May 30, 2026

Mini World Near Pluto is Far More Active Than it Should Be – and Experts are Baffled (Source: BBC)
A tiny frozen world in the outer Solar System has been found to have an atmosphere, making it only the second object beyond Neptune, after Pluto, known to have one. The finding could mean that such mini worlds are much more active than planetary scientists had believed. The world, known as 2002 XV93, is a minor planet and a Trans Neptunian Object (TNO), meaning it orbits the Sun somewhere beyond the orbit of Neptune in a region known as the Kuiper Belt. (5/27)

Australia Keeps Being Described as a Junior AUKUS Partner — But the Radar in Its Outback and the Port in Its Northwest Are Quietly Rewriting Who Controls Orbital Traffic (Source: Space Daily)
In Western Australia’s outback near Exmouth, an array of parabolic dishes spread across the landscape is already tracking satellites in geostationary orbit for the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) Site 1, ultimately a 27-antenna array operating as a single sensor, has begun feeding tracking data to AUKUS partners, with full operational capability targeted for 2027. Several hundred kilometers up the coast, the iron-ore port of Port Hedland is being seriously discussed as a future Starship recovery site. These are not parallel curiosities. They are the visible edges of Australia’s transformation into the southern anchor of allied space power. (5/23)

China is Building Launch Pads Near its Nuclear Missile Silos (Source: Defense News)
In a remote Chinese desert, a vast military complex is taking shape that some security scholars say appears built to ensure no American first strike on China’s nuclear arsenal could reliably knock out Beijing’s ability to hit back. China’s nuclear missiles can already reach any city in the United States. Now, satellite images reviewed by Reuters show Beijing is building a sprawling web of launch pads, bunkers and communications nodes near the isolated nuclear silos that hold the Chinese military’s longest-range missiles.

The images reveal more than 80 pads for possible use by China’s expanding fleet of mobile missile launchers and air-defense batteries. They also show facilities that may serve electronic warfare, satellite communications and command operations, according to three security analysts. (5/29)

Hypersonic Startup Nabs Contract For High-Speed Drone Testing (Source: Air and Space Forces)
Venture capital-backed aircraft startup Hermeus announced May 28 its Quarterhorse unmanned aircraft will conduct a series of flight tests with the Defense Innovation Unit over the next few years. Under the $159 million contract, the company will provide flight data from upcoming Quarterhorse flights to DIU, the Air Force, and the Navy to inform future concepts for high-speed military aircraft. (5/28)

Arctic Ocean Passes 'Irreversible' Chemical Tipping Point (Source: Oceanographic)
A new study spanning two decades reveals that the loss of sea ice has triggered an irreversible chemical shift in the Arctic Ocean. By exposing shallow coastal waters to intense sunlight, the melting ice has accelerated a process that destroys nitrate, the foundational fertilizer required for marine life to survive. The study suggests the Arctic passed a critical ecological tipping point in 2009. The resulting nutrient famine is already affecting the whole Arctic food chain, threatening everything from microscopic plankton to commercial fish stocks, seabirds, and marine mammals. (5/28)

Redwire vs. Intuitive Machines: Which Space Stock Has More Potential? (Source: Zacks)
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RDW’s 2026 sales and earnings per share (EPS) implies an improvement of 41% and 57.3%, respectively, from the year-ago quarter’s reported figures. RDW’s 2026 and 2027 EPS estimates have moved south over the past 60 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LUNR’s 2026 sales implies a year-over-year improvement of 341.9%, while that for EPS suggests a 23.8% decline. The stock’s 2026 and 2027 EPS estimates have moved south over the past 60 days.

RDW is trading at a premium, with its forward 12-month price/sales of 9.03X being more than LUNR’s forward price/sales of 8.91X. This makes LUNR's valuation more attractive than RDW's. Neither stock appears attractive for investment right now. Redwire is showing stronger growth, while Intuitive Machines is expanding its lunar business and infrastructure capabilities. Investors may be better off waiting for a better entry point and improved visibility before investing in either stock. (5/28)

Forget Rocket Lab: This Aerospace Defense Titan Is a Far Smarter Valuation Play (Source: 247 Wall Street)
General Dynamics (GD) is a dividends and buybacks machine commanding a market cap barely larger than Rocket Lab (RKLB) despite generating 78x more revenue and profitable operations. Rocket Lab’s 425% one-year rally reflects hype around the Neutron rocket and space-economy IPOs but is causing plenty of concern that hype is the real narrative, causing many to consider a pivot. Those who do should consider this defense sector stalwart. (5/29)

Blue Origin Advances Lunar Settlement Plans With Moon Dust Oxygen Extraction System (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin has unveiled a major technological breakthrough aimed at supporting long-term human presence on the Moon: a reactor capable of extracting breathable oxygen directly from lunar soil. The system, called Air Pioneer, represents a significant step toward reducing dependence on Earth-based resupply missions during future lunar exploration and settlement efforts.

The reactor works by processing lunar regolith, the dusty material covering the Moon’s surface, using a technique known as molten regolith electrolysis. In this process, lunar soil is heated to extremely high temperatures, allowing oxygen chemically bound within oxide-rich minerals to be released and collected. Scientists have known for decades that lunar regolith contains large amounts of oxygen, but efficiently extracting it in usable quantities has remained a major engineering challenge.

The technology forms part of Blue Origin’s broader Blue Alchemist initiative, which focuses on in-situ resource utilization—using local materials in space rather than transporting everything from Earth. This approach is increasingly viewed as essential for sustainable lunar operations because transporting oxygen, fuel, water, and construction materials from Earth remains extraordinarily expensive and logistically difficult. (5/28)

Amazon to Acquire Apple's Globalstar Stake in Satellite Deal (Source: MacRumors)
Amazon is initiating a merger structure. It will create a new subsidiary called Grapefruit Acquisition Sub II to absorb Globalstar's operations, and then the new subsidiary will acquire Apple's equity. Apple has 20 percent equity and 20 percent voting interests in Globalstar Licensee LLC, a Globalstar subsidiary that operates the satellite system that delivers satellite connectivity to iPhone users in the U.S. Apple invested $450 million in Globalstar back in 2022 to fund Globalstar's satellite buildout for the Emergency SOS via satellite feature. Apple received 20 percent equity and 85 percent of Globalstar's network capacity in return. (5/27)

Blue Origin and Amazon Had Momentum. Then Came the Fireball (Source: New York Times)
The delays from the explosion will hit Blue Origin and its customers, including Amazon and NASA, just as SpaceX is nearing a much-hyped initial public offering that could value the company at more than $1.25 trillion. Had the rocket exploded in the air, the failure could have been almost routine, but the explosion badly damaged the launchpad. At least one massive steel tower appeared to be essentially gone, and there are questions about the state of the tangle of hydraulics and fueling systems that run below the concrete pad and through the area.

New Glenn has only one launchpad: Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Blue Origin spent several years and more than $1 billion to rebuild the 1960s-era launch site. That means Blue Origin not only needs to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it but also has to rebuild the launch infrastructure, creating the potential for major delays before the company can start testing New Glenn again. The delays will affect Blue Origin when it was otherwise hitting its stride.

Industry watchers say Mr. Bezos will stick with his ambitions. He is worth more than $290 billion, and he views Blue Origin as a cornerstone of his legacy. Blue Origin’s resources are limited only by his appetite to spend. Delays with Blue Origin further box Amazon into a corner as it looks to begin commercial operations of its satellite constellation, Amazon Leo, which aims to compete with Starlink. A third of the almost 3,500 remaining satellites that Amazon has contracted to launch were set to ride on New Glenn. (5/29)

Russia Plans to Launch Crewed Spacecraft From Baikonur in July (Source: Bloomberg)
Russia plans its first launch of a manned space mission from the Baikonur launch site this year with a crew that includes a NASA astronaut. A three-member crew, including two cosmonauts, is scheduled to take off on July 14, Dmitry Bakanov, the head of Roscosmos, told state-run broadcaster Vesti on Thursday. (5/28)

Swiss Startup Stellar Alpina Raises €3.8M ($4.4M) to Advance Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines (Source: Stellar Alpina)
Stellar Alpina is targeting one emerging bottleneck in the space economy: moving assets between orbits, supporting cislunar operations, and enabling future in-space servicing infrastructure. Unlike traditional rocket engines that rely on subsonic combustion, RDREs use supersonic detonation waves to extract more energy from the same propellant. The result could be higher-performance propulsion systems with fewer mechanical parts and lower mass, potentially reshaping how satellites and spacecraft maneuver in space.

The team moved quickly after founding in February 2026, completing its first RDRE hotfire campaign just 82 days after incorporation, including what Stellar Alpina says were Europe’s first commercial RDRE hotfire milestones. Stellar Alpina plans to test as many engines as possible in the next year. The company will target testing a new configuration every two weeks. (5/28)

California Aerospace Firm at the Center of Chemical Leak Crisis (Source: New York Times)
The chemical leak that prompted evacuations in Orange County, California on Friday occurred at a site belonging to GKN Aerospace, a manufacturing company based in the United Kingdom that produces military and civilian aerospace parts. About 16,000 people are employed at the company overall, including at least 540 at the location with the leak in Garden Grove.

The Garden Grove site, one of 32 manufacturing plants the company has across the world, is part of California’s robust aerospace and defense sector, which directly contributes $35 billion to the state’s annual economic output, according to one estimate. Many of those businesses are based in Southern California. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and RTX all have substantial operations in the region. (5/28)

ULA Launches Atlas V with Amazon Leo Satellites, a Day After New Glenn Explosion (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Following the explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket during a May 28 test fire, business got back to normal on Florida's Space Coast, as both SpaceX and ULA launched rockets on satellite missions May 29. A ULA Atlas V launched 29 Amazon Leo satellites. This was the seventh batch of production satellites that ULA launched on behalf of Amazon and the penultimate mission for the tech giant using an Atlas 5 rocket. (5/29)

3 Astronauts From China Return to Earth After Nearly 7 Months in Space, a Record for a Chinese Crew (Source: AP)
Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after spending nearly seven months in space, setting a record for the longest on-orbit stay by a Chinese crew. The craft carrying Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang of the Shenzhou 21 crew touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia region in the evening. Their return came as China prepares for its first lunar landing by 2030. The crew had completed various tasks, from processing and transmitting experimental data to transferring remaining supplies. (5/29)

Italy's Leaf Space Launches ‘TreeNet’ to Eliminate Connectivity Bottlenecks Associated with Modern Satellite Constellations (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Leaf Space has launched TreeNet, a technology designed to transform satellite clusters into shared orbital mesh networks. TreeNet marks a fundamental shift in space communications: moving from intermittent, schedule-dependent links to a resilient, "always-on" network architecture that eliminates the connectivity bottlenecks of modern constellations. (5/29)

ESA Greenlights Two Budget-Friendly Earth Observation Missions (Source: European Spaceflight)
ESA approved its HiBiDiS and SOVA-S Scout missions, with development led by SITAEL and OHB Czechspace, respectively. These missions are required to progress from initial approval to launch within three years, with costs capped at €35 million. The first of the two missions greenlit for development is the Hyperspectral Biodiversity Scout (HiBiDiS). Using hyperspectral imaging, HiBiDiS aims to improve understanding of understorey ecosystem biodiversity, the layer of plant life beneath forest canopies. HiBiDiS is being developed by SITAEL, an Italian small satellite company.

The second is the Satellite Observation of Waves in the Atmosphere – Scout (SOVA-S) mission, which is being developed by OHB Czechspace, the relatively small Czech-based subsidiary of German space technology company OHB. SOVA-S will utilize shortwave infrared imaging to provide near-global daily observations of gravity waves between 80 kilometers and 120 kilometers above Earth’s surface. (5/29)

BlackSky Advances Non-Earth Imaging Business With 7-Figure Renewal (Source: Via Satellite)
BlackSky Technology has received a large contract renewal focused on non-Earth imagery services — in which its satellites capture imagery of other objects in orbit. BlackSky said this award comes as it advances a fully automated, dynamic space-to-space collection system. The company previously expanded into this type of data collection in 2024, working with non-Earth imaging (NEI) startup HEO. BlackSky did not name the customer, but described it as a seven-figure, multi-year contract renewal. (5/28)

Blue Origin Rocket Explosion Rattles NASA's Artemis Plans (Source: Nature)
leaves NASA at least temporarily without a key partner for its ambitious Moon base plans. A Blue Origin mission was supposed to launch to the Moon later this year using a rocket of the type that just exploded. The mission would have landed near the lunar south pole with an array of scientific and technical instruments, and NASA administrator Jared Isaacman had optimistically rebranded it ‘Moon Base I’ earlier this week to invoke the agency’s ultimate goal of establishing a sustained presence on the Moon.

Another major company involved in NASA’s Moon goals is also struggling. SpaceX has not yet got its flagship rocket, Starship, into a complete Earth orbit. Its most recent test flight, on 22 May, yielded mixed results; the main portion of Starship flew most of the way around Earth as expected, but a rocket booster malfunctioned before it splashed into the Gulf of Mexico. The FAA has grounded Starship until the mishap has been investigated.

Editor's Note: According to Frank Slazer: "It’s worth noting that, to the extent that returning to the moon first is a national priority, it’s now out of NASA’s control.  Fortunately, both companies have solid financial backing. In the era of NASA relying on commercial services to do exploration, it should be recognized that this also means that our nation’s space program is not fully under NASA’s control." (5/29)

Danish Pension Blacklists SpaceX Over ‘Catastrophic Governance’ (Source: Bloomberg)
A $25 billion Danish pension fund that earlier this year made headlines by ditching Treasuries as Donald Trump was threatening to seize Greenland now says it won’t touch SpaceX. The company, which is targeting a valuation of at least $1.8 trillion in its initial public offering, is not only “grossly overvalued” but also marred by a “catastrophic governance structure,” according to Anders Schelde, the chief investment officer of Akademiker Pension. (5/29)

Space Force Plans Network of Resilient Ops Centers for Wartime Command and Control (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force wants to build out ground infrastructure needed for its new space systems. Brig. Gen. Christopher Fernengel, director of plans and programs on the Space Force headquarters staff, said at the State of the Space Industrial Base conference this week that one focus for the service is creation of resilient operations centers. Those facilities are intended to ensure military space missions can continue during wartime when command-and-control sites become targets. The Space Force envisions building as many as 10 such operations centers across the United States, creating a distributed architecture capable of supporting overseas combatant commands while preserving continuity of operations if individual sites are disrupted. The service is seeking $1 billion for four centers in its fiscal 2027 budget proposal. (5/29)

Revolv Space to Provide Solar Array Assemblies for French Satellite Servicing (Source: Space News)
Revolv Space won a contract from French satellite servicing company Infinite Orbits for solar-array drive assemblies. Revolve Space, based in Italy and the Netherlands, said Infinite Orbits ordered the assemblies, which control solar arrays to maximize power output, for its GEO servicing spacecraft. The value of Revolv Space's contract with Infinite Orbits was not disclosed. Revolv has flown more than 20 of the units on low Earth orbit spacecraft. (5/29)

Chinese Reusable Rocketeers Nearing Launch (Source: Space News)
Several Chinese reusable rockets are nearing launch. Rockets from state-owned CASC and commercial entities including Galactic Energy, iSpace and more are in various states of readiness for long-awaited debuts. Those vehicles are needed to deploy Chinese megaconstellation satellites. CASC’s Long March 12B recently appeared vertical on the pad with landing legs attached, but it is unclear if CASC will attempt a first-stage landing on its upcoming flight. Other vehicles nearing flight include Galactic Energy's Pallas-1, iSpace's Hyperbola-3 and the Long March 10B. Another recovery attempt is expected from Landspace with its Zhuque-3, which successfully reached orbit late last year but failed in the latter stages of a first stage powered descent and landing attempt. (5/29)

Amid Critical Analyses, SpaceX Dials Back IPO Valuation (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX is reportedly dialing back the valuation it is seeking in its IPO. The company is now seeking to go public at a valuation of $1.8 trillion, less than the $2 trillion or more previously reported, after discussions with investors and advisers. The company is seeking to raise up to $75 billion in the IPO, which would be the largest ever for any company. The company is expected to go public by mid-June after releasing its prospectus last week. (5/29)

Firefly Stock Sale to Raise $200 Million (Source: Firefly Aerospace)
Firefly Aerospace will raise nearly $200 million in an additional stock sale. The company, which went public last year, said Thursday it will sell four million shares at $48 each, raising $192 million before expenses. The company said it will use the funds for company operations, including to support growth of its core business and recently awarded programs and initiatives. Firefly shareholders also plan to sell an additional eight million shares, but the company will not receive the proceeds of those sales. (5/29)

Japan's HTV-X1 ISS Cargo Craft Reenters (Source: Japan Times)
A Japanese cargo spacecraft has completed its mission with a destructive reentry. The HTV-X1 spacecraft burned up over the South Pacific Ocean on Tuesday as planned, the Japanese space agency JAXA announced. HTV-X1, the first flight of the upgraded HTV-X cargo spacecraft, launched to the International Space Station last October and was unberthed from the station in March. The spacecraft performed additional tests after leaving the station, including deployment of a smallsat. (5/29)

NASA's Morgan Retires From Astronaut Corps (Source: NASA)
NASA astronaut Drew Morgan has retired from the agency. NASA selected Morgan, a U.S. Army officer, to join the astronaut corps in 2013. He flew a 272-day mission to the ISS in 2019 and 2020, participating in seven spacewalks while there. He served in various other NASA roles after that mission and, for the last two years, had been on assignment to the Army in the Pacific. NASA said Morgan will continue his military career after leaving the agency. (5/29)

Virgin Galactic Signs Research Customer for 2027 Mission (Source: Virgin Galactic)
Virgin Galactic has signed a new research customer for its suborbital spaceplane. The company said Thursday that the nonprofit Operation Period will conduct a suborbital research mission in 2027 on what the company called the first dedicated research mission to study menstruation in microgravity. Manju Bangalore and Priya Abiram will conduct the research on the flight, becoming the youngest South Asian women to go to space. (5/29)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Mission Above Ruins of New Glenn Pad (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 10-53 mission carrying 29 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral’s Spaceport. The first-stage booster flew for the 16th time and made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. (5/29)

Starship’s Path to Reusability Looks Murky After SpaceX’s Pre-IPO Filing (Source: Tech Crunch)
Hidden behind the fantastic expectations for AI enterprise profits and plans for a moon base is a more grounded reality: An expendable Starship could keep SpaceX in business, but doesn’t achieve the cost reductions — or frontier business models — Elon Musk is betting on. A note that stood out in SpaceX’s S-1 was the first acknowledgment that full reusability of Starship isn’t necessary to launch the new generation of Starlink satellites. But without full reusability, the cost will go up, making the business less attractive.

“If this reusability is not achieved then the cost of launch on Starship may not be much lower than Falcon 9, even if the full 100 ton capability is realized (which is by no means a foregone conclusion),” satellite market analyst Tim Farrar wrote in a note to clients last week. “The cost per launch may be as much as $100M (i.e. $1000 per kg) while tempo remains constrained by the rate at which second stages can be manufactured and first stages can be refurbished.”

At first glance a classic example of Musk’s timelines, it may actually be an expectation that initial launches will expend the Starship. If so, SpaceX might not be able to count on as much free satellite cash as expected, and its plans to launch space data centers will become untenable until the rocket is reusable. (5/26)

Mystery GPS Jammer in Iran Becomes Test for NASA Satellites’ Capabilities (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA satellites designed to observe cyclone wind speeds and collapsing ice sheets have also proven capable of identifying the approximate locations of GPS jammers. That could help monitor high-risk areas for aircraft and ships navigating the growing prevalence of GPS interference worldwide. Two different NASA satellite systems showed how they could locate a known but mysterious GPS jammer within several kilometers of its position in Iran. Such jammers use strong signals to overpower the weaker radio signals coming from US-operated GPS satellites and other global navigation satellite systems.

Such NASA satellites cannot perform “near-real time monitoring” or pinpoint the exact location of GPS jammers, said Clara Chew. But identifying the approximate locations of GPS jammers “could potentially be helpful for flight planning” or for “indicating high risk areas for maritime shipping.”

One of the NASA satellite systems, the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), has eight microsatellites that detect GPS signals reflected from ocean surfaces to measure wind speeds within the eyewalls of hurricanes, tropical cyclones, and typhoons. When an Earth-based jammer turns on, the effect creates a huge footprint in the reflected GPS signals that can show up hundreds of kilometers from the jammer’s location. (5/27)

The Propulsion Imperative Behind Golden Dome (Source: Voyager Technologies)
Missile defense has traditionally been framed around detection, tracking and interception. Golden Dome changes that calculus, broadening the focus to the entire distributed infrastructure enabling the architecture, placing propulsion front and center. The effectiveness of that architecture ultimately depends on whether satellites can maneuver in contested space and whether interceptors can maintain precise control at critical moments.

Deploying a constellation of interceptors in orbit requires not only advanced propulsion and vehicle technology, but also sophisticated sensor fusion, tracking algorithms and real-time command software. No single capability determines the outcome. But without propulsion systems engineered for endurance, responsiveness and production at scale, none of the rest functions as designed. (5/28)

Italian Space Company Argotec Opens Space Coast HQ with Rapid Hiring Plans (Source: Florida Today)
A growing Italian space company has established a foothold on Florida's Space Coast, opening a facility to process and produce small-scale satellites ranging in size from briefcases to large microwave ovens. Argotec hosted an April grand-opening ceremony of its new U.S. headquarters and manufacturing base inside a North Drive industrial park in Melbourne. The goal: expand in America's space market while boosting Argotec's brand. (5/28)

Blue Canyon Supports Dutch Space Sovereignty (Source: Blue Canyon)
Blue Canyon Technologies is supporting Dutch efforts to advance sovereign capability and national security in orbit. Utilizing Blue Canyon’s flight-proven bus designs and high-performance components, PAMI-1 will demonstrate how agile, mission-ready small satellite technology can deliver reliable, responsive solutions tailored to evolving defense and intelligence needs. (5/27)

India's AnduraX Plans Spaceplane Drop Test (Source: MSN)
India is gearing up for a significant aerospace project: the high-altitude drop test of ADM01, its first privately built reusable space plane. Startup AnduraX is preparing for the test in early June, lifting the ARES experimental vehicle to 25 km via a high-altitude balloon to validate guidance systems for future microgravity semiconductor and crystal manufacturing. (5/26)

Germany Seeks Space Ties with Japan (Source: Japan Times)
Bremen Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte, while in Tokyo, called for deeper space and satellite infrastructure cooperation between Germany and Japan to reduce reliance on SpaceX. He emphasized that Germany and Japan urgently need a reliable, autonomous alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink to secure independent space-based communications. Bovenschulte's Tokyo itinerary included meetings with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to build upon an existing 2022 cooperation agreement with the German Aerospace Center. (5/28)

Companies Like SpaceX Want Electromagnetic Catapults on the Moon. Could They Be Used as Weapons? (Source: Space.com)
A new report stresses the strategic and security implications of placing mass drivers on the moon  — essentially electromagnetic catapults   — by arguing that these launchers could serve as valuable first strike weapons systems. These mass drivers could use powerful magnetic fields to throw satellites and other probes into space without the need for costly and heavy chemical propellants.

Putting railguns on the moon isn't a new idea, and was most recently proposed by SpaceX as a means of launching thousands of AI data center satellites into deep space. But according to a new report, these mass drivers are inherently dual use, meaning they can be used for both civilian and military purposes; while it's true they could help launch peaceful satellites, being large electrically-driven cannons, they could also potentially launch weapons from the moon. (5/28)

Epic Fury Highlighted Space Force Needs for Distributed Ops, EW Sites (Source: Breaking Defense)
The loss of Space Force capabilities during Operation Epic Fury in Iran has highlighted the need for the service to invest in disaggregating its ground-based space operations centers and new “tactical” electronic warfare (EW) centers both at home and abroad, according to one of the service’s top budget planners. The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget includes $1 billion to build four space operations centers in the US at: Kirtland Air Force Base, NM; Redstone Arsenal, AL; Schriever Space Force Base, CO; and Grand Forks Air Force Base, ND. (The Space Force does not have a separate military construction budget, instead relying on the Air Force.) (5/28)

SpaceX Wins $4.16B Space Force Contract to Detect Airborne Moving Targets (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force announced today that it has awarded SpaceX a contract worth $4.16 billion to “accelerate” the service’s “Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI)” program. Space-based AMTI sensors are being designed to replace the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail, which is turn was developed to replace the aging E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft. The move to space is seen by the Department of the Air Force as necessary due to ever-more sophisticated anti-access/area-denial systems available to potential adversaries. (5/29)

FAA Completes Environmental Review for SpaceX Starfall (Source: FAA)
The FAA issued the Final Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starfall reentry vehicle. The review evaluated the environmental impacts of reentry, splashdown, and recovery activities. Under the proposal, SpaceX would launch two Starfall missions to Low Earth Orbit or to a sub-orbital trajectory as a payload on the Falcon 9 or the Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicles.

The capsules would splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. west coast in international waters. The completion of the environmental review process does not guarantee the FAA will issue a Starfall reentry license. The SpaceX application must also meet safety, risk and financial responsibility requirements before a license can be issued. (5/29)

FAA and NASA Sign Annex on Commercial Space Activities at Wallops Flight Facility (Source: FAA)
The FAA and NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia signed an annex that implements and clarifies safety authorities, responsibilities, and roles for commercial launch and reentry activities at NASA Wallops. It streamlines the FAA launch license approval process, improves the efficiency of the FAA technical review, reduces duplicative safety reviews, and lessens the amount of launch application material the operator must submit.

This is an annex to a 2025 FAA / NASA agreement that clarifies safety roles and responsibilities, eliminates any duplicative requirements, and resolves any inconsistent requirements between the agencies. A similar annex for FAA-licensed launch operations from the NASA Kennedy Space Center was signed earlier this year. (5/29)

FAA Issues Guidance on Navigating the Spaceport Licensing Process (Source: FAA)
There is growing interest in expanding the number of FAA-licensed commercial spaceports across the country. To educate prospective spaceport license applicants, and help make the process easier and faster, the FAA posted its Spaceport Licensing Primer.

The guidance incorporates the collective experiences of the FAA and the spaceport community from prior license evaluations. It also highlights best practices and lessons learned and identifies challenges and common pitfalls to help applicants save time and money before formally entering the licensing process. (5/29)