March 27, 2026

In Peru, Spaceport Creation Declared to be in the National Interest (Source: LP Derecho)
Law 32571 has been published, which declares the creation of a spaceport in Peruvian territory to be of national interest and public necessity, with the aim of positioning the country as a regional benchmark in the aerospace field. The regulation instructs the Ministry of Defense to coordinate the actions necessary for its implementation, within the framework of its competences. The initiative seeks to promote Peru's technological and strategic development in the space sector.

Editor's Note: I'm told Peru is now on track to enter the international Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and to implement a Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) with the US, to allow US companies to support or operate at a Peruvian spaceport while preventing the spread of sensitive launch-oriented technologies to non MTCR nations. (3/27)

Xona Raises $170 Million for New Satellite Factory (Source: Space News)
Satellite navigation startup Xona Space Systems announced a $170 million funding raise. The company said the money will support production at a new factory to accelerate deployment of its low Earth orbit constellation. Xona is building a commercial positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) service, known as Pulsar, designed to operate as an alternative or backup to GPS. Pulsar is designed to work with existing GPS devices, a shift enabled by Xona's decision to move from C- to L-band frequencies. Xona aims to deploy a constellation of 258 satellites within a few years, which it said could be built "for the cost of a single GPS satellite on orbit today." (3/27)

Japan's ispace Revises Lunar Lander and Unveils Lunar Satellites (Source: Space News)
Japanese company ispace is revamping its lunar lander plans while introducing a lunar satellite network. The company said Friday it was replacing an engine called VoidRunner that it has been jointly developing with Agile Space Industries for its landers in favor of a flight-proven engine from another, unnamed company. The company, which had separate lander designs from its Japanese and American business units, is combining them into a unified platform called Ultra. As a result of the change, it is delaying the first ispace U.S. lander, which it was building for Draper for a NASA mission, from 2027 to 2030. Japanese landers launching in 2028 and 2029 remain on schedule. ispace also announced it is developing Lunar Connect Service, a constellation of five satellites to provide communications, navigation and imaging services at the moon. The first satellite is scheduled to launch in 2027. (3/27)

US Military Satellites Maneuver to Watch Chinese Satellites (Source: Space News)
Two U.S. surveillance satellites performed a "handoff" to keep tabs on two Chinese satellites. Observations by commercial space domain awareness provider COMSPOC show USA 324 and USA 325, a pair of U.S. Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites, coordinating maneuvers earlier this month in the vicinity of Shijian-29A and -29B. USA 324, which arrived near the Chinese satellites in March, took over for USA 325, which had been in the vicinity since January and is now drifting away. The Shijian-29 pair, part of a broad, experimental and often classified series of satellites, were launched towards GEO in late December 2025. The capabilities and operational role of Shijian-29A and 29B remain unclear. (3/27)

Congress Critical of NASA's ISS Transition Plans (Source: Space News)
NASA's proposed changes to its transition plan from the International Space Station to commercial stations were criticized at a House hearing this week. At the hearing by the House Science Committee's space subcommittee, Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Federation, said the proposal by NASA earlier this week to develop a core module for a commercial station that would initially dock with ISS was "sowing concern and, really, sowing confusion" among commercial station developers. NASA argued its proposal is needed because of the slow development of commercial markets but Cavossa said those markets are quite strong. Rep. George Whitesides (D-CA) also criticized the NASA plan, raising questions about its cost and schedule while maintaining ISS operations and keeping a planned 2030 retirement date for the ISS. (3/27)

Spain's Satlantis Saw Revenue Growth From Smallsats (Source: Space News)
Spanish company Satlantis is seeing growth through the development and operations of small satellites. The company reported revenues of 47.8 million euros ($56.4 million) in 2025, with more than 50% coming from smallsats. Satlantis acquires spacecraft from Kongsberg NanoAvionics, OHB Sweden, Creotech of Poland and other suppliers, and integrates high-resolution optical payloads on them. In 2025, Satlantis announced plans for five FlexSat Earth observation microsatellites. The first is scheduled to launch in late 2026. (3/27)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Mission From California on Thursday (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites from California on Thursday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, placing 25 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was originally scheduled for Tuesday but delayed for undisclosed reasons. (3/27)

China Launches Experimental Satellite on Long March 2C (Source: Xinhua)
China launched an experimental satellite Friday. A Long March-2C equipped with a Yuanzheng-1S upper stage lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It placed into orbit Shiyan-33, which Chinese officials described only as a test satellite. (3/27)

Turning Growth Into Profits remains a Challenge as Space Demand Grows (Source: Space News)
While demand for space services grows, turning that into profits remains a challenge. During a Satellite 2026 panel this week, industry officials noted optimism about existing and emerging markets, from remote sensing to direct-to-device communications and microgravity manufacturing. Despite the optimism, panelists pointed to several bottlenecks that could limit the industry's ability to capitalize on growing demand, such as supply chain constraints. It is also unclear whether countries such as the United States have enough space manufacturing capacity to meet rising demand amid growing economic nationalism and pressure to localize supply chains. (3/27)

Government Use of Commercial Procurement Models has Limitations in Space (Source: Space News)
Some companies see challenges in the growing use of commercial procurement models by governments for space services. Executives said that government agencies, particularly in national security, are looking for exquisite capabilities for which there are no other customers. However, those agencies want to buy them off a production line at a commercial price. Governments can help stimulate commercial demand for those services in some cases, they noted, although in others the capabilities will likely remain limited to government use. (3/27)

Canada's SBQuantum Plans to Launch Magnetometer on Spire Satellite (Source: Space News)
Canadian startup SBQuantum plans to send a quantum diamond magnetometer into orbit on a Spire Global satellite. Spire is providing the satellite, ground stations and data processing for SBQuantum's magnetometer, developed for final phase of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) MagQuest competition. Through MagQuest, NGA seeks to identify promising technologies capable of providing data for future World Magnetic Models, which underpin navigation systems. The satellite is scheduled to launch next week on a SpaceX rideshare mission. (3/27)

CNES Publishes Call for Drone Swarm to Monitor Kourou Launch Operations (Source: European Spaceflight)
CNES has issued a call for proposals to deploy a swarm of autonomous drones at the Guiana Space Center for several applications, including perimeter monitoring during launch operations. The project forms part of the agency’s Flexible, Digital and Sustainable (FDS) program, a €104 million, five-year initiative aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and achieving a “far-reaching digital transformation.” The call to implement a drone system at the launch facility falls under the Digitization of the Guiana Space Centre component of the program. (3/27)

NASA’s 'Decade of Venus' Could Be Cut to One Mission as Budget Pressures Force Trade‑offs (Source: Space.com)
NASA's role in a planned Europe-led mission to Venus remains uncertain as budget pressures drive "hard strategic choices" about which missions will be able to continue, said Louise Prockter. Prockter said NASA is "still in negotiations" with the European Space Agency (ESA) over its role in the planned Envision mission. The January appropriations bill allocated $2.54 billion to the planetary science division for 2026. Although this was higher than the administration’s proposed $1.89 billion, it was still about $200 million less than the prior year, she said, "and that means that not everything can continue forward or continue forward in the same way." (3/27)

European Partners Left Holding the Bag After Gateway Cancelation (Source: Payload)
Jared Isaacman's sweeping changes to Artemis come at the expense of years of hard work, and millions of euros invested by the European space sector into the lunar Gateway station, which is now no longer part of the US lunar return plan. Several international partners contributed hardware to Gateway, with ESA and European space primes developing the Lunar I-Hab, the Lunar View module, and a Lunar Link comms system. European subcontractors also support the HALO module and countless subcomponents and capabilities.

Surprise, surprise: NASA’s announcement comes at a time when Europe’s trust in the US is falling. As a result, Europe has focused more on building its sovereign space capabilities. No wonder why. Despite Isaacman’s comments during the press announcement this week that “it should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form,” European partners—many of whom have already completed segments of the proposed infrastructure—may disagree.

What do now? If the plan goes through, Isaacman proposed that many Gateway elements could be repurposed for other initiatives, such as the future lunar base. But that plan will necessarily create winners and losers, as some hardware is easier to repurpose for other missions than others. Given the whiplash of the announcement, ESA is still figuring out how it plans to move forward—and where the rest of Gateway will find secondary applications. (3/27)

Sovereign Satcom Networks Grapple With Data Security Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty (Source: Via Satellite)
Nations are seeking stronger control over their own communications architectures. But how to define what sovereign space means, and what it can do within a more geopolitically complex space infrastructure, is still an evolving discussion. The answer to what defines “space sovereignty” remains somewhat blurry. For example, the U.S. government is considered to have complete control over its space framework — except for the amount of semiconductors, and other hardware and software that is imported from nations like Taiwan.

When it comes to discussion about data on the network, denial of service is a huge consideration, Steve Mills said. “It’s not just about securing the data on the network, choosing a public or a private network,” he said. “But also about who has the ability to deny that service.” (3/26)

Did Scientists Detect an Exploding Black Hole? (Source: New York Times)
n Feb. 13, 2023, a cosmic bullet of sorts zipped beneath the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily. It was a subatomic particle known as a neutrino, traveling through the depths at virtually the speed of light and carrying a whopping 220 petavolts of energy. Its presence was detected by a new underwater observatory known as the Kilometer Cube Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT. The neutrino was more than 100,000 times as energetic as any particle ever produced in colliders on Earth, and more energetic than astrophysicists can easily explain based on the part of the sky the neutrinos came from.

But astrophysicists are trying, and some have proposed a truly ambitious explanation: This cosmic bullet came from an exploding black hole, an object so dense that not even light can escape its gravity. In 1974, the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking calculated that black holes leak and eventually explode, releasing energy that had been entombed for centuries in a sort of mini-replica of the Big Bang. But no one has ever seen it happen.

Astronomers can catch and track neutrinos by detecting the telltale flashes of light that they release as they shoot through water. IceCube, an array of detectors embedded in the Antarctic ice, has recorded neutrinos that trace back to quasars, the sun, the center of the Milky Way galaxy and other regions of cosmic violence. But IceCube has also recorded a half-dozen high-energy neutrinos that don’t trace back to any of the usual suspects. At first glance, the Mediterranean neutrino also did not derive from any obvious candidates. (3/27)

Aerospace Firm Plans New Warehouse in Edgewater, Will Close Titusville Facility (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Aerospace metal finishing firm Incertec is planning a massive Edgewater facility, and once open, will close its site in Titusville, planning to relocate 60 employees and hire 110 more. The company is a provider of plating, or metalizing, numerous alternative substrates including polymers, ceramics and rare earth elements. (3/24)

Chinese Satellite Performs Landmark Refueling Test (Source: SCMP)
A Chinese commercial satellite has completed a refueling test in low Earth orbit using a flexible “octopus tentacle” robotic arm, advancing efforts to extend spacecraft lifespans and develop in-orbit servicing abilities. The Hukeda-2, or Yuxing-3 06, demonstration satellite used its flexible arm to carry out compliance control and refueling tests. The arm can curl, twist and wrap around objects to work in tight, complex spaces, with a nozzle-like tip at one end designed to line up and connect with a target port. (3/26)

Distant Galaxy Fades 20-Fold in Just Two Decades (Source: Phys.org)
An international team led by a researcher at the Chiba Institute of Technology has discovered an extremely rare phenomenon: a galaxy about 10 billion light-years away whose brightness dropped to one-twentieth of its original level in just 20 years. By combining multiwavelength observations with archival data spanning several decades, the researchers concluded that the fading was caused by a rapid decrease in the gas flowing into the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. The discovery shows that the activity of supermassive black holes can change dramatically on timescales short enough to be observed within a human lifetime. (3/25)

Amazon to FCC: Everyone Supports a Leo Satellite Launch Extension, Except SpaceX (Source: PC Mag)
Facing a looming deadline, Amazon is urging a federal regulator to grant an extension for its Starlink competitor, Leo, arguing that only SpaceX opposes the proposal. Amazon raised the matter in a 22-page filing with the Federal Communications Commission, which has mandated that the company launch 1,600 satellites by July 30. If it doesn’t, Amazon risks losing the authority to launch any new satellites for its planned constellation of 3,200, diminishing its broadband coverage.

Amazon expects to fall far short of the requirement, so in January it asked the FCC to grant a 24-month extension or a waiver. In Tuesday's filing, the company points out that several industry groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce and Software & Information Industry Association, have also sent letters to the commission in support of the reprieve. (3/25)

Lockheed Martin, Firefly Test Rapid-Launch Capabilities in U.S. Space Force Exercise (Source: Seeking Alpha)
Lockheed Martin successfully participated in the U.S. Space Force’s "VICTUS DIEM" exercise, demonstrating rapid satellite payload processing in under 12 hours and a 36-hour launch simulation. Working with Firefly Aerospace, the exercise aimed to enhance "tactically responsive space" capabilities, allowing for accelerated, emergency deployment of space assets in response to potential threats.

Payloads were processed in less than 12 hours, significantly faster than traditional timelines. A 36-hour rapid launch simulation was successfully completed following a mock "notice to launch". The exercise validated techniques for deploying, operating, and maintaining space-based assets in contested environments. (3/25)

NASA Research Proposes Technology to Seek Earth-Like Exoplanets (Source: NASA)
As NASA seeks to understand the mysteries of the universe, the agency is advancing technologies to locate and explore Earth-like planets far beyond our solar system. A key element of this research involves observing reflected light from exoplanets, which can reveal indicators of Earth-like features such as water and oxygen. However, detecting this faint reflected light with current telescope technology remains a significant challenge due to the overwhelming brightness of nearby stars and other celestial objects.

NASA’s Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) concept presents a potential solution by combining an orbiting starshade with a large ground-based telescope to suppress starlight and enable direct imaging of exoplanets. (3/25)

SpaceX's Gwynne Shotwell Aims to Put AI on the Moon (Source: TIME)
Ultimately, Shotwell envisions the satellites being made on the moon. "The convergence of AI and SpaceX and what we're doing—data centers in space, mass drivers on the moon, producing AI satellites on the moon," she says. "I would be disappointed if we didn't have a settlement on the moon and [are] building a manufacturing facility on the moon within 10 years. Hopefully half that." Click here. (3/25) https://time.com/article/2026/03/26/gwynne-shotwell-profile/

HTS Market Set to Reach $76B as Industry Enters Terabit Era (Source: Space News)
Novaspace’s latest High Throughput Satellites (HTS) report shows global demand reaching 218 Tbps by 2034, while service revenues are set to more than double to $76 billion over the same period. The findings reflect a market entering a new phase of scale, driven by the rapid expansion of NGSO constellations – led by Starlink – and a step change in performance, pricing, and global adoption.

“Starlink’s impact has been catalytic,” said Dimitri Buchs, Manager at Novaspace. “Lower-cost capacity, rapid scaling, and improved service quality have reset expectations across the market. The entire satcom ecosystem is now being pushed to innovate, differentiate, and rethink strategic positioning.” (3/26)

Open Cosmos, Facing September ITU Deployment Deadline: We’re Building Satellites Like There’s No Tomorrow, 24/7, at 4 Sites (Source: Space Intel Report)
Small satellite manufacturer and service provider Open Cosmos Chief Executive Rafel Jorda said his company’s four factories are operating 24/7 to build as many Ka-band broadband satellites as it can before June and September launch deadlines under its regulatory licenses. Open Cosmos in January launched the first two satellites in the constellation just days before a deadline that, if it had been missed, would have put the future constellation out of reach. (2/26)

Xona Raises $170 Million for Satellite Navigation Network (Source: Space News)
Xona Space Systems, a California-based startup developing the Pulsar low-Earth orbit (LEO) navigation constellation, secured $170 million in Series C funding to accelerate satellite production at their new Burlingame, California facility. This funding round supports the deployment of a 258-satellite network designed to offer superior, more secure PNT (positioning, navigation, and timing) services as an alternative to traditional GPS, with commercial service expected to start in 2027. (3/26)

White House Pushes To Finalize Huntsville As Space Command HQ; DOJ Moves To Dismiss Colorado Lawsuit (Source: WAFF)
The White House says it’s time to move on and finalize Huntsville as the official home of Space Command Headquarters. The President’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the state of Colorado’s lawsuit aimed at stopping the move. Space Command has been operating out of Colorado Springs for years. In 2021, President Trump announced that it would move to Huntsville. (3/26)

Hughes Targets Sovereign Satcom Demand With Network Control Software (Source: Space News)
Hughes Network Systems is pivoting its defense business to meet rising government demand for sovereign control over satellite communications, focusing on software-defined networking, reported SpaceNews. According to executives on March 25, the company aims to offer tools that allow militaries to manage and secure their own multi-orbit network traffic rather than relying solely on provider management. The initiative aims to address a growing desire for "sovereign space systems," where governments manage their own secure communications gateways. (3/26)

Government Use of Commercial Procurement Models Has Limitations in Space (Source: Space News)
While government agencies increasingly use commercial contracting for space, this does not guarantee higher revenue for providers. High entry barriers, including specific security certifications and, at times, customized requirements, can limit profitability and market access, challenging the expectation that commercial adoption equals increased business opportunities, according to SpaceNews and CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies. (3/26)