July 16, 2025

HASC Defense Authorization Act Would Formalize Procurement of Commercial Satellite Imagery (Source: Space News)
The House Armed Services Committee has advanced its version of a defense authorization act. The committee voted 55-2 late Tuesday to send the National Defense Authorization Act to the full House. The bill includes key policy provisions that formalize Pentagon procurement of commercial satellite imagery and back the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense program despite Democratic skepticism. The bill overall emphasizes Pentagon procurement reforms aimed at accelerating weapons acquisition and strengthening the defense industrial base.  (Source: Space News)

MILNET PLEO Constellation Tops Space Force's Unfunded Priority List (Source: Space News)
A proposed low Earth orbit communications constellation is the Space Force’s largest “unfunded priority” it has disclosed to Congress. The Space Force says it needs $3.5 billion for MILNET Block II satellites and $686 million for satellite launch services. The existence of the so-called MILNET PLEO (Proliferated Low Earth Orbit) SATCOM satellite communications program surfaced for the first time in the Trump administration’s 2026 defense budget request with a $277 million budget line to support the development and demonstration of a new, secure, government-operated satellite communications constellation. MILNET has created confusion in industry and in Congress as it coincides with a halt in the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 3 Transport Layer communications satellites. MILNET would rely on SpaceX Starshield satellites. (7/16)

Report Finds Growing UK Reliance on Satellite Services (Source: Space News)
A study emphasizes the growing reliance on satellite services in the United Kingdom. The report by the U.K. Space Agency this week found that satellite technologies supported industries accounting for about 18% of national gross domestic product, or £454 billion ($608 billion) in 2022. Satellite navigation services supports the biggest part of U.K. GDP, followed by weather satellites, satellite communications and Earth observation. Space-related businesses in the U.K. brought in an estimated £18.6 billion in 2024. (7/16)

Report Urges Accelerated US Development of Space Nuclear Power (Source: Space News)
A new report calls for the U.S. government to support rapid development of space nuclear power systems. The study said that while efforts over recent decades to develop space nuclear power and propulsion systems have foundered, factors ranging from growing industry capabilities to geopolitical factors make now the right time to pursue development of space nuclear power, with the goal of fielding a system in space by 2030. One approach would be a government-led development of a large system capable of producing up to 500 kilowatts of power, while an alternative would use public private partnerships for smaller systems. (7/16)

SpaceX Launches Tuesday Starlink Mission From California (Source: Noozhawk)
SpaceX launched more satellites for its own Starlink constellation. A Falcon 9 lifted off Tuesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, putting 26 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch ended a two-week lull in flights from Vandenberg. (7/16)

Gilmour Delays Australian Launch Again (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The first launch of an Australian rocket has slipped again. Gilmour Space had planned to launch its first Eris rocket Wednesday (local time) from its launch site in northern Queensland, but the company said an operational delay, coupled with forecasts of high upper-level winds, forced it to reschedule the launch to no earlier than July 26. The inaugural flight of Eris, a small launcher, has suffered months of delays, including an incident in May when the rocket’s payload fairing separation system was triggered while the rocket was on the launch pad. (7/16)

Sierra Space to Support MHI ISS Cargo Craft (Source: Sierra Space)
Sierra Space won a contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for docking systems. Sierra Space said Tuesday it will supply components such as the Passive Common Berthing Mechanism used for spacecraft going to the International Space Station. MHI makes the HTV-X, a next-generation Japanese cargo vehicle for ISS missions. (7/16)

SpaceX 'Starfall' Could Support Space Manufacturing (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX is considering getting into the space manufacturing business. The company is pursuing a concept called Starfall that would launch pharmaceutical payloads on its Starship vehicle, which would carry out drug research and production in microgravity before returning to Earth in capsules. SpaceX is proposing starting Starfall by the end of the decade and is in talks with potential customers. Starfall would put SpaceX in competition with startups like Varda Space Industries, which announced last week it raised $187 million to accelerate its work on in-space biotech research. (7/16)

Amazon Launches More Kuiper From Florida Satellites With Help From Rival: ‘Big Thanks to SpaceX’ (Source: CNBC)
As Amazon chases SpaceX in the internet satellite market, the e-commerce and computing giant turned to Elon Musk’s rival company to get its next batch of devices into space. On Wednesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Kuiper satellites lifted off from a launchpad on Florida’s Space Coast at 2:30 a.m. ET. About an hour after launch, SpaceX confirmed all Kuiper satellites were successfully deployed. (7/16)

Going Out Of Business Sale For JPL Satellites (Source: NASA Watch)
According to sources at NASA JPL an effort is underway to get rid of their satellite inventory. JPL staff have been directed to start to prepare order and bidding forms for satellites so that they can be ready for sale to the highest bidder. In essence this is a ‘going out of business sale’ for JPL satellites that are supposed to be decommissioned. This sale includes OCO-2, OCO-3, and payloads on the ISS. JPL is interested in government and private sector buyers. (7/15)

Starlink Doubled Its Speed In 2 Years. It Still Doesn’t Meet the FCC’s Definition of Broadband (Source: CNET)
Starlink is nearly twice as fast as it was two years ago, according to a new report from the speed test site Ookla. Median download speeds from the satellite internet provider have steadily ticked up over the past few years, going from 53.95 megabits per second in 2022 to 104.71Mbps today. That’s an impressive feat considering Starlink added about 5 million customers over the same period and recently passed the 6 million mark globally. (7/14)

Cable Fears Starlink May Force Them Out of Market (Source: The Tribune)
Cable Bahamas is warning it may “be forced to exit the market and/or file for bankruptcy” if regulators fail to ensure it can compete on equal terms with Elon Musk’s Starlink and other satellite providers. In feedback to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) consultation on creating a regulatory regime for satellite-based communications services in The Bahamas, the company argued that the likes of Starlink enjoy “a significant business advantage” because they do not have to invest in building and maintaining on-ground network infrastructure. (7/15)

Trump’s New NASA Administrator Is a Bad Sign for America’s Space Program (Source: National Interest)
It appears that Trump is de-prioritizing NASA and America’s overall space mission during his second term. After ousting Jared Isaacman, Trump has opted to pick the current Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, as the acting NASA administrator. The move marks the continuation of a serious shakeup going on inside the executive branch. But Trump’s new pick does not address one of the core failings (thus far) of the Trump administration: America’s space policy has been adrift since the 47th president returned to the Oval Office in January.

As Secretary of Transportation, Duffy's tenure has been plagued by a series of air traffic control screw-ups. Whether the secretary likes it or not, these problems fall under his domain. Tellingly, Duffy has tried to shift blame for these incidents, accusing his predecessor, Biden-era secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg, of malfeasance. Duffy’s time as the secretary of transportation has objectively been anything but successful. At the very least, his tenure would not warrant being given even more responsibilities.

Why does Trump like Duffy so much? One assumes it is because the secretary of transportation openly resisted Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts to rein in excessive USDOT. Duffy is apparently going into NASA specifically to damage SpaceX’s lucrative contracts with the space agency. Strategist Steve Bannon claimed that Duffy was being deployed strategically by Trump to reconsider NASA's contracts with Musk. (7/14)

Congrats on the New DOD Gig, MechaHitler! (Source: The Atlantic)
Feels like just last week that you, X’s AI tool, were going on anti-Semitic tirades in which you called yourself MechaHitler, and just a few weeks before that that you kept trying to turn conversations to bogus talk of “white genocide.” Usually, when the phrase extended pro-Hitler rant precedes some HR news, that news is a departure. (7/15)

Musk Said a Year Ago That AI has No Use at SpaceX. Now He's Willing to Pay $170k a Head for AI Engineers (Source: Business Insider)
Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, is looking to hire engineers for its new AI software engineering team. The company said in a job list published on July 11 that the new team will be "focused on solving complex data problems for our launch vehicles and spacecraft." SpaceX said the team will also support the company's satellite internet service, Starlink.

Last week, Musk's AI startup xAI launched the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 4. The SpaceX chief said during the presentation that Grok 4 is "smarter than almost all graduate students in all disciplines simultaneously." (7/15)

Iconic NASA Probe That Visited Pluto Could Go Dark Thanks to Trump Cuts (Source: Gizmodo)
As NASA celebrates the 10th anniversary of the historic New Horizons Pluto flyby, the space agency is also bracing for budget cuts that threaten the historic New Horizons probe. The White House’s budget proposal, released in May, reduces NASA’s upcoming budget by $6 billion compared to 2025. Under the proposed budget, NASA’s planetary science budget would drop from $2.7 billion to $1.9 billion. The severe drop in funding would kill dozens of active and planned missions, including New Horizons. (7/15)

The Next Frontier in Real Estate: Data Centers on the Moon and Space-Support Infrastructure (Source: CNBC)
As private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin develop reusable rockets and push aspirations for lunar and Martian colonization, real estate investors are dialing in. Some liken it to the early days of the railroads, when entire towns grew up around new lines. One of the biggest plays is lunar and deep space data centers.

Hines, a global real estate investment, development and management firm, recently announced the acquisition of the Titusville Logistics Center, a nearly 250,000-square-foot, Class A industrial property located in Florida's Space Coast submarket. The property is fully leased to aerospace tenants. This is just one example of investors looking to capitalize on the boom in the space exploration sector's real estate needs.

"A real revolution has happened in the industry, and as things start to get unlocked, companies are looking for how they can monetize space more broadly, and there's a lot of pieces to that," said David Steinbach, global chief investment officer at Hines. Steinbach points to both infrastructure support here on Earth, as well as real estate development for manufacturing on the moon. It may sound futuristic, but it's already underway. (7/15)

NASA Rover Breaks Record For Longest Road Trip on Another Planet (Source: Science Alert)
Perseverance is hitting the 'open road' on Mars like no other rover. On June 19, the six-wheeled explorer officially completed the longest road trip of any robot vehicle on another planet. In a single drive, the rover rolled over 411 meters of Mars' rocky surface (more than a quarter mile). That may not sound like much, but compared to Curiosity and Opportunity, which inch along at a relative snail's pace, Percy is a speed demon. (7/15)

The Fragility of U.S. Spacepower in a Multipolar World (Source: War on the Rocks)
While the United States remains the global leader in space capabilities, its ecosystem shows fragility. Emerging space powers like Turkey, India, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates have adopted flexible, multi-vector space and defense strategies. These countries provide lessons in adaptability, resilience, and co-development in a multipolar world. Part of America’s current struggle stems from being the early technological leader, a dynamic reflecting the classic innovator’s dilemma.

Many of its core systems were developed in earlier technological eras, locking in legacy architectures that now require constant adaptation and upgrades. Each modernization cycle collides with bureaucratic layers, entrenched vendors, and budgetary inertia, making innovation increasingly expensive and politically complex. By contrast, emerging space powers have the advantage of building their programs atop existing mature technologies, unburdened by decades of institutional baggage. They can directly adopt proven capabilities, avoiding legacy constraints that complicate U.S. defense and space acquisitions. (7/15)

Asteroid Boulders Unleashed by DART Breakup Aren't Behaving as Expected (Source: Live Science)
Debris released from the asteroid Dimorphos during NASA's DART mission has a higher momentum and less random distribution than expected, which "changes the physics we need to consider when planning these types of missions," researchers say. (7/15)

A Purpose-Built Space Workforce for Australian Defense Force (Source: Defense Connect)
Australia will soon begin targeted recruitment for a purpose-built space workforce for the Australian Defense Force. The 2024 Defence Workforce Plan highlighted the need to recruit and retain highly specialized personnel for emerging capabilities, including space.

To meet the demands of the evolving space domain, Defense will soon begin targeted recruitment and training for highly specialized roles to grow its existing space workforce across areas, including satellite communications and operations, position, navigation and timing, intelligence and surveillance. Defense's current space workforce consists of diverse Navy, Army and Air Force personnel. From 2026, Air Force direct entry will be available for roles including space operations specialist and space operations officers. (7/15)

Space Minister Judith Collins Goes to Ground Over Alleged Government Failures Managing NZ's First Space Mission (Source: RNZ)
Space Minister Judith Collins has gone to ground over alleged government failures managing New Zealand's first official, taxpayer-funded satellite mission. Last year, Collins welcomed the launch of MethaneSAT as "a milestone in the development of New Zealand's space sector". However, since the methane-hunting satellite lost communication with its owners, she has refused to answer questions on whether there would be any form of review of New Zealand's involvement in the mission.

New Zealand spent $32 million being part of the mission led by US non-profit the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to find and share hidden sources of methane emissions. The government paid for both Rocket Lab and Auckland University to establish mission control centers, with the goal that Rocket Lab would handle the console initially before handing over to the university so staff and students could get hands-on experience. (7/15)

LIGO’s Heaviest Black Hole Demands Next-Generation Science (Source: Big Think)
Less than 10 years after directly detecting our first gravitational wave, we now have four gravitational wave detectors and over 300 high-significance detections. One of the new ones, GW231123, has the highest-mass black holes ever seen in gravitational waves: with masses that truly challenge astronomers’ expectations for what should exist. Along with more than 4000 low-significance detection candidates, these discoveries should pave the way for future observatories, like LISA and Advanced LIGO. But funding cuts threaten to kill it all. (7/15)