Main Topics
Space Dominance
China files for ~200,000 satellites in GEO with ITU, split between two constellations, CTC-1 and CTC-2, each for 96,714. Regardless of how many actually launch, this is illustrative of China’s priority to reserve slots in the less contested GEO orbits [source]
Vyoma has successfully launched Flamingo-1, its first space domain awareness satellite, to a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit [source]
Slingshot Aerospace awarded a $27M contract to support the U.S. Space Force in advancing next-generation training for space warfare. This work focuses on integrating TALOS AI into Space Force training environments—scaling scenario complexity, increasing realism, and enabling operators to prepare for rapidly evolving orbital threats at the speed and scale modern missions demand. [source]
Blackswan Space awarded a €600k ESA contract to mature Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) / RPO Kit to TRL6 in the next 12 months. This is to accelerate autonomous proximity ops & docking for the ASTRAL IoS mission in 2028 led by Orbit Fab UK [source]
In-orbit activation and verification activities of the PROBA-3 Rendezvous Experiment (RVX) have been successfully completed by Indra together with its partners in the RVX consortium including prime contractor Sener Aerospace & Defence and ESA’s operations team, the main RVX functions were tested and confirmed to perform as expected in orbit. [source]
Astroscale UK wins a £350k ESA contract for in-orbit refurbishment and upgrading services (IRUS) to do an eight-month Phase A study aimed at developing the technical groundwork and commercial case for such services. [source]
Aule Space has raised $2 million in a pre-seed funding to build satellites that can approach and attach to other satellites in orbit. The startup aims to use this technology to extend the life of high value satellites, inspect space assets at close range, and safely retire non functional satellites, helping make space operations more sustainable and cost effective. [source]
iSpace was awarded a contract by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for a lunar debris and disposal management study. [source]
ClearSpace and ESA target 2027 for PRELUDE in-orbit servicing + active debris removal, a 2027 demonstration mission is planned to develop core in-orbit servicing technologies and active debris removal. [source]
Atomic-6 Space Armor selected as debris collision protection for critical systems onboard Portal Space Systems Starburst-1 to launch later in 2026. [source]
Low Earth Orbit
OroraTech and Kepler to launch “world’s first thermal livestream of Earth”. OroraTech launched four SAFIRE Gen4 sensor payloads aboard 10 Kepler satellites launched on Falcon-9 Twilight mission. OroraTech’s processed thermal insights will be delivered as persistent near-real-time IR data to support fast wildfire detection and thermal monitoring. [source]
Orbital Sentry has come out of Stealth mode building a revolutionary capability to persistently detect and track wildfires in real-time. Orbital Sentry will provide continuous spatial and temporal coverage to address a wide range of challenges including wildfire, defense, and commercial use cases aiming to be the first company to livestream the Earth from GEO. [source]
Planet wins a low 9-figure deal to deliver a suite of satellites, space-based data and AI intelligence solutions to the Swedish Armed Forces. That’s the third Satellite Services deal in just 12 months for over $500M in bookings. [source]
Portuguese Centre of Engineering and Product Development buys $18M worth of satellites from Satellogic, 2 NewSat Mark V 50cm-class imaging sats [source]
Airbus has been awarded a contract by Eutelsat to build a further 340 low Earth orbit OneWeb. The satellites will be manufactured at Airbus’s Toulouse facility on a newly installed production line, with delivery from the end of 2026. [source]
Aalyria has been selected to take part in the new Airbus UpNext SpaceRAN (Space Radio Access Network) demonstrator, whose mission is to test standardized global 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) connectivity. The demo will combine Airbus’s software-defined satellite platform with Aalyria’s intelligent network orchestration and optimization capabilities to showcase advanced 5G communications from space. [source]
Lichtenstein revokes Rivada network’s Ka-band licenses and gives it to Open Cosmos in transfer of key spectrum between two UK sovereign LEO broadband satellite constellations. [source]
Orbion Space Technology delivers 33 Aurora propulsion systems to York Space Systems for defense constellation. The flight-ready hardware is designated for use on spacecraft within an upcoming military constellation. [source]
Aerospacelab to build eight satellites for Xona PNT constellation to support early rollout while they build out in-house production capability. [source]
Launch
NASA SLS rolls out to pad for Artemis-2 launch to send 4 astronauts around the moon, this is the second mission after the Artemis-1 launch in November 2022. [source]
ISRO PSLV C62 fails during launch and loses 16 satellites; this follows the C61 failure back in May 2025 and brings the rocket’s success rate below 95%. [source]
In China, Galactic Energy Ceres-2 fails in its debut flight, while Ceres-1 successfully launched two days earlier. CAS Long March 3B/E failed earlier that day. The successful Ceres-1S Y7 launch was from converted sea platform Defu 15001 off the coast of Shandong with four satellites for the Tianqi constellation (numbers 37-40) successfully inserted into 850-km, 45-degree inclination orbits. Tianqi is one of China’s more mature Internet-of-things constellations and is operated by commercial startup Guodian Gaoke. A Long March 2C rocket launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The payload was an Algerian Remote Sensing Satellite-3A, also known as AlSat-3A. [source]
TDK Ventures backs Indian rocket company Ethereal Exploration Guild in their Series A to pioneer fully reusable medium-lift launches. [source]
Canada Rocket Company enters the ‘Launch the North’ sweepstakes and raises $6.2M in seed round to fund methalox engine and reusable light lift rocket. [source]
Japanese launch vehicle startup Interstellar Technologies has raised nearly $130 million to continue development of its Zero small launch vehicle. [source]
Business Moves
Parsons buys Altamira for $375 million to expand space and intelligence portfolio. The acquisition is for missile-warning and space data analytics capabilities. [source]
SkyFi raises $12.7 million to scale satellite data marketplace. Funding backs expansion of “virtual constellation” that aggregates imagery from commercial operators. [source]
Hydrosat, a thermal imagery startup focused on water-resource management, has raised $60 million in Series B funding from equity investors and sovereign wealth funds. Hydrosat plans to launch additional thermal infrared satellites and expand its global footprint. [source]
CesiumAstro has secured $200M in government financing. Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and J.P. Morgan jointly provided the batch of financing to scale domestic manufacturing. [source]
ThinKom awarded SpaceWERX contract to provide containerized transportable ground stations for resilient MILSATCOM architecture. [source]
New-age manufacturing company Hadrian said it had raised an undisclosed amount of capital at a $1.6B valuation led by T. Rowe Price, with participation from Altimeter Capital, D1 Capital Partners L.P., StepStone Group, 1789 Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, a16z, Construct Capital, and other existing investors to scale facilities and workforce. [source]
GomSpace Luxembourg has secured a €2.9M contract with a North American space company to design two small satellites for a lunar exploration mission. [source]
ArianeGroup establishes Sodern America subsidiary in the U.S. with the intent of establishing and increasing an American manufacturing presence. [source]
iSpace has initiated a new subsidiary in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aiming to advance lunar exploration partnerships and marking the fourth global entity alongside Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States. [source]
Tech Advances
PsiQuantum announced that the company is collaborating with Airbus, Europe’s largest aeronautics and space company, to advance applications in aerospace for fault-tolerant quantum computers. Under the QuLAB project at Airbus, the two companies are combining their expertise to develop and evaluate quantum algorithms for complex problems in fluid mechanics. [source]
Diffraqtion emerged from stealth with a $4.2M pre-seed round positioned as funding for developing quantum imagers to see farther in space, and to understand its environment faster, primarily focused on SDA use cases. [source]
Oxford Space Systems Wrapped Rib Antenna launched as part of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd satellite as CarbSAR IOD mission to demonstrate the performance of deployable synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology. [source]
Voyager Technologies secures patent for in-orbit manufacturing of crystals for optical communications, microgravity-enabled manufacturing method to produce larger, purer crystals used in high-performance optical communications critical for optical comms as a backbone for data centers and the AI-driven economy. [source]
KSF Space commercializes additive-manufactured PA11 CubeSat structures
to expand the company’s lineup and lower costs and broaden access for smallsat missions. [source]Two Axiom Space Orbital Data Center (ODC) nodes, ODC Nodes 1 and 2, were launched on Kepler’s satellites aboard the Falcon-9 Twilight mission as the first two of a multitude of planned free-flyer ODC nodes in low Earth orbit (LEO). [source]
