July 4, 2026

Surface CubeSat Contracted for Ramses Asteroid Mission (Source: ESA)
The European Space Agency has contracted Spanish company EMXYS for the first CubeSat designed to operate on the surface of an asteroid. Don Quijote is a shoebox-sized spacecraft that will be deployed onto the Apophis asteroid by ESA’s Ramses mission before the asteroid flies by Earth on 13 April 2029. (7/2)

Isar Aerospace to Launch Satellite for Planet Germany (Source: European Spaceflight)
The German-based subsidiary of Planet Labs has selected Isar Aerospace to launch one of the company’s Pelican Earth observation satellites aboard a Spectrum rocket. The companies plan to complete the launch in less than 12 months. The strategic launch agreement includes provisions for additional satellites to be carried aboard future launches. (7/2)

Former Transport Canada Executive Elsa Henchiri Leads New NordSpace Ottawa Office (Source: SpaceQ)
NordSpace has expanded its footprint with a new Ottawa office dedicated to policy, regulatory compliance, and government relations. The office marks the company’s fourth domestic site as the space manufacturer works toward initiating orbital launches. To lead the Ottawa operation, NordSpace hired Elsa Henchiri as vice-president of policy and government relations. (7/2)

UNOOSA Calls for More Forward-Looking and People-Centered Space Policy at European Space Forum (Source: Tech Review Africa)
The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs has called for more forward-looking and people-centered space policymaking, emphasizing the need for global institutions to adapt to a rapidly evolving commercial and technological space environment. Director Aarti Holla-Maini delivered a keynote address alongside senior representatives from the European Commission and ESA, focusing on how the global space sector has transformed over the past five years. (7/4)

India's Skyroot Readies Maiden Vikram-1 Flight (Source: Space News)
Skyroot Aerospace Pvt announced that it was gearing up for the debut launch of Vikram-1 — India’s first privately designed and developed orbital rocket — between July 12 and August 4, in what would be a critical milestone for the country’s first space unicorn after facing several delays. “This will be partially commercial flight, with the company planning to commence full commercial flights after one or two successful demonstrations to orbit,” Skyroot said. The test flight will have a mix of domestic and international customers, it added, without disclosing names. (7/2)

Russia’s High-Stakes Bid to Chase SpaceX Stumbles Out of the Gate (Source: Bloomberg)
Russia’s efforts to create its own version of Starlink, Elon Musk’s internet satellite network, are off to a rough start. Some six years after SpaceX began launching its network — now comprising more than 10,000 units in low-Earth orbit — Russia’s first batch of 16 Rassvet (“Dawn”) satellites finally went to orbit in March. Then by June 9, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that one of them had already failed. (7/2)

Amazon’s Leo LEO Constellation Nears 400 Satellites After ULA Launch, Setting Up Initial Service Later This Year (Source: Space News)
Amazon says its Leo low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband network is now large enough for continuous service across initial latitudes, following a United Launch Alliance mission that pushed the orbiting satellite count over 390. Amazon plans to begin initial internet service later this year as it competes with SpaceX’s Starlink dominance. (7/2)

Starship in Florida Pushing for Launch This Year (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Starship launches from Cape Canaveral are getting closer and closer as SpaceX and its contractors continue to finish work on LC-39A and the Gigabay. There has also been significant progress at SLC-37A, the fourth Starship pad to be built. The Gigabay at Roberts Road began around March of 2025, when the foundation was laid. Since then, crews have made tons of progress. The structural steel is finished, with the cladding and roof nearly completed. So far, both smaller doors have been installed, with work proceeding on the two large doors where completed vehicles will roll out.

Since work on LC-39A resumed in February 2025, the pad is likely just a few months away from becoming operational. A major indication that the pad is nearing operational status is that ridge cap and bucket deluge testing has begun. So far, only a few tests have been observed, but it’s a good sign as SpaceX needs to hone in on the new setup compared to Pad 2. At LC-39A, SpaceX has added additional gas generators to each water deluge subsystem.

SpaceX’s second Starship launch complex, located at SLC-37, is progressing with construction. So far at SLC-37A, the LR13000 crane has stacked four out of nine modules for that tower. Each module for this tower was outfitted with more hardware before stacking than the other three towers SpaceX has stacked so far, thanks to the awesome power of the LR13000 crawler crane. Also, the flame trench for this pad has been fully excavated, and rebar installation for the 3 sections of the trench floor is underway. (7/3)

Chinese Satellite Maker Raises $191M (Source: NatSec Pulse)
Hongqing Technology, a Chinese satellite manufacturer, has secured $191 million in funding, one of the largest raises for a Chinese commercial satellite maker. The company is an affiliate of launch firm Landspace. This funding round could enhance China's satellite manufacturing capabilities, potentially impacting the global space industry and national security. The investment may also accelerate the development of new space technologies. (7/3)

Nature's Mars Simulator Scores Your Terraforming Skills (Source: Boing Boing)
The journal Nature has posted a simplified but surprisingly entertaining and informative Mars terraforming simulation. For each of the five steps in the process: heat the planet, make a water plan, clean the dirt, start to farm, and make an atmosphere safe for people, you select an option from a list of choices. Each step is scored, and links are provided to further reading about your choice.

For a more complex take on making the red planet habitable, try the Terraforming Mars board game, but be sure to set aside a few hours. The game takes a while to learn and two to three hours to play, but it is considered one of the best modern tabletop games. It is also available as a well-implemented video game on Steam. (7/1)

Report Links Starliner Problems to Overconfidence and Unrealistic Schedules (Source: Space News)
A new report links the long-running technical problems with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle to a combination of overconfidence, unrealistic schedules and NASA’s lack of insight into the vehicle. The report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General adds to the uncertainty about when Starliner will be approved for crewed missions to the International Space Station despite optimism from Boeing’s chief executive. (7/1)

Webb Studies How a Planet Survived the Death of its Star (Source: ESA)
An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to watch the Jupiter-sized exoplanet WD 1856 b transit its host star, measuring the planet’s mass and temperature and even detecting its atmosphere. They found that the planet is significantly warmer than expected and determined how it most likely reached its very tight orbit around the star, a white dwarf. The results are our first window into the future of planets like Jupiter after the death of the Sun, billions of years into the future. (7/1)

NASA's Kennedy Space Center to Host U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds in November (Source: Florida Today)
In a newly announced show, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will take to the sky Nov. 7-8 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Florida's Space Coast. The November appearance at KSC was included in a revised season schedule posted last week on the Thunderbirds' Facebook and Instagram pages. The show has yet to be added to the Thunderbirds' website. (7/2)

In a First For Science, a Satellite Has Identified What It's Seeing From Space (Source: Science Alert)
The standard approach to satellite imagery is to snap huge batches of pictures and beam them back to Earth, where they can be sifted through by human operators and the best available algorithms. It's all worked well so far, but the time, transmission bandwidth, and energy required are starting to become bottlenecks. Modern satellites are simply capturing more pixels than scientists have time to look at.

However, the YAM-9 satellite has just done something different: It has identified and described features in its image scans without needing to check back with ground control. Not only that, but it can be instructed with natural prompts that you might use with Google Gemini or Siri, such as "find me all the railway hubs in this country". (7/1)

FCC Moves to Speed Up Approvals for Next-Gen Satellite Broadband Launches (Source: PC Mag)
It used to take a year or longer for new satellite systems to secure FCC approval to launch into space. But a new proposal aims to shorten the wait to as little as weeks or months to help the US unleash more next-gen satellite services. The FCC today announced that it will vote on a new Space Modernization Order at its July 22 meeting. It's intended to speed up satellite licensing approvals, “significantly reducing red tape and boosting the rollout of space-based broadband.”

The new rules are the culmination of the agency's push to fast-track satellite approvals by eliminating outdated rules and adopting a “licensing assembly line” approach to make the process more predictable and easier for companies to navigate. (7/1)

NASA’s Newest Wind Tunnel Builds on Legacy of Innovation (Source: NASA)
For more than 100 years, wind tunnels at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, have helped shape the future of flight. Now, two of NASA’s longest-serving facilities — the 12-Foot Low-Speed Tunnel and the 20-Foot Vertical Spin Tunnel — will pass the torch to the Flight Dynamics Research Facility (FDRF), the first major NASA wind tunnel built in more than 40 years. 

When the FDRF opens later this year, it will provide enhanced versions of the capabilities offered by the two legacy facilities. The FDRF’s test section will allow researchers to drop models into a rising vertical airflow. This will offer researchers the ability to conduct spin tests of aircraft and free-flight tests of vehicles designed to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere from space. (6/29)

DeSantis Signs $117.6 Billion Florida Budget, Vetoes Millions in Central Florida Projects (Sources: Click Orlando, SPACErePORT)
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed Florida’s fiscal year 2026-27 budget into law, approving a $117.6 billion spending plan that he says continues the state’s trend of reducing overall spending. The governor vetoed more than $800 million from the final budget, cutting several projects across Central Florida. In Brevard County, vetoes included $2.5 million for the Brevard Zoo Indian River Lagoon Innovative Wastewater System and Education Hub, along with $400,000 for a replacement facility for the Melbourne Fire Department Training Center.

Space-focused spending includes $17.5 million for Space Florida, $21 million for strategic aerospace project investments and economic development initiatives intended to attract and expand launch, manufacturing, and space technology companies in Florida. $1 million was earmarked for an Off-World Data Backup Program, directing Space Florida to contract with a Florida-based aerospace company to provide active orbital data storage services designed to bolster state disaster recovery and cybersecurity resilience. Editor's Note: I'm guessing that's for Chris Stott's Lonestar Space data storage company, based in St. Petersburg. Or their partner Sidus Space. (6/30)

LINK Spacecraft Launched on Pegasus to Rescue Swift Observatory (Source: Douglas Messier)
Teams have successfully established communications with Katalyst Space’s robotic servicing spacecraft LINK, which is designed to raise the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher altitude. Making contact with LINK was the spacecraft’s first in-orbit operation, after launch and separation Friday from Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket and power-on. Over the next several weeks, Katalyst will perform checkout procedures for LINK, including assessments of its propulsion, sensor, and navigation systems. (7/3)

Amazon Leo Ready For Initial Service After Final Atlas V Deployment (Source: Aviation Week)
Amazon says it is ready to commence initial service with its low-Earth-orbit broadband offering following the deployment of 29 satellites on an Atlas V rocket. The Atlas V lifted off at 12:30 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral SFS in what was the rocket's final mission for Amazon. It deployed 29 satellites, growing the Amazon Leo constellation to more than 390 satellites. (7/1)

Space Force’s Proposed Budget Increase Would Largely Go to Existing Programs (Source: Aerospace America)
The majority of the increased funding the Pentagon is requesting for the U.S. Space Force for fiscal year 2027 would be directed “into existing programs,” according to Melissa Blakesly, an Air Force official working on the budget process. The Pentagon has requested $71.1 billion for the Space Force for fiscal 2027, up from the $31.6 billion the service received in fiscal 2026. The request includes “about $40 billion for RDT&E and $19 billion for procurement,” Blakesly said. (7/1)

AST SpaceMobile Finalizes Assembly of Next-Generation BlueBirds for August SpaceX Launch (Source: SatNews)
Direct-to-device (D2D) satellite operator AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has officially entered final flight preparations and logistics processing for its next major orbital campaign. According to an updated programmatic roadmap released by corporate leadership, the company’s next three next-generation satellites—BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13—are scheduled for an orbital rideshare deployment during the first half of August 2026. (7/1)

Polish Space Tech Company Sybilla Technologies Secures Funds to Enter U.S. Market (Source: Space News)
The Polish state-owned bank BGK and European venture capital firm 3TS Capital Partners have unveiled an investment of around 35 million zloty ($10 million) in Poland’s space tech company Sybilla Technologies. The funding is aimed at enabling the company’s entry into the U.S. market. (7/2)

FAA Issues 10-Year Forecast for Licensed Commercial Space Operations (Source: FAA)
In its new 10-year forecast for licensed commercial space operations, the FAA is predicting nearly 4,300 launches and reentries under the high-case scenario between FY 2026 and FY 2036. Operations would steadily increase annually from more than 200 to more than 500 per year.  The projected growth reflects anticipated demand for satellite deployment, crew and cargo transportation, in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing, development of lunar outposts, space tourism, and Mars settlement efforts.

The forecast is based on data provided by existing licensed operators, and to the extent possible, planned activity of prospective license applicants. It also accounts for potential changes in the number of launch operators and the increased use of reusable and larger launch vehicles with greater payload capacities. Click here. (7/2)

Perovskite Solar Panel Startup Verde Technologies Shifts Focus to Space (Source: Space News)
Verde Technologies is turning to space to commercialize perovskite-based solar panels, shifting its initial focus away from rooftops in a bet that the thin-film material can help power orbital data centers and other large constellations. (7/2)

SpaceX Analyst Debut Set to Test $2.2 Trillion Valuation (Source: Bloomberg)
Investors in SpaceX have been largely flying blind since the company’s record-breaking IPO last month, with few financial projections to help determine what the stock is actually worth. That changes next week, when the quiet period ends for analysts at banks that underwrote the $86 billion initial public offering, which was led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with 18 other banks participating.

Starting Tuesday, investors should expect a pile of new research, price targets and growth estimates, all of which should help shed light on where the shares are likely headed in the near term and over the next few years. (7/2)

Private Space Pilots are Flying Orbital Missions for the US Space Force (Source: Tech Crunch)
True Anomaly and Rocket Lab, completed a rendezvous mission for the U.S. Space Force last week so complex, it was like something out of “Top Gun.” Their two rival satellites met up in orbit, close enough for one to capture imagery of the other. The exercise, dubbed Victus Haze, demonstrated the close inspection of a space vehicle soon after it arrived in orbit, a necessity in a world where the U.S., Russia, and China are deploying novel space weapons. (7/2)

China has 400 Private Space Companies. The West is Barely Paying Attention (Source: MSN)
China’s private space industry barely existed a decade ago. Today, more than 400 commercial space companies are operating in the country, developing reusable rockets, satellite constellations, space-tourism ventures, and even asteroid-mining projects. While most Western attention remains focused on SpaceX and Elon Musk, a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs is quietly transforming China’s role in the global space economy.

This development is often overlooked because many Western observers continue to see China’s space program as a purely state-run enterprise. That perception is increasingly outdated. While state-owned organizations remain powerful, private companies have become an important driver of innovation and competition. Until 2014, virtually all space activity in China was conducted by government organizations and state-owned enterprises. Then a series of reforms opened the door to private investment. One of the most important catalysts for this change was the rise of SpaceX. (7/3)