October 5, 2026

McGregor Pays Record Penalty for SpaceX Groundwater Overpumping (Source: Times of India)
The city of McGregor, Texas, will cover the cost of groundwater overpumping at SpaceX's rocket testing facility, agreeing to pay at least $175,000 to the Southern Trinity Groundwater Conservation District over 25 years — the largest penalty the district has ever imposed. The city is liable because it owns the site and its wells, which it leases to SpaceX. The City Council approved the negotiated deal on Monday, sidestepping a possible district court fight. The district had issued violation notices to both SpaceX and McGregor in each of the past three years, for a combined 128 million gallons pumped beyond permitted limits. (10/4)

The Same Satellite Can Have Military and Civilian Functions, a Dilemma for New Zealand (Source: The Conversation)
New Zealand is rapidly developing capabilities and partnerships in a sector estimated to be worth NZ$2.5 billion to the national economy. Just last month, New Zealand agreed to spend nearly $24 million to fund a military satellite led by the US for the Wideband Global SATCOM constellation. The government also renewed participation in Operation Olympic Defender, a US-led military partnership aimed at making space safe and secure.

But becoming increasingly involved in international efforts to protect satellite services critical to infrastructure – including navigation, banking and communications – creates a dilemma. As countries expand military capabilities to make space more secure, their actions can make others feel threatened, increasing the very tensions they are trying to prevent. It also highlights how dual-use approaches to satellite technology could threaten the many benefits of the satellite services the country relies on. (10/4)

Rocket Factory Augsburg Appoints New CEO (Source: Douglas Messier)
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has a new leader: The Supervisory Board has appointed Alexander Dahm as Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Prof. Dr. Indulis Kalnins and will be responsible for the company’s continued development and its path to the maiden flight of the RFA ONE launch vehicle. Dr. Kalnins will remain associated with the company and contribute his expertise. (10/5)

Exploration Company Considers Middle East Launch Sites for Heavy-Lift Rocket (Source: Space News)
The Exploration Company is considering launch sites in the Middle East for its proposed heavy-lift rocket. The European company announced this summer it was working on an engine called Storm that could be used on a future large launch vehicle, although the company has provided few specifics about the vehicle or the schedule for developing it. At a spaceport meeting Sunday, a company official said it anticipated strong demand for the vehicle, particularly outside the United States. The company is in talks about establishing a launch site for the vehicle somewhere in the Middle East, acknowledging that export controls will be a major hurdle to overcome. (10/5)

Esrange Prepares for Orbital Launches (Source: Space News)
Sweden's Esrange Space Center is preparing for a busy period of launch activity as it seeks to host orbital launches. Those launches include several hop tests of the European Space Agency's Themis reusable rocket demonstrator along with a series of sounding rocket flights. Esrange is preparing for its first orbital launches, with SSC announcing an agreement last month with Firefly Aerospace to purchase two Alpha launches from the center no earlier than 2028.

Swedish lawmakers have expressed concern the country is falling behind its neighbor Norway, whose Andøya spaceport conducted its first successful orbital launch last month by Isar Aerospace. Norwegian officials, meanwhile, announced last week plans to spend $65 million on a second orbital launch pad at Andøya after worries Norway might fall behind other countries, including Sweden. (10/5)

Nebex and Thrusters Unlimited Partner for Sovereign Space Programs, Beginning in Latin America (Source: Nebex)
Nebex, the commercial exchange infrastructure for the global space economy, and Thrusters Unlimited have partnered to structure and execute sovereign space programs, beginning in Latin America. The two companies will orchestrate complex sovereign space transactions end to end. Thrusters Unlimited brings local industrial and stakeholder capability. Nebex provides the transaction structuring, capital alignment, and execution infrastructure that turn national space ambitions into deliverable programs.

The companies have begun structuring $700 million in initial sovereign space program, spanning Earth observation, telecommunications and other strategic space capabilities. Nebex and Thrusters Unlimited will work together to structure these programs for execution, aligning procurement, industrial participation and capital around each transaction. (10/5)

Leonardo DRS Establishes UK Subsidiary (Source: Leonardo DRS)
Leonardo DRS announced the establishment of DRS UK, a new subsidiary created to support the company’s business in the United Kingdom, along with the launch of local production of tactical radars in the UK. The newly purpose-built production site expands DRS’s manufacturing footprint and creates a dedicated local presence to support UK defense customers. (10/5)

Arms Production Surge Strains US Workforce (Source: CNN)
Camden, Ark., has become a crucial hub for missile production as the US rebuilds its depleted arsenal, with defense contractors such as L3Harris and Raytheon aiming to significantly increase output. However, the town faces challenges such as a shrinking population, limited housing and under-resourced schools. The surge has production lines working overtime and companies are looking to automate production lines and collaborate with local institutions to address workforce issues. (10/4)

Blue Origin Debuts 20-Meter Lunar Power Tower (Source: Tech Times)
Blue Origin has unveiled the Power Tower, a 20-meter solar power system designed to generate over 10 kilowatts of electricity for lunar operations, particularly near the south pole. The modular system addresses the challenge of reliable power generation on the moon. The Power Tower builds on technology from Honeybee Robotics and aligns with NASA's Artemis program. (10/5)

Varda Space Raises $251M as 2 New Spacecraft Launched (Source: Douglas Messier)
Varda Space Industries announced a fundraising round of $251 million to scale its space-based pharmaceutical processing as SpaceX launched two of the company’s spacecraft into orbit. The round raised the amount raised by the microgravity-enabled life sciences company to $598 million. (10/5)

Denver Broncos Partners With MDA Space (Source: Via Satellite)
Recently, the Denver Broncos announced its first-ever space partner, MDA Space. It now begs the question, will other sports franchises and teams look to strike space partnerships? “We led early in discussions with MDA Space that the Broncos are the closest NFL team to space. We are a ‘mile high,’ and we just love that. It is a very significant alignment for us. We believe the space industry stands for innovation, precision, education, and the next generation of scientists and manufacturing.” (10/2)

NASA Chief Jared Isaacman Wants To Stay ‘Open-Minded’ About UFOs: ‘If It’s Aliens, I Think NASA Should Have a Seat at the Table’ (Source: Space.com)
Could unidentified anomalous phenomena — a new catch-all term for unidentified objects in the sky, oceans or space — be pushing the United States towards another "Sputnik Moment"? That's the belief of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who compared the uptick in reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) sightings in recent years to the Cold War paranoia stirred up when the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to circle Earth in 1957. (10/4)

Airbus Completes 32 OneWeb Refresh Satellites Ahead of Launch (Source: Via Satellite)
Eutelsat hit a milestone for its OneWeb refresh plan as Airbus Defense and Space completed the first 32 satellites in the refresh for launch. The satellites are set to be shipped for launch on a SpaceX mission; Eutelsat did not specify a timeframe.

Eutelsat ordered these satellites in late 2024 as part of a 100-satellite extension. The operator has recently ordered more refresh satellites — ordering a total of 669 new OneWeb satellites for service continuity. These mark the first OneWeb satellites built in Toulouse, France. Airbus shifted manufacturing from the former joint venture Airbus OneWeb Satellites in Florida to France. (10/2)

DOE Announces $400M for Frontier Science Research (Source: Payload)
The Department of Energy is super-charging research into bleeding edge energy tech. The DOE announced $400M in new funds yesterday geared toward advancing scientific research on basic energy science, fusion, and nuclear physics. While the funds aren’t explicitly directed toward deep-space and in-orbit projects, they will have a huge impact on the future of the power-hungry space industry.

The funds will support research into topics relevant to many next-gen space technologies, including: Advanced scientific computing; Biological and environmental topics; High-energy physics; Nuclear physics and fusion energy science; And nuclear isotope R&D and production. (10/2)

Superpowers Race to Put Nuclear Reactors on the Moon (Source: New York Times)
The US and China both believe nuclear reactors are key enablers for their lunar ambitions. The countries plan to turn on their reactors only after they reach the moon. But some leading scientists caution that governments are moving too quickly in an era of space exploration that has seen some notable disasters. In the last six years, multiple Chinese, American and Russian rockets have failed and exploded, and a Russian lander has crashed into the moon. Space junk regularly tumbles to Earth.

Failures could cause a chain reaction with dire consequences. Falling reactor debris could scatter radioactive material, as happened in Canada in the late 1970s. An explosion or a meltdown on the moon’s surface would risk turning entire regions into no-go zones. Editor's Note: Imagine a reactor failure turning much of the strategically vital lunar south pole into a no-go zone, after tons of infrastructure and resources have been committed to operations there. (10/4)

Blue Origin Unveils 20-Meter Lunar Power Tower Designed to Deliver More Than 10 kW (Source: Space.com)
Blue Origin has unveiled a vertically deployed solar array system designed to provide more than 10 kilowatts of power for Moon Base operations at the lunar south pole. The company presented the 20-meter-tall “Power Tower” as a potential energy source for future lunar infrastructure. (10/4)

Sweden Secures 2028 Orbital Launch at Esrange as Nordic Competition Intensifies (Source: Space News)
Sweden’s Esrange Space Center is preparing for increased launch activity after securing an orbital launch targeted for 2028. The development comes as political scrutiny grows around efforts to establish orbital launch capability at the site and strengthens the emerging Nordic launch race. (10/2)

Conflicts of Interest for Musk's Return to Federal Service (Source: New York Times)
After a long make-nice campaign, Mr. Musk is back in Washington with a seat at the table of the Pentagon, as a co-director of a group advising an agency that is a source of his vast personal wealth. As before when he was a special government employee, Mr. Musk’s appointment immediately set off concerns about whether he would have too much sway over decisions affecting his interests and those of his allies.

“It’s extraordinary to see the return without any recognition of the exceptional harm that he was responsible for in round one,” said Max Stier, the chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan organization that estimates that Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting efforts, dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, cost each taxpayer more than $1,000 last year in waste. Now, added Mr. Stier, “there’s no question that his financial interests are directly engaged in the position he’s going to fill here.” (10/3)

Could We Ever Create Artificial Gravity on a Spaceship? (Source: Live Science)
"There's really no reason it couldn't happen," says Torin Clark at the University of Colorado Boulder. "From a technical perspective, this is something that could happen in the very near future." Researchers have three main approaches for creating artificial gravity. One is the classic sci-fi idea: a giant ring that rotates passengers' entire living quarters so they live and work under forces similar to Earth's gravity. "You have a relatively long radius, which means you don't have to spin very fast to create gravity," Diaz Artiles said.

"But this is massive. You can't get all the parts up there in the same spacecraft." A short-radius centrifuge is a more feasible option. It's essentially a tube with a radius of 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3 m) that spins to simulate gravity. A passenger sits or stands inside, with their head closest to the center of rotation, so the spin generates the strongest pull down toward their feet. Instead of allowing passengers to live in artificial gravity, this smaller device would be used in short daily sessions. "It's kind of like an exercise device."

The final option is for spacecraft to create gravity via linear acceleration. This works in the same way that an accelerating car pushes passengers back into their seats, except the spacecraft would be oriented to push an astronaut's feet into the floor. To slow down, the spacecraft would turn around, firing its thrusters in the opposite direction to decelerate smoothly while maintaining a roughly similar gravity for its occupants. (10/4)

NASA Adds New Moon Base Science Investigations (Source: Douglas Messier)
NASA selected three new scientific investigations and their payload suites to advance our knowledge of the Moon and help pave the way for building humanity’s first lunar outpost, Moon Base. The suite of science instruments and technologies was selected through NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program and will fly to the lunar surface using the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program.

The payloads will help researchers understand lunar resources, map natural shelters, and assess environmental hazards, laying the foundational groundwork for a safe and sustained human presence under the agency’s Artemis and Moon Base programs. (10/4)

How China Keeps its Astronauts Well-Fed (Source: Xinhua)
China's space station is becoming less distant and more like home, as astronauts bring the comforting tastes into orbit. The Chinese space kitchen now serves nearly 200 food items. Alongside dumplings and mooncakes, home-style dishes such as Kung Pao chicken, mapo tofu and fried rice have made it onto the station's menu. (10/3)

A Galactic Nobel? Experts Float the International Space Station Among Contenders for the Peace Prize (Source: AP)
Not-so-outlandish, prognosticators say: The Nobel Peace Prize this year could go galactic, with an award to the International Space Station. But terrestrial contenders loom too, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, emergency teams in Sudan, children’s advocates in Ukraine and two top international courts, experts say. The annual guessing game about who will win the prize, often called the most prestigious award on the planet, is revving up ahead of the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s Oct. 9 announcement of the winner in Oslo. (10/2)

Milt Windler, Flight Director Who Helped Save Apollo 13, Dies at 94 (Source: Collect Space)
Milt Windler, one of the four leaders of Mission Control who in 1970 directed the round-the-clock efforts to bring the Apollo 13 astronauts back to Earth safely, has died at the age of 94. Windler died on Thursday (Oct. 1). Named a NASA flight director in 1968 after working on recovery operations during the Mercury and Gemini programs, Windler also led a shift of flight controllers for the Apollo 8 first circumlunar flight and Apollo 10 lunar landing dress rehearsal, as well as the second, third and fourth moon landings. (10/3)

Army Awards $67 Million to Counter Space-Enabled Surveillance, Adds Soldiers to Space Field (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Army is putting nearly $67 million into electromagnetic warfare prototype systems that would make it harder for adversaries to use space-based surveillance to find and target American forces. Meanwhile, more than 600 soldiers have joined the Army’s new space operations career field, giving the service its first permanent enlisted workforce dedicated to the space domain. (10/3)