July 12, 2026

The Nationalization of American Science (Source: Marginal Revolution)
OMB, joined by some forty grantmaking agencies—NSF, HHS, DOE, NASA, DOD among them—has proposed a sweeping rewrite of the rules governing all federal grants, the Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance. American science has long been state funded but not state directed. Money has flowed through many agencies to independent universities, allocated largely by peer review. The system has flaws—conformity, gerontocracy, waste—but it had one great virtue, the system was decentralized and not under state control.

This new rule proposes to bring science funding under top-down, state control. Program goals must now be “aligned with administration policies and priorities” (§ 200.202). Merit review is subordinated to politics: “senior appointees must conduct these reviews,” ensuring “that discretionary awards advance the President’s policy priorities,” while “peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion” (§ 200.205).

And every grant becomes terminable at will, whenever it “no longer effectuates program goals, Federal agency priorities, or the national interest *as they exist at the time of the termination*” (§ 200.340, emphasis added). Universities must even ensure their subrecipients don’t “significantly damage the reputation of… the Federal Government” (§ 200.332)—a loyalty clause for scientists. (6/11)

Hundreds of New Moons are Revealing Our Solar System's Violent History (Source: New Scientist)
Beyond Jupiter, the sun is no longer a blazing disc, but a cold, white lamp. The planets are separated by gulfs of darkness. Light takes just 8 minutes to get from the sun to Earth, but typically more than an hour to cross the yawning chasm between Uranus and Neptune. But in the middle of what seems like an uneventful part of the solar system, astronomers recently made a mammoth discovery: a hidden population of more than 100 moons that, until recently, remained almost invisible. From Earth, they appear as faint, fast-moving points of light, easily lost in their planets’ glare.

They aren’t moons as we imagine them – grand worlds like our own pale satellite, Jupiter’s volcanic Io or Saturn’s haze-wrapped Titan. They are smaller, darker and far more unruly. Astronomers call them irregular moons, and with their numbers now so high, their hidden kingdom has become harder to ignore. They hint that the outer part of our solar system might not be enjoying a quiet retirement, but instead has seen periods of incredible turbulence surprisingly recently. These hidden moons may also help us solve a mystery about one of our solar system’s most iconic sights: how did Saturn get its rings? (6/10)

Senate Bill Would Fold SDA and Rapid Capabilities Office Into Space Force (Source: Space News)
A Senate defense authorization bill supports plans to fold two offices into the Space Force. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved Thursday its National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2027. The bill includes a provision that would eliminate separate statutory requirements for the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, similar to language in the House version of the bill. The provision is intended to give the Department of the Air Force greater flexibility to restructure the Space Force acquisition organization, streamline operations and accelerate implementation of broader acquisition reforms. The bill also includes a missile-defense provision that would restrict certain Pentagon funding until lawmakers receive an independent assessment of space-based missile defense capabilities. (6/12)

K2 Space and Rocket Lab to Support Space Force Comms Network (Source: Space News)
K2 Space and Rocket Lab have landed key supplier roles in the U.S. Space Force's next-generation military communications network. K2 Space will provide the satellite platform for SES's entry in the Protected Tactical Satcom-Global program, known as PTS-G, while Rocket Lab will supply the spacecraft bus for Viasat's PTS-G satellite. The supplier selections shed new light on the industrial teams behind the first operational phase of PTS-G, a Space Force effort to build a more resilient military communications network using commercially derived satellites in geostationary orbit. (6/12)

UK's Open Cosmos Seeks More Time for Constellation Deployment (Source: Space News)
British small satellite specialist Open Cosmos is seeking more time to deploy its proposed sovereign broadband constellation. The company said Liechtenstein, which holds the Ka-band spectrum filings it is using for the network, has submitted an extension request to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the 144 satellites tied to a June 10 deadline. Open Cosmos said failures of India's PSLV rocket created a "force majeure" situation that prevented the company from reaching its ITU deployment milestone. The Open Cosmos filings were previously assigned to Germany-based Rivada Space Networks, which had planned to use them for its proposed Outernet broadband network, but Liechtenstein rescinded the licenses in 2024 following a dispute over a required performance bond and awarded them to Open Cosmos earlier this year. (6/12)

ESA Picks AAC Clyde Space for Maritime Awareness Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
AAC Clyde Space won a European Space Agency contract to complete development of and demonstrate a maritime domain awareness satellite program. The 10.9 million euro ($12.6 million) contract supports completion of the 12-satellite Inflecion constellation, a low-cost approach to detecting, tracking and monitoring maritime vessels, including ships that turn off their automated identification system (AIS) transponders. The VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) satellites enable two-way communication, including the ability to contact ships being tracked to challenge them to identify themselves. Aside from Inflecion, AAC Clyde Space plans to launch additional VDES satellites to expand its maritime-monitoring business. (6/12)

Post-Gateway Negotiation Gives ESA Astronaut Assignment to Artemis 3 Mission (Source: Space News)
The assignment of an ESA astronaut to the Artemis 3 mission is part of renegotiations between NASA and ESA about roles on Artemis. ESA had seats on three Artemis missions to the lunar Gateway under previous agreements with NASA, but those plans were disrupted by NASA's decision in March to halt work on the Gateway. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said at a press conference Thursday that while he could not discuss details about ongoing talks with NASA about new roles on ESA, the assignment of ESA's Luca Parmitano on Artemis 3 "is part of the negotiation process as the first step." Aschbacher said he is working to find ways to get European astronauts on future Artemis lunar landing missions. (6/12)

Japan's H3 Returns to Flight with Lower-Cost Variant (Source: Space News)
Japan's H3 rocket successfully returned to flight Thursday night. An H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center. The launch was a test flight of a new version of the rocket, the H3-30S, which uses three engines in its first stage but no solid rocket boosters. The rocket placed six smallsats, including one from French company Unseenlabs, into orbit. The launch was the first for the H3 since a failure in December when shocks from deployment of the payload fairing damaged its satellite and payload adapter, causing the satellite to fall off the upper stage. (6/12)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites From California and Florida on Friday (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX conducted two Starlink launches just before the launch of its IPO. One Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:06 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, putting 24 Starlink satellites in orbit. A second Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:37 a.m. Eastern Friday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying 29 Starlink satellites. (6/12)

Germany's HyImpulse Considers Launching From Oman (Source: Space News)
German launch company HyImpulse has signaled its interest in launching from a spaceport in Oman. HyImpulse signed a letter of intent with Etlaq Spaceport, Oman's commercial spaceport, to study launches from the site. The agreement covers both HyImpulse's suborbital launcher SR75, which conducted its first test flight from the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia in May 2024, and its orbital rocket SL1, which is planned to fly in 2027. (6/12)

Rocket Lab Included in Nasdaq 100 (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab is marking its own Nasdaq milestone today. The company announced it has been selected for inclusion in the Nasdaq 100, a stock index for the 100 of the largest non-financial companies on the exchange. The company's shares have risen significantly in recent months, giving it a market cap approaching $70 billion. The company's inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 takes effect on June 22. (6/12)

Russian Satellite Tied to GPS and Galileo Disruptions (Source: Defense One)
GPS disruptions in Europe have been traced to a Russian satellite. Researchers said in a paper published this month that they detected at 75 instances of high-powered radio transmissions since 2019 at frequencies used by GPS and Galileo, disrupting GPS antennas across Europe. The study concluded the bursts likely came from a Russian early-warning satellite, Cosmos 2546, flying in a highly elliptical orbit. The bursts appear to be intentional but it is unclear what Russia's intentions are. (6/12)

After Nearly Breaking, NASA’s Deep Space Network “Worked Well” on Artemis II (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA pushed its Deep Space Network beyond its limits during the Artemis I mission nearly four years ago. The global array of deep space communications antennas couldn’t keep up with the routine demands of 40 robotic science missions and the extraordinary surge required by NASA’s Orion space capsule as it flew around the Moon. The experience in late 2022 reduced or delayed downlinks from several high-profile science missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope and Mars rovers, as the data-hungry Artemis I mission took priority on NASA’s communications network.

And that was before the first Artemis mission with astronauts onboard. When Artemis II launched April 1, NASA called upon the DSN again to connect Mission Control to the Orion capsule as it soared more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. The demand for signal is only going up. NASA and its commercial and international partners plan to launch numerous missions to the Moon in the next few years. NASA is working with commercial providers to construct ground antennas for a dedicated network for Moon missions, called Lunar Exploration Ground Sites (LEGS), to free up more capacity on the DSN to support other spacecraft. (6/11)

SpaceX Treated as ‘Simply Too Risky’ for Funds With Governance Mandates (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX is offering 555.6 million shares at a fixed price of $135 each, which would raise about $75 billion. The stock is set to start trading on June 12. The IPO is expected to rank as the biggest ever, topping Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion listing in 2019. The list of sustainability-focused fund managers opting to blacklist SpaceX is growing, as they contemplate the unprecedented level of control that Elon Musk will hold over the rockets-to-chatbot behemoth. “It’s simply too, too risky for the type of longevity we want to see in a company,” said Marcela Pinilla. (6/11)

Voyager CEO Confident NASA Will Pick Company’s Space Station (Source: Bloomberg)
A NASA review of its plan for commercial space stations will likely conclude with the agency supporting a project backed by Voyager Technologies Inc., according to the company’s chief executive. The Denver-based company is working on Starlab, a proposed space station, with partners including Airbus SE, Mitsubishi Corp. and Palantir Technologies Inc. (6/11)

Growth is Harder for Starlink, Heading Into IPO (Source: CNBC)
According to its IPO filings, SpaceX has accumulated a deficit of $41.3 billion since it was founded in 2002, and recorded an operating loss of $1.9 billion in the first quarter. The company has spent more than $15 billion developing Starship. Average Starlink revenue per using is dropping. The number fell to $66 per month in the first quarter from $86 a year earlier. For all of last year, ARPU slid to $81 from $91 in 2024 and $99 in 2023. Even as the number of subscribers doubled in the first quarter, operating income barely budged, going from $1.03 billion to $1.19 billion.

The cost of producing Starlink terminals also remains a challenge for SpaceX as the company scales. Farrar estimates that the devices are typically about three times more expensive to produce than modems for terrestrial internet. Meanwhile, Starlink is moving into a more competitive space. Starlink is now targeting more developed and urban markets, where it has to go up against traditional broadband providers, creating a whole new level of price sensitivity. (6/11)

Deriving BDA Clarity From Blue Origin’s Bad Day (Sources: Aviation Week, SPACErePORT)
The root cause of Blue Origin’s failed New Glenn Flight 4 (NG-4) static fire test has yet to be disclosed, but one metric stands out: 7,174. That is the number of feet around the New Glenn launch pad that comprised the blast damage area (BDA) ahead of the test, based on an equivalent use of TNT instead of MethaLox. (BDAs can grow/shrink based on weather patterns and environmental conditions.) Despite this being possibly the largest rocket explosion ever at the spaceport, the Space Force has acknowledged finding New Glenn debris only within ~2,640 feet from the pad— well inside the 7,174-foot BDA diameter.

For comparison, Starship's planned BDA at 100% TNT equivalency is expected to reach approximately 12,000 feet in diameter from its pad. From the Space Force's perspective, the blast didn't injure anyone, which supports the existing BDA methodology rather than calling it into question. Also, it is unclear (and seemingly unlikely) that the New Glenn's upper stage was fueled during the static test accident. Because the upper stage uses liquid hydrogen instead of methane, even a partially loaded upper stage could skew any attempt to derive a clean MethaLox blast yield from this event. (6/10)

The Biggest Reason Sea Level Rise is Accelerating (Source: Science Alert)
The rate of sea-level rise is accelerating, but the main cause may not be what you think. It’s not melting glaciers or even shrinking ice sheets. A new study suggests it is the steady expansion of our warming ocean waters. The phenomenon is called thermal expansion, and it means that in the coming decades, the same amount of seawater will come to occupy more volume. It’s a key factor that, until now, some of our climate models haven't fully grasped. (6/11)

Aerospace Manufacturing Center Planned for West El Paso (Source: KVIA)
ARC Aerospace and Defense Systems said Wednesday it will establish a new manufacturing center in West El Paso. The expansion will support U.S. military and national security objectives, the company said. ARC Aerospace, which is based in El Paso, specializes in developing and manufacturing missile technology, including counter-drone strike systems. (6/10)

UCF Hosts Annual NASA Lunabotics Qualification Challenge Focused on Lunar Exploration (Source: Team Orlando)
The University of Central Florida hosted NASA’s Lunabotics qualification challenge for the third year in a row at UCF’s Exolith lab on May 14. The Lunabotics Challenge is a collegiate engineering competition that tasks teams with designing lunar robots for future space infrastructure needs and aims to advance engineering education through hands-on experience.

This year’s competition hosted 47 teams from universities across the country to design, build and operate a 125-pound rover robot prototype that performs construction tasks in a lunar-surface environment. After qualifiers, the top 10 teams advance to compete in the championship round at the Kennedy Space Center. Teams aim to build a lunar rover to perform construction tasks in future space exploration efforts. (6/2)

Trump Urges Passage of $350B Reconciliation Bill (Source: The Hill)
President Donald Trump has called on Congress to "immediately" pass a $350 billion reconciliation bill that is critical for reaching a $1.5 trillion military budget. Funding from the bill would go to projects such as Golden Dome and the manufacturing of F-47s and B-21s, Trump said. (6/10)

Space Force Plans Additional Space Data Network Vendors (Source: Via Satellite)
The US Space Force is planning to request $1.5 billion in the fiscal year 2027 reconciliation bill for the Space Data Network Backbone, a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation. This allocation includes $685 million to accelerate the expansion of its low-Earth orbit satellite constellation and $800 million dedicated to onboarding additional vendors as commercial technologies mature. (6/10)

Airbus to Lead German Consortium for Sovereign ISR Capability (Source: Via Satellite)
Airbus has put together a consortium of German companies to develop a sovereign intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) solution. The team announced Wednesday includes Rohde & Schwarz, thermal intelligence startup constellr, Orbint, and High Performance Space Structure Systems (HPS). Airbus will be responsible for overall mission and system architecture, end-to-end integration, program management, and the customer interface. (6/10)

Open Cosmos Seeks Deadline Extension for Broadband Constellation (Source: Space News)
British small satellite specialist Open Cosmos is seeking more time to deploy its proposed sovereign broadband constellation for Europe following an Indian rocket’s failure in January. The company said Liechtenstein, which holds the Ka-band spectrum filings it is using for the network, has submitted an extension request to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the 144 satellites tied to a June deadline. (6/11)

GEO Cancellations Complicate Space Insurance Recovery (Source: Space News)
The recent cancellation of three geostationary satellites—two by SES and one by Eutelsat—is a significant hit to satellite underwriters. These expensive legacy cash cows were relied upon to generate large premiums and offset heavy losses from a bruising recent streak of in-orbit and launch claims. The shift away from geostationary (GEO) fleets reflects the evolving economics of the space industry. :

Operators increasingly prefer to extend the life of existing spacecraft in orbit or rely on self-insured, high-volume LEO mega-constellations. The space insurance sector has struggled with high-severity claims over the last several years. With fewer high-value, traditional satellites being ordered, underwriters are missing out on the substantial premium injections historically required to balance their books. (6/11)

Space Forge Secures £10 Million Through European Space Agencies, for Reentry Heat Shield (Source: Via Satellite)
Space Forge has received a £10 million ($13.4 million) boost thanks to ESA's General Support Technology Program, funded through the UK Space Agency’s (UKSA) investment in ESA. The £10 million will be used to develop its reusable fold-out heat shield, Pridwen, with the aim of making it simpler and cheaper to return materials manufactured in space. Space Forge announced this news, June 11.

Pridwen is designed to deploy during re-entry, creating a larger protective surface that helps shield the spacecraft from extreme heat and pressure while making the system lighter, easier to recover and more practical to use again. The mission will help bring Pridwen to full commercial readiness, enabling frequent and reliable return of cargo from space which is critical to the growth of the in-space manufacturing industry. (6/11)

Sky Perfect JSAT to Purchase Avanti’s HYLAS 3 Satellite (Source: Via Satellite)
Sky Perfect JSAT will acquire the HYLAS 3 satellite that is currently in orbit and owned by Avanti Communications. Sky Perfect JSAT said the satellite will go through in-orbit testing and related procedures, and Sky Perfect JSAT expects to begin operations with the satellite under the name JSAT-144D in early fiscal year 2027. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. (6/10)

Austria's Another Earth Expands Into Brazil (Source: Via Satellite)
Another Earth, an Earth Observation (EO) data company, is expanding into Brazil, one of the largest markets in Latin America. The company believes Brazil’s combination of climate pressures, rapid growth in renewable energy, environmental regulation, and large-scale agriculture makes it an important market for EO and environmental modelling technologies. The company announced the move, June 10. The expansion follows Another Earth’s recent $4 million seed funding round and forms part of the company’s broader international growth plans. (6/10)

El Salvador and Thailand Projects Advance in Cubesat Competition (Source; UNOOSA)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) sponsor the KiboCUBE program to provide developing countries with opportunities to deploy CubeSats from the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” of the International Space Station (ISS). JAXA and UNOOSA have selected Key Institute of the Republic of El Salvador and Chulalongkorn University of Thailand for the ninth round of KiboCUBE program. (6/11)