June 6, 2026

Planet Reports 42% Increase in Q1 Revenue, with 20% Boost in Commercial Business (Source: Space Intel Report)
Planet Labs PBC reported record revenue for the three months ending Jan. 31, including a 20% increase in commercial revenue, to $17 million, which the company said results from a “reset” of its approach that is now bearing fruit. Planet reported a negative $1million in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter but said it is maintaining course for positive EBITDA for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31. (6/5)

Apex’s Valuation Rises to $2.3 Billion After Latest $200 Million Raise (Source: Space News)
Apex has raised more than $200 million to expand in-house satellite production capabilities, announcing a funding round June 5 it says nearly doubled the four-year-old manufacturer’s valuation to $2.3 billion. (6/5)

SpaceX Inks $30 Billion Computing Power Deal With Google (Source: Bloomberg)
Google has agreed to pay Elon Musk’s SpaceX $920 million a month for computing power as part of a cloud services deal that runs through mid-2029, its second such agreement with an AI competitor in a matter of weeks. Google will pay SpaceX the monthly fee from October this year through June 2029, SpaceX said in the filing Friday. That amounts to about $30 billion through the time of the agreement. (6/5)

China and Hong Kong Users Unable to Access SpaceX Website, IPO Documents (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX's website and IPO marketing ​documents were not accessible on Friday in Hong Kong and mainland China, a Reuters review showed, a step that threatens ‌to curb participation by investors there in a listing expected to be the world's largest. Reuters could not immediately ​establish why and since when the website of SpaceX, the rocket, satellite and AI company, and the IPO material were restricted in mainland China and ​the world's No. 1 wealth hub of Hong Kong. (6/5)

FCC Gives Amazon Leo 50% Deployment Waiver, With Conditions on Spectrum Priority (Source: Via Satellite)
The FCC granted Amazon a deadline waiver to launch half of its constellation by the end of July, but the waiver came with conditions on spectrum priority. Amazon has had an FCC deadline to launch half of its planned 3,232-satellite Amazon Leo constellation by July 30 – a deadline that was set in 2020 when the constellation was initially approved.

At this point, Amazon has 331 satellites in orbit, just a fraction of the 1,616 satellites needed to meet the deadline. Amazon asked the FCC for a waiver or extension on the 50% deployment milestone earlier this year, citing a shortage in launch availability. (6/5)

Safety Officials Finally Have a Good Idea of What a Big Rocket Explosion Can Do (Source: Ars Technica)
The Cape Canaveral Spaceport is gearing up for a flurry of new arrivals. SpaceX is building multiple launch pads for its super-heavy Starship rocket, which will operate within a few miles of launch pads operated by rivals Blue Origin and ULA. Two other companies, Stoke Space and Relativity Space, are also developing launch sites nearby. Competitors have worried that daily launches and landings of SpaceX’s super-heavy Starship rocket might force evacuations of their own facilities for safety reasons.

The Space Force maintains strict rules for methane/liquid oxygen, or methalox, rockets. With more data on how methane-fueled rockets explode, officials expect the keep-out zones to get smaller over time. To this end, NASA, the Space Force, and SpaceX have conducted sub-scale ground tests to gather measurements on methane’s explosive yield. The Blast Danger Area (BDA) for last week’s ill-fated New Glenn test—based on the assumption of 100 percent TNT blast equivalency—spanned a diameter of 7,174 feet, or an average distance of 3,587 feet from the pad. That is approximately two-thirds of a mile.

The farthest debris found so far was thrown a half-mile from the launch pad, Chatman said. He said engineers collected “phenomenal data” from the explosion, and officials will use the measurements to improve models on methalox rocket explosions. SpaceX’s combined Starship and Super Heavy booster is the only methane-fueled rocket larger than New Glenn with plans to launch from Cape Canaveral. (6/5)

Leidos Debuts SATCOM Dashboard for Pentagon Operators (Source: Air Force Technology)
Leidos, in collaboration with US Space Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency, has developed the Joint Management Tool, a cloud-based platform that provides real-time monitoring of satellite communications resources. The tool is expected to reduce reporting and analysis time, allowing operators to focus on mission execution. (6/4)

Florida Venture Forum and Space Florida Announce Winners of Venture Conference Investment (Source: Space Florida)
Florida Venture Forum announced the recipients of $150,000 in award dollars and investment from Space Florida during its 18th annual Early Stage Venture Conference in Orlando. Winning companies will also be eligible for a share of $80,000 in legal services. The conference featured 32 selected companies from a highly competitive pool of applicants across the state. A panel of judges representing Space Florida and Florida Venture Forum evaluated each company based on innovation, market opportunity, and alignment with Florida’s targeted high-growth sectors, including aerospace, defense, and emerging technologies.

Six standout companies were selected to receive a combined total of $150,000 in Space Florida investment to help accelerate their growth and commercialization efforts, including Aloft Biotechnologies, E&P Technologies, SmartCare 360, Radical Solutions, Dirty Bastard, and Mayott Aerospace. (6/3)

ISS Air Leak Forces Temporary Evacuation Alert (Source: Reuters)
NASA reverses evacuation alert order for astronauts aboard space station
A worsening air leak aboard the ISS prompted five astronauts to take shelter and prepare for evacuation for roughly two hours on Friday as Russia attempted to fix a crack on its portion of the orbital laboratory, NASA said. The four astronauts of NASA’s Crew‑12 mission ​aboard the station — two Americans, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut — along with another U.S. astronaut were ordered ​by NASA mission control to enter their Crew Dragon ⁠spacecraft docked to the station. NASA reversed that order roughly two hours later and told the astronauts ​they could return to the station as the agency and its Russian counterparts examined the rate of leaking air. (6/5)

EU’s Answer to Musk’s SpaceX Set to Test New Merger Regime (Source: Bloomberg)
A proposed satellite joint venture between Airbus SE, Leonardo SpA and Thales SA is set to test the EU’s revamped merger framework, which aims to help create globally competitive European champions. The companies signed a preliminary agreement in October to create a European firm that could have the ability to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. But the alliance, dubbed Project Bromo, is leading to widespread worries among unions as well as suppliers. Labor unions in Germany are wary of France taking too much power while in France groups are worried about job cuts. (6/5)

Southern Launch and SpaceWorks Reach Agreement for Orbital Re-entries (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Southern Launch has signed a new agreement with US-based SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc. to host multiple re-entry missions at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia. The agreement enables SpaceWorks to advance its growing portfolio of atmospheric Re-Entry Devices (RED) and further demonstrates confidence in the Koonibba Test Range as the leading global location for the safe and reliable return of spacecraft and high-value payloads.

Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp says, "SpaceWorks are developing re-entry capsules for the return of payloads manufactured in space. Southern Launch offers world leading expertise and infrastructure to support their missions. We look forward to welcoming their capsules back to Earth at the Koonibba Test Range." (6/5)