May 21, 2026

GNSS is No Longer a Given: Rethinking Trusted Navigation for Autonomous Systems (Source: LinkedIn)
In autonomous systems, GNSS has long been treated as a foundation; that assumption is now breaking down. From urban canyons to contested environments, satellite positioning is increasingly unreliable, intermittent - or deliberately denied.

For engineers designing drones, robotics and defense platforms, the question is no longer how accurate GNSS can be, but what happens when it fails. A new generation of navigation architectures is emerging - where inertial sensing, external aiding and sensor fusion redefine what “trusted localization” really means. (5/21)

Space Force Study Recommends Third Heavy Launch Site (Source: Air and Space Forces)
A recent study of the Space Force’s launch infrastructure found that the service needs a third launch site to manage surging government and commercial launch demand. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink highlighted the finding during a May 20 House Armed Services Committee hearing, noting that the study is still moving through the approval process.

“At a high level, what it says is we probably need another site that’s capable of heavy and super heavy launch capability, both from a resiliency perspective and just, even at the Cape, limitations on how much space we’ve got,” Meink said. He didn’t expand any further on the findings of the study, which was mandated by Congress in the Fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, and it’s not clear what locations the service is considering. (5/20)

Germany Touts Pan-German Space Command Amid European Push to Supplant US Tech (Source: Defense One)
Germany’s defense minister used a rare four-nation gathering of German-speaking defense chiefs this week to push forward plans for a European military space command, calling on close partners including Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg, to help shape the initiative rather than simply join it.

Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, announced at a press conference in Berlin that Germany is developing a European Space Component Command alongside a Weltraumakademie − a multilateral space training academy − and insisted that partner nations will be “embedded in the design phase” rather than presented with finished structures. (5/20)

Neptune’s Mysterious Moon Nereid (Source: AP)
Neptune’s far-flung moon Nereid may be the last of the planet’s original companions that managed to survive a cosmic crash, scientists reported Wednesday. Sixteen known moons circle Neptune, our solar system’s eighth and most distant planet. Neptune’s biggest moon, Triton, barged in from the solar system’s frigid outskirts billions of years ago, scattering the planet’s original moons and putting them on destructive collision courses. (5/20)

Report Finds U.S. Space Supply Chains Rely Heavily on Chinese Manufacturing (Source: Space News)
A new report from supply-chain intelligence firm Altana quantifies the extent to which the U.S. commercial space industry remains dependent on components sourced from Chinese suppliers. At the same time, space companies face mounting pressure to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers viewed as security risks by the Pentagon. (5/20)

Famously Secret About its Finances, SpaceX Opens its Books for the First Time (Source: Ars Technica)
After nearly a quarter of a century operating as a private company, with its financial accounts a closely guarded secret, SpaceX on Wednesday afternoon released a detailed accounting of its business in a nearly 400-page S-1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The document revealed no major surprises about the company’s space operations, but there was a trove of details about its sprawling operations, which now encompass launch, spaceflight, space-based Internet, and, thanks to its recent acquisition of Musk’s xAI, social media and AI.

SpaceX projects a “total addressable market,” or TAM, of $28.5 trillion across its present and future offerings in space, data, and AI services. However, of this amount, only about $2 trillion is directly related to space or the company’s Starlink network. The remaining $26.5 trillion is believed to come from AI, largely from enterprise applications.

“We believe we have identified the largest TAM in human history,” the company states on page 171 of the filing. “We believe our next trillion-dollar market is AI compute." Musk’s salary in 2025 was $54,080, a value tied to California’s minimum salary for exempt employees. Gwynne Shotwell received a salary of $1.08 million in 2025, but including stock awards, her total compensation was valued at $85.8 million. The S-1 filing notes that Musk has served as an advisor to President Trump and alludes to the possibility that changes in politics might materially affect the company’s future. (5/20)

Government Contracts Bolster SpaceX, Pose Risks (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Spending by U.S. federal agencies accounted for about 20% of SpaceX’s revenue last year. That proportion highlights both the close ties the company has developed with the government as well as how it has reduced its dependence on public spending by building up other customer bases.

Clients across the government include NASA, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies. The company didn’t spell out many details about its national-security work but noted the National Reconnaissance Office, a U.S. spy agency focused on space-based intelligence work, is a customer. SpaceX has been working with the NRO to develop a classified satellite network over the past few years, The Wall Street Journal has reported. (5/20)

Starlink Just Raised Prices Again (Source: JCristina)
SpaceX Starlink just decided to raise prices across multiple service tiers for the majority of it's 10 million customer base. But this story goes far beyond a simple price hike. Why are Starlink prices increasing while SpaceX prepares for massive next-generation satellite expansion? Is this about congestion, network scaling, V3 satellites, Wall Street pressure, or something much bigger happening behind the scenes? (5/18)

SpaceX Tackling Payload Capacity Problem for Starship (Sources: Bloomberg, SPACErePORT)
Starship still cannot carry as much stuff to orbit as Elon Musk has promised. SpaceX's payload capacity challenges with Starship stem from the "tyranny of the rocket equation": the vehicle's dry mass (the empty weight of the rocket) has historically come in significantly higher than original targets, and high-energy reusability hardware adds a heavy weight penalty.

SpaceX has continuously redesigned the vehicle to shave off structural weight, culminating in Starship Version 3 (V3). V3 features a clean-sheet redesign that aims to lower the dry mass by 100 metric tons and utilizes the upgraded, more powerful Raptor 3 engines. (5/20)

LiveEO Gets €6.6 Million From Germany for Twinspector Constellation (Source: LiveEO)
We are thrilled to share the next major milestone for LiveEO: securing €6.6 million in public funding through the GRW program, backed by the Federal Government and the State of Berlin. This funding accelerates a critical mission. As climate change, aging assets, and geopolitical risks place unprecedented pressure on European infrastructure, the need for independent, sovereign access to very high-resolution Earth observation data has never been more urgent.

General-purpose satellite systems simply weren't built for the precise operational needs of infrastructure monitoring. That is the gap we are closing with Twinspector, the world’s first satellite constellation purpose-built for critical infrastructure. (5/20)

Peterson SFFB Needs More Room as Space Force Doubles in Size (Source: The Gazette)
As the U.S. Space Force prepares to double in size, Peterson Space Force Base is pushing to secure more personnel, operational space, and updated infrastructure. The projected personnel growth and ongoing operational demands at Peterson are reshaping base infrastructure and strategic planning in several key ways.

To accommodate this massive personnel increase, Space Base Delta 1 leaders at Peterson are actively evaluating building capacity. The base is aiming to optimize workspaces and make room for rising national security demands, even as the broader Space Command headquarters planning continues. Officials report that current facilities at local installations, such as Schriever Space Force Base, are maxed out, emphasizing the urgent need for new operational centers. The Space Force plans to reach a personnel milestone of up to 20,000 active-duty troops and civilians over the next five to ten years. (5/19)

Starfighters Space Expands Mu-g Technologies Partnership with Midland Facility Integration and Joint NASA Microgravity Response (Source: Starfighters Space)
Starfighters Space, together with Mu-g Technologies, announced an expansion of its strategic partnership. Starfighters will assist Mu-g’s flight test program for its Dassault Falcon 50 from its facilities located within the Midland Air & Space Port (KMAF), and the two companies are jointly responding to NASA’s Request for Information for Parabolic Flight Services. (5/20)

Amazon Leo Gears Up to Challenge Starlink (Source: Geekwire)
Amazon Leo is preparing for the commercial launch of its satellite broadband network, aiming to compete with SpaceX's Starlink. Amazon Leo has more than 300 satellites in orbit and plans to increase this to more than 3,200 by mid-2029. The project, initially called Project Kuiper, faced challenges in developing cost-effective customer terminals and optical laser links between satellites. Amazon Leo aims to provide high-speed connectivity, especially in remote areas, with downlink speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps. (5/19)
 
Sandhoo to Lead Space Force Missile Warning, Tracking (Source: Breaking Defense)
The US Space Force has announced Gurpartap "GP" Sandhoo as head of the new Missile Warning and Tracking Portfolio Acquisition Executive office. Sandhoo will also serve as the permanent director of the Space Development Agency. The office will oversee the Tracking Layer of satellites in low Earth orbit, the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared constellation and the Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking Medium Earth Orbit program. (5/19)

NASA-Funded Research May Create Chinese Security Risk (Source: Payload)
NASA has potentially funded or supported hundreds of scientific collaborations since 2015 that might involve Chinese researchers, a new Congressional report says. The House Select Committee on China’s report, released Thursday, says these collaborations may violate the Wolf Amendment, which is a law that prohibits NASA from working with Chinese researchers.

NASA and OSTP cannot use government money to collaborate with China or Chinese-owned companies under the amendment, unless Congress and the FBI authorizes an exception. NASA is at risk of violating the law, the report states. Academic coauthorships have “included entities within China’s defense research and industrial base, many of which are designated on publicly available US government lists identifying entities posing national-security risks.”

The report recommends creating a task force—composed of Department of Justice and NASA’s Office of the Inspector General officials—to scrutinize potential violations. It also urged NASA to “pursue suspensions and debarments” for universities who repeatedly violate the amendment by working with China. (5/20)

The Exploration Company Completes Nyx Test Model Vibration Testing (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Exploration Company has completed a series of vibration tests on a Nyx Structural Test Model (STM) to assess how the capsule will perform during launch conditions. Nyx is a modular space capsule designed to initially transport cargo to and from low Earth orbit destinations. Planned future iterations of the capsule are expected to be capable of transporting crews to low Earth orbit and cargo to the surface of the Moon. (5/20)

Starfighters Turns Texas Facility Toward Microgravity Flight Testing (Source: Space News)
Starfighters Space is utilizing its hangar at Midland International Air & Space Port in Texas as a staging ground for commercial microgravity flight testing. The company partnered with Mu-G Technologies to modify and test a Dassault Falcon 50 aircraft, and together they are jointly responding to a NASA Request for Information (RFI) for commercial parabolic flight services.

The Midland, Texas facility is acting as a hub for both flight testing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification work. The joint effort directly answers NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's RFI, which aims to identify and rebuild commercial microgravity capability across North America. (5/20)

Australia's Southern Launch Aids Varda W-6 Capsule Re-Entry (Source: Australian Defence)
Southern Launch has announced the safe return of Varda Space Industries’ W-6 capsule to the Koonibba Test Range. The W‑6 re‑entry is the fourth capsule to land at the Koonibba Test Range in just over 12 months, putting orbital re‑entries on a path to becoming as routine as space launch. "Four capsules safely returned in just over 12 months is a proven, repeatable capability. Southern Launch has built the infrastructure and the expertise to make orbital re‑entry as routine as launch, and the W‑6 mission is further proof of that," Lloyd Damp said. (5/20)