July 31, 2026

Trump Waives NDAs on UAP Disclosure (Source: Douglas Messier)
President Trump recently directed the Department of War and the intelligence community to allow former government employees or contractors, that have relevant information about the disclosure of UAP, to come forward to meet with designated government representatives — AARO or the President’s UAP taskforce, ‘PURSUE’ — and have their prior NDAs abrogated,” a senior administration official said, with AARO referring to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Pentagon office established to investigate UFOs and other unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs). A senior administration official emphasized the move was not a “declassification directive” and only allowed employees to come forward through government channels. (7/30)

NASA Funds Research Project on Sampling Saturn's Rings (Source: Douglas Messier)
NASA has provided grants for two early-stage research projects focused on sampling the rings of Saturn for the first time and using thousands of ultra-miniature spacecraft to conduct an in-depth study of the giant gaseous planet. Marco Quadrelli of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California has received funding for the Planetary Rings Autonomous EXploration with In-situ Sampling (PRAXIS) project under the NASA Innovative Advanced Projects (NIAC) program. (7/31)

Astro Digital Selects Everspin for Raven Bus Geosynchronous Satellite Program (Source: SatNews)
Semiconductor manufacturer Everspin Technologies, Inc. announced on July 29, 2026, that satellite manufacturer Astro Digital has selected its PERSYST 64Mb Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM) for an upcoming Raven bus geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) satellite mission. Astro Digital will integrate Everspin’s device into its proprietary Raven spacecraft bus architecture as the primary fail-safe memory for the system boot process. In satellite avionics systems, boot memory stores the core instruction code required to initialize electronic subsystems, manage system recovery procedures, and record critical telemetry log data. (7/29)

HawkEye 360 Uses Space-Based RF to Locate NOAA Transmitter (Source: Military Aerospace)
HawkEye 360 used orbiting satellites to geolocate a hidden environmental transmitter broadcasting for only 1.9 seconds on a narrow channel. The successful identification allowed NOAA to verify, remove, and reassign the uplink position, restoring essential environmental data collection capabilities. The operation uncovered additional dormant transmitters, enabling their refurbishment for future environmental monitoring efforts. (7/31)

India Issues New Guidelines for Private Space Firms, Sets 1-in-10,000 Casualty Rate (Source: The Print)
The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) in its new guidelines has stated that private space companies must limit the casualty risk of any planned space object re-entry to less than 1 in 10,000. IN-SPACe, the single-window agency for all space-sector activities undertaken by private entities, has also mandated that any Indian entity planning the re-entry of a space object, whether within or outside Indian territory, needs its authorization. The new guidelines, ‘Norms, Guidelines and Procedures for Implementation of Indian Space Policy-2023 in respect of Authorization for Undertaking Planned Re-entry of Space Objects’, were issued on July 23 and made public on Wednesday. (7/30)

Free ISRO From Bureaucratic Control. The Public-Private Space Model Needs It (Source: The Print)
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier this month, the successful orbital launch of Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed launch vehicle, is “a historic new frontier for India’s space journey”. This milestone signals a new chapter in India’s space program, based on the foundation laid by ISRO but with fewer bureaucratic constraints and more room for private enterprise. Before looking at how India can build on this momentum, it is worth revisiting the country’s space journey over the past several decades. (7/31)

Triumph to Tragedy: Columbia’s Silent Warning (Source: Flying)
The proximate cause was brutal in its simplicity. At 81.9 seconds into ascent, a 1.2-pound piece of foam separated from the external tank’s bipod ramp.  Though light, it traveled at nearly 500 mph and struck Columbia’s reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) wing leading edge. The impact created a breach invisible to the naked eye but large enough for disaster. Sixteen days later, during reentry, superheated plasma at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit exploited the weakness. The wing’s internal aluminum structure melted, sensors failed in sequence, and Columbia tore apart at Mach 18

Sociologists call this phenomenon the “normalization of deviance”—when small anomalies, tolerated repeatedly, become the “new normal.” In NASA’s case, foam loss went from red flag to background noise. Success after success reinforced the illusion of safety, until disaster broke the spell. The CAIB concluded that Columbia was not just lost because of foam. It was lost because of organizational blindness, bureaucratic inertia, and cultural complacency. GA is not immune. Owner-pilots often defer maintenance because “it flew fine last time.” Flying clubs may pass along squawks casually rather than with urgency. Instructors sometimes downplay student errors to keep lessons moving. Just as at NASA, cultures of corner cutting or silence can prove lethal. (7/31)

Space Force Seeks $71B to Bolster Space Warfare Capabilities (Source: Christian Science Monitor)
The US Space Force is preparing for the next frontier of warfare with a proposed budget of $71 billion for 2027, more than double its current funding. The increase comes as the Space Force has been actively involved in real-world operations, such as last year's potential conflict with Iran and ongoing electromagnetic warfare. The budget boost reflects the growing importance of space in national defense, especially as China and Russia advance their space capabilities. (7/30)

The Nimble U.S. Space Force Presses Its Advantage (Source: Wall Street Journal)
With Washington and the world consumed by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as tumult in Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon, it is nice to see some good news from the Defense Department, as I did this week on a trip to three Space Force facilities in Colorado.

The Space Force was created in 2019 to give greater emphasis to humanity’s “last frontier” than seemed possible within the traditional military services. It is still finding its footing. The Space Force is far smaller than the Marine Corps or Coast Guard, with only about 10,000 uniformed personnel. For that reason, I was skeptical initially, believing it likely would be too small to compete with the big hitters at the Defense Department or to run itself efficiently. I am quickly reassessing. (7/30)

Payload Field Guide: European Launchers (Source: Payload)
Europe is firing on all fronts to stand up new launch capabilities, but the continent isn’t moving as fast as it might hope. Across the region, a slew of relatively young launch startups are making headway developing their new launch vehicles, with many projecting debut launches in the coming year. Even outside of Europe, rocket progress is rarely linear. You have to crawl before you can walk, and despite progress, “crawl” best describes the current pace. Here’s where Europe’s launch capabilities stand. (7/31)

Spain Commits Up to $2.3 Billion for National Military Communications for IRIS (Source: Space News)
The Spanish government announced it will allocate between 1.6 billion and 2 billion euros ($1.8 to $2.3 billion) to develop a national military satellite communications constellation that could be integrated into the planned IRIS² multi-orbit satellite internet constellation. (7/31)

Texas' Exos Offers Wet Leases for Reusable Suborbital Rockets (Source: Exos)
A traditional launch service gets a payload to a destination. A wet lease rocket model is broader. It supports the customer’s ability to develop, operate, and grow launch capability as part of a larger program. A national space program may begin with suborbital research, payload testing, workforce development, and a practical path toward orbital readiness. A defense or government customer may use the model for flight testing, technology validation, and allied access to launch capability. A commercial team may use it to test hardware, develop operations experience, and reduce risk before a larger mission. (7/9)

FAA Offers Video Tutorials for Launch Licensing (Source: FAA)
As new commercial space operators continue to enter the industry, the FAA is launching Space Place, its how-to video series guide to help companies obtain a launch, reentry, or spaceport license. The first video explains the role of the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation and the overall process for vehicle and site licensing. Future video installments and information fact sheets will cover applicant expectations and key elements of the regulations such as policy, payload, safety, financial responsibility, and environmental impacts. The goal is for submitted license applications to be complete and clearly spell out how the company will achieve regulatory compliance to help avoid undue delay.

The FAA also recently issued two draft commercial space license advisory circulars. The first, AC 413.5-1: Pre-Application Consultation and Lifecycle Overview for Licenses and Permits, provides a high-level overview of the licensing process lifecycle, including pre-application consultation; application submission, evaluation, and determination; and compliance monitoring and license modification. Click here. (7/31)

K2 Space Raises $500 Million for Satellite Development (Source: Space News)
Satellite manufacturer K2 Space has raised $500 million to expand production for commercial and government customers. The Series D round, led by Kleiner Perkins and ICONIQ, values the company at $6.8 billion, the company announced Thursday. K2's valuation has more than doubled since it raised a $250 million Series C at a $3 billion valuation last December. The new financing gives K2 the resources to expand production as it works toward the capacity to build as many as 100 large satellites a year. The company is working on defense programs including those linked to Golden Dome, while its largest disclosed commercial project is tied to a planned SES communications network in medium Earth orbit. (7/31)

Rules Needed for Data Center Constellations (Source: Space News)
Now is the time to start developing rules of the road for giant constellations of orbital data center satellites. At a panel discussion this week, government and industry officials said proposals for constellations of up to 1 million satellites require thinking about adapting best practices from existing satellite constellations such as Starlink. One issue is that most proposed orbital data center constellations plan to use a special orbit, a dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit, to maximize solar power. That can mitigate concerns about high numbers of conjunctions among those satellites, provided operators agree to fly their satellites in the same direction in those orbits to avoid risks of head-on collisions. (7/31)

Roman Telescope Fueled for Aug. 30 Launch From Florida on Falcon Heavy (Source: Space News)
NASA's Roman Space Telescope is on track for launch in a month. At a briefing Wednesday, NASA officials said preparations were going as planned for Roman, set to launch Aug. 30 on a Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center. Once launched, Roman will take about 100 days to reach the Earth-Sun L-2 Lagrange point, and during that time engineers will work to calibrate the telescope and its instruments. Roman is on track to launch nine months early, which project officials previously credited to careful planning as well as adherence to a cost cap. (7/31)

NASA Considering, But Not Yet Scheduling, a Cargo-Only Starliner Flight to ISS (Source: Space News)
NASA is not ready yet to set a date for the next Boeing CST-100 Starliner flight. At a briefing Thursday about upcoming ISS spacewalks, the agency said they are working with Boeing to correct problems with Starliner and making "good progress." However, the next Starliner flight, a cargo-only mission called Starliner-1, was not included in a list of missions planned through the end of the year to the station. NASA said only it will schedule Starliner-1 "when it's ready to go and when we have a spot for it on ISS." On Tuesday, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg suggested the main issue for Starliner was working with NASA to schedule a date for Starliner-1. (7/31)

Thales Alenia to Develop EO Satellite for Italy (Source: Thales Alenia)
Thales Alenia Space won a contract to build an Earth observation satellite for the Italian space agency ASI. Thales Alenia announced this week that it was selected by prime contractor OHB Italia to provide the spacecraft for the PRISMA Second Generation mission, which will carry a hyperspectral instrument. The spacecraft will use Thales Alenia's PRIMA-S bus designed for Earth observation missions. It is scheduled for launch in 2031. (7/31)

Interlune and Vermeer Partner on Lunar Helium-3 Extraction (Source: Geekwire)
Interlune is expanding its partnership with an industrial equipment manufacturer to explore ways to support NASA's lunar base plans. Interlune announced last year it was working with Vermeer Corp. on developing equipment that could extract helium-3 from lunar regolith. On Thursday, the companies said they are now examining how to use similar systems for work that will likely be needed for a lunar base, including building roads and digging trenches. The companies said they will work on a tool that could be sent to the moon by the end of the decade to test site preparation work. (7/31)

SpaceX-Tesla Merger Reports Denied by Musk (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Elon Musk is denying reports Tesla is preparing to spin off its operations with China to prepare for a merger with SpaceX. Sources said Tesla executives have been told to prepare to spin off or sell its China business, a move intended to enable a merger between Tesla and SpaceX. Musk said in a Tesla earnings call last week that he could not discuss combining the two companies. He responded to the report about the potential Tesla China spinoff as "fake news" and that the company has never discussed getting rid of its China business. SpaceX is scheduled to hold its first earnings call as a public company on Tuesday. (7/31)

Three-Headed Asteroid (Source: Space.com)
Planetary scientists have discovered the first "three-headed" asteroid. Observations of the main-belt asteroid 44 Nysa taken with telescopes in Arizona and Chile indicate the asteroid likely is a "trinary", or three lobes connected together. While many two-lobed asteroids have been found, Nysa would be the first three-lobed asteroid. The images also revealed Nysa has a small moon, about a kilometer across, orbiting it at a distance of 170 kilometers. (7/31)

FAA Rule Changes on Aerospace Development Could Impact Louisiana Coast (Source: Nola.com)
The FAA is proposing sweeping rule changes that would allow aerospace companies seeking to launch rockets and build launch sites to bypass more than a dozen environmental protection laws — a change with potentially extraordinary consequences for south Louisiana. The proposed changes would waive 13 laws governing commercial rocket launch and reentry licenses, effectively doing away with protections under the National Environmental Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, as well as coastal and marine mammal protections.

An  Vermilion Parish known as Pecan Island is in play as a launch site for Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its Starship rockets, according to multiple sources. The unincorporated 18-mile stretch of coastal Vermilion Parish community, known as Pecan Island, is believed to be a potential location for the construction of a massive SpaceX spaceport. The community has a population of about 100 people along Louisiana Highway 82. (7/31)

Environmentalists Condemn ‘Obscene’ FAA Space Licensing Proposal (Source: Flying)
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), told FLYING in a statement that the White House “wants to gut even the most basic environmental safeguards to enrich some of the world’s wealthiest people.” SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, and has engaged in public spats with the FAA regarding its licensing process. "We’ve seen real environmental damage from the exploding rocket toys of the super-rich,” Hartl said. “You can be damn sure we’ll fight this obscene giveaway to special interests.”

The concerns with rising commercial space activity are more than environmental. The FAA in 2025 warned pilots to be vigilant to “catastrophic” spaceflight mishaps that could produce falling debris as activity increases. SpaceX has reportedly failed to alert the agency to mishaps—including Starship explosions that forced disruptions—in a timely fashion. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) has criticized the reporting mechanism as ineffective.

The DOT is required under 51 U.S.C. 50905(b)(2)(C) to consult with the head of the appropriate agency before waiving environmental requirements, which the FAA plans to do, per the NPRM. The Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and other laws proposed to be waived fall under Environmental Protection Agency oversight. However, NEPA is implemented by the Council on Environmental Quality within the Executive Office of the President, which has less independence from the White House. (7/30)

Spacecraft Will Swarm Asteroid Apophis During Fateful 2029 Earth Flyby (Source: Scientific American)
Apophis’s close approach in 2029 will still offer “a once-per-millennium natural experiment,” said MIT planetary scientist Richard Binzel. After years of uncertainty about how a near miss with a near-Earth asteroid actually plays out, major space agencies are now ready to watch, listen and learn with multiple missions to monitor the event. Three major missions are now set to get up close and personal with Apophis—one from NASA, another from ESA and a third from the Japan's JAXA. Coordinated with and complementing one another, the trio of missions will be an international relay at the asteroid—and they could be joined by a smaller, student-led Chinese CubeSat mission bound for Apophis as well. (7/30)

Hop Aero Wants to Deliver Cargo via Rocket (Source: Payload)
Shipping freight fast is a frustrating problem. Hop Aero wants to solve it using Rook–an autonomous suborbital rocket meant to launch and land cargo hundreds of kilometers away in minutes. The company launched on Y Combinator this week with a rendered video of a small launcher capable of flying a 15-minute delivery route between Okinawa and Taiwan. Rook is designed to launch from a standard 12-m shipping container, fly a suborbital arc, fly in at low hypersonic speeds, and land on unprepared surfaces, including in contested environments. Since Hop’s founding in 2024, the company has hot-fire-tested its engine and ignition system, and flown one piece of hardware: a tether test of a ~3 m prototype at Infinity One Oklahoma Spaceport, roughly two hours west of Oklahoma City. (7/30)

Europe Wants to Be a Strong Partner of the US in the Moon Race, ESA Astronaut Says (Source: Euro News)
Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will pilot the Artemis III mission, NASA's next step towards its first Moon landing in decades. He tells Euronews how he is preparing, his thoughts on the space race and what European aspects he’ll bring into orbit. “We as Europeans, we as Italians, we want to be strong partners of the United States in this race,” astronaut Luca Parmitano told Euronews, talking about the current frontier in space exploration: returning to the Moon. (7/30)

K2 Space Raises $500 Million for Commercial, Defense Satellite Expansion (Source: Space News)
K2 Space has raised $500 million in new funding, more than doubling its valuation in seven months as the satellite manufacturer prepares to move from orbital demonstrations to large commercial and military orders. The investment has valued the company at $6.8 billion, as the company prepares to ‌increase production of large, high-power satellites. (7/30)

China Builds 500+ Spy Satellites as US Space Lead Shrinks (Source: WION)
China’s ambitions in space are increasingly becoming a military concern for the United States. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says China's space capabilities have improved its ability to coordinate military operations while maintaining persistent surveillance of US forces. A CSIS-led report ranked Chinese commercial remote-sensing systems among the top ones. (7/30)

SpaceX Begins Recovery Of First Flown Starship V3 (Source: Aviation Week)
SpaceX is recovering the Starship Version 3 (V3) spacecraft that completed a 65-min. suborbital flight test on July 24, giving the company its first opportunity to analyze a flown Starship. “The ship’s landing was precise, meaning it would have been caught by the tower arms,” SpaceX's CEO said. The spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean and has remained afloat instead of sinking, as previous Starships had done. (7/30)

Space Force Eyes ‘Usable’ Airborne Target Tracking by ’28, More Capability to Follow (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force expects its nascent airborne moving target indicator program will have a “usable capability” in the next few years—but the official in charge of the program says there’s more work to be done beyond that to refine the sensing, data processing, and orchestration needed to deliver a global targeting capability from space.

The Space Force in April announced it had established an initial pool of vendors to compete for Space-Based AMTI contracts, and then in late May awarded SpaceX a $4.2 billion contract to begin building out the constellation, which will track aerial targets. The service plans to start launching those satellites over the next 18 months and have an initial capability on orbit by 2028. (7/30)

NASA Awards 2026 Innovative Technology Concepts (Source: NASA)
The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has created 18 new awards to support visionary ideas to improve aerospace technologies in areas ranging from the exploration of the solar system to understanding the universe. The 18 NIAC Phase I awards total $3.2 million. Each award provides up to $175,000 for a nine-month initial investigation. The NIAC projects are about early-stage concept development and are not considered official NASA missions. Included among the 18 is one from the University of Central Florida, for "PS21: Transforming Submillimeter Space Interferometry with Photonic Technologies." Click here. (7/29)

Florida Universities Aim to Develop Florida-Owned Space Station Research Module (Source: SPACErePORT)
Florida Space Research Consortium and Florida Space Institute Director Alain Berinstain, during a presentation in Melbourne on Thursday, revealed plans for Florida universities to have dedicated access to an orbiting laboratory module as part of a future space station. He envisions Florida-developed payloads and Florida university researchers as frequent users of the orbital lab. (7/30)

SpaceX Looks to Compete with the Carriers (Source: Semafor)
Elon Musk is coming for your cell phone network. SpaceX, which is trying to fill a hole in its airwaves crucial for a full-service wireless network, has been hunting for spectrum that works well in cities and dense areas, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is considering buying competitors to acquire the spectrum or competing at a government auction set for next year, the people said.

It is the most recent sign that Musk’s Starlink plans to compete directly with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Musk’s SpaceX has taken other steps into the conventional telecommunications business. President Gwynne Shotwell demonstrated a prototype mobile handset to some investors earlier this year. (7/29)

Vandenberg Leaders Outline Vision for 'Spaceport of the Future' (Source: KSBY)
As demand for commercial and national security launches continues to increase, leaders at Vandenberg Space Force Base say the installation must modernize its infrastructure to keep pace with the future of space operations. On Wednesday, Space Launch Delta 30 hosted its inaugural “Spaceport of the Future” Industry Day, bringing together government officials, contractors and private industry representatives to discuss a large-scale effort to transform Vandenberg into a higher-capacity spaceport. (7/29)

India's Gaganyaan Races to Meet Launch Target (Source: India Today)
India's ambitious Gaganyaan program, which aims to send Indian astronauts into space aboard an indigenous spacecraft, has entered its final phase, with most critical technologies now tested and validated for maiden uncrewed launch, the Centre informed during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament on July 29. Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Space Dr Jitendra Singh replied that the development and ground testing of the human-rated launch vehicle have been completed. (7/30)

NASA Sees South Korea as Key Partner in Building Moon Base (Source: UPI)
NASA is considering cooperation with South Korea in satellite communications, robotics and mobility as the U.S. space agency works to establish a permanently occupied base on the moon in the 2030s. Carlos García-Galán, manager of NASA's Moon Base program, said Wednesday that international cooperation would be essential to accomplishing the nearly impossible task of establishing a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. (7/29)

Seattle Tech Week Highlights How Unorthodox Routes Can Lead to Careers on the Space Frontier (Source: Geekwire)
The road to space isn’t always a straight line. Sometimes, the itinerary for a career in the space industry begins with years of experience in other tech fields. And sometimes, it starts at an espresso stand. “I actually started as a barista at SpaceX, and I somehow got recruited to go build Starlink satellites,” Kayla VanderPutten, a technical recruiter at Anduril Industries, said Monday at a downtown Seattle Tech Week session. “I don’t know why they let me do that, but I was there for the first 500 satellites before I transitioned into recruiting.”

Over the course of 25 years, Joydeep Hazra’s career path took him through a series of jobs in telecommunications and network engineering, including management positions at Nokia, Mavenir and TRIDENTX. Now he’s the manager of a federally funded program focusing on electric vehicles at South Seattle College — and he’s getting involved in aerospace as well. Last week, South Seattle College and the nonprofit Mars Society announced a partnership to build a space research station on campus, complete with a habitat that can be used for simulating missions on the moon or Mars.

The electric vehicle program could help students prepare for careers building Mars rovers, like the Chinese-built prototype rover that Hazra displayed during the Seattle Tech Week session. “When you’re building a lunar habitat, there are a lot more things to do than just going up and down in the rocket, and that’s where all of us count,” Hazra said. “Interoperability, frequencies, microgrids, plumbing, psychology, cooking — everything is going to be super-important, because without that, the lunar habitat would only have robots from China, and not our astronauts.” (7/29)

How Sentinel-1 Measured Movement of Venezuela Quakes (Source: ESA)
More than one month on from the catastrophic twin earthquakes in northern Venezuela on 24 June 2026, satellite data show the ground displacement was greater than first estimated. As a satellite passes overhead, it sends out radar pulses (radio waves travelling at the speed of light). These are directed towards the ground at a diagonal angle (rather than vertically), hitting the ground to the side of the satellite’s orbital path over Earth. The radar wave is reflected off the ground and the satellite measures the length of the returning wave.

This gives very accurate information on ground level, to within a millimetre, although ground covered by vegetation will give less accurate readings. The measurements taken on 24 and 25 June, compared with measurements on 18 June, show an upwards displacement of 65 cm around Caracas, La Guaira and Caraballeda, with some downwards displacement north of the Boconó fault line. (7/28)