November 13, 2026

NASA Awards Lunar Transportation and Lander Contracts (Source: Space News)
NASA’s efforts to develop a lunar base continued with the award of contracts for a new generation of lunar landers as well as transportation for some missions. NASA announced at a Nov. 7 briefing that it awarded six task orders to several companies for transporting lunar landers and orbiters, although some of the selected launches do not have payloads assigned to them.

Two of the task orders involve launches of SpaceX’s Falcon 9, three task orders are for launches of Blue Origin’s New Glenn and the sixth task order involves the launch of a Terran R rocket from Relativity Space. NASA also announced at the briefing the companies selected for CLPS 2.0, the follow-on to the existing CLPS contract used for procuring landers and other lunar missions. (11/13)

Space Coast's BRPH Solves Space Problems, Even $40K Gopher Tortoises (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Designing and building launch facilities on the Space Coast takes a unique talent set that includes managing the expectations of Fortune 500 companies and the capriciousness of gopher tortoises. That’s a common logistical problem for Melbourne-based BRPH. Without naming which pad, BRPH officials earlier this year said it cost $40,000 to deal with four gopher tortoises at one launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

“It is a cautionary thing, but it’s the right thing to do,” said Cliff Higgins, the company’s vice president of Aerospace Integrated Services. “We’re trying to be sensitive to all of the environmental concerns; it’s part of our process.” The company was founded in 1964 by three engineers and an architect to support the burgeoning space race. Now more than 60 years later, the company continues to expand. “We’ve grown from about 250 to 400 just in the last few years. And obviously a lot of that’s due to all the projects that we are involved with here on the Space Coast,” said Stephanie Wheeler. (11/11)

UK Military Taps Astronomers to Spot Snooping Foreign Satellites (Source: New Scientist)
The UK’s military and spy agencies are working with civilian academics to develop new ways to spot snooping by foreign satellites, researchers have revealed. The US, China and Russia have spy satellites as well as counter-surveillance satellite and spacecraft programs that can spy on other states’ satellites and observe others spying on theirs. Telescopes such as those at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, Spain, can be used to observe satellites. (11/12)

Germany, Poland Tap SATIM to Analyze Military Satellite Imagery (Source: Defense News)
SATIM, a Polish maker of AI-based analysis tools for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, has obtained a contract from Poland’s Ministry of National Defence to supply software for the automated analysis of satellite imagery. The company is building on its ongoing cooperation with Germany’s Rheinmetall to support the German SPOCK-1 satellite reconnaissance program. (11/12)

Canada's Maritime Launch Services Reports Q3 Results (Source: Maritime Launch Services)
For the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, MLS recognized revenue of $5,566,148 and $12,100,567, respectively, compared to $nil in the corresponding periods of 2025. The increase was primarily attributable to the commencement of revenue recognition under new long-term commercial agreements during 2026, comprising lease revenue from spaceport infrastructure and launch services revenue. 

For the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2026, the Company earned net income and comprehensive income of $3,518,473 and $5,659,004, respectively, as compared to a net loss and comprehensive loss of $5,745,870 and $6,906,904 for the comparable periods in the prior year. The improvement in profitability primarily reflected higher revenue from the Company's long-term commercial agreements.(11/13)

BAE Systems Selected as a Mission-Enabling Space Technologies Partner for NASA PRIMA Astrophysics Program (Source: BAE)
BAE Systems announced today that its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)-led PRIMA (PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics) team has been selected by NASA for the next phase of development in NASA's new class of "Probe Explorers" astrophysics missions. BAE Systems will provide its Evolve+ spacecraft bus for the mission, lead the observatory assembly, integration and test process, and serve as the operations and ground lead for NASA's JPL, the manager of the mission. (11/13)

Germany's Singulus Signs €60 Million Contract with SpaceX for Satellite Solar Cell Supply (Source: Euronews.com)
SpaceX signed a €60 million deal with German mechanical engineering company Singulus Technologies for the strategic supply of solar cells, giving the German company a massive price jump. Following the deal, the company's stock temporarily spiked by 65% to 80%, which valued the firm at around €73 million. As part of a strategic partnership, further facilities and production lines are planned to be created for a solar power production capacity of 100 gigawatts, the equivalent of the annual production of ten large nuclear reactors. (11/11)

Air Force Backs Ursa Major's "Draper" Hypersonic Engine Development with $10.9 Million (Source: FlightGlobal)
The Air Force Research Laboratory has exercised a $10.9M option on Ursa Major's contract to continue development of Draper, a storable liquid rocket engine built for hypersonic applications. This exercised option follows the successful flights of the Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator as part of the same contract. (11/12)

India, Brazil Join Hands With Skyroot Aerospace to Develop Satellite Launch Vehicle (Source: Republic World)
Brazil and India are taking their longstanding space cooperation to a new level, with companies from both countries agreeing to jointly develop a satellite launch vehicle capable of carrying payloads of at least 100 kilograms into low Earth orbit. The agreement was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in October between Brazil's Micro Launcher Program consortium member Concert Technologies and Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace. (11/12)

Northrop Grumman to Integrate Mission Systems Into Hermeus’ Quarterhorse Aircraft (Source: Breaking Defense)
Hermeus and Northrop Grumman have signed a teaming agreement to integrate military mission systems into Hermeus’ Quarterhorse aircraft. The companies aim to field reusable, autonomous aircraft for the U.S. military that can fly at supersonic speeds or faster and take on more complex missions. Northrop Grumman will design, develop, integrate and support the mission systems, drawing on its experience in electronic warfare, communications, sensing and autonomy. Hermeus said the agreement also covers work in navigation and command and control. (11/12)

Voyager 1 To Become First Human-Made Object To Reach One Light-Day On Nov 18 (Source: NDTV)
Voyager 1 is precariously close to scripting history by becoming the first human-made object to reach one light-day from Earth next week. Launched in 1977, NASA's deep space probe will reach the milestone on Wednesday, November 18, after nearly 50 years of continuous travel through the virgin interstellar space. With Voyager 1 at a distance of one light-day, a signal sent from Earth will take a full day just to reach the probe, highlighting the gargantuan scale of the universe. One light-day is equivalent to 26 billion kilometers. (11/11)

AST Blacklift Rocket Targeting Launches From Virginia Spaceport (Sources: Space News, Ars Technica)
AST SpaceMobile says it is confident it can field a medium-lift launch vehicle in just two years despite widespread industry skepticism. AST executives argued that by purchasing rocket engines from Firefly Aerospace for its Blacklift rocket, is "starting this program on third base" and skipping years of development time. It also pointed to its experience developing carbon composite structures for its satellites, a technology it will use on its rocket. Abel Avellan emphasized, over and over again, that AST plans to build a “simple” rocket. He paraphrased SpaceX founder Elon Musk several times, saying, “the best part is no part.”

“We’re not doing this thing because we like rockets,” Avellan said during the presentation. “We’re not doing this thing because we want to be in the launch business. We want this because we have so much demand of our satellites, and as you have seen it, we cannot get enough launches.”

The company repeated a claim that it will initially launch Blacklift from an existing pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, originally built for Northrop Grumman's Antares. However, a spokesperson for the Virginia Spaceport Authority, which operates the commercial launch pads at Wallops, said that while it has held preliminary discussions with AST SpaceMobile, those talks have specifically excluded that pad. (11/13)

Iceye Expanding in California to Develop SAR Systems (Source: Space News)
The U.S. subsidiary of Iceye is increasing satellite production as it looks to expand beyond radar imagery. The CEO of Iceye US said the company sees opportunities to provide synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, systems for defense programs, including those designed to track moving targets. Iceye US is establishing manufacturing capabilities at an expanded facility in California, hiring 40 people since June. Iceye US operates a separate constellation of U.S.-licensed and operated radar-imaging satellites and has considerable autonomy from its Finnish parent. (11/13)

Relativity Expands Focus to Mars Orbiter Development (Source: Space News)
Relativity Space is highlighting advanced technology that will go on a privately funded Mars orbiter it is developing. Relativity announced in June it was building that spacecraft to launch in late 2028, carrying a suite of NASA instruments to study the Martian atmosphere. A company official said the spacecraft will include an optical communications link capable of returning data at speeds up to 1,000 megabits per second. The spacecraft will also carry 1,000 terabytes of storage and more than 10 teraflops of computing, enabling the spacecraft to collect and analyze large amounts of data. In addition to the NASA instruments, the spacecraft will carry a Relativity-developed radar for probing the Martian subsurface as well as other, undisclosed instruments from partners. (11/13)

SpaceX/Tesla Merger Talks Advance (Source: Bloomberg)
Talks about a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla are advancing. Industry sources said the two companies, both run by Elon Musk, could be ready to announce a merger as soon as December. Musk said in October that the boards of both companies had established special committees to consider a merger, and that he was not involved in those discussions. Musk, though, has been pushing for a merger, seeking to combine the companies' capabilities in AI and robotics as applied in areas ranging from spacecraft to driverless cars. (11/13)

SpaceX Data Center Plans Include Billions for Terrestrial and Space Facilities (Source: New York Times)
SpaceX, with ambitions to develop orbital data centers, plans to spend $74 billion on terrestrial data centers. The company said Thursday it is seeking to spend $24 billion on one data center at Starbase, Texas, and $50 billion on another in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona. Data centers have been a major source of capital expenditure for SpaceX, overshadowing spending on launch vehicles and spacecraft, but also a major source of revenue as it leases capacity to companies like Anthropic and Google. (11/13)

ESA's Hera Nears Binary Asteroid (Source: ESA)
ESA's Hera spacecraft has arrived at the vicinity of a binary asteroid that was visited by a NASA planetary defense mission. ESA said this week that Hera is now about 25 to 30 kilometers from Didymos and its moon Dimorphos and has started the early characterization phase of the mission. Hera launched in 2024 as a followup to NASA's Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) mission, where a spacecraft deliberately collided with Dimorphos as a test of deflecting the orbits of asteroids. Hera and two cubesats it will later deploy will see how Dimorphos was altered by the collision. (11/13)

China's Jupiter Mission Advances (Source: Space News)
A Chinese mission to Jupiter will attempt to land on one of the planet's major moons. The China National Space Administration published a notice Friday soliciting proposals to develop instruments for the country's Tianwen-4 Jupiter probe, slated to launch around 2030. The notice states that the mission's main goals are to orbit Jupiter, orbit the Jovian moon Callisto and conduct lander exploration of that moon. Callisto is the outermost of the four large Galilean moons of Jupiter. Earlier plans for Tianwen-4 also included studies of irregular Jovian moons and a secondary spacecraft that would separate and fly by Uranus, but there is no mention of a Uranus probe in the notice. (11/13)

York Takes $750 Million Charge, Citing Military Market Uncertainty (Source: Space News)
York Space Systems said Thursday it was taking a $750 million charge, citing uncertainty about future military satellite contracts. The Denver-based satellite manufacturer reported a net loss of $807.4 million in the third quarter, compared with a $20.1 million loss a year earlier. The company said its $749.7 million noncash goodwill impairment reflected the difficulty of estimating the timing and value of government contract awards beyond 2026.

York still expects major government contracts to materialize, although the company now assumes new awards will arrive later in 2027 and into 2028. York's fortunes have been closely tied to the Space Development Agency, which awarded the company contracts to manufacture dozens of satellites. However, as SDA's plans change, a relatively predictable sequence of satellite production contracts under SDA's original tranche-based approach is giving way to a less certain procurement process for the company. (11/13)

Blue Origin Abandons Space Station Plans (Source: Space News)
Blue Origin no longer plans to participate in a NASA competition to support development of commercial space stations. CEO Dave Limp told employees Thursday that the company would not bid on the next phase of NASA's Commercial LEO Development, or CLD program, as it focuses on launch vehicles and lunar infrastructure. Blue Origin said in a statement that it is "focusing resources on capabilities that directly advance our lunar projects."

Blue Origin proposed the Orbital Reef space station five years ago and won a funded Space Act Agreement for the first phase of the CLD program in late 2021. The announcement comes a month after NASA issued a final RFP for the next CLD phase, which will support development and initial operations of commercial stations intended to succeed the International Space Station. (11/13)

Trusted Space Acquires ExoDynamics (Source: Space News)
Defense software company Trusted Space has acquired Falcon ExoDynamics, a specialist in spacecraft autonomy. The companies did not disclose the terms of the acquisition, announced Thursday. Trusted Space develops software for mission planning, satellite coordination and military command and control. Falcon ExoDynamics focuses on spacecraft autonomy, including rendezvous and proximity operations, as well as integrated hardware and software systems. The companies aim to connect these capabilities so that military operators can assign tasks to satellites and allow onboard software to determine how to execute them within established safety limits. (11/13)

Commerce Dept. Picks Companies for Mission Authorization Pilot (Source: Space News)
The Office of Space Commerce selected four companies to participate in a mission authorization pilot program. The office announced Thursday that Cowboy Space, Portal Space Systems, SpaceMD and Starcloud will participate in the pilot of the office's Space Commerce Certification system, intended to provide regulatory certainty for companies developing new space products and services that are not licensed by other agencies. The certification, announced earlier this year, is a voluntary system that provides an interagency review of novel space activities. The participating companies, operating in fields ranging from orbital data centers to space pharmaceuticals, will help develop the application form for the certification and test-drive the review process. (11/13)

NeuralSat Raises €2.9M to Build Orbital Data Relay Network (Source: Payload)
German startup NeuralSat announced a €2.9M ($3.2M) pre-seed funding round today to develop a 72-sat in-space data relay and processing network, aimed at speeding up the flow of data to and from space. NeuralSat is also a member of ESA’s Business Incubation Center (ESA BIC) and the NVIDIA Inception Program. (11/12)

Satellites Observe Changes in Great Pacific Garbage Patch Since 2002 (Source: Futura)
Satellites tracking the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii have recorded a gradual shift in water color over twenty years. A University of Bergen study found that waters in and around the Great Pacific Garbage Patch grew brighter in blue and green wavelengths between 2002 and 2022. Researchers suspect accumulating microplastics are scattering sunlight back into space, though they have not yet proved plastic waste is turning the sea cyan.

Ocean Cleanup estimates that this region holds more than 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing roughly 110,000 tons. Tiny microplastics measuring between 0.02 and 0.2 inches across account for only about 8 percent of that total weight, yet they make up the vast majority of individual fragments drifting near the surface. (11/12)

Russia Still Developing a Starlink Alternative (Source: Tech Radar)
Russia's Rassvet-3 spacecraft have struggled to reach their intended orbital positions, raising questions about the project's ability to deliver reliable connectivity. Moscow is now pursuing an apparent replacement through an improved satellite design called Rassvet-4, although several important details remain undisclosed.

Russia has submitted documentation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) concerning a proposed Rassvet-4 network involving 374 satellites operating approximately 800 kilometers above Earth. The planned constellation would occupy 17 orbital planes, with each containing 22 spacecraft intended to provide satellite communications coverage across designated regions. The ITU documentation shows limited information about Rassvet-4's communications equipment, including its operating frequencies and antenna beam configuration. (11/10)

SpaceX Just Cleared a Key FCC Hurdle in its Fight with Verizon and AT&T (Source: Teslarati)
The Federal Communications Commission has formally opened its review of SpaceX’s plan to buy a nationwide block of 800 MHz spectrum from Grain Management, moving Starlink Mobile one step closer to operating as a full U.S. wireless carrier. Acceptance is not approval. It means the applications cleared an initial review and the public comment window is now open. Comments and petitions to deny are due December 1, and oppositions are due December 8. (11/11)

A Robot Has Assembled a Structure in Space for the First Time (Source: New Scientist)
A robot has built a structure in space without any help of astronauts. The first-of-its-kind achievement is a step towards autonomous in-orbit manufacturing and assembly of structures such as space stations and data centers, which will be crucial if we want to develop an orbital economy.

Sergio Pellegrino at the California Institute of Technology and his team developed their robot as part of a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiative to explore new ways to build in space. Large orbiting structures in the past have either been assembled with the help of astronauts or launched pre-assembled and folded up, spring-loaded to unfold upon release from their capsules. (11/12)