this week. He also purchased up to $71 million worth of the stock across multiple transactions in February and March, disclosed in a filing submitted to the OGE in April. (6/18)

The Average SpaceX Buyer Post-IPO is Almost Under Water After Two-Day Slide (Source: CNBC)
The average investor who bought SpaceX shares in the open market after its debut has seen nearly all of their gains disappear as a sharp pullback erased a large chunk of the stock’s post-IPO surge. Shares of SpaceX fell 3.6% Thursday to just under $184.98 a share. The stock’s five-day volume-weighted average price, or VWAP, is $181.71 a share. The move suggests the average post-IPO buyer is now approximately breaking even. (6/18)

SpaceX Bankers Prepare for Bond Sale of at Least $20 Billion (Source: Bloomberg)
Bankers for Elon Musk’s SpaceX are preparing to hold calls with investors as soon as next week to discuss a potential bond offering on the heels of the company’s record IPO, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The bond is expected to be at least $20 billion, and the calls may kick off on Monday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. Plans and timing may change, they said. (6/18)

Obama Presidential Center Opens with Astronaut Jacket on Display (Source: CollectSpace)
Among the artifacts now on display in the newly-opened Barack Obama Presidential Center is a jacket that was only worn for a few minutes. Found in the "Science and Innovation" exhibit on the fifth level of the South Side of Chicago museum, the iconic "NASA blue" flight garment is of the type that astronauts wear when training on jets and while making public appearances. This coat, though, has a name tag that reads "President of the United States."

Gifted to Obama in the Oval Office in November 2011, the jacket is adorned by mission patches that represent astronauts that he worked with and key spaceflights that occurred during the first of his two terms as the country's leader. (6/19)

Germany's Rheinmetall, and US's Vantor Plan Joint ISR Venture for Bundeswehr (Source: Breaking Defense)
German defense behemoth Rheinmetall and US imagery provider Vantor announced today that they have inked an agreement on a joint venture to provide “spatial intelligence” to the German military. The new entity will support Germany’s “sovereign defence requirements” from offices within the country, “as well as existing and emerging European intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) programs,” the press release said. (6/18)

Sirius Space Selected to Fill Launch Facility Vacancy Left by MaiaSpace at Kourou (Source: European Spaceflight)
The French space agency CNES has selected Sirius Space Services to fill a vacancy at the Guiana Space Centre’s new multi-user commercial launch facility. The space became available after MaiaSpace shifted its planned launch operations to the spaceport’s former Soyuz launch facility. In 2021, CNES opened a call for interest in a new commercial launch facility that it would build on the grounds of the old Diamant launch site at the Guiana Space Center.

On 25 July 2025, the agency announced seven companies that had been shortlisted: HyImpulse, Isar Aerospace, PLD Space, Rocket Factory Augsburg, Latitude, MaiaSpace, and Avio. Since that announcement, Avio and HyImpulse have been removed from the list, with CNES offering no explanation. MaiaSpace voluntarily gave up its space after CNES, in September 2024, selected the company to assume control of the former Soyuz launch facility, now renamed ELM2. (6/18)

Anomaly Delays Full-Scale Space Rider Drop Test Until October (Source: European Spaceflight)
A full-scale drop test of ESA’s Space Rider spaceplane in early May was aborted after an anomaly during the captive ascent phase, the agency said. In August 2024 and June 2025, ESA completed Space Rider drop test campaigns using a 3,000-kilogram mass simulator. In early 2026, the agency planned to move forward with a final set of drop tests using the Descent and Landing Test Model, a full-scale mock-up of the Space Rider’s Re-entry Module that simulates its size, mass, aerodynamic shape, and landing gear.

In November 2025, Space Rider program manager Dante Galli told European Spaceflight that the agency was targeting February or March 2026 to conduct this final drop test campaign. However, during a June 17 press briefing following the 347th ESA Council meeting, weeks after the aborted attempt occurred, ESA’s head of strategy and institutional launches for space transportation, Lucía Linares, explained that the agency could not provide a concrete date for the final drop test, stating only that it would take place after the summer and before the end of the year. (6/19)

Germany Breaks Ground on One of Two GOVSATCOM Hub Locations (Source: European Spaceflight)
Germany has broken ground on a GOVSATCOM Hub facility in Cologne, with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia committing to investing up to €50 million in the project. The European Union’s GOVSATCOM system officially became operational in January 2026 and is designed to provide sovereign, reliable, secure, and cost-effective satellite communications services for European government and military users. (6/18)

Mars Mission: A Stress Test for the Search for Life (Source: MPS)
Starting in 2030, ESA’s rover Rosalind Franklin will search for traces of life on Mars. The MPS is contributing a scientific instrument to the mission. The instrument determines, among other things, a crucial property of organic molecules: their chirality. This reveals whether the molecules were ever part of a living organism. In preparation, researchers have successfully used this principle for the first time to analyze two particularly relevant chemical compounds in meteorite samples. The measurements also reveal evidence that meteorites “collect” remnants of fossil fuels as they plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere. (6/18)

ElevationSpace Secures $40 Million, Bringing Total Raised to $63.5 Million (Source: Space News)
ElevationSpace, a company developing Space-to-Earth transportation as well as a Space Environment Utilization and Recovery Platform, has raised a total of $40 million in the largest funding round in the company’s history. The close of the funding round brings the total amount raised since its founding to $63.5 million, demonstrating the growing attention and confidence in the space transportation and low-Earth orbit (LEO) utilization markets. (6/19)

Ambani’s Jio Weighs India Satellite Network to Rival Starlink (Source: Bloomberg)
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled Jio Platforms Ltd. is weighing plans to build its own satellite constellation, as it seeks to cement control over the nation’s communications infrastructure while Elon Musk’s Starlink faces hurdles. The company is evaluating the deployment of a low-orbit satellite network for India. It is also partnering to lease capacity from global providers so that “we can accelerate service availability while building our own long-term sovereign capability.” (6/19)

Satellite Reveals Immense Scale of GPS Signal Tampering (Source: Space.com)
An experimental satellite has mapped the scale of GPS jamming across Europe and the Middle East from space for the first time. The data surprised the team behind the project and indicated that satellites orbiting far from Earth aren't the only ones that experience degradation of their positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) signals, which could affect their performance and the safety of their operations. The new measurements were made by Pulsar-0, the first satellite of the novel Pulsar navigation constellation developed by California-based Xona Space Systems. (6/18)

Congo Set to Acquire ‘RDC-SAT’ Earth Observation Satellite from SPACEBEL (Source: Spacewatch Global)
SPACEBEL has signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo to supply RDC-SAT, an Earth observation satellite for independent monitoring of its territory, borders, and environment. (6/18)