July 13, 2026

Europe Faces Shortages Amid Space Militarization Race (Source: Fortune)
Europe is facing significant challenges in the space militarization race, primarily due to a shortage of heavy launchers. While the US, Russia and China have heavily invested in space capabilities, Europe has struggled with limited budgets and misaligned interests. The Andøya Spaceport in Norway represents a potential solution, but has yet to achieve notable success. The stream of political leaders visiting the Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway shows its vital importance: it may be Europe’s best shot at catching up in the race to militarize space while breaking free from dependence on SpaceX.

Launching satellites into orbit “is a capability that is important for Norway, for the EU, for Europe,” said Ketil Olsen, the chief executive officer of Andøya Space and formerly a Norwegian vice admiral. “For us it’s about strategic autonomy, it’s about sovereignty, and it’s about European independence.” (7/13)

Florida's City Labs Demos Trickle Nuclear Power System for Orbital Electronics (Source: Space News)
A Florida startup launched what it says is the first commercial nuclear-powered payload. City Labs said its Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) cubesat, launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission last week, is the first in-orbit demonstration of the company's NanoTritium betavoltaic power system. While the satellite itself uses conventional solar power, its NanoTritium system uses the radioactive decay of tritium to produce tiny amounts of power, measured in microwatts. That would be suitable for some low-power electronics that need to operate continuously for years. BOHR was the first spacecraft to go through processes to approve the launch of commercial missions with nuclear payloads. (7/12)

Reditus Space Completes Reentry Vehicle to Host Research Payloads (Source: Space News)
Reditus Space has completed its first reentry vehicle. The company said Monday that its ENOS spacecraft is complete and shipped for launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission later this year. ENOS will spend two months in orbit testing vehicle systems and hosting microgravity research payloads before reentering and splashing down off the Florida coast. Reditus is one of several companies working on reentry vehicles, but the company's design maximizes the amount of payload it returns to Earth, with the goal of making the spacecraft completely recoverable and reusable. (7/13)

China Plans Methalox Version of Long March 10 (Source: Space News)
China is planning a new version of its Long March 10 rocket that will use methane and liquid oxygen exclusively. Chinese officials said after the successful launch of the first Long March 10B, including recovery of the first stage, that they are working on a Long March 10C, whose first and second stages will use methane and liquid oxygen. The Long March 10B uses that propellant combination in its first stage while the upper stage uses kerosene rather than methane. The Long March 10C will use a larger first stage and potentially exceed the 25,000-kilogram payload capacity of the Long March 5B. (7/13)

NASA Begins Stacking Rocket Ahead of 2027 Artemis III Mission (Source: Space.com)
The assembly of NASA's next Artemis rocket is well underway, with the recent arrival of one of the launch vehicle's solid fuel booster sections to the agency's integration facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The bottom segment of the left-hand solid rocket booster (SRB) that will help launch Artemis III was transported to KSC's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) this week, according to a NASA social media post. It's one of two SRBs that will be affixed to either side of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which together provide a combined 7.2 million pounds of force — more than 75% of the rocket's power at liftoff. (7/13)