June 3, 2026

Are Orbital Data Centers the Next Frontier of AI Infrastructure? (Source: Via Satellite)
The race to put computing infrastructure in orbit is accelerating as hyperscalers across cloud, AI, and space compete to see who will emerge winners in what many believe will fuel the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The last few months have been a flurry of orbital data announcements, from SpaceX filing for a constellation of up to 1 million satellites to create an orbital data center and collaborating with AI giant Anthropic.

Google is exploring Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) clusters in space. Starcloud has plans for an 88,000-satellite constellation aimed at delivering on-orbit compute at scale, to name a few. In the face of this growing momentum, a single question dominates: Are orbital data centers a genuine paradigm shift — or the latest chapter in a long history of space industry hype? (6/2)

Can the Stock Market Swallow Anthropic, SpaceX and OpenAI? (Source: The Economist)
They promise to be the biggest stockmarket debuts ever. On June 11th SpaceX reportedly hopes to raise $75bn from investors, by issuing shares that will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange the next day. Elon Musk’s rocketry firm will probably soon be followed by two other mammoth listings. Anthropic, an artificial-intelligence lab, filed draft paperwork for its initial public offering on June 1st; OpenAI, a competitor, is expected to do so soon. The two are rumored to be seeking as much as $60bn apiece. Together, the three giga-IPOs may add as much as $4trn to the market value of listed American companies in a matter of months. (6/1)

Vast, Axiom Look to Europe as NASA Space Station Plan in Limbo (Source: Bloomberg)
Vast and Axiom Space, both of which are developing commercial successors to the International Space Station, announced plans to expand into Europe as NASA signals it may no longer fund development of multiple future stations in Earth’s orbit. Vast Space, founded by former crypto tycoon Jed McCaleb, will establish a European headquarters in Paris and send French astronauts on two crewed missions to space, the company announced Monday. (6/1)

The Next-Generation Very Large Array Prototype (ngVLA) Gathers its First Light (Source: Universe Today)
The next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) prototype, a single radio antenna located on the NSF VLA grounds in the deserts of New Mexico, recently achieved a major milestone by gathering its "first light." It made independent observations, and others in collaboration with the NSF VLA. This achievement marks the transition from the construction phase to astronomical testing, and will serve as the blueprint for the proposed 244-antenna array. (6/2)

Iceye U.S. Appoints ASRC Federal Exec Ann Stevens as CEO (Source: Via Satellite)
Iceye’s U.S. subsidiary has appointed Ann Stevens to the role of CEO, as Eric Jensen who held the position, takes the role of COO of Iceye. Stevens joins Iceye US from government contracting firm ASRC Federal where she was chief strategy officer. Iceye highlighted her deep experience in national security and more than two decades with Boeing, where she served as vice president of Maritime & Intelligence Systems. (6/2)

Venturi Space Announces New Toulouse Facility for Developing Technologies for Lunar Mobility (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Venturi Space is establishing a €250 million, 16,000-square-meter technology center in Toulouse, France, aimed at advancing lunar and Martian mobility. The facility will design and assemble critical rover subsystems—including hyper-deformable wheels and high-performance batteries—following NASA's selection of the Astrolab CLV-1 rover for future Artemis missions. (6/2)

India and South Korea Collaborate in VLEO (Source: Space News)
Indian and South Korean companies will collaborate on a demonstration of very low Earth orbit (VLEO) spacecraft technology in 2028. South Korea's TelePIX will provide an optical sensor for a spacecraft bus built by India's Bellatrix. The spacecraft will feature an "air-breathing" propulsion system using the tenuous atmosphere in VLEO as propellant for an electric thruster. Spacecraft operating in VLEO can provide higher resolution images than those in higher orbits without requiring larger optics. (6/2)

Starfighters Space Added to Russell 3000 Index (Source: Starfighters Space)
Starfighters Space announced that it has been added as a member of the broad-market Russell 3000® Index, effective when U.S. markets open on June 29, 2026, as part of the first 2026 Russell indexes reconstitution. Since completing its IPO in December 2025, Starfighters Space has continued expanding its operational footprint, infrastructure, and platform capabilities. Operating from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Company is advancing a differentiated commercial space platform through its reusable, supersonic aircraft-based architecture and continued development of STARLAUNCH. (6/3)

Determining an 'Equilibrium State' for Space Traffic Management (Source: Space News)
The rapid expansion of human and robotic activity in low Earth orbit makes critically important the need to implement effective space traffic management (STM). This will be one of the most crucial engineering and policy challenges of the 21st century. The emergence of massive communications constellations, orbiting data centers, inhabited space stations and increasing quantities of space debris has intensified orbital congestion and collision risks throughout low Earth orbit (LEO).

As a result, determining an “equilibrium state” for STM has become essential for ensuring the long-term sustainability, safety and economic viability of space operations. In this context, equilibrium refers to a dynamically stable orbital environment in which spacecraft launches, operational lifetimes, debris generation and disposal rates remain balanced so that collision probabilities and long-term orbital degradation are minimized. (6/2)

"Hot Jupiter" Winds Reveal Exoplanet Magnetic Field (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers have discovered the first evidence of magnetic fields around planets beyond the solar system, and they did so by studying the worlds' high-speed, violent winds. This marks the first direct measurement of exoplanet magnetic field strength, and represents a major step forward in exoplanet research. (6/3)

Muon Space Unveils Starship-Class Satellite Platform for Orbital Data Centers (Source: Space News)
Muon Space announced a Starship-class satellite platform June 3 designed from the ground up to meet the demands of the emerging orbital data center market, with an initial launch slated for 2028 after securing customers. The Condor-Ultra platform would initially offer 20 kilowatts of baseline power and more than 18 square meters of nadir payload area, with Starlink Mini Lasers from SpaceX to use its broadband constellation for inter-satellite data relay. (6/2)

MDA Space Secures Key Role in Safeguarding U.S. Space Force Defense Network (Source: Aviation News Daily)
MDA Space Ltd. has captured a prominent defense payload contract from BAE Systems to support the U.S. Space Systems Command’s highly critical Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) missile defense initiative. Under the new agreement, the Canadian aerospace firm will supply the critical hardware tasked with identifying next-generation global military threats from orbit. (6/3)

NRO Nominee Says Commercial Space, AI Are Reshaping Spy Satellite Agency (Source: Space News)
The nominee to be director of the National Reconnaissance Office said advances in commercial capabilities, along with artificial intelligence, will reshape the agency. Appearing June 2 before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing, Roger Mason said the NRO is in the midst of a transformation driven by commercial innovation, growing volumes of intelligence data and increasing threats to U.S. assets in space. Mason said the NRO's growing fleet of satellites is generating increasing amounts of intelligence data that require new methods for prioritizing collection and distributing information, including the use of AI. Mason, currently chief growth officer at V2X Corp., would succeed Christopher Scolese, who has led the NRO since 2019. (6/3)

Chatman: Safety Procedures Worked With New Glenn Exploded (Source: Florida Today)
The Space Force says safety procedures in the event of an accident worked as planned when New Glenn exploded. Col. Brian Chatman, commander of Space Launch Delta 45, the unit that oversees Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, said emergency response plans were "spot on across the board" after the accident, keeping both base personnel and the public safe. The Space Force handed control of the pad back to Blue Origin on Sunday, allowing the company to move ahead with work to repair the pad. Windows were blown out at the Cape's Hangar C assembly building nearby, and the Space Force is working with companies using adjacent pads to identify any damage. While the Space Force warned that some debris from the explosion might wash up on beaches, none has been reported so far. (6/3)

UK Using Starshield Network (Source: Reuters)
Britain's military has started using SpaceX's Starshield network. Starshield is a version of Starlink adapted for military uses, including enhanced security, and originally developed by the company for the U.S. military. Sources said the British military started using Starshield earlier this year while continuing use of Starlink for non-operational purposes, such as allowing deployed personnel to communicate with their families. SpaceX has pushed militaries to use Starshield for operations, stating that it is against its terms of service to use the commercial Starlink service for weapons systems. (6/3)

Applied Aerospace and Defense Raising $650 Million with IPO (Source: Bloomberg)
Aerospace industry supplier Applied Aerospace and Defense is raising $650 million in an IPO. The company announced Tuesday it will sell 32.5 million shares at $20 each, with trading scheduled to begin on the New York Stock Exchange today. That would value the company at $3.4 billion. Applied Aerospace and Defense is a component supplier that, in the space field, makes items such as structures, solar arrays and antennas. The company reported a net loss of $15.1 million on revenue of $134.4 million in the first quarter of this year. (6/3)

Senate Postpones NASA/NOAA Funding Bill Markup (Source: Politico)
The Senate Appropriations Committee has postponed consideration of a funding bill that includes NASA and NOAA. The committee was scheduled to hold a markup Thursday morning of three bills, including Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS), which funds NASA and NOAA along with the National Science Foundation. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the committee, postponed the markup Tuesday after Democratic members said they would introduce amendments targeting Department of Justice funding in the CJS bill, including the "anti-weaponization" fund and plans to keep FBI Headquarters in Washington. The committee has not announced a new date for the markup. (6/3)

Japan's IHI Banned From JAXA Work After Improper Cost Claims (Source: Investing.com)
Japan's IHI Aerospace has been banned from bidding on projects by the Japanese space agency for five months. IHI said Tuesday that JAXA banned the company from bidding after finding the company made improper cost claims on work maintaining equipment used to produce space hardware, stating that work had been completed when it remained unfinished. The claims did not involve any defects in production of hardware. IHI said it has cooperated with JAXA on the investigation and is assessing the impacts of the ban on its earnings. (6/3)

Churn at Zero-G Corp. with Certificate Loss and Company Acquisition (Source: SPACErePORT)
Zero Gravity Corp., based in Exploration Park on the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, had since 2004 been flying parabolic research and tourism missions aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft operated by Everts Air Cargo — but Everts revoked Zero-G's access to their operating certificate in August 2025. It is unclear if or when Zero-G will recommence flight operations. Zero-G was acquired by Space Adventures on March 31, 2026. So the company still exists as a legal entity under new ownership, but whether flights will resume is another question. (6/3)

NASA to Acquire Microgravity Research Aircraft (Source: NASA)
NASA is acquiring an aircraft for reduced gravity research. NASA said Monday it awarded a $8.4 million contract to Denmar Technical Services to modify a Boeing 737 for parabolic aircraft flights. Such flights can provide brief moments of reduced gravity, including microgravity. NASA said it will own and operate the plane when the modification work is complete, using it to test equipment in lunar gravity conditions. NASA had previously acquired parabolic flights as a service from Zero-G Corporation, but that company's plane has reportedly been out of service since last year. (6/3)