Rohde & Schwarz Adds Pulsar Signal Simulation for LEO Navigation
Rohde & Schwarz has integrated Pulsar signal simulation into its SMBV100B and SMW200A vector signal generators, giving device makers a way to test receivers for Xona’s upcoming low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) navigation service. The software option lets engineers validate compatibility before the Pulsar constellation reaches commercial scale. This move reflects growing demand for test solutions that support multi‑constellation, interference‑resilient navigation across automotive, aerospace and critical‑infrastructure markets. The addition also ties the generators into Xona’s verified ecosystem program.
NOAA Starts the Bidding for ProTech 2.0's Environmental Monitoring Domain
NOAA has opened the solicitation for the final ProTech 2.0 domain—Space‑Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM). The agency will accept proposals from up to 12 small businesses, with a deadline of 10 a.m. ET on May 5, 2026. SBEM work will initially target GNSS radio‑occultation...
Morocco Signs the Artemis Accords
Morocco became the 64th nation to sign the Artemis Accords on April 29, with the signing witnessed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Ambassador Duke Buchan III. The move follows a recent surge of new signatories—including Latvia and Jordan—after...
Station Satcom Ups Eutelsat LEO Maritime Use
Eutelsat’s OneWeb unit has inked a multi‑million‑dollar agreement with India‑based Station Satcom to extend low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) satellite broadband to up to 1,000 additional vessels. The deal builds on a 2025 contract that already covers hundreds of ships, creating a sizable...
Two Launches Yesterday
SpaceX launched 24 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg, marking the booster’s 13th flight and successful drone‑ship landing. Arianespace followed with an Ariane‑6 launch from French Guiana, delivering 32 Amazon Leo satellites using four side boosters. The Amazon constellation...
House Appropriators Keep NASA Funding Flat
The House Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee approved a FY2027 NASA spending bill that keeps total funding flat at $24.438 billion, rejecting the White House's 23% cut proposal. While overall funding remains unchanged, the bill reallocates resources, boosting the exploration account...
Defense Business Brief: Satellite Firm’s ‘Secret Sauce’ | 3D-Print Factory in a Box | Ship-Lobby Ad
Apex Space is scaling its satellite bus production with the XL version of its Comet platform, which can still fit 16 units on a Falcon 9 launch. The company’s proprietary Octopus software acts as an end‑to‑end operating system, using AI and...
U.S. Commercial Service to Host “Future in Orbit” Networking Event at SpaceBR 2026
The U.S. Commercial Service in Brazil will host “Future in Orbit,” a networking event during the SpaceBR Show 2026 in São Paulo. The session connects American space‑technology providers with Brazilian agencies such as AEB, INPE and ITA to pitch propulsion, ADCS,...
Falcon Heavy Returns to Flight with ViaSat-3 Mission
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy returned to flight on April 29, launching the third and final ViaSat‑3 terabit‑class broadband satellite toward geostationary orbit. The launch marked the rocket’s first mission in more than 18 months, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center at 10:13 a.m. ET....
GMV to Lead Mission Planning for ESA’s Next-Generation Copernicus Expansion
European Space Agency has awarded GMV a contract to lead mission planning functions for the next‑generation Copernicus expansion, focusing on the CRISTAL and ROSE‑L satellites. GMV will embed the new capabilities into its Sentinels Mission Planning Framework, a shared platform...
OPINION: Why the Moon May Matter Before It Pays
Robert A. Edgell argues that lunar gateways cannot succeed on engineering alone; they need robust governance, financing, and risk‑sharing frameworks. He frames gateways as part of a broader cislunar infrastructure that will serve science, industry, and inter‑mission coordination. The author...
Asteroid Apophis: A Commercial Mission to Help Spur Interest in Planetary Defense
Exploration Labs is launching Apophis EX, the first commercial deep‑space rideshare mission, to study asteroid Apophis before its close approach in 2029. The venture is framed as a catalyst for planetary‑defense efforts, complementing multinational observation plans. Former NASA astronaut Edward Lu...
SGx 2026 Registration Is Open
The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) has opened registration for SGx 2026, a two‑day conference titled “Inventing New Orbits: Leading the Next Space Era.” The event will take place in Washington, D.C., on May 17‑18 and is co‑hosted with ASCEND and...
CATALYST Unveils Its Sat Product for City Skylines
Catalyst, a PCI Geomatics brand, launched UrbanSAR, a satellite‑based service that measures millimeter‑scale building movements floor‑by‑floor using interferometric SAR from multiple satellites. The system can reveal structural shifts up to 30 mm on high‑rise rooftops—areas missed by ground monitoring. Catalyst says...
Telefónica Goes on the Defensive with Sateliot Tie-Up
Telefónica Spain announced a partnership with Barcelona‑based Sateliot to integrate the startup’s low‑Earth‑orbit satellite constellation with its terrestrial 5G NR network. The collaboration will extend narrowband IoT (NB‑IoT) and future direct‑to‑device (D2D) connectivity to remote, maritime and unconnected areas, targeting...
Orbital Data Center Competitive Landscape
The Payload Pro report maps the emerging competitive landscape for orbital data centers, a nascent market that aims to host storage and compute resources in low‑Earth orbit. It profiles incumbents such as SpaceX’s Starlink‑linked data pods, Amazon’s Project Kuiper infrastructure,...
FCC Adjusts Satellite Spectrum to Expand Broadband Capacity
The FCC voted to replace decades‑old power‑flux density limits with performance‑based protection criteria, unlocking up to a 700% increase in downlink capacity for low‑Earth‑orbit (NGSO) satellites and projecting more than $2 billion in economic benefits. The new rules let LEO constellations...
Ethiopia And Japan Strengthen Space Ties With MoU
Ethiopia’s Space Science Society (ESSS) and Japan’s Cross U platform have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to accelerate Ethiopia’s commercial space ecosystem. The agreement will connect Japanese space firms with local startups, enable technology transfer, and launch training programs for Ethiopian...
Baking a Parachute for Mars
ESA is dry‑heat sterilising the 35‑meter, 74‑kg parachute for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, ensuring it is at least 10,000 times cleaner than a smartphone. The parachute, made of nylon and Kevlar, will be the largest ever deployed beyond Earth and...
Start-Up Space Investment 2025 and the New Shape of Private Space Capital
In 2025 start‑up space companies attracted $10.9 billion across 235 deals, the strongest funding year since the 2021 peak. Venture capital supplied 79% of the capital while public offerings added $1.3 billion, marking a notable return of IPO activity. U.S. firms captured...
T‑Mobile, Starlink Aim to Reinvent Business Internet From Ground up, Sky Down
T‑Mobile announced SuperBroadband, a hybrid 5G‑satellite service with Starlink aimed at business broadband. The solution combines T‑Mobile’s nationwide 5G network with SpaceX’s Starlink low‑Earth‑orbit satellites to deliver redundant, high‑availability connectivity for enterprises, especially in remote or underserved areas. It includes...
Why Sovereign Space Capability Is Becoming a Top Priority for Governments and Industry
Sovereign space capability has moved from a prestige project to a core national infrastructure, with governments demanding assured access to launch, navigation, secure communications, and Earth‑observation services. The EU’s IRIS² concession, Canada’s Arctic satcom partnership, and India’s NavIC upgrades illustrate...
Viasat and SpaceX Announce Successful ViaSat-3 F3 Launch
Viasat and SpaceX announced the successful launch of the ViaSat‑3 F3 satellite aboard a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s historic LC‑39A. The satellite is now on its trajectory to geostationary orbit, roughly 35,786 km above Earth. Once operational later this year,...
April 29, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor Podcast
Robert Zimmerman’s "Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8" chronicles the historic 1968 mission that sent three Americans around the Moon, the first human venture beyond Earth’s orbit. The book now launches in hardback, paperback, ebook and audiobook formats, each featuring a...
Starlink vs OneWeb
OneWeb, now under Eutelsat, finished deploying a 648‑satellite low‑Earth orbit constellation plus six trial units in 2024. By contrast, SpaceX's Starlink runs more than 10,000 satellites and plans to expand beyond 15,000. OneWeb’s satellites sit in a slightly higher orbit...
SpaceX Launches 24 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Rocket From Vandenberg SFB
SpaceX lifted off a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 29, delivering 24 Starlink broadband satellites as part of its 17‑36 mission. The launch, the 42nd Starlink deployment of the year, used booster B1093 on its 13th...
Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane? No, It’s a Rapidly Evolving Space Race
The Artemis II mission showcased a hopeful vision of shared lunar exploration, yet the article warns that space is rapidly turning into a contested strategic arena. Existing arms‑control frameworks, such as the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, are thin and unable to...
ISS Module Cracking Still Unresolved Despite Stopping Air Leaks
Engineers have sealed the long‑standing air leaks in the PrK vestibule of the Russian Zvezda module, but the underlying cracks remain unexplained. NASA and Roscosmos have identified two possible causes—high‑cycle fatigue from pump vibrations or environmentally assisted cracking—but have not...
Space Force Selects Firms to Build Counter-Surveillance Payloads for Satellites
The Space Rapid Capabilities Office of the U.S. Space Force awarded three Small Business Innovation Research contracts, each worth $3 million, to Assurance Technology Corp., Raptor Dynamix, and Innovative Signal Analysis. The firms will develop low‑cost radar‑warning payloads for geosynchronous satellites...
SpaceX's Theorized Data Centers in Space Face 'Significant Technical Complexity and Unproven Technologies,' And the 'Unpredictable Environment of Space' Means...
SpaceX disclosed in its pre‑IPO S‑1 filing that the company’s plan to launch AI data centers into orbit faces significant technical complexity and unproven technologies. The filing warns that harsh space conditions—radiation, extreme temperature swings, and the inability to repair...
Telstra Not Seeking to Lock Rivals Out of Mobile-to-Satellite Bands
Telstra announced it will not seek to exclude rivals from the 2 GHz mobile‑to‑satellite (MSS) spectrum needed for next‑generation satellite‑to‑mobile services. SpaceX warned that if Telstra secured the remaining frequencies, it could effectively lock out other satellite operators and Australian mobile...
Artemis II Astronauts Visit the White House
President Trump welcomed the Artemis II crew—three NASA astronauts and a Canadian—to the White House, marking the first crewed lunar flyby since 1972. The president praised their courage and hinted that a Moon landing during his term is a "good shot."...
Meta Forges Partnerships for Space Solar, Long-Duration Energy Storage to Power AI
Meta Platforms announced partnerships with Overview Energy and Noon Energy to secure up to 1 gigawatt of clean power for its AI data‑center fleet. Overview will launch geosynchronous satellites by 2028 that harvest solar energy in space and beam it as...
USSF Budget Offers First Glimpse at Plans for ‘Space Data Network’
The U.S. Space Force’s FY‑2027 budget reveals a $3 billion investment in a new Space Data Network (SDN), split evenly between research and development and procurement. The plan calls for 21 SDN satellites in 2027, up from 13 the prior year,...
UFO Space ETF Assets Nearly Double in April
The Procure Space ETF (UFO) saw assets under management double in April, climbing to $727 million. Net inflows of $322 million and an 8.1% price rise powered the surge, while the fund’s year‑to‑date return sits near 30%, far outpacing major indices. Launched...
AT&T Might Look Beyond AST SpaceMobile for D2D
AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said the carrier will explore additional low‑Earth‑orbit partners beyond its current AST SpaceMobile deal to deliver direct‑to‑device (D2D) connectivity. He cited SpaceX, Amazon Leo and possibly a fourth LEO provider as potential wholesale partners. AST SpaceMobile...
The Waiver Was the Policy. Thursday Is the Paperwork.
On April 30, 2026 the FCC will vote to retire the 1990s Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) framework and replace it with a performance‑based coordination regime for non‑geostationary satellite operators. The agency projects a $2 billion economic benefit and up to...
Telefónica and Sateliot Join Forces to Bring Satellite 5G Connectivity to Strategic Sectors
Telefónica España and satellite IoT operator Sateliot have signed a collaboration to bring 5G New Radio to low‑Earth‑orbit satellites, creating a hybrid network that merges terrestrial 5G with satellite coverage. The partnership will develop NR‑NTN solutions, pilot critical‑service use cases and...
Can NASA and SpaceX Really Build a Moon Base in the Next 10 Years?
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced a plan to begin building a permanent lunar base as early as 2027, aiming for a sustained human presence on the Moon. The proposal hinges on the Artemis program’s upcoming crewed missions, which are expected...
Just Look at the Spiral Exhaust Flame Thrown by This Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine
Astrobotic demonstrated its Chakram rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, delivering more than 4,000 lb of thrust. The engine ran for a total of 470 seconds, including a record‑setting 300‑second continuous burn, without damage. Three supersonic detonation...
Designing in Situ Power Stations for Future Mars Missions
A Chinese research team published a conceptual design for an in‑situ power station that would turn the thin, CO₂‑rich Martian atmosphere into heat and electricity for future crewed missions. The proposal combines atmospheric capture, a micro‑nuclear reactor, lithium‑Mars‑gas batteries, and...
Only Elon Musk Can Fire Elon Musk From SpaceX, Filing Shows
SpaceX’s IPO filing reveals that Elon Musk can only be removed as CEO and board chair by a vote of class B super‑voting shareholders, a group he controls, effectively giving him a self‑vote veto. The company will issue class A common stock...
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Launches Viasat Communications Satellite
SpaceX successfully launched a Viasat communications satellite aboard its Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral, marking the rocket’s first flight in roughly 18 months. The mission reused both side boosters, which completed their 2nd and 22nd flights, and fairings on their...
SmallSat Europe Speaker Focus: Dr. Jakob Stöber, McKinsey & Company
McKinsey’s latest report, co‑authored by partner Dr. Jakob Stöber, quantifies Europe’s stark launch gap – five rockets in 2025 versus 154 in the United States and 68 in China. The analysis links the shortfall to slower public spending and fragmented...
Amazon’s Satellite Internet Unit Kuiper Seeks Kenya Licence After Nigeria Approval
Amazon’s satellite internet arm, rebranded as Amazon LEO, has filed for a Network Facilities Provider Tier‑2 licence in Kenya, following a seven‑year licence win in Nigeria. The Kenyan licence costs about $115,000 upfront, runs for 15 years and requires at...
Q&A: Kepler’s CEO on Canada’s Space Ambitions and the Best Toronto Tech Week Eats
Kepler Communications CEO Mina Mitry announced the company’s breakthrough launch of the world’s first optical‑relay low‑Earth‑orbit satellite network, delivering real‑time data links that cut latency from hours to minutes. He highlighted Canada’s need for sovereign launch capability to monitor its...
Global Invacom Secures Exclusive Worldwide Distribution for Prodelin Antenna Range
Global Invacom Group’s UK subsidiary has signed an exclusive worldwide distribution agreement with Premix‑Hadlock, the GMR company that now owns the Prodelin sheet‑moulding‑composite antenna range. The two‑and‑a‑half‑year deal makes GIGL the sole global representative of 1.2‑ to 4.5‑meter antennas used...
SUPARCO’s PRSC-EO3 Satellite Launch Completes Pakistan’s EO Constellation
On 25 April 2026, Pakistan’s SUPARCO launched PRSC‑EO3 aboard China’s Long March 6, completing the nation’s three‑satellite electro‑optical (EO) constellation. The 500‑kg satellite entered a sun‑synchronous orbit, joining PRSC‑EO1 and PRSC‑EO2 to provide regular high‑resolution optical coverage for disaster management, agriculture, and resource monitoring....
Rocket Factory Augsburg Submits License Application for a Saxavord Launch Window Opening on July 1, 2026
Rocket Factory Augsburg has filed a marine launch licence for a July 1, 2026 window at the Saxavord spaceport in Scotland. The company’s original 2024 launch was aborted after a catastrophic static‑fire test destroyed the RFA‑1 first stage, leading to a management...
California Coastal Commission Settles SpaceX Lawsuit by Apologizing and Conceding All Points
SpaceX settled its lawsuit with the California Coastal Commission after the commission issued a formal apology and admitted it lacks authority to regulate launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The settlement also acknowledges that the commission’s prior opposition to increasing...