August 14, 2026

Challenges for Artemis and NASA Nuclear Ambitions (Source: Aerospace America)
As NASA maps out missions to test nuclear power and propulsion, cost will among the key hurdles. A multi-company team led by Zeno Power in 2023 received a $15 million award from NASA to develop a radioactive generator that can be integrated into lunar landers. The generator is to use the isotope americium-241 instead of plutonium 238, which is in short supply.

“We do not believe that plutonium 238 is going to be made available in sufficient quantities for the number of commercial generators we would need to support Moon Base,” Vince Bilardo said. Americium is expensive and there’s “work that needs to be done across government, NASA, [the Dept of Energy] and commercial industry to try to drive the price down for that material if we’re going to be able to use it in a sustainable fashion on the lunar surface.”

Additionally, he said there is currently no way to insure or indemnify a private commercial mission carrying radioactive material. The White House wants to see initial tests of in-space nuclear power and propulsion in the next two years. Editor's Note: Another long-lead-time bottleneck is the need for nuclear-ready processing facilities at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (8/13)

Rocket Lab Enters Europe’s Crowded Launch Market (Source: Payload)
European launch companies are in for a surprise next month when they get back from holiday. While they were out, Rocket Lab moved into their turf with the establishment of a new German subsidiary—Rocket Lab Germany GmbH—which is “intended to not only enable scaled domestic production of satellites and their critical components, but also [deliver] launch services on Electron and Neutron.” (8/14)

ISRO Tests Upgraded SSLV Solid Rocket Motor (Source: India Today)
The Indian space agency ISRO successfully tested an upgraded motor for its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). The upgraded solid-fuel motor for the SSLV's first stage completed a static fire this week, ISRO reported. The motor is designed to increase the payload capacity of the SSLV, currently about 500 kilograms, by 100 kilograms. SSLV has only flown a few times amid a push to commercialize the vehicle and its new launch site. (8/14)

UK Suborbital Launcher Gravitlab Aerospace Closes (Source: European Spaceflight)
A British sounding rocket startup has gone out of business. Gravitilab Aerospace Services entered liquidation earlier this month according to financial filings, reporting debts of more than £700,000 ($950,000) but assets of less than £100,000. The company had been working on a sounding rocket using a hybrid engine designed to carry payloads of up to 20 kilograms to an altitude of 170 kilometers. Gravitilab reportedly had lined up a £25 million investment in 2023, but the funding fell through. (8/14)

Blue Origin Files with FCC for Next New Glenn Launch (Source: BlueWire)
Blue Origin filed an Application for Special Temporary Authority (STA) with the FCC for a frequency authorization in support of launch plans for the next New Glenn mission at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The window for this mission is between November 1 2026 and May 1 2026. STAs are not the same as FAA or Eastern Range launch commitments and are subject to revision. (8/10)

Cesium Astro to Buy Jariet Technologies (Source: Space News)
Cesium Astro is buying a semiconductor company to aid its plans for a future satellite constellation. The company announced this week it is acquiring Jariet Technologies, which designs radio-frequency chips used in satellite communications, electronic warfare and radar systems, including technology for digital beamforming and wideband signal processing. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition. The company said the acquisition is a "big part" of enabling a proposed satellite constellation called Synchronicity. Cesium Astro filed plans with the FCC last month for 737 satellites that would use Ku-, Ka- and V-band spectrum to provide reconfigurable connectivity for fixed and mobile enterprise and government users. (8/14)

Intuitive Machines Wins $600 Million for Three GEO Comsats (Source: Space News)
Intuitive Machines won a $600 million contract to build three commercial GEO communications satellites. The company disclosed the contract Thursday in an earnings call, declining to name the customer. The contract was signed in June and will run for 30 months. Company executives declined to say if the order was linked to plans by satellite operators Eutelsat, SES and Telesat to clear C-band satellite spectrum for terrestrial uses. SES said in June it was in active negotiations for seven replacement satellites. (8/14)

Space Force Awards $60 Million for Mixed-Fleet Satellite Network (Source: Space News)
The Space Force awarded $60 million to five companies to demonstrate how satellites from multiple vendors can connect to its Space Data Network. Amazon LEO for Government, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab and York Space Systems each received $12 million in contracts and prototype agreements, Space Systems Command announced Thursday. The work will test connections between commercial satellite systems and the Space Data Network, a military communications architecture whose core backbone is being supplied by SpaceX. SpaceX won a $2.29 billion contract in May to build the Space Data Network Backbone, or SDN-B, a proliferated constellation using optical crosslinks to route data from satellite to satellite. The latest awards address how systems supplied by other companies will connect to that backbone to reduce the Space Force's reliance on a single company. (8/14)

Bulgaria Developing Space/Defense Innovation Hub (Source: Space News)
The Bulgarian government has advanced plans to develop a space and defense innovation hub in the country. The government signed a draft memorandum of understanding with local company Starbase Europe to develop the hub at Dobroslavtsi Air Base near the capital of Sofia. The hub is intended to help bring together a growing but fragmented space industry in the country. Bulgaria does not have a national space agency but the government said this month it would create a National Center for Observation, Coordination and Management through Space Data. (8/14)

Space Command Expands Alabama Footprint as Headquarters Relocation Advances (Source: Space News)
Five years after a bruising political fight over where U.S. Space Command headquarters should be located, the debate is giving way to bulldozers, construction contracts and the practical challenges of moving one of the U.S. military’s most complex commands. At Redstone Arsenal, where a 64-acre site has been cleared for U.S. Space Command’s future headquarters, Gen. Stephen Whiting now works from a temporary office roughly once every six weeks as he divides his time between Alabama and Colorado Springs, where the command continues to operate.

The arrangement will continue for years. If the current schedule holds, roughly half of the headquarters staff will be based in Huntsville by 2028, with the permanent facility completed in 2031 and the full workforce of about 1,800 personnel moving into the building the following year. (8/13)

Poland May Cut Off Ukraine's Starlink Access Amid Dispute with Musk (Source: RBC)
Poland threatened to review its annual spending on Starlink after the company changed roaming rules for Polish users. Warsaw is demanding that SpaceX explain the reasons behind the new restrictions. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Warsaw could reconsider its payments for Starlink services, on which it spends about $50 million annually. (8/12)

New Command Center Unveiled in Quebec As Canadian-Made Satellite Prepares To Launch (Source: CTV)
An office in a Montreal suburb building is set to command a made-in-Canada space mission. MDA Space unveiled a control centre in St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que., that will issue orders to Chorus, a next-generation Earth-observation satellite system set to be launched in December. “As soon as the satellites separate from the rocket, that’s it. After that we take control and everything is happening here,” said Philippe Rolland, MDA Space principal director of operations for Earth-observation satellites. (8/11)

Wallops Industry Day Highlights NASA’s Growing Economic Impact On Eastern Shore (Source: WMDT)
The Maryland Economic Development Corp. hosted the third annual Wallops Industry Day at Salisbury University, bringing together companies including Firefly Aerospace, Rocket Lab and Northrop Grumman, along with representatives from Salisbury University, Wor-Wic Community College and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. David Pierce, director of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, said building connections with the community is an important part of Wallops’ mission.

“NASA Wallops is now becoming part of the Kennedy Space Center. With that, we are going to increase the number of launches from Wallops as we go back to the moon to stay,” Pierce said. “This is going to require us developing that next generation of scientists and engineers who are going to come and work at Wallops.” Pierce said the agency is focused on working with academic and corporate partners to build the next generation of the aerospace workforce.

“It’s an exciting future for us as we work with our partners and academia and our corporate partners and launch to build that next generation of workforce, which is what we need, and we want to attract them here,” he said. Keeping workers and businesses on the Eastern Shore was another focus of the event. Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano said partnerships with NASA could help create more opportunities and keep people working in the region. (8/12)

Moon Base Invite a Golden Ticket for ISRO, Startups (Source: Baltimore Sun)
NASA has officially invited the Indian Space Research Organisation to participate in the ambitious Moon Base Mission, which aims to set up a permanent manned station near the lunar south pole sometime after 2032. Also known as the Artemis Base Camp, it will be humanity’s first lunar outpost. It is planned to be built in phases, beginning with robotic missions to test new technologies, followed by building systems and infrastructure required to sustain long-term human presence on the moon. (8/12)

Northrop Grumman to Repurpose Canceled HALO Lunar-Station Technology for Artemis Moon Base (Source: Space.com)
Northrop Grumman plans to adapt technology developed for HALO, the habitation and logistics module originally intended for NASA’s canceled lunar space station, to support development of the Artemis moon base. The move preserves existing hardware and design work within NASA’s evolving lunar architecture. (8/13)

Stoke Space Seeks $1 Billion to Accelerate Development and Production of Fully Reusable Nova Rocket (Source: Bloomberg)
Stoke Space is raising $1 billion to accelerate development and production of a fully reusable rocket to challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX, people familiar with the matter said. The closely held startup is raising money at a valuation of around $9 billion, excluding the new funds, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Stoke aims to close the round this month, the people said. (8/13)

Space Command Elevates Anti-Satellite Weapons as a Top Priority (Source: War Zone)
The head of U.S. Space Command says American space assets must be able to “shoot, move, and communicate” alongside the broader joint force, signaling a heightened emphasis on offensive and survivable capabilities in military space operations. (8/13)

Maritime Satellite Service Revenues Forecast to Reach $3.79 Billion by 2035 (Source: Space News)
The maritime satellite communications market is entering a new growth phase, with service revenues forecast to reach $3.79 billion by 2035. Next-generation non-geostationary satellite networks are expected to reshape how vessels and maritime operators access connectivity at sea. (8/13)

Firefly Aerospace Forecasts $435 Million in 2026 Revenue (Source: Space Intel Report)
Firefly Aerospace expects $435 million in revenue in 2026, with rocket launches accounting for roughly 10% of the total. The company, whose business is heavily weighted toward satellite systems for U.S. civil and government customers, plans two more Alpha launches this year and has five lunar missions in development. (8/13)

U.S. Expands Missile Production as Army Seeks More Depth in its Arsenal (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon is pressing defense contractors to increase production of missile interceptors as recent conflicts expose a longstanding weakness in U.S. air and missile defense: inventories of the most capable weapons can be depleted faster than industry can replace them. Army leaders say increasing production is only part of the answer. “The future of missile defense is a mix of high end and lower cost interceptors,” said Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. (8/13)

Musk Says AI Will Be SpaceX's Biggest Business by September (Source: Benzinga)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says artificial intelligence will overtake everything else the company sells as soon as next month. In an all-hands meeting, Musk said AI revenue “will exceed all other SpaceX revenue probably in September, like next month,” and will “significantly exceed” the rest of the business in the fourth quarter. (8/12)

Taxpayers Funded a $533 Aerospace/Defense Plant That Made Nothing (Source: Pro Publica)
In a rushed process exempted from normal rules, the Army hired General Dynamics, which brought on a Turkish subcontractor with little vetting, to make artillery shells. Despite being paid $533 million, General Dynamics did not produce a single usable shell at its new factory — and has not been held publicly accountable. Since the Army halted two production lines at the factory, the General Dynamics unit responsible for the debacle has received contract awards totaling $2.5 billion. (8/12)

African Lunar Probes Readied for 2029 Mission (Source: Africa2Moon)
Africa is preparing to make space history. In 2029, the continent is expected to send its first lunar mission using three spherical lunar probes. The mission is being developed by South Africa's space company, CubeSpace. Instead of one large spacecraft, the mission will deploy three compact spherical probes designed to explore different parts of the Moon and collect valuable scientific data.

These probes could study the Moon's surface, measure radiation, test new technologies, and demonstrate how small, low-cost spacecraft can perform complex deep-space missions.
If successful, this won't just be a victory for South Africa—it will represent a huge step forward for the entire African continent, inspiring a new generation of scientists, engineers, and future astronauts. (8/9)

Black Hole Star (Source: 1440)
Scientists say they have identified a new type of cosmic object, a supermassive black hole surrounded by a dense gas cloud, resembling a star. The so-called “black hole star” could explain similar objects, red dots that have until now remained unidentified. See illustration; scroll for image.

While searching for the oldest possible galaxies, researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope noticed an extremely bright red spot—the reddest hue it has ever documented. They say the object—named “MoM-BH*-1”—formed about 660 million years after the Big Bang. They posited that a powerful star surrounded by a dense cloud of hydrogen could explain the red hue, among other phenomena. However, it was only when researchers incorporated a black hole into their simulation that it explained the object’s brightness, radiating 100 billion times the energy of a star. (8/13)

Blue Origin Begins Global Rollout of Quartz Ground Station Network (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin's first three Quartz ground stations are installed and successfully tested in Bermuda, New Zealand, and Australia, as part of a phased global rollout extending across nine sites by the end of the year. Quartz is Blue Origin's ground communications network, purpose-built to address the fragmented infrastructure, limited contact window availability, and opaque pricing models that have long constrained space operators across every mission type. (8/13)

Space Command to Test Advanced Maneuvers in Live Exercise (Source: Air & Space Forces)
US Space Command is planning a live-fly exercise to test dynamic operations in orbit. The exercise, part of the Apollo Maneuvers series, will involve operational demonstrations with military satellites and a tabletop exercise, and aims to develop tactics for maneuver warfare in space, ensuring the US maintains a strategic advantage. (8/12)

Pentagon Wants to Spend Millions on Palantir with Few Details (Source: FNN)
The Pentagon wants to steer hundreds of millions of dollars to Palantir — with the prospect of more in the coming years — without specifying how the money will be used, according to a draft DoD memo. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg on Aug. 4 instructed the Pentagon’s acquisition boss and comptroller to spend up to $244 million on Palantir’s services until the end of March 2027. The memo also tells the armed forces to find ways to fund the data analytics giant’s work as needed from April 2027 to December 2028. (8/12)

SBA Transforms 8(a) Program to be Race Neutral, Weakening It (Source: FNN)
The Small Business Administration finalized new rules for the 8(a) business development program in record time. In 60 days, SBA went from proposal to reviewing more than 100 comments to final regulation that will transform the 73-year-old program. The fast timeline is one of several concerns experts have about the new 8(a) regulations and why it adds to their questions about the program’s long-term viability.

“I think the SBA turned the 8(a) program into a regular small business program. They spent last month reading comments, but I don’t think they meaningfully responded to them. I think this was all a forgone conclusion,” said Anna Sanders, the director of certification and eligibility for GovConPros, a small business consulting firm. “If you read the new regulations, they moved some things around and added the ability to submit additional documents as evidence, but their explanation for responding to the comments didn’t come through in this regulations.” (8/12)

Defense Spending Soars Along with Debt and Deficits (Sources: CSIS, The Hill)
Defense spending has jumped since Trump returned to office: the FY2026 NDAA he signed set funding at $901 billion (up from the $895.2 billion), and the Pentagon's FY2027 request seeks an unprecedented $1.5 trillion. The Golden Dome missile-defense shield is a major driver of that FY2027 jump, despite its questionable viability.

The spending surge is unfolding alongside a fast-widening debt and deficit. The national debt has climbed by $3.6 trillion since January 2025 to over $39.8 trillion today. The FY2025 deficit hit $1.8 trillion, and CBO projects FY2026 will run even higher — potentially $2 trillion or more. The ballooning debt raises real questions about how long the spending can continue before Congress reins it in. (8/13)

Eight Emerging Startups Selected for ISS National Lab’s Orbital Edge Accelerator Program (Source: CASIS)
The ISS National Laboratory announced the eight early-stage startups selected for the two tracks of the 2026 Orbital Edge Accelerator program. Now in its second year, this one-of-a-kind accelerator will provide the selected startups with access to low Earth orbit for research and technology development and $500,000 to $750,000 in private capital funding per startup. Click here. (8/12)

Tallahassee Failing to Leverage National Magnetic Lab (Source: Tallahassee Democrat)
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, located in Tallahassee, is a world-class multi-university collaboration to secure and maintain US leadership in a critical technology arena. Months ago, Tallahassee officials said 7-10 companies are "seriously considering" relocating to the city because of the laboratory. This time last year, Ricardo Schneider said that if Tallahassee didn't secure a commitment from at least two new businesses within 12 months, it would be a "community failure." As of now, none of those 7-10 companies have moved substantial business to Tallahassee. Today Schneider says there has been no change in his assessment. (8/13)

Australia's Optus Completes First Part of Project Aurora (Source: Via Satellite)
Optus, an Australian based telco and satellite player, has achieved a key milestone in the area of satellite life extension. It has completed the first phase of Project Aurora, with the successful undocking of the Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) from the Optus D3 satellite. Phase two is now underway, Optus is on track to extend the life of Optus D3 by up to six years through the installation of a Mission Extension Pod (MEP) in late 2027. (8/12)