June 16, 2026

Astrobotic Showcases Griffin-1 Lander Ahead of Environmental Testing in California (Source: Spaceflight Now)
Astrobotic showed off its nearly completed lunar lander, named Griffin-1, as the vehicle prepares to head to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California for environmental testing later this month. The robotic lander, which has a 650 kg payload capacity, has been integrated with multiple payloads so far. On exception is Astrolab’s FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover. FLIP will meet its lander down at Cape Canaveral for integration in the final weeks ahead of launch later this year. (6/16)

Key Mission for Europe's Commercial Space Enterprise Scrubbed Again (Source: Ars Technica)
Isar Aerospace still commands top position among a new generation of European rocket startups, but the company’s efforts to launch a critical test flight of its Spectrum rocket continue to encounter roadblocks. The latest delay came Monday, when Isar scrubbed a launch attempt after “detecting off nominal behavior in the vehicle’s fluid systems,” according to a social media post. “The teams are analyzing the new data to isolate the root cause.” (6/16)

Chinese Probe Preps for Approach to Asteroid (Source: Space News)
China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft performed a major engine burn on June 7, followed by a series of small propulsive maneuvers. These fine adjustments, likely using the spacecraft's ion thruster system, have successfully guided the probe into the vicinity of its primary target, the near-Earth asteroid Kamoʻoalewa. The Tianwen-2 spacecraft is currently executing its approach maneuvers, lining up for an official rendezvous and close encounter with Kamoʻoalewa in July. (6/16)

AstroForge Preps for Second Attempt at Reaching an Asteroid (Source: Aerospace America)
Roughly 15 months after its first spacecraft was lost, deep-space mining startup AstroForge is readying for a do-over. The California company announced on June 3 it has completed assembly of its DeepSpace-2 spacecraft, slated to be launched aboard Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 lunar lander “this year,” said Matthew Gialich, co-founder and CEO. (6/16)

Japanese Satellite Makes Electricity From Sunlight and Beams it Down to Earth as Microwaves (Source: Autonocion)
The satellite is called OHISAMA, Japanese for “the sun,” and it is roughly the size of a washing machine. It was built by the nonprofit research foundation Japan Space Systems under a contract from the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, it weighs about 180 kilograms, and it is slated to fly during Japan’s fiscal 2026. The entire near-term goal of the mission is to light one LED. That sounds anticlimactic right up until you realize the LED is not the point. The aiming is.

The aiming works through a two-way handshake the engineers call retrodirective beam control. A station on the ground sends a pilot signal up to the satellite. OHISAMA locks onto that signal and routes its microwave beam back down along the exact same path. On a bench in a lab, this is tractable. From orbit it is not, because the transmitter is moving at orbital velocity, the target is a fixed dish on a rotating planet, and the beam has to punch through the ionosphere and a harder vacuum than anything the program has tested so far. (6/14)

Cosmic Rays Cause Light Flashes for Astronauts (Source: Space Daily)
The reports began on Apollo 11. After a period of dark adaptation, with eyes open or closed, crew members saw flashes they described as pinpoints, thin streaks, or small clouds of light. They were almost always colorless. They came at a rate of roughly one-half to two a minute, often enough to be a distraction when someone was trying to sleep.

This was not confined to one crew or one flight. Flashes were reported across the Apollo missions, and later by astronauts on Skylab, on Mir, and on the International Space Station. The phenomenon even had a kind of forecast. As early as 1952, the biophysicist Cornelius Tobias had suggested that people exposed to cosmic radiation in space might see exactly this sort of thing, and the team that investigated the Apollo reports traced them back to that idea. (6/14)

A Satellite Just Learned to Find Things on its Own — Here’s What That Means (Source: Tech Crunch)
For the first time, an Earth observation satellite has found what it was looking for — on its own, without human analysts on the ground. The milestone, which occurred in April, marks the first reported use of a vision-language model in orbit, and offers a glimpse of how AI could fundamentally change what space-based sensors are capable of — and how much they’re worth.

Typically, satellites download large chunks of data to analysts on the Earth below, who use machine learning algorithms or their own eyes to figure out what’s going on. But onboard YAM-9, a spacecraft built by space infrastructure company Loft Orbital, a software package built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory identified areas of interest in response to natural language queries. Google DeepMind’s Gemma 3 — the vision-language model, or VLM, that powered the demonstration — is purpose-built for edge applications, meaning it is designed to run on limited hardware far from a data center. (6/15)

Scientists Propose That Entire Universes Can Form Inside Collapsing Stars (Source: Futurism)
Prevailing models of physics dictate that when an extremely massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, it collapses in on itself, leaving behind a black hole that prevents anything, even light, from escaping. Or maybe not. Physicists are proposing the demise of a large star can lead to something even stranger: a tiny, nascent universe that’s loaded with dark energy pushing outward, preventing the star from collapsing entirely.

Specifically, the new universe would exist at the core of a previously proposed class of objects called “gravastars,” which were already understood to contain a core made up of dark energy, the hypothetical cosmic force that scientists estimate accounts for around 68 percent of the total energy-mass content of the known universe. The conditions as a gravastar comes into being are not unlike the ones present during the Big Bang, the moment at which our own universe seemingly sprang into existence billions of years ago. (6/15)

Sidus Space's LizzieSat Completes Vibration Testing Ahead of Expected Fall Launch (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced that its next LizzieSat has successfully completed vibration testing, a key environmental qualification milestone for SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, currently scheduled for launch no earlier than October 2026. (6/16)

Chinese Team Flags Life-Threatening Weakness in NASA’s Artemis Program (Source: SCMP)
In the 21st century race to the moon, there is a question that engineers must ask: what happens when the main engine fails?
China and the United States are answering this in contrasting ways. Their answers could reveal the value they place on human life. From the Apollo Lunar Module in the 1960s to Nasa’s new Orion spacecraft for the Artemis program, the American architecture relies on a single, powerful main engine to do the heavy lifting.

On the descent stage, one main engine controls the entire fall from lunar orbit to the surface. On the ascent stage, one main engine is the only ticket home. If that one engine fails, there is no backup. This design, to quote a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Chinese Space Science and Technology in March, “contains some glaring weaknesses”. The Chinese lunar lander puts its faith not in one main engine, but in four. (6/16)

Alaska Committed to Protecting Small Business Set-Aside Program (Source: FNN)
In today’s fractured political landscape, consensus and bipartisanship are considered relics of a bygone era. But not in Alaska. Our colleagues in the Alaska state legislature recently sent a resounding message to policymakers in Washington: Maintain the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program to strengthen American national security and provide the federal government with the elite technical capabilities it requires to meet its most critical missions. Recently, our state legislature worked together in a bipartisan effort to pass House Joint Resolution 44 in support of Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) participation in the 8(a) program. (6/15)

Orbital Edge Accelerator Helps Startups Turn Space R&D Into Commercial Reality (Source: CASIS)
The ISS National Lab’s Orbital Edge Accelerator is now in its second year, helping startups turn space-based R&D into commercial success. Brandon Kortokrax, principal at E2MC Ventures, one of the founding investors in Orbital Edge, said the accelerator aims to reduce barriers and help startups “take something from the science and technology space and start to translate it into the commercial market.”

He explained, “We are just really chipping away at each layer of friction that an early-stage startup faces. […] A good accelerator should compress a company’s roadmap and hopefully take something they’re planning across the next one to two years and accelerate that down into months.” In addition to working closely with companies to get their R&D to space, the program provides mentors who share expertise and experience and help founders establish partnerships to move their businesses forward. (6/15)

China’s Spectrum Squatting Reserves 244,000 Satellite Slots to Combat SpaceX’s LEO Monopoly (Source: SatNews)
While SpaceX dominates the physical reality of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with a staggering 10,653 active satellites, Beijing is playing a high-stakes regulatory chess game to lock the West out of future cosmic real estate. China has aggressively filed for a jaw-dropping 244,000 orbital slot reservations with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The move represents a regulatory reservation footprint that is roughly 128 times the size of China’s actual active presence in orbit—sparking widespread accusations of geopolitical “spectrum squatting.”

Currently, the global space asset distribution remains highly asymmetrical. Out of the nearly 11,000 active satellites bearing a U.S. registration tag, the vast majority belong to Elon Musk’s rapidly expanding Starlink mega-constellation. In contrast, China maintains an operational fleet estimated between just 1,300 and 1,900 hardware assets.

To bridge this operational asymmetry, Beijing is exploiting loopholes in the ITU’s regulatory architecture. Under current, highly lenient international coordination rules, a nation does not need to possess the physical rockets to launch a constellation at the time of filing. The ITU’s current milestone deadlines are highly accommodating, requiring a member state to deploy just 10 percent of their filed constellation within 9 years of the initial application. (6/15)

Chinese Rocket Breaks Apart Dangerously Close to the Starlink Constellation (Source: Ars Technica)
The upper stage from a commercial Chinese rocket that launched last week has broken apart in space, spreading debris in a heavily trafficked part of low-Earth orbit home to the International Space Station and a significant portion of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. The breakup occurred shortly after the Zhuque-2E rocket reached orbit on June 9 with two satellites providing direct-to-cell communications, perhaps around the time the upper stage was expected to perform a disposal burn. (6/15)

SpaceX Set to Overtake Microsoft, Amazon in Value as Stock Soars (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX shares jumped on Tuesday, putting the firm on track to overtake both Amazon and Microsoft to become the fourth largest publicly traded company in the world just days after its blockbuster debut. Shares rose as much as 17%, extending gains since SpaceX’s record initial public offering. That pushed the market value of Elon Musk’s rocket and AI company to nearly $3 trillion, roughly $300 billion higher than Amazon’s and about $20 billion more than Microsoft’s. (6/16)

SpaceX to Acquire Cursor for $60B in Stock (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX has agreed to acquire AI coding startup Cursor in a $60 billion stock deal, just a few days after the space company’s historic IPO and less than two months after announcing a tie-up between the two. The deal is meant to help SpaceX’s AI division — built around Elon Musk’s AI company xAI, which SpaceX merged with earlier this year — catch up to the major AI labs. Despite being a centerpiece of its IPO promises, SpaceX’s AI division has been in the midst of a restructuring after running into repeated controversies, like allowing users to generate non-consensual deepfakes of women and children. (6/16)

Deep Space Network Antenna Mishap Blamed on Poor Training and Procedures (Source: Space News)
A NASA investigation revealed that $4.1 million to $4.6 million in damage sustained by a 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna at the Goldstone complex was caused by poor training, bypassed safety protocols, and over-reliance on undocumented procedures. (6/16)

Pegasus: The Next-Gen Lunar Rover That Will Leave Apollo Buggy in its Dust (Source: New Atlas)
Built by Lunar Outpost, Pegasus will navigate the harsh, jagged terrain of the lunar south pole autonomously, with an astronaut behind the wheel, or via teleoperation commands beamed from Earth. AJ Gemer, co-founder and CTO of Lunar Outpost, said Pegasus will “extend the range and duration of human activity on the lunar surface in a way that wasn’t possible during Apollo.” It will achieve this by leveraging a state-of-the-art autonomous thermal management system, allowing it to withstand the Moon’s wild swings in temperature. Click here. (6/13)

In Long Beach, Voyager Using AI to Speed Aerospace Production (Source: Space Daily)
Inside a 140,000-square-foot building in Long Beach that the local aerospace crowd calls Space Beach, circuit boards for spacecraft and defense systems are now coming off the line in a matter of weeks — the same boards that used to take years. The people who run the plant are not claiming the engineers suddenly got faster. They are saying something stranger: there are no longer enough engineers to build the hardware the United States has ordered, and a software agent is now doing the parts a person used to do.

The facility belongs to Voyager Technologies, a Denver-based aerospace and defense company that opened the site on March 12, 2026. Its purpose is narrow and blunt — compress the timeline between a defense-electronics design and a working board, using agentic artificial intelligence to do it. That single fact cuts against the loudest story being told about AI everywhere else. In most industries the technology arrives as a way to trim headcount. In aerospace and defense it is arriving because the headcount cannot be filled. (6/15)

Russia’s Satellite Moves Push Europe to Rethink Space Defense (Source: TVP World)
German space officials have warned that the prospect of conflict in orbit is becoming increasingly real, as Russia’s activity raises growing concern among European defense planners. The head of Germany’s Space Command said Moscow may be developing technologies that could allow it to place a nuclear warhead in space. He also pointed to recent maneuvers by Russian Kosmos satellites near ICEYE-36, a radar satellite operated by the Finnish-Polish company ICEYE, whose imagery has supported Ukraine.

The episode has intensified debate over how Europe should protect both military and commercial space assets. Russian satellites moving close to foreign spacecraft can be used to collect intelligence, study how a system operates, interfere with its functions or potentially disable it. Germany has proposed creating a European Space Component Command to coordinate military space operations across the continent. Berlin says it is already in talks with partners, including Poland, about forming a core team with international participation from the outset. (6/14)

Europe’s Iris2 Constellation Adds 66 Early-Delivery Satellites, to Launch in 2029, to Mitigate Delay in Full-Performance Network (Source: Space Intel Report)
Europe’s Iris2 multi-orbit secured connectivity network, facing pressure from European governments to limit it schedule delays, is adding 66 smaller satellites to its low-Earth-orbit component to assure launches starting in 2029, with the full-capacity, 264-satellite system to be launched around 2032, according to European government and industry officials. Both groups of satellites will be launched into the same 1,200-km orbit. The early satellites will not be equipped with the full 5G digital capacity promised but will allow secured communications. (6/15)

Kongsberg “All In” on European Sovereign Space: ISR Constellation with Germany, RF SigInt, Adapting SpinLaunch for Security Needs (Source: Space Intel Report)
Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace does not lack for security-based space ambition. An Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) constellation; maritime AIS and radar, secure satcom, RF signals intelligence — the company is preparing a bouquet of space-based security and defense options, including the use of its KSat global ground station network, for allied governments.

The sovereign space push includes Lithuania-based Kongsberg NanoAvionics, a small satellite platform builder. Kongsberg is based in Norway, which is not an EU member.  In its pivot beyond space launch, SpinLaunch selected Kongsberg NanoAvionics to design and build over 280 microsatellites for is proposed Meridian constellation. Kongsberg provided financial backing (including a $12 million strategic investment) to take a minority stake in SpinLaunch. (6/15)

Unseenlabs’ BRO-22 Successfully Launched Aboard Japan’s H3 Launch Vehicle (Source: Unseenlabs)
Unseenlabs has successfully launched BRO-22, the first satellite operated by a foreign private company to fly aboard Japan’s H3 Launch Vehicle. BRO-22 was launched at 09:53 a.m. (UTC+9) Japan Standard Time on June 12 from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center. The satellite was integrated by Space BD. BRO-22 strengthens Unseenlabs’ space-based RF detection constellation dedicated to maritime surveillance. (6/15)

Lithuania to host European Space Education Resource Office (Source: LRT)
Lithuania will host a European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) under a new agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA), the economy and innovation ministry announced.  The office will operate in Lithuania until 2028, funded from Lithuania's contributions to the agency. A selection process for the organization that will run the program is to be announced shortly. ESERO offices operate across many European countries with the aim of using space-related themes to inspire student interest in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, known as STEAM, while providing teachers with modern educational tools. (6/15)

Government Ratchets Up Scrutiny of Small Business Set-Asides (Source: FNN)
The Small Business Administration is expanding its scrutiny of socio-economic contracting programs to now include a review of the women-owned small business program. In an email sent to economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses earlier this week, SBA is giving these firms until June 30 to respond to a survey and provide the agency with “personal and business tax returns for the last three years.” (6/12)

Embry‑Riddle Worldwide Students Unite for NASA Challenge Success (Source: ERAU)
A team of students working remotely through Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Campus earned Best Prototype and innovation honors at NASA’s Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts–Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, proposing a novel system to store energy on the moon. The team, whose members live across the U.S. and met in person for the first time at the event, was the only fully remote team to present at the competition, which challenges university students to develop bold concepts that push the boundaries of space exploration. (6/10)

Space Force Orders Two More GPS Satellites From Lockheed Martin for $514 Million (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $514 million contract to build Global Positioning System IIIF Space Vehicles 23 and 24, bringing its total GPS IIIF commitment to 14 spacecraft. With legacy spacecraft past their intended design life, this award marks a vital step in continued modernization of the constellation.

The 14 upcoming GPS IIIF satellites will deliver advanced, reliable positioning, navigation and timing capabilities for both military and civilian users. IIIF capabilities include: the Regional Military Protection capability that provides a 63-fold increase in anti-jam capabilities, allowing warfighters to access strong GPS signals in contested environments; additional M-Code-enabled satellites, allowing for secure GPS connection for warfighters; and a digital navigation payload, increasing accuracy and reliability of IIIF spacecraft. (6/15)

Emboldened by SpaceX, Investors Are Piling Into All Things Space (Source: Wall Street Journal)
It isn’t just SpaceX SPCX 19.60%increase; up pointing triangle. Encouraged by the Elon Musk-led company’s successes—and steadily climbing valuation—venture capitalists and private-market investors are stepping up bets on space startups, hoping to find the next breakout stars. (6/14)

SpaceX: To the Moon for Investors or a Bumpy Ride? (Source: CNBC)
“Retail investors bought $100 billion in shares, and you’ve got to ask the question, are some of them going to get panicky if SpaceX misses a few quarters, because this stuff is not easy to do.“ In a now-deleted post on X, Musk said that SpaceX “might be able” to reach approximately $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, and added that he would be “surprised” if revenue is not greater than that figure by 2031. “Investors at SpaceX, I believe, will get pretty grumpy after three or four quarters if he doesn’t meet some of the growth projections that they made in the S1,” Westly added. (6/15)

Having Sex in Space Would Be Tricky, But Having Kids in Space is Riskier (Source: Geekwire)
Last year, researchers found evidence that exposure to space radiation during pregnancy would carry a “significantly higher” risk of producing congenital birth defects. More recently, a different set of researchers reported that zero-G conditions impaired sperm navigation, egg fertilization and embryo development in mammals.

Alex Layendecker, ASRI’s founder and director, said the health effects of exposure to the space environment might not show up until more than a generation later. That conjecture is based on a study of female mice that were flown on the International Space Station, and then brought back to be mated with males on Earth. “The first generation seemed not to have many differences, but when the grandchildren mice were born — and this was a really big smoking gun — the grandchildren mice actually had a significantly altered phenotype,” Layendecker said. “They had differences in mass. They had differences in behavior.” (6/14)