September 12, 2026

Rocket Lab Protests Mars Telecom Award to Blue Origin (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab announced on Friday that it has filed a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) challenging NASA’s decision to award the Mars Telecommunications Network contract to rival Blue Origin. “NASA’s award decision appears to be inconsistent with the eligibility criteria mandated by Congress. In addition, the agency’s punitive review of Rocket Lab's technical volume was inconsistent, making incorrect assertions and conclusions,” Rocket Lab said. (9/11)

FAA Approves Hermeus to Fly Quarterhorse Mk 2.2 Supersonically (Source: Flight Global)
The FAA has officially granted approval for Hermeus to flight-test its Quarterhorse Mk 2.2 aircraft at supersonic speeds. The regulatory clearance marks a crucial operational step as the Atlanta-based aviation startup advances its iterative roadmap toward building reusable hypersonic aircraft. The decision follows a historic performance milestone set by the preceding Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 demonstrator, which successfully broke the sound barrier.

Hermeus built, flight-tested, and accelerated the uncrewed Mk 2.1 jet through Mach 1 threshold testing in record time. The new FAA authorization allows engineers to expand the flight envelope with the Mk 2.2 variant, maintaining a aggressive schedule funded in part through defense partnerships and private investments. Hermeus specifically designed the Mk 2 series to bridge the operational gap between conventional jet engines and high-mach propulsion platforms.

Operating under the new FAA flight authorization, Quarterhorse Mk 2.2 acts as a dynamic testbed to evaluate engine airflow, thermal loads, and vehicle stability during prolonged supersonic flight. These developmental achievements move the aviation industry significantly closer to realizing practical, routine hypersonic flight. (9/10)

The Closest Planet to Our Sun Is Shrinking (Source: WKTV)
Telltale wrinkles that cover Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, suggest it was once a larger world that has shrunk in size. As the heat escapes such worlds over time, the interiors shrink. Mercury’s cracked surface bears scars from such shrinkage — scientists call these ridges and cliffs shortening structures. Some of the cliffs can reach up to 1 mile in height and can extend for hundreds of miles in length. But asteroids and comets have also bombarded Mercury, riddling it with impact craters, much like the pockmarked surface of Earth’s moon. Debris from the impacts might have hidden just how much Mercury has contracted over time. (9/10)

Firefly to Launch Alpha Missions From Sweden's Spaceport (Source: Firefly)
Firefly Aerospace announced a multi-launch agreement with SSC Space for two Alpha rocket launches from Sweden’s Esrange Space Center, owned and operated by SSC Space. Targeted to launch no earlier than 2028, the missions will serve Sweden national security customers as well as additional commercial rideshare customers, marking a significant step forward in delivering orbital launch capabilities from mainland Europe. (9/8)

Space Force Taps Leonardo for Sensor Development (Source: Defense Post)
Leonardo DRS has secured a contract from the US Space Force to develop sensors to detect, track and target fast-moving threats in space, as well as to reduce the cost of sensor production. The contract, awarded under an Other Transaction Agreement for Prototype, will be led by the company's Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems business. "These investments allow our company to push the boundaries of advanced sensing and targeting and implement scaled manufacturing to support national security priorities," said John Baylouny. (9/10)

NASA Just Proved Satellites Can Navigate Without GPS (Source: SciTechDaily)
NASA has demonstrated a new way for satellites to navigate without GPS by using the objects around them as landmarks in space. NASA’s Starling mission has reached another milestone in spacecraft autonomy with a new system that can determine a satellite’s position by using other objects in space as reference points rather than depending on a traditional navigation network. (9/11)

Satellites Get a New Type of Armor (Source: Economist)
Hurtling around Earth at roughly seven kilometers a second, even tiny pieces of debris pack quite a punch. Such manmade junk poses a far greater threat to satellites circling in low orbits than natural space rocks do—and the risks are rising. Companies like Atomic-6 are developing lightweight materials like composite tiles to protect next-generation satellites. Meanwhile, firms like Odin Space are deploying vibration-sensing adhesive strips on spacecraft to measure and assess orbital impacts in real time. (9/7)

Sierra Space’s Ghost Reentry Vehicle Is Taken Through Logistics Paces (Source: Aviation Week)
A bottle of whiskey and a software-defined radio might make an unusual test load, but Sierra Space used the odd pair to help prove its Ghost reentry vehicle’s capabilities. The space and defense company demonstrated that its Ghost reentry vehicle can safely return cargo to Earth from high-altitude balloons positioned at 35,000 ft. and 68,500 ft. above sea level. The drop tests—the vehicle’s first in nearly two years—were part of a recent exercise known as Apollo Nexus hosted by U.S. Space Command in May at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. (9/10)

Europe's Space Chief Raises Need for the Region to Coordinate its Satellite Plans (Source: Reuters)
Europe must ensure its ​countries' competing satellite programmes can work together effectively and do not duplicate each other, ‌European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher said. He was speaking at a space summit in Paris, where new contracts for the European Union's IRIS² planned communications constellation were announced, bolstering efforts to create an alternative to non-European ​actors, most notably Elon Musk's SpaceX. (9/10)

World’s First Zinc Hall-Effect Thruster Fires in Space on its Maiden Attempt (Source: Interesting Engineering)
A satellite has fired a Hall-effect thruster fueled by solid zinc in orbit for the first time, giving spacecraft designers a new option for electric propulsion. Muon Space completed the test on July 1 aboard SERT-III, a dedicated propulsion test spacecraft. The mission tested the company’s Starlight propulsion system under real orbital conditions. (9/10)

NASA, IBM Launch AI Foundation Model for Lunar Science (Source: NASA)
NASA is bringing artificial intelligence to the study of the Moon, helping researchers transform how they analyze the Moon’s surface. In an ongoing collaboration with IBM Research and several academic institutions, NASA has launched the NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model, among the first open-source AI models built specifically for lunar science. The model, trained primarily on data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), is hosted publicly on Hugging Face for anyone to use, with the complete codebase available on GitHub for testing and experimentation.

The NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model supports the next generation of lunar science by helping researchers quickly analyze vast quantities of data to better understand the Moon’s surface. Using the model as a mapping tool, researchers can rapidly develop actionable strategies for evaluating the Moon’s rugged surface, understanding its geological past, and planning future lunar research. (9/10)

SpaceX Sues Grimes County a Month After Texas Terafab Announcement (Source: KHOU)
A month after Elon Musk and Gov. Greg Abbott officially confirmed Terafab was coming to Grimes County, the county itself and the Texas attorney general are facing a lawsuit from SpaceX. The complaint, which SpaceX filed in Travis County on Sep. 8, names Attorney General Ken Paxton and Grimes County as defendants. The lawsuit asks a district court judge to issue a temporary restraining order preventing Grimes County from releasing information through a public records request to Marie Egyed and Vanessa Burzynski, two residents of Grimes County.

It also asks the judge to permanently block the county and the attorney general from releasing SpaceX’s confidential information, arguing that no monetary compensation can make up for the damage SpaceX would suffer. SpaceX’s complaint centers on a pair of Texas Public Information Act requests that Egyed and Burzynski filed on behalf of the organization Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development. (9/11)

Voyager Offering Throttleable Solid Propulsion for Golden Dome’s Architecture (Source: Breaking Defense)
Our propulsion systems have the capability to start and stop, which provides longer engagements on targets, the ability to conserve energy and much more accurate engagements on effects. And we’re always working on new tech. We’re now supporting a newly awarded DARPA program for solid rocket motors, providing tailorable thrust control to meet unique mission requirements. (9/11)

Poland Launches Process to Develop a Domestic Starlink-Like Satellite System (Source: C4ISRnet)
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland has begun a process that could lead to a national satellite communications system modeled on Starlink. The announcement, made at Poland’s International Defence Industry Exhibition in Kielce, signals an effort to build sovereign space-based connectivity capacity. (9/11)

Agile Space Industries Celebrates Colorado Headquarters Expansion (Source: Space News)
Agile Space Industries celebrated the completion of a 20,500-square-foot expansion of its Durango headquarters with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 26, joined by U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, local leaders, community members and Agile employees. The expansion brings Agile’s headquarters at 820 Airport Road to approximately 40,000 square feet of combined office and manufacturing space, more than doubling the facility’s previous 19,500-square-foot footprint. Construction began in January and was completed in July. (9/2)

L3Harris Lands $4.7 Billion Missile Defense Production Deal (Source: AL.com)
L3Harris Technologies will expand the production of missile interceptor components under a $4.7 billion contract it received from Lockheed Martin. L3Harris said its two facilities under construction in Camden, Arkansas, will support the production of propulsion systems for PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor, which is designed to engage with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft threats. (9/9)

Millions in New Funding Boost Florida's Space Coast Launch Infrastructure (Source: WESH)
Space Florida announced funding for several new projects during its Thursday morning meeting. Relativity Space received $20 million for a payload processing facility, an upper-stage testing facility, and to expand its launch pad site. Blue Origin received $2.5 million for its payload processing facility. ULA received $10.8 million for a new water treatment facility. SpaceX received $7.7 million for improvements to the NASA Causeway. All of this will help increase launch cadence among the companies. (9/10)

Musk and SpaceX Face Expensive Tradeoffs on the Road to Mars (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX has big plans for Starship. The 407-foot-tall rocket will someday be used to build a network of orbiting artificial intelligence data centers and ferry humans to the moon and Mars, if all goes according to plan.

First, though, the company plans to use Starship to carry a new and improved batch of its money-making Starlink satellites into space. SpaceX aims to send its first V3 satellites into orbit on a crucial Starship test mission slated to blast off as soon as next week. Elon Musk faces a strategic dilemma between launching cash-generating satellites and sending humans into deep space — with an uncertain payoff. (9/11)

China Details Satellite Network Buildout Through the End of the Decade in New Telecom Plan (Source: Space News)
China’s telecommunications regulator has issued a roadmap for expanding the country’s satellite network through the end of the decade, building on a national five-year plan released in March. The plan signals continued government direction for satellite communications and related space infrastructure.  (9/11)

Quantum Computing Threatens the Cryptography Protecting Satellites and Critical Infrastructure (Source: Space News)
Cryptographic systems relied on for decades to secure sensitive communications and critical infrastructure could become vulnerable to sufficiently powerful quantum computers. Satellite operators and space-system developers face a long-term security challenge involving the protection of command, control and data links against future quantum-enabled attacks. (9/11)

Antares Wins $161 Million DoD Award for Space Nuclear Power (Source: Payload)
Antares has secured a $161 million Department of Defense contract to advance nuclear power for space, marking the largest DoD award to date for the technology. The award underscores growing U.S. investment in space-based nuclear power capabilities. (9/11)

Impulse Space Spacecraft Approach Within 650 Feet in Orbit to Demonstrate Precision Operations (Source: Space.com)
Two spacecraft operated by Impulse Space came within less than 650 feet of one another in orbit, showcasing what the company described as advanced capabilities. The maneuver highlights the growing role of commercial spacecraft in proximity operations, with implications for in-space servicing, inspection and other emerging orbital missions. (9/11)

Could United Launch Alliance’s Money Problems Finally Force its Owners to Sell? (Source: Ars Technica)
Pretty much every rocket company in the US, save one, has embraced reusability and diversification. They all realize launch is a low-margin business: SpaceX’s financial statements reveal just 8 percent of the company’s $12.5 billion in revenue this year has come from launch services. When ULA kicked off development of Vulcan, officials did not prioritize reusability, with no plans to reuse the rocket’s booster stage and only tentative plans to eventually recover and reuse Vulcan’s main engines. A decade later, ULA’s half-hearted stab at reusability hasn’t gone anywhere.

Vulcan’s first launch was delayed more than four years from ULA’s original target of 2019. Boeing and Lockheed Martin at first provided only tentative funding for Vulcan’s development. In the meantime, ULA shelved plans for an advanced, long-duration upper stage, a feature that, at least on paper, appeared to be one of the Vulcan rocket’s advantages over SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family. Then ULA ran into trouble on the rocket’s second flight in October 2024 when the exhaust nozzle on one of its Northrop Grumman-built solid rocket boosters shattered moments after liftoff.

At the same time, the financial situation at ULA is not great. Lockheed Martin said its earnings “primarily” attributable to ULA dipped from $325 million in 2016 to $100 million in 2022. Double that to get an idea of ULA’s net income. Last year, Lockheed reported its share of earnings from ULA was “not significant.” ULA was responsible for a quarter of the operating profit in Lockheed’s space business a decade ago. It dropped to less than 10 percent over the last five years, then to virtually nothing in 2025. (9/11)

Europe to Proceed Alone on Venus Mission After NASA Withdraws Radar Instrument (Source: Ars Technica)
European partners will move forward without NASA on a Venus mission after the agency withdrew its planned radar instrument, highlighting the potential impact of shifting U.S. space partnerships. The decision could push Europe toward greater independence in planetary science while increasing the significance of alternative international partners, including China. (9/10)

MaiaSpace Signs First Long-Term Asian Launch Deal with SAR Operator iQPS (Source: Via Satellite)
French launch provider MaiaSpace has secured its first long-term Asian customer agreement with Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS), which plans to use the company to launch a range of synthetic-aperture radar satellites. The deal gives MaiaSpace an anchor customer as it builds its commercial launch business. (9/10)

EU Commission Signals Competition-Policy Shift to Support Thales-Airbus-Leonardo Space Consolidation (Source: Space Intel Report)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is updating competition policy to favor strategic consolidations, citing the proposed Thales-Airbus-Leonardo space merger as an example. The policy shift could ease regulatory scrutiny of larger European aerospace combinations intended to strengthen the region’s industrial position. (9/10)