September 11, 2026

Space Force Turns to Auria Simulation Technology to Prepare for Warfare in Orbit (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is expanding its use of simulation technology to train guardians for complex satellite operations that are difficult to practice with spacecraft performing real missions. The service awarded Auria Space two contracts for satellite communications and space warfare training systems. (9/10)

Europe Needs to Compete in Spaceflight, Says France's Macron (Source: DW)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on Europe to strengthen its space sector to close the gap with the United States and China. "Space Europe is still weak," he said during a discussion at the International Space Summit in Paris. "We want Europe to assert its ambition in crewed spaceflight," he said. "Our European space program remains fragile and we must step up our efforts."

"And in 10 years' time, I want to see the first European crewed capsule take off from Kourou with European astronauts and those from other nations on board." The French president also said Europe needs to reduce its dependence on US and Russian services. At the moment, Europe's space exploration relies on rockets and satellites from the United States and Russia for communication and surveillance. (9/10)

NASA Issues RFI on U.S. Space Academy (Source: Douglas Messier)
NASA has issued a request for information on locations for the United States Space Academy (USSA) proposed by President Donald Trump. NASA has invited each of the 50 states to submit information that: a) identifies potential locations for the permanent establishment of the USSA campus, including a groundbreaking no later than 2027; b) details solutions that may allow the USSA to begin instruction in 2028 and facilitate a smooth transition to a permanent campus by 2031; and c) explores the estimated costs of establishing the USSA and potential state, local, and other non-Federal partnerships that could support its establishment. (9/10)

This NASA Color Trick Was Meant for Mars. Now It’s Unveiling Rock Art on Earth (Source: Gizmodo)
In 2005, archaeologist Jon Harman was attending a conference on rock art when he came across an unexpected source of inspiration: images of Mars. One showed the planet’s familiar rusty-red surface; another, created using a method developed at NASA, transformed the Martian landscape into a striking mosaic of red, green, and yellow, revealing remarkable detail. Harman immediately saw how the technique could help researchers study some of the world’s oldest paintings.

The technique, known as decorrelation stretch, is used to enhance contrasts in digital imagery. It was first developed by researchers at NASA JPL in 1978 to improve the interpretation of high-correlation remote sensing and satellite imagery. The archeologist first applied it to photos he had taken of rock art in Baja California, Mexico, revealing a new yellow figure in one image that seemed to appear out of nowhere. “That convinced me of the usefulness,” he said. (9/10)

SpaceX Is a Huge Threat to Earth-Bound Rivals (Telecoms), Too (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX isn’t just about orbital data centers and off-world colonies. Down here on planet Earth, Elon Musk’s $2 trillion satellite goliath has been talking up its ambitions in mobile telecoms, and investors have started to pay attention. Concerns around Musk’s competitive threat look more likely to worsen than ease. Mobile telephony appears hard for satellite technology to disrupt. The signals don’t travel well through buildings and they’re bad at serving densely populated towns and cities. But Musk isn’t someone to shy away from an engineering challenge. (9/10)

Space Coast Argotec Engineers Help NASA Watch Dangerous Solar Storms (Source: WESH)
Engineers in Brevard County are helping NASA find a cheaper way to protect technology in space from the sun. That could have a major impact here on Earth, because dangerous solar storms can disrupt satellites, GPS, and even commercial flights. Corbett Hoenninger is the general manager for Argotec’s U.S. location. The Italian company is famous for ISSpresso, the first espresso machine made to work in space. After more than 30 years in business, Argotec recently opened its Melbourne shop this spring, complete with its own clean room.

Their next mission will be a major milestone for NASA. It could change how we watch dangerous solar storms coming from the sun, which can directly impact satellites. “Everything we use has to do with satellites,” Hoenninger said. “Your phone, your watch, your car — almost everything has an interaction with satellites somehow.” If a solar storm impacts those satellites, it could disrupt your GPS, air travel, spacecraft and communication systems. (9/10)

Space Florida Celebrates 20 Years (Source: Space Florida)
On Sep. 1, 2006, a new Florida statute created Space Florida as the state’s aerospace finance, development, and spaceport authority. As we celebrate, we’re looking back at two decades of growth for Florida aerospace, from record launch years and billions in investment to a workforce helping shape what comes next.

Editor's Note: Governor Bob Martinez signed the Spaceport Florida Authority Act into law on July 5, 1989. The legislation, still enshrined in Chapter 331, Part Two, Florida Statutes, provides the broad empowerment still used by Space Florida to finance, develop, and operate space infrastructure statewide. The Legislature split the agency into three entities in 1999: the Florida Space Authority, the Florida Aerospace Financing Corp., and the Florida Space Research Institute. Years later, a commission recommended re-combining them (on Sep. 1, 2006) into a single agency: Space Florida. (9/10)

The Data Center Backlash Comes for SpaceXAI’s Colossus (Source: SciAm)
he power plant is mostly hidden. Along the road, black privacy fabric wraps the tall chain-link fence surrounding the Southaven site. Past a thin line of trees, metal stacks rise above the fence, and exhaust shimmers in the heat. A $7-million sound wall does little to muffle the noise, which drills through the walls of nearby homes: a constant drone like a plane taking off and never leaving.

The turbines are there because SpaceXAI needs an enormous amount of electricity for Colossus 2, one of the country’s densest concentrations of computing power, where the company is training Grok, its chatbot. Across the country, AI companies are building hyperscale data centers, and power has become the constraint. Data centers now use around 4 to 5 percent of U.S. electricity, and the Electric Power Research Institute projects that share could reach 9 to 17 percent by 2030.

Low-frequency noise from the Southaven turbine plant could be four to 16 times as loud as the background noise typical of a quiet suburban neighborhood, depending on the distance from the plant, according to a March report by acoustics firm Roland, Woolworth & Associates. The noise has drawn its own lawsuit: residents, including Logsdon, filed a class action alleging lost sleep and falling property values. (9/9)

JWST Discovers That Chariklo's Invisible Rings are Changing (Source: Phys.org)
Until just over a decade ago, ring systems were thought to be exclusive to the giant planets of the solar system, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. However, in 2013, a small body barely 250 kilometers (155 miles) in diameter, located at nearly 17 times the Earth–sun distance, joined this small group. The object is Chariklo, a small body orbiting between Saturn and Uranus, around which astronomers discovered two dense rings.

"By comparing JWST observations with those obtained during other stellar occultations over the last decade, we discovered opposite changes in the two rings: While the inner ring shows significantly higher opacity, the outer ring shows lower opacity," explained Pablo Santos-Sanz. This unexpected behavior indicates that Chariklo's ring system is dynamic and may be subject to more complex physical processes than previously thought. (9/9)

Earth May Not Be a Cosmic Fluke, New Simulations Suggest (Source: SciTech Daily)
Solar system simulations starting from varied initial conditions suggest that Earth-like planets can emerge naturally from planet formation. Computer simulations of planetary systems can now begin from thousands of different starting conditions, allowing researchers to explore how worlds might emerge without assuming the final outcome. Over the past three decades, these models have advanced from relatively simple approximations to far more sophisticated simulations. (9/9)

Forget Starlink? Japan’s $1 Billion BlueBird Play Makes ASTS the National Satellite OS (Source: 24/7 Wall Street)
Japan's ~$1 billion non-dilutive government award to the Rakuten-ASTS venture positions AST SpaceMobile as a replicable satellite OS for sovereign nations. SpaceX beat revenue estimates but posted a $541 million net loss while Starlink ARPU fell from $85 to $66 even as subscribers doubled. ASTS holds $3.7 billion in pro forma liquidity, 60-plus MNO partners covering 3 billion subscribers, and analyst consensus targets $79 versus a ~$62 close. (9/6)

Department of Defense Gives Update on Space Command Relocation to Huntsville (Source: AL Reporter)
The U.S. Department of Defense recently issued an update on the relocation of U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. According to the announcement, more than 140 uniformed and civilian personnel assigned to the command’s headquarters are now working at the Arsenal, including personnel dedicated to “relocation support functions” and those who “directly contribute to the combatant command’s mission.”

Last month, General Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, told reporters in Huntsville that he expects the Arsenal to support 200 personnel by the end of the year and half of U.S. Space Command’s total staff by 2028. Space Command is supporting that growth by offering financial incentives to civilian employees who relocate from Colorado Springs to Huntsville while also increasing hiring efforts in north Alabama. (9/8)

US Hypersonic Firm Stratolaunch Prepares IPO to Raise Up To $500 Million (Source: The Edge)
Hypersonic flight company Stratolaunch is preparing to launch a US initial public offering (IPO) that could raise up to $500 million as soon as October, a source familiar with the matter said. Stratolaunch, backed by Elliott Investment Management and Cerberus Capital Management, is seeking a valuation of about $2 billion to $3 billion, the source said, adding that Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are leading the IPO preparations. The private US company could make its filing public as soon as this month, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media. (9/10)

UK to Leave Launch to “Germany and Other Allies" (Source: European Spaceflight)
In January 2025, then-Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the UK would launch “British rockets carrying British satellites from British soil.” At the time, the government had just invested £20 million in (now defunct) Orbex. With the publication of its new Space Strategy, a more precise picture of the future of the country’s “assured access to space” has emerged. “The UK is collaborating with Germany and other allies to establish responsive space launch opportunities through SaxaVord Spaceport,” the strategy states.

The UK government has also committed €144 million to ESA’s European Launcher Challenge, with a portion of that already allocated to RFA. As a result, at least in the near term, the clearest route to assured orbital access from UK soil appears to be through German-built launch vehicles operating from SaxaVord. (9/9)

ISS Astronaut Gives Out of This World Tribute to Honor Star Trek’s 60th Anniversary (Source: Space.com)
Celebrations of Star Trek's 60th anniversary made it all the way to the final frontier. Among the science and supplies delivered to the ISS for ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot's mission on orbit was a small piece of memorabilia -- A Starfleet badge -- to honor one of the most influential pop culture phenomena that has continually called for humanity to turn its gaze to the stars. Adenot carried a small Starfleet badge from one of Star Trek's newest series, Strange New Worlds, which she wore during a video posted by ESA and Star Trek. (9/9)

Can Redwire's Phased-Array Investment Drive Defense Growth? (Source: Zacks)
Jacksonville-based Redwire Corp. is expanding its focus on military communications with a strategic investment in next-generation phased-array antenna technology. In August 2026, the company announced the investment to accelerate the development and production of phased-array antenna systems designed for communications across low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO). The systems are expected to support dynamic beam steering, stronger link reliability and higher data throughput for warfighter communications. (9/8)

This 'Impossible' Black Hole Merger May be Explained by a Warp in Spacetime (Source: Space.com)
A "forbidden" merger between two massive black holes may not have been quite as impossible as previously thought. That's according to new research that suggests the black holes involved were smaller than expected. On Nov. 23, 2023, the gravitational wave detector LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detected tiny ripples in spacetime caused by the merger of two black holes.

What was incredible about this signal, designated GW231123, was that it seemed to be the result of a black hole with 140 times the mass of the sun colliding with another that holds 100 solar masses. This raised eyebrows among researchers because usual models of stellar evolution struggle to account for such massive black holes, especially ones that seemed to be spinning as fast as these two. (9/9)

Did Venus Eat its Own Moon" (Source: Space.com)
Scientists may finally know why Venus, Earth's twin, lacks a moon, finding that the hottest planet in the solar system may have consumed its own natural satellite. Venus is often referred to as Earth's twin due to its size, mass, rocky composition, and distance from the sun, but there are some glaring differences between the two planets. (9/8)

‘Pick Up the Fire of Exploration’: NASA Pitches Moon Base Careers to Iowa State Students (Source: KCCI)
State and federal officials connected to U.S. space exploration detailed plans of eventual moon habitation Tuesday to a room packed to the brim with Iowa State University students, hoping to entice their interest in using their education to aid in the newest space race. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Moon Base Project Manager Carlos García-Galán toured the Ames National Laboratory and then held a presentation for ISU students to show the three phases of moon base development. (9/8)

Hubble and Webb Find That Far-Out Solar System Objects 'Remember' the Past (Source: Phys.org)
For the first time, scientists used the combined power of NASA's Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes to study some of the most far-flung bodies in our solar system, trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Some are the smallest and faintest ever directly seen. The researchers unexpectedly found fewer small TNOs than expected and that the colors of these bodies followed the same relationships as those of their larger family members. (9/8)

Why Hasn't Amazon Launched Its Leo Satellite Internet Service Yet? (Source: PCMag)
Amazon's Starlink competitor, Leo, was supposed to launch in mid-2026, but it’s now September, and so far, the satellite internet service has been quiet. What’s up? The company tells PCMag it’s still waiting for all the satellites to reach their assigned operating orbits, so Leo will have enough network capacity and coverage when it officially launches. In July, Amazon hit a crucial milestone when it sent another 29 Leo satellites into space, bringing the total deployed in Earth’s orbit to 396. That's enough to kick off "initial service," Chris Weber, VP for Amazon Leo, said.

But even after entering space, some of the satellites still need to reach an altitude of around 600 kilometers, where they’ll orbit and beam high-speed internet data to users on the ground. For now, the Leo constellation is relatively small compared with Starlink, which operates about 10,000 satellites in orbit. Satellite industry analyst Carlos Placido also expects Leo to offer service only in certain areas or latitudes once it launches, citing the limited density of its satellite constellation. (9/4)

France Backs Dassault VORTEX Reusable Spaceplane Program (Source: AeroTime)
France will support Dassault Aviation’s VORTEX reusable spaceplane program, extending French backing beyond the VORTEX-D technology demonstrator that received €30 million in funding in 2025. Dassault said that French President Emmanuel Macron had announced the decision at the International Space Summit in Paris. An official Élysée document that lists the summit’s announcements also confirms French support for VORTEX. (9/10)

Avio Eyes Higher Vega-C Flight Cadence As Rideshare Effort Looms (Source: Aviation Week)
Avio is looking to boost the pace of Vega-C rocket flights to six missions per year, roughly double the current level, and potentially go another 50% higher, the launch maker’s CEO says. The Vega-C rocket is used heavily by institutions for launch in Europe, where demand is rising. “We will follow what they need, what they ask us, and we will try to adapt to continue providing the service,” Ranzo said. (9/9)

Aerospacelab Wins €2.4 Billion Deal to Build Majority of IRIS² Satellites (Source: Reuters)
Belgium's ​Aerospacelab said on Thursday it had won a €2.4 ‌billion ($2.8 billion) contract to build 264 satellites for the European Union's IRIS² network, which is due to offer ​secure communications for governments, security agencies and ​commercial users by 2030. (9/10)

Europe May Finally Have Found a Space Entrepreneur Who is Meeting the Moment (Source: Ars Technica)
All of a sudden, French entrepreneur Hèlene Huby is seemingly everywhere. This week she is serving as one of two envoys, alongside astronaut Thomas Pesquet, at a high-profile International Space Summit convened by French President Emmanuel Macron. Also this week, The Exploration Company, announced a significant capital raise of $450 million in Series C funding. This is the largest-ever Series C funding round by a Europe-based space company, and likely the largest funding round ever raised by a female-led company in Europe. (9/10)

Space Force, Air Force, and NRO Get New Senior Leaders (Source: Space News)
A changing of the guard across the U.S. national security space enterprise has put new leaders in place. Gen. Douglas Schiess took over as the Space Force's top general last week, while Erich Hernandez-Baquero has taken over as the Air Force's top civilian official for space acquisition and Roger Mason as director of the NRO. All three are facing new challenges externally from China and internally from efforts to overhaul procurement of space systems and greater use of commercial capabilities. Experts say the test will be whether they can turn a surge in funding into military and intelligence capabilities that lead to success. (9/10)

EU Convicts Space Navigation Company for Ties to Russia and Belarus (Source: Space News)
The EU has convicted a company and its leaders for fraudulently obtaining European Union funding to develop high-precision satellite navigation receivers. EU officials said a Lithuania-based company received EU funding to develop professional satellite navigation receivers for agricultural applications, but that company had links to defense industries in Russia and Belarus in violation of declarations required by the grant. The announcement did not disclose the name of the company, but the descriptions matches an award to NTLab valued at nearly 750,000 euros. That company was run by two Belarusian nationals. (9/10)

Besxar Tested Semiconductor Materials on Falcon 9 Booster Exterior (Source: Space News)
A startup with plans to produce semiconductors in space has completed its first flight. Besxar said Wednesday it flew two canisters as external payloads on a Falcon 9 booster during a July launch. The canisters remained attached to the booster during the suborbital flight, testing how semiconductor wafers could be protected from the forces of launch and reentry as well as from contamination. The company said those tests went well and it will fly a second pair of payloads on another Falcon 9 later this year. Besxar said last year it planned to fly payloads on a dozen Falcon 9 launches to perfect the technology for producing semiconductor materials in space before starting orbital missions. (9/10)

Relativity's Terran R Added to NASA Launch Services Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA has added Relativity Space's Terran R rocket to a major contract ahead of the rocket's first flight. The agency said Wednesday that Terran R is now part of NASA Launch Services 2, an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that makes it eligible to compete for specific missions. Terran R is a medium-class rocket with a reusable first stage that Relativity has been developing for several years. While the company says it is making progress on flight hardware, it has not announced a date for the vehicle's first flight. (9/10)

Artemis 2 Astronauts Retire (Source: AP)
Two members of the Artemis 2 mission are stepping down from active duty. NASA announced Wednesday that Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover, the commander and pilot, respectively, of Artemis 2, would become "emeritus astronauts," a new designation. As emeritus astronauts, they will continue to help train the agency workforce for future missions, including Artemis 3 and 4. The new designation will allow them to take on jobs elsewhere, with Glover joining Cal Poly, his alma mater, as a senior adviser to the university's president. Wiseman has not disclosed his post-NASA plans. (9/10)

US Updating National Geodetic Datum (Source: Space Daily)
Every official latitude, longitude and height published in the United States is going to change, by as much as four meters. The ground being described will not have moved at all. What is being replaced is the reference system those numbers are counted from.

The National Geodetic Survey is retiring the North American Datum of 1983 and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988. Those are the horizontal and vertical reference systems that currently underpin surveying, flood mapping, construction and aviation across the country. In their place will come four new terrestrial reference frames and one new geopotential datum. The agency has kept the national reference system since its predecessor, the Survey of the Coast, was founded in 1807. (9/10)

Starlink Rival Eutelsat Plans OneWeb Expansion After €1 billion Satellite Order (Source: Reuters)
Satellite operator Eutelsat (ETL.PA), opens new tab said on Thursday it will replenish and expand its OneWeb network through 2034 after the Franco-British ​operator signed a deal with Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab for 229 additional low Earth ‌orbit satellites. The new order, representing an investment of €1 billion ($1.16 billion), will be added to the 440 Airbus-built satellites ordered in 2024 and 2025. Deliveries of those previous orders ​are expected to begin in the fourth quarter. (9/10)