June 2, 2026

Impulse Space Raises $500 Million (Source: Space News)
In-space mobility company Impulse Space has raised $500 million. The company announced Tuesday it has brought the total raised by the company to more than $1 billion. Impulse plans to use the funding to hire more staff to scale up production of its Mira maneuverable spacecraft and Helios high-energy kick stage. The company sees strong demand from commercial and government customers, including development of a lunar lander for NASA. (6/2)

Voyager to Acquire Astrobotic (Source: Space News)
Voyager Technologies is acquiring lunar lander developer Astrobotic for as much as $300 million.  The companies announced early Tuesday an agreement where Voyager will acquire Astrobotic for $162 million in cash and stock and assumption of $9 million in debt, with up to $129 million in future earnout payments contingent on reaching performance milestones. Astrobotic is best known for developing lunar landers. Its Griffin lunar lander is being prepared for launch later this year. Voyager said the acquisition fits into its strategic lunar initiative announced earlier this year, with Astrobotic's Pittsburgh headquarters serving as the new center of that effort. Astrobotic is also working on other technologies, from reusable suborbital vehicles to lunar power systems, and Voyager indicated those efforts would continue after the acquisition. (6/2)

Scientists Call for Mitigation of Satellite-Reentry Pollution (Source: Space News)
Researchers are calling for increased attention to and better protection against pollution of the upper atmosphere from satellite reentries. At last month's European Geosciences Union conference, scientists raised questions about the atmospheric impacts of spacecraft launches and re-entries, along with research and policy priorities to promote environmental sustainability for space. Scientists are concerned the growing number of reentering satellites from megaconstellations will introduce exotic materials that could disrupt atmospheric chemistry. The subject is also expected to be explored again at a National Academies gathering in July. (6/2)

Northrop Grumman and Apex to Develop Space-Based Interceptors for Golden Dome (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman announced Monday it will work with spacecraft manufacturer Apex on Golden Dome space-based interceptors. Northrop is one of 12 firms selected by the U.S. Space Force to develop concepts for space-based interceptors, one of the most ambitious elements of the Golden Dome missile defense system, while Apex has developed a production line to produce a variety of satellite buses in volume. This partnership comes after Raytheon said it would work with Rocket Lab on interceptors while Anduril Industries has assembled a team that includes several commercial space companies. The partnerships are meant to address a concern about the ability to affordably mass produce interceptors. (6/2)

LC-36 Damage Could Have Been Worse, Many Elements Escaped Major Damage (Source: Dave Limp)
Some LC-36 updates. Now that we’ve had access to the pad and integration facility we can share a bit of good news. The propellant farm, oxygen, liquid hydrogen and LNG tanks are all in good shape. This is good luck because these are very long lead items. The water tower is also good.  The big support tower is damaged, but it can be repaired in place rather than torn down and replaced. The booster “Never Tell Me The Odds” and the three GS-2s that were onsite in the integration facility also look good.

I’ve seen some speculation that we might move directly to the 9x4 configuration, but we won’t do that. Rate manufacturing of 7x2 is going well, and we’re going to continue that at pace as planned and store the stages for use.  In addition, we had already been working for some time on eliminating our transporter-erector in favor of an alternative vertical conop, and we’ll now go directly to that; so we don’t need a new transporter-erector. We will fly again before the end of this year. (6/1)

Building a Lunar Digital Engineering Community with LUNAverse (Source: Aerospace America)
Simulating activity on the lunar surface is essential as the United States pursues its plan to return to the moon to stay. But it’s not just craters and regolith: a robust simulation goes beyond physics to model power, interactions, and even economic incentives — as participants in the LUNAverse initiative. The simplest way to think of LUNAverse is as a “digital twin” of the moon, but The Aerospace Corporation’s Dennis Paul described it as a “common operating picture” for everyone planning to go there.

“The moon is wide open,” he said. “Nobody owns it, but everybody’s going to go there. So how do we as a community work together?” That community is international, cross-discipline, privately and publicly funded, and often with a digital engineering environment of their own. The job, as Paul said, is not to take over and offer one system “to rule them all,” but offering a multi-compatible platform for collaboration. To that end, a software development kit (SDK) is being readied for a limited release this summer. (5/29)

Regional Rivalries, National Imperative: State Governments Pick Up the Pace in Space Race (Source: Aerospace America)
A growing number of states are taking proactive steps to marshal their public and private sectors and academia to grow the commercial space industry, offering incentives to encourage new partnerships, attract startups, and identify dual-use technologies to expand their regional and national space footprint.

“We have relied on federal systems for so long, but what states are doing right now is dynamic, it’s effective,” said Heather Pringle, CEO of The Space Foundation, who moderated a panel at ASCEND 2026 on “How Regional Strategies Are Fueling Commercial Space Investment.”

On one level states are competing – for commercial investment, federal government contracts, and to recruit and retain the skilled workforce of the future. But there is also growing recognition that different areas of the country bring unique capacity and talent to the national space economy. (5/29)

Swiss Team Launches St. Kitts Experiment on Suborbital Launch From Sweden (Source: UZH)
On 31 May, SSC Space launched the SubOrbital Express S1X-5 / M17 mission from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden, carrying with it something truly historic: a space life sciences experiment from St. Kitts and Nevis and Switzerland, developed through a partnership between the Ministry of Education Nevis and our team from the Universität Zürich | University of Zurich and Center for Space and Aviation Switzerland and Liechtenstein🇨🇭🇱🇮 (CSA). (5/31)

Three Like-Minded Aerospace Companies to Unite at Space Tech Expo USA in Anaheim (Source: Ileana International)
Representatives from PrincetonCryo, Scorpius Space Launch Company, and Exos Aerospace will ascend upon Space Tech Expo USA and come together to showcase innovation, collaboration, and the future of aerospace technology at this year’s event in Anaheim, California. The collaboration highlights a shared commitment to advancing aerospace engineering, launch systems, cryogenic technologies, and next-generation space infrastructure. (6/1)

Fort Pierce Could Become SpaceX, Blue Origin Rocket Recovery Hub Under Updated Port Plan (Source: CBS12)
St. Lucie County is hosting a public meeting on the 2026 Port of Fort Pierce Master Plan update. The draft 2026 master plan looks beyond yachts, laying out how Fort Pierce could also support the vessels and waterfront infrastructure needed to recover reusable rockets launched from the Space Coast. The plan identifies a proposed Launch Vehicle Recovery Facility as one of the port’s major long-term opportunities.

The facility would be designed to support offshore launch recovery operations, including autonomous drone ships, fairing recovery vessels and other marine support craft — the types of vessels used by companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin as reusable rocket technology becomes a larger part of Florida’s launch economy.

Under the draft plan, Fort Pierce’s advantages include deepwater access, available waterfront land and an existing marine industrial base. The plan notes that Port Canaveral is currently the primary hub for many rocket recovery operations, but growing launch activity has created pressure for more berths, more staging space and more heavy-lift infrastructure along Florida’s east coast. (6/1)

Astronaut with Physical Disability Could Be First to Enter Orbit (Source: Gov.UK)
Former Paralympian John McFall could become first person with a physical disability to live in orbit through UK government partnership with US space company Vast. Agreement enables Vast, supported by the UK Space Agency to explore sponsorship opportunities for John’s mission to Vast’s Haven-1 – scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station – as early as 2027. (6/2)

NASA Abandons ‘Core Module’ Concept for Commercial Space Station Development (Source: Space News)
NASA is withdrawing a proposal to revamp its strategy for transitioning from the International Space Station to commercial stations, one that had been sharply criticized by the companies developing such stations. In a June 1 statement, NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said the agency was effectively abandoning a proposal to develop a new “core module” for the ISS that commercial modules could attach to.

Philippines and Japan Sign Joint Declaration to Continue Decades of Space Cooperation (Source: Philsa.gov)
The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) signed a Joint Declaration of Interest in Space Cooperation on 27 May 2026, reaffirming their shared goals and objectives, and their interest in exploring cooperation and industry partnerships in Satellite Joint Mission Partnership and Data Applications, Space Exploration and Human Spaceflight, and Space Sustainability. The declaration was signed by PhilSA Ad Interim Director General Gay Jane P. Perez and JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa during President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s state visit to Japan. (6/2)

SpaceX's Orbiting Data Centers Could Drive a Surge In Space Junk (Source: PC Mag)
SpaceX's Starlink satellites are designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere after they retire. But don't expect the same with the company's plan to operate up to 1 million orbiting data centers. SpaceX is indicating to the FCC it’ll retire the bulk of the orbiting data centers by sending them into graveyard orbits, rather than de-orbiting them into the atmosphere.

The company’s January application to the FCC for the 1 million constellation already mentioned it could retire some of the satellites “around Earth or into heliocentric disposal orbits” around the Sun. But in a filing on Friday, SpaceX got more specific while answering the US regulator’s questions about the orbiting data centers. The 7-page filing includes a preliminary estimate for the various orbits of the 1 million satellites, indicating 80% of the constellation will reside between 680 kilometers and 1,000km orbits around the planet. The remainder will occupy orbits in the 500km range. (6/1)

ESA Joins Agreement to Strengthen Global Geodesy Supply Chain (Source: ESA)
In May, the European Space Agency (ESA) joined the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding of the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE). This initiative aims to strengthen the global geodesy supply chain and promote international cooperation to produce reliable geodetic products, which are essential for many satellite applications, including positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services. (6/2)

PLD Space Invests €35M in its Launch Complex at the Guiana Space Center (Source: TNW)
PLD Space is putting €35m into the launch complex it is building at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, the Spanish company announced on Monday at the Choose France event in Versailles. The figure covers development and deployment of the site over the 2025 to 2026 period, and the company says it makes PLD Space the first private operator to commit capital expenditure at this scale to the ELM-Diamant site at Europe’s historic spaceport.

Most of the money stays in France. Of the €35m total, €22m is being spent within the French industrial ecosystem, with €13m allocated directly to more than 20 companies based in French Guiana, including, the company says, a significant number of small and medium-sized firms. (6/1)

Blue Origin Launchpad Damaged in Rocket Explosion May Not Be Restored until 2028, NASA’s Isaacman Says (Source: CNBC)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Monday told CNBC that it will “take some serious time” to restore the launchpad damaged last week by a Blue Origin rocket explosion. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin was conducting a hot-fire test of its massive New Glenn rocket on Thursday at a Space Force launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when the rocket erupted into a fireball. Bezos confirmed that all Blue Origin personnel were safe following the incident, and pledged to rebuild, while calling it a “very rough day.” (6/1)

Space Force Instagram Account Hijacked with Iranian Propaganda (Source: Washington Examiner)
On Sunday evening, the Instagram account of the chief master sergeant of the Space Force began pumping out pro-Iran propaganda in an apparent security breach at the Pentagon. The social media account of Space Force Chief Master Sergeant John F. Bentivegna, which has just over 1,000 followers, typically posts updates for the branch’s enlisted rank-and-file. Visitors on Sunday evening were instead met with graphics calling for America’s defeat in the monthslong conflict. (6/1)

Maritime Launch Services Details Next Phases of Spaceport Nova Scotia Construction (Source: SpaceQ)
Maritime Launch Services (MLS) and Spaceport Nova Scotia have had a good week, and a better month. Just a few days ago, MLS announced a new deal with Isar Aerospace, as well as announcing that it paid back the $5.03 million that it had owed on its EDC facility and had nearly $1 million in Q1 revenue. The vast majority of that revenue is driven by a $200 million agreement in which MLS is subleasing a portion of the Spaceport Nova Scotia site to the Department of National Defence (DND) for a dedicated launch pad. (6/1)

AstroX And JAXA To Test Rocket Stabilization For Balloon Launch System (Source: Aviation Week)
Japanese startup AstroX and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plan to conduct a joint stratospheric flight demonstration of an attitude control system to stabilize and orient a rocket suspended from a high-altitude balloon. AstroX plans to develop a low-cost space transportation service. Launching from the upper stratosphere means the rocket skips the densest parts of Earth's atmosphere, drastically cutting air resistance and fuel requirements. (6/1)

NASA Johnson Space Center Prepares For Upgrades (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA's Johnson Space Center awarded a Multiple Award Construction Contract (JMACC) to seven companies, providing up to $300 million for infrastructure improvements. The IDIQ awards fund facility projects to sustain astronaut crew training, engineering development, and mission readiness. Contract awardees include Coho Construction Management; Conti Federal Services; Healtheon, Inc.; HITT Contracting, Inc.; Ross Group Construction Corporation; Energy EPC Solutions; and Sauer Construction. (6/1)

Northrop Grumman Targets Next Year For On-Orbit SBI “Capability” (Source: Defense Daily)
Northrop Grumman is to have space-based interceptors for Golden Dome on orbit, at least at the demonstration level, by next year–a year earlier than the White House’s goal, the company said on Monday. (6/1)

France to Fly Two Astronauts on Vast Missions (Source: Space News)
Commercial space station developer Vast has reached an agreement with the French government to fly two French astronauts on its missions, including the first flight to its Haven-1 space station. Vast announced June 1 an agreement to fly a French astronaut on the company’s first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station and another on the first flight to Haven-1. (6/2)

National Security Launch Schedule Not Likely Impacted by New Glenn Disaster (Source: Breaking Defense)
The May 28 explosion on the test pad of Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy lifter at Cape Canaveral is unlikely to have an impact on the Space Force’s national security launch schedule, industry officials and experts said. (6/2)

NASA Strives To Expand Commercial Satellite Data Relay Capabilities (Source: Aviation Week0
NASA officially abandoned the "core module" concept for the ISS transition, deciding instead to proceed with its original Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) strategy. The decision came after extensive industry feedback and sharp criticism from private companies, who argued the government-owned core module would derail years of their standalone station designs.

NASA had briefly floated the revised concept in March 2026, which would have required commercial stations to initially attach to a government-owned module on the ISS and detach later. Station developers argued this would force them to undergo expensive, unnecessary ISS docking certifications and render their current free-flying designs obsolete.

After reviewing industry concerns, NASA concluded that companies are capable of creating a sustainable commercial market on their own. The agency confirmed it will continue supporting U.S. industry design and demonstration through flexible milestones and Space Act Agreements. (6/2)

Orbex Officially Shuts Down (Source: Northern Times)
The company behind the Sutherland Spaceport project is to be closed down as part of a proposed sale involving parts of collapsed rocket firm Orbex. The joint administrators for Orbex say a deal involving assets linked to the spaceport is at an advanced stage. Because the transaction is structured as a sale of assets rather than a sale of the company, Sutherland Spaceport Limited (SSL) will be placed into liquidation. (6/1)

Ark-Like Barge Will Haul SpaceX Starships to Florida (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
The craft dubbed ‘You’ll Thank Me Later’ is now at Port of Brownsville. A black barge with a white tent that recently floated into a South Texas port has SpaceX watchers excited about the prospect of Starship taking to the seas. The retrofitted barge Marmac 31, nicknamed “You’ll Thank Me Later” by Elon Musk’s space firm, arrived at the Port of Brownsville last week. It will be used to carry Starship megarockets built at Starbase to Florida and eventually other destinations. (6/1)

Artemis and the Blue Micromoon (Source: Space Review)
Last week NASA outlined initial plans for developing a lunar base, awarding contracts for rovers and the landers that would deliver them. Jeff Foust reports those plans faced an immediate challenge after the explosion of New Glenn, a rocket that plays a key role in that effort. Click here. (6/2)
 
Big Badaboom: the Effects of a Saturn V Launch Pad Explosion (Source: Space Review)
The New Glenn pad explosion is the biggest of its kind, but NASA previously studied larger explosions. Dwayne Day explores NASA studies from the 1960s to understand what would happen if a Saturn V had a bad day. Click here. (6/2)
 
Debris with Telemetry: the Cyber Pathway to Kessler (Source: Space Review)
Many satellite operators worry about debris from accidental collisions or antisatellite weapons tests. Daniel Morgan says an underappreciated debris threat comes from a type of cyberattack. Click here. (6/2)
 
Lost and Found on the Pacific Floor: the Nimbus SNAP-19 Nuclear Generators (Source: Space Review)
In 1968, a launch failure caused a nuclear power source to fall into the ocean off the California coast. Dwayne Day recounts the efforts to recover that nuclear power source. Click here. (6/2)
 
The “Public” in Public Space Agency (Source: Space Review)
Many hailed the success of the Artemis 2 mission as a key technical step in returning humans to the Moon. Alex Li said it also played an important cultural role, something only a space agency can do. Click here. (6/2)

First Sentinel ICBM Flight Test Expected in 2027, Says Northrop Grumman (Source: Aerospace America)
The U.S. Air Force’s next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, dubbed Sentinel, is now expected to begin pad launch testing in 2027, “which is earlier than we had anticipated,” according to Northop Grumman’s CEO. The Sentinels are intended to replace the aging Minuteman III ICBMs, which have been in use for over 50 years, but the program has long been delayed. A February report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated the missile’s first flight would occur in March 2028, about a four-year delay from the original schedule. (5/28)

Before it Comes Down, What Should be Saved From the International Space Station? (Source: Ars Technica)
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on Thursday hosted a three-part panel discussion, bringing together space program officials, museum curators, an archeologist, and an astronaut to begin answering the why, what, and how the ISS might be saved. The sessions were part of the AIAA ASCEND conference in Washington, DC. “The cupola has long held a fascination with people,” said Levasseur. “Obviously, bringing it back may not be the best answer, but how can we preserve that view is a really important one, because it is such a cherished view.”

“I think everybody’s mentioned the [galley] table—that’s a really obvious thing—but I was also thinking of the physical library of books on board the ISS in all of the languages that are spoken by crew members—certainly Russian and English,” he said. “I think it would be great to bring some or all of that back. What is returned from the ISS will ultimately be limited by how much room is available on the dwindling number of vehicles set to land, with cargo remaining in the program. If the space station is de-orbited in 2030, as currently planned and agreed upon by all partners, the last significant down-mass availability will be three years from now. (5/22)

NASA’s Moon Base Plans Put Huntsville at Center of Lunar Future (Source: YellowHammer)
For Huntsville, the Artemis plans further cement the region's growing role at the center of America’s return to deep space exploration. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is expected to remain one of the agency’s primary hubs for the Moon Base initiative, particularly through its leadership of NASA’s Human Landing System program.

Marshall manages major contracts tied to lunar landers and surface systems, including oversight of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon vehicles and other Artemis-era landing technologies. The Huntsville center also operates specialized engineering and mission support facilities designed to monitor lunar landing systems, payload integration and surface operations. Marshall engineers are additionally involved in fabrication and systems integration work supporting upcoming Artemis missions. (5/31)

Italy Turns to Tall Ship to Simulate Stresses of Long-Duration Spaceflight (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has enlisted students from the country’s Naval Academy aboard a tall ship to examine how the human body responds to the stresses of long-duration spaceflight as part of its ICE-Blue initiative. In 2024, ASI signed an Operational Agreement with the Italian Navy, under which the ICE-BLUE initiative was launched in 2025. The decidedly tortured acronym stands for Isolation and Confinement Environment study in suBmariners and alliance crew as space anaLogues and microbial characterization of arctic sUb-surface Environments. (5/31)

Space Command Leaving, Space Force Expanding Significantly in Colorado (Source: KOAA)
lthough Space Command is leaving, the Space Force is expected to double in size in the next five years. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and Congressman Jeff Crank held a joint press conference on Friday to announce major expansion plans at Schriever Space Force Base. Those plans include the addition of a $250 million space operations facility to help train in Space Force defense.

Congressman Crank said this facility alone will support 2,500 civilian jobs, but it all depends on Congress approving President Trump's budget proposal. Congressman Crank said Congress will start work on President Trump's budget proposal next week. (5/29)

The SpaceX IPO is Great for Elon Musk and Terrible for You (Source: The Verge)
I haven’t seen anything as stupid as the WeWork IPO document in a very long time — that is, until Elon Musk filed to take SpaceX public. WeWork was a joke. SpaceX is a threat. And if Musk and his bankers have their way, you are going to be their bagholder. Lots of the top-line details leaked long before the S-1 filing itself became public. There’s the rumored valuation of more than $1 trillion.

That’s despite the nearly $5 billion in losses last year. The total addressable market (TAM) for SpaceX — the amount of revenue SpaceX thinks it could make if it won over what it thinks is its entire customer base — was listed as $28.5 trillion. By way of comparison, the gross domestic product of the US as a whole was a hair over $24 trillion. This is absurd nonsense, but it might not matter.

Musk is the original financial influencer, and his struggling electric car company, Tesla, trades at more than 300 times earnings. Tesla is a meme stock, and SpaceX is poised to be the next one. Never mind that it is basically a space company plus an AI company plus a social network — a meme stock doesn’t have to make sense. Musk knows that his strength is the cult of losers who worship him. That’s why 30 percent of the IPO is reserved for retail investors. (5/30)

Commercial Space Is Generating Signals Decision-Makers Cannot Hear (Source: Payload)
Parts of the space industry are generating huge amounts of data—but that data isn’t reaching decision-makers for the future space economy. Open eyes: Launch cadences, debris accumulation rates, reusing hardware, conjunction events—the commercial sector is generating more operational signals than any previous era of space activity. However, the mechanism that decides whether a signal reaches a decision-maker or disappears into the background noise is broken. (6/1)

China Conducts Surprise Launch of Long March 12B, Delivers Qianfan Satellites on Debut Flight (Source: Space News)
China conducted the maiden launch of its reusable Long March 12B rocket Monday, providing no advance warning and delivering operational payloads to orbit. The first Long March 12B lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s state-owned main space contractor, announced launch success within an hour of liftoff, revealing that the debut launch had carried operational payloads, adding satellites to the Shanghai-led Qianfan (Thousand Sails) broadband megaconstellation. (6/1)

New Glenn Failure Worsens Constrained Launch Market (Source: Space News)
The explosion of a New Glenn rocket has generated reverberations across the space industry as companies and government agencies address the loss of access to the vehicle for potentially a year or more. (6/1)

Business Finland OKs $33M Grant to Iceye for Expanded Radar Satellite Production and R&D Into Optical, RF Monitoring (Source: Space Intel Report)
Fast-growing radar satellite constellation builder/operator Iceye Oy received a "continuation grant" of 28.3 million euros ($33 million) from Business Finland, the public innovation agency, to boost manufacturing capability and R&D expansion into optical and radio-frequency sensors and high-altitude platforms. The decision follows an initial grant and loan package agreed to in June 2025. Iceye, which has launched 72 satellites since 2018, said it is now producing satellites at a rate of one per week. (6/1)

Germany's Marble Imaging Pushes Into Asia with Taiwan MoU and Japan EO Partnership (Source: Spacewatch Global)
German Earth observation newcomer Marble Imaging is expanding into the Indo-Pacific, signing a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan’s National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) and opening a new chapter in Japan alongside established operator Japan Space Imaging (JSI).

The NTOU agreement sets a framework for cooperation in maritime applications, EO-based analytics and future use cases, and underlines Marble’s intent to build long-term institutional partnerships on the island. To support the push, the company has placed a business development manager in Taiwan and says it will grow its regional presence step by step, working with local industry and academic partners. (6/1)

Why Portugal is Reaching for the Stars (Source: DW.com)
Imagine rockets being launched from the Azores, an archipelago out in the Atlantic Ocean, carrying Portuguese-built satellites into space — and then picture reusable space capsules returning to base. While this may sound like a rather futuristic scenario, elements of it could soon become reality. Portugal, after all, is working hard to become a spacefaring nation, with the help of its many highly skilled engineers and EU cooperation.

Indeed, Portugal is presently building a spaceport on the sleepy Azores island of Santa Maria. "This will be a big deal," Ivo Vieira of space industry group AED Cluster Portugal tells DW. "The European Space Rider spaceplane is even slated to land there in 2028." It will float down on huge parachutes and land right beside the old runway, which was once built by the Americans during World War II and is now barely ever used. Vieira says a rocket launch is planned for 2030, which will send "a South Korean satellite into orbit." (5/31)

SpaceX Vow To Loft 1 Million AI Satellites Could Spark Doomsday Dive (Source: Forbes)
Elon Musk’s plan to begin launching one million AI data center satellites into orbit in 2028 could trigger a financial catastrophe, sending SpaceX into a high-speed nosedive, say leading North American space scholars. In what could be viewed as a precursor project, SpaceX has already lofted 10,000 Starlink broadband-beaming satellites, with each spacecraft costing US$2 million to build and launch, says Robert Zubrin, one of the world’s top rocket designers.

Using the same SpaceX spacecraft assembly and launch systems to lift one million AI satellites into low Earth orbit could cost roughly $2 trillion, or the entire projected valuation of the world-leading spacecraft outfit following its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of shares. (5/31)

China's Space Station Lands New Batch of Samples for Experiments (Source: Xinhua)
A total of approximately 41.14 kg of scientific samples from China's space station, spanning 23 experimental projects in life sciences, materials and combustion, successfully returned to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft on Friday, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It marks the tenth transfer of materials from China's orbiting laboratory.

Life science experiment samples, such as artificial embryos and brain organoids, were transported to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU) under the CAS in Beijing on Saturday. After initial status checks, these specimens will be handed over to research teams for further study. The remaining samples will be transported to Beijing along with the Shenzhou-22 return capsule. (5/30)

Blue Origin Gets National Security Launch Task Order Hours Before New Glenn Explosion (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force said May 29 it awarded Blue Origin a task order to launch a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, and reaffirmed government support for the company’s New Glenn rocket following a launchpad explosion May 28.  (5/30)

Exoplanet Count Could Top 100,000 Soon (Source: Space Daily)
The official tally of confirmed planets outside our solar system, maintained by NASA’s Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech, has passed 6,000. The agency announced the milestone through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on 17 September 2025, noting that confirmed planets are added on a rolling basis by researchers around the world, so no single discovery is the 6,000th entry. More than 8,000 additional candidate planets are sitting in the queue awaiting confirmation.

The number that gets more attention from the people running the archive is not 6,000. It is 100,000. Jessie Christiansen, the archive’s chief scientist, has told Scientific American that the catalogue could reach roughly that figure within six to seven years, depending on when the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches and how the data from ESA’s Gaia mission flows through. (5/27)

Rocket Lab Wins Key $816 Million SDA Role As Valuation Risk Grows (Source: Simply Wall Street)
Rocket Lab successfully passed the System Requirements Review (SRR) for the U.S. Space Development Agency's (SDA) Tracking Layer Tranche 3 program, cementing its role as a prime contractor for an $816 million missile-defense satellite contract while simultaneously navigating high-valuation scrutiny from financial analysts. (5/29)

AST SpaceMobile Plunges 17%, Planet Labs Drops 8% on Blue Origin Explosion, While Virgin Galactic Surges 11% (Source: 24/7 Wall Street)
AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) stock dropped 17% to $111 after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a hotfire test, though ASTS uses SpaceX Falcon 9 as its primary launch provider with a BlueBird 8-10 mission targeted for mid-June.

Planet Labs (PL) stock fell 8% to $47.50 as commercial launch capacity tightening raised constellation refresh risk, while Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock slipped 6% to $139 though the company could eventually benefit from extended New Glenn grounding. Virgin Galactic (SPCE) stock rallied 11% to $5 as traders positioned for a customer shift from Blue Origin’s grounded New Shepard tourism program. (5/29)

Commercial Space Just Crossed $500 Billion in Backlog and These 3 ETFs Own the Pure Play Names (Source: 24/7 Wall Street)
Procure Space ETF (UFO) is the highest-purity commercial space bet, tracking the S-Network Space Index weighted by space revenue share and up 75% year-to-date with $1.32B in assets; ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF (ARKX) offers active management across 35-50 names with a 0.75% expense ratio and is up 28% year-to-date; SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (ROKT) uses equal-weighting across space and deep-sea exploration at a 0.45% fee and has returned 58% year-to-date.

The commercial space sector has surpassed $500 billion in market value, with SpaceX filing its S-1 in May 2026 and Rocket Lab preparing for a fourth-quarter launch of its Neutron rocket, driving satellite operators and launch providers to build multi-year order backlogs. (6/1)

Can Solar Sails Really Send Humans Into Interstellar Space? (Source: Space.com)
So far, solar sails have seen only a handful of proof-of-concept flights (including a flight to Venus), experiments and simulations in labs around the world, and some very ambitious mission concepts. But a recent study by Imperial College London engineer Debdut Sengupta and his colleagues found that solar sails could carry spaceships to the edge of our solar system within the next 10 or 20 years. (5/30)

SpaceX Skeptics Have Added Reason for Concern After Musk Comments Diverge From IPO Filing (Source: CNBC)
In a post on X, Elon Musk offered details about SpaceX’s deal with Anthropic that weren’t included in the company’s IPO prospectus. The discrepancy creates another hurdle for Musk as he attempts to take his cash-burning company public in a record IPO. “It’s confusing to investors who are trying (best they can) to put a valuation on SpaceX,” Eric Talley, a professor at Columbia Law School, wrote in an email. (5/29)

Study Finds LEO Point Where Atmosphere Starts Pulling Satellites Down (Source: Space Daily)
Solar Cycle 25 has already reached its solar maximum period, and a new long-term study of orbital debris points to a practical warning for the satellite age: once sunspot numbers climb past roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of a cycle’s peak, debris in low Earth orbit can begin losing altitude much faster due to a fattened atmosphere..

A study published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences analyzed 17 low-Earth-orbit debris objects across solar cycles 22, 23 and 24, using more than 36 years of two-line element data, sunspot numbers, F10.7 radio flux and EUV flux. The authors found that decay rates rose sharply when sunspot numbers exceeded about 67% to 75% of the cycle peak. (5/26

SPACECOM Exploring Tech for Future Offensive Cislunar Ops (Source: Breaking Defense)
Developing capabilities for operations in cislunar space, including offensive space control, is among the top new science and technology (S&T) priorities for US Space Command (SPACECOM), according to the command’s top scientist. David Denhard, SPACECOM’s chief scientist and technical advisor, said operations beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit (xGEO) are on the command’s “what’s hot for tomorrow” list of S&T activities he approved earlier this month.

“Cislunar and xGEO is important to us,” Denhard said. US doctrinal publications define space control as including both defensive and offensive operations, and the Space Force’s April 2025 warfighting framework further explains that the concept includes waging orbital, electronic and cyber warfare. (5/29)

SpaceX Launched 50th Starlink Mission of 2026 Last Week From California (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched its 50th dedicated Starlink mission of 2026 with a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday morning. The Starlink 17-41 mission added another 24 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation. It consists of more than 10,000 spacecraft in orbit. Liftoff happened from Space Launch Complex 4 East. (5/30)

Lockheed Martin Hits Jackpot as Defense Spending Stays Strong (Source: The Street)
Six nations. One training system. A contract that runs to 2031. And it is only one of two awards Lockheed Martin secured in a single day. The Pentagon’s May 28 contract announcements add another layer to what has become one of the most sustained defense award cycles Lockheed Martin has seen in years. (5/30)

Blue Origin Faces Months of Delays, Massive Costs After New Glenn Explosion (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Blue Origin faces months of delays, massive costs after New Glenn explosion. Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explosion during a May 28 test will delay projects months to a year and cost hundreds of millions, experts said. (529)

Roasting in Space (Source: New Electronics)
The big problem facing anyone aiming to put more computing in space lies in the yawning gap between the conditions for which commercial-grade processors are designed and what they will face, even just a few hundred kilometers above the surface of Earth.

The problems encountered last year after a software update led to the grounding of 6000 Airbus aircraft showed how easy it is to miscalculate robustness even in systems designed to handle the radiation levels encountered just 30km above sea level. Though elevated, they are nowhere near the levels encountered closer to the particle-traps of the van Allen belts hundreds of kilometers higher up. (5/26)