August 1, 2026

Space Shuttle Astronaut Adds Missing Signature to Dollar Bill Signed by Fellow Crew in Florida (Source: WESH)
Plenty of dollar bills pass through the register at Burger Rob's in Titusville, but one bill caught the attention of the co-owners about a year ago. It was covered in signatures. "The next day he was counting it and happened to see it and he's like, 'Hey, there's more signatures on here,' and he's like looking at them and he's, like, Googling them, and all of a sudden it's like, 'This is astronauts' signatures,'" said Shelby Buffaloe, co-owner of Burger Rob's.

The signatures belonged to the astronauts from the 1988 STS-27 mission, but one was missing: Guy Gardner. "Literally last night he reached out and said, 'Hey, I'm going to be at Kennedy Space Center. I would love to come by and complete your mission of getting this dollar bill done,'" said Rob Buffaloe, co-owner of Burger Rob's. (7/30)

Space Force Picks 15 Companies for $981 Million Training Range Contract (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force selected 15 companies to compete for as much as $981 million in orders to build satellites, sensors and other systems intended to make military space training more realistic. The six-year contracting vehicle, known as NITE-STAR, will support development of the National Space Test and Training Complex, a network of physical ranges and simulated environments where operators can practice responding to threats against U.S. satellites.

The $981 million represents the maximum value of task orders that can be issued across all 15 companies through July 2032, rather than an immediate award. The contract has a five-year base period and a one-year option, Space Systems Command said in a July 30 announcement. The selected vendors are Amentum, BAE Systems, Boeing, CACI, Firefly Aerospace, L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman, Pacific Crest Alliance, Parsons Government Services, Redwire, Rocket Lab, Sierra Space, Viasat and York Space Systems. (7/31)

Massive US Tungsten Discovery Could Run Into NASA Roadblock (Source: Traders Union)
A potential new domestic source of tungsten is emerging in Nevada as the U.S. looks to reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled supplies of the strategic metal. The find could reshape the country's critical minerals pipeline, but a federal land restriction tied to NASA operations is limiting access to part of the project area.

 The development dispute centers on a 17-square-mile area that is subject to a 20-year federal prohibition on mining and exploration imposed in 2023 by the Bureau of Land Management at NASA's request. NASA says roughly a third of the company's claim covers a unique zone used to calibrate satellite instruments and track signals sent back to Earth, and that mining would threaten those operations. (7/31)

US Relearning How to Produce Plutonium for Space Missions (Source: Space Daily)
Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Ulysses, Cassini and New Horizons all depended on the heat released by this isotope. Yet plutonium-238 is not something a mining company can extract from the ground. It has to be manufactured in reactors, chemically separated, turned into a ceramic and sealed into heat-source modules through a chain of specialized facilities. When the United States stopped making it in 1988, that chain disappeared.

NASA and the Department of Energy spent the following years drawing down inherited stock and buying additional material from Russia. Then, in December 2015, Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced that it had produced 50 grams. Fifty grams sounds almost absurdly small beside a planet-sized mission. It was. But the point was not the quantity. The point was that, after nearly three decades, the United States had remembered how to make it. (7/29)

Iran is Plinking Amazon Data Centers Like Tin Cans on a Fence (Source: Futurism)
There’s data center activism, fought with Facebook groups and petitions, and then there’s data center annihilation, fought with guided missile and suicide drones. Recently, the Iranian military announced it had hit and damaged two Amazon data centers in the island country of Bahrain with a volley of cruise missiles. (7/31)

Planet Agrees to Restrict Wartime Access to Some Imagery (Source: The Independent)
A San Francisco-based satellite company says it temporarily restricted access to its widely used images during the Iran war, at the request of the Trump administration. Planet has limited access because the government expressed concerns about the “potential misuse” of its ultra-high-definition images. Planet is “temporarily reinstating a delay on publishing of images” over Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan as the Iran war has ratcheted back up. (7/30)

AI in Orbit is a Double-Edged Sword (Source: Space News)
Stability in space requires global communication, trust and flexibility. And while artificial intelligence can be a useful cost-saving or coordination tool, especially for countries with smaller space budgets, it also poses a significant threat as technology outpaces regulations and militaries ramp up operations in orbit, argues Lt. Col. Mihail Istvanovics Várdai, head of the Hungarian Ministry of Defense.

He offers two main recommendations for making sure AI use doesn't jeopardize space security. One is to keep international frameworks and agreements flexible, so that treaties don't lock nations into certain rules based on an outdated understanding of technology that's being advanced at a rapid pace. And the second is to ensure that responsibility for the actions of autonomous weaponry stays squarely on the shoulders of those building and deploying the technology, so that errors and misuse aren't shrugged off as the AI system's fault. (7/31)

Campaigning for Governor, Byron Donalds Pitches Florida-Based NASA Headquarters (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican front-runner for governor, unveiled his plans for the state’s space industry Friday, pledging that if elected he would fast-track permitting for aerospace projects, expand training in space-related trades and lobby the federal government to move NASA’s headquarters to Florida.

Donalds, 47, of Naples, has led the GOP primary field by double digits since entering the race in early 2025 with President Donald Trump’s endorsement. The primary is Aug. 18. He rolled out his plan at the University of Central Florida after a tour of its Florida Space Institute lab, which is developing simulated lunar soil. Donalds said his plan would create high-wage jobs, which in turn would help make the state more affordable and address “the number one issue impacting Florida today.” (7/31)

NASA, SpaceX Advance Wind Tunnel Tests for Starship Rocket (Source: NASA)
NASA and its industry partners are preparing for next year’s Artemis III demonstration mission by completing new wind tunnel tests on SpaceX’s Super Heavy Version 3 rocket booster. The tests, conducted at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, focused on better understanding the extreme aerodynamic forces the rocket can experience during re-entry. The recent test series builds on previous testing completed at NASA Ames in 2024.

NASA is working with SpaceX to develop the company’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) to safely carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back. The upgraded Super Heavy rocket booster is part of SpaceX’s Starship launch system. Version 3 of Starship and Super Heavy is expected to be the basis for the Starship HLS for Artemis III in 2027 and a later crewed lunar landing in 2028. (7/31)

Musk Updates the SpaceX Timeline for Mars (Source: Teslarati)
Musk has said several times he hopes to die on Mars, and not by impact. Musk now believes that people will be on Mars in “roughly 5 to 7 years.” He said that a Mars lander will get there “a few years sooner.” The response from Musk comes after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX’s biggest priority is the Moon and not Mars. Because of this, Isaacman conceded that he believes nuclear power and propulsion investments will provide “potentially the pathway with the fewest miracles required to put four people on Mars in the next 10 to 15 years.”

Of course, this is what NASA can do through taxpayer funding and nuclear investments, he added. Musk’s grand ambitions are much more optimistic than most, and it is certainly a double-edged sword. This is not the first time timelines for Mars have been somewhat lofty, especially to those normal thinkers like you and me, not super geniuses like Musk.

The range has varied, and it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll get there. This latest adjustment to the timeline is typical of Musk, and while the Moon has seemingly taken priority over Mars, it is still worth mentioning that the ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary, and it starts potentially with the Red Planet. (7/29)

Spacewalk Preps Top Station Schedule (Source: NASA)
Expedition 75 is gearing up for a busy August with three spacewalks planned at the International Space Station. The orbital residents are also printing living cells and tissues and studying how to increase the effectiveness of exercising in space. Mission managers discussed a series of spacewalks and their associated tasks during a news conference on Thursday. NASA flight engineers Jessica Meir and Anil Menon will conduct the first spacewalk on August 6 for solar array work. NASA will soon announce the astronauts who will participate in the spacewalks scheduled on Aug. 13 and 25 for communications and electronics maintenance. All three spacewalks will be broadcast live on NASA+ and a variety of platforms. (7/30)

Aerospace Industry Boom Brings New Career Training to South Florida High Schools (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Florida’s space industry push isn’t just at Cape Canaveral anymore. As the sector grows, the promise of lucrative careers — the median aerospace engineer in Florida earns $134,830 a year — is driving a new push to get South Florida high schoolers into the industry before they even graduate. More space and aerospace companies are setting up shop in South Florida, and the state’s aerospace agency, along with local school districts, is trying to make sure the workforce is ready to meet the demand.

In the upcoming school year, 951 students across nine Broward County high schools will be the first in the new Space Florida Academy, a partnership between Space Florida — the state agency tasked with growing Florida’s aerospace and space industry — and Broward County Public Schools. The nine participating high schools already have aerospace and engineering programs in place. What the academy adds is more industry experience, the chance for students to test for an industry certificate, and access to a job portal called Orbit, which companies in these fields use to hire graduates. (7/23)

Delivering Launch at the Speed of Need (Source: SFA)
Earlier this year, a finished GPS satellite was sitting in Florida ready to fly. The rocket assigned to it needed more time. The warfighters waiting on that satellite could not. So System Delta 80 moved it. Different rocket. Full recertification. On orbit in about six weeks. What normally takes two years happened in a month and a half, and it was the fourth time the team had pulled off something like it. Click here. (7/31)

Blue Origin Continues Rebuilding LC-36, Prepares Testing Alternatives for New Glenn Second Stage (Source: NSF)
Two months after losing a New Glenn rocket on the pad, Blue Origin is racing to return the vehicle to flight before 2026 ends. The company is rebuilding its Florida launch site around an entirely new concept of operations, and CEO Dave Limp is posting construction updates regularly as the clock ticks toward a self-imposed end-of-2026 return-to-flight.

Limp announced Monday that crews had finished destacking the Vehicle Access Tower at Launch Complex 36, explaining that the top six modules were removed so teams can begin integrating fluids and controls as part of the new concept of operations, including cryogenic systems, pneumatics, and mechanisms. Before restacking the tower begins, access floors will be added, giving technicians platforms to work from during the fluids and controls integration phase of the project. Limp said new doors are going up on the Integration Facility. Six panels on the building’s north side, each 27 m tall and massing about 18,143 kg, will combine for a door opening roughly 60 m wide once installed.

Under the new plan, first and second stages will continue to be mated horizontally inside the integration facility. The combined stack then moves to the pad on a simplified transporter, where a conventional crane lifts it into vertical position and lowers it onto the launch mount, a maneuver Blue Origin has described as the reverse of the operation it already uses to offload boosters from its recovery ship, Jacklyn, after landing. Because the old transporter erector carried the launch mount’s umbilical connections, the rebuild also calls for a new launch mount mounted to the repaired tower. (7/31)

Spain Offers €1 billion to Move Thirty Meter Telescope From Hawaii to La Palma (Source: European Spaceflight)
Spain has offered a package worth up to €1 billion to support the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Spanish site is currently the project’s designated alternative, with Mauna Kea in Hawaii remaining the preferred location.

Announced on 29 July, the package includes a €400 million contribution from Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology and Innovation (CDTI), matching an initial offer made by the government in July 2025. That proposed contribution will now be supplemented by a €300 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). (7/31)

Lessons From the Ukraine-Russia War (Source: Space News)
What have the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East taught us about the role of space in modern warfare? The central lesson is clear: Space has become even more consequential to the U.S., its allies and its adversaries. To operate effectively in this increasingly contested environment, the U.S. and its allies must strengthen coordination with the commercial space sector, protect their space systems and the data they provide and develop the means to deny adversaries the effective use of space.

Russia's objective was clear: to blind Ukrainian forces, disrupt their ability to coordinate military operations and prevent them from mounting an effective defense. Yet Russia failed to achieve that objective. A major reason was Starlink. The Ukrainian government and armed forces were able to preserve essential communications, coordinate military operations, and maintain command and control even as Russia attacked Ukraine’s conventional telecommunications networks. Ukraine’s early access to Starlink should therefore be regarded as one of the most consequential uses of commercial space capabilities in modern warfare. (7/31)