KSAT Launches Hyperion Demonstration for In-Orbit Data Relay
At the SmallSat Symposium in Silicon Valley on February 10, 2026, Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) unveiled the Hyperion mission, a pivotal demonstration intended to move its HYPER in-orbit relay constellation from concept to operational reality. By transposing its world-leading terrestrial ...
Voyager Lands $24.5M NASA JSC Mission Management Contract
On February 9, 2026, Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG) announced a significant $24.5 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract from NASA’s Johnson Space Center. This four-year agreement establishes Voyager as a cornerstone of the International Space Station (ISS) ecosystem, tasking the ...
India boosts space budget
Chris Forrester — India has increased its space-related budget for the upcoming 2026-2027 period to $1.64 billion which goes to the nation’s Dept. of Space. The total is ₹13,705.63 crore Rupees expressed in local terms. While the 2.1% increase over ...
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D2D’s Hype Hangover: The Physics Finally Bite Back
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The free drinks at SmallSat Symposium usually signal a celebration, but this year they feel more like a necessity. If 2024 was the year of the press release, early 2026 is the year of the hangover ...
Silicon Valley to Aerospace: Code is the New Steel
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Rockets still make a lot of noise, but the revolution visible at the SmallSat Symposium moves silently, digitally, and at the speed of code. For decades “metal benders”—those massive aerospace conglomerates that first weld titanium and ...
Space Has a Plumbing Problem, and It’s Getting Expensive
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Rockets function reliably. Satellites roll off assembly lines at scale. Yet the buzz at SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View can’t mask a sobering reality: data gets stuck on the way down ...
The New Orbital Guard: Commercial Tech Steps Up as the Pentagon’s Watchtower
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The mood at the SmallSat Symposium has shifted from anxiety to resolve. While previous years were defined by fear of orbital overcrowding, this year marks the moment the industry decided to act. Experts at the Space ...
The New Space Playbook Faces a Physics Cliff at the Moon
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. For the past decade, the commercial space sector has benefited from a benign era defined by a quiescent sun and the protective magnetosphere of Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This stability allowed companies to prioritize speed and ...
The Commercial Mask Slips: Space is Now a Sovereign Arms Race
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The polite fiction that the commercial space industry exists primarily for crop yields and climate monitoring has ended. During the symposium’s Future of Geospatial Intelligence session, industry titans stopped pretending their product is intended for sale ...
From Sandbox to Shield: The SmallSat Industry Grows Up
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. If the mood at past SmallSat Symposiums was defined by exuberant experimentation, this year feels different. The energy has not vanished, but it has matured. During the session Engineering the Future Spacecraft, a clear signal emerged ...
The Space Data Layer is Coming, Just Not as Fast or as Small as You Think
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Attendees at the SmallSat Symposium might have envisioned a future Space Data Layer as a seamless optical-mesh network capable of near-instant data transmission. During the symposium’s Edge of Orbit session, however, participants scrutinized the mechanics available ...
ULA Targets Operational Acceleration Following Leadership Transition
DENVER, Colorado – In the wake of the sudden departure of long-time President and CEO Tory Bruno, United Launch Alliance (ULA) is moving to stabilize its flight manifest and rebuild launch cadence as it enters a pivotal 2026 operational phase ...
The Golden Dome Grinds into Gear: SDA Acting Chief Sovereign over the Supply Chain
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The age of PowerPoint architecture has passed. For five years, the Space Development Agency operated as the Pentagon’s rebellious startup, promising to deliver a Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture faster than the establishment could draft a requirements ...
From SmallSat Gold Rush to Fortress: The Militarization of Commercial Space
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium: The era of the slide-deck billionaire is dead. Attendees entering the Small Satellites: Trends and Opportunities session expecting standard futurism about connecting the unconnected or democratizing the stars were likely disappointed. The mood at SmallSat Symposium ...
The maiden launch of the Ariane 64, Europe’s most powerful rocket and an emotional countdown
The European space community began an emotional countdown at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, marking the final hours before the maiden flight of the Ariane 64. As the most powerful configuration of Europe's new heavy-lift launcher, the Ariane 64 ...
iDirect Government Validates live over-the-air (OTA) point-to-point test on DVB-S2X standard
iDirect Government (iDirectGov), a major provider of satellite communications for defense and government sectors, announced a successful live over-the-air (OTA) point-to-point test validating the DVB-S2X standard on its 450 Software-Defined Modem (SDM). This test marks a significant technical leap by ...
Untrusted Satcom: Dangers for Indian Tele-Education
In early 2026, the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) released a critical analysis regarding the "untethered" expansion of foreign Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations into India’s critical social infrastructure. The report specifically highlights the potential dangers of integrating foreign, "untrusted" ...
ELCOME Brings Amazon LEO Satellite Connectivity to Maritime Operations
ELCOME, a leading global provider of maritime technology, announced a major authorized reseller agreement with Amazon Leo (formerly known as Project Kuiper). This partnership marks a significant expansion of Amazon’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services into the commercial maritime ...
Momentus to Demonstrate Multispectral Sensor for Space Force, With NASA Support
On February 9, 2026, Momentus Inc. announced it has entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA to execute a groundbreaking in-orbit servicing and rendezvous demonstration mission. Scheduled for launch no earlier than March 2026 aboard a SpaceX Transporter mission, ...
Teledyne Advances U.S. National Defense with SDA’s Tranche 3 Tracking Layer Program
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: TDY) announced it has received multiple contract awards to produce advanced infrared Focal Plane Modules (FPMs) for the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 3 Tracking Layer program. These awards solidify Teledyne’s position as a critical hardware ...
Kepler Communications’ next-generation optical data relay constellation launched
Kepler Communications has successfully launched the first operational tranche of its next-generation optical data relay constellation. The mission, carried out aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, successfully deployed ten 300-kilogram-class satellites into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit ...
CMA CGM Group, Marlink, and Eutelsat Partnership
On February 9, 2026, a landmark industrial partnership was solidified between the CMA CGM Group, Marlink, and Eutelsat to revolutionize maritime connectivity. This multi-year agreement centers on the deployment of OneWeb Low Earth Orbit (LEO) services across more than 300 ...
Sequoia capital: 2028 will be the year of direct to cell for SpaceX
In a recent investment thesis highlighted on February 3, 2026, Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire identified 2028 as the pivotal year for SpaceX’s Direct-to-Cell (D2C) technology. Maguire, whose firm has invested approximately $1.2 billion in SpaceX since 2019, described the ...
