SpaceX’s AI Spending Unnerves Wall
Street (Source: CNBC)
After SpaceX spent way more on its AI buildout than analysts expected,
executives tried to convince investors on Tuesday that it’s all
worthwhile, claiming that the company is making its money back within a
year. The message didn’t resonate, as SpaceX shares sank following the
company’s first earnings report since its IPO in June. While revenue in
the second quarter sailed past estimates, jumping 92% from a year
prior, capital expenditures soared over sixfold to $18.4 billion, more
than double total sales for the quarter. Well over 80% of SpaceX’s
capex went towards artificial intelligence. (8/4)
The Next Era of Mars Exploration Will
Be a Shared One (Source: Air & Space)
Countries around the world have been successfully exploring Mars
alongside the U.S. for decades. July 2026 marked the 50th anniversary
of Viking 1’s historic landing on Mars, which was followed by Viking 2
in September 1976. In 2028, the ESA’s long-anticipated Rosalind
Franklin rover is slated to launch, following in Viking’s footsteps, by
exploring the surface of Mars specifically to search for signs of life.
In the next phase of Mars exploration, we expect that commercial
partnerships and commercial-led missions will play an even more
significant part. Contracts with commercial partners have been an
important part of achieving NASA’s most ambitious missions at Mars and
elsewhere, but commercial-led Mars missions—such as the recently
announced partnership between NASA and Relativity Space—will expand
access to Mars and the scientific returns that we can achieve.
This partnership will see the NASA-developed Aeolus atmospheric science
instrument payload suite delivered to Mars by a Relativity
Space-provided spacecraft and rocket. As the next generation of U.S.
space industry partners become ever more capable, it will open up a new
era of opportunities where NASA continues to set the strategic plan for
scientific exploration of Mars and continues to support the development
of a robust science community and technological development, which can
then then to take advantage of an increasing number of opportunities to
go to the Red Planet. (8/3)
This Is The Fastest Object Ever Built
By Man (Source: Jalopnik)
On June 8, it matched its own speed record again. It also pushed itself
right to the edge of where humankind can even reach, again. While doing
all that, this fearless daredevil was also carefully taking detailed
scientific measurements. Guts and brains both, this one. It is the
single fastest object ever built by man: NASA's Parker Solar Probe,
designed and operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
(APL). First launched in August 2018, it has been slowly, carefully
orbiting closer and closer to the Sun. As NASA explains, during close
approaches to the blazing star, Parker slingshots by its gargantuan
gravity and reaches a speed of 430,000 miles per hour. That's about 120
miles per second. (8/3)
Memory Chips Cut Computing Power
59-Fold, May Trim Satellite Weight by 2,000 Pounds (Source:
Interesting Engineering)
A custom SRAM-based chip design could cut the computing power needed by
future space telescopes by nearly 59 times, potentially making it
easier to image Earth-like planets around distant stars. Researchers at
the University of Michigan designed two memory-centric chip
architectures for future telescopes that need to process huge amounts
of data in real time. Their strongest design uses static random-access
memory, or SRAM, and could reduce computing power from about 3,000
watts for a conventional GPU-based system to just 51 watts.
That difference matters in space. Lower computing power means smaller
solar panels, batteries and cooling systems, reducing the overall mass
of a spacecraft. The researchers estimate that the reduction could cut
spacecraft mass from roughly 2,425 pounds to 425 pounds. The team
estimates that the lower spacecraft weight could save about $430
million over a 25-year mission. (8/3)
After Successful 2024 Demo, NASA’s
Laser Navigation Tool Approaches Next Flight (Source: Aerospace
America)
A NASA laser light tool designed to guide landers during descent toward
the lunar surface “exceeded preflight expectations” and yielded “high
measurement accuracy and flight validation” of velocity and altitude
during its first in-space demonstration in early 2024, according to a
NASA paper published last month in AIAA’s Journal of Spacecraft and
Rockets. “Our Doppler lidar worked perfectly. It was just beautiful
watching such great quality measurements,” said Farzin Amzajerdian, a
senior scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center who began developing
the technology some 20 years ago. (8/4)
SpaceX on Track to Launch 4 Astronauts
to the ISS on Sep. 12 (Source: Space.com)
The next crew, spacecraft and rocket to fly to the International Space
Station are on schedule to meet their mid-September launch date.
SpaceX's Crew-13 astronauts — commander Jessica Watkins and pilot Luke
Delaney of NASA, mission specialist Josh Kutryk with the Canadian Space
Agency and mission specialist Sergey Teteryatnikov of Russia's federal
space corporation Roscosmos — will become only the second crew to fly
aboard the Dragon spacecraft "Grace" when they lift off no earlier than
Sep. 12 from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida. (8/4)
Take Root Bio and Heriot-Watt
University Spin Space Recycled-Life Systems into Terrestrial Biofuel
Production (Source: SatNews)
To address industrial waste processing challenges on Earth using
closed-loop life-support principles engineered for space flight, space
biotechnology developer Take Root Bio announced on August 3, 2026, a
successful partnership with Heriot-Watt University to convert salty
whey cheese by-products into industrial bioethanol fuel. The joint
initiative, facilitated through the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation
Centre, translates bio-sphere engineering architectures originally
developed for off-world life support into scalable terrestrial
processing applications. (8/4)
Starlink Hits 12 Million Subscribers,
V3 Satellites Headed to Operational Orbit (Source: PC Mag)
Starlink added 1.7 million new subscriptions in Q2, despite recent
price increases that angered some customers. For the first time, the
company also plans to launch gigabit V3 satellites into operational
orbit during the next Starship test flight. On Tuesday, SpaceX
published Q2 earnings for the April to June period, showing Starlink
has grown to 12 million paid subscriptions. The growth is high, and
double its paid subscribers from a year ago. But questions have been
circulating about whether the satellite internet service can maintain
that level of user adoption after the company ended several promotions
and began raising prices for the Starlink Residential plans in May.
(8/4)
Europe Delays Earth Imagery in Warzone
(Source: Space News)
In July, the European Union ordered a 24-hour delay before Earth
observation imagery over the Gulf of Oman captured by the Sentinel-1
and Sentinel-2 satellite could be released. The delay stems from a
request from the United States based on concerns that prompt Earth
observation imagery could threaten its military efforts in and around
Iran.
The delay represents an exception to Copernicus’ normally free and open
data policy. Copernicus is the EU’s Earth observation program that
operates the Sentinel satellite fleet. The decision also complicates
recent efforts by European Earth observation companies to position
Europe as a counterpoint to the U.S. by providing unrestricted access
to satellite imagery, given that American firms have already agreed to
similar delays. (8/4)
Meteorite That Smashed Through a New
Jersey Roof Hid an Ancient Chemical Secret (Source: SciTech
Daily)
A space rock that tore through a New Jersey roof has turned out to be
far more than an astronomical curiosity. Sealed inside were traces of
ancient salty fluids and organic chemistry that may help scientists
reconstruct how primitive asteroids once processed some of the raw
ingredients associated with life. The meteorite landed in Hillsborough,
New Jersey, after a daytime fireball raced across the New York City
region on July 16, 2024. The meteor produced a sonic boom as it passed
just south of the Statue of Liberty before breaking apart high above
the ground. An international team has now published the first detailed
analysis of the recovered material in Science Advances. (8/4)
Blue Origin Identifies BE-4 Engine
Issue as Trigger of New Glenn Explosion (Source: Reuters)
A massive explosion of Blue Origin's centerpiece New Glenn rocket in
May was triggered by an issue with one of the rocket's seven BE-4
engines, the company's CEO said on Wednesday, as it races to return
the vehicle to flight later this year. "The anomaly originated at the
main oxygen valve on one of the BE-4 engines, which was later confirmed
by hardware recovery and inspections," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp wrote
on X. "The path forward is clear. We're making small modifications to
the valve that can be quickly retrofitted to existing engines." (8/5)
CNES Targets 2028 Hot-Fire Test for
Reusable High-Thrust Rocket Engine Prototype (Source: European
Spaceflight)
The head of the French space agency CNES told lawmakers in April that a
subscale prototype of a future reusable full-flow staged-combustion
rocket engine is expected to be tested for the first time in 2028. CNES
President François Jacq disclosed the target when asked specifically
about a contract CNES signed with ArianeGroup on 17 June 2025 for
preliminary design work on an engine more than twice as powerful as the
Vulcain 2.1 used aboard Ariane 6. The contract was part of the agency’s
Advanced Staged-combustion Technologies for Reusable Engines (ASTRE)
project. (8/5)
Viasat: We Haven’t Abandoned Equatys
D2D Constellation With Space42, It’s Still in Our Plans; Satellite
Financing Is Next Step (Source: Space Intel Report)
Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg said the company has not abandoned Equatys,
its direct-to-device mobile satellite service joint venture with
UAE-based Space42. The partners still plan a constellation that could
include co-owners, with securing satellite financing identified as the
next step. (8/5)
Boeing-Lockheed Rocket Joint Venture
Taps Private Bond Market (Source: Bloomberg)
Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s rocket joint venture plans to sell bonds
in the private market to refinance debt. United Launch Alliance, a
rocket launch provider for the US military and commercial clients
including Amazon.com, is seeking to raise about $500 million through a
private placement, according to people familiar with the matter who
aren’t authorized to speak publicly. (8/5)
Elon Musk Thinks Key Starship Rocket
Problem Is Fixed (Source: Reuters)
The "major Starship problem" Elon Musk was referring to appears to be
the propellant leakage and resulting fires in the aft (engine) section
of the Starship upper stage, which had caused a string of second-stage
failures during the 2025-2026 test campaign. During SpaceX's first
earnings call, Musk said the issue had been solved and pointed to the
success of the two most recent test flights as evidence. (8/5)
Satellite Manufacturing Thrives in
California Despite Cost and Regulatory Pressures (Source: Space
News)
The mood was celebratory at the ribbon-cutting for Muon Space’s San
Jose manufacturing facility in June. State, local, and federal
representatives lauded the startup and, more broadly, commercial
innovation as Muon is gearing up to produce as many as 500 satellites
annually. Muon CEO Jonny Dyer called expansion in San Jose “a strategic
choice” because it offers “access to world-class aerospace, software,
AI and manufacturing talent, along with a dense supplier network and
close proximity to many of our customers and partners.”
Plus, the San Jose area “has a deep talent pool in high-mix hardware
manufacturing, and the Bay Area has a long history of scaled satellite
production,” Dyer said by email. Down the road in Sunnyvale, about 20
miles away, Lockheed Martin has produced satellites, payloads and
subsystems for decades. While Silicon Valley and the Los Angeles
metropolitan area have impressive satellite-manufacturing legacies,
California’s reputation as a space-technology hub suffered in recent
years. In many cases, company executives cited California’s high cost
of living, stringent regulations and financial incentives offered by
Colorado, Florida and Texas.
Now, satellite manufacturing is flourishing in Colorado, Florida, Texas
and Washington, but it’s also booming in California despite some big
name departures. In the last three years, some of the industry’s
fastest rising companies including Aerospacelab, Apex, Astranis, K2
Space, Millennium Space Systems, Muon, Terran Orbital, True Anomaly,
Umbra and Xona Space Systems have opened California manufacturing
plants or expanded existing facilities. California, with roughly 40
million people and a $4.3 trillion 2025 gross domestic product, ranked
number one in manufacturing sector employees, according to the 2022
census, the most recent national analysis. (8/5)
Intuitive Machines Completes
Acquisition of Goonhilly Earth Station and COMSAT, Positioning itself
as a Vertically-Integrated Prime (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Intuitive Machines has completed its previously announced acquisition
of Goonhilly Earth Station and COMSAT LLC, following an agreement
reached in May. The transaction adds ground-station and communications
assets to Intuitive Machines’ portfolio as it positions itself as a
vertically integrated space prime. (8/5)
SpaceX Has Bought $329M Worth of Tesla
Megapacks So Far This Year (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX has ramped up purchases of Tesla Megapack, spending $295 million
on the battery storage devices in the second quarter and $329 million
so far this year, according to the company’s earnings report released
on Tuesday. The purchase illustrates just how interconnected Elon
Musk’s universe of companies are. Musk, who is the CEO and largest
shareholder of SpaceX, also runs Tesla. Musk’s artificial intelligence
business xAI acquired his social media platform, X, in 2025. Earlier
this year, SpaceX gobbled up xAI. (8/4)
Northrop Grumman Opens
300,000-Square-Foot Florida Space Coast Engineering Center (Source:
Defense Industry Europe)
Northrop Grumman has opened a 300,000-square-foot engineering facility
at its Melbourne campus in Florida. The site will support
sixth-generation aircraft design and development for U.S. defense
programs. The new building provides space for more than 1,200 engineers
and includes 17 secure laboratories. It expands the company’s capacity
for advanced aerospace research, engineering and program work. (8/3)
South Korea to Send Up Space Solar
Probe in 2031, Seeks More International Space Tie-Ups (Source:
Yonhap)
South Korea is set to send a research probe to the region of space
between Earth and the Moon in 2031 to observe solar activity, the
country's space agency said Tuesday. The Korea AeroSpace Administration
(KASA) said it plans to hold one-on-one meetings with space agencies
from other countries, including the United States' NASA and Europe's
ESA, and discuss cooperation in areas including lunar exploration,
space telescopes and space sciences.(8/4)
Telesat Secures $2.3 Billion Arctic
Military Satcom Contract, Expanding Telesat Lightspeed Network and
Capacity by 44% (Source: Space News)
Canadian satellite operator Telesat has signed the largest contract in
its history. Telesat announced Tuesday a $1.63 billion contract with
Canada's Defense Investment Agency for military Ka-band services in the
Arctic beginning in 2028. The deal includes two five-year options
valued at about $142 million each. Those services would be provided by
Telesat's upcoming Lightspeed low Earth orbit constellation. The
contract gives Telesat an anchor defense customer before Lightspeed
begins service. It also supplies funding to increase the number of
fully financed satellites in the low Earth orbit constellation from 156
to 225. Telesat already had a contract with MDA Space for 198
satellites, and added 27 satellites to the contract with this
agreement. (8/4)
Starship to Deploy Working Payloads on
Next Test Flight (Source: Space News)
SpaceX plans to begin deploying payloads in orbit on its next Starship
flight. The company announced during its earnings call Tuesday that
Flight 14, the next Starship mission, will deploy Starlink V3
satellites into operational orbits. All Starship test flights to date
have been suborbital missions, including Flight 13 last month that
deployed Starlink V3 satellites for brief in-space tests before the
satellites reentered. Flight 14 is tentatively scheduled for the end of
this month. SpaceX also intends to recover the Starship upper stage on
that flight back at the launch site with a tower catch, pending
regulatory approval. In the earnings call, the first since the company
went public in June, SpaceX reported a net loss of $541 million on
revenue of $7.8 billion in the second quarter. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
made bold predictions about the company's growth in the call, including
that it would reach $1 trillion in annual revenue in 2030, but SpaceX
shares fell in after-hours trading because of concerns about current AI
spending. (8/5)
SpaceX's Satellite Ambitions Squeeze
Out Rivals Reliant on its Rockets (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX is increasingly reserving space on its rockets to launch its own
Starlink satellites, crowding out rival space companies that have long
depended on Elon Musk's company to get their payloads into orbit.
Starlink's share of SpaceX missions has grown year after year, rising
from 54% of the Falcon 9 rocket's manifest in 2020 to about 79% so far
in 2026. In recent months, at least seven spacecraft companies have
been told that Falcon 9 is fully booked for all types of missions until
2028 or 2029, eight sources told Reuters. They added that the
bottleneck is driven by SpaceX's plans to transition to the new
Starship rocket, designed to be fully reusable and cheaper than Falcon
9.
Starlink's growing percentage of SpaceX launches reflects an economic
reality. Analysts estimate that a single Starlink mission using
Starship could bring in tens of millions of dollars more in revenue for
SpaceX than launching a commercial customer's payload to space. That
calculation is based on the expected returns of adding more satellites
to Starlink's network. (8/4)
Rocket Lab Among Three Winners in
Space Force Project for Threat Tracking Satellites (Source:
Space News)
Rocket Lab is among three companies to win Space Force contracts to
develop technologies for a satellite network intended to track aircraft
and missile threats from orbit. The Space Force announced Tuesday $615
million in contracts to Rocket Lab, Systems & Technology Research
and an undisclosed third company for the Space-Based Airborne Moving
Target Indicator, or SB-AMTI, program. It will provide the military
with persistent tracking from space over areas where surveillance
aircraft may be unable to operate safely. The Space Force did not say
how the funding would be allocated among the three companies but Rocket
Lab said its share is worth $397 million, funding production and launch
of "Flatellites" for the constellation. The new contracts follow a
$4.16 billion award to SpaceX to build the initial AMTI satellite
constellation. (8/5)
Portugal's Neuraspace Raises $18
Million for Space Traffic Management (Source: Space News)
Space traffic management startup Neuraspace raised an additional $18
million. The Portuguese company announced the new funding Wednesday,
consisting of €6 million ($6.9 million) in Series B venture funding and
€9.6 million from Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan. The funding
will support the company's work on NeuraspaceDEF, an AI-powered space
domain awareness platform for civil and defense users. The platform
combines data from public databases, ground-based telescopes and its
own optical sensors to improve satellite tracking. It monitors more
than 600 satellites for customers such as Spire Global and the European
Space Agency. (8/5)
Voyager Seeks Eased NASA Requirements
for Commercial Stations (Source: Space News)
Voyager Technologies would like to see NASA reduce some of the proposed
requirements for the next phase of a commercial space station program.
In an earnings call Tuesday, Voyager executives were upbeat about the
prospects for Starlab, the commercial space station being developed by
the Starlab Space joint venture where Voyager is the majority owner.
That includes competing for the next phase of NASA's Commercial LEO
Destinations program, for which NASA released a draft RFP last month.
Voyager said it was concerned that the requirements NASA imposed on
companies in the draft RFP were too robust, and urged NASA to relax
them. Voyager expects the final RFP to be released "shortly" with NASA
making awards by early next year. (8/5)
SpaceX Positions Starfall Against
Multiple US, European, and Asian Startups (Source: Space News)
SpaceX's Starfall reentry vehicle is a validation of the market for
companies developing their own vehicles as well as a stiff competitor.
SpaceX flew its first Starfall test flight in June, demonstrating a
vehicle that can return about one ton from orbit. Starfall comes as
many startups in the United States, Europe and Asia pursue their own
vehicles, seeking to tap into demand for pharmaceutical research and
space manufacturing. Those companies said that SpaceX's entry into the
field with Starfall demonstrates the strong potential of the market,
but acknowledged they will have to work to differentiate themselves.
(8/5)
SpaceX Launches AST and Starlink
Satellites on Tuesday From Florida and California (Source:
Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched Starlink and BlueBird satellites on separate missions
less than 24 hours apart. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space
Force Base in California at 1:05 p.m. Eastern Tuesday, putting 24
Starlink satellites into orbit, adding to a constellation of now about
10,800 satellites. Another Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral
Space Force Station in Florida at 3:49 a.m. Eastern Wednesday, carrying
three BlueBird direct-to-device satellites for AST SpaceMobile. That
company, a competitor to SpaceX, has been forced to rely on SpaceX for
launches with Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket out of service. (8/5)
China Launches Broadband Constellation
Satellites on Long March 8A and Jielong-3 Rockets (Source:
Xinhua)
China launched another set of broadband satellites Tuesday. A Long
March 8A lifted off from the Wenchang commercial launch site. It placed
into orbit a set of satellites for the Guowang constellation.
Separately, a Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) lifted off Tuesday from a ship
offshore from Haiyang, China. The rocket placed into orbit two
hyperspectral imaging satellites. (8/5)
European Policy Institute Warns of
Space Lag (Source: Space News)
A new study warns Europe risks falling behind China and the United
States in the race to develop orbital data centers. The study released
Wednesday by the European Space Policy Institute noted that Chinese
companies have already deployed satellites to serve as orbital data
centers following a top-down approach with government backing, while
American companies are pursuing more commercially driven approaches.
Europe, though, continues to focus on research and small-scale
technology demonstrations, and the study recommended the European Union
identify orbital data centers as an emerging pillar of technological
sovereignty and coordinate policy, investment and regulation around
their development. (8/5)
Rubicon Completes Nontoxic Thruster
Tests (Source: Space News)
Rubicon Space Systems has completed testing of a spacecraft thruster
that uses a nontoxic alternative to hydrazine. The company said tests
showed its Velox thruster, which produces five newtons of thrust,
exceeded design objectives in tests and is ready to go into production.
Velox uses ASCENT, a green propellant developed as an alternative to
hydrazine. Rubicon has three customers so far for Velox, with
deliveries to the first customer scheduled for early 2027. (8/5)
SpaceX Partners With Nvidia On
Starmind AI1 Compute Payload (Source: Mach 33)
SpaceX is partnering with Nvidia to design the Starmind AI1 satellite
compute payload, which will include Nvidia Rubin GPUs and Vera CPUs for
what the company calls datacenter class space compute. (8/4)
ESA and Pokémon Team to Celebrate
World Space Week (Source: ESA)
The European Space Agency (ESA) and The Pokémon Company International
(TPCi) are teaming up to celebrate World Space Week from 4–10 October
2026. This unique, limited-time collaboration brings together two
worlds united by curiosity, exploration and imagination. For decades,
space has inspired people to dream and look beyond the horizon. ESA has
turned that sense of wonder into exploration, uncovering more about the
Universe and sharing this journey of discovery with people on Earth.
Pokémon has sparked that same spirit of adventure for generations,
inviting fans around the world to discover, learn and explore through
play. (8/4)
Hunt On for Private Overseas
Investment in New Zealand's Second Launch Pad (Source: RNZ)
The National Aerospace Center says it expects to tap intense global
demand for rocket launches to get private investment for the country's
second launch pad. Tāwhaki says it has several European companies
interested in a spaceport at Kaitorete Spit south of Christchurch.
Plans "just need commercial ignition", said acting chief executive John
Holt. The government has all but ruled out any further capital
investment in the near term due to fiscal constraints, and an official
briefing said the lack of subsidies for launch pads was a "key
challenge". (8/5)
SaxaVord Spaceport Submits Revised
Staff Accommodation Plans (Source: Shetland Times)
Spaceport staff accommodation plans have been scaled back from 80
modules to 32, according to new documents. SaxaVord Spaceport recently
submitted revised proposals for its temporary accommodation required
for launch staff through two separate planning applications. They have
been lodged at a key time for the spaceport as it gears up for its
first launch, which could potentially happen as soon as next week. (8/5)
SpaceX Needs to Make Its Bigger
Rockets Work (Source: Wall Street Journal)
SpaceX’s stock has fallen hard since the company’s IPO in June. But
Elon Musk still needs a lot to go right to justify the company’s
out-of-this-world valuation. Pretty much all of SpaceX’s most promising
ambitions hinge on carrying larger payload capacity at lower cost than
today’s rockets. And that means the company can little afford continued
hiccups with Starship, the successor to SpaceX’s tried and tested
Falcon 9 rockets. (8/5)
NASA To Ramp Up ISS Mission Cadence To
Hasten Rotation Rate (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA plans to move up the launch of four crewmembers to the
International Space Station (ISS) to help hasten the crew rotation rate
as the seven-person orbital lab approaches a planned 2030 deorbit. (8/3)