May 18, 2026

York Reassures Investors Amid Space Force Changes (Source: Space News)
York Space Systems defended its financial outlook amid investor concerns about the future of its biggest customer. In an earnings call last week, York CEO Dirk Wallinger sought to reassure investors that changes underway at the Pentagon and the Space Force do not undermine the long-term need for proliferated military satellite networks.

York's rapid expansion has been driven almost entirely by contracts tied to SDA's Transport Layer constellation, but the Pentagon is transitioning Transport Layer into a broader architecture known as the Space Data Network while ending SDA's status as a semi-autonomous acquisition organization.  While that has prompted speculation SpaceX could dominate this new architecture through its MILNET work, Wallinger argued that Congress will insist on competition, providing opportunities for York to win future contracts. (5/18)

House Spending Bill Restores TraCSS Development Funding (Source: Space News)
A House spending bill would fund continued work on the TraCSS space traffic coordination system. The commerce, justice and science spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee last week included $50 million for the Office of Space Commerce, which is leading work on TraCSS. The administration's proposal sought only $11 million for the office, saying it would effectively halt work on the system. The bill's report called on the office to continue development of TraCSS. The administration sought to cancel TraCSS in its 2026 budget proposal, but Congress provided funding to allow the office to continue work on the system. (5/18)

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to Pool Spectrum for Improved D2D (Source: Space News)
The three major wireless operators in the United States said they will join forces on direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon announced last week they had agreed in principle to pool spectrum resources to improve D2D services, including standardizing their approach to help rural mobile network operators reduce coverage gaps. The companies provided few details about how that partnership would work. The announcement split satellite operators: AST SpaceMobile, which is working with AT&T and Verizon, said it welcomes the partnership, while SpaceX, working with T-Mobile, said it was skeptical, noting potential antitrust concerns. (5/18)

China's Zenk Space Raises $26 Million for ZH-1 Launcher (Source: Space News)
Chinese launch startup Zenk Space has raised $26 million ahead of its first launch attempt. The funding will provide solid financial backing for the Zhihang-1 (ZH-1) inaugural mission and ensure all pre-launch activities proceed smoothly, the company said. A separate report stated the launch is scheduled for June. ZH-1 is designed to place 4,000 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit using kerosene-liquid oxygen engines from state-owned CASC's Academy of Aerospace Liquid Propulsion Technology. The company is studying reuse options for the rocket, including recovering the engine bay from the first stage rather than the entire booster. (5/18)

Tomorrow.io Raises $35 Million (Source: Space News)
Commercial satellite weather company Tomorrow.io added $35 million to its latest funding round. The company said Monday that the additional capital brings its Series F round, announced in February, to $210 million. The investment will support development of a new generation of satellites, called DeepSky, as well as accelerate development of an AI platform for analyzing data from those satellites. (5/18)

China Launches More Broadband Satellites on Long March 8 (Source: Xinhua)
China launched more satellites for a broadband constellation Sunday. A Long March 8 lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport at 10:42 a.m. Eastern, placing a group of satellites into orbit for Spacesail, a broadband constellation. The report did not disclose how many satellites were on board but previous launches carried 18. (5/18)

Amazon's $400M Space Coast Investment Creates Jobs (Source: Florida Today)
Amazon has invested hundreds of millions on Florida's Space Coast, creating more than 440 jobs and supporting 2,000 indirect jobs. The investment includes distribution centers in Cocoa and Melbourne, a satellite processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and infrastructure upgrades at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Amazon plans to build a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in West Melbourne, creating more than 1,000 jobs. The company's Amazon Leo project aims to provide space-based high-speed internet, with Cape Canaveral as a key hub for satellite processing and launches. (5/17)

Starlink's Big Year (Source: Quartz)
Starlink just crossed nine million customers, less than two months after hitting eight million. SpaceX launched the service in 2019 as a bet that low-Earth-orbit satellites could deliver broadband fast enough to matter in places cable had never reached. The internet service now operates in 155 countries, territories, and markets, with more than 9,000 satellites in orbit. It adds about 21,000 new users every day, the kind of upward curve that helps explain why SpaceX is reportedly aiming to go public this summer at a valuation near $1.75 trillion. (5/18)

Elon Musk Really Needs Starship to Work This Time (Source: Bloomberg)
After three years of explosions, redesigns and technical upgrades, SpaceX's mission-critical Starship is scheduled to launch its 12th test flight this week. The company laid out lofty goals in advance of its upcoming IPO, and almost all hinge on its behemoth Starship being able to transport a whole lot of heavy stuff into space all at once.

The rocket is supposed to deploy a larger fleet of Starlink satellites, start a human base on the moon and set in motion Elon Musk’s latest grand vision: a system of more than 1 million data center satellites to support artificial intelligence. Starship, built and launched out of SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas, is also meant to unlock the company’s ultimate goal of starting a human settlement on Mars. (5/18)

After the Triumph of Artemis II, Now Comes the Hard Part (Source: The Hill)
The afterglow of Artemis II’s triumph has barely faded, and NASA is already setting about placing the first footprints on the moon in over 50 years. However, all the things that the space agency and its partners have to do makes sending four human beings around the moon seem like a weekend excursion by comparison.

Artemis III was originally supposed to be the first human moon landing since Apollo 17 over 50 years ago. But NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wisely decided that there needed to be an intermediate step between Artemis II, the first crewed deep space mission of the 21st century, and the next moon landing, which will now be designated as Artemis IV. Increasingly, the question is not whether NASA and its international and commercial partners will return to the moon, but when it will happen.

President Trump would like to cap off his presidency with a crewed lunar landing — the better to “make America great again” and enhance his own legacy. The visuals are the stuff political dreams are made of: Trump watching the mission of Artemis IV lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, talking with the astronauts as they traverse the lunar surface, as President Nixon did with the crew of Apollo 11, and then greeting them when they return from the moon. (5/17)

SpaceX Starlink and Other Satellite Megaconstellations Are Creating an ‘Unregulated Geoengineering Experiment’, Scientists Say (Source: Space.com)
Space industry aficionados have big plans. They talk about the not so distant future when hundreds of thousands or even millions of satellites orbit planet Earth, beaming the internet to the unconnected, processing data in orbital computer centers, generating solar power and more. But this ambitious vision, which many in the sector think will become reality sooner or later, worries atmospheric researchers.

Studies show that since the beginning of the mega-constellation era in 2020, concentrations of potentially dangerous high-altitude air pollution stemming from satellite launches and re-entries has significantly increased. Based on estimates described by researchers as "conservative", the global space sector will have released by 2030 more climate-altering chemicals into the atmosphere than the entire United Kingdom.

If the growth envisioned by the space industry leaders comes to pass, this air pollution, mostly concentrated in higher layers of the atmosphere, will at some point begin altering Earth's climate, said Eloise Marais. "The space industry pollution is like a small-scale, unregulated geoengineering experiment that could have many unintended and serious environmental consequences," she said. (5/18)

China's Satellite Navigation Industry Reports Growth in 2025 (Source: Xinhua)
China's satellite navigation industry continues to expand, with the total output value of the sector reaching 629 billion yuan (about $91.9 billion) in 2025, an increase of 9.24 percent year on year, according to a newly released white paper. Nearly 1.4 billion smartphones in China were equipped with BeiDou positioning capabilities by the end of 2025, accounting for about 98 percent of all mobile phones in the country.

It also said that more than 160 million wearable devices supported BeiDou positioning services. In addition, over 100 million passenger cars had onboard devices using BeiDou services for navigation and positioning. (5/18)

Taiwan Eyes Role in NASA Moon Program After Receiving Proposal Request (Source: Focus Taiwan)
Taiwan has been invited for the first time to submit suggestions on possible solutions for NASA's lunar exploration program, which the head of Taiwan's space agency hopes will help the country gain a foothold in the emerging global "lunar economy." Securing the invitation will enable Taiwanese companies to bypass third-party system contractors and work directly with the end-user, in this case NASA, Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) Director-General Wu Jong-shinn said. (5/18)

Designing Safer Space Habitats (Source: CASIS)
Understanding how microbes behave in closed environments is critical for protecting human health, whether in space or on Earth. In our latest case study, researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California, San Diego mapped how microbes and chemical traces accumulate across living spaces onboard the International Space Station (ISS). They sampled more than 800 surfaces to build the first 3D microbial and chemical map of the space station.

The study revealed that microbes don’t spread randomly but follow patterns shaped by human activity, with astronauts as the primary source. These insights could help engineers design safer habitats for long-duration space missions. On Earth, they could improve microbial control in hospitals, submarines, and other closed environments—reducing health risks and building more resilient spaces. (5/15)

Department of War Invests $191M to Expand and Enhance the Solid Rocket Motor Industrial Base (Source: DoD)
The DoW announced today the latest in a series of investments in the solid rocket motor industrial base: an April 20, 2026, investment of $27.3 million in DPA Title III funds to Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company (PacSci EMC), in Chandler, Arizona. It supports DoW's objectives to expand the munitions industrial base, bolster supply chain resiliency, and increase domestic production in strategic priority areas. (5/15)

Germany Gets Ahead in the New Space Race (Source: DW)
In Germany alone, there are three companies working on launch vehicles. Isar Aerospace in the Bavarian city of Munich is developing rockets, on which many have set their hopes. Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse Technologies in Neuenstadt am Kocher, which are also both in southern Germany, currently have rockets in the testing phase.

Many German companies are also manufacturing satellites. "We have a large number of downstream companies using satellite data to develop new data-driven business models," says Wachter. These include OHB in the northern city of Bremen, which is developing complete satellite systems and components for Ariane rockets for example. The Exploration Company, which is headquartered near Munich, builds reusable space vehicles.

OroraTech provides solutions for monitoring wildfires from space for example. Constellr's satellites can detect heat patterns that indicate human activity, infrastructure load and environmental stress. The Berlin-based company LiveEO analyzes satellite and drone data and monitors global infrastructure networks, such as Deutsche Bahn's rail lines. (5/16)

NASA Surprises the World and Flies the X-59 Twice in the Same Day (Source: CPG)
NASA conducted, for the first time, two test flights of the X-59 on the same day, marking an important milestone for the Quesst mission, a project aimed at enabling commercial supersonic aircraft over land areas with less sound impact. The tests took place on April 30, at the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, during the 11th and 12th flights of the experimental aircraft developed to reduce the sonic boom to a sound more like a “soft thump.” The X-59 achieved different technical objectives at altitudes between 12,000 and 43,000 feet and speeds of 528 to 627 mph, a range equivalent to approximately Mach 0.8 to Mach 0.95. (5/15)

Artemis III Astronauts May Wear Prada Space Suits (Source: Times of India)
NASA astronauts participating in the Artemis program could soon be wearing spacesuits designed by Prada. The luxury fashion company partnered with Axiom Space to help develop the new AxEMU lunar spacesuits intended for future Artemis missions. (5/17)

India’s Mars Orbiter Cost Less Than the Movie Gravity and Reached Its Destination on the First Attempt (Source: Space Daily)
In November 2013, the Indian Space Research Organization launched its Mars Orbiter Mission from Sriharikota on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The spacecraft, also known as Mangalyaan, entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014 at the first attempt. The total approved project budget was approximately ₹454 crore, around $74 million USD at the time. The 2013 film Gravity reportedly cost about $100 million to produce, with some industry trackers listing the figure closer to $110 million. (5/15)

Bizarre Venus Surface Formations Puzzle Planetary Scientists (Source: Universe Today)
Bizarre Venus surface formations (or coronae) are likely key to understanding our twin planet’s heretofore inscrutable interior. Using NASA Magellan spacecraft data from decades past, Anna Gulcher, an earth and planetary scientist at Germany’s University of Freiburg, have created innovative new 3D models of the largest coronae to better understand Venus’ puzzling geodynamics.

The team used data from the Magellan spacecraft’s radar sensors, which officially ceased functioning in 1994, to get a closer look at the coronae’s surrounding topography and gravitational signatures. Coronae display extraordinary diversity in size, morphology, topography, gravity signatures, and tectonic setting, indicating that they do not represent a single formation mechanism. (5/15)

Astronomers Catch Interstellar Turbulence Warping Light across Milky Way (Source: Sci.News)
The space between stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, known as the interstellar medium, is churning with clouds of ionized gas and electrons. When waves of radio light from distant objects pass through this turbulent material, they are bent and distorted in the same way heat haze rising above a fire distorts our view of everything behind it.

The astronomers analyzed nearly a decade of archival observations from NSF’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). They expected that when radio light from the quasar passed though the Milky Way, it would spread out into a smooth blur and fade away. Instead, they found persistent, distinct patterns, producing structured, patchy distortions in the light that could only have come from turbulence. (5/15)

Dragon Cargo Capsule Flew Its Sixth Mission to the ISS (Source: Space Daily)
The capsule flying CRS-34 first reached the station in 2021. Five years and six missions later, it has become the first cargo Dragon to match the reuse record previously set only by SpaceX’s astronaut-carrying Endeavour capsule, as Space.com reported. The Falcon 9 booster that carried it also notched its sixth flight and sixth landing, returning to Cape Canaveral about seven and a half minutes after liftoff. A six-flight booster paired with a six-flight capsule on the same mission would have been treated as historic a few years ago. (5/17)

Viasat's F2 Satellite 'Blooms,' Targets 100+ Mbps in Push Against Starlink (Source: PC Mag)
As it loses subscribers to Starlink, Viasat is showing off a new satellite that aims to deliver over 100Mbps downloads, possibly as soon as this month. In November, Viasat launched the F2 satellite, which is designed to serve customers across the Americas and promises to double the company’s bandwidth capacity across its entire satellite fleet. On Monday, Viasat posted a photo showing that a key component of the F2 satellite, the large reflector, is “fully deployed.” (5/12)

Ex-ISRO Scientist's $1 Billion Startup Eyes Maiden Orbital Rocket Launch (Source: NDTV)
India's private space revolution is entering a decisive phase, and at the heart of it stands a young company with big ambitions. Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, India's first space tech unicorn, is now preparing for its most significant milestone yet, the maiden orbital launch of its Vikram 1 rocket in just a few weeks from Sriharikota.

In eight years after leaving his secure job at ISRO, where he earned Rs 75,000 a month, Chandana, along with his cofounder Naga Bharath Daka, has created a company now valued at Rs 10,000 crore, as per a disclosure by the company. A mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur, he recalled asking himself a simple question early in his career: what is the most challenging machine ever built by humans? "For me it was always a rocket. I was really inspired by launches across the globe. I thought this is my calling; I need to get into the rocket industry," he said. (5/17)

Rubin Tracks Skyscraper-Size Asteroids, Failed Supernovas, and Interstellar Visitors (Source: Quanta)
Over the years, anticipation has built for the start of observations at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in the mountains of the Atacama Desert in Chile. Originally imagined in the mid-1990s as the Dark Matter Telescope, Rubin is designed to study our constantly moving and changing universe in greater detail than ever before. Once every few days for a decade, Rubin will take images of the entire night sky over the Southern Hemisphere, creating the world’s largest time-lapse movie.

In Rubin’s first year alone, scientists expect the observatory to find 1 million undiscovered asteroids — as many as have been documented in the previous 200 years of human history — as well as thousands of comets and billions of stars and galaxies. (5/17)

IN-SPACe Leads Indian Space Delegation to Italy (Source: GK Today)
The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) led a delegation of nine Indian space-tech companies to Italy on 16–17 May. IN-SPACe is the regulatory and promotional body for private space activities in India under the Department of Space. It authorizes space activities by non-government entities and supports the participation of Indian companies in the space economy.

Nine Indian companies took part in the Venice event. The list included Astrogate Labs, Astrobase Space Technologies, VyomIC, Suhora, Kepler Aerospace, Hyspace Technologies, TakeMe2Space, Jarbits Pvt Ltd, and Dhruva Space. Astrobase Space Technologies is based in Karnataka, while Dhruva Space is an Indian space technology company engaged in satellite systems and space infrastructure. (5/16)

NASA’s New AI Processor Is 500x Faster Than Current Space Computers (Source: SciTech Daily)
NASA’s new AI-ready space chip could give future spacecraft a brain of their own. NASA is developing a powerful new computer chip that could dramatically change how future spacecraft operate in deep space. Created through a commercial partnership, the advanced processor is designed to give spacecraft the ability to process information far more quickly and even make certain decisions independently during missions far from Earth.

The agency’s High Performance Spaceflight Computing project is focused on increasing the computing capabilities of spacecraft used for exploration missions. Current spacecraft rely on older processors because they are reliable and durable enough to survive the harsh conditions of space. However, those chips lack the performance needed for the next generation of missions. (5/16)

Europe Just Unveiled a Serious Rival to SpaceX’s Starship (Source: SciTech Daily)
Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have now released one of the most detailed independent studies of Starship’s performance to date. Notably, they did not base their work on SpaceX’s public performance claims. Instead, they reviewed the publicly streamed footage from the first four integrated flight tests and extracted telemetry data moment by moment.

They then used those data to create and test detailed performance models of the vehicle. The resulting assessment presents Starship as a system whose real capabilities are more carefully defined, yet still more impressive than its promotional image might suggest. The analysis confirmed that in its current form, a fully reusable Starship that can deliver around 59 tons to low Earth orbit. That is roughly what a Falcon Heavy can achieve without recovering any of its boosters at all.

But the more striking part of the paper is a detailed design for a European alternative capable of launching over 70 tonnes to orbit, called the RLV C5. The concept pairs the winged, reusable booster stage from DLR’s long-running SpaceLiner project with an expendable upper stage designed to maximize payload. It burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which is a more efficient combination than the methane and oxygen that power Starship’s Raptor engines. In comparison, Starship is more than three times heavier than the RLV C5 at launch. (5/17)