October 6, 2026

Open Cosmos May Downsize Constellation Plan (Source: Space News)
Satellite operator Open Cosmos says it can provide services with a 192-satellite constellation, a fraction of the size of its original system. An initial 192 small satellites will form the core of its LEO network, the company said Monday. That figure is well below the 576 LEO satellites covered by spectrum filings Open Cosmos gained after they were rescinded from Germany's Rivada Space Networks, but the company says that 192 is sufficient to serve demand it sees from government customers for resilient connectivity. Open Cosmos added that launch constraints have kept it from launching more satellites. The company, which has built 50 satellites that are awaiting launch, is hoping for an extension from the ITU for its deployment deadlines in November. (10/6)

York Satellites to Inspect GEO Objects (Source: Space News)
Two satellites built by York Space Systems will be used for inspecting objects in GEO. The Tetra 3 and 4 satellites will support space domain awareness, including resident-space-object sensing and rendezvous and proximity operations, the company announced Monday. The two spacecraft will carry a suite of sensors, including a long-wave infrared camera, a lidar sensor capable of ranging objects at distances of 20 kilometers and a GPS receiver designed for GEO operations. The Space Force described Tetra 3 and 4 in a 2021 white paper as a "two-for-one" purchase from York to test new technologies and give military operators an on-orbit platform for developing tactics and training. York said Tetra 3 and 4 are its first national security missions in GEO as a prime contractor. (10/6)

FAA Moving with Caution to Ease Launcher Bottleneck (Source: Space News)
As evidence grows of a launch bottleneck, government officials are cautious about taking action out of concerns it could make the problem worse. Data from the FAA show the agency licensed 187 launches in fiscal year 2026, which ended last week, down from the 196 licensed launches in 2025. That is the first time since fiscal year 2019 that the number of licensed launches declined year over year. The FAA had previously forecast between 209 and 214 operations, which include launches and reentries, in 2026; there were 194 operations overall. At a recent spaceport forum, officials said they were aware of the problems companies were facing trying to find launches but said that if the government stepped in to support legacy launch vehicles, it could undercut investment in new vehicles projected to enter service in the coming years. (10/6)

Satellite Redesign Could Ease Launch Capacity Crunch (Source: Space News)
Companies are addressing the launch capacity crunch by redesigning their satellites. Meridian Space, a company working on a broadband constellation, has designed satellites that can be launched up to 250 at a time on a Falcon 9, thanks to a new antenna design. The company is testing the antenna on a satellite launched on a rideshare mission last week. Other satellite developers, though, say that more launch capacity is still needed to meet growing demand. (10/6)

Viasat prepares to demo commercial alternative to NASA’s TDRS (Source: Aerospace America)
California satellite operator Viasat is readying for the launch of a communications satellite that aims to demonstrate commercial spacecraft can take over the duties of NASA’s aging Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) network. The Maxwell satellite, built and operated by Rocket Lab, is set for a journey into orbit on the upcoming SpaceX Bandwagon-5 launch from Florida.

The demonstration is part of NASA’s ongoing Communications Service Project (CSP) to eventually replace TDRS, the first of which began operations in 1983. NASA in late 2024 stopped using TDRS for new missions, but noted “current TDRS users, like the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, and many other Earth- and universe-observing missions, will still rely on TDRS until the mid-2030s.” (10/5)

DISH DBS Exits Bankruptcy (Source: Space News)
The EchoStar subsidiary behind U.S. satellite broadcaster Dish TV and online streaming service Sling TV has emerged from bankruptcy protection. DISH DBS exited Chapter 11 with around $4.35 billion less debt, EchoStar said in a brief regulatory disclosure Friday, three months after filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. DISH DBS had a prepackaged restructuring plan to help it quickly emerge from Chapter 11. EchoStar's Hughes geostationary broadband business separately filed for bankruptcy in August, following mounting competition from SpaceX's Starlink network in LEO, but entered proceedings without a prepackaged deal with creditors. (10/6)

Resource Competition Intensifies with Surge in Megaconstellations (Source: Space News)
The surge of interest in large satellite constellations is putting pressure on the satellite manufacturing supply chain. Companies are facing shortages of specialized components and materials, suppliers struggling to keep up, and competition from the booming artificial intelligence industry. Competition for scarce resources and supplies amid surging demand is forcing tradeoffs in industry that threaten to delay launches and may push companies out of the market or trigger greater consolidation. A report earlier this year by the Aerospace Industries Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers isolated nine critical components contributing to supply chain bottlenecks due to an inability to keep up with demand, ranging from valves and actuators to switchgears and transformers. (10/6)

DoD Interest in Space-Based Solar Intensifies (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon is showing renewed interest in space-based solar power. One startup in the field, Overview Energy, received a contract last week of undisclosed size from the Pentagon's Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund to finance the design, construction and testing of a ground beacon that would help its satellites locate and authenticate receiving sites before transmitting power. The contract follows an Air Force study announced in May to assess how Overview's system could supply large military installations. Military customers may be willing to pay a premium for dependable electricity in places where conventional supplies are costly or vulnerable, providing an initial source of revenue for companies proposing to beam power from space to the ground. (10/6)

Voyager to Develop Smallsat Deployers for Space Force (Source: Space News)
Voyager Technologies won a Pentagon contract to develop smallsat deployers. The $22.4 million contract announced Monday will go toward work on flight-ready satellite deployment systems aimed at helping the U.S. Space Force make better use of unused capacity aboard national security launches. Under the agreement, Voyager will develop prototype small-satellite dispensers that would allow additional spacecraft to ride aboard launches that have available payload capacity after accounting for the primary mission. Voyager did not disclose when the system could fly or identify the launch vehicles or satellite programs that might use it. (10/6)

NASA Insourcing Triggers Amentum Layoffs at Kennedy Space Center (Source: Florida Today)
The prime contractor for Artemis ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center is laying off staff after NASA took some work in-house. Amentum said in a filing that it will lay off 70 people working at the center at the end of November. The company said the layoffs were prompted by a NASA decision to perform work itself that it previously assigned to contractors. Since Jared Isaacman took over as administrator at the end of last year, the agency has worked to reduce its reliance on contractors, including hiring as civil servants many people who had been contractors. (10/6)

Space Force Considers "Mission Development Zone" at California Spaceport (Source: Air & Space Forces)
The Space Force is considering building support facilities and potentially even factories at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The service issued a notice last month seeking feedback on a concept for a "Mission Development Zone" at Vandenberg. The zone would include facilities needed to support a growth in launch activity at the base, from offices to payload processing facilities. That could also include launch vehicle factories and plants for producing commodities. Vandenberg envisions leasing land in the zone to companies who would build facilities. (10/6)

Halzen Wins Physics Nobel for Cosmic Particles (Source: Scientific American)
A scientist who studied high-energy cosmic particles has won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The 2026 prize, announced Tuesday, went to Francis Halzen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who is principal investigator for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica. The observatory is designed to detect neutrinos, which rarely interact with other matter, by detecting the flashes of light in ice deep below the surface when a neutrino does collide with an atom. IceCube has successfully detected high-energy neutrinos from beyond the solar system, helping open up the field of multimessenger astronomy that combined traditional electromagnetic observations with neutrinos and gravitational waves. (10/6)

Environmental Group Urges FCC to Reject Blue Origin's 51,600-Satellite "Project Sunrise" (Source: Center for Space Environmentalism)
The Center for Space Environmentalism, which describes itself as an international collective focused on stewardship of the orbital environment, has formally opposed Blue Origin's FCC application to launch and operate up to 51,600 satellites for an orbital data center system called "Project Sunrise." CSE asked the Commission to apply the Precautionary Principle and reject the application until a rigorous environmental review is done. NASA has separately raised safety and sustainability concerns, as the planned 500–1,800 km altitudes overlap human spaceflight paths and science assets, and that the application lacks an orbital debris mitigation plan.

CSE rejects Blue Origin's claim that putting compute in orbit is "sustainable." It argues that this approach moves the environmental burden of data processing into the upper atmosphere, because the launch cadence would inject alumina and black carbon that can deplete ozone and contribute to climate forcing. The group also objects to the deorbit plan. Even at Blue Origin's stated 90% end-of-mission disposal success rate, as many as 5,160 dead satellites could be left stranded in orbit. CSE also challenges Blue Origin's requested waivers of processing-round rules and of milestone and surety-bond requirements.

CSE wants the FCC to require a full Environmental Impact Statement instead of relying on categorical exclusions, to deny all the waivers, and to update its NEPA procedures in line with GAO recommendations. The group also urged the FCC to weigh the aggregate effect of all pending orbital data center applications, which together total about 1.088 million satellites. (10/5)

PSI-led Team to Explore Potential Lunar Cave (Source: Douglas Messier)
NASA has selected a Planetary Science Institute-led proposal to investigate whether a potentially large underground cave extends beyond the opening of a lunar pit. Such a cave may one day provide a safe haven for astronauts to escape the radiation and extreme temperature swings present at the lunar surface. The project will be funded through NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program, which sends scientific instruments to the Moon on spacecraft provided by the Commercial Lunar Payloads Services (CLPS) initiative providers. (10/4)

Megaconstellation Plans Escalate, From Thousands of Satellites to a Proposed Million (Source: Space News)
Amazon wants more than 5,000 satellites in orbit, while Blue Origin has proposed another 5,400. Chinese companies have filed plans for vastly larger numbers, and Elon Musk has discussed a constellation of 1 million, intensifying competition for the resources needed to deploy megaconstellations. (10/5)

Open Cosmos Targets 192-Satellite ConnectedCosmos Network, with 96 Planned by 2028 (Source: Space Intel Report)
Open Cosmos says it has completed more than 50 satellites for ConnectedCosmos, its planned low-Earth-orbit data-transfer network. The UK company aims to deploy more than 96 by the end of 2028 and build to 192 satellites for global coverage by 2030, despite launch-access challenges and earlier regulatory deployment deadlines. (10/5)

SpaceX Proposes Florida Gas Pipeline to Supply Starship Launches From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX is seeking approval to build a natural gas pipeline in Florida to supply fuel for its rocket ​launched from Cape Canaveral, according to a state regulatory ‌filing from September. A SpaceX subsidiary, Coastal Connect Services (CCS), has requested the Florida Public Service Commission to approve a tariff for a new 32.4-mile, 16-inch natural ​gas transmission pipeline in Brevard County, where Cape Canaveral is ​located.

CCS has proposed to build and operate pipeline facilities that would bring natural gas from the existing Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) interstate ​pipeline directly to its customers, according to the filing. In the ​petition, the company said the pipeline is crucial for safe, timely and efficient ‌natural ⁠gas delivery, as current truck-based supply and existing local pipelines cannot meet SpaceX's growing needs at the spaceport. The proposed pipeline would be similar to an 8-mile pipeline SpaceX has also requested for its Boca ​Chica launch site ​in South Texas. (10/5)

Kratos Wins More Than $100 Million in Space Intelligence and Cyber Contracts (Source: Via Satellite)
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has secured multiple contracts worth more than $100 million combined to provide space intelligence data and cyber capabilities. The work will use its KnownSpace Network, an infrastructure of radio-frequency collection assets. (10/5)

FAA Will Accept More Risk to Aircraft From Space Debris Under New Policy (Source: The Air Current)
In a little-noticed June 8 memo from its Executive Safety Council, the FAA has dropped the rolling cap that limited how many aircraft could fly each year through the outer contours of launch and reentry hazard areas. In those zones, debris risk is higher than the Air Traffic Organization's long-standing one-in-a-billion standard. The old cap of 6,412 aircraft per 12 months, adopted in 2017 when the FAA licensed only a few dozen launches a year, was meant to keep 95% confidence of no fatal debris strike over 80 years.

Usage had reached only about 30% of the cap, but the FAA projected the limit would be hit at around 640 operations per year. That ceiling is well below the White House's goal of 1,000+ launches and reentries by 2030 and Elon Musk's stated aim of 10,000 Starship flights a year. Under the new policy, which will be phased in over 12 months, the agency will accept debris risk up to one in a million, the threshold in its Part 450 commercial space rules. It will keep the innermost hazard areas closed and continue tracking how many aircraft fly through the outer contours.

The pilots' union ALPA objected that the FAA lowered the standard without consulting airlines. ALPA noted that newer tools are already shrinking airspace closures without accepting more risk, including the Range Risk Analysis Tool introduced after Starship 7's January 2025 breakup scattered debris across the Caribbean and pushed three airliners into fuel emergencies. ALPA's safety chair warned that integrating airspace "by reducing safety standards will only result in accidents." (10/5)

York to Integrate Space Force Tetra 3 and 4 Missions on GEO Spacecraft (Source: Via Satellite)
York Space Systems will integrate a government space domain awareness (SDA) into a spacecraft headed to Geostationary Orbit (GEO), marking the first time the company has integrated a satellite for GEO. York announced it had cleared the delta critical design review (dCDR) for the U.S. Space Force Tetra 3 and Tetra 4 missions as the prime contractor. York will now proceed to build the spacecraft and expects delivery in the fourth quarter of this year. (10/5)